| June 29, 2003 | Sunday | Rabi-us-Sani 28,1424 |
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Time for a Rapprochement
CDA budget
Deaths by contamination
THE no-confidence motion against the speaker of the National Assembly, which ended when the opposition refused to vote in protest, should be seen as another salvo fired by the combined opposition at the government and the president rather than as a move directed personally against the speaker. The opposition has been seething at what it sees as the government’s lack of sincerity in relation to its demands that the Legal Framework Order be presented before parliament and suitably amended to prevent distortions in the Constitution. The question of the president retaining his office as chief of the army staff has become perhaps the most contentious of issues dividing the government and the opposition, and General Pervez Musharraf in none of his statements during his current foreign tour has had anything new to say on the issue. He has repeated his contention that while he agreed that it was undemocratic to combine the offices of president and COAS in one person, this was necessary in the existing circumstances and he alone would decide when to give up his army job.
A few weeks before the opposition announced its no-confidence move, which was triggered by the speaker’s controversial ruling on the LFO, there was hope that the two sides could be inching towards some common ground. But either because of lack of trust or because the government’s negotiating team was pulled up by the president for being ready to concede too much, the negotiating process ground to a halt. The federal budget was passed in an atmosphere of extreme acrimony, with the opposition refusing to take part in any of the proceedings. The net effect of this is that parliament has been unable to legislate or to gain the legitimacy that it should enjoy in a democratic set-up. The country is actually being run largely by official fiat, with no popular participation. Some of the tactics employed by the opposition may have proved self-defeating: the constant din kept up in the two houses eventually turned into an unsavoury spectacle that those watching television coverage or reading the daily accounts in newspapers began to find tiresome. But frustrated in parliament and at the negotiating table, the opposition felt that agitation was its only recourse.
That continues to be the position. The government should realize that the country is being run undemocratically; as if under a presidential rather than a parliamentary dispensation. This is an unhealthy situation that should not be permitted to linger on. Parliament is in a state of suspended animation and even at the provincial and lower levels, decisions are being made without real consensus. The local government system has thrown up its own contradictions, with a tussle between provincial authorities and the local politicians. The government may believe that it has the right numbers to give it legitimacy, which it indeed has. But legitimacy is not a question of arithmetic, but of acceptance. To repeat an old cliche, the government and the opposition should at least agree to disagree, and get on with the business of discussing, debating and seeking solutions to the people’s many economic and social problems. The government needs the opposition’s support in tackling such issues as the unilateral imposition of certain laws in the Frontier that hold the promise of creating total chaos in the country and to resist growing international pressures. The opposition needs some accommodation with the government to represent the grievances of its electors. The two have to meet at some point.
The longer the hiatus lasts, the more difficult it will be for this to happen. Is there a possibility, then, that some elder politicians who view the constitutional crisis with a little detachment should agree to intervene and talk to both sides? The president’s uniform, Article 58(2)b, and the National Security Council could be the immediate issues to be discussed, and even if a short truce can be won, that would be progress.
THE major plus point of the Capital Development Authority’s Rs 4.7 billion budget for the fiscal year 2003-2004 is that no new taxes have been levied. This is a relief for the residents. The four million rupees allocated for computerization of property records, the billing system and personal data will hopefully facilitate and improve CDA’s dealings with the public. While it is heartening to note that Rs 408.2 million has been allocated for dualization of parts of two major roads — I.J. Principal Road and Islamabad Highway — and Rs 163 million has been earmarked for the development of three new sectors (I-14, I-16 and D-12), one hopes that CDA will also look into the maintenance of some of the existing roads, tubewells and water supply lines which are in need of repair and upgrading, particularly in sectors like I-9, I-10, and the G sectors. Apart from the Rs 300 million allocated for the improvement of a major sewerage treatment plant in the city, CDA is also planning to beautify parts of the capital, particularly the main commercial and business district, Blue Area. Residents hope that CDA’s plan to give the city a facelift will not be confined to Blue Area but encompass all other major markets and bazaars in the various sectors.
The fact that only one-third of the total amount allocated for the annual works programme could be utilized during the outgoing fiscal year is a poor reflection on CDA’s efficiency and civic commitment. This simply must not be repeated during the coming year. The new budget also reveals a lower Rs 206 million deficit than last year’s Rs 292 million. CDA plans to explore new revenue sources to meet this deficit. Whatever these new avenues will be, CDA should take care that they would not be a burden on the common citizens.
THE outbreak of diarrhoea in Karachi’s Muslimabad area in Landhi has so far claimed 12 lives in the past two days and affected some 6,000 residents of this low-income neighbourhood. Doctors have now confirmed contaminated water supply to be the cause of the outbreak. Residents say that their water supply has been contaminated by sewerage water for the last two months but the Water and Sanitation Department has remained apathetic. The dead include seven children, and if it were not for Edhi Foundation, which has set up emergency treatment camps in the area, the number of fatalities would have been much higher. The only public hospital in the vicinity providing some relief to the affected people is the 100-bed Korangi Hospital which, because of its limited facilities, is unable to cope with the situation. Residents allege that the other nearby hospital — Social Security Hospital — is refusing to treat or admit the affected people. This is creating hardship for patients who are forced to travel long distances to reach Jinnah and Civil hospitals downtown.
The problem of sewerage water mixing with underground water supply lines, unfortunately, is a common one in many other parts of Karachi. Illegal water connections, leakages in the rusty pipelines and laying of the pipelines next to the sewerage system are the main causes that lead to contamination of water. While the relevant institutions must provide emergency treatment and relief to Muslimabad residents, the W&SD must also be required to do the needful in other areas where similar complaints exist. This is necessary to avoid a recurrence, elsewhere, of the situation Muslimabad residents are now facing.