Ironing out the wrinkles

PAKISTAN and Afghanistan have done the right thing by agreeing to send investigators to the border zone to ascertain the truth about the Afghan allegations of incursions by Pakistani troops into that country’s eastern border region and the clashes relating to these incidents last week. Pakistan denies the allegations of incursions, pointing out, as Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali has done: what would Pakistan gain by “entering 600 metres” inside Afghanistan? The decision to send investigators to the border region came after delegations from Pakistan, Afghanistan and the US met in Kabul on Tuesday to review the situation arising from the repeated allegations of intrusions by Kabul, clashes along the two countries’ border, anti-Pakistan rallies in Kabul and the attack on the Pakistan embassy there last week. The fact that the attack on the embassy was led by the governor of Afghanistan’s central bank adds a new twist to the spectacle of anti-Pakistan protests and rallies in Kabul and some other Afghan cities and towns over the last few days. The impression is inescapable that either these protest rallies enjoy the tacit approval of the Kabul government or a section of it, or they are being instigated by forces with sinister designs.

Who exactly can be interested in creating and widening a rift between Pakistan and Afghanistan may be a moot question. Mr Zalmay Khalilzad, the special American envoy for Afghanistan, was circumspect when he blamed “some countries” for trying to exploit the strained relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Mr Jamali was more forthright and said that he could not rule out an Indian involvement in the attack on the embassy. No wonder, Mr Zalmay asked Afghans to be “very careful” in this respect. In trying to defuse the situation and put Afghan-Pakistan relations on a firmer footing, at least three fundamentals need to be taken into account. One is the overriding need for Islamabad to continue to play its role as a member of the international coalition against terror. This means that Islamabad must address Kabul’s complaint that the Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorists are using Pakistani territory to conduct raids inside Afghanistan. Pakistan must take all necessary steps to ensure against any such possibility. Such steps must aim at rooting out the remnants of Al Qaeda networks that may still be hiding in Pakistan, especially in its border areas.

Two, Afghanistan needs rebuilding, and this is a task in which Pakistan’s help and cooperation are vital. At the same time, Islamabad should know that there is no other country whose peace and stability or the lack of these can affect Pakistan the way Afghanistan’s do. The authorities in Kabul should note that they need Pakistan’s cooperation not only for economic reconstruction but also for political stability and for harmony among its ethnic communities. A regime hostile to Pakistan cannot give peace, progress and stability to the Afghan people. Finally, it must be realized that Pakistan has a special place in the scheme of things affecting Afghanistan. This position has been ordained by history and geography. Populations on both sides have enduring ties of religion, race and language. Any attempt by outside powers to create an artificial space for themselves will merely add to the anarchy and chaos in Afghanistan. Economic ties, too, bind Afghanistan to Pakistan. Any attempt to foment trouble in Afghanistan and to make misguided elements stage anti-Pakistan rallies will only add to the Afghan predicament.

Victims of hate crime

TUESDAY’s shooting to death of two Pakistani students in Maryland (US) by unidentified American youths had all the signs of a hate crime. The unprovoked killings have sent shock waves among the expatriate community in America. The two victims were shot from a close range, without any provocation, by four or five armed American youngsters who drove up to them in a car, ordered them to raise their hands at gunpoint, and then shot them in cold blood. Surprisingly, the police in Prince George’s Country, where the killing took place, have termed the incident a robbery attempt. This is belied by several eyewitnesses to the tragic incident, who say that the killers did not even search the new car, which one of the victims had brought to show to his friend, the other victim. The police’s attitude just goes to show the customary denials the very words ‘hate crime’ elicit from the American lawmen. Yet, such attacks have been on the rise since 9/11, as racist groups and individuals have increasingly targeted Arabs and Muslims — their businesses, mosques, community centres and other institutions run by them.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based rights group, in a recent report quoting FBI sources, says that the number of hate-motivated crimes against Arab and Muslim targets increased from 28 in 2000 to 481 in 2001. This is a sharp rise, and makes one wonder whether the new wave of a virulent form of nationalist and racist paranoia sweeping America today is reminiscent of the McCarthyism of the 1950s and ‘60s. The fact remains that both — the recent incidents of hate-motivated crimes and those committed in the McCarthyist era — were spurred on by state policy, which singled out and demonized a certain group of people. Rights groups blame the Bush administration’s “Islamaphobic rhetoric” and the neo-cons’ brainchild, the Homeland Security Act, whose provisions are specifically biased against Arab and Muslims viewing them as security risks, imprisoning them on mere suspicion and requiring them to register with the Justice Department. This is plain and simple discrimination in action, which emboldens other sick-minded and racist elements in society to target the same hapless people with impunity.

Streamlining traffic signals

THE Karachi city government’s plan to spend Rs 1.3 million on installing traffic signals will hopefully help ease the traffic congestion that seems to have become a permanent feature of the city’s roads. Several major traffic intersections and junctions are to get new signals. However, other than installing new signals, the city’s traffic and communications department, which is behind this new scheme, should also see to it that existing signals are regularly maintained and kept operational. This is especially necessary during the current rainy season and perhaps the department should seriously explore the possibility of having a standby arrangement to provide power to signals at particularly busy traffic intersections during spells of power failure which are quite frequent these days. The department should also carry out a survey of major city roads to ensure that the duration of the green light at these intersections is in proportion to the volume of traffic.

So many times it is seen that the green light in a particular direction at a busy junction is unreasonably short and not enough for a substantial portion of the traffic to pass through. In fact, such traffic signals actually aggravate congestion, cause traffic accidents, and are an ideal hunting ground for unscrupulous traffic policemen on the look out for an opportunity to extort money from unwary motorists by accusing some of them of having jumped the red light. Karachi’s traffic planners could also take a lesson in better traffic management from other South Asian cities, notably New Delhi. Countdown clocks have been placed, right next to the lights, at busy traffic junctions in the Indian capital. By keeping track of the clocks, motorists know just how long more they have to wait before the signal turns green. When the wait is longer, many motorists prefer to switch off their vehicles, saving petrol and reducing the level of air pollution. This kind of arrangement at busy traffic intersections could serve an extremely useful purpose in Karachi. The city government must examine the possibility of adopting this tuning mechanism.