Priority to education

THE government’s decision to commit at least four per cent of the GDP to education in the next fiscal year will be highly welcomed, though with a measure of scepticism. Considering the fact that from 1996 the government’s allocation to education as a percentage of the GDP was steadily on the decline — it came down from 2.5 per cent in 1996-97 to 1.7 in 2002-03 — it is heartening to note that those at the helm have come to understand the importance of education for the national economy and in the personal and collective development of people. Since 2003 the allocation has been stepped up and it was 2.6 per cent of GDP last year. Whether the target of four per cent will actually be met remains to be seen. It is important, though, that the government has begun to focus on the education sector. As it is Pakistan is falling behind in the race to reach the millennium development goals set by the UN, which require the country to achieve universal primary enrolment by 2015. At present only 59 per cent of children in the age group 5-9 years are in school, the lowest enrolment rate in South Asia.

Hopefully, the government’s move to step up its spending in this area is indicative of its political will to address all the problems afflicting the education sector and not just its financing constraints. It is well known that a major cause of the malaise is rampant corruption, the scope for which is limitless in view of the fact that this sector is one of the largest employers in the government. The bulk of the funds allocated to education are siphoned off by dishonest and avaricious men and women who line their pockets while denying the children of Pakistan the education that is their right. We are familiar with the bane of ‘ghost’ schools, absentee teachers, missing textbooks and, above all, badly constructed school buildings that tend to collapse and bury the young students beneath their debris. If these issues are not addressed in earnest, the sizable increase in funding, if it actually happens, will only raise the level of corruption and make no impact on education as such. The authorities will have to devise an effective in-built mechanism to monitor the working of the education department from top to bottom to ensure that everyone is doing his/her duty honestly and efficiently.

Another essential aspect that needs urgent attention is the standard of education provided to the children. President Pervez Musharraf, who presided over the meeting that has promised to raise education spending, also took note of the quality factor which, according to him, is vital for long-term progress. In this context, the immediate step the education authorities should take is to arrange for in-service teachers training courses at all levels. With the teachers themselves the product of a system that has been on the decline for decades now, the standard of pedagogy has gone down as well. A beginning will have to be made to improve teaching standards. By training and motivating the teachers, the authorities should be able to mobilize them for the challenge ahead. The fact is that good teachers are the most valuable asset a country can have. If they agree to serve with total commitment and dedication and their cooperation can be enlisted in the struggle against ignorance and illiteracy, the battle will be more than half won.

Israel’s bête noire

ISRAEL, it seems, will have to put up with Hamas’s participation in the January elections given America’s apparent refusal to back Tel Aviv on the issue. During his recent visit to Washington, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was able to convince the American leadership that the participation in the legislative elections by all “political colours” would strengthen the cause of democracy in Palestine. He said he had succeeded in getting his views across to President George Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Congressional leaders. The issue came to the fore last month when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he would refuse to cooperate with the Palestinian Authority if Hamas took part in elections due in January. Israeli cooperation in the elections is necessary not only because of its military presence in the West Bank but also because voting will take place in eastern Al Quds too where the separation barrier and check points have made life for Palestinians extremely difficult. From Israel’s own point of view, Hamas’s participation in the democratic process is a positive development. Hamas is a militant organization, had serious disagreement with Yasser Arafat on how to liberate Palestine and followed its own line of action. For that reason, Israel had no qualms about murdering its leaders, including its founder, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, and his successor, Abdel Aziz Rantissi, though it is besides the point that Israel makes no difference between Hamas and other Palestinian leaders and activists when it chooses to eliminate them.

Israel seems to be unduly afraid of Hamas. It does command a certain following among the Palestinian people, but there is nothing to suggest that it will sweep elections, because the majority seems to be behind President Abbas and Prime Minister Ahmad Qorei. Its participation in the January polls will bring Hamas into the mainstream of Palestinian politics and strengthen the democratic process. If the US leadership does not bow to the Israeli lobby in Washington, the American stance on the issue could help the PA in the electoral process. This could in turn help re-start the peace process that has been in limbo for a long time.

Cold-blooded murder

THE fatal shooting down of the husband of a Sindh MPA allegedly by policemen in plainclothes on the highway between Karachi and Hyderabad on Sunday is shocking beyond belief. The victim was travelling in a car along with others when he was signalled to stop by policemen said to be members of the ‘anti-car lifting cell’. Since these men were not in uniform, the driver did not stop, fearing them to be robbers. As a result, the policemen got into a chase, but in a private car instead of a police van. Hence, there was nothing that would have made the driver of the car think that the police were asking him to stop. The chase ended in the death of the legislator’s husband when the policemen fired at him.

This is not the first time that members of the police have acted in such a callous manner. Similar instances have occurred previously but most involved policemen who were at least wearing their uniform and hence could easily be identified by those being asked to stop. The lengths to which police officials can go to protect such criminals in their midst is evidenced, in this case, by the statement of the area district police officer who is said to have told a private TV channel that the man died as a result of a police ‘encounter’. However, since the dead man is an MPA’s husband, the response of the Sindh government has been prompt with the policemen arrested and an inquiry ordered. Hopefully, the probe will be impartial and those responsible punished for their criminal act. Why were the policemen in civvies and why did they not fire at the car’s tyres, if it was necessary to stop it? These are some of the obvious questions the investigators must concentrate on to ascertain the truth and responsibility for this tragic incident.

Nato’s unusual, quick response

TWO weeks after the devastating earthquake which hit Pakistan’s northern areas, European governments and relief agencies are working around the clock to deliver urgently-needed relief supplies to the quake-hit areas.

Significantly, however, European governments are conducting their aid operations in Pakistan either at a national level or through the NATO military alliance, rather than the European Union.

The EU has provided quick humanitarian aid worth 13.6 million euros — but the overall EU figure announced by the European Commission has been overshadowed by much more generous national contributions made, among others, by Britain, Germany and Sweden. EU discussions on giving more substantial reconstruction aid to Islamabad are continuing but officials warn that the bloc’s ability to raise more funds is limited because of internal budgetary constraints and demands for aid put in by other countries.

It is hardly surprising, therefore, that while the EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Oct 18 did discuss how to help Pakistan recover from the destruction caused by the earthquake, their focus was more on how to curb the spread of bird flu in Europe and the crisis over farm trade liberalization within the World Trade Organization.

Helping Pakistan may be on the agenda at an EU leaders’ meeting in Hampton Court outside London on October 27. But the focus of the informal summit is expected to be on the impact of globalization on Europe and the WTO impasse on global trade liberalization.

Purists can argue that since European governments are coming to Pakistan’s aid, it is irrelevant whether they use the EU or Nato. But while reports of rivalry and competition between the alliance and the EU’s fledgling security and defence operations are routinely denied by both sides, it is an open secret that there is little love lost between the two organizations.

In other words, when the EU steps back, Nato stands to win.

While the EU watches from the sidelines, Nato’s decision last week to send hundreds of troops, medics and military engineers to help in relief operations in Pakistan marks a vital turning point in the 26-nation alliance’s search for a relevant role in a rapidly evolving post-Cold War world.

“Nato is not a humanitarian organization. It is playing its role within the framework of what it is,” said Nato’s secretary-general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, when announcing the aid decision. But the Pakistan operation was unprecedented, underlined Scheffer, adding: “This is the first time that Nato has done something like this on this scale.”

Apart from the obvious humanitarian impact of the move, Nato’s Pakistan aid mission sends several key messages to a watching world. That the alliance, set up to deal with the Soviet and communist threats in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, remains an important global player in a transformed post-Cold War world.

Given that the Nato action in Pakistan is the result of strong pressure on the alliance from the US, which has been lobbying actively for more Nato assistance for Islamabad, the Pakistan operation also proves that Washington’s word remains the key to unlocking decisions in the alliance.

The emergency in Pakistan is not the first time that the EU has missed an opportunity to upgrade its profile in the face of a humanitarian crisis. EU policymakers were equally dismayed at the bloc’s response to the Asian tsunami last December when European governments took quick national action to help the countries struck by the disaster but failed to coordinate their actions through the EU. As in the case of the earthquake in Pakistan, EU relief efforts to help victims of the tsunami were overshadowed by the much more visible US response, including the use of military aircraft and soldiers. As one EU official put it ruefully at the time, “after all, only the US has an air force and an army at its disposal.”

Almost one year later, little seems to have changed. The US has once again taken the lead in relief efforts and has also pledged to play a key role at an upcoming donors meeting on the Pakistan earthquake. Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca has said the US will be “vigorously engaged” at the Geneva talks on October 26 in an attempt to secure more aid for the earthquake survivors in Pakistan. More than $650 million has been pledged so far by various governments.

The UN also appears to have emerged with its credentials and credibility in tact. UN secretary-general Kofi Annan has sent letters to the leaders of all members appealing for urgent contributions to help the earthquake victims, by urging countries to demonstrate “the same sense of global solidarity and commitment that we saw in the wake of the tsunami” last December. “As winter approaches, it is a race against time to provide shelter to the over three million displaced. I fear the death toll will rise dramatically if we fail to assist the people immediately,” he said.

“We need an immediate and exceptional escalation of the global relief effort to support the work of the government of Pakistan,” Annan said.

While the US and the UN acted equally strongly in the case of the Asian tsunami, Nato’s quick response to the humanitarian crisis in Pakistan is unusual. Although Nato is continuing to struggle to find helicopters that are desperately needed to rush aid into the high mountains of Kashmir and northern Pakistan, the alliance has for the first time agreed to set up a major strategic airlift operation of relief supplies to Pakistan — something unprecedented in Nato’s history. This airlift is taking over one thousand tons of relief supplies to Pakistan, provided by UNHCR, Nato nations and other countries.

Even more significantly, Nato governments have now agreed to deploy a battalion of engineers, with equipment, to help clear roads and set up facilities in Pakistan. A number of helicopters will be added to the approximately 40 already in theatre from NATO nations, officials said adding that the alliance will also consider a sea lift operation, if necessary, to take oversized goods and equipment. Nato is running an airlift of aid to Pakistan out of bases in Germany and Turkey.

The operation out of Turkey is Nato’s biggest ever joint airlift with the UN refugee agency. It aims to ferry some 860 metric tonnes of UNHCR supplies to Pakistan over 10 days. Nato officials said up to 1,000 troops would go to Pakistan, spearheaded by engineers from Spain, Italy and Poland who will seek to clear roads blocked by the quake and subsequent mudslides so aid can reach stricken areas overland.

In addition, Nato will set up a field hospital, a mobile field headquarters to help coordinate operations with the United Nations, and send three Lithuanian water purification units.

Nato officials said the alliance would also fly four heavy lift helicopters from Germany, which has already sent two big cargo helicopters. Officials pointed out that individual allies have separately sent about 40 helicopters to Pakistan, with the United States taking a lead role. However, there is still a shortfall of high-altitude helicopters needed to reach communities cut off in the mountains.

De Hoop Scheffer also announced Nato is speeding up the airlift to Pakistan with 12 flights by giant C-17 cargo planes provided by Britain and the United States to carry aid from the UN refugee agency in the next few days. The announcement came after the UN’s top relief coordinator, Jan Egeland, called for the creation of non stop flights. Nato chief Scheffer said he would be attending the international donors’ conference in Geneva on Wednesday to consider further aid.

The Nato chief confirmed that the extra help would involve elements of its relatively new Nato Response Force (NRF), based in Lisbon.

— 500 engineers to help clear roads and set up facilities.

— A mobile medical unit, to supplement UN hospitals is already there.

— A deployable headquarters to help with planning, command and control.

Acting within the EU, the bloc’s foreign ministers have also promised to help Pakistan rebuild northern areas of the country devastated by the recent earthquake. EU governments would be “generous” in providing Islamabad with reconstruction assistance in addition to their immediate humanitarian aid response to the tragedy, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told reporters on October 18. A statement issued by the 25 EU governments said the European Commission must “explore all possible ways to fund additional post-emergency, long-term reconstruction and rehabilitation actions in the affected regions.”

Officials said several ministers had warned that a failure by the EU to deliver quick aid to Pakistan could encourage anti-western religious parties to argue that Europeans were not doing enough to help the country.

But officials in Brussels have warned that finding fresh funds for Pakistan will prove difficult because of continuing pressure on the EU budget. Several million euros of EU aid has been promised to victims of last year’s Asian tsunami as well as to Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestinians.

Islamabad is likely to face similar arguments if, as expected, it demands preferential access for its exports, especially textiles, to markets in the EU after the earthquake, pleading its case along lines considered last year for the tsunami-hit countries. While the request is likely to be considered positively by some EU governments seeking to help Pakistan, textile producing nations in the bloc will undoubtedly argue against such tariff concessions because there is no direct damage to the areas where the country’s textile industry is based.