The moral of the story

The Qadeer Khan saga refuses to go away. It has been kept alive largely by the media and think tanks in the United States and because we have ourselves been reluctant, for various reasons, to come forward with full disclosure.

The Bush administration's efforts to build a case against Iran's alleged nuclear weapons programme has again led to inspired newspaper reports about a possible link between Dr Khan and Tehran.

Officially, the US government acknowledges that the Pakistani authorities have acted responsibly in the matter and have taken appropriate steps to root out the Khan network, but the continued media harping on the issue may indicate Washington's intention to keep it at hand and resurrect it when it wants to build pressure on us.

Islamabad's position has now been vindicated to an extent by the report of a US anti-proliferation organization which says the Khan network was actually part of an illict and highly successful procurement organization, spread out in several countries.

In other words, the operation was an ingenious bit of private enterprise and had secretly flourished for almost two decades. Because of the involvement of so many players, the report by the Institute for Science and International Security points out that there will be "little confidence that other networks do not or will into exist or that elements of the Khan network will not reconstitute themselves".

The need, therefore, for Pakistan to remain vigilant and continue with its investigations into the activities of Dr Qadeer Khan and his associates remains pressing. Since this bogey can be used against us at any time, it is important that we should get to the bottom of the whole thing and take the people into confidence.

In September last year, the government had wisely got a law passed that outlaws export of material or technology related to nuclear and chemical weapons and made it a punishable offence.

The law should be invoked whenever there is proven transgression of its provisions. We are living in dangerous times, with a belligerent US administration bent on having its writ obeyed.

Its attitude to both Iran and Syria is menacing, and it has already shown in the case of Iraq that it can be totally unscrupulous in pursing its strategic and political objectives. Pakistan has been singed by American allegations in the case of Iran, Libya and North Korea. It is time this chapter was finally behind us.

A wider conundrum is also involved. If an international racket has flourished in the sale of nuclear materials and know-how, there has obviously been a demand for it. The demand exists because of the obsession with atomic weapons as a sign of security and superiority.

The monopoly over nuclear weapons of the big powers and their clinging possessiveness that translate into "we have them, but you cannot" encourage other nations, angered by this inequity and with regional hegemonic ambitions of their own, to acquire similar weapons.

A further inequity is created when the US bullies other countries but leaves Israel out of its idea of nuclear non-proliferation. South Africa under apartheid was similarly exempt from any retribution - and it goes to the credit of Mandela's South Africa that it has voluntarily abjured the manufacture or stockpiling of nuclear weapons.

These are so destructive and savage that it doesn't matter whether they are in "safe" hands or "unsafe" hands. They must be banished. This is the only moral position to adopt, and unless total nuclear disarmament is accepted by everyone, the leakages and illegal acquisitions will continue.

Meerwala case

Given the circumstances surrounding the Meerwala rape case, the acquittal of five of the six accused by a division bench of the Lahore High Court has naturally led to a great deal of comment.

One of the accused has had his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment. The case revolved round the alleged gang rape of a woman, Mukhtaran Bibi, following the verdict of a panchayat that was convened to discuss charges that the woman's brother had illicit relations with a girl of another tribe.

There was a public outcry when news of the case first surfaced, and even the international press had taken up the issue. The accused were tried in an anti-terrorism court, found guilty and awarded capital punishment.

The LHC division bench has ruled that the evidence produced before the trial court was insufficient and there were faults in the police investigation. The higher courts have always been considered as more learned and competent to scrutinize points of law involved in cases tried before the lower courts, and this is seen as an essential safeguard against any possible miscarriage of justice. Lawyers for Mukhtaran Bibi have said they will go in appeal.

The detailed judgment in this case was not available at this writing, but in its short order the LHC bench cited insufficient evidence and faulty police investigation as the reasons for this verdict. Police procedures are notoriously flawed.

The force is both incompetent and poorly equipped to properly investigate criminal cases, and this is one of the major reasons why so many cases fail to stand up in the courts.

In matters relating to crimes against women, the police in our male-dominated society are as biased as other large sections of the people. They are also susceptible to pressures from the feudals and the influential.

This has been evident in case after case involving rape, oppression of women and decisions made by the parallel system of justice that we continue to tolerate in the shape of panchayats and jirgas.

It is worth recalling here that in the Meerwala episode, the Supreme Court had felt forced to take suo motu notice of the lack of progress in investigations and ordered the police to keep it informed of action taken.

The points raised when the incident at Meerwala was reported continue to be valid and continue to comprise a terrible indictment of society, and these should receive attention whatever the final outcome of this particular case.

Eradicating polio

Another countrywide anti-polio drive has just ended, but in view of a couple of alarming reports, one wonders how close we are to the target of a polio-free Pakistan by the end of 2005.

Late last year, we were told that some of the children who were vaccinated against the crippling disease had still contracted it. A more recent report says a number of children living in districts that had been declared polio-free have, in fact, not been inoculated at all.

These developments should give us cause for worry, especially as there are fears that the World Health Organization could stop funding the polio drive in Pakistan if the disease is not eradicated soon.

Unfortunately, while there has been generous self-praise for our success in slowing down the spread of polio, we have shied away from identifying our lapses. Lack of awareness, inaccessibility of the remote areas of the country, failure to maintain the cold chain (thus lowering the efficacy of the vaccine) and team fatigue are generally known factors responsible for our inability to wipe out the disease. But, in order to overcome the stumbling blocks, a more definitive report is needed - one that not only highlights areas of concern but also gives specific reasons why we have been unable to address these.