More health facilities on way

IT is heart warming that health services in Azad Jammu and Kashmir are expanding rapidly to render maximum medical care to all its people. The CMH here is the largest hospital of the state that caters to the need of 300 to 350 indoor patients every day as against its sanctioned strength of 260 patients.

Within a month or so, its new block, built at a cost of Rs50 million, would start functioning. With a capacity of 100 beds, it would serve as a ‘surgery wing’ because of the ever rising number of operations carried out in the hospital.

In the past, many valuable lives were lost because of non-availability of neurosurgical facilities here. Most of such patients had to be taken to neurosurgical centres in Rawalpindi / Islamabad — a four-hour journey at least. But high-risk patients were not able to take such a journey. Because of these problems the AJK government set up a neurosurgery unit in the CMH here in December 1992. Since then, this small unit has done a splendid job by taking up the cases of transfer / referral patients and thereby saving many a precious life.

The establishment of the neurosurgical unit at the CMH is a blessing for the people of the Muzaffarabad division, as well as for those of the adjoining areas of the NWFP’s Hazara division.

At long last a provision has also been made for setting up a CT scan unit in the CMH. In view of the funds constraint a private party has been given the job to install the machine, for which rent-free space would be provided in the new block. Government employees who are entitled to free treatment would be get 25 per cent rebate.

Moreover, the two renal dialysis machines at the CMH, which were out of order for a long time, have now started working again. The news that the chief secretary has promised to set up an endowment fund worth Rs10 million for the benefit of renal patients is also encouraging.

The surge in banditry — some solutions

REPORTS this week in newspapers suggest that a deal between the kidnappers and the relatives of Manzoor Sukherani, a popular vocalist, has broken down and nobody knows now how and when he would win his freedom. Out of the Rs20 million deal, Rs700,000 was paid, with the pledge that the remaining amount would be paid by selling off some property. But this did not materialize.

Manzoor was kidnapped on July 13 while on way from Sukkur to Khairpur and is still in captivity. His three companions — two instrumentalists and the driver — have been released, ostensibly with a message for paying ransom for the release of the artist.

On Sept 30 a band of highwaymen looted the passengers of a convoy on Shikarpur-Sukkur Road and when the police challenged them, an encounter ensued in which five people, including three cops, were killed. Later the police traced four bandits belonging to the Teghani band to their hideout in the nearby forest and arrested them.

Reports for the past few years speak of a steeply rising graph of such holdups, kidnappings for ransom and other forms of organized crime in rural as well as in urban areas. In fact, there has never been a let-up in the commission of such crimes in the past five decades. Almost all traditional methods to stop them have failed. Police officials have been changed frequently in the hope that such transfers would keep the vested interests at bay, but the change of faces, despite great pledges made by the newly-posted officials, could not yield the desired results. Things continue as usual. Highways in Sindh have remained unsafe and there are reports police dare not enter some areas of the catchment.

How then the law and order situation can be improved, is a question which has been debated for decades. Many operations have been conducted, but without success. The question why these have failed and why the dacoit factor keeps on hammering every government can have many explanations. As a keen observer of this aspect of social life, I have, on a number of occasions, discussed the various options that could possibly help resolve the issue: the most important option being that unless the causes of the rise of banditry are not removed, it will remain there and continue giving birth to bandits in one form or the other. Mere operations to eliminate a few bandits will not serve the purpose. If 20 dacoits are killed or 40 others are jailed, an equal number of new dacoits will take their place: the scourge will never come to an end. The solution lies in the elimination of the causes.

According to a conservative estimate, over 100 bands of desperadoes are now operating in Sindh, mostly in upper Sindh, which provides a favourable condition. Many of their leaders carry head money.

The crime of banditry is not isolated from the general phenomenon of crime. It is given birth by society, on which it thrives. In pure scientific terms, banditry is a form of protest against social disorder. Whether juvenile delinquency or the quasi-banditry, minority rebellion, urban banditry or noble banditry, all are correlated and are born of social imbalance. This is the general phenomenon all over the world, the only difference being that of environment and modes of operation.

Sindh has a peculiar society overwhelmed by tribal and feudal structure. Here the banditry has survived as an institution, developing its own traditions and styles conforming to the traditional lifestyle. Nonetheless, it has its own implications on people’s lives. It affects every member of society which sometimes deprive the people of their rights.

In the latter part of the 19th century armed rebellion was branded by the English rulers as banditry. Similarly in the 1940s, during which martial law was proclaimed in Sindh, the armed rebellion was termed a case of a few desperadoes. After the Independence, the ‘banditry’ should have ended but it did not, because the root-causes were not removed. The social imbalance continued to create dacoits.

In the present context, feudalism is the main nursery. Next to it is the police which in collusion with the feudals help create and harbour them. While the feudal lord implicates an innocent villager in a false case, the police becomes instrumental in making him a hard core criminal. Karo Machhi and his son Nooro Machhi are the typical cases. Jail is another nursery where the simple person comes in contact with hardened criminals and once out of jail, he turns out to be a bandit.

Lengthy and complicated judicial procedure has also much to contribute towards banditry. Many people have lost faith in the court proceedings and assume that they would not get justice. Hence they take up arms to settle their score and then to avoid a backlash they become bandits. The case of Tahir Naqash (Khairpur) is reflective of this feeling, who settled a family dispute with a gun and took up arms instead of going to courts.

Social customs make another breeding farms for banditry. But then again the feudal lord, police, jail and judicial systems come in line to create a bandit.

One more important cause, perhaps the major one that has to do a lot with the creation of bandits, is unemployment. Whether one is educated or illiterate, unemployment creates such frustration for him that he is forced to take up arms. Paroo Chandio is a typical case. He employed educated youths and provided them enough money earned through banditry. When killed, over 5,000 Ajraks (traditional Sindhi printed sheet) were laid over his grave by his fans. Of course, the lure of easy money also draws many youths into this adventurous life but unemployment is definitely a major cause.

The present generation of dacoits, which includes the gangs of Bachloo Teghani, Mir Shaikh, Kamal Faqir, Ahmadoo Jagirani, Hafiz Chachar, Lal Sodho, Ali Gul Shar, Huzooro Brohi, Ghulam Nabi Chachar, Nooro Kalhoro, Mooso Kalhoro, to name a few, all have their hideouts in the catchment forests. While their modus operandi remains the traditional one, they have added more sophistication to their operating pattern, i.e. they avenge police officials who try to apprehend them.

And if a dacoit is killed in an encounter, either the same official is killed or his relative loses the life. The example of the killing of dacoit Gulzar Umrani in Larkana reflects this aspect. Another police official of Shikarpur got himself transferred when he had acted tough against bandits. To meet this challenge, the police have reportedly made it clear to the dacoits that if they do not commit a crime in their jurisdiction, they will not be touched. Using this option, the bandits operate somewhere else and return to their point of origin, making things difficult for the law-enforcers.

What then could be the course to bring an end to the banditry in Sindh is an open-ended question. The most probable could be a two-pronged plan: the short-term and the long-term. In the short-term plan an end to surge can be brought if they are granted amnesty on the pledge that they would not commit any crime, as was done in 1960s. Bandit like Photo Chang (Nawabshah) became so peaceful a citizen that the government sought his advice on the issue of banditry. Even the head money on them, could be paid to them with which they can begin their own small business or cultivation. Similarly, they can be offered jobs in government, semi-government and private businesses where they can prove good security men. This can plug a source of bandit creation.

In the long-term plan, improvement in police attitude, their powers and judicial reforms will have to be made essential. The role of feudal lord, tribal chief and police personnel will have to be addressed in a way that it did not turn an innocent man into a hardened criminal. This will require both legal and political will. To harbour a criminal for perpetuating local influence must come to an end through mutual consensus. To beat the unemployment the government will have to take private entrepreneurs into confidence, for which local notables will have to give cast-iron guarantees, without which banditry cannot be brought to an end.

The banditry is a social evil but ironically it is a creation of social injustices, economic imbalance, exploitation and ruthless use of powers. This is a scourge and only society has the solution to end it.

Karachi’s creaky water supply system

ACCORDING to a news, the Karachi Water and Sewage Board, under instruction from the Karachi city government, intends to purchase concrete pipes worth 460 million rupees from the KDA pipe factory (in mothballs for the past several years) for its K-111 water supply scheme.

Less than a week ago, the City Nazim, speaking at a Rotary Club meeting, told the audience that the existing water distribution network had almost collapsed and massive funds were required to correct the system. He emphasized the need to rehabilitate the system before the commencement of K-III. Many appreciated the statement as the KWSB’s own estimated daily water losses due to leakage and theft exceeds 45 per cent or 200 million gallons out of a total daily supply of some 450 million gallons.

The first water supply scheme for Karachi, built around the 1920’s, pumped water through a conduit from Dumllottee wells near the perennial Malir river. Over the years two more sources, namely, Keenjhar Lake on the Indus River and a dam at the Hub river were added to the Dumllottee wells.

The Karachi Development Authority, established by a Presidential Order in 1957, was also entrusted with bulk water supply schemes for the fast-expanding metropolis. They also built a pipe factory to meet the growing demands of Karachi. In 1983 the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board succeeded the Water Management Board, with Engineer Zakir Ali Khan becoming its first managing director. Together they did invaluable service to distribution and supply of water in Karachi. But as the city grew unchecked and with changes in the KWSB leadership, things started to burst out of control.

The history of water supply may be as loaded as that of this once great city. The same KDA that contributed much to the needs of Karachi held back the pipe factory only as a valuable asset on its property register. Foreign-aided projects (financed by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank) of the KWSB opted to invest millions of borrowed dollars in import of steel pipes for gigantic water schemes. If there was an emergency replacement requirement for some sinking line the Board decided to buy cheap third-rate pipes, under Para-58, through contractors, branding KDA pipes “too expensive.”

Their action also served the vested interest at the KDA, by now a bankrupt agency, deprived of most of its real estate by its past civil-military rulers. Everyone tried to convince the provincial authorities to “Disinvest the loss- incurring pipe factory” and minimize the KDA burden. “Sell the billions of rupees worth land and make everyone happy.”

Unlike cities like Lahore that sits over their 24-hour supply, Karachi will always be short of water. Even today Karachi may not have more than four to six hours of supply, becoming acute by the day due to growing population, effect of drought in the Hub dam and slow silting up of Keenjhar and Haleji lakes. If that was not enough, the KWSB, cursed with massive foreign loans and an inability to repay due to poor collection of dues, appears least interested in plugging of leakages in its distribution network.

Not surprisingly it is believed that the Rs6.1 billion approved by ECNEC for an additional 100 million gallons of water for Karachi would only add to the wastage by the leaking and creaking distribution system. Rs1.2 billion simultaneously approved by ECNEC for the city’s Water Loss Reduction programme may have a much greater value than mere injection of additional water into an already collapsed system.

It may be prudent to differentiate theft of water from leaking pipelines. The tanker mafia or the farms on the outskirts of the city may steal water at a wholesale rate. Housing societies and authorities continue to draw water much more than their allocations. What needs to be assured is judicious distribution of water on per capita basis across the city rather than on the basis of “might or affluence” of the residents of a few localities.

The city government must also understand that concrete pipes that may be less corrosive and therefore better suited for supply of potable water still has a real problem that they too age and collapse requiring replacement. The major water leakages take place at the joints of the 66” and 48” primaries. Since 1995 the KWSB has the technology for fixing such leakages, but which it has been sparingly using it.

Needless to say that priority for capital investments should be accorded to rehabilitation of the leaking joints and collapsed pipes in the city. For the officers and workers of the KDA Pipe Factory, that appears all set to be reactivated, it is very important to understand that they are the only ones that can save this precious asset of the city. The cost of the quality concrete pipes produced has to be competitive. The whole distribution network in Karachi is based on manual valve operations and electrical pumping which are prone to failure.

Even if all leakages are plugged and an additional 100 mgd flows through the system, water may still be short, if distribution is not systematic. That subject may warrant independent discussion. However, the indigenous experience and technology available to the Board can help plug leakages at a fraction of the cost incurred through foreign-aided projects in the past. In the 21st century of microprocessors, pressure switches, timer-controlled pumps, standby batteries and even power generators to facilitate valve operations and pumping, is more a question of will than money.

Parameters of retaliation

IT must have been a wise man who said: ‘It may be good to have the power of a giant but definitely bad to use it like a giant.’ Others, equally wise, have opined that liberty does not mean freedom for action divorced from the restraints of justice and amenity.

Viewed from these angles, it is time we discuss how the three Abrahamic faiths — Judaism, Christianity and Islam — approach the subject of retaliation and punishment in this world, not hereafter.

Sanity appears to have prevailed now, and men in power have distanced themselves from the Satanic notion of ‘clash of civilisations’ and, are, instead, focussing attention on the common precepts and shared values of the three great monotheistic religions that have originated from the same region.

Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) is reported to have said: “You have heard that it was said ‘an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But now I tell you: do not take revenge on some one who wrongs you. If some one slaps you on the right cheek, let him slap you on the left cheek too.” (Matthew 5: 38-39). This is the ideal posture of non-violence and amity in an ideal society of human beings. Christ had referred to the Mosaic law of retaliation — an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth — which governed the state policy in his time in his country.

The concept of this law of retaliation and punishment for causing bodily harm and death continues to be valid in all societies and cultures, with variation only in the form and degree of punishment and penalties. In fact, the Quran terms retaliation by the society against offenders as “the essence of life, if men can understand (its implications) and want to ward off evil” (2: 179).

All laws regarding Qasas (a form of retaliation) are rigid, driven by the spirit of the Biblical commandments of ‘an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth’, or “putting a murderer to death, letting him not to escape this penalty by the payment of money” (Numbers 35:31). The holy Quran, however, prescribes a course midway between Christian idealism and Jewish pragmatism. It says: “God prescribed for them (the Jews) that ‘life for the life and the eye for the eye ...and the tooth for the tooth’ but whosoever forgives, it would be expiation (or reparation) for him” (5:45).

This introduces, for the first time, an individual’s option to forgive offences like physical injuries and minor hurts as atonement for his own minor sins on the ‘day of reckoning’. Even in cases of manslaughter, the Quran extends the option to the bereaved family to forgive the accused (and not insist on death penalty) if he pays the blood money to the victim’s survivors. The relevant edict says:

“Retaliation is prescribed for you in case of murder .... but if the murderer’s aggrieved brother forgives him, he should be paid according to usage and in good grace. This is an alleviation and a mercy from the Almighty” (2:178). This can rightly be taken as a compromise formula between the demand from the present day human rights activists to abolish death penalty entirely and those who insist on its retention as the only punishment for murder.

What, incidentally, calls for pointed attention is the use, in the Quranic text, of the words “aggrieved brother” of the accused while referring to the survivors of the victim. This suggests that a murderer, despite his dastardly act, remains a brother, being a member of the tribe, the nation, or the humanity at large. The Quranic alleviation, or mercy, in the case of manslaughter is in sharp contract with the practice of holding a whole nation as hostage for the homicidal act of an individual or an identified group.

People are apt to treat Islam as a militant religion, only because of their historical experience of Muslims having given a fitting reply to aggression against them, say, during the earth-shaking Crusades spread over two centuries, or because of those Muslim conquerors who, like other non-Muslim conquerors, including the European colonialists, brought as many lands under their sway as they could. But while the religion of the non-Muslim conquerors is not called in question, the religion of the Muslim conquerors is held accountable. It is an entirely new development in political thinking in post-medieval period that there should be no empire-building, that “sceptre and crown must tumble down” and that democracy, and democracy alone, be the hallmark of a civilized society.

Political Islam does not, necessarily, represent real Islam. To study it, one has to scan its scripture and the Prophetic tradition. If one cares to do this, the picture that will emerge will be that the Quran, as we have seen above, dictates leniency in awarding punishments for criminal offences and even for homicide. It is replete with exhortation to “forgive some one for wrong-doing because God forgives despite being powerful” (4:149). Or. “to forgive and show indulgence if one expects God to forgive” (24:22).

Or again, “to control one’s anger and forgive fellow human beings, as God likes such persons” (3:143). These are some of the Quranic edicts which are couched in a persuasive and appealing language as distinct from harsh and authoritative tone of other commandments.

Few among us are aware that the Quran asks the believers to show extra kindness to the non-believers if they commit certain offences. It asks them “to forgive those who do not believe in the day of Judgment, and leave it to the Almighty to requite them for their deeds” (45:14). Perhaps, even fewer persons know that the Quran lays down the principle that punishment should be directly proportional to the seriousness of the offence. The exact edict is: “One should punish to the same extent as one is oneself afflicted, and that it is better if one endures patiently” (16:124).

These are the teachings of the Quran in respect of crime and punishment. The Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) set a personal example, even in regard to these teachings, as he did in all other respects, by following the Divine injunctions in letter and spirit.

Since he was temperamentally inclined to forgiveness and leniency and did not want to make a public display of the leniency, he used to decide those cases of Qasas, which were brought to him directly, according to the Quranic injunctions strictly. But, as recorded by Abu Daud (in the chapter on ‘Hudood’, i.e. penalties for criminal and moral offences), he generally avoided hearing such cases personally and advised his close companions “to forgive (minor) offences committed by various people and settle such cases at their own level, as punishment will become inevitable if such cases were brought to him.”

This is the true face of Islam which is all for leniency, forgiveness and mercy.