| 24 May 2004 | Monday | 04 Rabi-us-Saani 1425 |
Friends in silence
How the Indian mandate could be subverted
Poetry collection launched
Journalist turned diplomat
Energy drinks
At first sight, the case against this month's appointment of John Scarlett to be the new 'C', the chief of the Secret Intelligence Service MI6, looks formidable: an example of new Labour's cronyism at its worst.
Britain's highest posting in the war against terror has gone to a man who twice, in his current job as chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), handed a political lifeline to a struggling prime minister: first in September 2002, when he presided over the "sexed-up" dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, and then last summer and autumn, when he stood by Tony Blair again throughout the crisis caused by the WMD expert David Kelly's suicide, and Lord Hutton's inquiry into it.
By agreeing to a public dossier containing secret intelligence at all, say Scarlett's critics, he crossed the "red line" between politicians and intelligence professionals.
Blair's former media boss Alastair Campbell has described him as a "mate", and Scarlett even allowed him to make editorial changes - but then, in his evidence to Hutton, he helped to save Blair's skin by insisting that he retained "ownership" of the dossier at all times.
Now Scarlett, 55, is to reap the reward for his loyalty - despite the fact that the former cabinet secretary Lord Butler's inquiry into WMD intelligence will not be reporting until July.
Choosing Scarlett was a "mistake", thundered the Tory leader, Michael Howard. "John Scarlett is clearly at the heart of the investigation which is currently being carried out. In my view the appointment of John Scarlett at this time is inappropriate."
Yet there was an aspect to the row which was conspicuous by its absence. Last summer some intelligence officials vented their dismay both at the dossier and at Scarlett's role with vehement comments to the media.
Of late, those voices have been largely silent. "Among those who have worked closely with him there's quiet satisfaction that his operational strengths and personal qualities have been recognized." one official says, "It's only people, who don't know him, who are more apprehensive."
Within "the Office", there is broad agreement with the claim made by Blair - that Scarlett is "on merit" the best man for the job.
What has changed? The biggest factor is the evidence to Lord Hutton, which suggests that if Scarlett did cross the politico-intelligence frontier, then others were also culpable - none more so than the current 'C', Sir Richard Dearlove.
On September 12, 2002, in response to a last, desperate call for new content for the dossier, it was Dearlove who went to see Blair at Downing Street, bearing the false and fateful claim that Iraq could deploy its WMD within 45 minutes.
At the time, there had been no attempt to assess this report by passing it to the JIC's intelligence analysts, nor to the acknowledged WMD experts at the Defence Intelligence Staff - including David Kelly.
Supplying raw intelligence to a prime minister "is just never done", one official says, "It's rule number one. Dearlove was undermining Scarlett's position - and it's just not fair that Scarlett alone should be blamed."
Moreover, the final dossier was "signed" off by all the members of Scarlett's committee, Dearlove included, who had the support of all his most senior colleagues - some of them eventual rivals for Scarlett's new job. As for the Butler report, it will deal with methods, not individuals. If it did, all four men who were candidates to be the next 'C' might have been criticized.
John McLeod Scarlett may, Blair hinted, be about to become the most open 'C' in MI6's history. All things are relative. It is true that he lists his MI6 postings in Who's Who, and (thanks to Hutton) we know what he looks like. On the other hand, most of the details of what has clearly been a fascinating life remain state secrets.
Born in August 1948, he is the son of a Scottish doctor, Henri Scarlett, and spent his childhood in south London. He went to Epsom School where, uninterested in sport, he was appointed president of the XVI Society, a club for "particularly gifted boys". After A-levels, he won a scholarship to read history at Magdalen College, Oxford.
It was a rich environment. Scarlett's tutors included Karl Leyser, an early medievalist with a gift for revealing vivid meanings from the sparsest of Latin texts - not unlike a spy's search for clues and patterns from an incomplete factual jigsaw.
Another was John Stoye, whose insights into the savageries of 17th century politics were a primer for contemporary Whitehall. "He was," says Stoye, "an outstanding scholar."
Having duly taken his First, Scarlett married his university girlfriend, Gwenda Stilliard, a linguist, in 1970. Their marriage is said to be extremely close. When they were still in their early twenties, the Scarletts' first child, a son, became a victim of cot death. They went on to have three daughters, and finally, in 1986, another son - who is named after his father.
Spies' working hours tend to be irregular. But if Scarlett's career has sometimes forced him to be absent from home, he has also surprised his more old fashioned colleagues by interrupting meetings on global crises to take phone calls from his children. Like many of his colleagues, he has a hinterland: a continuing passion for history, as well as medieval architecture, Russian culture, fine food and wine.
Some in the service make fun of his fondness for expensive, well-tailored suits. But he also has a reputation as one of MI6's first "new men". "At a time when this wasn't an accepted part of the culture, he had a very enlightened approach to the recruitment of women," one official says. "And he was always their champion when it came to allocating operational roles."
Scarlett joined MI6 in 1971, and was marked early for the top. "He was simply very hard-working, brilliant and superb," says one of his former bosses. "I cannot praise him too highly."
Already fluent in French, he added Russian in the course of a steady rise through the ranks, with postings in East Africa, London and Moscow. In 1977, says the former Soviet spy Oleg Gordievtsky, the KGB also spotted his potential, and began an operation designed to wreck his career: a "dangle" an attempt to trap him with a double agent. It failed.
Back in London, he became case officer for Gordievsky, then the KGB London resident. Their relationship produced one of the Cold War's great intelligence coups: more than 1,000 reports laying bare the Soviets' deepest secrets. Scarlett, Gordievsky says, remains a friend, A man with "a fine structure of soul".
His trade craft was impeccable. "On the days before our meetings, in our London safe house, John used to leave his office saying he was going to Paris or Berlin.
Only his leadership and one other person knew what we were really doing. I'd hoped to use our meetings to improve my English, but he told me, "No, speak Russian, that way we can get more done."
In 1984, Scarlett began four happy years as MI6's man in Paris. For a man with ambition, it was a lucky posting: his contemporaries at the British embassy included Sir Jeremy Green stock, ambassador to the UN during the Iraq crisis; Sir David Manning, Blair's former foreign policy adviser and now ambassador to Washington; and Sir Michael Jay, Foreign Office permanent under secretary.
He used the job to forge a new, far closer relationship with the French intelligence service, the DST, which still endures despite the political fracture over Iraq. It was cemented, says Gordievsky, with regular invitations to Twickenham to watch the Anglo-French rugby internationals.
In early 1991, Scarlett was back in Moscow - in the very different conditions of the Gorbachev era. Openly declared as an MI6 officer, he established unprecedented channels of co-operation with the KGB and its post-Soviet successor, the SVR, over terrorism and organized crime. In his first year, there was tension with his ambassador, Sir Rodric Braithwaite, who was telling London that Gorbachev was stable and set to endure.
Scarlett, with his superior contacts, warned accurately that collapse was imminent, and that the eventual president, Boris Yeltsin, was the coming man. Scarlett's colleagues did not fail to notice that, recently Braithwaite was the only senior diplomat or spy who openly criticized Scarlett's appointment.
In 1994, Scarlett was expelled from Russia. Two years earlier, he had organized the operation to exfiltrate the former KGB chief archivist Vasili Mitrokhin, his family and a vast document stash hidden beneath his dacha.
But the reason for his departure was the request by the SVR chief Yevgeni Primakov to send an official known as Artyamov to London. Artyamov also happened to be Moscow's main emissary to Saddam Hussein, and when this was vetoed by MI5, Scarlett paid the price - with a photo taken at Heathrow blowing his cover.
After 30 years, Scarlett left MI6 for the JIC in 2001 - days before 11 September. Having survived that fiery baptism, say colleagues, he developed another asset a good relationship with his counterparts in America. The fallout from Iraq and battles with the Pentagon have left the CIA in a state "close to meltdown".
One of the stranger aspects of Scarlett's new role is that, having come through his own WMD tempest relatively unscathed, his first job is likely to be an attempt to restore stability to the "friends" across the Atlantic, for whom these storms are only just beginning. - Dawn/Observer Service
Friends in silence
It has been a shade hotter than hell in Lahore this week. And a very mixed week it has been, too. On Friday, a very dear friend lost his mother but I am not supposed to talk about it because my friend wouldn't like it.
He is a very private sort of person and likes to keep himself to himself. He is not just reticent. He is only private and simply does not like to be talked about. He has been a friend for more than fifty years and it has been always like this.
His steadfast refusal to be talked about has, in fact, made things a lot easier for me. He, who does not speak, never tells lies and my friend has saved me from telling more lies than I could afford in a lifetime.
Such friends are rare but I think all of us need people like him around us to help us retain our sanity. Speech ends when friendship begins. This friend of mine has been a personal Pir for me and I shall always be grateful to him for keeping me on the straight and narrow without ever telling me to do so.
On Friday, too, Strauss (I don't know his first name), the Middlesex captain, made a hundred on debut for England against New Zealand at Lord's. Let me hasten to assure you, however, that this Mr Strauss has nothing to do with music.
On Saturday, a newspaper headline read "Sardarji in the saddle." It related to Dr Manmohan Singh's swearing in as the Indian prime minister. I know next to nothing about the Sardar Sahib except that he was born in a place which is now in Pakistan. And except that he fancies Iqbal a great deal.
I happened to hear his budget speech in the early nineties. He was quoting from the poet of the East left right and centre or nineteen to the dozen, if you prefer. Most of the lines that he quoted from Iqbal, though, were really rather trite. I hope the Sardar Sahib's choice of verse will have improved in the last decade.
* * * * * *
Soon after the Indian elections, the following message was sent to the Communist Party of Indian (Marxist) from the National Workers Party of Pakistan. On behalf of the National Worker's Party of Pakistan, I convey to you our warmest greetings and heartiest congratulations on this historic turnaround.
The Left Front's achievements under the leadership of the communist parties is commendable and gives great strength to the working classes and peoples' movements in the whole of South Asia.
The National Workers Party of Pakistan hopes that the Left Front and in particular the two communist parties will be able to play a more meaningful role now for establishing a just and pro-people India instead of a sham "shining" India based on neo-liberal economic policies. The working class parties should not hesitate in playing their due role.
The National Workers Party is of the view that the defeat of the right wing sectarians will also pave the way for a more meaningful dialogue leading to positive action for establishing durable peace and firm economic relationship between the peoples of India and Pakistan.
The National Workers Party undertakes to co-operate with all the progressive forces of the sub-continent in the struggle for establishing a prosperous and democratic South Asia by defeating the new-imperialist forces who would like to see only a pliable free market for their exploitation of our countries.
In response the CPI(M) sent the following letter: This is to acknowledge and express thanks for your message congratulating the Communist Party of Indian (Marxist) for its unprecedented success in the just concluded elections to the lower house of the Indian Parliament (Lok Sabha).
The CPI(M) had entered these elections with a three-fold objective: defeat the communal forces; install an alternative secular goverment at the centre; and increase the representation of the CPI(M) and the Left in the Parliament. With a degree of satisfaction, we can claim to have achieved these objectives.
The CPI(M) has increased its strength from 33 seats in the last elections to 44 seats this time. After the Indian National Congress (INC) with 145 seats and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with 137 seats, the CPI(M) with 44 seats is the third largest party in the lower house of the Indian parliament, which has a strength of 545 members.
The party has done remarkably well in its traditional strongholds of West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura. It has won 26 out of the 32 seats it contested in West Bengal. West Bengal elects 42 members.
Nine more seats went to its allies in the Left Front -- the CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc. The opposition Indian National Congress got six while the alliance partner of the National Democratic Alliance, the Trinamul Congress had to be content with one seat.
In Kerala, the Party won 13 of the 14 seats it contested, which is significant not merely for the numbers but the scale and extent of the defeat of its principal rival.
The other allies of the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) won another five seats, leaving just two of the twenty seats to the other contending parties. The Indian National Congress drew a blank while one of its alliance partners, the IUML, got one and an NDA alliance partner retained one seat with a very slender margin.
The party won both the seats in Tripura while it won two seats from Tamilnadu and one seat from Andhra Pradesh.
Besides the CPI(M), the performance of the Left overall has been spectacular. While the CPI(M) has got the highest ever representation in the lower house with 44 members, the CPI has won 10 seats, the RSP 3 and the FB 3. In a house of 545, the Left representation is 60.
The significance of this lies not only in projecting the growing strength of the Left and its increasing relevance but also the vantage position that it has acquired in Indian politics.
The alternative government that would come in place is dependent on the support of the Left not merely for making up the numbers but also for the credibility that such a support from the Left would acquire.
The CPI(M) and the Left is playing a crucial role in putting in place an alternate government. The election saw the rout of the BJP-led NDA, much against the speculation in the media. The Indian National Congress and its allies supported by the Left and its allies are poised to form the government in the next few days.
PS: The weather broke on Sunday evening. However, after the pleasure of a surprise shower, it was like having steam bath in the Hades.
How the Indian mandate could be subverted
So it took an Italian-born Sonia Gandhi to show Indians the essential meaning of tyag, or sacrifice, which they had always claimed as their very exclusive legacy.
It is strange too that in a country where the tyag of Lord Ram is as legendary as his half brother Bharat's refusal to accept the throne for a single moment of the 14 years that Ram was in exile, there is scarcely an equal example of sacrifice in contemporary Indian politics.
It is equally strange that in all the ancient Sanskrit texts that inspire right-wing Hindutva, there is no word for a martyr, which equals the Persian shaheed. Surely, at least the more contemporary Indian society if not the ancient one knew the concept of martyrdom, or else how would we have the likes of Bhagat Singh to take on the system, as he did with colonialism. But the word is curiously missing in our Brahminical texts. The closest we come to it is balidaan, or the gift of sacrifice, which can mean anything, including sacrificing someone else.
Most Indians accept that Sonia Gandhi's husband was martyred, as was her mother in law, the late Indira Gandhi. 'Maa bete ka ye balidaan yaad rakhega Hindustan,' goes the Congress party's battle cry. But you could take an adversarial perspective too on both the deaths, depending on your proximity, for example, to the Tamil Tigers or the Sikh extremists who were responsible for the assassinations.
It would not be inaccurate, if unkind, to assert that their martyrdom came in the nick of time to save the Congress from certain rout. Indira Gandhi's assassination gave Rajiv Gandhi an unprecedented two-thirds majority in 1984.
Similarly, his own tragic death in the middle of an election campaign in May 1991, gave the Congress enough numbers to form a minority government headed by P.V. Narasimha Rao.
Having said that, there appears to be a bit of a myth-making under way in the country today, which would have us believe that by her noble gesture, Sonia Gandhi has insured a bright, invincible future for the Congress Party-led coalition, and possibly for her son or daughter to take over after the next elections, if not earlier. But this is not as easy it is made out to be.
There's a lot of hard work needed to consolidate the gains from the current mandate-a quality that is missing from the Congress psyche. Besides there is always the danger of a right-wing resurgence.
The Bharatiya Janata Party rules a few vital, populous states and made impressive gains in Karnataka and some other regions, even if it lost out in certain other strongholds.
So, it would not be too difficult for the BJP to claw its way back to the centre-stage of Indian politics. To begin with the fact that Sonia Gandhi did not take the oath as prime minister was in some ways a negation of the mandate she actually got.
It may have been a tactical move on her part to take the wind out of the opposition's sails, by completely suddenly removing herself, and thereby the issue of her foreign origin, from the frame.
It has been a singular feature of governments in India, and perhaps elsewhere, too, that while they were voted to power by the poor and dispossessed, they waste no time in pandering to the agenda of the rich.
Such leaders are usually more sensitive to the trajectory of the sensex than to the distressed rural people where the number of suicides by indebted farmers tells another story.
Ms Gandhi had single-handedly campaigned for the Congress and its allies. People had voted for her, not for any nominee. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says so himself.
Had she told the people of Rae Bareli that she would hand over power to Dr Singh of the P.V. Narasimha Rao era, she would probably have struggled to win their mandate. Who knows? Similarly, it is no small feature of the mandate that the biggest victory for her party came from Andhra Pradesh, where her party campaigned on the left-leaning slogan of free electricity to farmers.
Dr Singh, in his previous avatar, was opposed to what he considered to be populist politics. How he will balance this political exigency with his penchant for pro-market reforms would remain a delicate issue to watch.
However, much of the draft common minimum programme circulated by the Congress to its allies is essentially quite Nehruvian in its human face, despite the rouge that has been applied. If adhered to sincerely, it has the potential to keep any Indian opposition waiting in the wings for the next four elections.
As Yogendra Yadav, among the few reasonably clued in psephologists and analysts, says, the stunning verdict of Elections 2004 signifies a fundamental change in Indian democracy.
He believes these elections may be remembered not for a realignment of political forces and experiments in coalition building, but for a more basic realignment of social and political power.
"The verdict signifies a radical shift in the social basis of political power," Yadav says. Although the shift has been in the making for well over a decade now, during this period the urban middle classes were busy bashing politics and politicians.
On the other hand, according to Yadav, the democratic space provided by electoral politics was being used more deftly by Dalits, tribes-people, women and the poor. This 'second democratic upsurge' from below has been the distinguishing mark of Indian democracy in the last decade.
The BJP had used the upsurge but betrayed the mandate by transforming itself into a party of the pro-rich technocrats. This was the paradox of Indian politics in the 1990s: the national political power rested with social groups that lost out in the democratic contestation, while the BJP had forged a political majority of and for a powerful social minority.
The Congress too has played a part in this betrayal and this could be the party's last chance to redeem itself. For Sonia Gandhi, it is one thing to renounce power but another to ensure that her government stands by its promise to the people. It's a tall order even for her. So what if she looks invincible today.
* * * * *
The common minimum programme of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance speaks out against communal and obscurantist politics. And yet it has a fair share of people in its cabinet who could not be identified with any other brand. E. Ahmed of the Muslim League supported the Shahbano bill in parliament.
Shankarsinh Vaghela is a former member of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh and former chief minister of Gujarat, who once supported the Babri Masjid demolition. Also in the cabinet is the former law minister H.R. Bharadwaj who advised the late Rajiv Gandhi on the two disastrous tactics towards Ayodhya and Shahbano.
Poetry collection launched
KARACHI: Titli ke rang hazaar (A butterfly has thousand colours), a poetry collection of Ms Talaat Farooq was launched at a city hotel on Saturday. Prof Fateh Mohammad Malik was in the chair while Jamiluddin Aali addressed the audience as the chief guest.
Among those who welcomed the poet for her first poetry collection included Dr Ishrat Hussain, governor State Bank, Prof Saher Ansari and Ms Shaheda Hasan. Prof Malik highlighted the poet's message, saying that the people should make a new start and rise above their prejudices the way they did at the time of the country's independence.
Ms Talaat, at the conclusion of her discourse, recited a Seraiki verse asking the people of Karachi to maintain peace in the city. The poet expressed the eagerness to cleanse tears from everyone's eyes notwithstanding their political affiliations.
Prof Malik described the poetry collection as being an appeal to the nation to forge unity and eliminate sorrows without any discrimination. Jamiluddin Aali, deputy chairman of the Federal Urdu University's senate, welcomed the poet's debut to the literary scene, saying she was not known to most people despite having been writing poetry for years. He lauded the poet for her masterful treatment of complex ideas.
Prof Saher Ansari admired the poet for her broader views on life, saying she was composing poetry on global issues like the presence of American troops in Karbala.
Ms Talaat, Prof Ansari said, the poet's respect for human life, her intensity and the depth of her emotion enabled her to transcend time and her poetry was a blend of both modern and classical styles.
Dr Ishrat Hussain, on his part, advised young writers to emulate Talaat Farooq, whose poetry, he said, reflected her experiences in life. The State Bank governor praised the poet for her optimism, saying she neither lamented the past nor reflected on the sufferings of the present.
Dr Ishrat Hussain criticized contemporary Urdu literature, saying it lacked very much terms of quality writings. Ms Shaheda Hasan said Ms Talaat had adopted a difficult style, adding she (the poet) had ably rendered her personal experiences in her poetry. She said it showed the poet's sincerity of approach towards life and literature.
Earlier, Zafer Mohiuddin, general secretary of the Bazm-e- Kahkashan, introduced his organisation. He and the organization's president, Mr Azfar Rizvi, welcomed the poet and the guests on the occasion.
Journalist turned diplomat
The new Swedish ambassador to Pakistan, Ann Wilkens, who took a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York in the early 1970s, landed up at the Swedish ministry of foreign affairs when, unable to do the night shift on the foreign desk of a Stockholm newspaper, she signed on for a two-year training course in diplomacy.
"I thought that I would go back to journalism after completing the course, but that never happened for various reasons. During the last part of my training I was posted in Tanzania in Africa.
When I came back to Sweden I started working at the ministry, and a few years later I had a child. It then became very difficult for me to change careers," she said in a chat the other day during her first visit to Karachi after her posting in Islamabad.
Ms Wilkins' first diplomatic job was in Vienna. After the birth of her second child, she went to Ethiopia in 1984 and stayed there during the Big Famine, which killed nearly one million people.
"The humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia made me want to work on development issues. I went to Vietnam in 1985 and stayed there for about a year. I again went to Ethiopia as ambassador in 1993. My husband died there one year later. My children wanted to go back to Sweden. So we returned in 1995," she recalls.
Ms Wilken's points out that Sweden, now part of the European Union, has abandoned the policy of neutrality which it pursued throughout the two world wars. "The policy of neutrality lost its substance after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Sweden realizes that it has a role to play in conflicts. We have been trying to promote peace in different regions of the world, such the Middle East, Sudan, Central Asia, Latin America and Southern Africa. Actually we had a policy of supporting the liberation movements in these countries," she explains.
Sweden is contributing to UN peacekeeping operations and took part in the Track II diplomacy that led to the Oslo process.
Ms Wilken's is concerned that the project of sending seven parliamentarians from Pakistan to Stockholm has hit snags. At least two members of the delegation, a coordinator and a legislator, are in police custody on charges relating to their alleged political activities.
"Dr Farzana Bari, who is dean of the women studies department at the Quaid-i-Azam University, and a daughter of (PML-N leader) Javed Hashmi have been arrested on various charges.
But the delegation, which originally had five women members, was due to leave for Stockholm anyway over the weekend. The Pakistani parliamentarians will get a chance to become acquainted with Swedish constitutional system."And let me point out that more than half the parliamentarians in Sweden are women," says the diplomat with the startlingly clear blue eyes.
Energy drinks
Oblivious of the heat or the unresolved textbook controversy and with no time to ponder over why Shahbaz Sharif chose the worst summer month to stage a comeback, Ali and so many of his teenage friends as well as others his age are guzzling energy drinks by the gallon.
Grocery stores have shelves lined with these expensive (Rs75), 250ml canned concoctions sitting passively. It's only when you open the chilled container that the genie escapes and does the trick, or so believes Ali.
For so many students of Ali's age, these high-caffeine drinks act like a psychological prop, a security blanket if you will, that they hold on to, to be able get through the exams and all-nighters that the O-levels cause every year.
"It gives me an instant boost of energy when I'm tired and keeps me awake. It's also quite tasty" is the most common remark you hear from the young guzzlers. One of the companies in the business seems to agree. Its website says the drink provides 'improved performance, improved physical endurance, increases stamina and mental alertness and stimulates metabolism.'
A little worried, one mother decided to do her own investigation about these short-term energy providing drinks but which have otherwise no nutritional value. "I wanted to find what the ingredients do for the human body that regular meals and fruit juices don't. The easiest and quickest way was to surf the Internet," she says.
According to her, most brands of drinks have similar ingredients. "But one ingredient they all have in common is a form of sugar. Most have a range of vitamins especially Vitamin B that the body uses to release energy.
Caffeine is usually about 80mg, although the quantity is not mentioned (acting as a stimulant - to both physical and mental performance) and which most parents find rather undesirable for teenagers to consume."
There were a few other strange-sounding ingredients like taurine about which she had no idea. "The rationale for providing amino acids (components of protein) such as taurine is unclear. It is believed that taurine plays a role in muscle contraction, especially in the heart," said one of the articles.
The mother also found that these drinks provide "ergogenic aid (enhances physical performance) and an aid to cognitive performance as they stimulate cardiac output and the central nervous system."
She's come to the conclusion: "Let them have it if it comforts them, but in smaller quantities, and stop it the day the exams finish."
The issue of tinted glasses
The whole issue of tinted car windows remains mired in confusion. We know ordinary members of the public are not supposed to drive with coloured glasses. They are stopped by the traffic police who slap a fine on the drivers. But what about vehicles used by government officials and influential politicians?
Do they have permits to use tinted glasses? The official vehicles of almost all ministers and advisers to the Sindh chief minister have tinted glasses. Some bureaucrats also violate this rule without being brought to book. Recently quite a few high-ranking police officials received new cars. All these vehicles have tinted glasses.
And this is not the only discrimination that citizens face on the roads. They have to put up with the misdemeanour of traffic police officials who, in their zest to allow quick passage to the vehicles of high-flying politicians and VIPs, scream at motorists and force them to sideline or stop their cars.
A couple of days back a colleague got stuck in a traffic jam which was blocking the passage of a minister's vehicle. All of a sudden, police officials escorting the minister got off their van and, hurling abuses at motorists, thumped on car bonnets and asked for right of way for the minister's car. Everyone in the jam sincerely hoped that the minister would miss his flight or would be pulled up for being late for his engagement.
'I have a dream'
One good news after a long time was about the signing last week of an agreement between the city nazim and a Chinese company to build a mass transit system for Karachi. The Corridor-1, as it is called, will run from Merewether Tower to Sohrab Goth, covering a distance of 15 kilometres, with half the dual-track train system running underground and the other half above the ground.
But wait. There are sceptics round the corner. And for good reason, perhaps. There has been talk of building a mass transit system for Karachi since the mid-1970s, when the city's population was no more than four-and-a-half million. After three decades and the birth/arrival of nine million more people in the city, we are still talking about it.
So, you don't have to look hard for healthy doses of cynicism. But we Karachians are an optimistic lot and thereby help ourselves stay well in transit, waiting for the right things to happen to our city while the world around keeps moving forward.
First it was the Z.A. Bhutto government which promised Karachi a mass transit system. The Sindh and the military governments made sure all along that they remain promises. The Pakistan Railways was a late entrant in this arena of rosy promises and also the quickest one to pull out after it failed to see any sense in running an urban train system.
A Muttahida-led defunct KMC also paid due lip service to the cause of hapless commuters, and one fine day that body was also dissolved. Now the city district government under a Jamaat-led leadership is doing its bit of promising. The work on the project, it says, is to be completed within four years. But if you were to ask any man on the street, he would tell you that he would only believe it when he sees it.
Waiting for mass transit, we have seen city managers, military rulers and political governments come and gone. It's time we also got somewhere. Our dream - home to workplace and workplace to home without being insulted and roughened up on the way - is actually not that difficult to fulfil. But it seems so. It's a classic case of marching forward while rooted to one spot.
Imran's moral courage
Most reporters at the Karachi Press Club were pleasantly surprised the other day by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan's disclosure that he would assume the guardianship of the late Sita White's daughter. Certain that the admission by the Tehrik-i-Insaf leader would make good copy, quite a few of them asked more personal questions and disregarded the fact that it required great courage on Imran's part to accept the will of the lady.
Imran said that 10 days before her death Ms White had asked him and his British-born wife Jemima to become the 12-year-old girl's guardian. He said that the girl would be based in the United States.
Senior journalists at the press conference recalled that the Nawaz Sharif government had dredged up details of his association with Ms White when Imran made clear that he would join politics. Fearful of his possible popularity, they raked up the scandal. What still sets Imran apart from other professional politicians is his ability to be candid about seemingly unpleasant episodes, even sometimes a trifle belatedly.
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