| 15 September 2004 | Wednesday | 29 Rajab 1425 |
Key to the future
Combating TB
With the civilian casualty toll reaching as high as 14,000, an end to Iraq's agony appears to be nowhere in sight. The focus of insurgency may shift - from Basra to Baghdad, or from Najaf to Fallujah and back to Najaf - but violence seems to have become endemic.
The government led by Prime Minister Ayad Alawi has no control over large parts of Iraq, because it is seen as America's collaborator. It is a non-elected government that came to power a few days ahead of the planned transfer of power on June 30.
Since then, it has been called upon to deal with the popular uprising going on in Iraq. What happened in Najaf last month testifies to the helplessness of the Iraqi government.
The threat to the Imam Ali mosque and a further loss of life were averted because Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani managed to enter the holy city after negotiating a withdrawal by the Mehdi army while the US-led forces waited outside. The Alawi government itself was a mute spectator to the deal.
The only way Iraq can have peace is a fair and free election. Unfortunately, there appears little possibility of this. Elections to a transitional assembly that will draft a permanent constitution, replacing the interim one now in force, are due in December-January.
But given the anarchy in the country, it is doubtful if orderly and peaceful elections will be possible. Already, there are reports that elections in some key areas may be postponed.
Those "key" areas constitute the heart of Iraq - the Shia south and the Sunni triangle. If elections are postponed there, then there will be no point in holding elections in the Kurdish north and elsewhere in the country.
Unfortunately, the Americans do not have a credible exit strategy. The violence continues because the Iraqi people view the American occupation as oppressive and open-ended.
Washington has given no date for the withdrawal of American troops, and President George Bush said last year that American forces would withdraw only when Iraq was "free and peaceful".
The point is that Iraq can never be free and peaceful as long as 140,000 American troops stay on in the country. Conspicuous by its absence all along in American plans has been the United Nations.
The US bypassed the UN not only last year when it chose to attack Iraq, it has continued to deny any meaningful role for the world body in post-war Iraq. This has cost the people of Iraq and the Americans themselves dearly.
It is still time Washington thought about giving a decisive role to the UN. The Alawi government, backed by the US-led occupation forces, is not in a position to hold elections in a peaceful environment.
And even if held peacefully, the elections will lack credibility because they will be seen to have been held under American bayonets. A transitional assembly that comes into being as a result of such polls will hardly be representative of the Iraqi people, and violence will continue.
To be accepted by the people of Iraq, the elections must be held under the UN auspices. There can, of course, be no abrupt withdrawal of American forces. This has to be done in phases, with the UN peacekeeping troops taking over gradually from the occupation forces. Only that kind of government which comes to power through free and fair elections will command the confidence of the Iraqi people.
Key to the future
While inaugurating the Panjwani Centre for Molecular Medicine, President Pervez Musharraf expressed the hope that progress made in higher education will bring a revolution in the country.
It is true that science and research if related to the industrial sector can help bring rapid progress in a society, improve the life of the people and even widen their mental horizons.
But are we heading towards that in Pakistan? The present government has focused its attention and resources on the universities and scientific research, thanks to the leadership provided by Dr Attaur Rahman, chairman of the higher education commission.
More funds are now being allocated to this sector and teachers are being sent abroad for further education. But if higher education is to actually bring about a revolution in the country, there are aspects that need to be addressed which have eluded the policymakers.
First of all scientific research in the country has not been linked to industry. As such, the scientists have made no breakthrough because what ever projects they work on remain confined to their laboratory with some enterprising ones disseminating their knowledge through their papers in international scientific journals.
As for the industrialists, they prefer to obtain their patents and franchise from abroad rather than make use of the results of indigenous research. At this rate the revolution the president is talking about may never come. In other words, higher education will not make much of an impact on the standards of living of the common man either.
The main advantage of good education is that it broadens the mind of the people and thus improves their lives. But the problem with education in Pakistan is that primary education which forms the base of the pyramid is the weakest and the most neglected sector.
The handful of elite private schools which are providing education of a high standard are not sufficient to bring a revolution in the country. In fact, this weak base will affect the quality of higher education as well. Besides, it will never create the science-friendly environment which Prof Abdus Salam used to talk about to make our people more rational and creative.
Combating TB
Disclosing the findings of a city wide survey, doctors at a seminar in Karachi said that only between five to 10 per cent of local medical practitioners could correctly prescribe drugs for tuberculosis.
This revelation is cause for alarm: if these figures are true for Karachi, which arguably has the best medical facilities in the country, then the ability of doctors treating tuberculosis in other cities and towns can well be imagined.
Pakistan has the sixth highest global incidence of the disease - 60,00 deaths a year. Unfortunately, lack of medical expertise, poor patient management, and inadequate public awareness, have all combined to make the war against TB a difficult one.
Not only does this highly infectious disease have disastrous health and socio-economic implications for the people, it is also taking on virulent forms as strains of multi-drug resistant bacilli are rendering first-line therapy ineffective.
Greater efforts are required to counter tuberculosis and to reduce its transmission. Besides training doctors in proper detection, prevention and treatment methods, the DOTS (directly observed treatment, short-course) strategy must be implemented more effectively.
Under direct supervision, a patient would be more inclined to take his medication regularly and not leave off midway at the slightest sign of recovery as this would provide the weakened, but not yet dead, bacteria a chance to grow again and turn resistant to standard drugs.
Linked to the eradication of TB are greater efforts at poverty alleviation. TB strikes mainly poor communities living in congested dwellings and unhygienic conditions, making the bacteria to infect a number of people. The government should realize that no strategy to control the disease will work unless accompanied by measures to reduce poverty and improve living conditions.