| July 29, 2003 | Tuesday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 28, 1424 |
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Sindh rain emergency
SUNDAY’S talks between the government and the opposition failed to achieve a breakthrough; mercifully, they did not collapse either. There is, thus, hope — without optimism. The indications are the government and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal probed each other’s minds and found the other side willing to be flexible. This is evident from the fact that the two sides have agreed to meet again, though no date has been specified. The really contentious issues which have generated heat ever since the Legal Framework Order was promulgated by the president remain three — 58-2(b), the National Security Council and Gen. Pervez Musharraf retaining his uniform while remaining the head of state. The spokesmen from both sides said that Sunday’s talks at the prime minister’s house had ended on a positive note, and there was a possibility that the negotiators could find a “middle way.” There is no indication from the government whether it has accepted August 2004 as the cut-off date for Gen. Musharraf to cease to be the army chief. If he did that, the MMA indicated that the opposition would be willing to have him elected a civilian president for a five-year term. When the term will begin has been left unclear, though one must accept with a pinch of salt Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad’s claim that it will begin from August 2004.
If the issue about the president’s uniform is sorted out — as indications are that it possibly could be — then perhaps the government could see the untenability of its position on the other two. Both the NSC issue and the 58 -2(b) need to be looked at from the point of view of the new political ethos that has been developing in Pakistan. The arbitrary use of article 58-2(b) by successive presidents has done enormous harm to the country’s political fortunes. The idea that the vagaries and weaknesses of democracy can be corrected only from above the political system, that is by means of arbitrary intervention by a head of state who is a law unto himself, has worked to the detriment of healthy constitutional evolution. Its arbitrary use has merely contributed to instability and produced political opportunism and administrative corruption. More democracy is the only logical solution to democracy’s failings — something the Establishment in Pakistan has consistently refused to understand. The other idea that is as much of an anathema to believers in democracy as 58-2(b) is the proposal for the NSC, which involves institutionalization of the army’s role in the political system.
Over the decades, a sea change has occurred in the thinking of politically conscious people about the role of the army in national affairs. More and more people have come to the conclusion that the path to long-term political stability lies in the direction of developing and perfecting a political system that enjoys constitutional legitimacy, is based on popular representation and participation and ensures peaceful and uncontested succession in office. Army rule does not ensure any of these things. Worse, our experience shows that depoliticization of the nation for long spells has meant erosion of political institutions and the strengthening of ethnic and sectarian cleavages which have proved detrimental to national unity.
The very idea behind the NSC is obnoxious — that the nation’s elected leadership should play second fiddle to a non-elected lot. More important, on a given issue, the national interests as represented by the prime minister will be subject to control and possible manipulations by unelected persons. The LFO crisis has dragged on for too long. It is time the wielders of power pulled the nation out of it. A compromise is long over due. The MMA has shown flexibility on the issue of the president’s uniform; it is time the government reciprocated by giving up on the NSC and 58-2(b). A stage has clearly been reached when a comprehensive political settlement should put an end to the stalemate which has paralysed the parliament and impaired democratic governance. Previously, all amendments and “systems” survived so long as their authors remained in power. Once they were out, they were discarded with the contempt they deserved. If the authors of the LFO do not want their handiwork to suffer the same fate, it is time they decided to uphold the supremacy of parliament.
Here one would also like to regret the decision by the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy to boycott the talks even though this was not without provocation. The government on its part will gain nothing by ostracizing the ARD, which has a broad national base. Any deal reached between the MMA and the government behind the ARD’s back will lack the status of a national political contract.
WITH more rain lashing Sindh, the flood situation is likely to worsen. Flooding is no more confined to a few districts, and the entire province seems to be on the verge of an emergency. The flooding has been caused both by widespread and torrential rain and by breaches in canals. The death toll is likely to go up, and the full extent of damage to houses and standing crops will be known only when the waters recede and the relief agencies are able to reach the people and places in distress. The governor has declared a state of emergency, but a mere declaration of it means nothing unless the relief agencies are able to cope with the magnitude of the disaster. The failure of the civilian agencies to do the relief job adequately is evident from the fact that the army has been called in to rescue stranded people and organize relief centres. The worst hit areas are in the southern Indus delta region, the Badin district, where the number of people affected has crossed the 300,000 mark. According to the relief department, some 22,567 houses have been destroyed and 8,659 cattle perished. Floodwaters have inundated villages and towns, cutting off road links with the rest of the province. In many cases people had to take shelter on roofs, sand dunes and trees to survive. Food supplies in the affected towns and villages have been washed away or are too scarce to keep the stranded people fed.
Obviously, the disaster did not come about overnight. Heavy monsoon rains have been lashing Sindh for a fortnight now amid serious flood warnings issued by the meteorology department. If the authorities concerned had paid attention to the met office’s warnings in time, surely some of the people’s miseries could have been avoided and food stocks replenished. Badin is not the only district in the province that has been affected by recent rains. Damage to standing crops and flooding have also been reported from Shikarpur, Sukkur, Larkana, Dadu, Hyderabad and Tharparkar districts. Given the tragic reports of disaster that have been pouring in from the affected areas and the declaration of emergency by the Sindh government, the authorities would well to remain in a state of alert in the days to come.
The monsoon rains may have taken too long a time coming, but this time round nature seems to be in full fury. It would simply not do to leave the people at its mercy. The relief needs to be stepped up. Which means food and medicines must be available in adequate quantities at relief centres, and people still safe but likely to be trapped in flood must be rescued in time.