Difficult to predict new Palestinian-Israel ties

WASHINGTON: A few weeks ago, I said goodbye to Palestine. I first arrived there in September 1999, just as the newly-elected Israeli government of Ehud Barak and a Palestinian leadership still dominated by Yasser Arafat agreed that, within one year, they would achieve a permanent settlement of the Palestinian- Israeli conflict. Signing on as a legal adviser to the Palestinian negotiating team, I hoped to contribute — and bear witness — to an extraordinary event: the final stage of the Middle East peace process. Now, less than four years later, few Palestinians can say the words “peace process” without wincing. Negotiations came to a halt in January 2001; and the other hallmarks of the process — Israeli-Palestinian security cooperation, confidence-building measures, “people-to-people” programmes — are seen by most Palestinians as naive illusions or, worse, as gimmicks intended to distract attention from Israel’s continuing occupation of Palestinian land. As a veteran Palestinian Cabinet minister told me when I paid him a farewell visit in March, “You’ve chosen the right time to leave. The Oslo era is over.”

But is a new era beginning? Last week, Mahmoud Abbas (commonly known as Abu Mazen) was confirmed as the first prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, and he brings with him a new Cabinet composed of outspoken critics of the status quo, as well as some of its traditional defenders.

In his inaugural address, Abu Mazen pledged to reform Palestinian governmental institutions, restore order in Palestinian areas, and consolidate authority under “one law, and one democratic and national decision that applies to us all” — an indirect challenge to the Muslim organizations that compete with the Palestinian Authority for political and military supremacy.

The government of Israel is now contemplating a series of measures to facilitate the work of the new Palestinian government. And the United States has responded by presenting the latest Middle East peace plan, the “roadmap,” which it devised last fall in collaboration with the United Nations, European Union, and Russia (known collectively as the Quartet).

The way forward, however, may be blocked by the road already travelled. The state of mind of Palestinians is far different from that of the frenzied diplomats in Al Quds and Tel Aviv, many of whom were posted to the region in 2000 with the expectation of helping to implement a peace deal and who have instead watched impotently as Palestinian-Israeli relations unravelled.

Now those re-energized diplomats are once again talking about the roadmap’s ultimate destination — two states, a secure Israel and a viable, democratic Palestine, living side by side in peace.

Even though all parties are studiously avoiding associating new efforts with the process that flowed from the Oslo peace accords Israeli and Palestinian leaders signed in 1993, Palestinians will judge the roadmap, and any subsequent initiative, based on their experience during the past 10 years.

The lessons from those years, too painfully learned to be ignored, bear revisiting. First, no amount of peace education or high-minded rhetoric about reconciliation will compensate for a failure to improve the conditions in which Palestinians are living. The issue is not economic aid or job creation; it is freedom of movement.

The physical fragmentation of the Palestinian territories has spawned political fragmentation, making Abu Mazen’s task of enforcing “one democratic and national decision that applies to us all” exceptionally difficult.

If the Palestinian Authority reassumes security control in areas under its jurisdiction, there will, inevitably, be calls once again for it to take sweeping measures against opposition groups, especially those most closely associated with uprising.

Finally, although personal relationships are important, they are not, alone, a reliable foundation for peace. The Oslo peace process was built in large part on personalities, and it fell with them. Commitments were breached and institutions were sidelined. The momentum of negotiations were often fuelled primarily by the strength of the relationships among the negotiators. After more than two years of uprising, that reservoir of goodwill has to a great extent dried up. Palestinians and Israelis alike will judge whatever new process unfolds solely by the other side’s compliance with its obligations. If the roadmap is to succeed, they should be given the opportunity to do precisely that. A cold assessment of each side’s progress by objective third parties will go much further toward building mutual confidence than a loosely articulated vision of the future or a friendly pat on the back.

It is difficult to predict what the next era of Palestinian- Israeli relations will bring. The hopefulness that animated the peace process during the Oslo years has given way to a tired sobriety. But that in itself may be just what the next peace process requires. In one of my last farewell visits, a reformist member of the Palestinian Legislative Council told me that he was certain I would come back to Palestine. I asked whether he thought that Palestinian political reforms would yield a diplomatic breakthrough. He immediately responded, “No.” Then, after a pause, he added, “but they were the right thing to do.”—Dawn/The LAT-WP News Service (c) The Washington Post.

Looking at war and peace from a glass menagerie

PRIME Minister Vajpayee offered his hand of friendship to Pakistan from behind a bulletproof glass in Srinagar. The ironical image was stark, and it raised a few valid questions about the prospects ahead for his new peace move.

We all know that in the India-Pakistan equation the reasons for heralding peace are often as baffling as the reasons for going to war. In this classic love-hate relationship, not everything can be explained in rational terms.

Parliament and the nation at large had to suspend disbelief or logic as Mr Vajpayee tried to answer some of the more obvious questions flagged by MPs. They were curious to know if anything had changed in Kashmir’s graph of violence or elsewhere for India to make a U-turn on its policy of coercive diplomacy.

Some of the MPs may have known the answer but they still wanted to hear it from the prime minister. Politicians are often perverse and delight in their opponent’s misery, but Mr Vajpayee was equal to the challenge.

He blandly told them that the international circumstances had changed and that the world was standing on a single axis of power. Not that he approved of this world order, but that’s the way it was. Was Mr Vajpayee implicitly admitting that India’s foreign policy was now being governed by the United States? Or, as former diplomat and foreign minister in the Congress government Natwar Singh asked, was he trying to pre-empt a direct American engagement in the region by signalling a resumption of a peace initiative with Pakistan?

Of course the persistent MPs had asked the same question in December last year when India had for apparently no cogent reason withdrawn its troops from the border.

At that time the prime minister had declared that the objectives of the troop deployment had been met. If India was seeking to stop what is described as infiltration into Kashmir from across the Line of Control, that clearly has not happened. Even Mr Vajpayee acknowledges this. So what was the objective that was met?

If the aim of the military deployment was to internationalize the issue of cross-border terrorism without internationalizing the issue of Kashmir, then the troop deployment does seem to have worked. It’s a delicate argument and there are a lot of people, many of them in Vajpayee’s own party, who do not accept the view that he has succeeded in keeping the Kashmir issue away from the international agenda.

This might explain the complete dismay and confusion within the BJP’s ranks following the prime minister’s surprise announcement.

On the one hand, we have been treated to BJP spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra saying that the prime minister would not be visiting Pakistan, only to be gently rebuked by the leader. Pity the BJP’s ultra-nationalist cadre which has been fed on the staple of the standoff logic. They might well wonder what has prompted the new line of thinking, specially in the wake of an official report tabled in parliament last week which said that 1,874 Indian troops were killed or wounded during last year’s military deployment.

This an extraordinary number of casualties given the fact that no actual confrontation took place between the two countries.

Diplomacy, it would seem, was completely out of the reckoning if the country’s biggest military deployment since its 1971 war with Pakistan was merely intended to get senior US officials to visit the region and to declare that India was indeed living with a serious threat.

To the extent that US State Department official Richard Haass was lamenting on April 17 that Washington was “disappointed and frustrated” by its inability to encourage Pakistan to stem cross-border infiltration into Kashmir, Mr Vajpayee’s address in Srinagar the very next day would make diplomatic sense, but not so the price tag that would seem to have come with it.

Mr Haass’ warning that relations with Islamabad could never “improve beyond a certain point” unless the issue was adequately addressed should have pleased Mr Vajpayee. However, according to Stratfor, the Texas-based strategic forecasting agency, US officials had made it clear to New Delhi that Indian officials speaking of pre-emptive strikes on Pakistan “should change their tone and pave the way for diplomatic talks with Pakistan before the end of the year.”

Vajpayee’s offer of talks was reportedly conveyed to Washington a week before his Kashmir visit — even before Haass made his remarks,” the Stratfor report said.

Remember, too, President Clinton’s remarks to the Indian parliament in March 2000 when he demolished the government’s official claim of a military victory in Kargil and said it was American diplomacy that had put an end to that confrontation. The MPs had responded to that with much applause.

Since its 1998 nuclear tests, India has been locked in two military standoffs with Pakistan. On both occasions it has found itself leaning on American diplomatic intervention, even while claiming a military victory on its own. If we have to call in the Americans to help end military build-ups every time, we might as well call them in early and avert the needless deaths of our soldiers.

As Mr Vajpayee embarks on his third and, apparently, final attempt at peace with Pakistan, the bulletproof glass in Srinagar and the pointless deaths of Indian soldiers under his stewardship will continue to mock him.

WHEN Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes is not slamming China, he is sure to be in trouble for defending it. On his recent visit to Shanghai, the reputed China-baiter ticked off the foreign media for “exaggerating” the SARS outbreak in China. Mr Fernandes sees a hidden agenda in the deliberate panic- mongering, pointing out that only two SARS infection cases were noted in Shanghai’s population of 17 million until April 24, compared to a few thousand dying in Africa of cholera.

And now we have Indian businessmen expecting to reap the benefits from China’s misfortune, which has badly hit its exports. Of course, India too has had over 20 people infected by SARS since last month and scores have been quarantined as suspected cases although no deaths have been reported. Mysteriously though, the World Health Organization has stepped in to declare India SARS-free, a point broadcast by the government amid official chest-thumping. Lots of people are keeping their fingers crossed and mouths shut with medical masks. Mr Fernandes handed a generous number of these masks to the Chinese ambassador to be shipped home.

Leadership crisis in the ruling alliance

Leadership crisis in the ruling alliance At a time when on the external front the government is engaged in coping with yet another Indian peace offensive and on the domestic front with what seems to be the final showdown with the opposition on the LFO, a leadership crisis of serious nature seems to have gripped the ruling alliance.

The lack of harmony inherent in the system of keeping the party presidentship out of the hands of the prime minister appears to have seriously affected relations between Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

As a consequence, it looks as if the prime minister has come rather very close to the Patriots and the National Alliance. And both these smaller groups are said to be using the reflected authority of the PM in the trade off for their support to him to expand their political space in Punjab, obviously at the cost of the Chaudhry brothers.

Even the Punjab governor, Khalid Maqbool, is said to have joined the game for his own reasons and is reported to be making it ever more difficult for Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Ellahi to function as an effective chief executive of the province.

A tug-of-war is said to have ensued between Khalid Maqbool and the chief minister over the functioning of local governments as well, with the latter trying his level best to bring the system back under the control of civil servants while the former is said to be putting up stiff resistance to these efforts. In the upshot, the civil bureaucracy is said to have become a football between the governor’s house and the chief minister’s secretariat.

Information Minister Shaikh Rashid, who is said to be nursing his own ambitions on the side, is reportedly making a bid of his own for the post of secretary-general of the PML-Q. He, therefore, is said to have joined those of his party colleagues who support the idea of making Jamali the party president.

It is in this context that political observers see the recent meeting between the prime minister and the chief of the PML-F, Pir Pagaro, at the latter’s residence in Karachi. One recalls that when at the behest of the establishment, Chaudhry Shujaat and Gohar Ayub went to the Pir before the elections to get his support for the idea of unifying all the splinter groups of the PML, the Pir refused to play ball which reportedly infuriated the Chaudhry immensely.

Jamali is said to have made the same proposal to the Pir when he met him in Karachi last week and the latter is said to have responded positively to the proposal — a development which, it is believed, has not gone very well with the Chaudhry brothers, who are already feeling the heat in their own bastion, Punjab.

Interestingly, Mr. Tariq Aziz, former principal secretary of the president and at present secretary of the yet-to-be completed NSC, is reportedly probing on his own the possibility of getting even some of the NA member parties and the Patriots to join the reorganized Muslim League which would include all the PML factions.

Knowledgeable sources said that Mr. Aziz was, may be, trying to get the feel of the situation on behalf of the president, who is perhaps looking at the options available to him if and when he decides to give up his army post. Does that mean the president is looking at the possibility of taking over the reorganized and expanded Muslim League when he leaves the army? This appears to be a far-fetched idea because persons occupying the office of president, rather than joining a party, normally give up their party affiliations if they had one prior to their entry into the august office.

But then, since Mr. Aziz is known to be very close to Chaudhry Shujaat, he is perhaps trying to put a monkey wrench in the works that is being put together by Jamali and his supporters to wrest control of the PML-Q from the Chaudhry of Gujrat.

The PML-Q, the National Alliance and the Patriots were all put together by the establishment to achieve the single objective of keeping Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto out of Pakistan’s electoral politics for as long as General Pervez Musharraf was in the saddle.

Since this objective has seemingly been achieved and a parliament has come into being sans these two leaders, the glue that had kept individuals in these parties together seems to have disappeared. And now even the most irrelevant and minor problems appear to be causing serious upheavals in the ruling alliance, and, therefore, the crisis of leadership within it.

Tailpiece: The sound system in the National Assembly hall was rendered completely dysfunctional by Tuesday last by the unprecedented thumping of the desks resorted to by the opposition members protesting against the LFO during the fifth and sixth sessions.

A team of NA engineers was then pressed into service to restore the system post haste. It, however, took them two days to replace and refit the bottom part of all the recorders which NA sources said had been ‘wrecked’.

A new sound system imported from Denmark was installed in the NA only in August/September last year, just before the general elections, as rats had reportedly eaten away the wiring and cables of the original sound system that was put in years ago.

Rats, NA sources said, do pose a serious threat to the equipment installed in parliament house. Attempts to get rid of this menace by the staff so far seem not to have yielded the desired results.—Onlooker

Exploring post-70s literary ‘stagnation’

The three-day All Pakistan Progressive Writers Conference which ended here the other day was attended by about 200 writers from all parts of country and addressed by a number of famous writers and artists belonging to different fields of literature and art.

According to its organizers, the basic idea of holding the conference was to trace the reason behind the failure of our society in producing internationally known writers and artists after the late 70s. It is a point to ponder for all that about three decades ago, there used to be 1,000 copies of an edition. But now the figure is just 300 including 200 books for complementary distribution.

Speaking at the conference, Progressive Writers Forum chairman Rasheed Misbah said that the one who worked hard was considered inferior while the one who worked less was considered superior and more honourable in the society. Writing without aim, devotion, study and diligence was a crime, he added.

Adil Soomro, a writer from Sindh, said that the liaison between the writer and the reader was on the verge of collapse. It was expedient to link the literature with cultural traditions and spre ad it in smaller towns and villages.

An intellectual from Rawalpindi, Rosh Nadim, said that every era had its own identity. The new generation feels the pinch of shattered dreams.

Latif Sahal from Lahore said that the nation had been writing for the last 55 years but was hardly devoted to thinking due to which our literature had regressed by centuries.

Anwar Mehmood Khalid said that a true writer could never be creedless. A writer reflected and depicted the society. Only those writers survive the challenge of time who project truths that are not in the limelight. A genuine writer not only fights with the society but with his own self as well. Every revolution is based on some idea derived from some thinker. The role of a writer is thus superior to that of a politician.

Arshad Jawed said that whatever was about to happen in South Asia in the 21st century required deep thinking.

Mehmood Ahmed Qazi said that a writer became progressive with the very first word he wrote. A writer banishes disorder and ushers in beauty.

Safdar Saleem Sial said that the current age was an age of the clash of economies and not of military conflicts.

Hussain Majrooh said that contemporary writers still floated on the surface of centuries old cultural traditions.

Ashfaq Rasheed said that there were more problems in prose-writing as compared to poetry in the current age.

Saleem Shahid, Mehmood Gilani, Johar Hayat, Altaf Qureshi, Shabbir Qadri, Nasreen Anjum, Zubair Rana, Tariq Jawed, Dawood Rizwan, Safat Waqar and Mansoor Wafa also addressed the conference.

The conference also adopted a number of resolutions demanding recognition of the art of writing as a profession and provision of social security to workers in the form of pension and medical and other allowances.

The moot expressed concern over the massacre let loose in Iraq by American imperialists and their allies for the establishment of a puppet government, and demanded that it should be stopped forthwith. The Iraqis should be allowed to form a government of their choice. The fallacious and misleading propaganda campaign launched by the allied forces to present their wrongdoings as right was also denounced. It also demanded withdrawal of restrictions on the declaration required for publication of newspapers.

It further demanded that the PTV should be taken away from the clutches of the ministry of information and handed over to workers. Allocation of 10 to 20 per cent of the budget for education, establishment of translation houses at provincial and federal levels, establishment of autonomous writers clubs on the pattern of the press clubs and establishment of libraries at the level of union councils and tehsils was also demanded.

The conference also demanded autonomous bodies for education in fine arts at federal and provincial levels and withdrawal of restrictions on performing arts on the PTV.

The moot also called for resolving disputes between Pakistan and India amicably through dialogue and diverting the resources from procurement of weapons to welfare projects. It also called for implementation of the seventh wage board award.

The moot further emphasized education in social sciences and demanded abolition of Shariat Bill, Hudood Ordinance, Section 295-C of the Blasphemy Act and discriminatory laws.

By another resolution, the conference urged the government to declare subjects of Pakistan Studies and Islamiat as compulsory, declare regional languages of Pakistan as national languages and impart elementary education in regional languages.

The conference at the concluding session issued a declaration which asked: “What is literature and what is the status of a literary person in the society.” This question had been cropping up afresh in the earlier decades of Pakistan’s history especially in the sixties and seventies. However, this subject was never discussed in the last two decades.

The declaration said: “According to the writer of our age, literature is nothing but the most effective instrument for depiction of the beauty of self, for escape from life, for revival of unsatiated desires and a journey back into the realm of exotic past. It is propagated vociferously that art should be for the sake of art, and should not have the remotest connection with politics, social imperatives and other cultural factors. Although every artist professes the concept of art for the sake of life. But due to a contrast between theory and practice, aimless writings have been piling up. “The question is why this is happening. A large number of writers are unaware of their true place in the society. Similarly, some writers, who have involved themselves in factions and groupings based on selfish motives, have intentionally chosen to be ignorant of it. This is the way of getting advantages from the media and benefits and favours from state institutions.

“The view that to be a writer is a God-given faculty, which is inherent in selected individuals, is an incorrect and improper approach. A writer is one of the components of a society who directly reacts to the forces of society. Thus a writer is created according to given conditions of society, environment and training, and produces literature according to the said circumstances.”

It was the first ever conference held without the assistance of any government agency. Citizens are hopeful that such conferences would not only change the literary atmosphere of the city but also pave way for others to join hands with writers and artists for the noble cause of spreading literary activities in small cities as well as rural areas.

Where oh where is Santosh Kumar?

WHAT wouldn’t I give for a happy, enduring and peaceful relationship between India and Pakistan. I have been seeing incredibly peaceful signs from New Delhi. Sometimes I wonder whether Mr Vajpayee really means what he says. Or am I dreaming? It is normally very dangerous to base a column on statements by the politicians in the two countries. Often, the Indians and the Pakistanis don’t mean what they say. So it is reasonable for me to be sceptical. Anyway, if India is really planning to send a high commissioner to Islamabad, I would love my wishes to be horses so that I could ride.

I do not know whether the two governments think anything of the innocent desires of people like me. For example I would love to name an Indian high commissioner of my choice. He is Mr Santosh Kumar who served in a senior position in Islamabad in the late 70s and the early 80s. That is a long time ago.

The last I heard, he was India’s ambassador in South Korea. I hope he still has some years left before he retires as a career diplomat. Under the circumstances, he would be India’s best bet to normalize relations with Pakistan almost overnight. So far as I am concerned, he is the most charming Indian ever to have represented his country in Islamabad. So here is hoping against hope but then there is no harm in hoping even if you know that whatever you say has little or no chance of reaching policy maker in New Delhi. But I will say this to my last dying day: Santosh Kumar is my man.

I REMEMBER the earliest test matches as if they had been played yesterday. But today so many matches are on that I tend to forget who is playing whom and where.

Test cricket, I feel, has been devalued to a very large extend. Only the other day, South Africa were playing Bangladesh at Chittagong. For the visitors, Jacques Rudolph and Boeta Dippenaar put on 429 runs for an unfinished third wicket stand —- the best ever for South Africa against any country. Look at the names they have erased from the record books. The previous best stand for the third wicket for South Africa was between Eddie Barlow and Graeme Pollock who put on 361 runs against Australia in 1963-64. As an impartial observer of the game, which of the two records would you prefer? For me, it is Pollock and Barlow any time. I will remember them long after what happened in Chittagong has been forgotten.

WE have it on the authority of a reliable news agency that Gen Tauqir Zia has lost all passion for the game of cricket since Pakistan’s debacle in the World Cup.

Speaking at a function in Karachi a week or two ago, the General was quoted as having said: “I was so much disheartened with the performance of the team in the World Cup that I stopped reading anything on cricket.”

The poor general! His loss of passion has not prevented him from continuing to head the Pakistan Cricket Board. And if he has stopped reading any thing on cricket, it shows.

“BEAUTIFY your home and office with Fals ceilings. Rot iron furniture also available,” screams an uncouth voice at you on television.

The channel is India’s Star-Plus and you can hear this abomination several times a day every day of the week.

I think it is time there was a censor board even for TV ads. But then you never know. The censors might have passed ‘rot’ for wrought and ‘fals’ for false. Nobody works here. If you don’t believe me, go and watch any Punjabi movie at random and you will know how well the censors are working or not working.

COMMENTING on fast food nation by Eric Schlosser, the New Yorker wrote: “This year, Americans will spend more money on fast food than on higher education... Schlosser shows how the fast food industry conquered both appetite and landscape.”

This is precisely what is happening on M M Alam Road, in Gulberg, Lahore, these days.

FRIEND Khalid Hasan, it is heart-warming to know, still remembers me. He has been in Washington for years now but he never fails to send me cricket-related clippings now and again. The accompanying photograph is from KH. I think that those of you who are interested in the game of cricket will like it.

The Estates Committee reffered to in the caption probably has something to do with the MCC or the management at Lord’s.

AND now returning to the chronology, The Statesman (1875-1975), the paper published the first half-tone photograph of the new Viceroy Minto and Lady Minto, on September 17, 1905. It may be noted, however, that such photographs and half-tone blocks were formerly reproduced in art paper supplements. On December 30, 1905, the paper wrote:

THE Prince and Princess of Wales arrived in Calcutta yesterday afternoon and were accorded a reception worthy of the capital of the Indian Empire. That it was loyal and enthusiastic goes without saying; that it surpassed in magnificence anything their Royal Hignesses have yet seen in India may be claimed without much fear of contradiction. The official welcome at Prinsep’s Ghat was effectively arranged and admirably carried out; but far and away the most impressive feature of the function was the amazing crowd upon the Maidan. Not only was the entire route of the procession, a mile and half or more in length, lined deeply whit people, but dense masses were gathered at every vantage point, so that when the carriages had passed by the whole of the north-eastern section of the Maidan, it became a moving sea of humanity.

Standards of debauchery!

WE live in an age of declining standards. Mostly we have become used to it, but every now and again something still stings. While listening to old Indian songs the other day, I suddenly realized with dismay how much the standards of debauchery have declined. In the 40’s and 50’s, two kinds of debauchery were evident —- firstly the ‘Club Dance’. The film song that was signalled by the presence of a Samba rhythm and trumpets. You knew without looking that the visual would have elegantly suited men and sari-clad women doing (reasonably, given the rhythm) a variant of the waltz. In the background would be a large number of similarly clad extras recruited from the —- and I I don’t mean to be offensive —- from the Christian community. It was all nice and elegant, the element of wickedness came merely from socialist and nationalist interpretation.

On the more traditional side, we had debauchery feudal style which consisted of the Kotha’ scene. Again the music was good, the style beautiful and the wickedness was not personal but social. Almost only social, the type of debauchery hinted at cirrhosis. I am not sure how closely film reflected reality, but usually the two things share an aesthetic —- if so, the 40’s and 50’s were the golden age of elegant debauchery.

The decline set in when sex raised its ugly head. Or in the case of a dancer like Helen, it’s rather attractive and talented head. you tell this from the musical scores also, which went from Salsa to a more discordant beat with raspier trumpets. I am tempted to say this was marked by the move from Lata to Asha, but a certain friend of mine will kill me. Anyway, the point is that debauchery in the 60’s and 70’s lost much of its elegance, innocence and fun. It became personally as well as ideologically wicked. You noticed also that the ‘Club Dance’ declined in this age. Instead the audience in film dances stood around and concentrated on the cirrhosis effect while Helen did all the dancing.

On the other side of the equation, feudal debauchery also disappeared except in period movies, and the ‘Kotha’, instead of being a beautiful setting, became a gambling and drinking den. Again, the move was from social to personal wickedness. The time we are speaking of corresponds to the Ayub and Bhutto eras, and again if film aesthetics reflects life, debauchery became vulgar and mean. Sadly I missed all of this as I had to go to bed early because of school.

In the 80’s and 90’s, the ‘Club Dance’ disappeared entirely and was replaced by the ‘Couple Dance’ as the new cliche term for debauchery. In film the audiences in the ‘Club’ were dancing again, the difference being that no skill, fancy clothes or elegance was required. The music also was undistinguished. Any Western knock-off would do. The wickedness no longer derived from social context, but from the evident intent of the couple’s dances. This was debauchery without economic ideology. If it had ideology at all it was Westernization.

The long winded point I am trying to make is that one reason debauchery has become indistinguished is that there are no longer any standards. You don’t need a Salsa band, you don’t need Helen in a body suit, you don’t need to know the waltz. All you need to be debauched in CDs and mixed company. No wonder the country is going to the dogs.

I think some steps need to be taken immediately to raise the standards of debauchery. First, there should be a formal dance requirement; at least the Waltz, or, even better, the Tango. Second, people intending to be debauched should be able to play at least the Bongos. Some experience with the saxophone should also be mandatory. Finally, all intending debauchees should own to suits and have a supply of 10 couples of a different ethnicity as extras. I think with these simple steps, the NRB will be able to raise the level of wickedness, and, at the same time restrict it to a small number of talented people, thus raising the average moral tone of the country.

Speaking of which, the NWFP Assembly has banned shirts and pants for all educational institutions in the province. I am not sure why governments in this country think they have the right to meddle where they don’t belong. I suspect it comes of being irretrievably and genetically stupid. But more to the point, the NWFP government failed to mention whether underwear is also banned. I mean is underwear also ‘Western’? Is it Eastern to be a swinging? These are important questions. News also had it that they are set to ban all ‘sexual’ products. This included ‘deodorant’! Perhaps we are about to enter a new era in debauchery. The ‘Deodorized Dance’! — Yasser Hashmi

The water thieves

This past week’s revelation that the city has hundreds of illegal water connections should come as no surprise. That the 140 or so water thieves mentioned in the reports include several police stations, police flats, the Rangers headquarters, the Rangers’ officers mess, and even a block of army flats, should also come as no bombshell. After all, anything seems possible in the land of the pure, and if you have power you can get away with even murder — so what’s a little stealing water.

Cynicism aside, let’s take a closer look at the list of the water thieves. First of all, it should be noted that it has been drawn up by the water and sewerage (W & S) department (the successor to the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board after the devolution plan) itself. Other than the offices, homes and eating places of the law-enforcers, the list also contains several three and two-star hotels and dozens of apartment buildings, mostly situated in low and middle-income areas.

All of these are ‘getting’ (read stealing) water from the main line without having to pay a single penny to the W & S department. Why does the latter allow these illegal connections is a question that must be asked of the department. Hopefully, an MPA with a conscience will have the sense to do this in a forthcoming session of the Sindh Assembly.

As for the police stations, the Rangers’ premises, and the army flats, the Notebook would like to ask their higher authorities why can’t they pay for the water they consume, just like everybody else in Karachi? How can people be expected to follow the law when the law-enforcers themselves are so adept at evading/breaking it?

And the water and sewerage department. Well, could you please explain sending notices to residents of apartment buildings asking them to pay dues for consuming water when none has been provided? Better still, explain sending notices to residents of buildings that don’t even have a water connection or are not linked to the main line.

Clearly, there are some people in the W & S department who choose not to take action against these illegal connections? No marks for guessing what they get in return for this silence.

It seems that the Karachi traffic police will never learn. Anyone who has driven on Clifton Bridge and on to Abdullah Haroon Road, towards Metropole Hotel, will know what one is talking about. The police have recently placed a ‘security barrier’ just before the Abdullah Haroon-Hoshang road signal.

The steel barrier is placed perpendicular to the flow of oncoming traffic and is clearly quite a hazard because the traffic police did not bother to place any warning signs for motorists coming down Clifton Bridge. Because of its positioning, it completely blocks the extreme left lane of the road and forces cars to suddenly swerve to the right. Most of the times a seemingly lazy policeman stands by the barrier, quite uninterested in his work.

It is unclear what kind of security such an ill-placed and badly-manned barrier provides. If the police feel the need to enact such ‘security’ barriers then at the very least they should place them carefully and caution oncoming traffic well in advance. A similar example can be noted from the horrendously placed barrier on the road as one comes down The Point and proceeds towards the Do Talwar roundabout. Here, the road is badly lit and the barrier, also placed perpendicular to the flow of oncoming traffic, appears out of nowhere. The police would be well-advised to remove such traffic hazards immediately.

A colleague who frequents Saddar quite a lot for window-shopping relayed his recent frightening experience with the overhead pedestrian bridges that arch over the area’s bustling roads. His experience says a lot about the negligence of the civic authorities concerned.

“It was a little after maghrib when I got off the bus on my way to Rainbow Centre. Since the area was heavily congested (thanks to the buses and the encroachments) I decided to walk from Regal Chowk to the centre. It was already pretty dark and considering the usual evening rush I decided to cross over to the other side of the road using the overhead bridge in front of Empress Market. Little did I know I was about to put my life in greater risk than if I had chosen to stand in front of a speeding bus.

“Decrepit is not the word for the state of this ‘bridge’. It was practically falling apart, with gaping holes in the middle covered with flimsy pieces of wood, probably placed by some good Samaritan. I was fearful for my life with each step I took, holding on to the railing for dear life, which, by the way, was covered with sharp objects — remnants of nails, pins and other articles used to attach banners and other material. To make matters worse, there was pitch darkness around the structure, both on the stairs and on the actual crossing.”

This scary little episode might seem like a trivial experience to some, overblown and exaggerated for dramatic effect, but the reality is that most of the city’s overhead bridges are in a very dilapidated condition. It is a miracle that we don’t have people falling to their deaths from them. And there might be a reason for that — which is that most people in the city tend not to use these overhead bridges and choose to cross the road from ground-level. As a motorist one would find that quite annoying — why should people cross a busy road when there is a pedestrian bridge overhead? But, now it makes perfect sense.

According to a news report, the Americans have information that the Al Qaeda suspects arrested recently in Karachi were, among other things, planning an aerial attack against the US consulate building using a light plane or a helicopter. Massive quantities of arms, fertilizer and other ingredients needed to make a very powerful bomb, were recovered from their possession.

Even if the information that the Americans have is not entirely correct, just the thought of an explosives-laden plane crashing into the US consulate building seems extremely unpleasant and bone numbing. We have to ask ourselves what it is about our country, and perhaps Karachi in particular, that makes it a haven for all kinds of lunatics and extremists.

A regular reader sent in an email relating quite a harrowing experience he recently went through. This is what he wrote: “Last night a disturbing incident happened on the bus home. I always take the Metro from Clifton for home. I boarded the bus and took a seat in the back. When we crossed Teen Talwar and reached the ICAP building the bus stopped and a police officer boarded it. He started asking questions from the driver and the passengers about some men. Then two more officers boarded the bus and started randomly checking the passengers.

“Suddenly a shot was fired by one of the officers and we were all asked to stand up and raise our arms. Then started an even more thorough search of every passenger. Obviously, the shot that was fired had created a lot of panic. All the while this was happening, another man came on board (he was in civvies) and identified two young men. It seems the police were looking for two men who had robbed a jewellery store and apparently boarded a Metro bus. The two men on this bus fitted the description given by the store-owner.

“After this whole episode was over, the passengers were told to get off the bus. I made the stupid mistake of asking one of the policeman why he had fired in the air. He shot back (no pun intended) angrily: ‘Jao apna kaam karo’.

“The two men who had been identified were taken to a police mobile parked next to the standing Metro bus. And as the mobile sped away, one of the constables fired a couple of more shots in the air. There was no need for this at all since the two alleged thieves were in custody. Probably they wanted to celebrate their ‘catch’ but the only thing they succeeded in doing was to scare the public. The senior police authorities should take notice of the unnecessary bravado displayed by their junior officers.”— By Karachian

Email: karachi_notebook@hotmail.com

Let’s begin at the beginning

LAST Friday, a group of admittedly big names called upon the government to abandon the Lyari Expressway Project. But, why pray? Going by the frequent reports in newspapers, also on the radio and television, one gets the impression that work is already in hand on this project and it appears to be in an advanced stage. Hundreds of the people to be displaced to make room for the expressway have already been displaced. Some have received some kind of compensation. A special township for the displaced people is also said to be under development.

To say this much is by no means to be interpreted as holding a brief for the expressway in question. Those who are objecting to the project are expected to know what they are talking about. For all the common man knows, this project must have been on the drawing boards for years and on the anvil, so to speak, also for some years. The correct time for debate on the expressway should be deemed to have expired, now that work on the ground is in hand and presumably making some snail-pace progress, too.

As stated by a former administrator of the now defunct Karachi Municipal Corporation, the idea of some project of more or less this nature was born, thanks to the devastating flood of 1977. Another date mentioned with some emphasis is 1981, when Wapda carried out a survey. Over the years, apparently the emphasis has shifted from a project to protect against possible flood to one that is, in addition, a scheme for traffic facilitation.

That Karachi needs a civilized system of urban traffic cannot be denied. In fact, the state in which surface traffic now is in Karachi is something the educated, enlightened and informed citizens ought to be thoroughly ashamed of. This is, quite frankly, a reference to the wise gentlemen who addressed that anti-expressway workshop. Or, was it a seminar? As far as the lay citizen is concerned it is traffic management that the expressway is supposed to be all about. And goodness knows, the citizen would embrace any idea that is even remotely related to putting some sense in Karachi’s road traffic anarchy.

One would readily agree with the gentleman who said that this “city needed funds for more urgent uplift schemes.” Why not name the “more urgent needs.” Many citizens would at once say Karachi needs proper urban rail transport system above all else. These wise men did not mention the way almost everyone in authority is playing cat-and-mouse with the Karachi Circular Railway. To talk of “urgent needs” without naming a single such need is, to say the least, not helpful.

Let it be stated once again that the intention here is not to sell the expressway. But criticism leads you nowhere if it is wholesale denunciation in hyperbolic and sweeping terms. What does one make of the view that the project is “bypassing all state rules and regulations and institutions.” Not one specific instance is mentioned. Another wiseacre said with an almost broken heart that “all the norms of a civilized society are being ignored.” Again not one norm is mentioned to help the citizen make some head or tail out of such flaming tirades. Yet another gentleman believed that the expressway “is violating all rules and regulations.”

Finally, the expressway was convicted of the crime of being “anti-people.” So there the debate ended. What next? Apparently, nothing. There is absolutely no denying that all projects ought to be debated thoroughly when there is still time for debate. Once the implementation of the project begins on the ground, the effort had better be to facilitate its progress, blowing the whistle on the fouls on the way.

As far as one can see, and it is evident from the discussion of last Friday, this project was not seriously focused upon by the opinion-makers in Karachi and up there in Islamabad. If newspapers are to be believed, the expressway, the Northern Bypass and also the resurrection of the KCR are some of the projects that have received the nod of the highest in the land.

Work has commenced on only one, that is the expressway. Perhaps it would be more sensible and constructive if the really qualified senior citizens of Karachi keep an alert vigil on the way work progresses on the expressway so that it may be rescued from being ‘anti-people’ and turned into a genuinely pro-people project. Let us not obstruct what has been taken in hand. At this stage it would be much better to try to make the best of the expressway. To call upon the government to ‘abandon’ it would be altogether counterproductive.

Now what about the Northern Bypass project? Would the gentlemen who are so worked up about the expressway kindly turn their attention to the two projects mentioned above. There is still time to talk about the Northern Bypass. If this project, too, is seen to be riddled and perforated with flaws for the worthy fault-finders, the time is now to get cracking. Path-finders help civilization, not the fault-finders who wake up after the damage has been done and has become irreparable.

Let us see what the wise senior citizens have to say about the KCR that has been deliberately throttled by a clearly identifiable road transport mafia and its tentacles inside the civil and railway bureaucracy. Where one should have liked to see a clear-cut plan for an up-to-date urban rail system, what we have is a jungle of plans, and plans, most of them so conceived as to be contradicting one another. We have plans for underground, surface and elevated urban railways. But no action. Not even a workshop or seminar. Bravo!

Time and again it has been suggested that a businesslike way of doing things is to begin at the beginning. Revive and put into operation what of the KCR already exists. Then move on to expand, improve and refine. Grandiose planning is about the most cunning of devices to block progress. Side by side run, however unwittingly, the critics. The two working in tandem comprise the surest recipe in aid of our do-nothing culture. It is better to be doing a little shoddily than not doing anything at all. This is the way the commonest of us little lay citizens of Karachi think.