Metro Voice: ‘Arms for peace’ irks citizens

As the five-day sale for international buyers in the fourth arms exhibition of Pakistan gains momentum, city issues, education and citizens’ rights become unimportant for lesser beings in Karachi. Not that these are ever top priority when compared to security of visiting VVIPs in the city, but particularly since Monday, when the International Defence Exhibition commenced, the citizens have all but been told to stay home.

Directives were issued to offices around the Expo Centre – venue of the ‘IDEAS 2006’ exhibition – to end the day’s work early, so that the security arrangements for the delegates are not compromised and the cavalcades of the President attending the function may be facilitated. The offices of the City District Government Karachi which deal with civic issues and whose primary function is to address daily complaints of miserable citizens were given half the day off. The biggest ignominy was the closure of educational institutes to facilitate arms sale! The reasons given were ‘security concerns for the delegates.’ And those who were unlucky enough to commute along the ‘no-go’ areas were stranded for hours because of closed routes and jammed intersections.

Ironically, as chief guests inaugurating various high level institutes our president, prime minister, governor and even the mayor have waxed eloquent on the importance of education, elucidating their vision for a more literate Pakistan. But unashamedly, the schools were given a holiday by the city nazim, mainly to keep traffic flow in the city to a minimum, studies be damned! The students have already lost out on school days due to the rains, when the road network collapsed.

Judging by the priorities which govern the country leaders’ decisions concerning its citizens, it boggles the mind how a nation can set such a precedence in which children’s future is compromised even if it’s for day.

While the exhibition slogan proudly states, ‘arms for peace’, one wonders, whose brainchild created such an incongruous theory. The President’s message on the occasion elaborated how, ‘elated’ he was that, ‘each successive event (of IDEAS) has helped the country gain a more favourable international repute…and fortify Pakistan’s strategic disposition with regards to world peace initiatives…’ It is obvious that on the premise of ‘a balanced arms equation reducing the chances of war,’ Pakistan feels the need to flex its superficial muscles under the international glare. But while we have submissively accepted that the chunk of our taxes is being used to feed our armed forces, are we also going to submit meekly to the message being sent to our youth that the power of weapons is much stronger than that of education?

Lara’s vaudeville show puts Inzamam in poor light

Multan is known as the city of Sufis and Pirs. Well, it just added another one. Pir Lara. The first of the annual urs begins on November 21 next year. It will be called Lara Memories.

Perhaps Danish Kaneria won't be there or maybe he will out of respect for the lessons taught to him by the grandmaster himself, including a crash course lasting six balls. It will be interesting to see if Inzamam will be there along with his religious associates like Yousuf. And many years later with a flock of juniors in tow: "Now let me tell you about that day."

But as of today, Lara's vaudeville show made a sparse crowd be counted among collector's items. At least the tapes of the day’s play will soon make it to Sotheby's for auction and will eventually be sold to the anonymous buyer at an unrevealed price. For it was just such an awesome display of power, majestic strokeplay and downright arrogance. Lara used his footwork like a ballerina and struck like a boxer. There was no place to hide as he ended within a stroke of his 9th double hundred in Tests, having already broken Sir Donald Bradman's record of most scores of 150 and above.

But stats and records mean little to him today. He was a man on a vengeful streak, clearly wounded from the heavy first Test defeat and intent on keeping his word that this Test would end differently.

His dismemberment of Danish Kaneria was cruel watching. It was like the city gangster publicly mauling a ten-year-old on high street. In the over in which he obliterated Kaneria, Lara demonstrated a ruthlessness that an assassin would stop short of.

Kaneria grew six years in those six balls. At the end of it he was walking back as if he had come out of a bomb shelter. And then to see his house on fire.

But what was distressing to see was that in the space of those six balls not one player, including his captain, came to him to guide him or even console him for that matter.

There can only be so much indifference from Inzamam. It has gone beyond being classified a habit, and to more aware, a failing. On Tuesday, Inzamam could easily have taken a short walk to his bowler after the third ball, put a hand on his shoulder and said: No matter son, you're still my strike bowler. Do you know he's done worse to Warne? But alas, Kaneria during those ten minutes was like the boy who stood on the burning deck as his fellow seamen could only stand and see him destroyed.

Where was this togetherness and the rallying cry ‘All for One and One for All’ that Inzamam claims is the hallmark of this team. So now we know what he says when he gathers his men in a circle? When it gets hot out there, bring your own coolers .

Sad that the brotherhood was nowhere to be seen. No words of advice midway through the over or even in the early stages of being taken for 60 runs in 29 balls. No suggestions of going round the wicket, throwing in faster ball, cramping him on the leg side with a googly.

Not to many’s amazement, Inzy left yawning gaps in the field and kept no sweepers to plug the boundaries when he saw the batsmen going for their strokes. Against a left-hander at the pinnacle of his form, he chose to bring in his only off-spinner Shoaib Malik when the score was 382.

Kaneria eventually sorted himself out enough to snare Bravo and stayed at par with the day’s scoring rate, an achievement in itself considering he was exposed the most. He has learned his lessons I'm sure. He is mentally strong and will survive this carnage and become a better bowler.

The same, however, cannot be said of Inzamam and his leadership.

Emissions irk residents

THE emission of factories situated within and outside the city has aggravated environmental pollution. Residents of localities adjacent to these factories want the district administration to get these units shifted out of the city.

The residents of union council 47/11 of Bheikhupura, including its nazim and other councillors, says that factory smoke and acid-laden water of industries had made their life miserable. They could not drink clean water and epidemic diseases were spreading in the area.

They demanded that pollution and emission should be controlled or else they would launch a protest movement. It was pertinent to mention that residents of Khial town, including women and children, cordoned off a paper factory over unchecked emission and dragged the factory owner and his men on the road some years ago. Though the district administration had ordered almost all factory owners to control emission, the latter did not pay head.

A SCAM of misappropriation of zakat funds has come to the surface and the provincial zakat council has dismissed the district chairman of zakat. An inquiry against 130 zakat clerks has also been started by the Anti-Corruption Establishment.

A source said that the clerks of zakat council embezzled zakat funds and allowances of chairman of zakat committees to the tune of Rs 3.9 million and bought motorcycles for themselves some years ago. It was stated that an audit report exposed the embezzlement. The provincial zakat council dismissed the then district zakat chairman, Ehsan Ullah, from service and ordered a probe. An anti-corruption deputy director has been appointed inquiry officer.

District zakat chairman Zahoor Khan apprised the inquiry officer that the clerks have already been sacked following recovery of outstanding dues from them. Each clerk embezzled Rs30,000 and purchased a motorcycle. However the clerks said that they had received Rs3,000 each and had bought motorcycles from their own sources.

THE recovery of toll tax from public transport vehicles on GT Road in Ghakkhar Town by a contractor of National Highway created a tense situation. Police arrested as many 19 drivers and conductors of wagons who were protesting against the recovery of toll tax and registered a case against them. It was stated that wagon owners association blocked the GT Road after parking their vehicles and suspended traffic for half an hour.

A DSP of motorway police got the traffic restored by negotiating with the association leaders without taking any action against them. But the district police reportedly arrested the drivers and conductors on a phone call of a higher personality, which aggravated the situation.

The wagon owners association and citizens have pledged to fight legally against the National Highway officers and contractor. They point out that the latter has destroyed all beautification of GT Road of eastern side after constructing the bus bay and closing the link road. They allege that some influential people in government are backing the contractor and toll tax is being recovered with the help of musclemen.

THE excise and taxation department has ordered the start of a property tax survey in Ghakkhar town. The residents of the town have expressed resentment and demanded that the chief minister should stop the survey in accordance with his promise.

According to a reports, the excise and taxation department had stopped the survey of property tax in Ghakkhar and Qila Dedar Singh some two moths back when an MPA, Chaudhry Nasir Cheema, made a request to the chief minister in this regard. The department closed its office in Ghakkhar and stopped the survey. But it again launched the survey after opening its office in the town.

THE construction work of upper story of trauma centre at the DHQ hospital here will start shortly as the district development committee has accorded an approval of funds of Rs106 million.

According to trauma centre incharge Dr Muhammad Latif, the work will be completed within the stipulated time.

Mixed response to women’s bill

The passing of the Protection of Women’s Bill on Nov 15, 2006, was trumpeted as a historic day for the women of Pakistan. President Pervez Musharraf termed it a ‘victory of justice, truth and the progressive forces’. But many believe that to hail the passage of the bill as a historic achievement is an overstatement.

In 1979, women were downgraded from being equal citizens of the state through an ordinance passed by a martial law administrator. Twenty-seven years on their fate may have changed, but only a little. Women became one of the first victims of Gen Ziaul Haq’s Islamisation process which sought to create a rightwing constituency to strengthen the general’s dictatorial rule. By contrast, this time round, the amendments made to the controversial ordinances seem also to be geared towards cobbling together a new constituency for General Musharraf’s ‘enlightened moderation’.

It is ironical that whether it is a call for Islamisation or moderation — as if the two were mutually exclusive — the political point of reference in Pakistan should be women’s status in society. The pattern is too familiar to be taken as an earnest attempt on the part of the government to give women the primacy reserved for men. For 27 years the religious right, encouraged by successive governments, has been obsessing about adultery, rape and consensual physical contact between adults. The perverse tactics to put women on the spot for what is basically the state’s failure to have delineated between adultery and fornication have made rape and adultery the bedrock of mainstream politics. In the context of the latest, controversial bill, women again are being seen as little more than sexual objects in the debate that has followed.

“This bill neither protects women nor removes the anomalies (in the way the state has treated them). The Hudood ordinances discriminate against women and should be repealed. The bill is an attempt by President Musharraf to tell Washington, “Look, I’m your moderate man here”. It’s nothing more than a tool to project his own image to the West. The ordinances should be repealed by a democratically elected, legitimate government, instead of getting them amended by a rubber stamp parliament. Why did Musharraf not amend the Hudood laws soon after he took power? What was the urgency to do so close to the general election?” asks chairperson, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf, Imran Khan, who is equally critical of the ordinances and the attempt at amending them.

The point leaders like Mr Khan want to make is this: as a run up to next year’s general election, the bill can be interpreted as President Musharraf’s bid to influence the electorate in favour of his handpicked PML-led ruling coalition. By giving women a token respite through the bill, he hopes to win the female ballot as well as that of the ‘moderate’ elements. But there are many like Mr Khan who say that the bill, as it stands, mocks the intelligence of women, the liberals and the rights groups whom Gen Musharraf in his televised speech termed, ‘liberal extremists’.

In September 2006, the ruling PML (and the MQM) agreed with the Pakistan People’s Party (Parliamentarians) to make procedural changes to one of the five components of the controversial Hudood ordinances, allowing a victim of rape to be a competent witness without becoming liable to prosecution. Previously, an alleged rape victim was required to produce four Muslim male witnesses to prove the commission of rape. After the amendments, the number has been reduced to two, and women charged with adultery have been given relief of bail.

“We did not touch the punishments coming under Islamic Hadd and amended the man-made laws like tazir which have been incorporated into the Pakistan Penal Code,” explains Ms Mehnaz Rafi, a ruling PML member of the National Assembly. “I’m really disappointed in those who call themselves progressive but have sided with the MMA.

“The MMA does not want any progress made on women’s issues. I have signed the statements of all the nine ulema to whom the final draft of the amended bill was given so that they could advise the select committee and see for themselves that the bill not against Islam. They all agreed that it was not contradictory to the Quran and Sunnah. I’m surprised how the same MMA can now talk about resigning from the National Assembly and accuse the government of passing an anti-Islamic bill?” questions Ms Rafi.

The ‘great achievement’ and cries of victory echoed by the PML coalition and President Musharraf, when interpreted by a legal expert, reinforces the doubts expressed by the bill’s opponents. Syed Afzal Haider, an advocate of the Supreme Court and a veteran activist, interprets clause by clause the triumph claimed over the passage of the bill.

“It is a misleading and highly confused amended version of a section of the Hudood ordinances, especially those parts which deal with zina and zina bil jabr (adultery and rape). While the first clause of the amendment is a good provision, enabling a victim of rape to become a competent witness, it assumes that rape has taken place. The clause should have included the words of ‘complainant who alleges’ because there is a possibility that rape might not have taken place,” he argues.

Mr Haider claims that section 496B of the amended bill contradicts the Zina ordinance. “This section, dealing with lewdness, is superfluous because it is already covered by the Zina ordinance and clause 8, Section 203C, which is added after Section 203B, means that lewdness is not cognizable by the police. I find this section strange because it does not state who will determine what is lewdness.”

He asserts that by making an amendment to the existing law of zina, where four witnesses are now reduced to two, the drafters of the bill have caused confusion. “They have converted Hadd into tazir but have not amended the Hudood ordinances (on the whole for doing so). It is not an amendment to the Zina ordinance, neither have they touched the clause of women as competent witnesses (therein),” Haider stresses.

The amended bill has enlarged (upon) fornication and adultery whereas the two are separate offences with clear connotations. What it has done is to equate lewdness with wilful or consensual intercourse. Substitution of section 3, Ordinance VII of 1979, raises the question of clarity. On the one hand it allows testimony of two witnesses but makes consensual zina a non-cognizable offence unless a complaint is made in a court of law on the evidence of two witnesses.

“It is not clear what this section implies. Does this mean that in the application of this ordinance they have done away with all the interpretations of the Quran and Sunnah? The remaining amendments to the bill have included marital rape as an offence, which is difficult to prove, and increased the age of puberty to 16 years for a girl, which is good. But I think they should be simply repealed altogether,” suggests Haider.

A noteworthy feature of this amended bill is the exclusion of the minorities from its drafting process. Not a single non-Muslim was invited to give recommendations or voice opinion on the text of the bill. The All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) has expressed concern over the government’s disregard for seeking inter-faith advice on an ordinance which is applicable to minorities which hold no sway over their own constitutional right.

“It’s the thana (policing) culture that needs revamping. The best way to empower the women is to educate them. Women and men belonging to the lower economic strata have no recourse to justice because there is no rule of law. In the rural areas there is no education for women, divorced women have no rights, there’s no access to drinking water, no health facilities and these are just a fraction of the problems afflicting this country. Through this bill General Musharraf has successfully split the opposition, not advanced the cause of women,” fumes Imran Khan.