Have we learnt to live as neighbours?

Saarc is over and so is the ordeal of the citizens of Islamabad and partly Rawalpindi. Islamabad was completely shut down including the civil courts, the federal government, the airport and the business centres. Even the Supreme Court was shut down.

The area where the federal government offices are located happened to fall within the red circle where no one was allowed to go except those on security duty or the invited guests. Enormous cost in terms of inconvenience to the citizens of Islamabad and to the business can only be guessed but not correctly calculated. All this cost was imposed in the name of security.

It was an admission of failure on the part of the security apparatus, as they could not ensure security in an environment of normality. The occasion proved to be a bonanza for the security agencies because the finance division must have granted their wishes for limitless funds without demur, because no official functionary would dare refuse funds demanded in the name of security for fear of being blamed for jeopardizing it. All normal rules regarding expenditure must have been suspended in the name of emergency governing the conduct of the conference. The taxpayer was the poorer as a result.

Complete shut down of a city can be justified only in case of war. The US too has acted in great dread of the possible terrorist attacks and has closed Las Vegas, Chicago and the city of New York to some aircraft. They had closed all the airports in the wake of 9/11. They have mandated air marshals for the foreign flights unless they want to lose access to the American space. No other country has resorted to such drastic measures.

The Saarc conference was only an insignificant international event where seven south Asian countries, most of whom do not seem to matter to the outside world, met. Similar situation confronted the British when the US president came calling recently to savour his victory over Iraq with his soulmate in London. Anticipating huge protest against the most unpopular US president, the British were asked by the sole superpower to shut down London for the duration of the presidential visit.

But the Mayor of London contemptuously turned down the request. The 'honoured' guest, fearful for his security in a country where not one prime minister has been assassinated in more than a century, was forced to enter the Royal Palace through the back door and exit too from there.

Heathrow airport continued to function normally and so did the courts. In the Second World War Churchill is said to have famously remarked when told that the courts were functioning that there was no further cause of worry. But we shut down our capital city for a much lesser reason.

SAARC was overshadowed by newfound bonhomie between India and Pakistan. All official energies were focused on trying to please the Indian prime minister. One of the most presentable members of the federal cabinet was appointed his minister-in-waiting. An earlier choice for the honour was shelved to no small consternation of the minister concerned.

The hosts of the conference were made to suffer an agonizing wait for the decision of the Indian prime minister whether to meet the Pakistani COAS doubling as the President. This he did and that was the crowning moment for the hosts.

The tense moments when the two met were transparent for the viewers to see. The host reluctantly stood his ground to receive his honourable guest perhaps on the advice of Foreign Office not to appear too keen or too welcoming rather than follow his instincts of showing traditional warmth and respect for an esteemed and elderly guest. The Chief of Army Staff later characterized the outcome as a leap forward.

Indeed! So much self-congratulation on the happy conclusion of the 12th Saarc conference may perhaps be premature. One is forced to think that the Saarc conference degenerated into a forum of bilateral talks between India and Pakistan. Nobody seemed to notice the importance of the conference intended to be an International gala to discuss mostly the economic issues relating to all the seven countries of the region.

Islamabad declaration issued at the conclusion of the bilateral talks between the Indian PM and Gen. Musharraf binds the two countries to start a composite dialogue after six months or maybe as early as next month.

India has assured Pakistan that it would hold sustained talks from February including those on Kashmir. Such a dialogue will be preceded by a discussion on matters like trade and people-to-people contact.

People have missed reactions. Most are euphoric. But some are outright cynical about the prospects. The present situation where we have arrived after so much endeavour, resembles the one that obtained at the time of Vajpayee's visit to Lahore in a bus, about five years back. The differences in setting are crucial.

Then the Chief of Army Staff had refused even to be present at the reception for the Indian prime minister and Jamaat-i-Islami activists were present in large numbers, obviously encouraged by their well-known handlers, to damage the cars of visiting dignitaries to the venue of dinner hosted by the prime minister of Pakistan for his Indian guest at Lahore Red Fort or to cause maximum disruption. This time the COAS was master of the ceremonies and Jamaat-i-Islami was purring like a tame cat in the warm embrace of the LFO and the 17th Amendment.

Five years of wasted opportunities after the bus 'yatra', we are now prepared to accept the bus, rail and air connections between the India and Pakistan as a huge progress, although the same had existed prior to 1999. What went wrong was the 'Kargil', which was considered by the Indians as a betrayal.

Two years later another opportunity offered at Agra was frittered away by an irresistible desire to appear tough and to show that there could be no compromise on the core issue of Kashmir. That is history now. The last straw on the camel back was the terrorist attack on Indian parliament, which the Indians blamed on us. So far one has not seen much evidence though.

In 1999, the talks that began at the secretaries level between India and Pakistan but did not make much progress because of the peculiar mindset of the bureaucrats on either side of the divide had prevented a desirable outcome. Our prime minister did not have a clue of the people serving him or their inclinations.

So much so that the principal member of his team included a foreign secretary who was expressly hostile to any progress in talks with India which he considered to be an exercise in public relations. It is, therefore, important for General Musharraf or the prime minister to choose the team very carefully so that they subscribe to their desire of durable understanding between the two countries.

An episode may illustrate the point one is trying to make. This writer led one of the several delegations to India to discuss water related issues, as part of the composite dialogue. In the first fifteen minutes of the discussion, the Indians realized that the talks were not going to lead to anywhere. Then, they started discussing weather and spent the remaining four hours of the allotted time for discussion on a joint statement, on the subject.

The two foreign office 'babus' spent the time struggling with two dozen odd words which could be styled as a joint statement and with which both could live in peace without inviting the opprobrium of having conceded anything. So much effort was lost on this non-event that other participants ceased to take interest. The following hot but polite exchange between the foreign office 'babus' alerted one. This is what the Indian 'babu' was saying to his Pakistani counterpart:

"This is the draft that you yourself corrected half an hour back. It has only been typed. I haven't changed a thing." One is wiser after the event. One hopes that 57 years have given enough reason to both the countries to change the tack and learn to live as neighbours.

E-mail: sshusain@hotmail.com

Civic problems mounting

Dera tehsil Nazim Aasim Zubair Khosa could not manage the affairs of the tehsil, including the problems of seven urban union councils of Dera Ghazi Khan city. The tehsil government has failed to provide a healthy environment and clean drinking water to the dwellers.

The green belt is being used as a filth depot by the TMA. Private companies are engaged in provision of comparatively clean drinking water in portable containers to the people on cash payment. The sewerage system is not working and choked gutters can be seen everywhere. Despite the directive of the Punjab governor, the Dera TMA could not procure a sucker machine to open choked sewers. Decaying fountains and traffic signals also could not be restored by the TMA.

Earlier, tehsil Naib Nazim Hafiz Khalid Rauf of the Jamaat-i-Islami had levelled corruption charges against tehsil Nazim Aasim Zubair before the national press and urged the National Accountability Bureau to take note of it. However, after some time he made a compromise with the tehsil Nazim.

The TMA has failed to recover its outstanding dues amounting to Rs6.5 million for 14,030 water supply connections. The Multan Electric Power Company is regularly getting money from the TMA, but the electricity dues of the tehsil are being paid by the Punjab government. In this regard, the provincial government has paid Mepco Rs60 million, claims the tehsil's finance officer, but it still demands money from TMA. The Mepco has disconnected power connections of TMA's water supply schemes on charges of non-payment, while it itself is a defaulter of TMA.

The construction of a general bus stand could not be completed by the TMA. Only a wagon stand was established while the rest of the construction plan could not be accomplished reportedly due to lack of funds.

Both wagons and buses are using the stand which is only meant for wagons. The outstanding rent of Rs2.5 million of the shops and other property of the TMA could not be recovered during the last two-and-a-half years. Encroachment and land-grabbing are a big problem in the Dera city. Land-grabbers have grabbed the commercial land of Mauza Fateh Jang in the hub of the city.

Environment pollution is being spread by motorcycle rickshaws which have increased road accidents. According to a doctor at the emergency ward of the DHQ Hospital, the ratio of accidents had increased due to unsafe motorcycle rickshaws. These problems could not be redressed by the TMA.

However, the tehsil Nazim assured the council at its recent session that the UAE dignitaries who came here every year to hunt the endangered houbara bustard would give donation for the establishment of a 20-bed hospital at his native village of Kot Mubarik, restoration of Manika canal, establishment of tubewells for the provision of drinking water to the city and establishment of a water filtration plant at the native town of district Nazim Jamal Khan Leghari.

A row between Taunsa Sharif tehsil Nazim Saeedullah Nasuha and local legislators has affected the development work of the tehsil. Two MPAs and one MNA of the tehsil belonged to the PML-Q while tehsil Nazim Saeedullah Nasua was also nominated by the chief minister for the top slot of the tehsil. Strangely, a harmonious relationship between the legislators and the tehsil Nazim could not be evolved.

Mr Nasuha told Dawn that he needed the staff of his own choice which he could not get. The Taunsa tehsil municipal officer and the tehsil Nazim did not have normal relations. The water supply schemes of the Taunsa Sharif were not functioning due to lack of management.

The newly-established tribal area tehsil has no infrastructure due to which its offices are based in Dera Ghazi Khan tehsil and Taunsa Sharif tehsil. Its Nazim, Usman Buzdar, the son of Buzdar tribal chief and MPA Fateh Mohammed Buzdar, belongs to the PML-Q. He said the tehsil had no income-generating resource of its own and was subsisting on provincial financial award.

Initially, the district government gave Rs0.5 million, but later on the money was given back to the district. He regretted that the district Nazim could not develop coordination with him due to his political differences with the PML-Q. He said only 50 per cent of the allocated funds could be released by the district government.

He said as many as 115 water supply schemes of the tribal area tehsil were not functioning. Only the Leghari-dominated area of the tehsil could get electricity during the last two-and-a-half years of the devolution plan.

No road could be constructed in the tribal area because the department for the construction of roads was under the district government. Due to political differences of district Nazim Jamal Leghari with him and the PML-Q, no project could be initiated, he said.

He regretted that the tribal area which was stretched over 2,500 square miles, had no telecommunication facility and metalled roads. Tehsil offices, including the office of tehsil Nazim, were situated in the Dera tehsil. He said teachers did not bother to come to school.

The check and balance system of educational institutions was under the district government, but its authorities were not paying attention to the area. He said the meeting of the district advisory committee on which the approval of development projects depended could not be held for the last two years.

Threat to devolution of power

Referring to the affairs of the Khairpur District Council, Kawish writes that the dispute over the post of the district Naib Nazim has taken a violent turn which is against democratic norms and the spirit of devolution of power.

It says that the situation is rooted in the interference of some Sindh ministers in the affairs of district governments whose Nazims are backed by an opposition party or are not close to the provincial administration. The ministers' interference has led to a cold war between the two sides which is evident from the Nazims' complaints about the defiant attitude of the DCOs.

The paper says the police refusal to register the Khairpur Nazim's FIR and her complaint that the force has become a party to the dispute reveals how powerless she is. Kawish believes that the episode has put a question mark on the independent working of the district government system as it suggests that power has not been actually devolved and those in power do not want their opponents to run a district government.

The paper urges the federal government to order an investigation an d stop interference in district government affairs. Awami Awaz takes up the recent spate of kidnappings in Larkana and the police inability to recover hostages. It comments that a week has passed since Sindh Chief Minister Ali Mohammad Mahar gave a 15-day deadline for the recovery of the kidnapped persons but the police have failed to take any concrete step in this regard.

It has compelled the families of hostages and citizens to march to the bandits' hideouts across the river and implore them in the name of humanity to release the victims. Is it not a people's vote of no confidence against the police, the paper asks.

Ibratwelcomes the seminar on water scarcity held by the M.A. Qazi Institute of Chemistry, Sindh University, and says the university has set an example which should be followed by other seats of higher learning. These should provide guidance to the government and the people on major issues confronting them.

Tameer-i-Sindh points out that in his address to parliament, President Gen Pervez Musharraf has again hinted at taking up the controversial Kalabagh dam project. The daily says that dams must be built but it should be small dams to which no province has any objection and not big ones which widen the gulf between the provinces.