| 28 May 2004 | Friday | 08 Rabi-us-Saani 1425 |
Hundred onions, hundred kicks
A New peace - a new war was the rather quaint strategic formulation used by a newly-formed think tank, International Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IIPCR), as the main theme for their maiden seminar in Islamabad. But it would seem to bear a striking relevance to our own peace and war juxtaposition.
The on-going peace process with India, by no means new, is nevertheless backed by a new resolve to keep it going regardless of the ups-and-downs of the bumpy road ahead.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, even in his first pre- prime ministerial press conference, accorded 'top priority' to peace with Pakistan. He said: "We seek the most friendly relations with our neighbours, more so with Pakistan than with any other country." The Pakistani response to Mr Singh's overtures has been as prompt and enthusiastic.
Even if somewhat crudely, it could be said that the two neighbours find themselves virtually trapped in a peace process without a safe exit strategy on hand. An exit strategy can be attempted, if at all, with unacceptable costs to the initiator.
Now something about the 'new war'. In his key-note address at the IIPCR seminar in Islamabad, President Gen Musharraf said: "There is no war (anywhere) in its conventional (regular) sense but there are conflicts all around."
Happily, there is not even a remote suggestion or sign on the horizon of yet another war and yet the grim reality of the Kashmir conflict cannot be denied. It stays there as one of the region's and world's longest-lasting and most bedevilling conflicts.
However, President Musharraf's formulation about the absence of a regular war, not meaning the end of conflict (or military action), did not appear to have anything to do with the traditional India-Pakistan conflictual milieu.
It was made overwhelmingly in the context of the on-going military/para- military/militia (Lashkar) operations against foreign militants holed up across South Waziristan.
In the unvarnished language of a military commander and army chief, the president said he would not 'compromise' in his fight against terrorism. He would not rest until the Al Qaeda terrorists were 'eradicated' and externed from the tribal area 'through political or military means.'
The 'two-pronged strategy' was adopted a) to achieve the goal of ridding Pakistani territory of illegal trespassers and b) to give them a final chance to surface and appear before the competent authority - civil and military - for proper documentation.
They have been there in their 'hundreds' using Pakistan's territory for subverting peace and hindering development and reforms in the tribal area. Above all, they are also out to subvert friendly ties with Afghanistan and creating problems with the US-led coalition forces.
Their main aim is to destabilize Afghanistan and undermine efforts towards holding free and impartial elections scheduled for September this year. It's close to three months now since the army initiated its drive to ferret out foreign militants from South Waziristan.
It was supposed to be a short and swift strike conducted and completed according to plan with the help and support of the majority of law-abiding elements in the area.
There were surprises in store for the force, however - mainly in the degree of resistance offered and the type of well- prepared defences, communication trenches and one-km-long tunnels encountered. Whether this was due to poor intelligence or the incalculables inherent in any military operation remains open to interpretation.
After nearly a month of fighting, the hostiles ceased fire and concluded a peace agreement with the army at Shikai on April 24. Nek Mohammad, the leader of the rebels and the principal protector of foreign militants, offered his personal weapon to the Commander 11 Corps as a token of his loyalty to Pakistan.
In return, Nek Mohammad was granted full amnesty by the Pakistan government on the condition that he would produce all foreigners under his protection for identification and registration by the competent political authority.
But when it came to brass tacks Nek Mohammad reneged on his solemn pledge to act and behave as a loyal Pakistani as well as to ensure the registration of his foreign guests. Hence the post-Shikai phase of the military operation.
The question now is how long can we afford to keep waging this 'new war' in South Waziristan. It's good that the government has raised a 4,000-strong tribal lashkar to do the search-and- seize job in the area.
Sooner or later, however, the cost of the operation will have to be calculated in terms of gains made and the losses suffered in men and money. Yet another question is whether or not we are pursuing a coherent and well-coordinated two-pronged stick-and-carrot strategy at home with a credible diplomatic profile abroad.
About the same time as the president outlined his resolve to cleanse the tribal areas by all means at his command, Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri made a statement from Washington, saying: "We will not kill our people for the sake of anybody." Some of the foreigners, he went on to add, had settled in South Waziristan "married locals and have children from them."
These words do not seem to square with the reality of the 'new war' as an integral part of the global drive against terrorism.
-The writer is a retired brigadier of the Pakistan Army.
Hundred onions, hundred kicks
LAHORE, May 27: A senior MPA of the Jamaat-i-Islami brought a bad name to himself as well as his party and wasted more than an hour of the Punjab Assembly on Thursday by making a proposal which provoked the women legislators both from the treasury and opposition benches.
Angry lawmakers spewed derogatory remarks and made him the target of their penetrating looks, but Syed Ehsanullah Waqas remained unrepentant. A hard nut to crack, the JI leader elected on the MMA's ticket, was not ready to apologize or take back his remarks even when a number of ministers and colleagues in the religious alliance made a request.
After facing more humiliation than he had caused, he tendered an apology in the chamber of the speaker in the presence of leaders from the ruling party and the opposition.
This was an example of hundred onions and hundred kicks, as they say. Ironically, this happened on a day when the assembly discussed matters concerning the education department, an area which needs utmost attention.
The session was going on smoothly when the MMA leader stood on a point of order to say that the chair, following the glorious example set by the federal food minister by choosing a fellow lawmaker as his life partner, do something for the bachelor ministers in the Punjab cabinet to find sweethearts.
He had just completed his sentence that female members, who are 33 per cent in the 371-seat house, launched an effective counter attack. "While making such remarks the JI leader should keep in mind his age, the values of the party he belongs to and also his own daughters", said PPP's Farzana Raja and the ruling PML's Dr Farzana.
Many warned that they would not let the session continue in such a situation. There were also threats of a walkout. Ms Shamim Akhtar was perhaps the cruelest in her remark.
"If Mr Waqas is so concerned about the marriages of bachelor ministers, we are willing to go to his residence to find suitors for his daughters". Hats off to the "great leader". He continued to chuckle and punch the air, gesturing that he would not apologize as he had said nothing wrong.
The tragic episode has a lesson for Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, whose vision is to make Punjab literate (parha likha Punjab). He should launch the campaign from such members of the Punjab Assembly, who are graduates but lack manners of conversation, specially in the presence of women.
They should be taught to unlearn 'bawdy' language.The chief minister will be doing a good job by allocating more funds for literacy-related projects in the backward areas, but he should not ignore the elected representatives like Ehsanullah Waqas who some months back had likened the women seats in legislatures to "sweet dishes", triggering strong reaction.
Turning the Punjab into a fully literate province will be a gigantic task. The chief minister will have to do something to encourage teachers to pay more attention to their job. At present, their salaries are not commensurate with their work and the dedication with which they are required to perform it. Most of the architects of the future generations -- as the teachers are called -- are living in deplorable condition.
The situation is well illustrated by a written reply given by the education minister in the assembly session on Thursday. The minister said 2,878 teachers for science and mathematics were appointed in the province some two years back on a "contract basis".
Their salaries are fixed, they are not entitled to annual increments and the government has no plan to regularize them. In other words, the new year's budget is of little relevance to them. They will get the same salaries, no matter how high the inflation.
If no incentive is offered, these teachers can't be expected to go extra mile and give excellent results. The assembly was also informed that 125 schools in Lahore were not provided with development funds for the last 10 years. Another 442 schools could not be provided with furniture.
If this is the situation in the Punjab capital, where chains of private schools are in competition with the government-run, the situation in the rural areas can be well imagined.
Meanwhile, the brand new turncoat Malik Ahad, clad in a waistcoat, made a debut appearance in the assembly on Thursday after changing his loyalty. But his presence went unnoticed mainly because the focus had shifted to the remarks given by the MMA leader.
"I am on the right course. These people are not right in their approach", Malik Ahad said of his former PML-N colleagues. PML-N legislators Dr Asad Asharf and Raja Shafqat tried to persuade him that he sit on the opposition benches. However, he refused.
A PML leader said that the 'turncoat' had told him of the pressures he was made to face before he gave in. He also complained that the party leadership had done nothing to have him released from jail.