| 30 January 2004 | Friday | 07 Zilhaj 1424 |
Welcome move
Lecturers' appointment
The review of police reforms under the Police Order 2002 by President Musharraf earlier this week is yet another attempt to modernize the 1861 Police Act, which was last amended in 1935. While there is a consensus that this law should be modified to meet present-day expectations, there is disagreement over what proposals should be implemented.
The full implementation of the order could not take place by the earlier deadline of September 30, 2003 set by the prime minister for a number of reasons. Now the chairman of the National Reconstruction Bureau has said that the new deadline for implementation will be August with proposals being finalized by the end of next month.
One of the main objections from the provinces is to the power given to the provincial police chief and making him responsible to the federal government instead of the provincial governments. The rationale given by the NRB is that the police chief will be completely independent in his working, in appointing subordinates and in dealing with issues in the province he serves. While this may sound good on paper, there is no guarantee that the police chiefs will be independent as interference will still be possible from the centre.
Also, this goes against the grain of devolution of powers as the power to hire and fire police officials will now rest indirectly in Islamabad despite the fact that law and order will remain a provincial subject.
There are, however, some parts of the Police Order that need to be supported, despite provincial reservations. For example, the proposal to separate the investigation and prosecution branches of the police force. The delays being witnessed in the creation of an Independent Prosecution Service (IPS) under the law departments of provincial governments shows the reluctance of the provincial bureaucracy to implement this.
While the Balochistan provincial assembly has already passed the law for the establishment of an IPS in that province, there is much feet dragging going on in the other three provinces. Even in Balochistan, the law needs to be further reviewed to make the IPS an independent entity or to place it under the control of the provincial law department. The biggest stumbling block is the home department in the provinces; this department at present is entrusted with both prosecution and investigation powers.
The amalgamation of these powers under one authority takes away an element of accountability from the process. There have been instances where the provincial police covers up its inefficiency by looking for evidence that matches its investigation work. Needless suffering is caused to many as confessions are extracted to corroborate the findings of the police.
Finally, for the Police Order to be successfully implemented, the framework that is part of the new police system has to be put in place. For example, the national and provincial public safety commissions as well as the Police Complaint Authority have to become functional.
Instead of imposing arbitrary deadlines, it is time the federal government had another round of discussions with its provincial partners to come to a workable arrangement under which the functioning of the police can be improved. If this is not done, the order would continue to be a source of controversy and heartburn despite the good intentions that have gone into it.
Welcome move
The Indian high commissioner's announcement in Karachi on Wednesday that his country will soon open a camp visa office in this city will come as a great relief to many residents of Karachi and Sindh. Since the closure of the Indian deputy high commission in Karachi in 1995, people wishing to travel to India from the southern parts of the country have had to go to Islamabad to get visas.
This has caused undue hardship to some 90 per cent of Pakistanis travelling to India as the vast majority of such intending travellers resides in Sindh. In addition, interaction between Karachi and Mumbai-based businessmen is particularly important for bilateral trade and commerce as the two cities are commercial capitals of their respective countries.
The reopening of the Indian deputy high commission may still take some time because it is linked to the reopening of a Pakistani mission in Mumbai, which was closed down after a dispute arose between the two countries over the ownership of the Jinnah House, the Quaid's old home in the Maharashtran capital. Meanwhile, the Indian government's decision to facilitate the people of Sindh by opening a camp visa office in Karachi must be welcomed. The move should help set a positive tone for next month's official dialogue between the two countries in Islamabad, when the expansion in diplomatic relations is very likely to be part of the agenda.
It is heartening to note that things are moving in the right direction between India and Pakistan since the stalemate was broken when the top leaders from the two countries met on the sidelines of the Saarc summit in Islamabad earlier this month. Another positive development that has come as a result of this is the resumption of visits by businessmen between the two countries.
A group of 160-200 Pakistani businessmen is set to travel to India in March. That should help explore further possibilities of bilateral trade and commerce that have remained hostage to political relations for too long. Increased business-to business and people-to-people contacts at various levels can only reinforce the case for a sustained dialogue at the political level.
Lecturers' appointment
The continuing delay by the Sindh education department in announcing the names of 700-plus successful candidates for the vacant posts of college lecturers reinforces the impression that the recruitment process has not been very transparent. In fact, it was the education department which had refused to heed the federal government's directive to make new appointments only through the Sindh Public Service Commission.
It had justified this by saying that new teachers could be hired through an equally transparent process, which included a written test and interview for short-listed candidates. A private educational institution conducted the test in mid-December and handed the results to the education department within ten days. It is now over a month but the names have yet to be announced.
This could create a misapprehension among the 10,000-plus applicants for the posts, and among the people at large, over the inexplicable delay and that perhaps the list is being manipulated to include political favourites and back-door entrants.
Had the Sindh education department not resisted the federal government's advice to recruit lecturers through the SPSC, it would not have made itself open to all kinds of allegations. Fairness and impartiality in such matters, which the provincial government and its senior functionaries are fond of mouthing, are crucial to good governance and efficiency of the administration.
The irony is that only recently the government lifted a long-standing ban on recruitment which was imposed after previous governments had inducted thousands of political appointees, especially in the police and the education department. The consequences of those policies are still there for all to see.
The province's police service and the education system are still hamstrung by those ill-advised policies and actions. A reversal process may well be made with the transparence and fairness of lecturers' recruitment straight away. The longer the announcement of their appointment is delayed, the greater the chance of its manipulation by vested political interests.