Lost in translation

Flipping television channels recently, I caught the phrase “Aayen mil keh Pakistan ka naam roshan karain” at least a dozen times within as many minutes on different stations. Musharraf said it, Pervaiz Elahi said it, the couple of men from Mardan said it during an on-the-road election show … the phrase was even used to sell soap, for heavens’ sake. And it occurred to me that, no, instead of working on “naam roshan karna”, I’d prefer us to be aiming for merely “Pakistan roshan karna.”

I have no delusions of grandeur — my president tells me that I’m an insignificant person, that I’m unable to see the big picture or the beauty of his vision. Who am I to disagree, particularly when the gun-barrel prodding me in the back is sufficient proof that I am also supremely dispensable. So I restrict my hopes and desires to the very ordinary; I don’t ask for miracles, all I need are ordinary things such as a sufficient – I don’t even ask for plentiful – supply of items indispensable to my life: electricity, water, gas, wheat, sugar, edible oil and suchlike. (I’d like to ask for some basic human rights too but I’m afraid of pushing my luck.)

But ok, there’s little to be gained from indulging in sarcasm, particularly when the people I’m addressing are not listening. It occurs to me, however, that in terms of making a name for itself, Pakistan has more than done the needful and it is now really time for it to rest upon its laurels.

I’d never thought it possible but matters have come to such a pass that I find myself looking back with some fondness to the times when the mention of my nationality would elicit a question about whether the methods of transportation “over there” involved horse and camel fodder. How I regret the impatience and disdain with which I used to react then. Today, I’m finding that the world is not only far too well aware of my country’s past, present and the looming question mark of its future, those who ought to have led us from strength to strength did little but wash the national dirty laundry in public.

Gen (retd) Musharraf would, of course, blame the media for this sorry state of affairs and denounce journalists for making public the problems that embarrass and humiliate the citizenry. He has done precisely this on a number of occasions, in fact. But he’s missing the point, as he tends to in so many cases.

Given that the country is facing so many, and such myriad issues, it is perhaps a good thing that they are being discussed nationally and internationally since only then can potential solutions and avenues of redressal be found. The point for the president to ponder, however, is why we are facing these issues at all, how far his own regime was complicit, by either commission or omission, in creating them, and how far the decisions made by earlier governments – particularly military dispensations – contributed to our current status of international stardom.

The point is simple yet subtle and one of vital importance given that the elections (if they are held) are just a few days away. Commentators and observers are falling over themselves to take a side in the discussion about whether or not the earlier Bhutto/Sharif regimes were better than the Musharraf years, and whether military or democratic rule proved better for Pakistan.

The Bhutto vs Sharif vs Musharraf debate takes entirely the wrong track. Democracy is important, not because the democratic leaders we have experienced were better but because under it the politicians themselves have a stake in the system and cannot afford to weaken the fabric of society too far. Leaders elected in all faith and all fairness can turn out to be corrupt or insincere, but once their credibility is destroyed in the eyes of the electorate, the voters can themselves prevent their return to power. While democracy is no magic wand, it does at least serve to level the playing field.

Because of this, democracy also means having to put up for some time with leaders that prove themselves myopic, misguided or render themselves unpopular. After all, it was during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s government that the seeds of the ISI’s political cell, the infamous FSF, were sown. And Nawaz Sharif may be looking good today, but he’s the same one who once upon a time attempted to have himself crowned the Amir-ul-Momineen.

But – and it’s a very important but – the electorate has to bear an unpopular democratic government for only the given term, after which those who have been found lacking can be voted out. In Pakistan, the legitimate term of an elected government is five years but we’ve already borne the retired general for eight years. Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zaradari are working hard to make up for their tarnished images but all the next army general has to do is cite the doctrine of necessity and stamp his way in. The trouble with demanding of a general “Oh yeah? You and whose army?” is that all he has to do is point out of the window.

While examining the political traditions of Pakistan and India, Shekhar Gupta recently wrote in the Khaleej Times that “A modern nation needs democracy and so it needs its politicians, however clumsy, corrupt, effete and power-crazed they may be. Because a military dictator can also be all of these things. The difference is, the political leader draws his power from the democratic process, so he has a stake in preserving that system, howsoever cynical he may be. The general draws his power by throttling the democratic system and its institutions and you can see the results of that in Pakistan. […] We, the [Indian] media, can question and curse who we want. It happens because the political class has the biggest stake in the democratic process, howsoever much it may wish to manipulate it. In contrast, a military dictator owes his power to the absence of institutions, of checks and balances. That is exactly what Musharraf has done to his judiciary, the election commission and even the media.”

So it that before we begin to upbraid the world and then some for “meddling in our internal affairs,” as the retired general refers to it, it is vital for him to put his own house in order. The government has not yet managed to ensure an adequate supply of electricity, water or gas to its citizens; there is a shortage of a whole host of essential items, including dietary staples; significant portions of the country’s territories are in a state of war and the booted ones are bombing their own people; secessionist feelings are rife in more than one province and an increasing number of citizens are beginning to question the viability of the federation. And yet, the smug ones refer to our nuclear arsenal with satisfaction and take umbrage when someone expresses disbelief in their ability to defend them!

So, it seems, we can defend our nuclear weapons but we can’t ensure the proper disposal of solid waste in a city like Karachi, which has admitted its failure and farmed the task out to the Chinese.

As a friend recently said, imagine that you live next door to a family whose lawn is unwatered and the plants are dying, whose children constantly beat each up and the head of the household falls ever deeper in debt, whose housekeeper is slatternly, the larder is empty and the utilities are one by one being cut off because of the non-payment of bills. And then you hear that they’ve gone and bought 400 kilogrammes of TNT and are storing it in a house where everybody smokes. I don’t know about you, but I know I’d be worried!

Post-script: According to Imam Shafi, “All humans are dead except those who have knowledge ... and all those who have knowledge are asleep, except those who do good deeds ... and those who do good deeds are deceived, except those who are sincere ... and those who are sincere are always in a state of worry.” How worried are you?

— hmumtaz@dawn.com

Cancer shock-and-awe and how we are sleeping over it

SHOULD one express shock and awe to learn that there are no official statistics available on cancer patients in Pakistan — thanks to the lack of a national registry?

May be not given that neither this government nor any of its predecessors have ever been particularly, obsessed about public health.

Pandering to the customary observance of a dedicated day, World Cancer Day saw swishes of concern bandied about in Islamabad last Tuesday. Still, hats off to the few, who raised the decibels in the land of cancer growth.

It doesn’t take genius to grasp that in the absence of correct data, a spectacular abdication of responsibility on the part of the state, there can be no effective mechanism to deal with the situation. It is particularly unfortunate in a country known for its phenomenally high incidence of malignancy: to be honest, it is shameful.

You look at some of the opulent structures in Islamabad, betraying a certain Moghul streak. Or consider phenomenal development budgets, particularly unutilised sums of money lost to perhaps, bureaucratic blues.

And then you think: why, can’t you have a national registry at the seat of the federation that could serve as a reliable and integrated base to feed a national strategy to fight the dreaded disease.

It seems cancer hospitals across the country are the only source of information since they maintain a record of cancer patients every year. But in the absence of a much-needed registry, it isn’t surprising that figures vary on the annual number of cancer patients.

Dr Muhammad Ali Afridi, Consultant Oncologist at Islamabad’s Shifa International Hospital, estimates that between 100,000 to 200,000 new cases are reported every year, of which Shifa alone has registered 7,000 neoplasm cases in the last three years. The majority of these are said to be malignant.

Dr Javed Khursheed of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission has a telling annual figure: some 320,000 cases but he claims most of them go unreported. According to him, there are only 20 cancer hospitals in Pakistan, treating 400,000 patients — an incredulous 20,000 on average for each hospital.

Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital puts the incidence of the disease in Pakistan at 150,000 every year.

So even a mean score of the annual figure trotted out by the aforesaid sources is sufficient to suggest that a sort of national emergency, entailing an effective prevention-and-control programme is in order, beginning with the national registry.

Since a ‘political’ Imran Khan remains an anathema to the authorities — a shame given his unmatched social service in the area of specialised cancer treatment with a reported 70 per cent of the patients treated from the state-of-the-art facility’s own generated funds — perhaps, they could just look at the harrowing statistics to change the priorities of national health.

It should be of particular concern to them that Pakistan has the highest incidence of breast cancer in Asia — 38.5 per cent of all female cancer patients in the continent — with an astounding annual mortality figure of 40,000!

A shocking aspect of the dangerous situation was the reflection Cherie Blair, former prime minister Tony Blair’s spouse and patron of UK’s Breast Cancer Care, made during an address at the Fatima Jinnah Medical College.

Expressing dismay at how 50 per cent of Pakistani women cancer patients never report for treatment and often die without seeing a doctor, Cherie acknowledged that while it may be down to “a female patient wanting to see only a female doctor”, breast cancer was not about death and punishment.

Cherie urged women to see beyond “the embarrassment of talking about their intimate body parts”.

According to Omer Aftab, National Coordinator of Breast Cancer Awareness Programme, one in every eight women in Pakistan is suffering from breast cancer. Repeat — one-in-eight! This is not the end of a unique shock-and-awe. Aftab suggests that approximately, 35 per cent of Pakistani women will suffer from breast cancer at some point in their lives. The tragedy is that mostly cases are reported, if at all, at an advanced stage when a patient suffering from this form of cancer has, potentially, more than a 90 per cent chance of surviving, providing for early diagnosis.

While negligence can be dangerous, it is really criminal indifference, rooted in a society retrogressively averse to talk about a family woman’s physical affliction, that can be more detrimental and suffocating for her.

It is ironical, in some ways, given that a cancer patient does not necessarily go through an ordeal in isolation. His or her family will endure some strife — a metaphorical shattered glass — of their own. Usually, in silence.

What a shame therefore, it is, that we talk less and walk the talk even less about an issue we should be confronting on priority, with passion, and public commitment.

Among men, cancer of the head, neck and throat and, among children, leukemia and lymphoma is most common.

Dr Khursheed reveals that debilitating environment is responsible for two-third of cancer cases in Pakistan while the rest are caused by nutritional and reproductive problems. In the light of this revelation, it is obvious how blind the state is to its responsibilities. Given the past track record, waiting for the government to wake up would border on extreme optimism.

Perhaps, constructive pressure groups led by doctors and surgeons, helped by a cooperative intelligentsia, who all actively pursue institutionalised response is the need of the hour.

The least we can do as citizens is to engage actively in awareness campaigns beyond the NGO sector and media, by especially seeking the help of students, and contributing generously to the treatment of cancer patients wherever possible.

The writer is News Editor at Dawn News. He may be contacted at kaamyabi@gmail.com

Increase in kidnapping cases shocks Peshawar citizens

BESIDES other street crimes, the kidnapping for ransom has become very common in the provincial metropolis, spreading a wave of terror among the populace. Most of the people kidnapped last year were children.

Admitting the fact police officials said 143 people were kidnapped during the Year 2007 from various localities of the city. Thirty-six of them were kidnapped for ransom.

In some cases, the victim families have even nominated the suspected kidnappers, but they are still at large due to various reasons.For instance, a trader Abidullah was kidnapped from Rampura Gate on Jan 1, 2008 and his father Haji Saleh Mohammad timely nominated the suspected kidnappers, but police failed to find any clue about his whereabouts.

Various traders’ associations on Saturday took out procession from the New Rampura Bazaar, and staged a protest demonstration in front of Peshawar Press Club, announcing a deadline of 72 hours for the recovery of the kidnapped businessman.

The Joint Action Committee of traders announced that they had planned an organised protest movement for the recovery of their associate and protection to others which included a shutter down strike, and demonstrations in front of Governor House and Chief Minister House.They have got a case registered at Hashtnagri police station against Hamish Gul, Nasar Ali, Noor Wali, Manay and Nasir. Father of the abducted trader told Dawn that his son was shifted to Mohmand Agency. But the agency administration is not ready to get his son released, he alleged.

Another example is the abduction of an eight-year-old student, Ismail son of Masal Khan, who was kidnapped on Jan

28 from Sardar Ahmed Jan Colony while on his way to home from the school. The boy is still missing.

His family members have also nominated Jan Mohammad son of Azad Khan and Adam Khan son of Jan Mohammad resident of Karimpura locality but police have so far not registered the case. The police of Faqirabad police station had arrested an accused, but he was also released the same day.

The mother and other relatives of the boy said the police instead of fulfilling their duties beat them and didn’t take any action against the nominated people for the simple reason that one of the police officials was friend of the suspected kidnapers.

The recovery of Saqib Bari advocate is also a challenge for the police, who was kidnapped on Jan 9. The kidnappers shot his father dead for his resistance to get his son released from them on a road in limits of Peshtakhara police station and then kidnapped him.

No doubt police have recovered people and many of the accused have also been arrested in some cases, but the shocking aspect is a sharp increase in such crimes.

Keeping kidnapped persons in settled areas rather provincial metropolis is a question which can better be answered by the officials concerned. For the common people it is an indication that either the police force has become ineffective to nab the culprits or some of the police personnel themselves are supporting the criminals.

There is also an example of kidnapping for ransom where a police official was found involved in the crime. The four accused who abducted Ghulam Hussain, owner of a Chinese restaurant kidnapped on Jan 26 from near Gulberg police station, also included a heed constable of Crime Branch police.

In the past the tribal areas considered a safe haven for the kidnappers. But the kidnappers have become so bold now that they keep kidnapped people in the city or on the outskirts of the metropolis and demand ransom.

The case of two Nigerian nationals, Kenechuwa and his sister Ms Miriam is a glaring example, who were kept for three months in a house in Regi Village of Peshawar district.

The kidnapping of three and a half year old child Mujeebur Rehman son of Mohammad Nabi, who was kidnapped from Lala Rukh Colony Kohat Road, Bhna Mari, in the limits of Bhana Mari police station on January 2, is another such example. He was kidnapped for a ransom of 1.5 million and was also kept somewhere in the city.

The SSP operation Mohammad Tahir says that main reason for the increase in kidnapping incidents is the unique geography of the city which is surrounded by the tribal areas. According to him there is a communication gap between the political administration and police which are making the issue a tough one.

He said that lack of coordination among various government agencies was also making it difficult for police to eliminate the menace of kidnapping for ransom.

SSP Investigation Ghulam Hussain claimed police had succeeded in recovering majority of the victims without payment of the ransom and very few cases were unresolved so far.