DAWN - Editorial; July 25, 2008

Published July 25, 2008

Fighting militancy

THE coalition summit in Islamabad tackled the thorny issue of militancy on the first day and reached a consensus that the militants should be negotiated with rather than opposed by force. First, the positives. The fact that the coalition leaders, ministers, provincial leaders and top brass of the military and intelligence have held a highly visible meeting is a positive sign from Islamabad. Moreover, the fact that the first issue to be addressed was the militancy crisis in Pakistan rather than the judges issue or the fate of the president is a sign that the politicians have realised the immediate threat to the state. A military briefing to the politicians also demonstrated that the army is serious in its commitment to let the politicians take the lead in formulating national policy. Lastly, from a democratic perspective, it is good that the politicians have asserted their own vision for dealing with the militants over the demands of others.

Unfortunately, the strategy of negotiations articulated by the politicians is worryingly vague. The coalition leaders rightly resolved not to allow the country’s soil to be used for terrorist activities, but they have not explained how negotiations will achieve this. Negotiations and peace talks are a good idea in principle, but success depends largely on setting clear parameters. On whose terms will peace be achieved? How much of its authority can the state cede without making a meaningless peace with those who do not accept the writ of the state? What type of peace will the government pursue — a Swat-type, a Khyber-type, a Wana-type or a Hangu-type agreement? Has the government learnt any lessons from those failed processes? Consider the Swat peace agreement signed earlier this year. The government made concessions to the militants in return for the appearance of the state’s writ in the area, but this only emboldened the militants to act with more impunity. Can the government negotiate with militants who are attacking government installations, burning schools and terrorising local populations? Amongst the coalition partners, the ANP, which is in the militants’ crosshairs as the leader of the NWFP government, needs to clarify its strategy most urgently. The army operation in Hangu was only requested by the NWFP government when the situation had already spiralled out of control. The ANP has not spelled out its cut-off point for negotiations with intractable militants. There is also an unfortunate tendency in the ANP to play a blame game. The party’s president in the NWFP, Afrasiab Khattak, told a local newspaper: “For us, the serious issue is militants’ sanctuaries in tribal areas. As long as [the sanctuaries] remain peace will be difficult to return.” After Wednesday’s meetings, Information Minister Sherry Rehman issued a statement that read: “[There was] a clear consensus that the situation warrants…policies… with the support of all political partners.” Good but not good enough. The government must ensure that the consensus is on the right policies.

Obama’s ‘miracle’

BARACK Obama of Fata fame has now given us his wisdom about Israel, calling the Zionist state a ‘miracle’. He has not threatened to invade Gaza yet, possibly because Ehud Olmert’s jackboots do this job from time to time quite efficiently. But given the presidential hopeful’s proclivity for acting on ‘actionable intelligence’ the Gazans should better keep their fingers crossed. If Israel is a miracle, it is a miracle drenched in human blood — the blood of Palestine’s sons and daughters on whose writhing bodies in Deir Yassin and Sabra-Chatilla the Zionists built up their immigrant empire. It is a miracle that began with the go-ahead given to the Zionists by the Balfour Declaration in 1917 to turn the Palestinian majority into a minority by importing Jews from Europe and America. Then Hagana and Irgun thugs began the genocide of the Palestinian people in real earnest, evicting the locals from their ancestral lands and settling the Jews in their place. But the Jews were still 40 per cent of the population when the UN partition plan gave them 60 per cent of the holy land.

Today, with the exception of Sinai, Israel remains in possession of the territories it conquered in the 1967 war. In defiance of international law and scores of UN resolutions it has annexed the Golan Heights and Jerusalem. All efforts by the UN and various peace moves, to which Obama’s country is party, have failed to effect the ‘miracle’ that a withdrawal will be. On his visit to Israel, Obama did not talk about the two-state solution. This is a concept enshrined in the Oslo accords, the 2003 roadmap and last year’s Annapolis summit. The agreements were shredded by Israel. The Annapolis document visualised a Palestinian state by the end of this year. Even before the ink was dry Olmert said he was not bound by the Annapolis agreement. President Bush kept quiet, because he wouldn’t like to torpedo John McCain’s chances in November. Now to expect Obama to remind, much less, chastise Israel on the withdrawal issue at a time when he would need Jewish votes and the support of the powerful Zionist media in the US is to expect a miracle. Miracles do happen in this world, but they are wrought by men better than Obama — like Lincoln and Mandela.

Police in the dock?

SPEEDY justice is still not more than a pipe dream. Ironically, the delays encountered by hapless millions are committed by its own custodians. According to reports in this newspaper, police authorities seem ‘reluctant to comply with court orders regarding the submission of charge-sheets, arresting culprits and testimonies required in many under trial criminal cases’. Shockingly, their apathetic attitude persists despite show-cause notices and warrants of arrests. Regrettably, top police cadres have also proved ineffective in bringing errant officials to book. Some of the much publicised cases that have faced criminal delays include the rape case at the Quaid’s mausoleum and the mysterious murder of a newly-wed couple. However, where these delays breed more victims of official incompetence, perhaps the police machinery should take the rap for its flaws. To begin with, the much touted devolution plan, devised over six years ago, had promised instant justice to the underprivileged, which is yet to become a tangible reality. This involved police reforms and the Police Order 2002 that has not been implemented in its entirety. It includes accountability mechanisms and is only partly in force in the NWFP.

The government has long turned its back on the indigence that plagues its police personnel. Expectations can hardly be met without compensation. Grave issues such as meagre salaries, pitiable living conditions, and lack of training and promotions perpetuate police apathy and a disregard for human life that is ruinous for civil society. Successive governments have forced the police to contend with nepotism and political appointments that cancel out neutrality and professionalism. In turn, the citizenry grapples with a detached force that delays justice and increases police crimes. Also, human rights and legal aid groups would serve a good cause by addressing these matters for collective security and prompt justice. After all, a committed, compensated police force is the only weapon that can compel society to live by and value the writ of the state and stem the anger and anguish that surfaces each time a law is flouted or a life wastes in prison.

OTHER VOICES - Pushto Press

An effort for peace

Tolafghan, Kabul

WHY is Pakistan not prepared to abide by the decisions taken in a bilateral or multilateral peace initiative? How much more will the Pashtuns suffer in the current turmoil? These are questions most Afghans are asking today. The regions where the Pashtuns and Afghans reside have been in turmoil for the last several years. First it was British imperialism and then the Soviet invasion. All this turmoil has actually left Afghanistan in a state of economic, social, political and cultural misery. The Afghans will never forget that there was a time when the neighbouring states would have distributed Afghan land amongst themselves if it wasn’t for a powerful mediator from outside who saved Afghanistan…. [There are Pashtun tribes] on both sides of the Durand Line — Mohmand, Afridi, Achakzai, Sulemankhel and many more. These tribes could have played a very important role in strengthening ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan if the latter had intended to do so.

Another important factor to be kept in mind is the acute poverty and economic backwardness faced by people living on both sides of the Durand Line. Therefore it is not surprising that those who want to shed Pashtun blood succeed in getting foot soldiers from among the Pashtuns. To sort out issues between Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as issues related to the Pashtuns, a grand jirga had been held last year with the participation of different Pashtun personalities from Afghanistan and Pakistan. Five main issues were presented for which five different committees were formed. All the five committees had presented recommendations for peace and security in the region.

The recommendations included: first, both Afghanistan and Pakistan would support and work for the end of terrorism and sanctuaries for terrorists. Second, both countries should form a small jirga, featuring 25 members each from Afghanistan and Pakistan, for implementing the recommendations. Third, the peace jirga reiterated the commitment of both countries to strong bilateral relations. Fourth, both countries would strive to block drug trafficking from and within the region. Fifth, the peace jirga recommended that both Afghanistan and Pakistan, with the support of the international community, would initiate developmental projects in areas affected by terrorism.

Soon after the recommendations were made public, the President of Afghanistan formed a commission which named a 25-member committee tasked with implementing the jirga’s recommendations. The Afghans reminded their Pakistani counterparts several times to name their own commission but the Government of Pakistan is yet to fulfil its commitment. Why is Pakistan hesitating to implement the recommendations of the peace jirga of October 2007? The Afghans still want to sincerely pursue the implementation of recommendations but only if Pakistan intends to do the same. — (July 22)

— Selected and translated by Khadim Hussain.

Criteria for reward and punishment

By Shaikh Khurshid Hasan


THE Holy Quran is a unique book, which provides guidance to the Faithful, enabling them to lead an honourable, happy and successful life.

The divine commandments contained in the Holy Book are so comprehensive that they cover various aspects of human life right from the cradle to the grave. The message of the Holy Quran is a universal one. It underlines the need for the deepest contemplation, which opens up the flood gates of knowledge and consciousness of man.

The salvation of human beings mainly lies in doing good deeds in this earthly life. Allah had ordained His Messengers to eat all such things, which are clean and do things, which are good. (23:51) It follows that good deeds are dependent upon adopting such means of livelihood, which are pure and clean.

Similar commandments have also been given to the faithful to eat only such things of the earth that are lawful and good. (2:57 and 168 and 5:88). Besides honestly earned livelihood is better and more enduring than accumulation of worldly riches. (20:131).

According to the traditions of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), the best course of livelihood is to earn with one’s own hands. Lawful earnings bring both prosperity and happiness, in addition to manifold blessings from Allah. The persons earning their livelihood through lawful means will get the highest award from Allah. Likewise, the traders doing their business with honesty will in the Hereafter be equated with Prophets, Righteous and Martyrs. (Sahih Bukhari, Masnad-e-Ahmad etc).

The unlawful source of livelihood brings painful chastisement. (9:34-35). Besides, acquisition of wealth through illegal means is frequently condemned in three ways in the Holy Quran. (a) Do not acquire anything wrongfully or on false pretences, (b) Do not hoard or bury or amass wealth for its own sake, but use it freely for good cause and (c) Be particularly careful not to waste it for idle purposes, but only so that it may fructify for the good of the people.

According to the traditions of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), a man whose means of substance are based on ill-gotten money (Haram), his ultimate abode will be in the hell. According to some other traditions, the prayers of those whose upbringing is based on illegitimate source of income will not be acceptable to Allah. Any charity given from ill-gotten money will be of no avail.

One cannot wash out his misdeeds by distributing alms from such earnings. According to the teachings of the Prophet, the prayers (Salat) of a person will not be honoured by Allah so long he puts on such garments, partially purchased with some amount of unlawful earnings even if it involved a fraction of a dirham. Such commandments were strictly followed by the orthodox Caliphs, who were the temporal head of the Muslim Ummah. There are instances when some of the Caliphs, subsequently knowing that the food stuff offered to them by certain individuals contained some elements of impurity, had to take it out by way of vomiting. (Sahih Muslim, Bukhari).

Almighty Allah is most Beneficent and Merciful. Allah is nearer than man’s jugular vein and listens to His supplication. (50:16). Allah listens to the prayers of every supplicant when he called on Him. (2:186). According to Surah 40:60, Allah will answer our prayers if we call upon Him. Allah’s bounties with regard to the acceptance of our prayers are further explained in the traditions of the Holy Prophet. These include; (a) Whosoever prayer to Allah, doors of His grace are opened for him, (b) always seek the divine favour, because Allah likes that His supplicants ask for His forgiveness, and (c) Allah is annoyed with those who do not ask for His blessings. (Tirmizi).

However, a question arises that despite the fact that Allah is most beneficent and Merciful as to why our prayers go astray? The answer is that since the means of our sustenance are mostly saturated with ill-gotten money, our deeds cannot claim legitimacy and thus our prayers are not responded by Allah.

Our deeds will undoubtedly serve as an arbiter of our ultimate destiny in the Hereafter. According to Surah 2:286, the criteria laid down for reward (Jaza) and punishment (Saza) on the Day of Judgment will be. ‘Each soul will enjoy what good he earns as indeed each will suffer from the wrong. In other words ‘, as you sow, so shall you reap! This principle also applies to the nations. (2:134) Divine revelations are quite clear about the reward and punishment awarded to the faithful, depending upon their good deeds or bad deeds. It has been explained that whosoever does wrong, does so for himself. Likewise whosoever does wrong bears the guilt himself (41:46). Rizaq-i-Halal not only ensures good deeds by the faithful, but also acts as a shield against misdeeds.

A legend that was

By Razi Ahmed


LAHORE’S legendary Faletti’s hotel used to present a sorry picture even when the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation operated it till 2004, the year it was privatised. Still, its jaded grandeur and colonial ornamentation, beneath the cracked paint and cobwebs, conjured up the grand dame Faletti’s that adorned the city until the hotel’s nationalisation during the 1965 India-Pakistan war which set in motion accretions of identity, and stripping of culture and heritage.

Faletti’s formed part of Mohan Singh Oberoi’s assemblage of premier hotels across the subcontinent. Born in what is now Pakistan, Oberoi built a portfolio, pre-Partition, in the northern stretch covering Rawalpindi’s Flashman’s, Peshawar’s Dean’s and Murree’s fabled Cecil’s. Caught unawares by the war, Oberoi’s ownership of his Pakistani properties ceded, a move he contested well into the eighties. Gen Zia, according to The New York Times, “apparently promised to return them, [but] he was killed before Mr Oberoi could visit him.”

Over the years and to its detriment, Faletti’s became further and further alienated from its founding principles and Oberoi’s ethos. Pre-Islamisation Pakistan nevertheless sustained Faletti’s happy momentum despite its wear and tear. The bungalow setting and landscaped grounds drew the likes of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Justice Cornelius (who stayed in Room No 2), Jawaharlal Nehru and many other socio-political luminaries. Many came simply to soak in its old world aura, and the ballroom — still nostalgically recalled by old Faletti’s loyalists — was for many decades the nerve centre of urbane Lahore’s nights out.

Pre-Partition, Faletti’s remained an exclusive enclave of British Raj society, discriminating against natives. British Faletti’s hedonism reached such abominable heights that when Lahore was burning away amidst Partition’s conflagration, “much of the rump of British colonial society in the Punjab danced away to the music of a genteel orchestra while neighbo[u]rhoods burned around them” (NYT, 1981). A tale of two cities, indeed, one with Faletti’s as the heart of British Lahore and the other one, away on the horizon, in the Hindu- and Muslim-layered purana shehr (old city).

Faletti’s colonial vestiges withstood the ravages of Pakistan’s early decades and the notoriety and exclusivity of a British club were hard to cast off. The din of a motley of local elites substituted the Raj’s phatic communion over drinks and dance. Lest the vast swathe of Anglo-Indians left behind be forgotten, Hollywood diva Ava Gardner came to Pakistan and India, taking refuge in Room No 55 at Faletti’s for the 1956 production Bhowani Junction, which depicted the crisis Anglo-Indians found themselves in with their buttresses withdrawn but were nonetheless a powerful reminder of colonial hybridity. Gardner’s suite became a pilgrimage point for her fans and, to this day, is lovingly inscribed in her memory of Lahore.

With increased competition and governmental apathy, Faletti’s lost its touch through the tumble of the decades, frequently spurring demolition attempts and losing its treasures. Its black-and-white marble floors; airy, bougainvillea-adorned verandahs; Burmese teak panelling; and perhaps Lahore’s sole surviving wooden revolving door — features that are increasingly rare in this part of the world — are still redeemable through a public-private partnership to resurrect Faletti’s a la Delhi’s Imperial Hotel or Singapore’s Raffles.

Today, privatised and then resold (breach of privatisation contract), Faletti’s is sealed, padlocked and ghostly with the once accessible and inviting facade now shunted from public view, stirring concerns that it may well be on its way to (phased) demolition. From the outside, its decades-old trees are the last signifiers left of what stands behind the imposing hoardings encircling the perimeter.

Given its history and the state of our country’s depleting heritage, Faletti’s cannot and must not go the way of its other famous sibling colonial hotels. The Privatisation Commission ought to live up to its stated objective of ensuring that the “new design of the hotel will be in harmony with the existing architecture and preservation of its historic identity.”

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