Not so friendly

EXPECTATIONS were low before the Friends of Democratic Pakistan Group met in Abu Dhabi and the meeting has done nothing to raise them. According to a Foreign Office statement, the next step will be ‘expert level meetings’ to be held in Islamabad on Jan 13-16, 2009. The meetings will focus on ‘possible assistance’ in four broad areas (development, security, energy and institution-building), though the only concrete outcome will be the preparation of ‘specific recommendations’. This on the day that the State Bank revealed that net foreign investment in Pakistan fell by nearly $500m to stand at $1.1bn in the first four months of the current financial year. The fall was largely a result of an exodus of portfolio investment; the silver lining was that at least foreign direct investment remained static at $1.3bn.

As Pakistan struggles to escape from its latest bout of balance of payment troubles, the long-term plan is relatively clear: domestic savings must increase. However, in the meanwhile Pakistan will remain dependent on external inflows, which means it must pay attention to the reasons its friends and allies are so reluctant to pour money into the country. The first is clearly a deep scepticism of the government’s ability to reform itself. The representatives of the 16 nations and multilateral agencies that met in Abu Dhabi would have known that quick money would have made the government’s capacity to govern easier. Instead they have forced the government into the embrace of the IMF, which will make governance more difficult as the general public and the business and farmer communities grow increasingly unhappy over the withdrawal of subsidies and the high cost of doing business.

The four areas of focus agreed to by the forum are also instructive; structural reforms, overhaul of the country’s infrastructure and creating better incentives for business are the preferred route for the forum. What this indicates is that in the collective wisdom of the forum Pakistan’s economic problems are not the result of short-term or medium-term security issues or problems in the global financial system. Pakistan is simply not a favourable investment destination in normal times — a fact obscured by the global liquidity glut of the past decade.

Turning the economy is a difficult but not impossible task. The necessary measures are enumerated on these pages daily. The two main recommendations are: focus on agriculture and match the country’s low-skilled labour force with the right type of industries. The benefit of such a strategy is that rather than relying on trickle-down growth from low-job-creating sectors, such as services, economic growth will be more diffused from the start. More jobs will be created and productivity will rise. To its credit, the present government seems to have recognised this. The question is, does it have the sustained will to implement it?

End to the culture of silence?

IS the culture of suffering in silence — so pronounced when it comes to women in our part of the world — coming to an end? Certainly there are signs of hope that women are no longer willing to allow injustices and acts of brutality to hinder them from seeking justice — or curb their potential. On Saturday, Shamsia, a brave young Afghan woman, subjected along with some of her schoolmates to an acid attack by suspected religious extremists in Kandahar, vowed that she would return to her studies even if it meant putting her life at risk. This is a very heartening statement from a teenager who has been hospitalised for severe and disfiguring burns. One hopes that it will act as a source of strength to terrified parents and their daughters whose fear of such attacks might result in many girls being deprived of an education.

At a more general level, it is apparent that women are increasingly seeking help against personal and cultural injustices, with some even willing to take a public stance on the issue. Thus, from a village in Punjab, Mukhtaran Mai was willing to come forward with the story of her gang rape carried out on the verdict of a jirga in 2002, while in 2005, five young women — all related — defied the custom of vani that ordains marriage of women to men from rival clans as part of dispute settlements. Greater media coverage of such cases, the active support of NGOs and civil society members and the modification of some laws (though many are still anti-women) have encouraged many women to break their silence and seek redress.

Nevertheless, more efforts are needed to demonstrate the hollowness of traditions and thought processes that condone excesses on women and keep the latter from progressing. The lead must be taken by the government that has so far moved on the issue only when faced with pressure from rights groups. Strict implementation of the law to protect women and active campaigning against traditions and practices that see them as chattel will strengthen forums for redress and encourage women to speak out against anachronistic customs and mindsets that bind them to centuries of repression. This will help usher in a culture where the freedom of choice and speech for women — in any matter and at all levels —is accepted as a right.

Menace of brown clouds

THE news just keeps getting worse on the environment front. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, a three-kilometre-thick ‘brown cloud’ of soot and other toxins now stretches from the western Pacific Ocean to China and as far afield as the Arabian peninsula, leading to extreme weather and the prospect of more hunger and loss of livelihood. The phenomenon is perhaps unique in the sense that it contributes to global warming while masking its effects at the same time. The cloud traps heat, increasing the rate of glacier melt and distorting weather systems across Asia. The study, conducted over seven years or so, notes that monsoon rains in India and Southeast Asia have weakened dramatically since the 1950s, with precipitation levels falling by up to seven per cent. In China, parts of the country have been scorched dry with others subjected to intense flooding. It gets more complicated. Because the brown clouds contain chemicals that reflect sunlight, heating as well as cooling the planet in conjunction, it becomes difficult to gauge the full impact of global warming. What is known, however — beyond a shadow of doubt — is that these atmospheric brown clouds are changing weather patterns and adversely affecting crop yields. Water resources are coming under stress and the risk of human displacement is magnifying. Cities in Asia are also becoming darker on account of global ‘dimming’. And these clouds can shift, rapidly. As one scientist pointed out, “The main message is that it’s a global problem. This is not a problem where we point fingers at our neighbours. Everyone is in someone else’s backyard.”

Karachi was identified in the report as one of the 13 mega cities in the world enveloped by a toxic brown cloud that is hurting the economy and making people ill. Air pollution levels in Karachi are well documented, thanks to the efforts of Suparco and other organisations, and they are astronomical. Together, air and noise pollution are a cause of both physical and mental illness. Who hasn’t witnessed sudden and inexplicable rage on the streets of Karachi? The culprit: pollution more likely than not.

OTHER VOICES - European Press

What do Slovaks and Hungarians want?

The Slovak Spectator

WHAT do national minorities want? They want to be able to read fairytales to their children in their mother tongue and be sure that even their grandchildren will still speak their language. They want to be able to speak their language on the streets without fear of being confronted for doing so. And they want some respect, or at least acceptance.

What does the majority population most want from national minorities…? It hopes that the minority will learn the language of the majority so that they can actually talk to each other. It also hopes that the minority will be loyal to the country they share. After all, the majority too wants respect for its symbols, culture and borders…

There is something else, though, that both minority and majority share: neither population wants to become the hostage of politicians. Minorities are very easy prey for the hostage-takers who need tensions between nations to keep their agenda alive. If there were no minorities living on Slovakia’s territory, some politicians would now be working as salesmen, mechanics, bar tenders or village teachers.

The chairman of the Slovak National Party, Ján Slota, would never have made it to the national ruling coalition if there were no Hungarian minority in Slovakia. He has built his political career by continuously aggravating the historical frustrations that lie deeply rooted in Slovak-Hungarian relations on both sides. These frustrations are either tamed or heightened depending on who sits in the seats of power of both nations.

During November 2008, Slovak-Hungarian relations have reached a historic low. Slovaks and Hungarians are now witnessing the leader of a Slovak government party openly insulting the historical symbols of Hungary … and Hungarian extremist groups seeking to block border crossings between the two countries.

Most reasonable Slovaks feel frustrated by the fact that their fellow citizens elected a politician like Slota to government, while most reasonable Hungarians are deeply disturbed by the existence of extremist groups like the Hungarian Guard….

The culmination of tensions had been fairly predictable from the moment Robert Fico picked Slota and gave him a role in running the country as his coalition partner.

…There are voices of reason and reconciliation on both sides. But, sad to say, these days the shouting of extremist groups and irresponsible politicians is getting louder. It is a shame for a region which claims to be at the heart of Europe.

….There is no winner from such tensions but the nationalists, who really have no other agenda. They have nothing else to offer to the nation but frustration and conflict. — (Nov 17)

Licence to kill and torture

ONE of the major threats facing India — Pakistan as well — is terrorism. The only way this can be tackled effectively is by a disciplined, efficient and honest police force.

The trouble with the Indian police force is that it has none of these essential qualities, though it has some outstanding officers at the top.

The page one lead story in the Nov 14 issue of The Indian Express, one of India’s leading dailies and among the most respected, is how 70 Muslim men were picked up by the police in Hyderabad, the capital city of the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, after two terror attacks last year in which over 50 people were killed.

At least 15 of the arrested men were continuously tortured in various ways for six to nine months, while in custody. They were given electric shocks, physically beaten and some had their beards plucked out. The state government has now admitted that they were innocent and given them a ‘rehabilitation package’ of between Rs30,000 to Rs80,000 as a ‘healing touch’ to enable them to buy auto-rickshaws.

This compensation, if it can be called that, only came about because these men had complained to the state Minority Finance Commission that they were unable to get jobs, due to the stigma of them having been jailed. The state Minority Commission had also looked into the matter and prepared a report, detailing the torture.

In any civilised country, not only would the compensation have been far higher but exemplary action taken against the policemen responsible. Not in India, however. The most that can be expected is for the guilty policemen to be transferred or suspended, not even dismissed from service.

The only positive thing to have emerged from this sorry business is that at least the innocent men were released from prison and a commission was able to take up their case. That says something for Indian democracy, though perhaps not for the quality of justice meted out. However, it is neither democracy nor justice that concerns me so much in this particular column, as the police, despite all three being closely linked.

At one time, indeed for quite a few years after Indian independence, the Indian police had a fairly good reputation. The Bombay police, for instance, prided themselves on being the second best in the world — after Britain’s Scotland Yard. And it was not an idle boast.

The rot started to set in when politicians began to use the police for their own purposes, thereby politicising the force. Growing corruption all round, including in the police, also contributed to the decline. It is well known that money has to be paid to get into the police at the lower levels and that this money percolates up to officials and politicians. Police postings also come at a premium, the amount depending on how lucrative a particular area is for illegal activities such as bootlegging, prostitution and narcotics.

Another factor contributing to the decline was the slow and often faulty delivery of justice. The Indian public became more tolerant of third-degree methods used by the police to extract confessions. Beatings and torture in police stations became a common practice. Vigilantes, like the Hindu chauvinist Shiv Sena, also entered the scene, with their own speedier form of justice, bypassing the usual — and much slower — law and order system.

Then came the onset of terrorism, first in Punjab, then Kashmir, now all over the country. The police were virtually given carte blanche in Punjab to tackle this new threat and they became an extra-constitutional power in their own right.

I was then the editor of The Indian Express in Chandigarh, the Punjab capital. I recall vividly the then Punjab home secretary (the police came under him), N.N. Vohra (he is now governor of Jammu and Kashmir), telling me how his car had been stopped by the police at a checkpost and his driver was asked for money. When he refused to pay up, they beat him up, even though he told them that he was the home secretary’s driver.

I was stunned to hear this. “Can’t you take action against them?” I asked Vohra. His reply was just as stunning: “They will probably say that they had found drugs in the car.”

In other words, the police were able to blackmail their own boss.

Terrorism was also behind another controversial incident that took place in a crowded, largely Muslim locality in New Delhi only a short while ago. The Delhi police claim they got a tip-off that some terrorists who had been behind recent bomb blasts in several cities were in a particular apartment.

They stormed the place, killing two of the alleged terrorists (both Muslims) but somehow another two of their colleagues managed to escape even though the apartment was surrounded by several policemen. A police inspector was killed in the shoot-out.

The official version of his killing, however, did not tally with TV coverage of the incident, which seemed to indicate that he had been shot by his own police force, in other words by what is termed in military parlance as friendly fire. As the controversy snowballed, the prime minister declared that there would be no inquiry into the episode, leaving many people wondering if this was a cover-up to save face. So much for the bad news. The good news is that at the higher levels, there have been some outstanding police officers. Julio Ribeiro, a Roman Catholic from Mumbai is one of them. He was inducted into Punjab from Mumbai, where he had been the police commissioner and had successfully taken on the underworld. In Punjab, he put the terrorists on the back foot with his ‘bullet for bullet’ policy.

Two attempts were made on his life by Sikh terrorists, one in distant Romania where he had been sent as an envoy for his own safety. Though shot, he survived both attempts and now, in retirement, has become an activist in Mumbai’s affairs.

He is one of my heroes. The Indian police needs more Ribeiros.

The writer is a former Editor of Reader’s Digest and The Indian Express.

singh.84@hotmail.com

Gulf war illness

US scientists announced on Monday a breakthrough in the long search for an explanation of Gulf war syndrome, the debilitating illness which has affected thousands of British and American veterans.

For the first time they named the two foremost causes of what is now called “Gulf war illness”, both of them neurotoxins. The use of nerve agent protection pills containing the active ingredient pyridostigmine bromide, combined with exposure to pesticides, were “strongly and consistently” linked to the illness, said scientists.

The findings, which were enthusiastically welcomed in the UK by the Royal British Legion and will lead to pressure on the country’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) to recognise the illness, were made by the US Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses and presented on Monday to James Peake, the US veterans affairs secretary.

By pointing to the two neurotoxins as the main cause of Gulf war illness, they played down the significance of other factors widely blamed for the symptoms, including depleted uranium, anthrax vaccines, fuels, solvents, and sand.

The researchers added that Gulf war illness “fundamentally differs from trauma and stress-related syndromes described after other wars”.

The illness has a number of symptoms, including persistent memory and concentration problems, chronic headaches, and widespread pain. The condition is estimated to affect more than 170,000 US, and more than 12,000 British veterans of the 1991 Gulf war.

Sue Freeth, the Royal British Legion’s director of welfare, who described the US report as a great stride forward, said: “For veterans, some of the mystery behind what has caused their conditions is over. For years veterans have been told that their illnesses are psychological. This report concludes this is not the case, but the result of exposures to very specific and harmful toxins while serving in the Gulf.” She added: “The UK government must not delay any further. It should build on these results and immediately cooperate with the US to find ways of treating these lamentable conditions.”

Marshal of the RAF, Lord Craig, who was the UK’s chief of defence staff during the Gulf war, said the landmark American report should lead to improved research and treatment in the UK. “Recognition of the full extent of the illnesses suffered by these veterans of the conflict, and the obligation owed to them, is long overdue,” he said.

The MoD said: “The Medical Research Council’s 2003 report on Gulf veterans’ concluded that there is no evidence from UK or international research for a single syndrome related specifically to service in the Gulf.” It added that any veteran in the UK who suffers from ill-health as a result of their service is compensated through the war pensions and armed forces occupational pension scheme.

— The Guardian, London