Is NSC the cure?
President Pervez Musharraf's claim that the National Security Council will serve to block the path to military interventions is neither logical nor convincing.
Speaking at a law and order conference in Karachi on Friday, he said the NSC was designed to ensure continuity of the democratic process. Given Pakistan's history, the president's remarks appear self-serving.
The NSC is but a cover for the army's role in politics. Under pressure from politicians, the government has changed the NSC into a statutory body (instead of being part of the Constitution as originally planned), but the net effect is the same.
The aim behind the formation of the NSC is obvious: ensuring the dominance of the military in the country's governance. This goes against the grains of democracy.
Reduced to basics, democracy means that a country must be run by those elected by the people and not by those whose duty job is to guard the nation's frontiers.
During the days of Ziaul Haq, a myth was created - that the army was the custodian of both the national and ideological frontiers. The latter part of the dictum was designed to give a facade of acceptability to army rule. Using this "ideological" subterfuge, Ziaul Haq ruled as a despot and used the whip to silence dissent.
Today again, a myth is being created - the army will guard both the geographical frontiers and democracy. No sane mind or a student of Pakistan's history will accept this.
If the army could really guard democracy and ensure a continuation of the electoral process, the country would not have suffered four coups d'etat. Repeated military interventions occurred partly because of political instability, but mainly as a consequence of the military's political ambition.
In fact, it repeated military interventions that have perpetuated instability. If the generals had not always been so quick to seize power, certainly the political process would have stuck deep roots by now after going through an initial period of testing the waters.
We also have before us Turkey's example. The Turkish NSC has in no way been able to give Turkey political stability. Instead, there have been periods of dictatorship because the generals have been toppling elected governments repeatedly since the sixties when the government of Adnan Menderes was overthrown.
Each election, incidentally, has brought to power that very party (though under a different name) which was dislodged from power. Needless to say, the NSC has done enormous harm to Turkey, contributing to political instability, widening of the gulf between the secularists and the Islamists, and delaying Turkey's membership of the European Union. Last year, the Turks had the good sense to clip the NSC's powers by turning it into an advisory body.
The truth is that the cure for bad democracy is more democracy. A political system can mature and fine-tune itself only when it is given a chance to work. Generals being protectors and guarantors of democracy is something ludicrous.
If at all democracy has a guarantor, it is the judiciary, and we know how the generals have tamed our judiciary. Pakistan was created as a result of a constitutional struggle led by Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
In his scheme as spelled out before and after the creation of Pakistan, there was no room for the military. What he visualized for Pakistan was unalloyed democracy.
If the Bonapartists had been true to the Quaid's ideals and abided by the oaths they had taken to uphold the Constitution of the country, things would have not come to such a sorry pass.
Unified Cyprus in EU
The acceptance of a UN-proposed reunification plan by both Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders on Friday has broken the year-long stalemate between the two sides. The breakthrough has come after three days of hectic diplomacy on the part of the UN secretary-general and Greek and Turkish diplomats in New York.
The latest initiative is aimed at reaching an agreement between the two sides in time for the island nation to join the European Union as a unified country on May 1.
Turkish Cypriots, as well as Turkey, stand to gain much if the proposed plan is implemented ahead of the May deadline; failing this, only the Greek-controlled Cyprus will be admitted to the EU as a member.
The UN plan calls for a three-tier approach leading to the reunification of Cyprus: Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders will commence direct negotiations on the future political dispensation of the country on February 19 in the divided capital, Nicosia; Greece and Turkey will step in if there is no agreement between the two sides by March 22; and, if the deadlock continues even after that, the UN secretary-general will decide the final text on which to hold a referendum by April 21.
Last year's softening of travel restrictions between northern and southern Cyprus, and the recent election of a pro-EU prime minister in Turkish Cyprus have sparked hopes that an agreement will be reached on the reunification of the island that has remained divided since 1974.
The plan envisages a unified Cyprus modelled after the Swiss confederation, with a central government exercising limited powers. However, the stumbling blocks remain: these include the exact powers to be vested in the central government, return of the Greek refugees to the Turkish-majority northern Cyprus, land concessions and the number of Turkish troops to be maintained on the island.
With the recent spirit of accommodation shown by both Turkey and Greece, one hopes the two Cypriot leaderships will also show flexibility when they sit down to talk things over next week.
A unified Cyprus in EU would help boost economic activity and living standards among Turkish Cypriots, and also help make Turkey's case stronger for joining the EU.
Police behaviour
The Capital police were beside themselves with pride recently for their prompt tracking down and capture of a government-employed male nurse who kidnapped and killed an Islamabad student for ransom.
Honours and reward were reportedly lavished on the officers involved in the quick and successful investigation of the case. Three weeks earlier, the Inspector-General of National Highways and Motorway Police had urged officers to be more polite and helpful in dealing with people.
Just when it looked like the police's image could just be taking a turn for the better, two unfortunate incidents occurred, tumbling its image back to square one.
One was the overbearing attitude of the police on Friday with journalists who were supposed to cover the 10th session of the Senate. Not only did the police at the gates of parliament stopped the journalists from entering, they reportedly abused them and threatened to teach them a lesson. Specifically, the police had threatened to break their legs and arrest them.
The second incident, also on Friday, was the beating up of the Murree Tehsil Naib Nazim by the Superintendent of Police Headquarters and his guards at the district police office, Rawalpindi. According to a Dawn report in this newspaper, there was no provocation, which made the behaviour of the SP and his staff totally uncalled for.
But regardless of the provocation, the behaviour of the SP and his staff was highly unprofessional and objectionable. The high-handed attitude of the police in both incidents is certainly not in line with the much trumpeted effort of the government to reform the police and transform it into an efficient and people-friendly force.