| 20 January 2005 | Thursday | 09 Zilhaj 1425 |
And now in Sindh
Long wait for justice
It would be a mistake if Islamabad and New Delhi were to look at the peace process through the prism of Baglihar dam. Pakistan has, of course, taken the case to the World Bank.
It has every right to do so under article IX of the Indus Waters Treaty, which provides for the involvement of a "neutral expert" in case there was disagreement between the two sides.
Several sessions devoted to the Baglihar dam had not produced any results. Pakistan objected to the continuation of the work on the dam on the river Chenab, and said the hydro electric project violated the treaty.
New Delhi was against a referral to the World Bank and offered to continue to talk. But Islamabad said it had no choice but to go to the World Bank because India was going ahead with the project.
One wishes India had been a little more circumspect in its position on the controversial project. However, now that the issue is going to the World Bank, it is time the two sides showed some wisdom.
The relationship between Pakistan and India has wider dimensions, and it has more to it than the Baglihar dam. For instance, even if the dam issue is solved to the satisfaction of both, there will still be other issues that need the two sides' goodwill and sincerity to be resolved.
Ignoring Kashmir, the core issue, the biggest challenge before them lies in having the courage and wisdom to continue the process of normalization. Road and air links have been restored, but rail service has still not been resumed.
The Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service is still an idea, and a resumption of train service on the Khokhrapar-Monabao section is nowhere in sight. Diplomatic missions in Islamabad and New Delhi have returned to full strength, but deputy high commissions have not yet been opened in Karachi and Bombay. And fishermen who stray into the other side's territorial waters rot in jail for months. Above all, Pakistan and India have jointly failed to put some life into Saarc. As Saarc's two major powers, they should have served as engines of regional growth.
Instead, their mutual suspicions and rivalry have served to retard Saarc's growth, even though this seven-nation grouping has immense scope for regional development and cooperation.
On Tuesday, Indian officials alleged that the Pakistan side had fired some shells into the Jammu area of occupied Kashmir. Pakistan has denied the charge and ordered an inquiry into the happening, but the mere fact that Indian officials should have levelled such an allegation is cause for concern.
Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has also said that New Delhi could stop the troop reduction process in occupied Kashmir if necessary. The Pakistan foreign office spokesman has also said that the deadlock on Baglihar could retard the process of normalization. These are all depressing developments.
It is time Pakistan and India focussed on their over-all relationship. While the Baglihar issue may go to the World Bank, there is no reason why the momentum towards normalization should not continue.
The series of confidence-building measures taken last year have produced results and changed South Asia's geopolitical atmosphere for the better. More important, the people of South Asia and the world at large have welcomed the on-going peace process.
One hopes that the two governments will continue to move in that direction and exercise restraint rather than over-react to hurdles and irritants.
And now in Sindh
Tuesday's blast targeting a bridge leading to the Indus river near Hyderabad cannot be dismissed as an isolated attempt at sabotage, as was implied by the police who said a mystery caller had claimed responsibility for the attack.
Luckily no damage was caused to the bridge nor anyone was hurt. It took the law enforcement agencies several hours before they located the site of the powerful blast which was heard for miles around the area.
Police said the mystery caller identified himself as an operative of Sindh National Liberation Front and threatened to target railway lines and trains if the government did not scrap plans to build the Kalabagh dam.
Hard as it may be to ascertain the truth of the caller's statement, the fact remains that a blast did take place and that law enforcement and intelligence agencies were caught unawares yet again.
We have time and again argued in these columns that it is the failure of the myriad intelligence agencies that leads to such acts of terrorism, regardless of who commits them when, where and for what reason.
A government that by its actions has embroiled itself in political controversies, and that has played an aggressive role in hunting down Al Qaeda terrorists without first evolving a consensus on either front, should have been prepared for a backlash of this kind.
Maintenance of law and order has now become a serious problem across the country - from Karachi and Sindh to Balochistan, Punjab, South Waziristan and the Northern Areas.
Terrorism, whether rooted in political antagonism towards state policies or in sectarian extremism, has been a fact of life in Pakistan since the early 1980s, but its manifestations have never been this menacing and widespread as they are today.
And this time round, the military-led government cannot shift the blame onto intransigent politicians as has been the practice in the past. Unless an inter-provincial consensus is evolved on sharing water and revenue equitably, as in the case of Punjab versus the rest, and the fruits of development, as in the case of Balochistan, the law and order situation will remain alarming.
Long wait for justice
In a very telling sign of the operational flaws inherent in the country's judicial system, Afzal Haider, who languished 17 years in jail without being convicted, was finally released after being acquitted of the charges against him.
While not all the details of the case are before us, judging by the nature of the crimes for which he was booked, it would not be wrong to assume that his time in jail without conviction could have exceeded the period of actual sentence had he been found guilty.
Whatever the case, Mr Haider's example is reflective of a nation-wide scourge whereby many of those behind bars for months and years have yet to stand trial. The existence of draconian laws like the Hudood Ordinances compounds the misery of the prisoners even more as they can be detained on the most unsubstantiated of charges.
This is wrong and should not be tolerated in any civilized society. It is not only individuals who suffer, their families, too, must undergo the trauma of long separation and the agony of undecided cases.
Obviously, the wheels of justice have to be better oiled to get going - an image that finds resonance in the few, ramshackle vehicles available to transport the detainees to court and back.
There was a proposal some years ago to have makeshift courts on jail premises to resolve undecided cases. Perhaps, this suggestion can be looked into, at least for those charged with minor faults.
Besides, not many are able to afford legal counsel - another reason for delay in disposal of cases. Small wonder our courts are overcrowded. It is time some major reforms were carried out to cut down law's delays, speed up the trial process and spare the detainees the agony and distress of long wait for justice.