| July 3, 2005 | Sunday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 25, 1426 |
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In the grip of rain havoc
Afghan refugees’ return
QUITE understandably, Pakistan has reacted strongly to the 10-year US-India defence pact that paves the way for the flow of American arms and technology into India in a big way. On Thursday, the foreign office warned that the induction of advanced weapons systems into the region could destabilize South Asia’s strategic balance. He said that, while Pakistan remained opposed to any arms race, it would maintain a “credible minimum” deterrence. Elaborating, he made it clear that he was referring to both conventional and non-conventional defence. On Wednesday, Gen Jahangir Karamat, our ambassador in Washington, said that elements of the Indo-American defence collaboration pact did concern Islamabad. The transfer of technology and the joint production of weapons, he said, could disturb the region’s strategic balance. Like the foreign office spokesman, Ambassador Karamat, too, said that Pakistan would have to strengthen its defence either by acquiring missile systems or by increasing its own missile capability. Both the statements, thus, make it clear that the Indo-US defence agreement would lead to an arms race in the subcontinent threatening peace and stability in the region.
The timing of the US-India pact is unfortunate. It comes while a detente is underway in South Asia. The agreement will, thus, in no way help strengthen the process of normalization or help solve the many issues that are proving difficult to settle. They include the three dams — Balighar, Wullar and Kishanganga — India is building in occupied Kashmir to draw water from those rivers whose exclusive use has been given to Pakistan under the Indus Waters Treaty. On top of these issues is the Kashmir dispute. Without a solution of this conflict, there is no possibility of a lasting peace in the subcontinent. On Kashmir, too, there have been some positive developments of the kind which even the most optimistic could not have expected some years ago. They include the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service and the visit of the APHC leaders to Azad Kashmir and Pakistan. If things continue this way, there is hope that one day the three parties to the dispute — Pakistan, India and the people of Kashmir — will arrive at a solution acceptable to all. However, an arms race runs counter to all this.
Already, Pakistan and India are spending more money on arms than they could possibly afford. This is a tragedy for their people, given the grinding poverty in the two countries. The same money could change the quality of life in South Asia if it were used for spreading education, fighting disease and hunger and promoting socio-economic progress. Pakistan has made many proposals for stopping an arms race and for a nuclear-free South Asia. India’s standard response has been that its defence system is not Pakistan-oriented and that it has other concerns to worry about. On the nuclear question, New Delhi insists that a regional nuclear accord will have meaning only as part of a general nuclear disarmament worldwide. This is not going to help matters. The arms race must stop. As Saarc’s two leading powers, Pakistan and India need to set an example for the other five member-states to follow. Without harmony and cooperation between the two states, there is little possibility of Saarc transforming itself into a dynamic regional grouping. The people of Pakistan and India need a better life, and this could be ensured if their governments were less profligate with missiles and arms spending.
THE death in Lahore of eight people after Friday morning’s first heavy downpour of the season brings into focus the complete failure of civic agencies yet again. Many of the fatalities and the large number of injuries could have been prevented if civic services were not in a state of disarray, and if people also exercised certain precautions. For instance, roofs need not have collapsed, and traffic accidents could have been fewer, if those involved had paid attention to their immediate environment and prepared for the rainy season. The blame for the rest of the havoc wreaked on the city by rain must rest with the inept and disorganized civic management. Lack of a working drainage system in Lahore and faulty power lines are a deadly combination that results in deaths by electrocution every time there is a downpour. One needs only to look at the state of the newly constructed underpasses along the canal to know the sheer scale of the drainage problems afflicting the city. Some of the underpasses lay under water as deep as eight feet, and Punjab University students took out their boats to navigate through them. The entire city centre, the Walled City, Northern Lahore and the southern suburbs fared no better.
It can be argued that the LDA’s Water and Sanitation Agency has long been neglected, with its arrears and liabilities running into millions. It seems to have failed to make it to the priority list of the erstwhile city government, or that of the province. Wasa’s equipment is reportedly insufficient, old and in a state of disrepair. But there can be no such excuse for failure on the part of the Lahore Electric Supply Company, bandied by authorities as being the most ‘profitable’ utility in the country. Lesco’s distribution system is equally bad, come rain or shine. When it is hot and sultry, the system fluctuates and trips, and when it rains it simply goes bust, often punishing citizens with electrocution. The question remains: does it have to be this bad, and for how long?
AS the process of repatriation of Afghan refugees continues with the bulk of the inmates of 12 camps in North Waziristan opting to return, one must keep one’s fingers crossed over their fate — this time in their own country. Pakistan has played host to over three million refugees since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. After a quarter of a century, many are now returning to Afghanistan under the UN refugee agency’s voluntary repatriation scheme. While their departure will certainly free up space and ease the competition for resources that local people in many places had come to resent, it is uncertain how they will fare in Afghanistan where years of conflict have left the country in a mess. There is widespread political instability in the country and the Kabul government has been unable to exert its authority much beyond the capital. Socio-economic conditions continue to be grim, and Afghanistan’s human development indicators are among the worst in the world. Many refugees find their land and homes occupied by local warlords and their henchmen while others find themselves deprived of even the basic means of livelihood.
This is a particularly crucial time for Afghanistan as it struggles to recover from the ravages of war. It is important for international donors to come up with the funds pledged for the reconstruction of the country whose capacity to absorb returnees is extremely restricted at the moment. The refugees’ plight should be of global concern as Afghanistan is once again on the threshold of becoming a narco-state. Moreover, recent violence has created fears of a resurgence of the Taliban. The large number of returning refugees, with nowhere to go and with no employment opportunity in sight, are an easy prey for both drug barons and militant elements. Their immediate economic and social reintegration is necessary to avoid a worsening of the present situation.