| 23 May 2004 | Sunday | 03 Rabi-us-Saani 1425 |
Why these delays in court?
Hyderabad water crisis
The spate of pictures of Iraqi prisoner torture that have assailed the senses of people the world over in recent days should concentrate attention as never before on the whys and wherefores of the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq and, beyond, on American foreign policy itself. The pictures and stories could prove to be a turning point in clarifying minds about the senselessness of the entire Iraqi operation.
The criminal acts that took place should not be seen in isolation from the disastrous set of objectives that the Bush team brought with it when it entered the White House. The events of 9/11 only provided an opportunity for the objectives to be quickly followed up. Not only has Iraq been destroyed and plunged into chaos, the international order has been shaken.
Countries and leaders friendly to the US find themselves confronted with a new upsurge of extremism, fuelled by American actions in Iraq, of which the tortures are only one manifestation.
Muslim states, poorly developed and unable to control even ordinary law and order problems, face a wave of suicidal militancy that threatens progress and whatever little headway has been made towards moderation and secularism. It is the whole Ugly American syndrome all over again.
The debate precipitated in America by the new revelations about the conduct of the occupation forces in Iraq is largely being carried on, inevitably, in the context of the presidential election coming up in November.
The immediate question is how this will affect the political fortunes of Mr George Bush and the Republicans. But there appears also to be a growing realization now that the US presence in Iraq has become untenable, and a complete withdrawal, rather than the proxy arrangement visualized under the June 30 power transfer plan, is inevitable. When and on what terms and in what circumstances this will be done will have to await developments.
It is important that whichever administration takes over, US foreign policy in its entirety should be reviewed in the light of the Iraqi experience. Vietnam's resistance to American imperialism had a revolutionary content; it was easy for the country to bounce back after the US left. Iraq's was already a fractured, disarrayed society, and it is impossible to see how it will be able to put itself together again.
America has to reappraise its doctrine of intervention. It faces no challenge from anyone, and it should leave the world militarily alone and instead concentrate on economic aid programmes that are not tied to particular interests. Its obsession with the outdated concept of the power of power must be given up. Whenever the US has meddled in other parts of the globe, it has created a mess.
A certain military isolationism will help America to regain the goodwill and loss of moral high ground that it has recently suffered. Friendship with countries should be on a long-term basis and for its own sake, not on how a particular country fits into a particular US scheme of things. America's Middle East policy needs special attention. Its Israel-centric attitude has led to immeasurable injustices to the Palestinians and not helped the colonial state one bit in its quest for what it calls safer borders.
The commitment to an independent Palestinian state must be without reservations, and there should be no compromise on the dismantling of Jewish settlements. America's Israel policy is the fundamental cause of Muslim outrage; Afghanistan and Iraq have only added fuel to the fire.
Why these delays in court?
According to official statistics nearly 2.5 million cases are pending before various courts in the country. The backlog appears to be growing from year to year, underlining the judiciary's declining capacity to deal with the increasing number of litigations and the rising incidence of crime in the country. It is quite shocking that among the pending cases, nearly 1,800 were brought before courts before the year 2000 - 12 of them even before 1990.
The government's failure to provide access to speedy justice to the people is a matter of serious concern. It is therefore encouraging that the National Judicial Policy Making Committee headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan will carry out an annual review of the performance of the courts.
There are several factors which have resulted in this state of affairs on the judicial front. The strength of the judiciary has not been increased proportionately to the growing population and the rising crime graph. Another problem is the inefficiency and corruption among the police, so that in many instances investigating officers fail to prepare the prosecution's case promptly and efficiently.
When there are lapses in this area, judges have perforce to postpone hearings leading to inordinate delays. There are also the prevaricating tactics of the lawyers who have the hearings postponed over and over again - either to suit their clients or for reasons of higher earnings.
It is important that this problem was recognized as one needing to be addressed and some speedy and effective solutions found. The number of cases, which come up before the judiciary for adjudication, can be reduced by encouraging out of court settlements for minor issues.
Many of the under-trial prisoners in jail, who have already been in prison for a period equal to or longer than the maximum term they would have to serve under the law for the crime they are charged with had they been found guilty, should also be released and their cases dropped.
There is need to spruce up the working of the police too if the courts are to function more efficiently. One hopes that something meaningful and concrete will come out of the exercise the authorities have undertaken to compile figures of the pending cases at various levels of the judiciary.
Hyderabad water crisis
The death of a child and a woman in two Hyderabad hospitals on Friday come in a series of casualties claimed by contaminated water being supplied to the city. The high level of contaminants found in the water supply have afflicted thousands of people, with cases of gastroenteritis and cholera being reported for over a week or so.
It is surprising that the myriad of authorities concerned - Water and Sanitation Agency, Hyderabad Development Authority, Tehsil Municipal Administration, Hyderabad District Government and Sindh Agriculture Department - have all been passing the buck while citizens remain exposed to risks of contaminated water.
Surely, there has got to be someone that can be held responsible for the crisis situation which, if not contained soon, could lead to a wider outbreak of water-borne diseases.
The majority of patients suffering from water-related ailments and admitted to the city's hospitals for treatment are children. The temperature in Hyderabad is running in the 40-degree and above Celsius range, increasing the need for people to drink frequently to quench thirst, which makes the indifference and inaction of the authorities all the more surprising.
Only a handful of the city's affluent people have access to bottled water while the vast majority is left to consume tap water that laboratory tests have shown to be unfit for human consumption. The crisis has been going on for over a week and, if not contained, doctors fear outbreaks of hepatitis A and typhoid - potentially fatal diseases that are caused by prolonged use of contaminated water.
While various civic authorities are busy debating which agency is to take what corrective action and how, the Sindh government should at least make bottled water available to residents at subsidized rates. This being the hot season and water being the most basic of human needs, this is the least the government should do to alleviate people's suffering until safe drinking water is made available to them through the regular supply system.