Kofi Annan’s advice

THE reported death of Uday and Qusay, Saddam Hussein’s sons, partly ends the uncertainty surrounding the fate of the ousted Iraqi leader and his family. There is no doubt their death in a shoot-out would prompt the occupation authorities to step up the hunt for Saddam himself, whose whereabouts remain a mystery. However, these are peripheral issues in the changed context and should not serve to distract attention from the real issue — the future of Iraq and America’s own predicament in staying on in a country that seems to be getting ready for a long guerilla war. Many of the assumptions behind America’s war on Iraq have proved self-serving or false. Ignoring for the moment the issue of weapons of mass destruction — a hoax of monstrous proportions — no section of the Iraqi population is prepared to put up with foreign occupation. Before the war, the world had been told that the Iraqis would rejoice in Saddam’s ouster and welcome the Americans as liberators. A great many Iraqis no doubt felt relieved at the fall of the tyrannical Baathist regime, there is nothing to suggest that the Americans are being hailed as liberators by any of the three communities that constitute the Iraqi nation. Nothing of the sort has happened. Instead, Shias are perhaps more hostile to the Anglo-American occupation than the Sunni minority. Attacks on American soldiers are taking place all over Iraq, and in the words of Centcom chief Gen. John Abizaid, the US is facing a classical guerilla war.

The situation is compounded by the fact that Washington is virtually alone and isolated in coping the post-Saddam situation in Iraq. The isolation stems from America’s decision to attack Iraq without a UN mandate and without the support of some of America’s key European allies. As a result, only America and Britain have been policing Iraq since April 9, when Baghdad fell: they have been desperately looking for help from other nations in managing post-war Iraq. For two obvious reasons, no government is willing to send troops to Iraq: one, the occupation of Iraq does not have a UN backing; two, the occupation seems open-ended.

The US must now pay heed to the advice contained in the report sent to the Security Council by the UN Secretary-General. Briefly, Mr Kofi Annan’s report calls for a time-table for a restoration of sovereignty to Iraq so that the Iraqi people could take charge of their country. The report notes the “growing impatience” in Iraq over the current situation and seeks “specific steps” for ending the American occupation. But there is no indication that America is planning an early exit. The newly formed interim Iraqi council is controversial manned as it is by those handpicked by the US. It has no executive power and will merely act as an advisory body for the benefit of US administrator Paul Bremer. Unless, Washington comes up with a time-table for withdrawal and for transferring power to an elected Iraqi authority, popular resistance to occupation will intensify, adding to the cost of occupation in both economic and human terms.

Thal canal controversy

IT is disquieting that no serious effort is being made to allay Sindh’s misgivings regarding the impact of the proposed Thal canal project. The Rs 30 billion project is aimed at irrigating 534,500 acres of arid land in the economically depressed Khushab, Bhakkar, Layyah and Jhang districts of Punjab. But the project has become controversial mainly because of strong opposition, particularly from politicians from Sindh. On the face of it, what makes this opposition rather uncalled for is the fact that the Thal canal, when operational, will only draw water from Punjab’s share of 55.96 MAF, as per the 1991 Irsa accord on water sharing among the provinces. The majority vote approving the construction of the canal was three-to-one, with Sindh alone dissenting. This was because the canal sought 0.624 MAF additional water from the Indus river only if flooding conditions prevailed in the river system during the monsoon season and if doing so would not affect the 10 MAF agreed Kotri downstream discharge in the Indus river.

It may seem that the position taken by Sindh back then, and its politicians now, is based on a misapprehension of the possible impact of the canal project on the province’s agriculture. But a closer examination of conditions since the 1991 accord makes the picture clearer. Sindh’s agriculture, fisheries and coastal environment have suffered enormously as sea water has encroached on its irrigable land rendering an additional 2.2 million acres uncultivable over the past decade or so. This shows that the provisionally agreed 10 MAF Kotri downstream discharge in the Indus river is not enough to keep the sea at bay. At the time of signing the agreement Irsa had promised to formulate a technical commission to ascertain the actual quantity of water that must flow into the Arabian Sea to protect Sindh’s coastal areas from sea water incursions. Such a commission is yet to be set up to study the delta region and submit its technical report. While the Thal canal is being built there is still time to address Sindh’s very legitimate concerns by forming the proposed commission so as to address the problem at hand. Meanwhile, the politicians would do well to refrain from politicizing the Thal canal issue, because doing that will serve no other purpose than cause provincial disharmony over a matter that is more of technical and substantive importance.

Before it gets any worse

THE recent spell of rains has brought considerable misery to the people of Karachi, and a rash of epidemics. Thousands seem to have fallen prey to the highly infectious conjunctivitis, a viral disease, which affects the eyes and makes them watery and feel extremely itchy. Caused by the sharing of dirty towels or unhygienic water, perhaps the only good thing about conjunctivitis is that it is self-terminating and goes away on its own after a few days. However, certain other ailments that have hit the city’s residents are proving more problematic. For instance, gastroenteritis complications, especially diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases flare up whenever the rainy season comes along and add to the breeding grounds. With the monsoon far from over and more rains forecast for the days ahead, it is imperative that Karachi’s civic agencies take all necessary measures to prevent water-borne and other infectious diseases from spreading and creating a public health crisis.

Though the city government often takes the credit for clearing most major roads of rainwater, the fact is that many smaller streets and most open spaces in the city’s low-income neighbourhoods continue to be dotted with pools and puddles. These potential breeding grounds have to be eliminated by a comprehensive draining and spraying campaign if a rapid spread of diseases and other health problems for the people is to be averted. The government must immediately see to it that all pools of stagnant water, whether on roads or in open plots and grounds, are immediately drained out and the residue sprayed with disinfectant. The process should be prompt and thorough to prevent the spread of gastroenteritis, diarrhoea, hepatitis and such other afflictions. Areas particularly prone to this, especially kutchi abadis, must be targeted and the city government must utilize all the resources at its disposal for this.