Abbas’s visit and Palestinian cause

PAKISTAN has been among the most consistent supporters of the Palestinian cause. So it should come as no surprise that on his first visit to this country, President Mahmoud Abbas found Pakistan willing to play its due role in promoting a settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict. As President Abbas told newsmen after his meeting with President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Pakistan was an important player in world affairs and for that reason could help in a just settlement of the Palestinian issue. Pakistan has no diplomatic relations with Israel, as pointed out by President Musharraf, and for that reason it cannot act as a mediator. But, Islamabad could use its leverage with the world community, especially Israel’s western friends, to help in a solution.

Even before independence, the Muslims of the subcontinent helped the Turks in their war of independence after World War I. After the coming of independence, Pakistan’s support to Algeria’s liberation struggle is a matter of record. This Pakistan did in spite of being weighed down by its own problems. In the case of Palestine, the people of Pakistan are especially supportive because of the justness of the Palestinian cause. However, Pakistan’s ability to influence events in the Middle East is limited. It is a developing country, with enormous political, economic and security problems of its own.

So long as the Cold War lasted, the US-Soviet rivalry lent a certain amount of balance to the Middle East’s geopolitical scene. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it is America which occupies centre-stage not only in the Middle East but throughout the world. The events preceding and following the Iraq invasion demonstrated in no uncertain terms America’s economic and military supremacy as well as its utter disregard for those who oppose it. This unilateralism in American policy made no difference between a former Cold War enemy like Russia or Nato partners Germany and France. While Washington have an open mind on many other issues, on the Arab-Israeli question it has a closed mind. Israel is the biggest recipient of America’s economic and military aid — since 1967, it has received $92 billion — and it enjoys Washington’s unqualified diplomatic support. With rare exceptions, America has always vetoed Security Council resolutions condemning Israel for human rights violations or for altering the Arab-Islamic character of the occupied territories. The Clinton and Bush administrations fully acquiesced in Israel’s sabotage of the Oslo process and the 2003 roadmap.

Given the reality of American power and the hold of the Zionist lobby on its domestic politics, there is little that Pakistan can do to help re-start the peace process. The problem is worsened by the provision of inaction and indifference adopted by the Arab world vis-a-vis the Palestinian issue. No doubt, the Arab world lacks military power, but Arab governments also do not act in concert. They have failed to use the leverage they have with the US to advance the Palestinian cause. The Arab League is little better than a debating club and so is the Organization of Islamic Conference. Both need to be rejuvenated. Perhaps joint diplomatic action by the AL and OIC could make things move and lead to a resumption of the peace process.

These ‘disappearances’

AFTER an eight-month ordeal, two brothers, both US citizens of Pakistani origin, Kashan and Zain Afzal, have been reunited with their families in Karachi. The men were picked up from their home in August 2004, allegedly by security agencies, on suspicion of links with militant organizations. Their whereabouts remained unknown; the government denied having ever detained them. The US-based group, Human Rights Watch, which took up the case of the two brothers in March this year, “expressed concern over the possible role of the American government in this case”. In an interview to a news agency after their release, the brothers said that they were questioned by Pakistani and American officials, adding that they were also tortured. They said that they had been exonerated of all allegations although it is not clear yet what crime they were charged with or suspected of in the first place. Even if they — like many others who have been picked up since 9/11 on suspicion of links with terrorist organizations — were involved in undesirable activities, this does not justify their detention for such a long period. And why were not their families told of the reason for their arrest and of their whereabouts?

The same is true of Dr Aafia Siddiqui, the award-winning PhD student from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who “disappeared” from Karachi in March 2003 and whose whereabouts still remain unknown. The government must own up to its responsibility of it has anything to do with her in her case ‘disappearance’ for such a long time and inform her concerned family of her whereabouts and the charges, if any, framed against her. By using the war on terror as a cover, the US and its coalition partners have infringed on many a legal and constitutional right and it is the families left behind that are made to suffer. Holding people at places like Guantanamo Bay, where they are detained for months on end without any trial, is widely considered as illegal. No one will question Pakistan’s decision to detain a person on specific grounds but when it denies its involvement, and is then proved wrong, it creates an environment of mistrust and resentment. In all such cases the prescribed legal and judicial norms and procedures must be followed and detainees allowed full legal opportunities to defend themselves.

A worrying picture

A government survey’s revelation that about 14,000 schools in Sindh do not have any building is cause for concern even though the disclosure should not come as a surprise knowing the sorry state of education in Sindh as well as other provinces. The survey also reveals that 80 per cent of schools had no electricity, 60 per cent no boundary wall or drinking water facilities, and 57 per cent had no toilets. No wonder Sindh has an unacceptably high dropout rate in primary education. The survey also confirms the public perception that a system of monitoring and supervision of government schools is not there and that inefficiency, mismanagement, corruption and misuse of resources like physical infrastructure for schools are rampant.

The quality of schools, and provision of basic facilities like lavatories, drinking water and electricity, are essential for a congenial environment for learning. In the context of the interior of Sindh, where the gender gap is among the widest in the country, it has been repeated time and again, in the media and elsewhere, that the absence of boundary walls is a major reason why parents are reluctant to send their daughters to schools. A significant percentage of government schools have also been appropriated by feudal landlords for personal use and serve as outhouses for their guests or to house livestock. The education department, working in conjunction with district governments, needs to improve the performance of its EDOs (executive district officers) who are assigned the job of monitoring the schools in the respective areas of their jurisdiction. The funds spent need to be properly utilized and schools made operational, with adequate teaching staff and basic facilities that any student would need. The local governments have an especially crucial role to play in this respect.