Jamali’s sound advice
PRIME MINISTER Zafarullah Khan Jamali’s advice to the politicians to be realistic and think first and foremost of Pakistan deserves to be taken seriously. Speaking at a seminar in Karachi, the prime minister deplored the tendency to exploit religion for political purposes and pleaded with the politicians to focus on domestic problems instead of getting emotional about external issues. The prime minister had some sound, even blunt, advice for the religious parties. People were getting killed in mosques and imambargahs, he said, while the religious parties were talking about Iraq. He asked these parties to first sort their own problems out before getting worked up over international issues like Iraq. The prime minister also deplored that some political parties were giving shelter and protection to terrorists. The speech could not be more timely, coming as it does at a time when Pakistan finds itself on the horns of a dilemma as the war on Iraq nears.
For historical reasons, the Muslims of South Asia have a pan-Islamist bent of mind that is peculiar to them. Even during the colonial era, problems affecting the Muslim world touched them deeply. During World War I, they were more Ottoman than the Turks, and during the Turkish war of independence they were among the first to help with money and volunteers. They felt equally passionate about Palestine when the Zionists began their campaign of terror and genocide. The coming into being of Pakistan seems to have made no difference to their sense of fraternal concern and priorities, which have often made them oblivious to their own national interests. In the wake of 9/11, many politicians, not necessarily religious, opposed Islamabad’s decision to join the US-led coalition against terror. They resorted to street agitation during the allied attack on the Taliban-led Afghanistan and vowed to overthrow the government in Islamabad. Similarly, in the present Iraqi crisis, many religious and secular elements would want Islamabad to take a stridently pro-Saddam line at a time when the rest of the Arab and Muslim world has displayed no such mood of hysteria.
Given the nature of Indo-Pakistan relations, Islamabad has to be mindful of its own security. In their zeal, religious elements often forget that a prosperous and economically strong Pakistan will be a source of strength to the Islamic fraternity. The Muslim world’s only nuclear power, with a relatively large population and a pool of scientific talent, Pakistan needs peace and development. The political instability of the past two decades and the ethnic and political violence have done enormous harm to the very fabric of its society. Its economic development has been impeded, and its image abroad has plummeted. As a result, foreign investment has all but dried up. Pakistan can overcome all these problems, marshal its own resources and attract foreign investment in a big way if it could give itself internal peace, security and stability. As a people, of course, our sympathies will always be with the Palestinians and other Muslim peoples’ just causes. But we cannot help their cause by creating conditions of anarchy within the country and making it economically and politically weak. The prime minister’s advice thus deserves to be heeded. Politicians get elected on people’s votes because they pledge to serve them and improve their lot. They would be violating their mandate if they ignored their own people’s interests and considered it their religious duty to sort the world out while their own problems went abegging.
Not quite a PR job
THE resignation of the official in charge of a US state department campaign to improve America’s image in the Muslim world comes as no real surprise. A former top executive at a leading advertising firm, the department’s under-secretary of state for public diplomacy clearly had her work cut out for her when she decided to take the job. The main part of her assignment was a campaign aired in several countries, including Pakistan, showing Muslims assimilating well into American society, and being respected for their work. However, the campaign was roundly criticized in almost every Muslim country saying that it was a false face of America, which was breathing fire against the Muslims these days and that the PR stunt was meant to draw attention away from the mistreatment of Muslims in America itself.
It is not clear whether the campaign will continue but surely a better option for Washington would have been to allow its actions to speak for themselves. That, though, might be a tall order in the given context of America’s desire to be the global supercop — which means that it must impose its will on the rest of the world. Let alone the perception in Muslim countries, even much of Europe has been alienated these days by Washington’s Iraq-bashing. Who can ignore the hypocrisy in the fact that Iraq gets to face the might of the US war machine, while North Korea, which has admitted having nuclear weapons, is publicly assured that it will not be attacked. Mr Bush calls Saddam Hussein a dictator (which he no doubt is) but then finds nothing wrong in allying himself with some of the biggest despots in the world.
Other double standards abound. An important one is the INS’s registration programme targeted at nationals of 25 countries, most of them Muslim. As against this, there is the never-ending bias in favour of Israel, which has become especially pronounced under the Bush administration with its reliance on extreme hawks like Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Perle. So, until and unless Washington changes its unjust and discriminatory policies, especially vis-a-vis the Muslims, no amount of PR exercises will improve its public image in Muslim countries, or for that matter even among many of its European allies.
Black air
IT is unfortunate that the problem of air pollution in Islamabad’s Industrial Area should persist all these years despite frequent complaints by residents living in and around the locality. The pollution is caused by emissions from the seven major industrial units, the most problematic being the steel and marble factories. The emissions, visible as a thick dark smog, have been causing a host of respiratory diseases among residents apart from leaving a black coating of dust on their furniture, curtains, etc. It is strange that these factories should have been allowed to come up in the first place in a locality so close to residential sectors. Despite petitions in the past by the residents to the Capital Development Authority, the environment ministry, the Pakistan Environment Protection Agency and even to public representatives in parliament, the factories have not adopted effective anti-pollution measures to reduce their hazardous emissions. At best, the emissions lessened for a little while but went back to the old level soon after the pressure on the factory owners was lifted.
It is obvious that general apathy, both on the part of the authorities concerned and the factory owners, is responsible for the situation. The ideal solution would be to relocate the factories away from the present or future new residential sectors. If this is not practical, then it is necessary to step up efforts to make the factories to switch to environment-friendly production methods. One hopes that efforts being made to get the factories to install smoke-control equipment this time will bear positive and long-lasting results.