| 26 February 2004 | Thursday | 05 Muharram 1425 |
Campus violence
Capital housing
The military operations against terrorists hiding in the tribal areas seem to be producing results. Even though the security agencies have a long way to go, the reported arrest of foreigners - estimated between 20 and 25 - serves to underline the gravity of the problem.
Mercifully, there were no casualties on either side, and the authorities were able to seize huge quantities of arms and ammunition. The success of the military operations has been possible because of the cooperation extended by the area's tribal maliks and elders. Before the operations, they had handed over 32 wanted terrorists to the security agencies.
About 40 are believed to be still at large. Those arrested on Tuesday are believed to include Saudi, Egyptian and Yemeni nationals, with something of a mystery surrounding some others.
Four women holding Kazakh passports are also stated to have been detained. Given Afghanistan's ethnic mix, one does not know whether they were activists or wives of Afghan nationals. In any case, the entire operations and arrests serve to point out the influence Al Qaeda still commands in Pakistan's tribal belt.
The war on terror is not going to be easy or short. To produce results, it must be sustained and pursued with vigour and pragmatism. More important than military operations is the question who are Al Qaeda's backers and supporters in Pakistan.
Al Qaeda is an international organization, and it goes without saying that it still has money and arms, besides activists who enjoy support in many parts of the Muslim world, including Pakistan. The operations in Pakistan since 9/11 have broken the organization's back, but it still exists.
Two powerful acts of terrorism in the post-9/11 period - the attack on the American consulate in Karachi and the killing of 11 French engineers in 2002 - showed that it was still capable of mounting spectacular acts of terrorism. Since these two events, no major incident on that scale has occurred.
There have been attacks on mosques and churches, but it is still not clear whether those were carried out by Al Qaeda agents or by Pakistani religious fanatics. The latter may have sympathy for Al Qaeda, but they may not necessarily be operating in tandem with that body.
This brings us to a most sensitive issue. There are many religious organizations which are quite puritan and strict in their interpretation of Islam, but they do not have a political agenda.
The focus of the government's attention, thus, must be those extremist and militant outfits which have gone underground after being banned but still have the capacity to strike. The large majority of madrassahs and the organizations which run them concern themselves with producing imams for the community by giving them the traditional Islamic education. This role they have performed for centuries in the Muslim world.
The current operations against Al Qaeda must, therefore, make a clear distinction between these two sets of people. It is the militants, sectarian extremists, and the remnants from the anti-Soviet jihad of the '80s that need to be tackled.
The foreign media claim that the latter category also has supporters in the Pakistani military. One should not be surprised, because, during his 11-year rule, Ziaul Haq unabashedly politicized part of the army and encouraged certain religious political parties to propagate their views even to cadets.
One hopes the armed forces' high command has learnt its lessons, and the Pakistan Army's professionalism will not be eroded by further exposure to the hidebound ideas and notions of any religious party or groups of so-called ideologues.
Campus violence
There has been a resurgence of violence lately in Karachi colleges which does not bode well for academic life. Fifteen activists of two student groups were injured in clashes at three colleges in the city on Tuesday. This follows a series of clashes in different colleges over the past week or so.
This is a continuation of a trend of student violence that shows no sign of abating. Last month, a student of the prestigious Government Commerce College in Karachi who was also an activist of the student wing of a religious party, was shot dead by students from a rival group.
There was a lot of hue and cry over the incident, with the city Nazim leading the funeral prayers for the deceased. However, so far none of the murderers have been arrested. In the mean time, there have been several clashes by activists belonging to student wings of various political and religious parties in different parts of the city, including the Karachi University. With the passage of time, both the frequency and the intensity of these clashes seem to be increasing.
It is time the government took both short- and long-term measures to settle this problem. The government should ask the leaders of political and religious parties whose student wings are involved in the clashes to put their activists under restraint, take them to task for their recent activities and give assurances that they will not be involved in such brawls in the future.
For its part, the government should lift the ban on student unions in both colleges and universities so that students have a common meeting ground and a constructive channel for the ventilation of their energies and ideas. Experience shows student violence has been low when student unions formed an integral part of academic life and has risen when these were banned.
The Supreme Court has already declared the ban on student unions as illegal and unconstitutional. Student bodies and all those interested in peace and harmony on campuses should take their cue from the Supreme Court ruling and put pressure on the government to restore student unions at an early date as a means of checking the growing violence on campuses.
Capital housing
The announcement by the chairman of the Capital Development Authority that a comprehensive plan was being devised to solve the housing problems of the citizens in Islamabad is welcome news. CDA's proposal to develop housing schemes in sectors like D-12 and G-13 is said to have been sent through the proper channels for approval, after which, according to the CDA chairman, construction work could start.
An investment group from the Middle East has already shown interest in developing such housing schemes in Islamabad. Several of such housing schemes providing accommodation to the people have already been developed in neighbouring Rawalpindi.
In Islamabad, many people have had difficulty in finding suitable accommodation as they cannot afford to buy plots or houses. The prices of these are beyond the reach of the ordinary family.
Even renting accommodation is a costly affair, with the rent of most houses needed by lower- or middle-income people taking up a considerable part of a family's monthly income, leaving very little for food and utility payments.
In recent years, the easy availability of car loans extended by the various banks and financial companies has enabled an increasing number of people to buy cars on instalments. Similarly, banks and financial institutions can also tie up with housing scheme developers to make housing and home ownership more affordable to the people through easy instalment schemes.
In this way, the money that people are already spending on rent can instead be used to repay loans obtained for their own homes. What CDA should ensure is that housing schemes be developed and houses made available to a cross-section of society in Islamabad, including the lower middle class and poorer sections as well.