Beyond the religious dimension

EVER since he took over power, General Pervez Musharraf has been consistent in his criticism of religious extremism and fundamentalism, believing that these retard the country’s development as a progressive and enlightened society. He again assailed reactionary trends in a meeting with editors and columnists in Lahore on Monday. According to one journalist who attended the briefing, the president left no doubt in anyone’s mind about his vision for a moderate Pakistan at peace with itself and with the rest of the world. He grouped sectarianism and religious extremism as two parts of a triad, the third element being made up of Al Qaeda and the Taliban. He underlined the need for tolerance and brotherhood, regretting that not enough people were standing up to be counted in resisting the challenge posed by fanatics.

Gen Musharraf has repeatedly emphasized this theme in his speeches and press conferences here and abroad since 9/11. But to give him credit, he had included this as one of his major concerns even before the cataclysmic events of September 2001 and the subsequent war in Afghanistan when Pakistan became part of the US-led campaign against terror. The government has also moved against some sectarian and “jihadi” organizations, banning a few of the more active ones, although whether they have actually wound up their operations is not clear. But the struggle against extremism has several dimensions, and some of them are inextricably bound up with state policies. Afghanistan and Kashmir are but two of these dimensions. The ouster of the Taliban regime has not quite finished off the Taliban or Al Qaeda, and the potential for trouble on this score remains. Kashmir continues to fester and has provided its own militant impetus to religious parties here, quite apart from the country’s principled position on the issue.

There is another important dimension also. Moderation and tolerance cannot be practised in isolation and restricted to the religious domain or to political spheres of the government’s own choosing. They have to be reflected in the overall approach to constitutional and political matters. There is some irony in the fact that while the president talks of moderation, the parties he will prefer to deal with in ensuring that his LFO-dominated agenda is accepted are those that would fall within his definition of fundamentalist. In Lahore again on Monday, he made known his distaste for dealing with the PPP and the PML-N, which, in our rather mixed-up political scenario, will come closest to being described as moderate parties in terms of secular politics. As to the president’s call for people to stand up and be counted in the fight against extremism, how do you do so in a rigidly controlled system where the people’s will, parliament and the constitution are devalued? Protesting against religious extremism cannot be separated from protesting against authoritarianism. Both reflect an inability to accept dissent, without which a democracy cannot be successfully managed. Just as military men might think they know best what is good for us, so would the maulvi in the mosque defining his concept of a true Muslim. If, therefore, we want to really change our society, we have to accept pluralism in all its forms, and in every area of our lives, political, social, religious and cultural. For this to happen, we need to get over notions of self-righteousness and work towards creating a system that reflects the democratic spirit of the times.

Need for new food law

THE revelation that the country’s laws to govern food standards have not been revised since they were instituted 38 year ago is worrisome. This shows that the existing legislation on a matter as important as food safety is extremely limited in scope — to the point of becoming obsolete. The Pure Food Ordinance of 1965 is still in force today — on paper at least. The apathy of successive governments on the issue of food safety can be judged from the fact that the ordinance’s list of standards for 107 foodstuffs has not been revised since 1965. One of the hallmarks of a good law is that it should not only take care of the present; it should be able to respond to the demands of the future and keep up with changes in society and advancements in technology.

On this count, the 1965 ordinance has turned out to be a disappointment because it has failed to even recognize, let alone regulate, the numerous food-making technologies, artificial ingredients and food additives that have been developed and made their way to Pakistani palates in the past 38 years. Thankfully, there is still some hope. The more recently-established Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) has specified purity standards for almost 400 foodstuffs and this list is clearly more up-to-date and exhaustive. In fact, the PSQCA’s recommendations seem far more scientific in that the limits for potentially harmful ingredients like food additives, artificial sweeteners and pesticide residues have been set. The authority also has guidelines concerning the presence of microbes and bacteria in food, and its work could prove to be very useful in ensuring that foodstuffs available to the people are safe for eating. The government must order a thorough revision of the 1965 Ordinance. It should in clude the provisions set down by the PSQCA so that at least the scope of the law is expanded to make it more effective in ensuring some semblance of food purity. Once the amended law is in place, food inspectors in the provinces should be re-trained and this should be followed by a comprehensive upgrade of food-testing laboratories.

Soaring vegetable prices

VEGETABLE prices in Karachi have skyrocketed following the week-long rain spell in the city, the interior of Sindh and the adjoining areas of Balochistan. This is because road links with Balochistan have been cut off after a bridge on the Hub river collapsed on the main Karachi-Quetta highway. As for the interior of Sindh, which also fulfils much of Karachi’s produce needs, a large number of standing vegetable crops have been washed away by the torrential rains and the consequent flooding. The worst-hit commodity in the market is the tomato, which mostly comes from Balochistan. Following the suspension of supplies, tomatoes retailed for as high as Rs 120 per kg in parts of Karachi, as against Rs 15-20 per kg prior to the rains. The prices of onion and bitter gourd have doubled and those of green chillies, coriander and mint leaves have risen manyfold because the fresh crops in the rain-hit areas of Sindh have been washed away.

The shortage of fresh produce reaching the city can be judged from the fact that only about 100 trucks of vegetables are coming to the Sabzimandi daily these days, as against the normal 450-500 truckloads of supplies. The scarcity and the surge in the prices of the vegetables in the market mean additional hardships for people, especially the daily wage-earners and factory hands, who have already lost several days of work to the rains. The city and the provincial government should arrange the supply of produce to Karachi from Punjab — where the crops have been good and survived the fury of the monsoon — as part of its on-going relief efforts. The National Highway Authority should also expedite the repair work at the Hub river bridge so that traffic can resume on this important national highway as soon as possible.