Vajpayee’s positive note

THE Pakistan foreign office has, correctly and promptly, welcomed reports from New Delhi that Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has agreed to attend the Saarc summit due to be held in Islamabad in January. The origin of the reports is the JUI leader, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, who met Mr Vajpayee on Sunday during a visit to India. No official communication has been received so far from New Delhi of Mr Vajpayee’s readiness to attend the summit, which should have been convened this year but had to be postponed because of India’s failure to confirm its participation in the summit. But Maulana Fazlur Rahman was quite categorical in reporting on his meeting with Mr Vajpayee. Asked what was the most important outcome of his discussions with the Indian prime minister, the JUI leader told Dawn’s correspondent: “Undoubtedly, it was the promise that Mr Vajpayee will visit Islamabad for the Saarc summit.”

It is not perhaps without significance that the Indian prime minister should have chosen a meeting with a political leader from Pakistan to make his decision known. There has been some scepticism about the maulana’s trip to India in certain sections of public opinion here and also in India. Some people have pointed out the JUI’s involvement with the “jihadi” forces to suggest that Maulana Fazlur Rahman could hardly be expected to be taken seriously across the border; others said the maulana’s waffling on issues concerning India and Afghanistan, or indeed national issues, did not make him a very credible interlocutor. But such criticism ignored the fact that India being a fairly developed political society, its leaders do not feel uncomfortable talking to politicians of various schools and shades of opinion and from diverse backgrounds and exchanging views with them without any inhibition. Indeed, on the basis of his performance there, Maulana Fazlur Rahman might well have proved a better breaker of ice than our foreign office mandarins. A strong case exists for increased contacts between Pakistan’s political parties and leaders and those of India in order to ensure a better understanding of each other’s point of view within and outside official circles in the two countries. India also needs to make a serious effort to reach Pakistani politicians; too often it has said and done things that have only strengthened the point of view of the hawks and isolated politicians who believe in dialogue and interaction. More political exchanges between the two countries should prove helpful.

But politicians can only discuss broad policy contours. Somebody else has to tackle the nitty-gritty of a most complex relationship. Mr Vajpayee was right in conveying through Maulana Fazlur Rahman that Indian and Pakistani foreign secretaries should first meet to prepare the ground for talks at a higher political level. A lot of hard work has to be put in at the basic level — how hard should be clear from the months it needed to agree on getting high commissioners back in each other’s capital. Rather than spurts of bonhomie alternating with spells of total lack of communication, both sides should aim at a sustainable political dialogue, covering all issues, both positive and negative. This is a method worth trying for a change. Also, it is important to stop playing to the gallery, refrain from polemics and work quietly away from the glare of publicity.

Iraqi prisoners’ travails

IN a damning indictment of Paul Bremer’s administration in Iraq, Amnesty International has accused it of committing ‘very severe’ human rights abuses. Hundreds of Iraqis have been detained since the fall of Baghdad and are being kept in what the rights group has termed appalling conditions. Reports of abuses being committed against the prisoners by the US soldiers have come in from Iraq’s two largest prisons near Baghdad. One of these is Saddam Hussein’s notorious Abu Ghraib prison and the other was recently set up at the Baghdad airport, where prisoners are kept handcuffed and squatting on their knees under tents pitched on a desert track. Some of the released prisoners have accused US soldiers of using brutal torture methods, including having them to stand handcuffed behind the back or forcing them to kneel down and stay in that position in the blazing sun in over 50-degree Celsius temperatures all day. Amnesty’s investigating team, which is currently visiting Iraq to probe HR abuses committed under the Baathist rule, was denied permission to visit any of the prisons.

In the absence of defined rules and regulations governing the imprisonment of Iraqis, no data as to the exact number or categories of the captives being held by the occupying forces are available. Many of the prisoners are believed to be members of the Baathist party and military officials of the ousted regime, who should be treated as prisoners of war and extended the protocol accorded to the POWs under the Geneva Conventions. All prisoners, including those under the age of 18, are denied any legal process and their families are barred from meeting them. AI has accused the American soldiers of treating juvenile prisoners on a par with the adults in violation of the traditional rights, protection and immunities admissible to them. The situation underlines the need for extending the role of the United Nations to oversee the functioning of an interim set-up pending the formation of an elected Iraqi government. It is time the world paid more attention to the Iraqis’ plight: they are simply sick of being subjected to victor’s justice being practised by the occupying forces.

Warning alone won’t do

ACCORDING to the Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA), at least 180 buildings in the city are dangerous for living. Residents of these buildings have been asked to vacate the buildings in their own interest and safety. The authority has therefore warned the general public, through the news agency, that it would not be held responsible for any loss of life or damage to property if some of these structures collapse or are otherwise damaged as a result of rain and storms. The KBCA’s warning may be well timed and well intended but what next? Does the authority think most of those living in these buildings, situated mostly in rundown areas, would have read its warning? And even if some of them have, would they have the means to vacate their homes and shift elsewhere? The KBCA’s warning seems to be more an attempt to absolve itself of any responsibility for apathy should some mishap occur. In fact, it does not even mention the 180 unsafe buildings by name or give their addresses, so that no practical purpose is served as far as warning the public is concerned.

The danger of some building collapsing during the monsoons is not limited only to old or decrepit structures but also to relatively new ones. Last week when Karachi experienced heavy rain, a recently-constructed 13-storeyed building developed large cracks and had to be quickly vacated. All announcements by the KBCA declaring certain buildings dangerous for living must carry all relevant details, like names and addresses and should be widely publicized, especially in the vernacular press. Also, the KBCA should send its staff to these buildings individually to warn the residents of the risk they run by continuing to live in them. The local administration too have a role to play in persuading the residents of the unsafe buildings to pull out and where necessary in helping them find affordable alternative accommodation.