| 02 February 2005 | Wednesday | 22 Zilhaj 1425 |
Mayhem on the roads
Not a matter of semantics
PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has been assiduous in trying to defuse the Balochistan crisis. In this connection, he has been providing indications of some proposals that are under consideration or have already been approved by the parliamentary committee dealing with the issue.
It is not clear, however, what precisely the government has in mind, whether it is simply working on a Balochistan package or wants to take this opportunity to review the quantum of provincial autonomy prescribed in the 1973 Constitution.
The two are obviously two different things, though both are needed. Chaudhry Shujaat's statement at a news conference in Karachi on Monday that some of the recommendations of the parliamentary committee might require constitutional amendments or that elements of the concurrent list might have to be revised suggest a broader approach to the question of provincial rights.
Such amendments will not be necessary if the intention is to provide guarantees about jobs in Gwadar or the location of disputed cantonments in the province. Since the problem in Balochistan is a symptom of the bigger problems of federalism, it would be prudent to initiate a process in parliament and in consultation with all political parties that seeks to grasp this nettle.
The 1973 Constitution was greeted when it was signed as providing for an unprecedented measure of provincial autonomy. Unfortunately, the then civilian government in power itself ruthlessly wrecked the spirit of the basic document.
The Zia dictatorship that intervened happily accepted this legacy of the civilians and played further havoc with the constitutional framework. There was another interregnum of elected, civilian rule, but the governments were kept too busy in trying to save themselves from conspiracies by opposing politicians and by the establishment to pay much heed to our fraying federal structure.
The Musharraf coup in 1999 consolidated the central grip on power, and indeed the regime's local body scheme abridged provincial rights even more by skirting the provinces and going directly to the districts.
This is the sorry story of how a succession of authoritarian and military rulers have ignored some of the basic demands of good governance. Unilateral decisions taken in Islamabad on the building and siting of major projects have compounded the grievances of the smaller provinces, which already feel overshadowed by the bigger province, although there are many historical and geographical reasons why the present situation is what it is.
The point is that a Balochistan package is urgently needed, specially with regard to the province's share in gas royalties, economic uplift, the presence of security forces and safeguards against carpetbaggers in Gwadar. But the wider problem of provincial autonomy too cannot be pushed under the carpet for much longer. A political consensus should be developed on the measures that can be undertaken in this context and how the concurrent list should be revised.
The faults that have come to the surface in the working of the local government system also require a dispassionate review. It would be infinitely tragic if the noises being made in regard to these issues turn out to be merely expedient manoeuvring to calm down the Baloch.
A genuine move for reform should be initiated, the steps finalized so far made public and parliament and political parties taken into confidence. If changes in the federal set-up are actually agreed upon, then the desirability of whether to hold early general elections will also have to be considered.
Mayhem on the roads
According to a cursory survey of the past month's reports, over 200 people died in road accidents in the country. This is quite alarming; more so because this compares with more than 140 or so reported civilian deaths in Iraq for the month of January (according to an estimate on the website).
The average number of fatalities comes to between six and seven every day and at an annual rate the figure comes to a disturbing 2,400 people killed every year in road accidents.
What needs to be pointed out here is that these deaths occur in circumstances that for the most part are avoidable. Unfortunately, month after month hundreds of innocent lives are lost on the country's roads and highways, while the federal, provincial and local agencies responsible for the upkeep of and safety on the road network sit idly by and do nothing.
By and large, Pakistanis have become so desensitized to these deaths and mayhem on the roads that the occurrence of a major traffic accident with several deaths fails to jolt them out of their apathy and is soon relegated to the backburner of public memory.
The trend that even a layperson can detect on a rudimentary perusal of accident reports is that buses, trucks, tractors and heavy goods carriers are involved in most such accidents and that underdeveloped regions, with dilapidated roads or vehicles, like south Punjab and the Sindh interior are the worst affected.
The cause in most cases ranges from overloading, rash driving, speeding, brake failure or when a vehicle tries to avoid hitting a person or animal crossing the highway. A national law that exists, albeit on paper only, to monitor the fitness and roadworthiness of vehicles and which allows the highway police to monitor the loads carried by heavy vehicles needs to be rigorously enforced as should be speed limits.
Stretches of highways that are especially prone to such accidents should have adequate traffic signs for drivers, and barriers to prevent people or animals from suddenly appearing on the road.
Along with this, a national awareness campaign should be launched to make those living in rural communities in particular become more conscious of the importance of safe road crossing and of adherence to traffic laws.
Not a matter of semantics
According to a UN report, the mass slaughter of civilians in the Darfur region of western Sudan could not be called "genocide" although it did constitute "crimes against humanity with ethnic dimensions".
The report apparently discredits the view that Sudan had a state policy to exterminate a particular racial group, as sufficient evidence could not be found on that count.
While taking the heat off Khartoum, the observation may not go down well with the Americans who, unlike Security Council members China and Russia, have major oil and arms interests in the African country.
They have been insisting that Sudan is guilty of genocide. While the days ahead may generate verbal tension among the council members over appropriate terminology, what is distressing is that this whole exercise in semantics tends to trivialize the major issue: the suffering of the people living in refugee camps or crossing the border into other countries.
Whether or not it constitutes genocide, what is happening in Darfur is a human tragedy of grim proportions. More than 70,000 people have died in the conflict and about 1.5 million have been displaced.
Even in the camps, the refugees face the problem of hunger and disease, besides the regular bombardment of their shelters by government planes, despite an earlier protocol that disallows military aircraft over the affected areas.
With the plea to end atrocities falling on deaf ears, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for sanctions against Sudan. Perhaps, these along with diplomatic pressure could be considered for restoring normality to the region.
The government of Sudan recently signed a comprehensive truce with its southern rebels. Using that as a blueprint, and with pressure from the world community, it may be possible to bring an end to the Darfur tragedy.