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| July 02, 2007 | Monday | Jamadi-us-Sani 16, 1428 |
Cracking down on quacks
Lahore traffic police reform
Chances of another martial law
AWASH in a state of euphoria for the last three months, it is understandable that people do not want to spoil their new found happiness by talking about evil possibilities. This is a classic repetition of our usual mistake. Like other concerned Pakistanis I have once again started reading newspapers that I had discontinued after giving up on the elusive civil society some years ago.
AS the risks from an acute power shortage to economic growth mounts and the quality of life of ordinary citizens deteriorates because of power outages, the government is looking at offers for electricity generation from diversified sources — but without much success so far. It is now making a fresh move to encourage co-generation of power by sugar mills provided electricity can be made available by the industry sooner and at cheaper rates than the thermal power stations. These pre-conditions were accepted by the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association on Thursday at a meeting of the stakeholders and regulators presided over by the minister for industry and special initiatives. The sugar mills would use coal and bagasse for co-generation of power. If the sugar industry is enabled to further diversify its production programme, as it has done by producing industrial alcohol, and now by co-generation of power, the cost of manufacturing sugar can be reduced significantly. The meeting was informed that the industry could start producing 1,500MW of electricity by 2009-10.
The government needs to fix electricity tariff rates and also settle issues related to transmission, distribution and purchase. In November 2005, the ECC had also evolved a national policy for power co-generation by the sugar mills but no progress has so far been made. The government needs to be more active in tackling power-related problems. In spite of the street protests against frequent and long power outages in Karachi, which prompted the MQM to demand de-privatisation of KESC, the captive power plants in the city cannot sell their surplus electricity because of various bureaucratic snags. They need permission to sell electricity to neighbouring industrial units. There is also a lack of transmission facilities. The KESC is in shambles as indicated by the loss of so many lives in electrocution in the recent rainstorms. Not only do domestic consumers suffer, the cost of manufacturing has also gone up because industrial units have either to set up their own power plants or install generators. This has affected the competitiveness of export goods. The co-generation of power by sugar mills has also acquired urgency because of the Economic Coordination Committee’s decision to extend by one year the deadline for big business and independent power producers to install 2,250MW capacity up to 2010. Earlier, these IPPs were given tariff incentives to set up power plants of their own on a fast-track basis by 2008-09. There has been no increase in the installed generation capacity in fiscal year 2007 and the power crisis is expected to continue till 2010.
According to one projection, the power shortfall will increase to 5,520MW by 2009-2010 when steady supply will stand at 15,055MW against the peak demand of 20,584MW. To meet this huge gap, the government needs to harness both the private and public sector potential to exploit the diverse indigenous sources of energy — thermal, hydro, wind, sun, shrubs, bagasse, etc. The energy programme should have the right mix of big and small projects. Power sector development has suffered because of ad hoc and faulty decision-making and requires a long-term policy that includes an effective crash programme to overcome the current energy crisis on a priority basis.
A REPORT in Friday’s paper about a town near Faisalabad being at the mercy of quacks is a reminder of the dismal state of healthcare in the country. Nearly 12,000 people who live in Chak 58-GB Jaranwala do not have access to proper healthcare, and no one wants to work in the only dispensary there ever since a doctor was gunned down, allegedly by the many quacks who enjoy a monopoly on medical care. The report says that there are 12 illegal clinics in this area and most of the doctors there are ill-qualified, some even not qualified at all. Many of the people living there have hepatitis B and C, yet they are being ‘treated’ by quacks and getting sicker as a result. If similar surveys were conducted in other towns and settlements in the province, even the country, a gloomy picture is bound to emerge. It speaks of the government’s low priority to public health. A health official has said that funds will be allocated for screening of hepatitis cases and that the district government will soon launch a drive against quacks. These are familiar words, heard many times but are hardly acted on. This is why Pakistan’s healthcare system ranks as poorly as it does and the country has some of the highest rates of infant and maternal mortality in the world. People die of diseases that could have been easily prevented if they had access to clean drinking water, lived in proper sanitary conditions and, of course, were treated by qualified doctors in time.
The time has come to go beyond identifying the ills and taking action. In this case, the government must launch a nationwide crackdown on quacks — an estimated 600,000 in 2005 — and make doctors and medicines available. It needs to implement the existing laws against those involved in medical malpractices and fill the gap with proper healthcare centres. There is an absence of regulatory mechanisms in the healthcare system which need to be provided. The laws that exist on this issue need to be revised and strictly implemented.
THE commissioning by the Punjab Police (PP) of a new cadre of city traffic police for Lahore is an admirable step forward. The move comes as part of the PP’s effort to modernise the section of the force tasked with traffic management in the province’s five big cities. The 8,445 new, urban, graduate recruits, of whom 75 per cent are dedicated to street patrolling, are also being placed on duty in Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan and Gujranwala. The batch includes 139 commissioned women traffic police wardens, who have already taken up their duties in Lahore. With a respectable starting salary of Rs16,000 per month and the privileges enjoyed by grade 14 personnel under the public service commission guidelines, the new force comes equipped with mobile walkie-talkies, accident vehicle-cutting equipment and first aid provisions. The squad also has at its disposal several dozen well-equipped patrolling cars and some 2,850 motorbikes. Initial reports from Lahore suggest that citizens have responded positively to the new initiative aimed at bringing order to the city’s chaotic traffic. One hopes that the 32 per cent increase totalling nine billion rupees in the PP’s budget for the fiscal year 2007-08 will act as a further incentive for different works.
These are long overdue developments and need to be emulated by other provinces too. Big cities elsewhere in the country, like Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta, for instance, are crying out for similar upgrading in the working of their traffic police forces. The turnaround in Punjab is being carried out under the reforms envisaged in the Police Order of 2002. While a lot still needs to be done to implement reforms in all areas of policing to improve the department’s working, Punjab has at least made a beginning. It is time Sindh, Balochistan and the Frontier also took steps to modernise their respective police forces.
What one finds in short supply in the media is a dispassionate, objective and rational analysis of the situation that could educate the common citizen on what to expect and prepare for in the foreseeable future. The worst possibilities like the imposition of emergency or martial law are rarely mentioned and if so, very briefly, muffled with a hope that these steps would not be resorted to. If civil society is not even aware of what might be coming, would it be fair to expect it to galvanise itself into action and respond positively when the real defining moment arrives?
An academic analysis of the current situation no doubt affirms the oft-repeated expression that these are defining moments in the history of Pakistan. However, the true and crucial deciding moment will arrive when events take a bad turn. And that, precisely will be the moment when the hitherto undefined and probably undecided stakeholders are called upon to take action and lead the people of Pakistan. It would be the quality of that decision that will determine the future of the country.
The more things change, the more they remain the same. Is 2007 really different from the earlier movements of 1969 and 1977? Both those movements were launched against civilian governments whereas the government in power this time is directly controlled and dominated by the military. Yet, it should not be forgotten that there is a civilian façade to the military rule, and there is no martial law as such. This is significant because it makes the situation similar to the earlier two crises. Just as martial law could be imposed then, the possibility of its imposition cannot be ruled out now. No one was prepared for it then. Is any one prepared now?
It is important that we make an objective analysis to determine whether or not we should expect the imposition of Martial Law. The following distinct signals may help:
* Although both sides are busy arguing over matters like the restoration of the Chief Justice, independence of the judiciary, maintainability of appeals in the Supreme Court, composition of the Supreme Judicial Council and, laughably, the debate on whether the present crisis should be politicised or not. Every one knows fully well that the hue and cry is not about any of these issues – at least not any more. It took some time for the government circles to realise this bitter truth, but by now there is not a single person in the ruling team who has any doubt that this is a battle for survival.Whatever happens to the Chief Justice, the movement will continue until it reaches its natural outcome. When a person finally realises that he is fighting for his life, it is reasonable to expect that he will not hesitate to use the ultimate weapon in his arsenal to save his life. Forget about national and moral obligations.
* The Corps Commanders meeting with generals in regalia, wearing shining medals, televised to an unarmed, unsuspecting nation and the statement issued by the ISPR was not a routine memo. The unequivocal support expressed by the generals for policies that are exclusively civilian and unconnected with the armed forces, effectively places the army on the same footing as the government. This is qualitatively different from the support that the armed forces’ chiefs expressed for Bhutto during the PNA movement.
At that time, when the armed forces saw Bhutto’s ship sinking, they withdrew support from him in their own favour. (Let’s forget the conspiracy theory that everything was pre-planned by Ziaul Haq and the mullahs under the benign guidance of Uncle Sam). In the present scenario, the generals are already on the ship which, besides carrying the weight of government, holds immeasurable treasures. History is witness to many ships that sank along with their treasures while the owners blissfully ignored the blaring alarms.
* Affidavits submitted by a few of the most powerful generals in Pakistan strengthen the view that they are ready to go to any extent to protect their positions. It was unimaginable until now that an in-service general of the Pakistani army could stoop so low as to agree to appear before a court of law. Of course, viewed in a more positive light, this development could also mean that from now on the officers of the armed forces would be equal to other citizens in the eyes of the law. However, besides being too good to be true, this line of thinking contradicts several actions and statements coming from the establishment.
* The President continues to insist that the country will be in jeopardy without him. His belief that the war he is fighting, both against religious extremists and judicial non-conformists is not for himself but for the country makes things rather simple. There is no reason to doubt that he really believes how crucial his presence is. People in power hold such beliefs all over the world. Even Tony Blair, steeped in the traditions of that mother of all democracies, tried his best to pull on.
What we need to understand is the strength of the president’s conviction that it is not the system created by him that is indispensable for the country but his own person. His latest outburst against the unhelpful attitude of the Q-League, followed by his interview to a foreign newspaper that he intends to get himself re-elected in uniform affirms his belief that both his person and his uniform are important for the survival of this country. One should not doubt therefore that he would do everything in his power to save the country, even if it means imposing martial law.
* Last but not the least is the continued persistence of the United States’ official stand that it will support President Musharraf, come what may. None of the US officials’ statements in support of democracy, freedom of the press or the independence of the judiciary say in clear terms that the US supports these noble ideas even if they have to choose between them and the president.
On the contrary, every official statement in support of democracy reiterates the unequivocal support of the President in the same breath. They do not even care to clarify how they can support two opposites like military rule and democracy simultaneously. They are not naïve. The US has never been known to be comfortable with democracies and independent parliaments.
The war on terror, which many believe is really a war for oil, is the United States’ fight for survival as a superpower. In such a battle quick compliance with decisions by subordinates is essential for success; waiting for a parliament to vote on whether American forces can fire a missile at a suspected target is not an option.
The world has seen that the great success and majority of Democrats in the Congress has made no difference in the war policy of the United States. That nation is united in its effort to remain the single superpower in the world. It is for this ‘noble’ cause that they are sacrificing their youth in Iraq and Afghanistan; a martial law in a far-off country is not likely to disturb the appetite of many Americans.
A dispassionate analysis of the situation as it unfolds and intensifies offers limited options for probable outcomes in the immediate future: Negotiations between opposing parties is always a good idea and usually produces good results for the country. But are the parties willing to talk? For that matter, which is the “party” opposing the establishment? It appears that this option may not be utilised until it is too late. ‘Free and fair elections’ is a good slogan, but even those who are presenting it as the best solution know and express privately that this is not an option.
If anyone thinks that the president will resign or shed his uniform, he or she is mistaken. There is also an option of a “deal”, the pros and cons of which are changing rapidly with the changing situation on the ground. In any case, for a deal to become a solution of the present crisis, it would have to include the creators and perpetuators of the crisis, not with a single party. Which again leads to the question: who, if any, is in charge of the forces that are opposing the government?
The establishment will surely try every other option, including declaration of emergency before it resorts to the final ‘solution’. However, when it decides to impose martial law, which may come sooner than most people may like to believe, it would not be the normal brand that the Pakistanis have seen over the years. Considering that the crisis is fast taking the shape of a movement against military rule, the martial law will have all the accompaniments of a military operation, complete with armoured personnel carriers, tanks and big mobile guns, placed strategically in the middle of roads and crossroads of major cities.
When this happens, and one prays to God that it does not, the people will have two options: hide in their homes or come out and be counted. Nations around the world have gone through such dilemmas and taken both kinds of decisions. Those who came out and remained steadfast in their struggle, gained democracy and freedom although these took their toll. Those who decided to stay at home lived with dictatorship for decades.
But what is the choice of the people who have turned this crisis into the semblance of a movement? If they have not taken some specific decisions by the time the establishment decides to preempt their struggle, the defining moments will pass without defining anything and the people of Pakistan will get ready to welcome the next sixty years just as they have lived with what they call their destiny for the past sixty years.