| 24 April 2005 | Sunday | 14 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426 |
Punjabi Conference declaration
Americans unwilling to join army
NEW YORK: At the end of last month, the US Selective Service System issued a report assuring President George W. Bush that it would be ready to implement a draft within 75 days. While stirring up a storm of speculation, this report may actually be the least compelling harbinger of a draft.
What is amazingly enigmatic is the seemingly undeterred stampede that is on for acquiring cellphones in Karachi; with buyers’ enthusiasm not really dampened by the inability of assorted rhetoric that does not appear to get translated into grassroots reality. That this, is a wider handicap with us, is an understatement. The credibility chasm between promise and performance remains wide and disturbing.
I do not wish to get distracted by the government’s plans and strategies to expand the cellphone network or the landline availability. The number of these phones is rising, but what needs attention and action is the fact that cellphone theft is assuming dangerous proportions. A person can lose his life for a cellphone, even if he is not resisting. If the phone snatcher (with a gun) reads the interaction wrong, he can call the shot. That’s it.
Once again snatching of mobile phones, stolen cellphones to be made ineffective, policy on snatched cellphones approved have surfaced in the news, and in anxious conversations, in what appears to be an awareness of the Sindh Government, which will initiate “drastic steps to combat street crimes”. A significant aspect of the cellphone crime context is that it is getting fresh dimensions and new angles with time.
One is not referring to the cellphone advertising, which is almost going “berserk and hysterical”, as one Karachiite puts it, but to what happened on the streets of Karachi, in the outgoing week. The details are lengthy, but the news report in Dawn on 20th April said that “some suspects arrested by the police earlier had identified some other shopkeepers for their alleged involvement in the trade of stolen or snatched cellphone sets.” There was arrest and protest, and street violence, 30 men were held, and an official car of the Governor’s House was set on fire.
What needs to be underlined here is that all this protest was related, somewhat directly to cellphone snatching and stealing, that is growing certainly in a manner that is alarming and raising questions. It is also an occasion to read people’s attitudes observed one colleague, who has lost the enthusiasm to change his cellphone in view of the street crimes in society.
What he emphasized was that despite the risk that a cellphone user faced, the sale of mobiles phones was shooting up. People are drawing up a list of do’s and don’ts on how to use a cellphone in public, and to ensure its safety.
One can hear some interesting and ingenious ways and means that imaginative men and women have come up with. And, one lady suggested that it was time that cellphone companies also advertised safety measures, instead of merely and insanely advocating that people talk to each other. “What is there to talk about? She quizzed.”
What she emphasized, which certainly reflects what people are demanding, was safety for mobile phones and their users.
It is generally felt that unless effective measures are not taken to ensure that stolen phones do not find their way into the open market, this form of urban crime is bound to rise.
The number of mobile phones is going to rise in a somewhat phenomenal manner, and it seems that this euphoria and optimism in the official quarters in Islamabad has made all concerned unmindful of the crime that is growing in its wake. Crime that is not just restricted to the phone set, but also carries the risk of getting hurt, if not losing a life or limb.
Whether mobile phone crime is related to unemployment or poverty or a decline in values, is something for sociologists to agonise over. In reality, law enforcing authorities must find solutions.
What I find almost fearful is the thought of being held up for a cellphone, and the whole episode getting complicated. It is relevant to bring in here the stories one hears of how men (so far no women) have been held up, on the street or in their cars, and made to use their credit cards until the limit is exhausted. The victim is helpless and without option. The wider context of poor and inadequate policing is a factor that may be kept in mind.
Viewing cellphone snatching and related crime, makes it obvious that attention turns to car theft and snatching, despite sophisticated security measures available and being marketed.
A woman executive in a private company has had two Suzuki Mehran cars stolen, consecutive, I have heard this week, reflecting the general scenario that cars and crime provides.
Like cellphones, the demand for cars (or for that matter two wheelers) is also rising, as public opinion is undeterred by the crime. I am sure that the state of public transport being in a continued mess remains a factor why many families want cars. Need cars.
With reference to the violence, arrests, protest that erupted in the Electronics Market on Abdullah Haroon Road during the week, the story that “traders caught in ministers’ tussle”, which appeared on Friday, April 22nd in Dawn, is worrying. But, as the cynics amongst us would say, “not at all surprising”.
Leaving it to the discretion and judgement of the readers, here are two paragraphs that reveal: “An ongoing tussle between two provincial ministers is likely to mar the government efforts towards containing the sale/purchase of stolen mobile sets.
“Sources in the police department and the Electronics Market said that stakes in the sale/purchase of snatched and stolen mobile phones were now too high involving substantial monetary turnover on a daily basis”.
What is the ordinary citizen supposed to make of this disclosure? Does this mean that the efforts to combat the cellphone crime are going to suffer a setback? The common perception is that stolen phones find their way back to the Electronics Markets in town.
Like stolen cars are dismantled and sold as spare parts within a couple of hours, or they are taken to other parts of the province or the country, does it mean that these destinations for stolen cellphones will remain intact? And the network will survive, and thrive in the days ahead, as more mobile phones are going to flood the market.
Coming to the subject of phone users, it needs to be underlined that even though the prices of cellphones are coming down, marketing ploys ensure that new phone sets are expensive. Yet desirable.
So, the market for used phones or reconditioned, as they are described occasionally, is substantial. And even those these are the preferred options for middle class and lower middle class users, I know of people who find it frustratingly impossible to replace phones when snatched. Two such young men, who lost their phones in North Nazimabad and Federal B Area last month, have still not been able to afford another second handset. Salaried people have limited options and unlimited domestic dreams and dreary compulsions.
We have written on cellphones in our society in the past, and from the look of things we will do so again. The issues that relate to it range from the domain of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to that of the Karachi police.
We will return to these issues again, and meanwhile to the cellphone user, the best advice is to guard the set as best as possible. No one can truly help at this stage, and that is the best advice. You can’t even put a tracker on it!!
THE 12th World Punjabi Conference, held in Lahore earlier in the week, turned out to be a bit of a non-starter. The three-day event failed to bring to town a top-notch Punjabi writer or intellectual, even though the organizers boasted that the conference was attended by some 400 delegates from 18 countries.
Much like the fate suffered by the rest of the institutions and their guardians in the country, the Punjabi conferencewallahs have also got themselves embroiled in controversies over the years. Many of those seen participating in literary activities at various forums in the city shied away from being seen at the conference. Others who stayed away had their own reasons. Having been rubbed the wrong way by an organizer topped the list of their grievances.
So for all practical purposes, the forum was reduced to one of many promoting India-Pakistan peace. To spoil even that mission, the opening session of the three-day conference was presided over by none other than the former president, Mr Rafiq Tarar. The gentleman, to be respectful, cannot be classified either as a writer or an intellectual; he is not even a politician. So it is beyond anyone’s comprehension why he was chosen to grace the occasion.
The conference ended with a declaration demanding the lifting of visa restrictions between India and Pakistan. It also dubbed the carnage at independence as an imperial conspiracy.
The final declaration demanded that Punjabi be introduced in schools as a medium of instruction. More pertinently still, it demanded the creation of jobs for many master’s degree-holders in Punjabi. In the absence of solid institutions and research centres that could further the cause of Punjabi, this seems like an uphill task. In the first instance, why would anyone want to specialize in a language that won’t even lead to gainful employment?
In the case of Punjabi, the problem is compounded. The Hindko, Pahari, Potohari and Seraiki speakers insist, with some justification, on a separate linguistic identity for themselves. This has long held back the teaching of Punjabi at the primary and secondary levels. The same is the case in the Punjab assembly, where politicians shy away from pushing for acceptance of Punjabi as the official language of the province.
What we need first and foremost is a strengthening of institutions all around — at the social, political as well as educational levels. This can only be done in an open, democratic environment conducive to a dialogue, rather than through the passage of resolutions or imposition of decisions from above. The Punjabi conference, like the rest of the existing institutions, has itself shown little in terms of such conduct.
Meanwhile, the PHA ostensibly spent thousands of rupees on getting the depressed grounds in question filled with additional soil. Once that was done and the new earth settled in, grass began to sprout, giving further hope to residents that the place would be put to good use. It’s only during the past week or so that the filled earth is now being removed by the truckload.
The digging now underway and covering a large area suggests that a commercial plaza is being built there. The dug-up space is already a couple of storeys deep, and it is most unlikely that the theme park planned there will have underground chambers, say concerned area residents. The PHA is keeping mum over such fears and concerns being shown by those living in the immediate neighbourhood.
One would like to know what is being done there and who is behind the change in plans, if indeed such a change has taken place. If not, then it is only in the fitness of things that the PHA immediately clarify its stance regarding the amenity plot. Nobody can deny that Gulberg needs more open spaces. The same cannot be said about commercial plazas in the locality.
The family had come to Lahore all the way from Sialkot where the alleged rape took place. The police reportedly not only protected the offenders but joined in the crime by gang-raping the victim once the college girl had been rescued from a brothel with the help of a local NGO.
Sialkot police have since refused to bring the offenders, including their own men, to justice. Instead, the person in charge of the police station concerned has reportedly been forcing the family to desist from trying to lodge a complaint. If this is not criminal conduct plain and simple, then what is, you may ask.
It is said that the chief minister’s complaint cell is now on the trail of the case. As one would like to wish the family all the luck it still needs to bring the culprits to justice, one can’t help but wonder how many such cases continue to be pushed under the carpet. Justice, as they say, is blind; but in countries like ours it sometimes also chooses to be deaf and dumb.
Now a strange variety of what the advertising people call ‘unique selling propositions’ have been cooked up to lure the children of the rich and famous to schools that perhaps do not have much to offer in terms of academic excellence. Some of these, such as having a purpose-built campus or a statement alluding to the medium of instruction in a given school are admissible, but some others border on the ludicrous to the funny, and all else in between.
“We provide lunch,” says a billboard of one school in Faisal Town. Another one near Rang Mahal claims the school to be “Anglo-medium”. A school in Model Town, using the picture of the late Hakim Mohammed Saeed on its billboard, claims to hold separate classes for girls and boys, which ostensibly is in accordance with our cultural norms. The funny thing is that the last mentioned school’s billboard carries a serious spelling error. But then isn’t that also in accordance with our norms? —Observer
Far more dire is the skyrocketing need for troops amid plummeting supply. More than 300,000 of the 482,000 soldiers in the US army are already deployed abroad, predominantly in Iraq, Afghanistan, South Korea and the former Yugoslavia. The ratio of two soldiers abroad for every one at home is the opposite of what military strategists say is necessary to maintain a long-term deployment. It would take 100,000 new troops at home to correct this discrepancy, but the government concedes that new troops are not coming in. All four military services missed their enlistment quotas last year, according to one analysis, and regular military, reserve and National Guard recruitment levels are at a 30-year low.
With a lack of new troops, the Pentagon has relied heavily on rotations to maintain the 150,000-strong force in Iraq. Yet a Pentagon-funded poll in late 2003 found that 49 per cent of troops did not plan to reenlist, and that number is likely to be even higher now. Without a major influx of new recruits, many observers say the option of relying on Reserves and National Guard troops is not sustainable. Last September, the 40,000 National Guard troops who make up nearly half of US forces in Iraq were asked to remain on active duty after their tours were done, and most were officially told that their enlistment would extend until 2031. This presidential action, known as ‘stop loss’, is only meant for emergencies or congressionally declared wars, of which Iraq is neither. The head of the Army Reserves recently wrote a memo saying that over-deployment has crippled his troops’ readiness and that the reserves were “degenerating into a broken force.”
Almost desperate, the Pentagon has called up more than 5,500 ‘Ready Reserves’, older men and women whose regular reserve duty has already ended, and many of whom are now grandfathers and grandmothers. The Army also plans to significantly increase the number of recruiters and to launch a new 150-million-dollar ad campaign. Jeffrey Record, a visiting professor at the Air War College, said in a January 2004 report that the US Army is “near the breaking point.” And Charles Moskos, creator of the army’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy on gay soldiers, and an advisor to four presidents on military affairs, was quoted last July as saying, “We cannot achieve the number of troops we need in Iraq without a draft.”
Since Vietnam, those who cried “draft” have been laughed at. But the combination of increasing troop needs, a shortage of new recruits and a hawkish administration that is now casting shadowy glances over Iran, Syria, and Korea, has led the US media, from Rolling Stone to Time Magazine, to once again to take up the question of a draft. The US left is also gearing up to counter a potential draft, and to strike at the occupation where it is most vulnerable — military recruitment. Last weekend, activists and former military personnel who resisted combat duty came together for a youth and resistance conference in New York City. At the heart of the conference, organised by NYC No Draft No Way, was a plan to support and encourage resisters in the military, and to cut off the information channels and recruitment methods used by recruiters like the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC).
“Bush and Rumsfeld said absolutely there will not be a draft,” said Dustin Langley, a former Navy officer and organizer for the No Draft, No Way campaign. “This is the man who said that ‘we know where the WMDs are’, ‘I will restore dignity to the White House’, and ‘we will be greeted as liberators in Iraq’.” “All a draft takes is for Congress to sit down and pass legislation,” Langley said. “Military recruiters don’t have the right to be on our campuses, to lie to us, and to take our children to an early grave.” Justino Rodriguez, the son of an officer waiting to return to Iraq on his 42nd tour of duty, also spoke. On March 9, Rodriguez was beaten and arrested by police along with two other students from the City College of New York for peacefully protesting the presence of military recruiters at a campus career fair.
Rodriguez said that the career fair more or less consisted of three groups. A line of students wrapped around the corner for jobs offered by the telecom giant Verizon, while the retail chain Walgreens made its case for entry-level positions paying eight dollars an hour. And then there were the military recruiters. “They prey on the fact we can barely afford to go to college,” Rodriguez said. “What they don’t say is it’s so hard to get the GI Bill that less than half do.” Rodriguez and two other students, as well as 20 faculty and staff who challenged the recruiters, were suspended from school. A petition started that day demanding the full reinstatement of staff and students — which has been done — received 1,000 signatures. The students are still fighting the criminal charges. Langley and others say parents need to be educated about parts of the “No Child Left Behind Act”, which allow military recruiters to access information about students including their home address, telephone number, and extracurricular activities.
Most are unaware that they can prevent this information from being released by submitting an Opt-Out Form signed by parents or students to the school administration. Organisers also want to publicise the option for military resisters to find safe haven in Canada. During the Vietnam War, over 50,000 Americans went to Canada to avoid the draft. Today, however, Canadian law does not allow foreigners to apply for immediate “landed immigrant status”; they must apply outside of the country and wait up to two years or more for a decision.
But Gerry Condon, a former Green Beret who refused to fight in Vietnam and who is organising support for military personnel who have already gone to Canada to avoid fighting in the Iraq war, says that military resisters can avoid the new law by entering Canada as tourists and applying for refugee status. At the conference, Condon said he was surprised the anti-war movement had not been bolder in asking people in the military to resist. “It’s illegal,” he said, “But so is the war.” —Dawn/IPS News Service