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| January 24, 2009 | Saturday | Muharram 26, 1430 |
Where’s the dialogue?
Our Indus Valley treasures
OTHER VOICES - Pushto Press
No European Obama in sight
‘Magic cheese’ scam
AS elsewhere in the world, Europeans have been celebrating Barack Hussein Obama’s inauguration as the 44th president of the United States.
ITS white, gloopy texture was supposed to hold the secret of eternal youth: a fermented milk product used in luxury French beauty products prized by wealthy Parisians. But instead it was the key ingredient in what appears to be one of Latin America’s biggest pyramid scheme cons: the case of the “magic cheese”.
PRESIDENT Obama’s determination to recast the die of the Bush ‘war on terror’ is becoming clear. On the legal front, he has signed executive orders to close the notorious detention camp at Guantanamo Bay within a year, end the CIA’s secret overseas prisons, and have all interrogations comply with the US Army Field Manual which bars coercive methods. “We intend to win this fight. We are going to win it on our own terms,” President Obama said, and he deserves praise for acting so swiftly against some of the ugliest aspects of the Bush legacy. The fight Obama was referring to is against militancy and terrorism which, according to the US president, pose the biggest threat in Afghanistan and along the Pak-Afghan border. Therefore, extrapolating from the orders already given, Pakistan can at least expect the new American president to be more principled, and less blindly jingoistic, in pursuing his policies in the area.
Seen in this light, the announcement that Richard Holbrooke will be the Obama administration’s special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan is also a sign that the new administration is determined to start over in the region. Holbrooke’s brief is wide-ranging and, according to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, he will “coordinate across the entire [US] government”, including the Defence Department, USAID, the State Department and the White House. This is unsurprising, given that the US is expected to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan as well as restructure and ramp up aid and development projects in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
What remains to be seen is what the special envoy will be able to achieve. Holbrooke, a former ambassador to the UN, is acknowledged as one of America’s heavyweight diplomats and wanted to be President Clinton’s secretary of state in the 1990s. He is most well known for his role in brokering the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995 which brought to an end the three-and-a-half-year war in Bosnia. However, as chairman of the Asia Society the special envoy will also bring a deep understanding of this region to the job. Indeed, he has jointly penned the foreword to the recently published report of the Asia Society, ‘Delivering on the promise: Advancing US relations with India.’ The report endorses President Obama’s ‘regional’ approach to Afghanistan, though it seeks to reassure India that the re-hyphenation of US ties with Pakistan and India is not on the cards. In fact, Holbrooke’s job description as envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan rather than South Asia, as originally envisaged, may have been changed to placate India on precisely the de-hyphenation of ties between India and Pakistan. The challenges facing Mr Holbrooke, therefore, are tough: a discredited and weak Afghan government, a frail civilian government in Pakistan that is not considered an equal partner of the Pakistan Army in foreign policy matters, and a deeply suspicious India. “The fundamental nature of diplomacy … is a bit like jazz — improvisation on a theme,” Mr Holbrooke once told The New York Times. His new job will test his mettle to the fullest.
RELATIONS between India and Pakistan continue to be on the rocks. While the war hysteria triggered by the Mumbai terror attacks has subsided somewhat, officialdom on both sides of the border is still exchanging poisonous barbs that are vitiating the atmosphere. A lot of this appears to be driven by the political compulsions of both governments that are seeking to mollify their respective domestic audiences. In this context, one must take note of a recent statement by Munir Akram, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the UN. Describing any war between India and Pakistan as “devastating”, Mr Akram has called on both countries to restart their composite dialogue to resolve the problems that divide them. He specifically spoke of terrorism and Kashmir. The suggestion to talk rather than wage a war is a sign that better sense has prevailed. After talking loudly about the option of war, governments and the media on both sides have come around to recognising the folly of nuclear-armed states taking up weapons to vent their anger on each other.
But if the risks of conflict are to be minimised, the current no-war, no-peace state of relations between India and Pakistan needs to be urgently addressed. It is heartening to note that opinion in Pakistan is leaning towards peace. To ease tensions, peace activists in Pakistan are pursuing people-to-people diplomacy relentlessly and signature campaigns have gained strength in the country. This should help clear the air, especially with the support of peace advocates from India. The immediate need of the hour is to prepare the ground for a more cordial climate in the region because countries cannot talk to each other when they are sulking or indulging in a blame game.
This needs to be understood at the official level. Calling for a composite dialogue is something that will be widely appreciated. However, fears that efforts to lay down a specific agenda for talks at this stage could backfire must also be noted. Kashmir is the ‘core issue’ between the two sides and this has been acknowledged by them. But it took four years of painstaking dialogue and confidence-building measures to reach the point where negotiators could talk about the dispute more in terms of measures to bring the two parts of Kashmir closer together rather than the future of the state. The immediate aim should be to revive the dialogue process by cultivating a congenial climate for talks and winning each other’s confidence.
THE Indus Valley and its forerunner civilisations continue to cough up treasures of an ancient past. Some of these date as far back as the Stone Age (before 3,300 BC). The latest discovery in Lakhian Jo Daro near Sukkur has unveiled archaeological remains, utensils, faience paintings and mirrors that are believed to predate Moenjodaro, harking back to at least 5,500 years. The uncovering of the site comes after the discovery of similar remains at Mehrgarh which dates back to some 7,000 years. Sited in Balochistan, it was unearthed by French archaeologists in 1974. The treasure trail along the Indus and its tributaries stretches all the way up to Swat. Preliminary findings at Lakhian Jo Daro suggest that the discovery matches at least the remains found at Kot Diji that predates Moenjodaro — the most spectacular of Indus Valley sites excavated by John Marshall and Mortimer Wheeler, among others, in the 1930s. The finds make the Indus Valley civilisation rival those of Egypt and Mesopotamia.
The continuing discoveries of such sites along the Indus reinforce the fact that our part of the world was home to some of the earliest and most socially and structurally developed human civilisations, and is in that sense at least the envy of the world today. While Pakistan can also be proud of the good number of professional archaeologists and human anthropologists it has produced, it must be noted with some dismay that the authorities concerned have not always succeeded in protecting our historical treasures. There is a dire need to reinforce safeguards and put in place additional security mechanisms to ensure that historical sites and artefacts do not become victims of theft by the unscrupulous or of destruction at the hands of the myopic religiosity and militancy raging in Swat, for instance.
Tolafghan, Kabul
Taliban kill Pakhtuns
TALIBAN militants have taken responsibility for most of the attacks and suicide bombings inside Afghanistan. They have especially been engaged in wiping out Pakhtuns over the last seven years; and this brings us to the conclusion that there is some involvement of hidden hands.
Hundreds of people are killed by the Taliban and the foreign troops. …If the Taliban militants show no sympathy towards helpless citizens, their counterparts (the foreign troops) are also showing sufficient signs of brutality. The American troops are loath to spare even a donkey rider.
In today’s world, the Pakhtun and the Taliban have become synonymous terms. But the reality is that the Taliban are targeting the Pakhtuns while the Parsiwans are enjoying a relatively secure life. It shows that the Taliban are anti-Pakhtun and that they are backed by anti-Pakhtun forces whose sole aim is to keep the Pakhtuns under-developed and under-privileged. That is why we are witnessing the ongoing crisis only in the Pakhtun areas on both sides of the Durand Line.
Southern Afghanistan, including the eastern wing, is faced with a crisis. But surprisingly, the north, where Parsiwans are in a majority, is peaceful and the foreigners prefer to stay there. In the south, more than 50 per cent of the schools have been destroyed while teachers have been crippled. Islam does not allow such acts … for working for the government or educating the non-educated! Acid is thrown on the faces of girl students or they are simply killed. The Taliban are killing Pakhtun leaders. The Pakhtuns are caught between the devil and the deep sea.
Who said that the Taliban are fighting for Islam? Only a fraction of them can be called jihadis. The rest are puppets in the hands of others. Some are asked why they didn’t attack Dostum who killed thousands of innocent Afghans. …It seems that the Taliban are using the name of Islam to serve some other goals. In fact they are defaming Islam. — (Jan 21)
Translated and selected by Khadim Hussain and M. Arif
Policymakers across Europe are looking forward to the end of the dismal, divisive and conflict-torn Bush years and the arrival of a US leader committed to building rather than destroying partnerships and alliances.
Ordinary Europeans, meanwhile, are full of praise for a man whose unusual personal trajectory and multi-racial heritage stand as an inspiration in a world marked by ethnic, religious and cultural divides. With the entire planet expecting so much so fast, Obama will certainly stumble and falter at times. There will be errors and disappointments. But what makes the charismatic new president special is not just his youth, intelligence and mixed racial background. Obama is exciting because unlike any other world leader today, he is a truly ‘global soul’, at ease in a rapidly shifting world.
Global souls, as Indian-born US writer Pico Iyer describes them, don’t fret about change, they shape it. They don’t fear globalisation, they embrace it and they don’t worry about cultural and religious differences because they reconcile them. More prosaically — and with much humour — President Obama has described himself as a “mutt”. The son of a mother from Kansas and a father from Kenya, the new American leader is certainly well-placed to navigate between cultures and civilisations and to bridge religious divides.
In fact, as the world changes, the ‘mutts’ that President Obama referred to are probably best placed to guide and steer us. This is for a number of reasons: while others cling to the status quo, ‘mutts’ welcome change and challenge. They are not afraid to innovate, create and transform. To put it simply, they make the world a more interesting and exciting place.
If it all sounds very un-Asian and un-European, it’s because it is. Europeans and Asians may be fascinated and inspired by Obama, but the leaders they tend to elect are mostly conformist ‘non-mutts’. The picture is just as bleak in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.
European Union institutions are for the most part ‘mutt-free’ zones dominated by white males. The European Commission may wax lyrical about diversity, inter-cultural dialogue and equal opportunities for all, but its own record on recruiting Europe’s ethnic minority communities remains shameful. While researching an article a few years ago on EU recruitment policies, a French official told me without blinking that he did not see what the problem was since “Europeans are white while brown and black people are immigrants and foreigners.” And the EU, he explained patiently, did not hire outsiders.
There are some remarkable Euro MPs who qualify as ‘mutts’ and the EU assembly is a better place because of them. But at last count, only about a dozen parliamentarians came from ethnic backgrounds. If the EU parliament wants to be taken more seriously in the upcoming elections, its political parties should make room for more brown and black Europeans with exotic, foreign-sounding names.
That’s really the crunch issue, isn’t it? Hyphenated identities are an intrinsic part of the North American narrative. Race is still a difficult issue, of course, but Americans and Canadians do not automatically assume that non-white people in their midst are non-nationals, tourists or, worse still, unwanted foreign workers. They just believe everyone is a citizen. Asians have also long been suspicious of outsiders. Even now while many Muslim countries wag their finger at Europeans for discriminatory policies against their Muslim minority, Christians and other religious minorities have an even tougher existence in Muslim countries.
Some Dawn readers may remember that I fought a lonely war for several years in order to get my two children recognised as Pakistanis. The government had ruled in its wisdom that nationality was determined by the father’s origin, thereby disenfranchising thousands of children born of Pakistani mothers but foreign fathers. The decision by the previous government to give out Pakistani-origin cards has corrected that injustice — to a point. But let’s be frank: our society still frowns on those who dare be different — whether it’s in the way they think, dress, speak or/and conduct themselves. And while they may want their money, most people are still wary of expatriates and their strange ways. ‘Mutts’, with their out-of-box thinking, are not welcome.
What is worrying is that in Asia, the situation is not improving. Tolerance and harmonious co-existence remain distant dreams in many parts of the continent. Cultures and races do live side by side in relative peace in Malaysia and Singapore, but only under strict government supervision. In Pakistan and India, ethnic riots, religious strife and cultural wars have become sadly so routine, we hardly notice how conflict-ridden our societies have become.
Europe too still has a long way to go in recognising its diversity, but the situation is improving. A European Obama has still to emerge on the political scene but after years of voting for the establishment-loving Jacques Chirac, French men and women did elect the relative outsider Nicolas Sarkozy as president. And East-German born Angela Merkel broke through the gender barrier several years ago by becoming Germany’s first woman chancellor. Germany made history again last year when Cem Ozdemir, a German member of the European Parliament, was elected co-chair of the country’s Green Party, becoming the highest-ranking German politician with foreign-born (Turkish) parents.
These and other examples are heartening but not enough. There is growing recognition here that if Europe is to build an inclusive society where all members feel they have a stake and a voice, policymakers will have to move beyond old-fashioned clichés and stereotypes and start looking at people differently. Even more significantly in a rapidly changing world, Europeans realise that if they are to compete successfully in the increasingly fierce global race for talent, they will have to drop their age-old prejudices and embrace and celebrate diversity. After all President Obama is proof that the future belongs to global souls.
The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Brussels.
A French judge will fly to Chile next week to register lawsuits from thousands of villagers left destitute after Gilberte Van Erpe, a French businesswoman, allegedly persuaded them to pay large sums for kits to make “magic cheese”, promising big returns when French cosmetic firms bought the product to use in age-defying creams and moisturisers.
Van Erpe, 66, known as “Madame Gil”, travelled around Chile giving convincing presentations that persuaded mainly women and poor, unemployed villagers to join a fail-proof scheme working from home. For around 300 euros (£282), she sold kits containing flasks, filters and a bag of a powder called “Yo Flex”. When two litres of milk was added to the powder, it would ferment and produce small pats of cheese which had to be matured for nine days. Van Erpe would then buy back the finished “magic cheese” for French cosmetic companies to make face creams and shampoos. She promised to double investments in four months.
At first the villagers received cheques with the promised sums, inspiring them to invest more. Many incurred debts or sold cattle or cars to pump vast amounts into the scheme. Word spread of its success. Those who got friends to join were promised gifts and rewards.
Often whole families joined the scheme. Some quit their jobs to make the cheese full-time.
In Coltauco, 75 miles (120km) south of the capital, Santiago, around 600 families joined the scheme, including a teacher and the owner of an inn. Van Erpe reportedly told one woman there that Michael Jackson used the cheese to whiten his skin. But the bogus kits and powder were in fact worth only three euros. Soon the money promised from Van Erpe stopped coming. Later a Chilean TV crew found several tonnes of the rotting cheese in a Chilean warehouse.
Two of Van Erpe’s Chilean accomplices were arrested, convicted and jailed in 2006. Their Chile-registered company, Fermex, had conducted the suspected fraud. But Van Erpe fled to France before Chilean police could reach her. She was arrested in Nice last year and is being held in prison, accused of fraud and money laundering.
The alleged scam, worth at least 14.6 million euros, is thought to have affected more than 6,000 Chileans between 2004 and 2006. Van Erpe is accused of running the same con in Peru in 2003.
— The Guardian, London
