| March, 16 2005 | Wednesday | 05 Safar 1426 |
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Crossing a milestone
Disturbing trend
ANY pretext is good enough for Israel’s hawkish Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to stop peace initiatives. A final peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority is nowhere in sight. But on Monday, the Palestinian militants made a truce offer, pledging not to attack Israeli targets if it announced a timetable for the release of prisoners and for withdrawal from occupied territory. However, Mr Sharon rejected the offer, saying the militants should not be given “the terror option”. With the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza now more than 37 years old, and with all peace processes dead, the Palestinians have no choice but to fight for freedom. Palestine belongs to the Palestinians and not to settlers from Poland and America. Fighting for the freedom of their land is a right that cannot be taken away from them, nor will its moral position erode simply because Mr Sharon calls the freedom fight “terror”. Were freedom to come by peaceful means, the Palestinians would welcome it as much as the world at large would. But given Mr Sharon’s track record, there is little possibility of that happening.
On Feb 8, at a summit meeting hosted by Egyptian President Hosni Mobarak at Sharm al-Sheikh, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Mr Sharon agreed on a ceasefire, hoping that it would lead to peace. However, no progress has been made in that direction. There are no indications from Tel Aviv or Washington that a new peace plan is on the anvil. President George Bush is, of course, committed to the revival of the peace process. In his State of the Union address on Feb 2, Mr Bush called for a two-state solution. Since then, however, Washington has not come up with any plan laying down a timetable for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied territory and the emergence of a sovereign Palestinian state. It is quite possible, because of his commitment to a Palestinian state, that Mr Bush may announce a new roadmap to peace. But the big question is whether Israel will accept it; or — after accepting it for propaganda’s sake — also abide by it in letter and spirit. The fate of the previous such processes are before us.
On Feb 13, 1993, Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin signed a declaration of principles that provided for the coming into being of a Palestinian state on Feb 13, 1999. However, Rabin was murdered and those who followed him — Mr Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr Ehud Barak — shot down the peace process with full help from Zionist hawks in the Clinton administration — Ms Madeleine Albright, Mr Dennis Ross and Mr Martin Indyk. Mr Clinton’s successor in the White House then announced a new roadmap in April 2003, providing for an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories and the emergence of a Palestinian state by 2005. Regrettably, Mr Bush himself torpedoed this roadmap, saying that the withdrawal would not be total and Israel would retain “some” West Bank land. Later, he described 2005 as an unrealistic date for a Palestinian state to emerge. Is this going to be the fate of another peace plan if and when he announces it? For a new peace scheme to succeed, America must not only see to it that Israel follows it, but that the US itself honours its commitments instead of surrendering to the demands of its Zionist lobby.
THE Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) accomplished a feat this week when it crossed the psychological barrier of 10,000 points, thereby setting another record. Within one year, the KSE index has doubled and this marks a milestone not only for the stock market but for the country’s economy as a whole. What makes the buoyant trend particularly significant is that it has not been driven entirely by local investors. The KSE chief has said that both local investors and overseas Pakistanis were behind the surge in investment in the market this time. The comments made by Prince Walid Bin Talal, one of the five richest men in the world, on Monday at a press conference in Islamabad also helped push up investor confidence. Known for his keen insight into the world of finance, Prince Walid has predicted that the Pakistan economy is about to take off. This endorsement is very encouraging for the government and its economic managers.
However, the positive indicators of the economy are still unable to attract the level of foreign investment one can expect. Foreign investors point to the political uncertainty that grips the country, the deteriorating law and order situation with frequent incidents of violence, and the rise in corruption as some of the detracting factors. It is about time the government took these issues more seriously. Another issue on which the government needs to work is to protect the interests of small investors. Despite efforts to attract small investors through the launch of mutual funds, the response has been poor. Given that the government sees the stock market as a viable alternative to the national savings schemes for small investors, more needs to be done to ensure that such investors are able to safeguard their interests in the market. It needs to take these issues seriously, otherwise the economic turnaround we expect on the basis of the current trends will bypass us in the days to come.
A SEMINAR on women’s rights in Karachi rightly attributed domestic violence to a feudal mindset. It is saddening that Pakistan seems to be regressing in the way it treats its women; the feudal mentality has crept its way into urban areas where the educated think nothing of beating their wives into submission. Lest we forget, domestic violence is not limited to any one specific class or income group. The 2004 annual report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan states that around 80 per cent of women were subjected to domestic violence. This crime was an issue “of serious concern” in both the Human Rights Watch’s 2004 report and in the US State Department’s annual report on human rights.
What then can be done to address this issue? Speakers at the seminar stressed the need to make women aware of their legal rights and also for all aspects of the legal process to be sensitized into dealing with victims of this gross crime. There are existing laws to support the victim but sadly they are not implemented. If a woman takes the courageous step of filing a charge against her abuser, the police can kick start the legal process by having the victim medically examined so that the abuse is established. Needless to say, the police only too oft do not take such cases seriously. The women’s police station too hasn’t proved to be as effective as was expected. Many women in abusive marriages opt for a khula by forsaking maintenance. If they were made more aware and had supporting evidence of their abuse, they could opt for a talaq and still claim maintenance. While there is no doubt that laws need to be strengthened to ensure a speedy judicial process, it is equally important to provide women with more shelters as many have no place to turn to when caught up in violent situations.