| 02 September 2004 | Thursday | 16 Rajab 1425 |
Balochistan issues
Predicament of AIDS patients
The Indus River System Authority has warned of drought-like conditions in most parts of the country during the forthcoming Rabi season as a result of lower than usual rainfall during monsoons this year.
Irsa has based its predictions on the critically low water levels in the major reservoirs of the country. The anticipated low availability of water in the country's river system is attributable to changing global climatic patterns.
Lower than average rainfall in Pakistan is a consequence of these patterns and it can be assumed that this trend will continue for the next couple of years. In view of this, the government has to come up with an equitable formula under which the scarcity of water can be shared in a manner that is acceptable to all provinces.
The Irsa secretary's demand that a well thought-out water management plan be worked out by the provinces is unrealistic. This is an issue of national importance, and for the purpose of coming up with an equitable arrangement, a national committee comprising experts enjoying wide reputation for integrity and competence should be set up, requiring it to recommend a sharing formula that is based on economic, not political reasons.
This is easier said than done, of course. Water sharing continues to be a matter of dispute among the provinces for some time now. One hopes that with the urgency of the problem at hand, the provinces would be persuaded to agree on a solution that is fair, equitable and realistic under the present circumstances.
As the Rabi season starts in October, the government has very little time to come up with such an arrangement. It should also ensure that the issue does not become politicized. If that happens, then chances of an early agreement will be very slim.
In its final shape, the water sharing formula should also take into account the requirements of the provinces, which change according to the change of seasons. At the same time, more efforts should be made to minimize the wastage of water, especially through the porous canal system.
The government's plan to build reservoirs is a sound one but it will take some years to materialize. The leakages need to be plugged for short-term results. The government's plan to line canals all over the country is an important step. Water theft is another drain and needs to be checked with the help of the law enforcement agencies.
Finally, it is important to keep a vigilant eye on agriculture production during the forthcoming season. There are fears that the wheat crop will be the worst affected by the water shortage.
If that is the case, arrangements for import of wheat must be made well in time to avert a crisis. In all this, the important thing is for the provinces to share the burden of the oncoming water scarcity equitably.
Officials predict that the expected water shortage may the worst in the history of Pakistan. One hopes that by adopting sensible measures that are acceptable to all, the intensity of the problem ahead would be reduced to the minimum.
Balochistan issues
It is regrettable that no progress has been made toward initiating a dialogue on the problems and issues agitating Balochistan. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain's decision last month to set up a senate committee on Balochistan has not materialized yet.
Evidently, the change of guard at the prime minister's office has delayed the committee's formation. No wonder, a lot is being talked about in a manner that serves no purpose. On Monday, Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Mohammad Yusuf spoke of the existence of RAW training centres in the province, and a day later he said terrorist camps in Mekran had been dismantled.
Then on Tuesday, Balochistan Nationalist Party chief Akhtar Mengal spoke of the Baloch people going to any extent in protecting their rights. He had a point when he lambasted both Islamabad and New Delhi for invoking the RAW/ISI bogey every now and then to dodge the real issues. But one wishes he had exercised some restraint during his press conference at the Karachi Press Club.
Balochistan needs a solution to its problems and not tough talk by either side. The issues facing it are both economic and political. It is Pakistan's least developed, though territorially largest, province. It has low literacy and poverty is widespread because of the absence of industry and a thriving agriculture.
Much of its mineral wealth remains unexplored while the coast which has immense potential for fisheries and tourism, has not been sufficiently developed. Some projects have recently been launched - Gwadar port, the coastal highway and the Saindak copper mine.
But the locals fear that they may be denied the fruits of these projects. In matters of employment, they fear that people from outside the province may deprive them of their jobs.
These fears need to be allayed. Another issue is the question of provincial autonomy as guaranteed by the Constitution. In practice, the military's domination of the power structure has had the effect of greater centralism.
These are issues that need a purposeful dialogue in a positive spirit, the aim being to remove the Baloch people's grievances and give them a sense of participation in governance. Let us hope that the proposed senate committee having members from both sides of the house will be formed early and a political dialogue will start in earnest.
Predicament of AIDS patients
The treatment of HIV positive patients as revealed during a seminar in Peshawar the other day is heart-rending and shows just how insensitive we as a society are to those afflicted with life-threatening diseases.
The predicament of some of the AIDS patients, who had the courage to speak of their misfortunes at the meeting (organized by an NGO run by a woman from Parachinar who got the disease unwittingly from her now-dead husband), makes for disturbing reading and shows that the government which is supposed to protect the infirm and the weak is perhaps in the forefront of perpetuating discriminatory practices against them.
Particularly telling is the account of 17-year-old Naila from Bannu. Recounting her terrible experience at one of Peshawar's premier government-run hospitals, she said that because she was suffering from AIDS she had to give birth to her baby in a corridor of the hospital, lying on an iron bed without a mattress.
Clearly, such treatment has a traumatic effect on a patient and is the last thing that someone afflicted with a disease like AIDS would need from a health-care institution.
Some of the speakers at the meeting said that the discrimination against AIDS patients was perhaps partly the result of the stifling atmosphere created in the province by the MMA government.
This assessment might not be off the mark given that the perception among many in Pakistani society, especially the narrow-minded and obscurantist elements, is that the disease is a divine punishment for indulging in promiscuity.
Such people have obviously little knowledge that AIDS is sometimes also contracted through the transfusion of unscreened contaminatedblood and from hypodermic needles.
And why treat an AIDS patient as an untouchable and shun contact with him/her when it is known that it is not an infectious disease that can be communicated by breathing or touch?