| 15 February 2005 | Tuesday | 05 Muharram 1426 |
Why this tunnel vision?
Ending Thar's suffering
The Shia alliance's victory in Iraqi elections is not a surprise. Boycotted by the Sunnis, the January 30 elections saw a good 58 per cent turn-out, as the Shia south and Kurdish north responded well to the electoral process.
The result is the United Iraqi Alliance's capture of 48.1 per cent of the seats. Even though this is short of an absolute majority in the 275-seat transitional assembly, the election results place the UIA in a commanding position.
It should now have no difficulty in playing a leading role in writing the constitution with the help of the Kurds. Like the Shia majority, the Kurds, too, have long been persecuted and denied their political and cultural rights.
Their presence in the assembly as the second biggest group should give them the position they deserve as Iraq's third biggest community. The group led by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has been able to secure third place. This shows that neither Shias nor Sunnis think much of the US-installed government.
The world will watch the aftermath of the elections with interest. In the case of Iraq's neighbours, interest may be combined with trepidation. The fact that a Shia-led government may come to power in Iraq will send powerful signals across the Middle East, especially in those Arab countries where there are large Shia populations - Lebanon, Yemen and Bahrain.
Initially, Shias had played a leading role in resisting the occupation. In fact, the fighting seen twice in Najaf was more intense and the nature of insurgency more fierce than that seen in the two Sunni-led uprisings in Fallujah.
However, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani played a major role in moving the Shias away from the militancy headed by cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. His logic was simple: as Iraq's majority, the Shias had everything to gain from elections. If the Shias had reacted to the attacks on Shia targets, the result would have been chaos, and that would not have served the majority's interest.
It remains to be seen whether the UIA is able to secure the cooperation of all sections of Iraq's population. It has already extended a hand of friendship to the Sunni leadership and has pledged to include it in the political process.
For all Iraqis, irrespective of sectarian and ethnic affiliations, there are two major issues: maintaining the unity of the country and ending the US-led occupation. The Kurds especially have to show cool-headed ness and play their cards well.
They live in an area which is contiguous to those regions in Iran and Turkey which together have a Kurdish majority. Neither Ankara nor Tehran would like to see an Iraqi Kurdish leadership that would encourage separatism. An independent Iraqi Kurdistan will tempt Kurds in Iran and Turkey to think on similar lines, and this could open a Pandora's box.
The new Iraqi leadership must prove that it is capable of maintaining the unity of Iraq and rebuild the country. If it provides democratic leadership, it will have an impact on neighbouring Arab states, none of which is governed by representative institutions.
Suppressed for long, the Shia leadership will naturally try to rectify the injustices to which it has been subjected. But it must do so in a manner that Iraq's first experiment in democracy does not fall victim to parochial frictions and end up in violence and fratricide. The long-term aim of the leadership should be to work for a non-confessional, liberal and all-embracing political system.
Why this tunnel vision?
The Capital Development Authority's plan to build a tunnel through the Margalla Hills connecting Islamabad with the Hazara district on the other side is as ill-advised as it is controversial.
The plan ostensibly has the backing of President Pervez Musharraf, with the federal government arguing that it would reduce the distance between Islamabad and Haripur and open up economic opportunities for the people of Hazara.
Critics of the plan argue that development at the cost of the Margalla Hills environment, which has already suffered considerable depredation as a result of Islamabad's expansion, must be avoided.
Besides, the hefty amount of up to two billion rupees that the tunnel project is estimated to incur, could be better spent on creating job opportunities for the people of Hazara.
The tunnel, if built, would not facilitate heavy vehicles plying through it. Thus, it is hard to see how the passage of a few rich people's cars through the tunnel would improve the living conditions of the poor at the other end.
Haripur is barely an hour's drive from the capital via the Margalla Pass on the Grand Trunk Road; it is situated on the main road leading to the Karakoram Highway, and cannot be considered a remote area.
It is known that Islamabad is fast running short of prime land in the vicinity of the city centre, and that the CDA's plan to build the half-kilometre-long tunnel through the Margalla is aimed at creating more premium real estate beyond the capital skyline mountains.
If this indeed is the motive behind the whole grand plan, it calls for serious reconsidering. The Margalla Hills environment, especially the already perishing flora and fauna, must not be sacrificed at the altar of such questionable development that will benefit the rich more than the poor.
As it is, parts of Islamabad are already showing signs of congestion and increased pollution, coupled with other civic problems plaguing most big cities in the country. The Margalla Hills National Park must be left alone for it to keep serving as the expanding capital's lungs.
Ending Thar's suffering
While longevity figures in Pakistan may not quite match those of western countries, there are areas in the country where harsh living conditions have rendered life expectancy even lower than the national average.
This was evident in the observations of a World Bank team that one in every six women living in Sindh's poverty-stricken Tharparkar district died prematurely, primarily because of malnutrition and poor health care.
Unfortunately, women living in underdeveloped areas of the country like the Thar desert are doubly disadvantaged by virtue of their sex and the general state of deprivation and hardship that prevails.
In an area where drought is common and where health facilities are few and far between, women often find themselves at the receiving end of the stick. They labour hard, often trekking for miles in the desert to get water, and frequently give up meals to feed the male members of the family.
Similar situations and mindsets exist in most other parts of the country. However, the actual suffering in Thar is perhaps greater than in most other neglected regions in the country. But perhaps more than correcting social attitudes, what is of greater importance is the implementation of the development package for Tharparkar promised by the prime minister last year, and a series of measures aimed at reducing poverty.
Thar is rich in coal deposits and there are projects in the pipeline to exploit its natural resources, thus generating the much-needed funds for development and also creating more employment opportunities.
However, a greater effort is needed to translate these into reality, and win the trust of the Tharis who have endured years of broken pledges. Development and economic progress may not entirely wipe out gender discrimination, but should substantially alleviate the current suffering of all - men, women and children.