The choice before APHC

The split within the ranks of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference has long worried everyone concerned with the Kashmir cause. If the resignation on Wednesday by the 26-party alliance chairman Maulana Abbas Ansari is a bid to reunite the breakaway faction headed by the Jamat-i-Islami chief Syed Ali Shah Geelani, it will be seen as a step in the right direction.

It should enable the two Hurriyat factions to sit across the table and agree on a leader acceptable to all component parties and political and religious groups comprising the alliance.

Hurriyat founder-chairman Mir Waiz Umar Farooq has hit the nail on the head by stressing the need for unity among Kashmiris' rank and file at this critical juncture. This is necessary to validate the claim that given the large number of parties and political and religious groups representing all shades of Kashmiri opinion in its fold, the APHC alone can speak for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Fissures began to appear within the Hurriyat ranks last year over whether to accept the invitation extended to it by the then Indian Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani to enter into a dialogue with New Delhi.

Whether causing a rift within the APHC was the real motive behind the BJP-led government's invitation for talks is anyone's guess. The split came when the erstwhile Hurriyat chairman, Maulana Ansari, opted for the dialogue through a majority vote, with Mr Geelani breaking ranks.

Initial contacts between New Delhi and the APHC prior to the election in India earlier this year yielded no significant results, nor any concessions from the Indian side. Mr Advani refused to withdraw the draconian laws enacted under the infamous Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) or reduce the number of security forces - 700,000 troops - present in the valley.

Doing so would have found wide public support for the APHC's decision to pursue a dialogue. But that should now be consigned to the past. With the ouster from power of the hardline BJP-led government in New Delhi, and the Congress-led ruling coalition's stated eagerness to pursue peace with Pakistan, there should be renewed, if cautious, hope among Kashmiris for a more meaningful dialogue this time round.

New Delhi can help by announcing a number of confidence-building measures such as the scrapping of Pota, to which the Congress-led coalition committed itself during its election campaign, and a reduction in troops in the valley.

This would weaken the extremists and strengthen the moderate leaders who, like the majority of the Kashmiris they represent, want to see an end to bloodshed and lawlessness that the armed insurgency and India's highhanded policy of suppression have confronted them with.

Such measures will have a moderating influence on hardliners like Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Maulana Ansari has made his own contribution towards reuniting the APHC by opting out of its chairmanship.

This provides a face-saving opportunity for Mr Geelani and his supporters who have been opposed to the will of the majority within the APHC to return fully to the alliance's fold. A point has come in the Kashmiris' struggle for their right of self-determination when they have to speak with one voice.

This alone will ensure the eventual possibility of holding a tripartite dialogue involving India, Pakistan and the Kashmiri representatives over the future of the disputed state.

Parties in poor state

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement has chosen to challenge a report in this newspaper that had referred to the fate of the MQM coordination committee convener and to the party's organizational matters.

The report was based on a recorded interview with the MQM's parliamentary party leader in the National Assembly. The MQM says excerpts of the interview were published "out of context".

That is a matter of interpretation. The party has not so far denied reports published last month that its coordination committee convener had resigned and that the committee had been suspended or dissolved.

There was also much speculation about Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad's recent visit to London to meet his party chief. Three MQM MNAs were earlier asked to resign, leading to by elections that have since become controversial. All political parties go through periodic organizational problems, and there is no reason why the MQM should be an exception.

Desertions from the PPP and the PML-N - whether for reasons of disagreements with leadership or the lure of office - are a case in point. The tussle in the PML leading to Mr Zafarullah Jamali's exit is another instance.

The basic trouble is the centralized and undemocratic way our political parties are run. Cadres are hardly ever consulted, office-bearers are nominated, not elected, and no basic membership lists are maintained.

At present we have the strange spectacle of the leaders of three of the country's main parties running their organizations from abroad. Political parties have obviously been weakened by the military's dominance in the country's affairs; they have been calculatedly emasculated by a succession of autocratic rulers; and fragmented by the power games of the establishment.

But they have failed to utilize even the little space available to order their affairs along healthy, democratic lines. Some have resorted to plain bullying to subdue their opponents; some to open mud-slinging, such as is currently being witnessed between the MQM and the MMA.

Before asking the press to observe the norms of journalism and being overly sensitive to references to their working, perhaps our political parties ought themselves to observe the norms followed by democratic political structures.

Drowning tragedies

With the monsoon season just round the corner, those planning a trip to one of Karachi's beaches should be forewarned of the towering waves and strong currents capable of dragging even the most accomplished swimmer to a watery death.

Eight people were swept away by high tides in two separate incidents over the last weekend. Going by the number of people who drown every year - approximately 250 - the figure is sure to rise in the weeks ahead unless beach-goers stop flouting the ban on swimming and bathing during the summer months, and the city government institutes safety measures to prevent deaths.

But judging by the poor preparations for beach safety, coupled with public indifference and lack of awareness, the fear is that carelessness on the part of the local administration and the beach-goers will persist.

The city government has only 46 divers and one rescue centre at Hawkesbay. The number of divers maintained by the Edhi Foundation is also small, and one cannot expect them to be always at hand along a 33-km coastal stretch.

There are signs that warn bathers and swimmers against taking the plunge but these are disregarded, and such is the defaced state of some that they can hardly be read.

Perhaps one can take heart from the news that navy personnel, city government divers and young men from coastal villages have lately received life-saving training from a team of foreign experts, and plans are afoot to train more people.

But unless the public itself is made conscious of the dangers at sea, this will be of little value. Meanwhile, besides lifeguards and life-saving equipment, what is needed most is a strong police presence to restrain those wanting to take a dip. The police should be stationed in popular spots on the weekends and public holidays, when the number of beach-goers is unusually high.