Setting the right pace
THE delay in calling the National Assembly to session continues to add to the prevailing confusion and uncertainty over the formation of governments at the centre and in the provinces. True, the October 10 election has turned up a split verdict, posing the difficult — and in our case, unaccustomed — problem of accommodation and compromise among parties and alliances with a major role to play in the making of governments. But that should not be allowed to stand in the way of an assembly session. The interregnum cannot remain open-ended. There is a lot to be done besides choosing a prime minister. The election to the reserved seats for women and minorities must be held soon, a speaker and deputy speaker must be elected, and the NA and the four provincial assemblies have to elect the Senate. More important, an NA session will serve to end the confusion that seems to be increasing by the day and is made worse by profuse and ill-considered ministerial pronouncements.
A question was raised about independents joining a political party. The three-day period by which they should have done so ends today. This hurdle, too, has thus been crossed. The law minister says the prime minister’s election will be by secret ballot: this is not the issue at all. The proposed amendment by which the president was to be authorized to nominate “anyone” as prime minister was dropped; now it is the house itself that will choose the prime minister. This being the case, let the house meet and let the parties make their choice for the top office.
The issue here must be grasped broadly but clearly. The military regime has abided by the Supreme Court’s decision of May 2000 by holding the general election within the stipulated three-year period. The election to the Senate, too, should have been held within the period. However, that has not happened, and the apex court’s deadline has been breached. That, however, is not the sticking point. The Senate can meet later, because after all a president is not to be elected — General Pervez Musharraf having already “elected” himself president for five years through a questionable referendum. The issue is that the lower house of parliament and the four provincial assemblies elected by the people should meet, choose the prime minister and the chief ministers, and get on with the business of running the state. The delay in calling the National Assembly to session will only serve to create uncertainty and prolong the present hiatus and drift.
The need for calling the assembly’s session should be seen against the background in which the general election was held. There were arbitrary changes in the Constitution, new rules were framed about filing nomination papers, and the leaders of the two leading parties, the PPP and the PML(N), were kept out of the electoral contest. If this was not a warped enough scenario, the polls have created a hung parliament. Delaying the post-electoral process will make the situation more and not less complicated and add uncertainty to our accident-prone political course.
Robin Ditta’s ordeal
THE behaviour of the Karachi police in the case of the Rimpa Plaza killings is extraordinary. Eight workers of a Christian NGO were shot dead in cold blood in that outrage on September 25. There were two eyewitnesses: one is in hospital recovering from critical injuries, and the other, Robin Ditta, who was spared by the killers, has spent nearly a month in police custody. On a petition moved by Mr Ditta’s wife, a division bench of the Sindh High Court on Tuesday ordered the detained man to be released. While he was still on the premises of the High Court he was intercepted by a police party, roughed up, and taken away. His lawyers have moved a contempt petition against the police in the high court, which is due to be heard today. Earlier on October 8, the court had taken note of complaints of torture mentioned in Mrs Ditta’s petition and sent an assistant registrar to investigate. The court official found torture marks on Mr Ditta’s body. The entire episode reeks of police high-handedness.
Mr Ditta is obviously an important figure in the case, and why he alone was left unharmed by the killers is a pertinent point of inquiry. He and his injured colleague, Robin Sharif, who the police say is still not in a position to record a statement, may indeed hold the key to the motive behind the attack and in unmasking the killers. But there can be no excuse for holding Mr Ditta (or anyone else for that matter) in detention without any lawful authority and subjecting him to third-degree methods. The police attitude will result in further obscuring the actual investigation into the case. The immediate reaction to the attack on the NGO was that it was a terrorist act. The head of that particular NGO was found dead in mysterious circumstances in May, and that puzzle has also not been cleared up yet, although there have been insinuations of rivalries within some Christian organizations. It is not known what Mr Ditta has told the police so far and whether he has offered a coherent explanation for the horrifying happenings in his office last month. The general impression is that the police resort to extra-legal methods when they run into a cul-de-sac, which they do quite often. This impression can only gain strength from what has been happening in this instance. The Sindh police need to come out with a clear explanation of all the various aspects of the case.
Between police & panchayat
IT seems the Punjab governor’s orders to the Mailsi police to investigate the case of the panchayat-ruling victim, Sarwar Mai, have fallen on deaf ears. Instead of arresting the main accused, the landlord who ordered the mother of eight to be paraded half-naked through the village last Thursday, the police have only arrested two less influential panchayat members and members of the victim’s family apparently to force the latter to withdraw the case against the landlord. Sarwar Mai herself ‘went missing’ after the shameful incident and allegedly remains under the illegal detention of the absconding landlord. Given the savagery of the sentence passed by the panchayat and the landlord’s influence over the law enforcement personnel in the area, it is only fair that the Lahore High Court take suo motu notice of the atrocious treatment meted out to Sarwar Mai, and of her mysterious disappearance.
Recently, crimes against women have seen a surge and need to be curbed by the authorities concerned with a firm hand. Social discrimination against women ranges from restraining them from exercising their right of franchise — as was the case in certain FATA constituencies during the election — to subjecting women to inhuman treatment and public humiliation under tribal/panchayat customs. Such practices are not only illegal but also militate against the norms of civil society. Apart from the administration, political parties have also turned a blind eye to obvious acts of cruelty against women.