Guardian of law or of disorder?

More funds do not necessarily lead to improvement in performance. This maxim is borne out in the working of at least one provincial police department where, according to an article last week in an English daily, the steady increase in its budget from Rs6 billion (1999-2000) to Rs14 billion (2003-2004) has only been accompanied by a rise in the crime incidence.

It was also reported last week that the incidence of crime had also increased in another province as the police there had failed to solve rising cases of murder, kidnapping, robbery and criminal assault on women. In one latest incident of the latter crime in the province, two women were criminally assaulted, one of whom was eight months in the family way.

A local NGO also pointed out last week that incidents of gang assault on minor girls was on the rise in the province (six incidents were reported in May) and it blamed this on the law enforcement agencies' inability to punish the culprits, most of whom the police had been unable to arrest.

Last week, a letter-to-the-editor in an English daily described as "sickening" to open the newspapers every day and read about women being humiliated in one way or the other, and suggested that justice should be given speedily by hanging the criminals so that others like them can take a lesson from this punishment. It is difficult enough as it is to get the police to register FIRs and arrest the offenders, let alone prosecute and hang them!

It is not surprising that 656 complaints had been lodged with the district and sessions court against the Gujranwala police alone in the first four months of this year, according to a report in an English daily - 320 petitions complained about the police not registering FIRs and 288 petitions accused the police of bribery.

The police claim that their reluctance to register FIRs is due to the need for caution since there are many people who file cases at whim. But the story last week about the suspicious death of a young mother in Gujar Khan and subsequent complaint by her family about the delay in registering an FIR by police against her "highly connected" husband - the driver of an MNA - is not an uncommon one.

Even if the victim or his/her family succeeds in getting the police to register an FIR against the culprit, pressures from vested interests will usually determine the subsequent events, causing, for example, delay in arresting the accused, delay in the medical/forensic examination report etc.

Even when the culprit is eventually arrested (not so much because the police are doing their duty but because of pressure from some quarters), the victim will at best find the police non- partial in the investigation process, and at worse, siding with the culprit, rather than looking for evidence to prosecute and nail him in the court of law.

The investigation process itself is usually opportunity galore for the police to extract bribes. In one case in Islamabad last month, the police are reported to have received Rs10,000 from the father of a youth on the apparent undertaking that his son, who had an FIR registered against him and was being remanded by a court order pending an inquiry into the case, would eventually be let off the hook for want of evidence.

Instead of pursuing criminal cases honestly to its full conclusion and prosecute the culprits, the police often buckle in to pressures from vested interests - powerful landlords in the rural areas and high officials in the urban centres - to "weaken" or drop the case.

In a report in Dawn last week, datelined Peshawar, the story was told of how the family of a girl who had been criminally assaulted by six men on May 2 was being pressurized to withdraw the case and "pardon" the accused - "powerful and influential" persons who had not even been arrested.

According to another report datelined Lahore in another English daily, the family of a seven-year-old girl who was criminally assaulted on May 29 had managed to get the police to register an FIR against the two accused, but complained that the police were not on their side and were not helpful in the investigations.

Yet another report last week datelined Faisalabad said that the victim of a criminal assault, committed three years ago, was shot and killed by the two accused because she had refused to withdraw the case against them.

Worse is when the police actually temper with the evidence to turn the case around in favour of the culprit. A report in an English daily a few weeks ago had revealed how some policemen in Islamabad tried to destroy evidence and even changed the scene of crime in order to favour a murder accused who had influential connections. The latest press report on the case last week said attempts were now being made to turn the case from murder to suicide.

The working of the police is clearly being driven by opportunism and personal interest rather than by honesty and decency. Thus, many law breakers, even in apparently straightforward cases, are being let off the hook. The police have often failed to stand firmly on the side of the law. Ironically, they often appear to be serving the interests of criminals.

Greater budgets, therefore, for police departments for more policemen, more motorbikes, new patrol cars, new uniforms, new caps, etc., will not help at all to fight the rising crime rate.

For the latter purpose, funds need to be put into a complete overhaul of the training of policemen and in changing their attitude and the way they operate. Otherwise, they do not deserve to be called "guardian of law and order".

Betraying the Quaid's legacy

Between May 26 and May 31, Karachi's Fatima Jinnah Road and the arterial M.A. Jinnah Boulevard were the scene of Karachi's worst roadside bloodbath, leaving a trail of death and destruction.

Not too long before the twin acts of terror along the Jinnah's' avenues was the murderous bomb blast inside the Haideri mosque on Burnes Road, the city's busiest traffic and business hub.

The sacking of the Quaid-i-Azam Academy along the mob trail and the desecration of its library by hooligans was the most heinous act of vandalism imaginable.

Just the day before the M.A. Jinnah Road bomb blast, Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai was shot dead while on his way to his place of work and worship at Jamia Binnoria in Jamshed Town. Maulana Shamzai was widely recognized and respected as a religious scholar and an exegist of Hadith.

The city plunged into a vicious and prolonged spell of mob violence in the aftermath of the Maulana's murder. Everyone in this mega metropolis would be looking back in anger over the miserable failure of those in authority to give people what's their fundamental right as citizens of state - security of life and of the means to livelihood.

The state of quick temper, sharp edginess and deep disdain for authority sets the inflammable setting for the kind of grand anarchy now in evidence in the city that is even more dangerous than ideologically-inspired revolution.

What stood out glaringly even in the first hour or two of the M.A. Jinnah Road bomb blast was the utter lack of a coordinated response at the ministerial level from the centre to the province.

The federal information minister, the official (mainly the president's) spokesman, knew little about the catastrophe and had even less to say about the measures in hand to deal with the grave contingency.

He was precise only on two points: one, that the president was deeply disturbed over the loss of precious life and property and, two, that since the episode, was essentially a provincial subject, he would rather leave it to the local authorities to speak about it and to handle it.

The minister went on to stress the essentially provincial dimension of what in every way was a national disaster. His evident nonchalance shocked the viewers. Proceeding from that premise, would it be illogical to absolve Mr Vajpayee, then in power in New Delhi, of the carnage in Gujarat? And yet the Gujarat communal holocaust played no mean role in the stunning electoral defeat of the Vajpayee government.

As for the provincial government, it's difficult to say exactly who is incharge there. The adviser on home affairs was the first to give his version of the incident. It was more in the nature of waffling than saying something substantial.

His approach to the M.A. Jinnah catastrophe sounded somewhat partisan, much in the same way as his views on the Haideri mosque episode. The governor was the next to appear on TV. He did not have much to add to what his home affairs adviser had said. However, he faced the camera bravely and had at least a few comforting lines to deliver.

About the unseasonable political overtones of the tragedy, two statements appeared the day after to substantiate the perception. One was about the likely 'replacement' of Chief Minister Sardar Ali Mohammad Maher.

The other was by Muttahida Chief Altaf Hussain from London. While 'strongly condemning' the bomb blast, the latter said he would look at it as a 'plot to topple' the MQM-supported provincial government. City Nazim Naimatullah Khan stayed significantly out of the limelight through the crisis.

As it is, Karachi stands divided into three camps administratively and politically. There is the Sindh governor at the top as the representative of the centre, followed by the chief minister representing rural Sindh, and the nizamate dominated by the Jamaat-i-Islami. Quite a patchwork quilt of political expediency and administrative rigmarole.

As a pressure group in terms of street power and electoral pre-dominance under a strong and monolithic leadership, the Muttahida is unrivalled on the city's political landscape: hence, Altaf Hussain's warning to the president and prime minister against any 'undemocratic step' for Karachi in the aftermath of the turmoil.

Any abrupt change in the status quo could trigger a cycle of violent unrest beyond the capacity of the law and order enforcing agencies to control under due process. Should a contingency ever arise, it could mean anything from the proclamation of emergency under governor's rule to the imposition of outright martial law - to be avoided at all cost.

Besides stalling the country's limping march to democracy, such extreme measures would also adversely impact Pakistan's global image as a stable if not exactly a thriving democracy.

The pressing problem is to ensure against the recurrence of yet another outbreak of mass violence. The economy of the whole country comes to a grinding halt once the nation's port city falls a prey to terrorist designs and the desperate acts of suicidal bombers.

Most importantly, we should all stop and think if this is the way to show our gratitude and respect to the Quaid and the city where he was born and received his early schooling and who hand- picked it to serve as the national capital. The mayhem along Fatima Jinnah and the MAJ roads within a space of three days is adding insult to injuring the memory of the maker of Pakistan and his sister.

The writer is a retired brigadier of the Pakistan Army.

Meet 'chairman' Sonia's Maoist flock

When some Indian communists during the mid-60s sought to emulate the Chinese revolution by arming the peasants for an agrarian revolt, they were tersely told by their minders in Beijing: Do as you please, but never forget that Chairman Mao Tse-tung is our chairman not yours.

As time went by China took a turn to the right and described the move euphemistically as its new quest for "socialism with Chinese characteristics". Beijing withdrew its support to the communist groups that had been claiming it as their role model.

But the term Maoist remained stuck to their names as a catchall description in the western media although Indians began to know them as Naxalites, after Naxalbari in West Bengal where they first featured as a major force.

Two of these extremist groups were recently put by the United States on its list of international terrorists. This announcement came in the middle of the recent Indian elections, which Washington, like every world capital, expected Hindutva rightists to win.

The American move was seen as part of Washington's collusion with the Hindutva government against Maoists, not only in India but also in Nepal. The Indian government used its draconian anti-terror Pota laws to target Naxalites in Jharkhand, a predominantly tribal state with a Hindutva government in the saddle.

They also targeted Muslims in Gujarat where another Hindutva regime holds sway. They killed and jailed the Naxalites, or those they suspected to be Naxalites, mercilessly and systematically.

When the elections threw up a left-leaning government in India, headed by the centrist Congress party, and which also won the support of two major communist parties, it was believed that some crucial changes would take place in India's foreign policy, which had otherwise begun to acquire characteristics of a 'banana republic'.

While a spanking new stance was announced for Palestine, there were significant changes in the nuance towards all of India's neighbours, including China. Amazing things like India's acceptance of the American nuclear shield doctrine will almost certainly be put in the cold storage and there will be no troops in Iraq without consulting Arab and European countries.

One significant area where the domestic and the foreign policies have converged under the Hindutva regime, was the increasingly strident campaign against the Naxalites with the United States.

Civil rights groups say some dozen alleged Naxalites, convicted after their controversial terror trial, have survived for two years because there is no hangman around to carry out the dirty job.

Most Naxalites are either tribals or Dalits, the same social strata that hangmen usually come from. Strangely, there was not a squeak from the main communist parties over the intrusive American stance towards the Maoists, both in India and Nepal.

Surprisingly, a caring hand may have come for the Naxalites from the Congress Party. The United Progressive Alliance's (UPA) Common Minimum Programme says: "The UPA is concerned with the growth of Naxalite violence in different states. This is not merely a law and order problem but a far deeper socio-economic issue, which will be addressed more meaningfully than has been the case so far."

The UPA government will immediately review the overall strategy and programmes for the development of tribal areas to plug loopholes and to work out more viable livelihood strategies. In addition, more effective systems of relief and rehabilitation will be put in place for tribal and other groups displaced by development projects.

Two other events that took place last week would similarly suggest that while the communist parties, leading the Left Front in the coalition, have adapted themselves to the rigours of 'bourgeois politics', and may have shuffled to the right in the manner of today's China, the Congress, driven by its desire to adhere to the mandate that gave it a shock victory, has adopted a pro-people posture on a host of key issues.

The Economic Times put the Left's predicament nicely. "As a joyous Left and a jovial Congress jostled to outsmart each other to usher in veteran Somnath Chatterjee as the first Communist Speaker of Lok Sabha, a certain S.A. Dange must have been smiling from above," it noted.

For, what happened in the 14th Lok Sabha with Somnath Chatterjee's election marks the opening of a new chapter, or rather reopening of a discarded old chapter in the endless debate on the relation between the Congress and the communists.

Dange had dominated the communist politics before and after the 1964 split both as a towering leader and also as a 'rejected ideologue'. He had constantly propagated the communist 'unity and struggle' attitude towards the Congress, saying it would have a positive influence on the Congress, which would produce progressive and pro-poor policies.

He had also warned that in the event of the disintegration of the Congress, it will not be the Left but the "rightist, fascist and reactionary" forces which will emerge as the alternative force at the national level. Prescient words.

What is even more ironical is that while the communists may look the other way when their former leftwing colleagues are hunted by the Hindutva forces in collusion with the United States, the 'bourgeois' Congress Party is taking an opposite stance.

Its newly elected government in Andhra Pradesh has conceded to one of the major demands of the outlawed People's War Group of Naxalites, in a bid to pave the way for talks with them. It has withdrawn all the 'rewards' placed on the heads of key Naxal leaders, so that they could come out into the open and join the talks, if possible.

It has also announced the constitution of conciliation committee, comprising eminent personalities from different walks of life, to help the government in conducting proper talks with the Naxalites and solve the vexed problem once and for all.

It is easy to surmise that Foreign Minister Natwar Singh's mission in Nepal could not be different from the approach his party appears to have taken towards the Maoists, in India and possibly in Nepal too.

The Congress' approach seems to be rooted in the arriving reality that the next election could win it a huge Dalit and tribal support if it can woo the Maoists instead of badgering them. Will Sonia Gandhi be their new chairman?

* * * * *

"I don't want my son to be in any smelly Indian jail," said Herman Gibbs. The father of the South African cricket star Herschelle Gibbs was quoted by the Indian Express as making the remarks in Mumbai during a visit last week.

Herschelle is wanted in the seemingly unending interrogation in the 'Hansi Cronje affair' in which three other South Africans were named. Does that mean Herschelle may not be part of the team to visit India later this year? Mum is the answer.

US scholar on administration split

Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward's latest book has brought into focus differences over Iraq between US Secretary of State Colin Powell and hawkish members of the Bush administration, particularly Vice President Dick Cheney and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

But the director of the Asia programme at the Washington think tank, Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, Robert M. Hathaway, insists that the Bush administration has been split from the very beginning.

"There have been differences over many things, including the working assumptions about how the world operates, about the utility of military action, about whether or not the United States needs allies and about whether or not unilateralism is an effective tool," Mr Hathaway said in an interview during a short visit to Karachi last week.

Author of a book on the Central Intelligence Agency which contains sensitive information too crucial to be declassified, Mr Hathaway says that the vice-president is a more influential player in Washington decision-making today than is usually the case, adding that quite often it becomes very important where Dick Cheney is on some of these issues.

Mr Hathaway, who is familiar with most prominent Pakistani politicians and diplomats, maintains that even if the Democratic party's contender for the presidency, John Kerry, succeeds in dislodging George Bush from power in the November elections, American policy towards Pakistan will remain unchanged.

Running his fingers through his grey hair, he says he is not certain what impact a government change in Islamabad would have on US-Pakistan ties. According to him, the current relationship between the United States and Pakistan is not a broad one and is reliant too much on individuals who seem to be on the same wavelength at the moment.

He concedes that over the past 57 years, the pendulum of ties between the two countries has swung from one extreme to another. "Our relationship post-9/11 is at the government-to- government and military levels.

If each country has large business communities committed to making this relationship work, that would give the political leadership a push. It would also make it work. There needs to be far greater people-to-people interaction.

Pakistan sends a lot of students to the United States, but how many American students come to Pakistan? How many academics like myself come here for extended periods of stay? We need to have American foundations and NGOs working here," he suggests.

Mr Hathaway says that it is in the interest of the United States to promote peace and cooperation between India and Pakistan. "One of the questions that I asked in India [where he went before coming to Pakistan] after it became obvious that the BJP would be thrown out of power was what it meant for the reconciliation process between Pakistan and India.

The answer that I heard again and again was that a Congress-led government would be equally committed to turning a new page with Pakistan. There would almost certainly be a slowdown as the new government reviews past policies. I hope the Pakistanis are able to be patient. I came away from India with optimism," he says.

Mr Hathaway said that a better understanding of Indo-Pakistan relations would help both countries. He said that under a new initiative the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars would invite one Pakistani scholar to Washington every year for a period of nine months to carry out research and writing.

City without direction

Trying to locate a particular address in the city is not necessarily an easy task, and one often ends up going round in circles. Passersby on the road may attempt to give directions but these are not always precise. As the city expands, it will become even more difficult to find the place you may be looking for.

It is a pity that no comprehensive or accurate roadmap exists that could help people arrive at their destination without having to go through too much hassle. The Survey of Pakistan brought out a roadmap of Karachi a couple of years ago.

If it has published others after this, these are not readily available. Even government organizations like the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation and the Defence Housing Authority have to rely on private and often inaccurate maps.

This is not the case with other major cities in the world. Take the example of London, where the A to Z street atlas is an essential buy for tourists and even for those living in the city, with London taxi drivers always having a copy at hand. The map can help to locate the remotest of lanes and also plan the best way of approaching it.

The unscientific numbering of houses and streets all over Karachi increases the difficulty of finding your way in the city. It appears that the authorities simply don't want to make the effort to keep up with the various changes affecting the city's landscape.

When, in accordance with the devolution plan, the city's districts were done away with and the system of townships was brought into being, the government, citing security reasons, failed to bring out any map that showed the new towns.

Public art at last

In all the horror and strife we have undergone in the past few weeks, it is heartening to note that some good things are also taking place in the city. This week, the news is from the art front. And that too not from the protective environment of the art galleries which are the haunts of the privileged few only, but from the domain of public art.

It is seldom that public art in the country is created just for the sake of aesthetics. Since the time of General Zia, we have unfortunately been largely exposed to martial art in the form of fighter jets, tanks and other symbols of military might installed at crossroads masquerading as public art. Remember, there was a Submarine Chowk in Karachi not too long ago. (It still goes by that name for many). Models of the Chagai hill followed.

Luckily, better sense now seems to be prevailing. Last month, the Defence Housing Authority installed a number of non-military sculptures along the beach. Made from wood, metal and stone, these sculptures by Anjum Ayaz provide a much-deserved break from the erstwhile tradition of martial art in public places. The fact that the DHA has pioneered the effort of doing so also deserves to be acknowledged.

The sculptures are rooted in our culture, with birds and seagulls cast in metal looking up to the sky as if ready to take off into a flight of fancy, woodcarvings of human forms and stone carvings carrying Quranic verses.

Another significant sculpture is going to be installed at the Bilawal Chowrangi in Clifton on June 8. Young artist Amin Gulgee has designed this metal and techno-circuit based hybrid, said to be the first one of its kind to be attempted in Pakistan. Titled "the forgotten text", the sculpture derives its inspiration from Mohenjodaro's still undeciphered script.

One hopes that the trend set by the two artists will inspire city authorities in charge of other towns within Karachi to tap into this pleasant source of public education and edification. With such emblems of culture now finding their way back into the public, it can be hoped that it will have a civilizing effect on our people.

A dirty beach

Karachi's Clifton beach has been termed one of the dirtiest in the world by a leading tourism website. This indictment has been made keeping aside last year's Tasman Spirit oil spill.

The writer of the website who visited Karachi some time back described the beach as being littered with rubbish, being without any life guard on duty, and giving off a foul smell. Visiting the place was said to be generally an unpleasant experience as parts of it gave the impression of being a bazaar.

This should come as no surprise. While a lot of work has been done to develop Seaview, the rest of the beach has been left to its own fate. On one stretch of the beach front a colony of sorts has started to emerge where shanty huts have been erected and camels and other animals are seen grazing.

In other parts, makeshift charpoys are brought out at night for people to have chicken karahi from one of the several eating places that have sprung up. The beach front is also used as a dumping ground for construction rubbish from nearby sites.

Lined with buildings with the paint peeling off and the iron work rusting and a beach strewn with garbage, Karachi's seafront is hardly the stuff of picture postcards.

Motorcycle mess

Something has to be said about motorcycles and those who ride them. Newspapers are mostly sympathetic towards motorcyclists who often get a raw deal from the traffic police. Holding his documents in one hand and some crumpled notes in the other, a poor motorcyclist arguing with a traffic constable at a street corner is a familiar sight.

However, quite a few motorcyclists disregard traffic rules in the rush hour, much to the annoyance of other road-users. As a rule, motorcyclists try their best to get their two-wheelers into the smallest of spaces.

In fact, their tendency to resort to accident-causing antics increases in a traffic jam. This kind of rash behaviour annoys other road-users who also have to contend with roadblocks raised by the law-enforcement agencies following the recent spate of terrorist acts.

Sometimes motorcyclists sidle up too close and bump into a car and when the driver protests, they blame the latter. This is just one example of the uncivil behaviour becoming common on city roads - and car drivers are no exception to the rule.

email: karachi_notebook@hotmail.com.