Give terrorists no quarter

A WEEK after the crackdown on the Lal Masjid and three days after Ayman al-Zawahiri asked his followers to hit Pakistan, his suicide bombers have struck. Even though the blasts occurred in Fata and the NWFP, everyone in the country has been shaken to the core. With over 100 dead in the Lal Masjid shootout, the death toll from two days of suicide attacks is too high to bear for this traumatised nation. Deeply troubled, people are appalled that some fiends should resort to barbarism in the name of Islam. Taking exception to the government’s handling of the Lal Masjid stand-off is one thing, massacring innocent people quite another. The way the security forces had a go at the well-armed militants holed up in the sacred precincts of a mosque has been widely criticised in the country. This paper has been strongly critical of the government’s policies on many vital issues. But it has never believed that killing innocent men, women and children can make the rulers change their policies.

The fanatic criminals who have murdered a minimum of 74 innocent persons and injured over 100 over the weekend consider this government to be their enemy because of its decision to join the US-led war on terror. Again, the opposition to the government’s foreign policy comes from many quarters, and even society’s liberal sections feel strongly about the way the generals have been extending cooperation to the US-led forces in Afghanistan and often behaving in a way that presents a tainted image of the country. But the best way to make the government realise its follies is to criticise it in and outside parliament and defeat it at the polls. However, to kill people — innocent people going about their day’s work or people who, in fact, may be sympathetic to the opposition’s point of view — is to behave like monsters. One must now ask Al-Zawahiri in what way he has furthered the cause of Islam by instigating these massacres. Besides, why does not he go back to his country and do whatever he likes there? Those who actually blow themselves up may perhaps be less guilty than the blood-sucking Draculas who convert innocent minds to their monstrous ways. The extent of the brainwashing to which the Al Qaeda and Taliban ideologues subject their acolytes was to be seen in the statement by a Hafsa girl over TV that she considered all those security men involved in the crackdown as kafirs.

Occasionally, Maulana Fazlur Rahman gives the impression that he is quite capable of rational thinking. Speaking at a joint meeting of the MMA and madressah leaders in Islamabad on Sunday, the deputy leader of the opposition disapproved of these massacres and said that Pakistan was not the place for suicide bombings. The JUI (F) chief also had the courage to call a spade a spade and said that Rashid Ghazi had not shown flexibility during the negotiations. Unfortunately, the majority of politicised ulema do not share the MMA leader’s view on suicide bombings. The madressahs were, by and large, opposed to the Aziz-Ghazi brothers’ criminal activities in the Lal Masjid, but after the stand-off was over, most of them criticised the government’s handling of it. But, on the whole, the ulema had on no occasion expressed their sympathy for the two brothers’ gangsterism. However, apart from ritualistic condemnations of suicide bombings, the politicians among the ulema have not denounced these attacks and have, in fact, behaved in a way that shows sympathy for the Al-Zawahiri-inspired suicide bombings. This is astonishing, and throws into doubt their sense of proportion which prevents them from condemning foreign-inspired terrorism that aims at destabilising Pakistan.

Regrettably, civil society and the opposition parties do not appear to be performing their duty on this question. This is no time for politicking, for what is at stake is not the fate of the Musharraf government but the fate and future of Pakistan. Will Pakistan be ruled by values given by Iqbal and Jinnah, the dreamer and the founder, or will it be ruled by the clergy with the thinking and outlook of medieval monks and Jesuits good at burning heretics at the stake? Irrespective of the acute political differences that exist between the government and the opposition, the nation must unite in its resolve to defeat religious militancy. The government must not waver in its resolve to rid the country of this monster. Those who are threatening to enforce Sharia at gunpoint are a small minority. They may kill without mercy and give the impression as if they can carry the nation along. But in reality the nation does not approve of such killings. No doubt, they are quite capable of perpetuating terror in isolated pockets, but even in Fata and the NWFP the vast majority of the people are sick of them. This should enable the government to draw up policies that combine force with an approach that seeks to enlist the people’s cooperation in isolating and defeating the murderous fanatics.

Rooting out terrorism is a national task. For that reason, the military-led government must try to develop a national consensus on its anti-terror policy. The best way to do this is to ensure transparency in the election due later this year. The nation and its well-wishers abroad want to see a democratic dispensation in Pakistan. The continuation of the status quo in which the elected civilian leadership has been subordinated to the military stands in the way of a successful prosecution of the war on terror.

Singh’s new vision

THOUGHTS expressed by Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh during his recent visit to Jammu and Kashmir leave one with hope for a final settlement of the dispute which has plagued Pakistan-India relations since independence. In his speech at a Jammu university, Dr Singh emphasised on making the Line of Control “irrelevant” for the people living on either side of it: he spoke of free movement of people, goods and services across the LoC, and of sharing the resources of the disputed state with all the people inhabiting it. This, the Indian leader said, was achievable once peace returned to the restive state under Indian control. He also expressed the hope that those Kashmiri leaders who have so far stayed away from New Delhi’s ongoing dialogue initiative would join the effort for finding a solution to the Kashmir problem. This was a reference to the possible inclusion in the peace initiative of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference. Dr Singh’s new vision thus mirrors the solutions President Musharraf had earlier offered to New Delhi.

The need to include Kashmiris of different schools of thought in any meaningful dialogue to resolve the issue cannot be overstated. The Kashmir dispute has defied all attempts at resolving it because of the exclusion of the Kashmiri leadership from the process all these years. Islamabad has for long moderated its stance on the disputed territory, saying that any solution acceptable to the people of Kashmir will also be accepted by it. This is a reasonable stance and should be built on by both sides. New Delhi can help by reducing the number of its security personnel deployed in the towns and cities of the Valley as a confidence-building measure. By India’s own admission, the threat of terrorist activities across the LoC in Kashmir has considerably gone down in recent months. It is time India realised that holding an entire people to siege through a massive security force in Kashmir, and the presence there of troops often accused of human rights violations, cannot win it the hearts and minds of the Kashmiri people.

Nadra’s failure or EC’s negligence?

AS a nation, we have been given to thinking of a situation only in its dying moments when concrete steps could have been taken much earlier. These days, the issue of electoral rolls (voters’ lists) is under hot discussion.

The Election Commission of Pakistan invited the people to inspect the lists prepared by it. The moment these were displayed, dissatisfaction and apprehension were expressed about the holding of non-transparent elections.Such feelings have been evident in different sections and even the ruling coalition has admitted that the lists are full of discrepancies.

Even in the past such accusations have been made but no steps were ever taken to arrive at a consensus with regard to the preparation of the voters’ lists, their updating and display on a regular basis. Before proposing measures in this regard it would be appropriate to refer to constitutional provisions and other national laws on the subject.

Article 51(2) of the Constitution of Pakistan provides as under:

A person shall be entitled to vote if

(a) he is a citizen of Pakistan;

(b) he is not less than 18 years of age;

(c) his name appears on the electoral roll; and

(d) he is not declared by a competent court to be of unsound mind.

Article 219 sets out the duties of the Chief Election Commissioner: preparing electoral rolls for the election to the National Assembly and the provincial assemblies, and revising such rolls annually.

The Electoral Rolls Act, 1974, provides for the preparation and revision of electoral rolls for elections to the National Assembly and the provincial assemblies. According to Section 6(2) of the act, a person is entitled to be enrolled as a voter in an electoral area if he(a) is a citizen of Pakistan;

(b) is not less than 18 years of age on the first day of January in the year in which the preparation or revision of the electoral rolls commences under this act;

(c) is not declared by a competent court to be of unsound mind; and

(d) is or deemed under Section 7 to be resident in the electoral area.

Section 25 of the act makes it abundantly clear that no person would be enrolled more than once or in more than one electoral area. According to Section 2(xiii) of the Representation of The Peoples Act, 1976, “electoral roll” means an electoral roll prepared, revised or corrected under the Electoral Rolls Act, 1974.

The difference between constitutional provisions and substantive law is that the former provides qualification of a person who can vote and the latter who can be enrolled as a voter. It may be pointed out that earlier in the Constitution and the act, the age of the voter was 21 years and through amendments it has been reduced to 18 years.

In the year 1973, the National Registration Act was promulgated to provide for the registration of citizens and the issue of identity cards to them. According to Section 4, every citizen in or out of Pakistan who is 18 years shall get himself, and a parent or guardian of every citizen who has not attained the age shall get such citizen, registered in accordance with the provisions of the act. It was the responsibility of the authority to issue the cards to citizens who got themselves registered.

The issuance of bogus cards and non-issuance of genuine cards also remained the issue. More particularly, at the time of elections, accusations against “influential” people would come in more vigorously. But this was of no use. Professional political hawks through cryptic devices managed the issuance of bogus cards in bulk, getting fictitious persons enrolled.

In order to start afresh, the concept of computerised cards was introduced and billions of rupees were spent to achieve the set objectives but again the results were not of much significance. In the year 2000, the National Database and Registration Authority Ordinance (Nadra) was proclaimed by the president with the following objects and purposes:

“Whereas it is expedient and necessary to provide for the registration of all persons and for the establishment and maintenance of multipurpose database, data warehouses, networking, interfacing of database and related facilities and services and matters connected therewith and ancillary thereto;

“And whereas a new, improved and modernised registration and database system is the emergent need of time for its multiple beneficial uses and applications in efficiently and effectively running the affairs of the state and the general public thereby achieving the goals of good governance, public service and minimising scope for corruption and inefficiency;

“And whereas it is expedient the National Database and Registration Authority be established to achieve the aforesaid objectives…”

In the light of the objectives set forth in the Nadra Ordinance 2000, the following questions come to mind, replies to which must be given by the authority.

(a) What was the strength of the population of the country aged 18 years or above at the time of coming into existence of Nadra?

(b) What was the number of citizens less than 18 years of age?

(c) How many citizens have been issued national identity cards by Nadra and how many are registered with it?

The demand by citizens and the decision of the government/election commission that voters should be allowed to cast their votes by showing the old cards itself shows that Nadra failed to provide identity cards to all citizens so entitled. The practice of declaring a policy of eligibility of voters to cast their votes on the basis of new NICs and then relaxing the same by allowing the casting of votes on old NICs is also uncalled for and leads to a polluted electoral process.

It is amazing that in our country, authorities, institutions and organisations have developed a commercial approach and in order to get pecuniary benefits have involved themselves in activities which do not fall within their domain, e.g. Nadra has started collecting utility bills instead of focusing on the objectives set forth in the statute.

A question which comes to mind is why with the latest information technology and infrastructure, a Pakistani citizen of 18 years or above, entitled to an NIC and be registered as a voter in the electoral area, cannot have this privilege at the same time? When an NIC is issued, a citizen can be given a voting number as well by mentioning the same in the NIC.

It is our tragedy that through different enactments of the law we create different authorities to achieve different objectives which through the application of one’s mind and by amending certain existing laws can be achieved merely by one institution or authority.

If Nadra can be given the task of bringing on record the exact population of the country, the issuance of NICs, the preparation and updating of electoral rolls, the issuance of birth/death certificates, the issuance of domiciles etc., ordinary citizens can be saved from the agony of running to different offices.

Billions of rupees spent on population census, preparation of electoral rolls, maintaining different offices and hiring people from different departments can be saved. The CEC may have the authority to inspect the electoral rolls maintained by Nadra and pass on any suggestion or redress the grievance of any aggrieved person.

By this exercise the exact figure of the country’s population can be ascertained and all citizens can inspect their name on the voters’ list at any time. In case of the demise of any citizen, surrendering of his or her NIC by the legal heirs must be declared mandatory for issuance of the death certificate.

In order to establish a good relationship between citizens and the state, a system may be evolved by Nadra whereby persons less than 18 years of age registered with it may be called by the authority a month prior to their attaining the age of 18 years for completion of formalities and on their date of birth a “present” in the shape of the NIC with a voting number may be given to them. Ultimately it is the responsibility of the state/authority to provide this.

These proposals and suggestions are not only for state functionaries but for all members of the parliament to think over so that they can enact certain amendments to existing laws in order to install a permanent and undisputed mechanism for transparent elections, maintain true electoral rolls and issue genuine NICs and corroborate the exact figure of the population of the country.

The writer is an advocate of the Supreme Court.
shaukatasiddiqui@yahoo.com

Fish and chips

THE French invented pommes frites and the Sephardic Jews of Spain and Portugal popularised frying fish in batter, so Great Britain is perhaps presumptuous in claiming fish and chips as a national dish.

But who can deny the central place of a takeaway meal that has survived wartime rationing, defied every change in taste for two centuries and held off the tasty challenge of Indian, Chinese and Thai rivals? It is a nourishing combination –– and healthy in moderation. The church's old requirement of fish on Fridays was less theology than Jamie Oliver or the Food Standards Agency in medieval guise.

But the greatest attraction has always been the extremely reasonable price; and that is now under threat. Fish stocks are vulnerable and this year's so-called summer has played havoc with crops of potatoes and made prematurely mushy peas. The country's 10,500 chippies have offered exceptional value for such a long time.

That matters, especially in those areas where the meal is the only cheap and cheerful way to eat out.

––The Guardian, London