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| March 02, 2008 | Sunday | Safar 23, 1429 |
The great ‘oil rig’
Efficacy of antidepressants
The supremacy of parliament
OTHER VOICES: Indian Press
THE simple reality is that since 1953 we have had no democracy. When people now talk about the ‘restoration of democracy’, one wonders what they mean. The reality we are facing is how to create democracy.
SUCH is the state of lawlessness that eight days without a suicide attack seems a respite from the carnage that has become all too common in Pakistan. At least 13 suicide attacks rocked the country between Jan 1 and March 1, which on average comes to one assault every four days or so. Suicide bombers have so far claimed a minimum of 185 lives this year (an average tally of three deaths daily over a period of 61 days) and left scores more injured, many of them disabled for life. The longest break
this year between suicide blasts came after the Feb 16 attacks on a PPP rally in Parachinar in Kurram Agency and on an army media centre in Mingora, Swat. Forty-seven were killed that day in Parachinar alone while the Mingora incident claimed two lives. That was just before the elections which, contrary to expectations, passed peacefully for the most part. But the truce — if it were indeed that — lasted only eight days. On Feb 25 the surgeon-general of the Pakistan Army fell victim to a suicide bomber in an attack in Rawalpindi that claimed eight lives. On Friday, just four days after the Pindi assault, another suicide blast in Mingora killed many people attending the funeral of a police DSP killed earlier in the day by a roadside bomb. Yesterday, at least one person was killed in a suicide attack in Bajaur.
We are talking of human lives here, not numbers. Indeed, there is a tendency in this country towards a sordid score-keeping vis-à-vis terrorism that, by devaluing the human element, can end up desensitising citizens to violence in society. It obviously goes without saying that the intention here is quite the opposite. At times there is a need to examine the trend as a whole, as opposed to incidents, to grasp the scale of the problem facing the country. Going by what has transpired this year alone, the challenge before us is enormous. It is generally accepted that it is close to impossible to thwart a suicide bomber once he reaches the site of the attack. The answer lies in interception en route and sound intelligence is of the essence in this connection. Understaffed and poorly trained, the police are quite incapable of delivering the goods on their own.
We do, however, have a well-funded and meticulously trained army of intelligence operatives. It is time the focus of our vast intelligence infrastructure is shifted by those who control it from politicians and civil society to the extremists that threaten the country.
THE interim government of Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro has certainly taken its time over hitting the people with the inevitable: the increase in prices of petroleum and the electricity tariff by a staggering nine per cent. The increase has come in the wake of spiralling oil prices in the international market which now stands at over $103 per barrel. The increase will reduce what the government was footing by way of subsidy money by three per cent per month. The hike was on the cards for long. The previous government put off the decision to escape the negative fallout in the general election of February. But in the case of President Pervez Musharraf and his economic adviser, Dr Salman Shah, it is more procrastination than simple, politically-motivated delay. Dr Shah was the man in charge of the economy in the Shaukat Aziz government and he is the man now, personifying the continuation of President Musharraf’s policies. He maintained at a press conference that the hike in oil prices and power tariff will push up inflation by 1.5 per cent, but obviously the impact on the life of people would be much greater. There will be an increase in the price of everything, from transport to food to any item that comes to your mind.
Dr Shah has some sincere advice for the Pakistanis his government has burdened heavily in one go. He asks the transporters to be frugal with their oil expenditures, and says this economical spending could actually lead to the impossible — a downward revision of oil prices. He also has a formula which can lead to a more prudent use of electricity. What he cannot explain to the satisfaction of the affected millions is why couldn’t the government stagger the price increase over a few months. The present government, which should have started off a gradual adjustment in oil prices a few months ago, seeks to vindicate its action by telling the people that it had consulted the ‘majority party’ before announcing the decision. Readily, we find old comrades of Dr Shah in the Pakistan Muslim League-Q reminding everyone that the Pakistan People’s Party, or in the current economic parlance the ‘majority party’, had asked the interim setup to go ahead with the adjustment to absolve the coming government of the blame. The logic behind this argument is as flawed as is the wisdom of passing the load on to the people in an accumulated form and the wisdom of throwing the unenviable legacy of the past government at the door of those who are about to take over.
THE cat’s out of the medicine bag and psychiatrists in Pakistan ought to take note. Research spearheaded by a university in the UK has found that drugs such as Prozac and Seroxat are only marginally more effective than placebos in treating mild to moderate depression, leading its authors to conclude that “depressed people can improve without chemical treatments”. The study is based on clinical trials whose results pharmaceutical companies selectively and conveniently chose not to make public and which were obtained under US freedom of information laws. Its findings suggest that antidepressants should be administered only if alternative therapies fail to produce benefit in patients suffering from mild to moderate depression. Prozac (fluoxetine) and Seroxat (paroxetine) are both available in Pakistan and are dispensed indiscriminately even by some leading psychiatrists who appear to be interested primarily in patient turnover. The situation prevailing in the psychiatry wards of government hospitals, though anything but ideal, is not the issue here. For one thing they tend to be short of resources and manpower. Also, many of the patients brought to these wards are in an advanced stage of illness after years of neglect in the home or maltreatment at the hands of quacks. Administering drugs makes sense in cases where patients are severely depressed or pose a palpable danger to themselves and those around them.
There can be no such excuse for psychiatrists that cater to more upmarket ‘clients’ who may be nothing more than temporarily downcast about their lot in life. Counselling even one patient takes time, which is perhaps too much to ask of some money-minded psychiatrists who can attend to four cases in 90-odd minutes by writing prescriptions at the drop of a hat. Once hooked on antidepressants, patients can turn suicidal if they try to wean themselves off the drug. Many develop a life-long dependency and over-the-counter availability can make matters worse. But consider the benefits, at least to the doctor. A patient for life and pharmaceutical companies that are only too willing to reward the physician’s performance. What could be better?
People are generally aware that its pre-requisites are: 1. A free press and media; 2. A non-political administrative structure; 3. Free and fair elections periodically; 4. An independent judiciary
They are good slogans but the way they are being enunciated doesn’t amount to much in practical terms. Besides this, there are other problems which need to be resolved if we want to move towards democracy.
Most of us are committed to what is known as the ‘Westminster model’ or the parliamentary form of government. We completely overlook the fact that Britain, until very recently, was completely unitary. It had no concept of federalism. The theory about democracy is fairly simple – the legislature represents public opinion and the executive is responsible to the legislature. What is overlooked is that the legislature feels it is dependent on the executive. If the executive fails, parliament would be dissolved and they would face the uncertainties of another election. How is it to be ascertained that the executive has failed and who is to have the power to dissolve parliament. Although it was not always like this in the UK and the role of the prime minister has evolved over the last two hundred years to the point where it is the prime minister who asks the Crown to dissolve parliament.
It is partly based on convention and partly on the basis of public opinion as exposed through the media. And yet the timing is such that the outgoing government thinks will give it the best chance of winning the next election. Because of the pre-eminence of the executive over the legislature an inherent danger in the Westminster model is prime ministerial dictatorship.
We have been experiencing it since 1972. ZAB was the ablest politician that Pakistan has produced. Unfortunately, he had no interest in democracy. Even though he did not own a large area of land, by nature he was essentially a feudal lord. As soon as he stepped down as president and chief martial law administrator he suspended all the human rights clauses of the Constitution. Mr Bhutto amended the 1973 Constitution seven times between 1974 and 1977. These are as follows:
First Amendment Act: May 8, 1974 – amended: Articles 1, 8, 17, 61, 101, 127, 193, 199, 200, 209, 212, 250, 259, 260, 272 and the First schedule.
Second Amendment Act: Sept 21, 1974: Articles 106 and 260.
Third Amendment Act: Feb 18, 1975: Articles 10 and 232.
Fourth Amendment Act: Nov 25, 1975: Articles 8, 17, 19, 51, 54, 106, 199, 271, 272, 273, amendment of the First Schedule and the Fourth Schedule and Orders passed under Article 199 shall cease to have effect after 60 days.
Fifth Amendment Act: 1976: Articles 101, 160, 175, 179, 180, 187, 192, 195, 196, 199, 200, 204, 206, 212, 260, 280, plus amendment of the First schedule and the Fourth Schedule.
Sixth Amendment Act 1976: Articles 179, 195, 246 and 260.
Seventh Amendment Act 1977: May 16, 1977: Insertion of new Article 96-A and Amendment of Articles 101 and 245…
When people talk about the restoration of the 1973 Constitution one wonders what it is that they are talking about. Bhutto contrived to make the Constitution and the ‘machinery of government’ – the so-called bureaucracy to become completely subservient to the prime minister which led to what is widely seen as the outright rigging of elections in 1977. All successful government servants have since become politicised. Currently they are allied either with the PPP or the PML-N. One doesn’t know what is going to happen next.
Mr Bhutto was only concerned with political issues: economic management was infra dig. Total censorship remained in place. To complete the picture, the Dalai Camp was set up in Azad Kashmir. It is important to understand the first PPP government’s performance and attitude towards democracy as ZAB’s prime ministership has been secretly treated as the ideal by all subsequent prime ministers. Fortunately, they were unable to reach the same pinnacle of power, possibly because they were nowhere near as competent in influencing and persuading people. We should therefore be cautious when we talk about the ‘restoration of democracy.’
No political leader is likely to even mention prime ministerial dictatorship. Because that is what they all want to become. We were fortunate that Mr Nawaz Sharif failed to become Amir-ul-Momineen because of the Senate. If we are serious about progressing towards democracy the Senate has to be strengthened and made effective similar to the US Senate. It is one of the basic requirements of federalism: Pandit Nehru and Dr Ambedkar fudged the Indian Constitution by making the Rajya Sabha the equivalent of the British House of Lords.
In Pakistan the executive is almost totally in command of the legislature given our social and political norms, changing this is not likely in spite of Mr Zardari’s assertion to ensure parliamentary supremacy. Acknowledging the power of the executive many legislators, particularly all independents, would be willing to join the government.
In many cases we are a bunch of provinces rather than a nation. The result is friction between the provinces. Sindh is upset because Punjab, being the upper riparian, controls the flow of water in the Indus and its tributaries. Sindh was naturally upset because Karachi had been taken over by the so-called Urdu speakers in the early years. Although Karachi is now full of people from other parts of Pakistan it still remains ‘Urdu speaking’. Things have improved between urban and rural Sindh, but they are still not what they should be. Punjab, however, still regards so-called Muhajirs as a big nuisance.
The Punjab and the NWFP are not so distant from each other; nevertheless, there was a serious dispute over the Kalabagh dam. There are also other currents and cross-currents so much so that whenever anyone is disappointed they immediately talk about the break-up of the country.
Fortunately we were drifting slowly towards some sort of a concept of nationhood. An effective Senate would speed up the process. What needs to be done is that the Senate should be elected through proportional representation from the provinces. This would make it directly elected and also make its composition a bit different from the lower house. The real problem is that any such development will be opposed by leaders who expect to become prime ministers. Secretly they are all hoping to be dictators.
No place for terror
The Asian Age
THE unequivocal condemnation of terrorism by Darul Uloom, arguably Asia’s most revered Islamic seminary, is praiseworthy. The silence of the Muslim clergy over terrorist violence had sometimes created avoidable misunderstanding and sparked unnecessary controversy. Over 4,000 ulema from across the country recently attended the All India Anti Terrorism Conference at Deoband and issued a clear fatwa against the scourge...
There is no doubt that the number of bigoted Muslims who indulge in terrorist violence is very small…The Deoband declaration will go a long way in removing the cobwebs of confusion from the minds of this small band of misguided people who misinterpret Islamic teachings to suit their purpose. Significantly, the ulema at Deoband based their denunciation and rejection of terrorism on the same Islam and the Holy Quran which the militants use to justify their unjustifiable acts. Terrorism, the Darul Uloom fatwa pointed out, completely negated “the teachings of Islam.”
Darul Uloom, which has been known for its puritanical and hard-line brand of Islam, is believed to have inspired the Taliban. By declaring a jihad against terrorism, the ulema of Deoband…have sent a clear message: terrorism has no place in Islam… Islam, which clearly prohibited targeting of non-combatants even during wars, equated the killing of an innocent human being with the “killing of the entire humanity”. The Sangh Parivar has always complained that Muslims do not denounce terrorism loudly enough. By emphatically declaring all kinds of terrorism as anti-national and anti-Islamic, Darul Uloom has made it clear that Muslims abhor violence and love peace as much as their non-Muslim compatriots. — (March 1)
World’s new nation
The Tribune
THE expected birth of Kosovo as an independent nation has finally come about... Kosovo has…got recognition from the US, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and certain other countries not having separatist problems. The development is being seen as a success of US foreign policy, now directed at changing the perception of Muslims about the superpower. …The US had another interest to protect: it has a large military base near Pristina, the capital of Kosovo.
Kosovo’s declaration of independence without formal UN authorisation has led to uneasiness in many European countries like Spain, besides Russia and China, which have faced separatist movements for a long time. The most vulnerable position is that of Russia, which has 20 autonomous ethnic republics like Chechnya…each of these are like Kosovo. The separatist leadership in these Russian republics can cite the ‘Kosovo precedent’ to secede. Of course, Serbia has lost its Kosovo province owing to its own short-sighted policies, which led to Kosovars suffering untold miseries. But there is also the danger of the Kosovo case opening up a Pandora’s Box.
It is bound to encourage separatist tendencies. The message may go out that the US and its western allies are no longer interested in upholding the time-honoured principle of inviolability of a country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. What they have done clearly shows their preference for ethnic self-determination. There was no harm in accepting, at least on a trial basis, the Russian proposal for maximum autonomy for Kosovo within Serbia. Nothing should be done that promotes hatred among people of different ethnicity and religious beliefs. — (Feb 27)