| September 03, 2006 | Sunday | Sha'aban 9, 1427 |
The Oval fiasco — a case of administrative negligence
All correct, is it?
Ironically even when there is a peaceful strike in Karachi, there is an obvious degree of stress that citizens experience. They suffer from, what is described as, the fear of the unknown. Or the stress of the unknown. If the strike brings street violence and at least dislocation, the stress is that much higher, intense.
SERIES between Pakistan and England cannot seem to pass without incident. From Mike Gatting exchanging words with umpire Shakoor Rana to the ball-tampering allegations during the 1992 tour; more recently, the bad light excuses at Karachi in 2000 and Shahid Afridi scuffing up the pitch last year at Faisalabad, when these teams square off a lack of controversy is an oddity. Could it all be coincidence?
One seeks to underline the stress of the known here for these factors seem to be reaching disturbing proportions. Day to day living for the ordinary people is becoming immensely stressful, with the absence of good governance being a major factor in what seems to be at times a dangerous or humiliating experience. This is eroding mental health, opine medical experts
At a kind of fund-raising dinner that the Friends of Pakistan Association of Mental Health held last week at the FTC Auditorium, a very grim, perturbing profile of this society, in particular Karachi, was presented. Every bit of information and statistics revealed the extent of the malaise, which is calling for urgent attention. Take the fact that every other house in the Sindh capital has one or more persons taking tranquilisers. What does this mean for family life in this huge city? What kind of individuals?
Interestingly or symbolically enough, there were on the Metropolitan pages of Aug 28 two news reports that reflect the gravity of the psychological picture. One story said that there were 16 million mentally disturbed people in the country today, and the other story emphasised that ‘teen depression requires attention’. A colleague of mine read these two reports and remarked that Karachi should not be judged on the basis of the big new cars, the foreign goods in airconditioned plazas and the glamorised shopping malls.
It is pertinent to mention here what Dr Ishrat Hussain, a former State Bank governor and now Chairman of the National Commission for Government Reforms, said at the launching of the 2005 Human Development in South Asia Report when he referred to the problems that the ordinary people suffer, daily.
Dr Ishrat Hussain said: “It is my strong belief that most of the problems faced by ordinary people in Pakistan can be resolved if we are able to bring about a qualitative change in the institutions of governance in this country.” He went on to say that “governance constitutes for ordinary people a daily struggle for survival and dignity. Ordinary people are too often humiliated at the hands of public institutions.
For them, lack of good governance means police brutality, corruption in accessing basic public health services, ghost teachers, absenteeism, missing medicines, high cost of and low access to justice, criminalisation of politics, and lack of social justice. These are just a few manifestations of the crisis of governance.”
But one Karachiite was bitter when he gave details of how not just the public sector institutions, but even private sector institutions harass and humiliate citizen for known or unknown reasons. He gave details of how an average customer can be given a rough deal or shoddy handling by the best of foreign banks or private banks. It is almost like dealing with the post office or the passport office or the driving licence office, he stressed, and added that even though there are foreign banks and franchises here, the point to bear in mind is that the human resource is very much Pakistani. This means that it is poorly educated and poorly trained; often? All this translates into stress which leads to mental health, quite understandably.
What are the causes of everyday stress for the common man? Rising prices of food items, and with Ramazan due later this month, people have begun doing panicky arithmetic once again. Traffic jams and rain ruined roads that create hazards both for pedestrians and drivers. Religious and political conflicts and a bitter dissent on an endless list of issues -- street crime or insecurity in homes, bazaars, everywhere, etc. -- just about anything we look at carries friction and risk and even sheer insecurity. This has a telling effect on the health of citizens; mental health, which eventually affects overall health.
Let me, however, return to that Saturday evening event of Pakistan Association of Mental Health where some disturbing details were given with regard to Karachi. It was stated by President of the Association Dr Syed Haroon Ahmed that in Karachi, “there are 1.6 million people suffering from emotional, intellectual and/or social adjustment disorders. And that there are 16 million people in the country who are mentally disturbed. It makes one contemplate the environment in the country -- and the many conflicts and confrontations that are going in the country. There are disputes, and dissent about everything possible, remarked one housewife.
But stress that wrecks mental peace in the ultimate is caused by a variety of everyday issues whether related to a workplace or home. If there is a bad neighbour next door who becomes a sustained irritant, there can be a rude subordinate or a rude boss.
Let us continue with the PAMH profile of this society. It says that every fifth house in this city has a psychosomatic /psychiatric problem disturbing family, neighbourhood or the society in general. There is more to cause legitimate concern. It is revealed that every 10th house has a psychiatric patient needing medical attention (depression, psychosis, psychosomatic disorders, obsession, mental retardation, epilepsy and drug dependence).
The question that arises is why is the average family or individual unwilling (or unable) to face the mental illnesses. Answer: the stigma that is attached to having stress-related disorder drives individuals and families to cover up the illness.
In Karachi, of the 1.6 million people suffering from psychiatric and stress-related disorder, at least 0.3 million people are those who need psychiatric and psychological attention. And the PAMH officials warn that these people, if left unattended, could become a ‘permanent burden’ on the society. In other words, families will suffer more.
The big challenge that this society is faced with is to try and reduce the size of the psychological wall that prevents mentally ill people from going out to get qualified medical help, and not to bank on the quacks that operate on a growing scale or rely on the dubious spiritual healers who exploit vulnerable women in particular, both educated and uneducated women.
I write this column on another Friday evening, after a stressful day-long strike called by the opposition political parties to protest the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti. While the PAMH was trying to entertain its invitees to some humour and music to lighten the burden of our lives, the news of Nawab Bugti’s killing during the very programme jolted us, forcing us to have the awareness that this society is driven by uncertainty -- and a fear of the unknown.
After the latest incident involving two men and a ball (Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and umpire Darrell Hair), some have suggested racism, a dislike of Pakistan, a clash of civilisations, differences between the West and the Islamic world, a neo-conservative Jewish conspiracy (well, the last one is not true, yet).
There has been no shortage of outlandish allegations from readers and journalists alike. And now, a week into the affair, the ICC has been handed a letter from Darrell Hair asking for 500,000 dollars in exchange for disappearing into the English countryside, never to bother cricket again.
There remain, however, a few unanswered questions. Inzamam was convinced to return to the field after the umpires forfeited the match in favour of England, highlighting the lack of communication between the match officials, the ICC and PCB during the tea interval.
This diffidence toward dialogue has proven once again that the ICC is a governing body with little regard for the state of cricket itself, a relic of the era when all would bow down to the whims of the old guard. And the PCB has proven that it is not an independent organisation capable of safeguarding the integrity of its players and Pakistan cricket.
By watching things unravel from the sidelines, they are as complicit as the ICC in allowing this match to fizzle out the way it did. If cricket boards and the ICC represent the diplomatic enclave of the game, then they seem to have failed cricket miserably. They seem satisfied in exchanging words and appearing relevant while leaving the players and the fans out to dry.
Hair can be called a pedantic, dogmatic law-enforcer who acts more like a policeman than an umpire. But he simply followed the rules of the game and made a decision, however harsh, that is within the dictates of the laws.
He should have informed Inzamam, perhaps provided a warning, maybe even waited till tea and brought the other match officials into the equation. There is no doubt he handled the matter without the slightest regard for the Pakistan team’s sensitivities and his actions should be examined by the ICC as well as those of Inzamam.
After all, the Pakistan captain was rather slow in his reaction to the umpires’ decision to change the ball and did show a level of disregard for the laws of the game. Some might believe that Hair’s unprecedented demands for retirement compensation will vindicate Inzamam in the eyes of the ICC. But one would do well to remember that neither Hair nor Inzamam’s actions resulted in the sordid outcome of this match.
The Oval Tests conclusion was the cause of administrative negligence on the part of the ICC and the PCB. It seems that their role in the affair will go unexamined in the coming weeks, however, while both Hair and Inzamam will be turned into scapegoats for the comfortable inaction of the administrators. If this route is taken then cricket will blindly tumble toward ruin, waiting for another, similar scenario to appear. It has been said that Inzamam’s actions were a blessing because they have rid the game of Hair, but perhaps both should be applauded because they have exposed the biggest problem of all. Cricket belongs to the fans, first and foremost, and then to those who play the game.
The administrators are paid officials, employed to safeguard and foster the sport, to make sure that events such as those that broke out at the Oval do not happen. Yet this, and so many other hurdles — player burnout, poor scheduling, match fixing etc. — have plagued the game over the years. On each occasion, the administrators have hidden behind opportune excuses and convenient scapegoats. Who will save cricket when those appointed to protect its integrity are the ones with the loosest principles?
THE way Lahore and much of Punjab reacted to the opposition’s call for a general strike on Friday should serve as a wake up call for the opposition parties. It should tell Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif who claim Lahore and Punjab as their power bases how they have left their respective parties leaderless by centralising all power in their own hands; any that they let trickle down to their second-in-command ‘yes’ men left behind to hold the fort back home is utterly useless and ineffective.
Despite the crippling rain that lashed Lahore on Friday, there was no shutter down, no public transport off the road and no schools closed. Punjab did business as usual, thanks to the lack of interest on the part of the opposition parties in the Bugti cause that many of the leaders privately admit embarrasses them. This puts in context the inertia prevailing among the cadres of the PML-N and the Jamaat-i-Islami — despite the fact that both the parties are headquartered in Lahore.
Friday was a far cry from the Movement for Restoration of Democracy days of the 1980s when the then opposition was able to rally people behind its cause in defiance of the brute force used by Gen Ziaul Haq to quell dissent. Democracy was restored and then it was derailed again; popularly elected governments might have failed to deliver the goods, as some say, but it was the process that should not have been derailed. Only the public and the judiciary, and not the military, have the right to hold inept and corrupt politicians accountable. The de-politicisation of society that was set in motion has since robbed the people of their confidence in effecting change. When unbridled forces of market economy, the rush to privatise national institutions and the ensuing struggle to make a living take over people’s lives, political causes become a luxury they can ill-afford.
A general feeling of indifference has begun to set in among the public which by no means is a sign of good national health. Today, inter-province relations are at their lowest ebb, with the people of the three provinces on one side and those of Punjab on the other. Politics in Punjab has lost much of its appeal, not because Punjabis have started viewing Sindhis, Pakhtoons, Mohajirs and the Baloch as irritants in the way of securing their interests but because of their own helplessness to effect any change in the way Punjab is governed.
The grip of the civil-military establishment over Punjab is so invasive that nothing escapes it. The people have traditionally not been interested in the right-wing religious politics, and so the emergence of the MMA has really not changed the political complexion of the province; it is the erosion of non-religious parties’ appeal that should be a cause for serious concern for civil society. The people who struck in response to the opposition’s call from Khyber to Bolan to Karachi on Friday were no dearer friends of the late Nawab Akbar Bugti than the average Punjabi, but by heeding the strike call they made a point which was sadly lost on Islamabad; those at the helm in Lahore naively claimed victory, in utter bad taste.
The truth remains that an average Punjabi bears no less the brunt of what nationalists elsewhere conveniently call ‘Punjabi imperialism’. In Punjab itself the highhanded, arrogant attitude of the ruling establishment towards the people is a sad fact of the hapless people’s everyday life. But no people anywhere would like to be condemned en masse for the folly of a few among them. In this too opposition parties that have a nationwide presence have failed to do their job.
The gap in political perceptions that exists between Punjab and the rest of the federating units today is not the doing of the people, but of the civil-military-feudal ruling troika that needs a bad big brother on its side to keep the smaller ‘troublemaking’ siblings in check. Again, it is the absence of the process — the rule of law as well as a credible, transparent, political process — that has brought on the current crisis of national integration. That 60 years on the country should still yearn for coming together as a whole is the real shame.
The government’s handling of the Waziristan affair and now the Bugti crisis did no service to the country or to the cause of national integration. The federal ministers’ subsequent gloating over the burning issues fanned the fires of controversy even further. Under the circumstances one is left to wonder as to where it all is going. On the broader plain, the issue is not so much as to why a renegade tribal chief was killed; it was the way in which he was killed — without due process, something that every citizen deserves as a matter of right.
It has been nearly seven years since the 1999 coup d’etat. Not one of the major promises made by Gen Pervez Musharraf on October 12 that year has been fulfilled. These entailed the strengthening of the federation, removal of inter-provincial disharmony and restoration of national cohesion; ensuring of law and order and dispensation of speedy justice; de-politicisation of state institutions; devolution of power to the grassroots level and accountability of corrupt officials and politicians. Instead, we have seen quite the opposite evolve under the general’s tailor-made dispensation, run by his handpicked deputies. There has also been a continuation of the policy of political victimisation on the part of the current government. The highhandedness with which the government has time and again violated the opposition’s right to stage peaceful protests in Lahore has been appalling.
But all is still not lost, provided the political parties that claim to have a national presence take stock and pull up their socks. For this some degree of democracy must be instilled into the working of the parties. A genuine second-tier leadership must be allowed to evolve and take responsibility for a given party’s working and internal organisation. There is still over a year’s time left before the next election to start the process. The kind of political indifference prevailing among the public in Punjab can spell doom for any hope for a meaningful change at the national level. Let not a rubberstamp parliament, with massive privileges and perks at taxpayers’ expense, and a socially and politically irrelevant opposition be our political model. — OBSERVER