Sharon’s belated wisdom

ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon still does not seem to be serious about his responsibility with regard to the roadmap to peace. Drafted by the Quartet — the US, Russia, the EU and the UN — it envisages a complete halt to all settlement activity and a dismantling of all those built after March 2001. Sharon, however, has continued expanding the settlements in violation of the roadmap. There has been some work on the demolition of a few settlements, but these are merely outposts and can hardly be called settlements. He is now reported to have said that eventually Jewish settlements in the Gaza strip will have to go, and that “whichever way you look at it, Jews won’t be living in the Gaza strip forever.” All one can say is that this flash of wisdom should have dawned on him much earlier, and that it should not remain confined to the Gaza strip.

Since the conquest of Gaza and the West Bank, including Al Quds, by Israel in the 1967 war, all Israeli governments have been unwilling to pull out of the occupied territories. In fact, all Israeli governments — whatever their political hue — have aimed at an annexation of the West Bank and the Gaza strip. For this they have pursued policies that constitute blatant violations of all relevant UN resolutions and the Geneva conventions. These policies include the establishment of Jewish settlements, crippling the Palestinian population economically by diverting water resources; felling olive and citrus trees by hundreds of thousands; and building highways and roads through Arab orchards and villages. The aim is to Judaize the territories and change their Arab-Islamic character.

Conditions worsened when the intifada broke out in December 1987. There was a brief lull in Israel’s violation of human rights in the wake of the Oslo accords in 1993. However, Sharon sabotaged the peace process by reoccupying most of the West Bank and Gaza. His “deeds” have included the massacre at Jenin, the destruction of Arafat’s headquarters, targeted assassinations of Palestinian leaders, and rocket attacks on Arab apartment buildings. On April 30, President George Bush unveiled the roadmap, but Sharon has continued its violation despite formally accepting it with several reservations. For him to say now that Israel must eventually pull out the settlers from Gaza amounts to admitting the failure of his hawkish policies. The Palestinians have fought back with a tenacity that has surprised the world, and will continue to do so until they get what is their right — an independent Palestinian state. What Sharon’s friends in Washington must do is to make the Likud leader commit to the roadmap sincerely and unequivocally. So far, his attitude to the latest peace process has been dubious and half-hearted. While he cannot openly denounce it because it has American backing, he would like to do everything in his power to wriggle out of it and sabotage it. After all, he has before him the example of former Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak who tore up the Oslo process while America watched. Peace cannot come to the holy land through targeted killings and suicide bombings. Israel’s own population is fed up with violence, because it realizes that Sharon’s bloodletting and the reoccupation of the territories have failed to give them security. An end to mutual violence, security for Israel and freedom for the Palestinians are possible only when the roadmap is fully implemented and an independent Palestinian state comes into being by 2005 as envisaged.

Giving priority to trade

THE forthcoming summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) to be held in Islamabad from January 4, 2004, is expected to focus on expansion of trade in the region. A Pakistan foreign office spokesman has said that the atmosphere of uncertainty has now been cleared as an understanding has been reached unofficially among the member countries to mould the Saarc forum in line with other regional trading blocs such as Asean and the European Union. If accepted formally, this will go a long way in strengthening the association. In November, Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee had said in his inaugural speech at the Saarc information ministers conference in New Delhi that members should set aside political differences and aim at speeding up economic growth. Mr Vajpayee warned that if Saarc did not follow the route taken by Asean and the European Union, its relevance would be gradually diminished.

It seems that the Indian prime minister’s warning has been taken seriously. The confrontation between India and Pakistan in the past two years has been a major obstacle in the way of Saarc functioning effectively. In the past, Pakistan has argued that unless there is a political solution to some of the outstanding disputes that member countries are engaged in, enhanced economic cooperation would seem unlikely. Keeping this in mind, the statement by the foreign office spokesman on Tuesday comes across as very encouraging. Till now, what has happened is that the diametrically opposing views from India and Pakistan, two of the bigger members of Saarc, have acted as a stumbling bloc in any major regional initiative. It is now felt that with the process of normalization of relations between India and Pakistan under way, some major steps can be expected in the field of economic cooperation and trade on the platform of Saarc. Issues pertaining to the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (Safta) will come up for detailed discussion at the Islamabad summit. While the prospect of a single currency for the region at this stage appears premature, the fact that economic issues are being given precedence at the forthcoming summit augers well for regional economic cooperation in the long term.

Rough justice

THE weird things that the so-called panchayat systems are capable of doing in the name of justice seem to know no bounds. Reports from Gujranwala say that members of a panchayat tortured to death a man who was suspected of being a petty thief. A mill owner suspected someone of having committed a theft in his factory and reported the matter to the local panchayat instead of registering a case with the police. The panchayat then tortured the man to death and threw the body outside his house. The action of the panchayat members is outrageous and morally abhorrent. The provincial government must take serious note of the matter, have it thoroughly investigated and take action against the perpetrators of the foul deed. The authorities must also act to ban and uproot these parallel systems of ‘justice’ which still exist in some more backward parts of the country. Not only do they make a mockery of the country’s legal and judicial system; they are also open to manipulation and misuse by influential landlords and others, as several recent cases involving dispensation of rough justice and cruelty have shown. Often the victims are defenceless women or peasants.

The question to ponder is why did the mill owner go to the panchayat in the first place. If he suspected a theft, the normal course of action should have been to report it to the local police. Whatever one may say about the inefficiencies of the police, going to a panchayat for justice is no solution. Perhaps, one reason why people, especially in the rural areas, approach panchayats or jirgas is the law’s delays and cost of fighting a case, more so at the lower judiciary level. While ridding the country of the bane of parallel systems such as panchayats or jirgas, the government must also provide additional resources to strengthen the country’s lower courts.