National reconciliation

It is quite likely that Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed's remarks on Friday about efforts at national reconciliation will be followed by various clarifications and statements from an assortment of politicians.

Since the minister said that even leaders-in-exile like Ms Benazir Bhutto and Mr Nawaz Sharif were "in contact with the government," the reaction of the latter will be awaited with interest, although such contacts, if undertaken, are always conducted quietly, leaving space for public deniability.

Talk of lines of communication being established with the PML-N and the PPP has been in the air for some time, and speculation in this regard has picked up since Mr Asif Zardari's release on bail.

Unconfirmed reports of approaches to Mr Sharif in Jeddah and Ms Bhutto in Dubai have also been printed from time to time. The information minister's comments are nevertheless important because he speaks on behalf of the government, and indeed he indicated on Friday that President General Pervez Musharraf had himself authorized contacts with the opposition.

It will also be recalled that Gen Musharraf was stated to have telephoned Mr Sharif to offer his condolences on the death of the elder Sharif. The point is whether there is a well-considered and genuine move to enter into a dialogue with the PPP and the PML-N or whether this is mere political improvisation to keep the MMA and the MQM guessing and under pressure.

The MMA's anti-uniform drive has not yet picked up steam - with the governments in both Balochistan and the Frontier only half-hearted participants at best - but the issue remains, and may gain in intensity after December 31 and also be the subject of legal challenges.

The government could fear isolation and might want to look for some support from parties that have not been part of the 17th Amendment and thus enjoy a greater measure of credibility. Gen Musharraf needs the mainstream parties on his side both if he decides to give up his uniform or to retain it.

In the first case, he would want to have the PPP and the PML-N with him to balance any possible pressure from the military establishment; if he sticks to his uniform, PPP and PML-N could enable him to gain some acceptability for what would be a horrendous arrangement in a democracy. But beyond the immediate motivation, national reconciliation is in any case a necessary and desirable objective. To try to create a consensus on important national issues should not necessarily be considered a sign of weakness.

In fact, an inclusive style of governance reflects confidence and a wish to really respect all shades of public opinion. Consensus or national reconciliation is good per se.

Unfortunately, the government itself has vitiated the political atmosphere by its resort to unilateral administrative steps and its reliance on political skull duggery. It has so far treated the opposition with contempt, which is seen also almost daily in the attitude of the government party in parliament.

There has to be an undiluted commitment to the supremacy of representative civilian rule as the basis of a durable national consensus. Without such a commitment, we will continue to flounder in the shoals of confusion and uncertainty, a cross between a military dictatorship and a supine civilian set-up.

Backlog of cases

Steps must be taken urgently to reduce the huge backlog of 25,000 cases pending before the Supreme Court, as pointed out by the chief justice on Friday. All stakeholders - the litigant public, the lawyers and the judiciary - have a role to play in ensuring quick disposal of long pending cases.

As far as lawyers are concerned, the tendency among some is to take as many cases as possible. In the process, cases are badly prepared, leading to a situation where clients undergo a costly ride. Even when a case is lost, instead of advising closure or restraint, lawyers sometimes encourage clients to go in for appeal.

The chief justice's observation that over 99 per cent of appeals are rejected should be a sobering reminder for the litigants that it is sometimes better to accept a lower court's verdict than to spend more money on filing an appeal and pursuing a result whose chances are minimal.

Lawyers on both sides also need to make an effort to keep their arguments brief, to the point and to avoid seeking frequent adjournments. The government, for its part, needs to ensure that the number of judges is adequate.

In addition, perhaps a system can be devised by the superior judiciary under which court timings can be extended and some holidays curtailed to cope with the backlog. Also, there is the issue of maintainability and whether a case or an appeal should be heard at all. For instance, the US Supreme Court does not hear each and every case that comes before it.

The practice is to accept only those cases which plead for a ruling regarding an interpretation of the law rather than to act as an adjudicator in disputes. Though no figures are available regarding the percentage of appeals and petitions that are heard by the Supreme Court, it would be prudent if an effort was made to discourage frivolous petitions or appeals by being stringent vis-a-vis maintainability.

Only a combination of all these measures can make a dent in the enormous backlog of cases before the Supreme Court.

Balochistan's antiquities

While the woeful apathy that prevails with regard to our historical and cultural heritage is nation wide, the province of Balochistan stands out for the low priority accorded to the preservation of its ancient past.

Citing the Chakar Fort and the prehistoric settlement of Mehrgarh as examples, the opposition leader in the provincial assembly, Mr Kachkol Ali Baloch, rightly pointed out the other day that as a result of the government's indifference, monuments and places of historical importance in the province were in a "bad condition".

By the look of things, they are not going to get any better soon. For, besides the lack of funding and the scant official interest in an area that has been at the crossroads of history since times immemorial, the gross economic and political underdevelopment of the region has contributed to a losing battle on this front.

It would not be entirely wrong to say that the law of the jungle has tended to dominate the political and administrative landscape here, and that hordes of marauding tribesmen have had a hand in despoiling treasures from the past as in the case of Mehrgarh. Meanwhile, other monuments lie in a state of dereliction, crumbling into oblivion.

International assistance has been continually touted as one way to save Balochistan's cultural heritage from further decay. However, unless the local people are imbued with a sense of the worth of their history - dating further back than when tribal nomenclatures came into existence - no amount of preservation work or money is going to save the relics.

And, while it is all right to have foreign teams, with expert information and advanced technology, to engage in digging in the area or advise on the protection of antiquities, surely our own archaeology department must be suitably equipped and activated to oversee their operations.

Many artefacts, of great beauty and historical value have slipped from local hands and ended up in distant lands. It is time our government delved a little more deeply into the layers of history that make up the province and stopped the dust from settling on them forever.