A force serving the influentials

After a long time, a bureaucrat from the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) has been appointed the federal secretary in the ministry of interior. Last week's appointment of the former IG of Police Sindh as the new federal secretary of interior breaks the traditional practice of picking officers from the District Management Group for the prized position.

The new appointment may be a positive signal in so far as career prospects for officers within the PSP is concerned. But it may be viewed by some as an attempt to appease critics of the amendments to the Police Order 2002, especially within the PSP.

This is because the appointment has come at a time when recent amendments in the Police Order 2002 have prompted a spate of criticisms from within and outside the police service that the new rules would only serve to increase politicization of the police force, whereas the spirit of the provisions in the original Police Order 2002, which has not even been fully implemented, was to depoliticize the police.

A former senior police officer had written an article in an English daily last month warning that the November 2004 amendments to the Police Order 2002 would only institutionalize political interference in policing and dismantle the police command structure, both of which would have dreadful results for the country.

He said the amendments providing for the political executive, i.e., the district nazim, to record the Annual Performance Evaluation Report of the district police officer, the chief minister to countersign the APER, and the amendment's linkage with article 155 of the Police Order, would all only create a dangerous new equation in governance in the provinces by exposing the police to departmental action by authorities outside the command structure.

Two examples of recent police behaviour in Islamabad show just how vulnerable police officers already are to influence and manoeuvrings from outside the department.

In one high profile, clear cut murder case, some police officers actually registered a false case against the victim's brother to pressurize the victim's relatives to drop the case when the latter refused to accept the case as a suicide - all in the effort to save the highly-connected accused.

In another more recent case involving the death of a student in sector H-8, relatives of those accused of causing his death (whether by intention or by accident) are trying to influence the police and the medical/forensic reports in their favour, whereas it is quite clear from press reports about the circumstances surrounding the death that it was neither natural nor suicide.

It is amazing how some police officers, because of pressure or bribe from outside, can compromise their integrity and professionalism to the extent of denying outright that a crime had taken place at all, even though it may have been a clear cut crime carried out in full view of witnesses! Whenever some police officers want to protect the accused, murders are easily converted into suicides and dacoities are turned into non-events, regardless of the evidences and witnesses.

The core problem plaguing the police all along is that they are not free to function according to the law. Rather they are being made to act according to the wishes and dictates of the local influentials, as well as to the irregular directives of senior officers both within and outside the police department.

The result is that the police often side with the perpetrators, refuse to register complaints about violations of law, and rarely prosecute those responsible for abuses and crimes.

In a recent incident that occurred outside of Islamabad where a serving army officer's house was attacked by dacoits, the police officer involved in the case insists that no dacoity had taken place at all and has not registered FIRs against the suspects, whom the victims believe have bribed the police officer.

Political considerations rather than merit have more often than not determined postings of positions such as DIGs, SPs, DSPs and ASPs. The spate of transfers and shuffling of police officers with each regime change, especially in Islamabad, are meant particularly to convey the message to be pliant. Many officers have thus developed the penchant to cultivate relations with local influentials in order to survive.

All these practices have steeped the service in corruption because such politicization of the police only leads to weakening of the control and command structure in the police force.

Without the essential level of discipline and proper functioning of the chain of command, both the performance and effectiveness of the police as a whole is seriously undermined. The recent amendments to the Police Order 2002 only seem to encourage this trend even more, if not actually institutionalizing it.

Politicization of the police can only be broken if the top political leadership, senior bureaucrats and police officers display the desired will and commitment to reverse this trend and help enforce the rule of law.

In addition, there should be measures to ensure that the police chief executives, rather than those outside of the police service, assume greater accountability of both their officers' behaviour as well as their own.

Only then can we hope that the police will be transformed from being a force to serve the interests and ends of the influentials, to being an instrument of service to the people in general, focused on ensuring a fair and just rule of law.

A tribute to Imam Hussain

Munir niazi once paid a most moving tribute to Hazrat Imam Hussain in a Salam. I do not have the courage or the competence to translate it for you. Therefore, I present it today in the original Urdu. Niazi Sahib writes:

** * * *

Some weeks ago, I gave you an excerpt from The History of the Forman Christian College: Selections From the Records of the College (1869-1936). Today, I reproduce the text of a resolution passed by the F.C.C. Board of Directors on Nov 14th, 1925, on the death of Dr. JCR Ewing. The resolution read:

The Board has been greatly grieved by the news recently received of the death of the Principal Emeritus of the College, the Revd. Sir James Carruthers Rhea Ewing, D.D., L.L.D., LI TT.D., K.C.I.E., and is deeply conscious of the loss which the Forman Christian College, the Church and the public in general, and a host of friends in India and America have thereby suffered.

The predominating feeling, however, which this news awakens in our hearts is not one of sorrow but of joy and praise to God for a finished life-task, for great things achieved by him through the grace of God, for a life rich in years, exceeding as it does the limit set by the Psalmist of three score years and ten, and for a life richer still in noble and fruitful service, as well as full of honours most deservedly bestowed on him, in recognition of his splendid services, both by the Government of India, quick to recognize merit where it is deserved, and by the Church whom he so faithfully and unselfishly served for many years.

The Board, therefore, at this meeting desires to place on record its deep gratitude to God, for the wonderful gift to us, to the College, to Church in India, and to the people of India and especially the people of the Punjab, of this noble servant of God, this gifted teacher, this wise administrator, this able and trusted leader in the field of Education, this humble and consecrated Christian missionary, this beloved friend and brother of thousands of men and women in India, to whom he endeared himself not so much by his great intellectual abilities as by those fine qualities of heart and soul, which constitute real greatness.

Serving in India from 1879 to his retirement in 1922, Dr. Ewing gradually widened the sphere of his work and rose in influence until he stood so tall and strong that he became one of the most commanding men in Northern India.

But wide and varied as were his activities they were all of them centered in Forman Christian College, which he served as Principal for thirty years, and where he established a record that has hardly a parallel in the history of Christian Education in India.

His name is written large upon every thing that Forman College has achieved, and largest upon the lives and character of teachers, students and graduates who came under his influence and who today cherish his memory with grateful hearts.

To write the history of Forman Christian College from its beginning in 1886, is to tell the story of Dr. Ewing's life. It was under his wise and able leadership that it rose from its small beginnings to what it is today.

In 1917 Dr. Ewing retired from the Principal ship but fortunately his connection with the College continued and the younger men who were called upon to fill his place knew that he was still among them, and that they could count upon him for counsel, sympathy, encouragement and help in every time of need.

His name was placed on the staff as Principal Emeritus; while as president of the Board of Directors of the College he still took an active part in its affairs, as well as in the cause of Education in general.

He also carried on the duties of Secretary of the American Presbyterian Missions in the Punjab, United Provinces and western India, duties which he performed with his usual efficiency, but often at the cost of much physical suffering.

In 1922, health considerations compelled him to leave India for good and he returned to his native land. There, under the invigorating influence of a colder climate, his health improved, and he was able to take up new duties as a professor in Princeton Theological Seminary and as a preacher and lecturer on Missions.

During the last year of his life, he was appointed President of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Prebysterian Church of the United States of America, an organization having an annual income of over four million dollars and maintaining 1,600 American missionaries in ten different countries.

Of all honours bestowed on him he valued this last honour most. In the midst of this active service his life suddenly came to a triumphant close, the last words uttered by him being "I know that my redeemer liveth."

Besides his widow and life-long companion, who so constantly and faithfully shared with him his service, his cares and responsibilities, his joys and sorrows, Dr Ewing leaves behind him to mourn his loss, two sons, Sherrard Ewing of New York City, and Rhea Ewing of Princton; three daughters Mrs. Vernon Jackson of Little Rock, Arkansas; Mrs Robert Goheen of Vengurla, Western India, and Mrs. E.D.Lucas, the wife of our Principal, who occupies a very large place in our hearts; also five brothers and one sister; and a number of grandchildren.

To all these the Board desires to convey its heartfelt sympathy in the great bereavement it has pleased God to lay upon them and at the same time join with them in thanksgiving to God at every remembrance of him who did so much for the College and the inspiration of whose life and example will ever be before us to lead us on to still greater things in the future.

"God buries His workmen, but he still carries on his work." Forman and Ewing, one the founder, the other the organizer and master-builder, have both been taken away from us, but their spirit remains with us, and pervades the life of the College today.

And what a precious, glorious heritage it is. Let, us see to it that it ever abides with us. It is the spirit of their Master and Lord, so beautifully described by St. Paul "being of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, doing nothing through vain glory, but in lowliness of mind each counting other better than himself, not looking each of us to his own things, but each also to the things of others."

Ewing's work is done. It is,we can unhesitatingly say, "a finished task," and he has heard not from men but from God himself the "Well done thou good and faithful servant; enter thou in to the joy of thy Lord". Ewing's work is done, but our work is not done; there remains something for us to do for Forman Christian College today.

It is not enough to talk about Forman and Ewing, and to speak of what they have done. The question the Board desires to put before all who knew and loved Dr Ewing, before teachers, graduates, students and before that great multitude of friends in India and America, is: what are you going to do? And we are confident of an answer to that question that will be worthy of the man whose memory we all desire to honour.

A whole set of riddles

Syed Abdul Rehman Geelani was mysteriously shot and injured in New Delhi last week. Contrary to a widely induced perception, the genial Kashmiri teacher of Arabic is an unlikely candidate to want to harm anyone, much less start a nuclear war, something his detractors believe he nearly did by poking a militarist government in the eye on December 13, 2001.

To those who have known him, Geelani actually comes across as a level-headed, soft-spoken but steadfast man who strongly disapproves of the daily abuse his Kashmiri brethren are subjected to in their devastated homeland.

Before he was picked up and tried in a speedily assembled anti-terrorist court for the December 13 attack on the Indian parliament, Geelani was a regular participant in popular campaigns, whether on the streets or in the seminar hall, to uphold democratic freedoms at home and abroad.

When a bunch of ill-advised mystery men attacked the British-built Parliament House, all of them, along with a dozen others, were killed in the crossfire with the security forces.

With that unfortunate event, in one stroke, Geelani's world was turned upside down. He was tracked and accused of conspiring to bring down the world's largest democracy and, therefore, sentenced to death.

Three others, including a woman, were similarly tried and found guilty. The Delhi High Court thought otherwise and acquitted Geelani and the woman, Afshan Guru, while keeping the death sentence intact on the other two men, both Kashmiris. The Supreme Court was hearing several appeals, including one by Delhi Police against Geelani's acquittal, when he was shot.

Geelani gave an interview to The Times of India several months ago, in which he had expressed the fear that the police would kill him. The interview was not published, because the editors in their wisdom thought their quarry was paranoid.

They however apologetically carried it a few days after the shooting, thus giving strength to the already popular belief that the police could be involved in the nearly successful attempt to eliminate Geelani.

Another theory, possibly floated by the police this time, but no less compelling in the absence of hard pointers, is that the two other men who were convicted with Geelani had felt let down by him after he was acquitted but they had not been so fortunate. And so they took their revenge. There are other curious stories doing the rounds.

But this has not stopped a host of well-known sympathizers and close friends of Geelani from venting their anger at the police. Senior teachers, whose faith in their colleague's innocence remains unwavering, and civil rights activists met Home Minister Shivraj Patil. They demanded a high-level probe into the near-fatal shooting, either by the slightly more trusted CBI or even better still by a judge.

They also urged Patil to issue a white paper on the actual incident on December 13, 2001. Writer activist Arundhati Roy, who joined one of the protests at the Delhi Police Headquarters, confesses that she remains puzzled by the story of the five foolish men who drove to attck the parliament in a car which had a home ministry sticker.

She marvelled as many others still do about several other puzzles the incident raised, including the question: why there was never a single survivor in any of the so-called terrorist attacks that took place during the Bharatiya Janata Party's six-year rule?

In any case this particular shootout succeeded in rattling the MPs and the political class so badly that they acquiesced willingly throughout in the subsequent nuclear stand off with Pakistan that lasted for an entire year.

To a growing number of people the mysterious attack on Geelani is of a piece with a whole set of riddles that the BJP government had unwittingly let loose in its effort to whip up jingoistic hysteria, which rose like a soufflé in Gujarat.

Two puzzles pertaining to the attack on the Indian parliament have been rekindled. The first is the obvious query: if the attackers were indeed members of Lashkar-i-Taiba and Jaish-i-Mohammed, as India claimed, then who ordered the same group to launch a devastating attack that killed the French submarine engineers in Karachi in May 2002?

Moreover, how do we explain the involvement of the same two groups in the two or three subsequent attempts to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf? The attackers in Delhi and Islamabad belong to the same stable of militants according to the Indian theory. So what's going on?

Also, if the attack on the parliament was indeed premeditated and really designed to snuff out the heart of Indian democracy, how do we explain then Delhi Police Commissioner Ajai Raj Sharma's claim on December 14 that the five armed men were first heading for the airport when they changed their mind abruptly and changed course towards Parliament House? These questions were asked earlier and have surfaced again.

As Geelani recovers from his new ordeal, his life remains under a serious threat not only from the mysterious assassins who targeted him last week, but also from the hangman's noose.

The Supreme Court is yet to give its verdict on the police appeal against his acquittal. The irony is that waging war against the state, euphemism for armed revolt, is considered a heinous crime, but waging a nuclear war is promoted as patriotic virtue.

* * * * *

On February 8, 1955, that is 50 years ago, The Hindu carried the following report pertaining to plans in Pakistan: "Pakistan will become a Republic with an American style of government by August 14 - the eighth anniversary of Pakistan's independence - a senior government official said in Karachi on February 6.

He said the change from the traditional British parliamentary system to the American pattern was "in the interests of stability" and "more in keeping with Islamic traditions."

Under the American system, the chief executive and his advisers have a fixed tenure of office and are not dependent on the "precarious support of parliamentary groups." The spokesman said the government had almost completed plans for a federation of two autonomous states - East and West Pakistan, with the President as Head of the State.

An eavesdropper's tale

An otherwise incurious friend strained her ears to listen in on the conversation of two passengers who, sitting next to her on a flight from Lahore to Karachi the other day, talked about the imminent revitalization of the cinema trade in the country.

She says that while she ordinarily dislikes eavesdropping, her interest was quickened at the mention of movies and wanted to know how the cinema could regain the attraction it once held for hundreds of thousands of film aficionados.

According to her, one of the two passengers was a glum-looking cinema owner. The other, she says, was a high-flying businessman. Both had a long list of grievances. "The cinema died the day VCRs came on the scene, in the 1980s.

Why would people go and pay for movies when they can watch the latest ones on their VCDs and CDs? Why should they even pay now when they can see some of them free on their cable networks?" commented the businessman who seemed to know a lot of financial matters.

But in a few months, promised the cinema owner, movie theatres across the country would get a new lease of life. Just when the businessman asked how this would come about, a smiling stewardess came with lunch, and both of them started to talk about the poor quality of food served on domestic flights these days. The discussion afterwards veered to mundane subjects, such as spiralling property prices and investment in the capital market.

A long-time film buff, the friend shifted uneasily in her seat as her companions showed little inclination to return to the subject they were discussing. She became desperate when the pilot announced that the plane would land shortly.

As curiosity got the better of her, she butted in: "But how will the cinema industry regain its past glory? How will you get the crowds back? How will you revive cinema culture in Karachi?" Astounded, the two looked at her as if she had gone mad. And then the cinema owner said: "We'll show Indian movies and get our crowds back. Rumour has it that the government will allow us to screen films from across the border."

The friend sat back, deflated. She wondered whether this was the answer she wanted to hear. She did not know whether it would be terribly exciting to watch on a large screen the mostly inane movies Bollywood churns out on a regular basis.

A COSMOPOLITAN WHO LOVED KARACHI

Mr Fateh Ali Hashim, 81, who passed away on February 2, was one of those public figures who will be greatly missed in many Karachi circles. He was a suave diplomat who conducted himself with great dignity - an honorary consul for Morocco who made a valuable contribution towards promoting ties between this Maghreb state and Pakistan for 22 years.

Once when he was asked what he did as an honorary consul, he replied that he had a dual job. He projected Morocco in Pakistan and promoted Pakistan's image in Morocco.

Mr Hashim was also a businessman and a scholar. He became a member of the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs on June 2, 1961 and earned the distinction of being its oldest member.

An avid traveller and a keen observer of the international scene, he often spoke at the institute about the countries he had visited and about which he seemed to know practically everything there was to know. His favourite places - apart from Morocco, of course - were the Central Asian Republics and South Africa.

Mr Hashim had an interesting background which he never tired of recounting. Born in a family of Indian migrants in Zanzibar, he moved with his parents to Kenya when he was six.

By 1946 he had become conscious of the 'apartheid' practised by the British rulers in East Africa. He lived in Egypt in 1946-48. There he met Farkhondeh whom he married. Farkhondeh was born in Egypt where her family had migrated from Iran.

Mr Hashim decided to leave Africa as he could anticipate the bleak future of the Asians in that continent. Mr Hashim would often recall that he longed to live in a country which he could call his own - he passionately wanted to have a sense of belonging for his homeland. Thus he decided to make Pakistan his home rather than migrate to England or Canada as many of his compatriots did.

Farkhondeh, who is a charming woman and accompanied her husband on his journeys, still remembers vividly her coming to Karachi in 1948. Her husband arrived here before she did to have the house ready for her.

He bought furniture for the bedroom but on her arrival she found there was no dressing table. Mr Hashim offered to buy a second-hand one for her and went off to a furniture shop in Saddar called the Royal Auction Mart.

Instead of the dressing table he went and bought the shop itself, as the proprietor was not happy with his business. That is how the well-known Karachi Auction Mart was born - the word royal was dropped since it didn't appeal to him and Karachi was the city he cherished.

A linguist who spoke eight languages fluently - English, Urdu, Gujarati, Arabic, Persian, Swahili, French, Italian and a smattering of German - Mr Hashim had a global thinking but hated the discrimination practised by the West on the basis of skin colour. He felt that an inter-faith dialogue could promote peace and for that he advocated the representation of the major religions in the UN.

ALL AT THE SAME TIME

Most Karachians should be excused for arriving at the conclusion that many development projects initiated recently by the nazims and naib nazims of various towns are being undertaken now with the sole objective of pleasing the electorate a couple of months before the local bodies elections.

The simultaneous execution of the projects, especially those which relate to roads, causes a great deal of inconvenience to commuters who have few route options in a metropolis where all roads leading to the commercial heart of the city invariably become clogged with traffic during the morning and evening rush hour.

Cynics among us point out that the representatives of the people have not worked so efficiently on development projects since the introduction of the new set-up in August 2001. They maintain that uplift projects would not have become a nuisance if they had been intelligently staggered.

Others, however, insist that politicians seeking to ingratiate themselves with the electorate by undertaking development work for the masses should not be criticized. They argue that it is, after all, the common man who is the final beneficiary of such projects. But the recent expected spell of showers has exposed the poor quality of material used in the construction of new roads and the re-carpeting of old ones. The repaired drainage system of the city also failed to withstand the onslaught of rains.

According to a journalist friend who covers the city government on a regular basis, the nazims and naib nazims had not counted rains before the monsoon. By then local bodies elections would have been over and more opportunities for the procurement of funds for uplift projects would have arisen, he says.

KARACHI EXPO AND BEYOND

The much-publicized Expo 2005 fair was recently held in the city. It is believed that investors from a number of countries participated in the event. The Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industries signed a number of MoUs to boost trade and investment with these delegates.

The city administration went into overdrive to welcome the guests to the event. To give them security cover, they were accompanied to and from the exhibition site at Hasan Square by truckloads of policemen and roads were closed. The hotels where the guests were lodged were also heavily guarded by gun-toting denizens of the law.

For the entertainment of the delegates, a gala event was organized at the Baradari. Most delegates, however, complained of the lack of freedom of movement and the stifling security arrangements.

They also complained of the long travel time to and from the exhibition centre as well as lack of facilities at the exhibition centre itself. Many commented that the exhibition centre should be made all inclusive as is the case in most countries in the Gulf where hundreds of square feet of exhibition space also have accommodation and leisure facilities so that the exhibition centre becomes self-sufficient. This allows participants to move freely and take time out for themselves.

For the people of Karachi, if such an exhibition ground is set up on the outskirts of the city, it would mean an end to road blocks and display of security since delegates.

If space is provided, the issue of parking as well as holding two or more exhibitions at the same time could also be sorted out by making such a centre one of a kind in South Asia.

email: karachi_notebook@hotmail.com.