| 30 March 2004 | Tuesday | 08 Safar 1425 |
Wana aftermath
Rehabilitating the disabled
The postponement of election in Afghanistan to September should not come as a surprise to anyone. Scheduled for June, the presidential and parliamentary elections had no chance of being conducted in a peaceful and orderly manner.
There are conditions of anarchy in most parts of the country, and the writ of the Karzai government does not run beyond Kabul. The warlords are as strong as ever, and the 6,000-strong Nato-led International Security Assistance Force has not yet decided to operate beyond Kabul and Kunduz.
The extent of anarchy is evident from the clash that took place last week in Herat between the governor and the one appointed by Kabul. It killed 100 people, including the son of Herat Governor Ismail Khan.
On Sunday, on the eve of his departure for the Berlin conference, President Hamid Karzai announced the postponement which the UN had been urging him to do for quite some time.
As Mr Kofi Annan told the Security Council and the General Assembly, "insecurity... follows a well-known pattern and has shown no signs of significant improvement." The UN secretary general feared some people could resort to suicide-bombing to disrupt the electoral process.
The postponement also suits President George Bush, who wants to show a democratic Afghanistan as one of his achievements as the presidential election draws closer. The big issue, however, is whether even September will be good enough for election.
The process of the registration of voters is slow. Of the 10.5 million eligible voters, slightly over 1.5 million have been registered. Women have, no doubt, been enrolled, but there are doubts if they would be allowed to cast their votes in the countryside.
The real problem is taming the warlords and disarming their private militias. In addition to Ismail Khan, there are several other warlords - Uzbek chief Rashid Dostum, his Tajik rival Ustad Ata Mohammad, Abdul Rubb Rasoul Sayyaf, Hazrat Ali, and Defence Minister Gen Fahim in Panjshir.
Between them, by a rough estimate, they command 100,000 militiamen, who are well-armed. The country is replete with big and small arms, and the rival sides used rockets and tanks in the Herat clash.
The Taliban have no doubt been mauled, but they are still strong enough to mount disruptive operations. As statistics show, since August last 600 people have been killed in clashes in south-eastern Afghanistan.
Against these harsh realities, it is difficult to accept the claim by General James Jones, US Nato commander, that two-thirds of the country is safe. The lack of security has also encouraged brigandage and poppy cultivation. According to UN figures, Afghanistan produced three quarters of the world's opium last year - a record.
What Afghanistan needs is a faster pace of reconstruction. The 25 years of continued war have completely destroyed its economy and torn apart its social fabric. The people want peace, but that would be possible only when warlords are tamed. But that is not an easy job.
More force would lead to more fighting and thus increase the miseries of the people. Under these circumstances, there is little the ISAF can do. Essentially, there will have to be a political settlement.
The present Karzai set-up is dominated by the Tajiks, while the Pakhtoons, the country's largest ethnic group, feel left out. A more balanced set-up in Kabul would create confidence among the warlords who could then perhaps be more willing to cooperate. As conditions stand today, it is doubtful if elections would be possible even in September.
Wana aftermath
Pakistani officials have announced the end of the military operation in South Waziristan. It lasted nearly a fortnight, with officials claiming that 60 "terrorists" were killed, most of them foreigners.
Pakistani forces also sustained casualties, and eight kidnapped soldiers were found shot dead. It is said that some 163 "miscreants" are in custody, but it has not been specified whether they are local tribesmen or also include foreign nationals.
President Pervez Musharraf and government spokesmen had earlier said there were 500 to 600 foreigners in the area, and it was to isolate and round them up that troops were sent into the region in the first place. Scores of such people are therefore still unaccounted for, and it is not quite clear how officials can declare the operation over.
It also is not over in other respects - at least where its possible repercussions are concerned. It ought to be recognized that, however necessary, the heavy military intrusion in the region was the first of its kind in decades.
Civilians were caught up in the army's search operation, and many were asked to vacate their homes. Several houses, presumably of tribal people sheltering foreign fighters, were demolished.
All this is bound to have left deep scars. Most people agree that the region known as Fata has to be seen as part of the country and governed as such. But this can only be achieved through a gradual process, and a process, moreover, that is based not on heavy-handed measures but on a carefully considered political, social and economic strategy.
If a sense of anger and frustration overlays the already fiercely independent spirit of the tribal area people, the state may have a serious problem on its hands. It is imperative that a full-scale investigation be undertaken by a commission that includes legislators from all parties to consider the working of political agencies, policy failures that permitted the situation in Fata to assume its present dimension, and to suggest an approach to the area's problems that leads to its integration without an abrupt departure from tradition and custom. Civilians who have suffered for no fault of theirs should be compensated.
Rehabilitating the disabled
One hopes that the instructions issued to builders by the Karachi Building Control Authority to construct ramps in new residential projects will mark the start of a citywide effort to provide facilities for thousands of handicapped people whose needs are usually ignored.
Because of the stigma attached to their condition, the disabled in the country have never been inducted into mainstream national life. Generally the objects of derision or pity that have combined to relegate them to the category of those unable to contribute to social activities, they have been provided with no forum to prove their worth.
The realization that given adequate facilities, the disabled would be able to care for themselves and also look after the needs of others, has eluded most people. The result is that they have come to be viewed as a burden, and their worth as potentially active members of society has been completely overlooked.
Along with efforts to rehabilitate the mentally and physically disabled through provision of facilities allowing easier access to public venues, it is also necessary to change attitudes towards them.
This can only come about if society is effectively sensitized to the needs of the 10 million disabled people in the country who make up this under-privileged group. This is where schools and the media come in - one to inculcate in the next generation of adults sympathy for, and acceptance of, those who are disadvantaged and the other to campaign for the rights of the handicapped while laying special emphasis on their potential.
Ramps, lifts and special toilets will make little difference to the lives of these people unless they are accompanied by a radical change in the mindset that should be geared to boost their confidence and to ensure their active participation in all spheres of public life.