| 10 August 2004 | Tuesday | 23 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425 |
Whose responsibility?
No way to rescue PTV
It is good to know that the federal government plans to engage Baloch nationalist leaders with regard to the law and order situation and the on-going development projects in the province.
Considering the rising incidence of violence and the resistance put up by certain elements to the development activities in Balochistan, it is clear that misgivings exist on both sides.
The only way to overcome such feelings is to sit down and talk. Baloch nationalists feel that their people have been ignored by the government at a time when major development work is taking place in the Mekran area and there are plans to build highways and gas pipelines through the rest of the province.
There is perhaps some justification in this feeling of alienation and Baloch leaders need to be assured that Islamabad is not following a deliberate policy to that effect.
Some credence must be given to fears in certain quarters that more qualified people from other parts of the country might take advantage of the on-going development activities for the purpose of employment and contracts to the detriment of the local people.
On the other hand, there are others who believe that some Baloch nationalists are opposed to any development activity in the province, fearing that employment opportunities and other benefits offered by it will make people less dependant on them, mostly tribal chieftains.
Thus, both sides seem to hold an extremist view of the other. But there are elements of truth on both sides of the spectrum. How else does one explain the frequent attacks on gas pipelines, targeting of important infrastructure and facilities such as construction sites and airports, assaults on law enforcement personnel, killings and abductions of local and foreign technicians, on the one hand, and threats by certain government functionaries to launch a clean-up operation, on the other? Maintaining law and order in Balochistan has been a big headache since the beginning of the construction of the Gwadar port and the coastal highway two years ago.
The prevalent volatile situation has to be addressed by all concerned - the government, the tribal/nationalist leaders and politicians. This is necessary for the continuation of the on-going as well as future development projects, as it is also for attracting local and foreign experts and investors to the province.
On its part, the government would have to do more to reassure the people of Mekran and the rest of Balochistan that development activities being undertaken in their areas will not bypass them.
Offering a reasonable quota to the local people in the employment opportunities being generated by relevant development projects in the province will be a good idea. Also, the government will have to ensure that land grabbers are not allowed to displace local communities under any pretext, as has been the complaint by local residents in Gwadar where forced evictions have created much bad blood.
Baloch nationalists' point of view on their people's welfare should be heeded and incorporated in the government's development strategy for the province. While doing so, Islamabad should also seek guarantees from tribal leaders that they would assist the government in maintaining law and order and keeping the development work going. This the government and the nationalist leaders owe to the impoverished people of Balochistan.
Whose responsibility?
Bomb blasts, assassination attempts, individuals gunned down in targeted attacks, civilians killed at random. This is becoming the depressing daily staple diet of newspapers.
Karachi was hit again on Sunday, with at least eight dead and 50 people injured in bomb blasts near a religious institution. Whether it is sectarian or Al Qaeda terrorism or gangland feuding, too many innocent lives are being lost.
It is the same with the dozens killed on the highways everyday in road or river or other accidents caused directly or indirectly by negligence. The tragedy is that no one, either at the government level or at the level of ordinary citizens, seems much worried about this.
We seem to attach no value to human life. No one is prepared to take responsibility or is held accountable for the lawlessness that has gripped society. The arguments are old, and not all of them are without validity.
It indeed is difficult to look into the minds of sectarian or religiously motivated or criminally minded individuals and groups and discover where they are planning their next atrocity.
But we should at least know what is being done at various levels of law-enforcement and intelligence gathering. We have an interior minister at the centre, we have provincial home ministers, we have police chiefs, we have paramilitary organizations deputed on security duties.
Surely one of them should be able to tell us why, in the public perception, they are seen as failing to do their duty to protect the lives and property of citizens or assume responsibility for the failure.
How is it that clues provided by us lead to arrests and investigations abroad while we can find no leads to the perpetrators of the many criminal acts that have taken place in recent months? 'Suspects' are arrested and then released because no evidence is found against them.
Obviously the police round up people at random after each blast to satisfy public opinion and then find that the real criminals are not among them. The 'war on terror' now provides a cover to sectarian and factional elements to confuse investigators and the latter with an excuse to explain their helplessness. Unless responsibility is firmly and clearly fixed on ministers and senior officials concerned, this dangerous drift to chaos will remain unchecked.
No way to rescue PTV
The on-going behind-the-scenes tussle between the ministries of information and health over the proposed resumption of tobacco advertisements on television is entirely unwarranted and shows the government in a bad light.
There seems to be no justification for the information ministry's insistence on resuming tobacco advertising on television from 9.30 pm to boost PTV's revenue earnings. There are some very good reasons to refuse the proposal.
The first is that all over the world, the trend is towards blacking out cigarette advertisements from television. The current prohibition - under which such ads can be aired only between midnight and six in the morning - came into effect after the government decided to enforce the provisions of the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-smokers Ordinance, which was formulated last year taking into consideration the views of all stakeholders, including the information ministry.
The argument behind earlier showing of tobacco ads, that PTV needed to be helped out with its revenues, is now even more flimsy given that the state-owned broadcaster has been given a lifeline in this year's budget under which its licence fees will be recovered through electricity bills.
A PTV spokesman has acknowledged that the corporation stands to receive around two billion rupees under the arrangement. Besides, in May of this year, Pakistan signed the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control, a UN-sponsored treaty that seeks to impose uniform regulations regarding tobacco use.
A ban on smoking in public places and government offices is also technically in place. It would be fair, then, to say that some progress has been made in seeking to reduce the use of tobacco.
It would be unfortunate if cigarette advertisements are resumed during prime time when they can influence impressionable minds. The Senate's standing committee on information and broadcasting has invited the health ministry to inform it of the likely impact if the ads are resumed. It would do well to keep all these factors in mind when making a decision.