| 25 April 2005 | Monday | 15 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426 |
Winning awards in America
Unnecessary evictions
President Pervez Musharraf observed during his interaction with the Indian Editors’ Guild, who else, that the focus of the world had shifted from politics to business and trade. He is right and so is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who believes that borders everywhere, not just in South Asia, should give way to trade convoys. That’s why among the most eager people to promote peace between India and Pakistan are members of the elite business clubs such as Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Confederation of Indian Industry.
However, in an era of neo-liberal economic regimes in both countries, the domination of the peace discourse by those who are tethered to the indices of the New York Stock Exchange is the surest way to entice both countries to the blood-caked political dungeons in neighbouring Washington DC. In other words if there are economic compulsions for peace to supplant hostilities between India and Pakistan, and why should we be apologetic that economics counts, then it invites an urgent debate about the kind of economic path that we are seeking to pave for ourselves in the otherwise vacuous name of peace. This is all the more urgent because of the nexus of economics with warmongering as lucidly illustrated with the crowning of Paul Wolfowitz as the new head of the of World Bank.
Peace and stability of course mean different things to different classes of people. They mean one thing to the rickshaw-puller who endures the white heat of the uphill trawl and another to the portly passenger who bides the torturous journey counting the pennies he is going to short-change the toiling man by. In the India-Pakistan context both characters could fit the bill as advocates for peace, but both have entirely different motives in setting their stated objective.
It is axiomatic that our two governments while professing peace in the name of the people are being clearly partial to one set of their citizens as opposed to the other. It has become amazingly easy today for a CII or a FICCI-accredited businessman to pick up a visa for Pakistan. There is a kind of underwritten guarantee that neither government will do anything to obstruct the journey and the agenda of these well-heeled leaders. So be it. But what harm could a small band of dedicated peace mongers belonging to both countries do to unnerve their two governments? Why should Sandeep Pandey, a Magsaysay Award winner not be allowed to carry on with his march from the dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia in Delhi to the shrine of the revered Baba Farid in Multan? Why will Pakistan not give him a visa?
There is no answer coming much less a cogent argument from any of the two governments. Is it the fear that Sandeep -– since he had the temerity to return Magsaysay’s $50,000 because he would not recant on his criticism of the American invasion of Iraq and because he staunchly opposes the nuclearisation of South Asia -– challenges a highly vulnerable state ideology? Till proved otherwise this is going to be the assumption of all those people on both sides of the border who toil for peace -– not in seminar rooms, or in business clubs or in self-proclaimed editors’ guilds -– but on the street when ever there was a need or an opportunity.
Look at the number and the type of people that Pakistani peace activists embrace across the border. Their interlocutors range from the Hindu right to the mainstream left, including the two major Communist parties. Lalu Prasad Yadav representing low caste Hindus and Ram Vilas Paswan of the lowest caste Dalits have all been to Pakistan. Film stars, journalists, theatre activists, teachers, students and musicians, the works, have been in each other’s country. But how much do the peace-wallahs know about the Naxalites, theso-called Maoist groups who command and control vast tracts of India –- from Hyderabad in the South to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the North, via large chunks of territory of Orissa, Maharasthra and MadhyaPradesh?
Do people in Pakistan or even in India care to know that the CPI (ML) organized the biggest rally seen in Delhi against the 2002 standoff. More than 50,000 people, mostly the poor, lowest caste Dalits and tribes-people had journeyed in cramped trains in the baking month of June to lend their voice for peace.
The CPI (ML) supported Iftikhar Geelani and S.A.R Geelani when other political parties ran for cover. “Genuine peace and friendship between India and Pakistan can only be based on a conscious rejection and reversal of the jingoistic foreign policy pursued for most of the post-partition years. A peace limited to the post-9/11 context and governed by the strategic perspective of Washington will always be fragile and vulnerable to American manipulations,” a largely unread CPI (ML) editorial on the peace moves said last week. How many in the mainstream media have put it as succinctly?
“It must however be understood that any attempt to take Kashmir for granted will only vitiate the environment. The people of Jammu and Kashmir must be taken into confidence in every possible manner. Greater political initiative in Kashmir, including a general amnesty to all political prisoners and strengthening of internal democracy in the state, must go hand in hand with enhanced exchanges with Pakistan.
“The corporate houses and the corporate media have already started talking about peace dividends. The monopoly houses can only calculate dividends in terms of greater market share and bigger profits. For the common man in India and Pakistan, the best realisation of peace dividend can only be in the form of reduced spending on arms and increased public expenditure and investment for meeting the basic needs of the working people of the two countries.”
Cricket legend Viv Richards is rumoured to be in the running to be India’s new coach. The original master blaster, in Mumbai last week, was clear that he was not going to get himself a coach’s badge if that was condition to get the job.
“I have not got a coaching badge. But I am also reluctant to go for the badge. I have with me the experience of playing in 124 Tests and have a sound knowledge of the game,” said the master. Moreover, you could get a badge only from England. “And having beaten England in the game all my life, I can’t see a genuine reason to subject myself to something crass like this.”
jawednaqvi@gmail.com
KARACHI: Frustrated with the authorities for not judging his performance on merit, a police officer left the force for the United States. There he joined the American police and clinched many awards getting into a list of America’s top ten police officers.
Muzaffar H. Siddiqi has been working with the Houston police department since 1996. Born in Karachi in 1962, he got a master’s degree in mathematics from Karachi University. He applied for a job in the police department in the mid-1980s and was appointed assistant sub-inspector in the Eagle Squad of the Karachi police.
Mr Siddiqi, who recently visited his birthplace, said: “Some police officials were being sent to serve in a UN mission for the first time. I was very confident that I would be selected. But I was dropped. After six months, I again applied and merit was trampled.
“I got disappointed and thought that this was sheer injustice. I could not survive in that atmosphere. So I gave up the job and went to the United States where my sister lived,” he said.
Like other foreigners, Siddiqi did odd jobs in Houston to earn a living. “I also got admission to the University of Houston and obtained a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.” In the mid-1990s, a job fair was held in Houston where different departments and companies put up their stalls. As a former police officer and with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, Siddiqi was drawn to the Houston police department stall.
“An official there asked me to join the police department. I told him that I was an ex-police officer from Pakistan and had a very bad experience of the police department and I did not want to join the force again. I thanked him and said no. However, he insisted on my filling out a form. This I did and mailed it to the Houston police department. After some days, I was called for a written test, which I passed. Then I appeared in the physical agility test and I passed it also. Altogether, I passed 10 stages of tests and the police department took one year to collect data about my background from here.”
As Mr Siddiqi obtained his bachelor’s degree and nationality, he was mentally prepared to join the police department and after all formalities, he got an appointment letter from the Houston police department and worked in different branches.
He was given the “Officer of the Year 2003” award by International Association of Chief of Police (IACP), which has 19,000 members worldwide and it is considered the highest recognition award. Mr Siddiqi was the first Muslim Asian police officer to be given this award.
Describing the major difference between the US and the Pakistani police, he said: “If you are a victim of crime, you have to go to a police station in Pakistan. In the US, the police will come to your doorstep.”
Mr Siddiqi said: “In Pakistan, the police are not free but a tool of politicians. The police in Pakistan have been totally politicized. In the US, the police are independent and there are no political pressures.”
He said that a culture had developed in Pakistan for keeping police guards and mobile vans for escorts. Even police officers did not move without their police guards. In the US, if a police officer could not save himself, he was supposed to quit and go home.
Mr Siddiqi said a police officer in the US was proud of being posted in the police training academy as it was seen a prestigious assignment. On the contrary, in Pakistan, a police officer was posted to the police training centre as punishment.
He said that Pakistanis in the US wanted to send donations and could adopt a police station one by one. “We can adopt a police station and take care of its needs. We can provide it with computers, equipment and other things but there should be a police organization which we can trust with our money,” he said.
An organization or a committee could be formed, which should be free from politics and which overseas Pakistanis could trust. “We can impart police training here in Pakistan in all the provinces as we want the police system and security to improve.”
— Arman Sabir
It is a fallacy to suppose that katchi abadis occupy the track which would be pressed into service when the Karachi Circular Railway becomes fully operational. But it was probably under this erroneous belief that the Pakistan Railways recently asked the city government to find out exactly how many low-income settlements were around the track – within a radius of 100 feet – and make prompt arrangements for their eviction.
Apparently, those who issued the directive took it for granted that only katchi abadis were within the 100-ft radius. The Urban Resource Centre, an advocacy group which has been functional since 1989, carried out an independent survey in March and found that this was not the case.
According to a representative of the non-governmental organization, the survey found that katchi abadis constituted only 28 per cent of the area which fell within the 100-ft zone. “The rest of the area comprises commercial centres, factories and financial institutions. For instance, the Awami Markaz on Sharea Faisal also lies within the 100-ft radius. The government is determined to evict the residents of katchi abadis living close to the track, but will it also pull down the Awami Markaz to make way for the Karachi Circular Railway?” he wonders.
Well-known architect Arif Hasan says that in Japan only 10 metres were taken as right of way for laying a double track. “This project should be used for restoring the circular railway and not for acquiring land. In the past, many so-called amenity plots were vacated only to be handed over to builders to construct commercial centres and shopping plazas. The government should take only as much land as it requires to restore the circular railway,” he says.
He points out that no alternative housing arrangements have been made for those who might be evicted. “In numerous cases, government officials have known to have made money by showing more evictees on paper than actually existed. If the government does not want to become embroiled in a land controversy, it should keep this process transparent,” he suggests.
Parks bulletin
The nazim of Karachi has declared the parks the city administration has been establishing as the local government’s gift to the citizens of Karachi. This is, no doubt, the best gift any government can give to its people. There are other bodies too which have set up parks which serve as lungs for this polluted metropolis while they also provide a spot for people for relaxation and walking or jogging.
But what do the citizens of this city do to these parks? One “walker” who goes to any park with a track to try it out has been visiting the small park set up in Clifton by the Pakistan Association of the Deaf. Given the limited resources PAD has, the park is well maintained and also has a cricket pitch where matches are held quite regularly. Besides, many schools in the area (highbrow ones) most of which are housed in residential premises and have no playground hold their annual sports day in the park. PAD lets out the park for sports and matches for a small fee. When a function is organized for special people, PAD exempts them from any charges.
Regular visitors are also required to pay a monthly entrance fee of Rs100, which many of them don’t pay, although it is by no means a hefty amount compared to the Rs5 per visit the parks in Defence Housing Authority are charging.
Our “walker” tells us that when the PAD park has been let out to a school, she can give you a comprehensive report about the school by just glancing at the park when she goes for her morning constitutional. Many a time, the ground is littered with scraps of paper and bunting. Sometimes there are the remains of a sumptuous feast – might be broast boxes or burger cartons – scattered around the park. Mind you, these are elite schools which cater to the children of the well-to-do. They apparently don’t believe in teaching hygiene to their students and make them aware of the dignity of labour. The following day, the employees of the park spend quite a bit of their duty hours cleaning the mess the children leave behind.
Of course not all schools are like that. There are some which do not allow their students to litter the place. They are the ones which teach them some basic manners. The teachers ensure that they do not disturb the walkers and keep out of their way. And there is no question of their throwing scraps of paper on the grounds.
Have the citizens of Karachi disowned this city? They do not even try to preserve what is given to them, leave aside make their own tiny contribution to a city they should be proud of.
Campus trouble
Violence in Karachi’s educational institutions is once again on the rise. No one seems prepared to take responsibility for the increasing number of clashes between rival political parties, the incidents of kidnapping and murder that take place regularly and the manner in which groups of young men bully their way into passing exams and getting degrees.
Student political groups need an occasion to start a fight. The last clash at Karachi University took place on the occasion of Yom-i-Hussain, despite the fact that neither of the groups involved in the fighting had anything to do with the occasion itself. A teenage activist of a political party was recently kidnapped and killed by torture.
It seems that rival political groups are spoiling for a fight and on many instances the Rangers, which police the city’s campuses, have adopted a policy of letting these groups let off steam, even if that means some boys being killed or seriously injured in the process. More recently, a group of students, not content with a brawl within the campus, decided to attack students who had been taken to a nearby hospital for treatment after being beaten earlier. The teachers and policemen accompanying the injured students were also given a thrashing. The city administration looked the other way. The response of the university administration was even more pathetic: it disallowed vehicles entering the campus, with the result that the majority of students who went to campus after the clashes had to walk long distances to get to their classes as no buses were allowed to ply.
The most telling thing about these clashes is that almost nobody is arrested. The disinterest of the police only empowers student leaders, who say that they have been given a carte blanche to establish their writ by their party leaders. It is feared that violence will escalate once local body polls approach since many student workers will be part of the polling process. This does not auger well for educational institutions in the city.
— By Karachian
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