Jail reform
The high-powered committee of high law officers just appointed by the Supreme Court has a very difficult assignment to carry out - the preparation of a report on the conditions obtaining in our prisons. And it has got only about 100 days to finish its tricky job. The provincial governments had gone to the Supreme Court to get it to set aside the Sindh High Court decision, taken on its own initiative, asking for an inquiry into the state of our jails.
The governments of Sindh and Punjab had separately pleaded before the Supreme Court that the inquiry was hardly necessary since the two governments already had plans to initiate improvements in the management of prisons under their jurisdiction. Nobody knows what those plans were supposed to envisage. And considering the past record, nobody would have lent credence to them even if the so-called plans did really exist on paper and were widely publicized. However, the Supreme Court felt that an inquiry was warranted and has appointed a committee headed by the attorney-general to recommend prison reforms.
The standards of jail management in the last phase of the British raj were by no means good. But prison officialdom and the government were always under strong pressure from the political profession and the media to try to prevent abuses and take corrective action where overdue. This kind of concern for prison reform continued to be articulated for some time after independence. But unfortunately during the last few decades the community in general has become cynically inured to maladministration, oppression and corruption in the prisons.
The jail population, including the number of under-trials and juvenile offenders, has been burgeoning at a rapid pace but the capacity of jails to house prisoners has increased only marginally and that, too, only in some cases. Overcrowding is not the only problem. There is the highly objectionable practice of putting up juvenile offenders and new convicts in the wards where hardened criminals, drug addicts and homosexuals are housed.
The litany of complaints includes such abuses as the theft of prisoners' sanctioned food supply with the result that many of them are on short rations and favours shown to those prisoners who are in a position to bribe jail officials.
Considering that maladministration and corruption in the prison system have gone beyond all limits, what are the prospects for any meaningful and effective reforms being undertaken? Assuming that the committee which is going to look into prison conditions does a really thorough job of it and produces a comprehensive plan for reform, can we legitimately expect the administration in the provinces to implement the plan in letter and spirit? Considering the way routinism and cynicism reign supreme everywhere, it would be nothing less than a miracle for things in the prison system to change noticeably for the better.
The kind of drastic change that is called for cannot be brought about unless the rulers muster the political will to overcome obstacles and remove recalcitrant and corrupt officials who have a stake in the status quo. This, in turn, will become possible only if there is a strong and sustained public demand for a drastic reconstruction of the prison system.
Realizing ECO potential
The decision by the finance ministers of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) to set up a trade and development bank should go a long way in strengthening economic ties among member-states. This is part of a number of important decisions taken at a meeting of ECO finance ministers in Islamabad on Friday. Other far-reaching proposals include the decision to set up a common grid system for ECO states to pool electricity surpluses and share shortages and to form a pressure group at the level of international financial institutions to influence decisions in favour of member-countries.
With the conclusion of the meeting in Islamabad, it is being felt that the ECO countries are finally moving in the direction of harnessing the immense potential that exists in these countries for economic cooperation. Trade among ECO states remains low despite successive attempts at promoting trade ties in the past. In July last year, they had agreed in Islamabad to gradually reduce tariff barriers within member countries. With the setting up of a financial institution, it can be expected that the volume of trade and commerce will rise among these countries.
The Pakistan government's renewed efforts at focusing on economic cooperation in the region needs to be appreciated. After the successful conclusion of the summit of South Asian countries in Islamabad earlier this month, the ECO meeting comes across as equally important. Pakistan can both increase and diversify its exports if trade is facilitated among ECO countries. By setting up a high-level experts committee to look into ways to promote cooperation in the financial sector, Pakistan expects to share some of its expertise in this area with the rest of the region.
Equally significant has been the proposal to set up a fund for reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. These are areas in which Pakistan will be able to play a vital role. The bottom line, however, comes from the Iranian finance minister who has commented that the biggest challenge before the organization lies in implementation of its decisions.
Long shutdown
Pakistan will be shut down for virtually a week beginning from today (Sunday). Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday have been declared as closed holidays for Eidul Azha, and Thursday will also be a public holiday to mark the Kashmir Solidarity Day. After the long break, it can be said with certainty that little or no work will get done on Friday and Saturday, the latter already part of the two-day weekend enjoyed by many organizations and departments. Some of this is coincidence: there have always been three holidays for Eidul Azha, and it just happens that the Kashmir Solidarity Day this year falls on a Thursday. But the coincidence could have been foreseen and the Kashmir Day marked in ways other than a public holiday.
In any case, as someone has pointed out, it hardly seems right that we should deal ourselves an economic loss while trying to express our solidarity with the people of Kashmir. A public holiday on such occasions means that people will forget all about the occasion and just have a good time. Seminars and rallies can be held and feelings of anger, sorrow or sympathy expressed without a total shutdown of business, commercial and official activity.
Donations in cash and kind could be collected to benefit the villagers living on both sides of the LoC whose livelihood has been continually disturbed. The minute's silence decreed for the day could as well have been observed on a working day.
We are a hard-working people. No one who has any idea of the toil that has to be put in to make our crops grow or our buildings to be constructed can doubt it. Abroad also, the average Pakistani is a go-getter, and even white-collar professionals work with dedication. We should not all be judged by the indolence that marks the ways of our government employees.
We all like holidays, but the government should keep economic considerations in mind whenever it is confronted with the problem of a prolonged break. It would have been easy to consider Sunday as part of the Eidul Azha holidays and to avoid a Kashmir hartal.