| July 6, 2003 | Sunday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 5,1424 |
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Risks of careless disposal
FRIDAY’s horrible massacre in a Quetta imambargah must rank among one of the worst acts of terrorist violence in Pakistan’s history. Sectarian violence has been with us now for a decade, but what happened on Friday surpasses all other previous acts of sectarian terror in terms of the modus operandi adopted by the killers — suicide bombing. This has lent a new dimension to sectarian terror. Suicide bombers had previously killed 11 French engineers in Karachi in May last year, but this is for the first time that this form of killing has been used in sectarian-motivated killings. According to witnesses, three men first opened fire with automatic weapons and then two of them removed the pins of the grenades they were carrying, causing the terrifying explosions and killing many, including themselves. The third terrorist was trying to get away when he was shot; he died later in hospital. That means none of the attackers survived to enable the law enforcement agencies to get a clue to the identity of the brains behind the horrifying carnage.
The government has, as usual, condemned the massacre and promised to pursue and punish those responsible for it. Both President Musharraf, then in Paris, and Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali, who dashed to Quetta after the carnage, have blamed extremist elements and said these elements were acting against the will of the majority of Pakistanis. They are right, to be sure, but that does not take us anywhere. The question is: how is it that the large majority should continue to be hostage to terrorists and why should a small minority be free to deal death and destruction at will? Just last month, terrorists had struck in Quetta, killing 13 police trainees and in February two young men riding a motorcycle killed nine worshippers in a Karachi imambargah. Full statistics are not available, but between 1994 and 2002, 194 cases of sectarian killing and violence were registered in Karachi alone. If to this is added the number of such incidents countrywide, then one gets a frightening picture of the monstrosities of the sectarian demon stalking the land — without being reined in or eliminated from the scene.
The militants are generally well-armed, well-trained and well-funded and, above all, well-motivated. They not only kill, but they and the brains behind them seem to do a lot of planning before choosing their targets and the day and time of attacks. Obviously, the killers on the spot cannot operate with this ease and assurance unless they are part of a large and well-entrenched network run by people who have not yet been adequately identified. Some sectarian organizations have, no doubt, been outlawed, but banning them on paper does not mean that they have ceased to exist or lost their ability and intention to kill. Banning has merely driven them underground, but their organization and sources of funding and arms remain intact.
Why and how sectarian and religious militancy has come to acquire the present level of virulence and power in Pakistan is a long story. But, briefly, the jihad culture spawned by the Afghan war proved to be the turning point in undermining civil society in Pakistan. The jihad against the Soviet occupation was actively encouraged by the Ziaul Haq government and armed, trained and paid for by the CIA. Thus both Islamabad and Washington are responsible for what followed. The religious parties which trained and armed fighters for the jihad against the Soviet Union later discovered their power and acted independent of the government. In domestic politics, too, they defied the government writ, ran training camps and turned many madrassahs into places where boys were politicized and imbued with a divisive and militant concept of Islam. Not all parties are of a sectarian kind. But even those having a non-sectarian agenda have not been averse to using agitation and violence to achieve political ends. The cumulative effects of more than two decades of militant religious politics are before us. In short, Pakistan has moved further and further away from Jinnah’s concept of a modern, progressive and liberal Pakistan where every citizen is free to practise his/her faith in an atmosphere of freedom and tolerance.
Looking at the extent and dimensions of the problem and religious fanaticism, intolerance and militancy, one is appalled at the failure of the law enforcement agencies to keep extremist religious and sectarian forces in check and trace out and prosecute the real villains behind sectarian killings. Why have not, for instance, the intelligence agencies been able to penetrate terrorist networks and thus pre-empt many such attacks and arrest them before they strike? Mere condemnations and resolve of the kind expressed by the president and the prime minister are not enough. They should prove by deeds that they are capable of rooting out the menace of terrorism, especially of the sectarian variety. It is also regrettable that the ulema have not played the role that was expected of them in helping society be rid of the menace of sectarianism. Sectarian violence is not merely a law and order problem and cannot be got rid of solely by legal and administrative means alone. It is a religio-social aberration, and the ulema owe it to the people of Pakistan to create a climate of brotherhood and harmony by preaching the virtues of tolerance, which is central to Islam. A committee of ulema drawn from different schools of thought was set up some time back, but it failed to make any significant contribution in containing the bane of sectarianism.
ACCORDING to a report, the issue of disposal of hospital waste in a safe and proper manner has not been given the priority it deserves by local governments in Punjab. This is unfortunately the case with local governments in the rest of the country. Most hospitals, not just in Lahore but in Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and other large towns and cities as well, practically throw away their often-toxic and extremely hazardous waste in open containers. Because of its specific nature, hospital and clinical waste can include used syringes and needles, bandages, swabs, soiled cotton dressing, gloves, blood and sometimes even human limbs or organs left over from operations. The consequences of this for public health need no emphasis. One reason why hepatitis has spread so rapidly is that used syringes are taken from hospital dumps, often by scavengers, and re-introduced into the market. For that very reason, hospitals all over the world have very strict guidelines concerning the safe disposal of clinical waste.
In Pakistan, only a handful of institutions have such guidelines and that too not because of government insistence but because some hospital administrators are conscious of the need for proper disposal of waste. Local governments must realize their responsibility vis-a-vis public health and require all hospitals to adopt adequate measures for the safe handling and disposal of clinical waste. Hospital employees must be educated about this and also told that it is in the interest of their own health to strictly follow the relevant rules and procedures in the matter of waste disposal. Since clinical waste can be anything from a used syringe to a soiled cotton swab, such refuse must be separated and placed into different waste containers, and these should be labelled as such. As far as local governments go, out of their annual health budgets they should allocate a suitable amount so that such public health initiatives can take place by allowing incinerators to be installed that could be used by several local hospitals in each of the bigger medical centres. The corporate sector’s help could also be sought to procure and instal hospital incinerators.