| May 19, 2005 | Thursday | Rabi-us-Sani 10, 1426 |
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Controlling electronic media
Poor health care in NWFP
SINCE his 1999 coup, General Pervez Musharraf has managed, with the help of willing politicians, to consolidate his power and position so much that he now appears almost unassailable and able to get away with anything. Thus, if his information minister says that the general will continue as president beyond 2007, who are we ordinary mortals to say he cannot? Some legal device can always be found to make this happen. It is even possible that the general can offer himself as a civilian candidate for election and get a measure of support for this move from some of the opposition parties as well. This possibility, which could in some circumstances have been deemed as a practical compromise, has been put in some doubt by the information minister who stated that nothing could be said at this stage “whether he (Musharraf) will retain his army chief’s office” also. So there we are: there is this prospect also that the general can continue almost indefinitely as both army chief and president. The military-MMA agreement was fairly clear on the point that Gen Musharraf would give up his uniform at the end of 2004, and the general himself had told the nation that this would be so. But then he went back on this commitment, and nothing really happened.
It has been repeatedly emphasized that the president should keep himself above the bickering in the official League and avoid making random statements on the state of relations between the government and the opposition, if nothing else then to preserve his options when and if a political settlement is needed. This sensible course too has been shunned. On Monday, the general called a meeting of the PML-Q at the president’s house, much as a headmaster presides over a gaggle of squabbling children. He thus compromised his neutrality at a time when it is being hinted day in and day out that contacts are underway with the PPP. But all that the opposition can do in the face of such blatant partisanship is to issue statements, and the press to write editorials.
It is easy in such situations for a ruler to begin to believe in his own political invincibility. But whether this is in his own or his nation’s interest is the important question. We are a troubled, divided and frustrated society. Years of authoritarian and centralized rule have created strange and unresponsive political structures and given birth to many unhealthy tendencies. There are extremes of social and economic inequality. If there is progress in some areas, there is no political base to sustain it. A minimum of agreement is needed on broad policy goals among all sections of the people for these goals to be achieved and to prove durable. General elections have been scheduled for 2007. If these too are not at some stage put off, the government led by the general should be engaged in ensuring how a democratic atmosphere can be created in which the polls can be held peacefully and with a view to beginning a new chapter of representative government free of military overlordship. Instead, we find new formulas and new ideas being tossed up every other day. This is a recipe for further confusion.
The enforcement clauses contained in the Pemra Amendment Bill (2005) passed by the National Assembly constitute a retrograde step as far the freedom of the electronic media is concerned. Passed hurriedly without a debate after rushing it through the parliamentary standing committees concerned, the legislation substantially increases the control of the government over the electronic media. Several new provisions have been added to the existing law seeking to strengthen the regulatory authority’s powers to shut down a channel on grounds of any of its programmes presumed to have vulgar or obscene content. However, in doing so the definition of what is obscene or vulgar has not been clearly defined. Also, Pemra has been empowered to close down any radio or TV channel which it thinks airs or telecasts material “offensive to commonly accepted standards of decency”. This a very ambiguous and arbitrary provision which, given the tendency of governments in Pakistan, could well be misused by the authority to keep in check broadcasters who are seen to air programmes critical of government policies. Besides, what exactly are “commonly accepted standards of decency”?
In addition to all this, a committee to be headed by a retired judge where, under the 2002 law, the proprietor of a TV or radio station could file an appeal against cancellation of his licence by Pemra, has been dispensed with. In fact, under the new law, the authority has been empowered to confiscate equipment on mere suspicion before applying any penalty. This sets a dangerous precedent and goes against the tenets of natural justice because it equates mere suspicion with established guilt by allowing Pemra to seize equipment without giving the licence-holder an opportunity to contest the charge made by the regulator. Also, the composition of Pemra has been altered to ensure a majority of members in favour of the government. Clearly, the new Pemra law, especially the sweeping connotation of what are “commonly accepted standards of decency”, seems specifically to strengthen the official control over the electronic media and makes a mockery of the government claim of being a fervent upholder of media freedom.
SPEAKERS at a recent workshop in Peshawar have urged the provision of better health services for those living in the NWFP’s remote, often inaccessible, areas. While the same conclusion could have been drawn for any of the four provinces, the case in the NWFP is particularly bad as in terms of percentage the rural population there is the largest in the country. The conservative attitudes that prevail in that province have not helped matters — a fact that is reflected in the province-wide mortality figures for maternity and child health clinics (94). The figures for Rural Health Centres (87) and Basic Health Units (848) — both facilities for primary health care in outlying areas — are equally abysmal. No wonder, then, that after Balochistan, the NWFP has the highest maternal mortality rate in the country — at about 360 per 100,000, and cases of malaria and tuberculosis continue to mount.
With few qualified persons to man the already moribund health facilities, it is highly unlikely that the situation can be reversed any time soon. Doctors and nurses are reluctant to work in the remote areas where they feel deprived of decent living facilities. For woman doctors, the rigid patriarchal set-up makes it next to impossible to attend to patients — even if the latter are women. How then can efforts be made to retrieve the situation and prevent it from getting worse? No doubt, greater incentives for nurses and doctors to work in rural areas are the need of the hour. However, imparting medical training to members of the local community is also bound to yield positive results. For instance, the services of trained local midwives could make childbirth a less hazardous affair than it is at present. At the same time, it is important for the provincial health authorities to get their priorities straight so that there is no deviation from the goal of better rural facilities.