Iraq’s political dilemma

The Sunni parliamentarians’ failure to agree on a common candidate for the post of speaker points to the disarrayed state of Iraq’s Sunni community. The Shias and Kurdish MPs had agreed that the speaker’s post should go to a Sunni, but the Sunni MPs failed on Tuesday to name a candidate. They had largely boycotted the Jan 30 election, and that is why there are only 20 Sunni MPs in a house of 275. Yet, because of the Shia and Kurdish participation, there was a 60 per cent turn-out. Obviously, the Shias and Kurds would like to make a success of the assembly because the present situation seems to have given them an opportunity to play the role previously denied them. The Sunni minority, on the other hand, is still suffering from a sense of deprivation and appears to be directionless. The Sunnis, too, suffered at the hands of Saddam Hussein, but they have ruled Iraq since its inception in the wake of World War I in spite of being in a minority. The loss of power has suddenly turned them into a confused, discredited minority. They do not have a recognized leader, and those outside the assembly look like relying on a terror campaign whose precise aim is not very clear. This campaign is led by Musab bin al-Zarqawi, who is a Jordanian.

It would be a mistake for the Sunnis to continue to sulk. The overthrow of the Saddam regime has changed the political landscape. They have to chart a new and realistic course of action and work for Iraq’s post-war reconstruction and its political future. The Shias obviously would like to make a success of the political process that began with the Jan 30 election. They cannot go it alone and will, therefore, seek the cooperation of other ethnic and religious groups to move forward. The Kurds, long suppressed, would naturally respond to Shia overtures and help create a system free from the tyranny and injustices of the past. The small Christian community, about five per cent of the population, has always sided with the power wielders and would behave no differently this time. But given the Sunnis’ historical role in Iraq and the position they occupy in Baghdad and the “central triangle”, any future political system must reasonably accommodate them. The Shias and Kurds are willing to do this, as is evident from the offer of the post of speaker they have made to the Sunnis. But the latter’s failure to agree on a candidate shows the division in their ranks.

The choice before the Sunnis is to help move the political process forward. The bombing campaign whose victims are mostly Iraqi civilians is not going to last forever. The basic task for all Iraqis, irrespective of religious and ethnic affiliations, is to maintain their country’s unity and stability. The Shias and Kurds have exercised commendable restraint. If they, too, resort to violence Iraq could descend into anarchy, with every possibility of its disintegration on sectarian and ethnic lines. This will not serve the Arab cause. In fact, a disintegration of Iraq could have a domino effect, setting off a fragmentation process affecting the entire Middle East region. Besides, America will not withdraw if Iraq is in anarchy; it can be forced to do so only if the three communities join hands together and push for American withdrawal.

Checking fake drugs

Punjab is facing a serious problem with regard to the free sale and availability of fake and spurious medicines, particularly in the rural areas. Last year, after the provincial government launched a drive against fake medicines, over nine hundred drug stores were sealed and 2,300 cases were registered against the producers of the dubious drugs. It seems that the drive did not have the intended effect as fake drugs reappeared in the market soon after and the producers and sellers of these medicines are back in business all over the province. Since this is a problem not confined to Punjab alone, the federal government has recommended that provincial teams be set up in the health ministry to check the menace. A better idea would be to monitor the work of the drug inspectors who are posted in each province since it is their job to monitor both quality and authenticity of all medicines. Instead of increasing the number of personnel to deal with the problem, the government should take to task those officials whose prime responsibility is to ensure that only genuine pharmaceutical products find their way into the markets.

Apart from lax government monitoring and supervision, another reason for the proliferation of fake drugs is the high prices of many medicines, particularly antibiotics. Multinational pharmaceutical companies which produce most of these sell them at rates far higher than their price in neighbouring countries. At the same time, not enough is done by the multinationals to ensure that their products are tamper-proof. The twin factor of high prices and poor packaging is an invitation to counterfeiters to produce and sell fake versions. Despite loud noises made by multinationals in this respect, they have done little to check the menace of fake medicines. While it would be a good idea to launch occasional campaigns against spurious drugs by both the government and the drug companies, a longer-term approach would be to improve the efficiency of control over the sale of drugs and also the price at which they are sold. Given the serious nature of this problem, such moves should be initiated by the government at the earliest.

Desalination plants

The agreement on the installation of two desalination plants in Karachi, each with a capacity of 25 MGD, is a welcome development given the fact that the city has been suffering from a chronic water shortage for several years now. To be undertaken by a US firm, the project would be generating a small but crucial proportion of the actual requirement of 640 MGD or thereabouts. While it is true that mismanagement, theft and leakage of water through broken distribution lines have resulted in wastage — about 30 per cent according to a conservative estimate - the main sources of water, the Indus river and the Hub dam, are also drying up, leaving no option but to tap seawater. Desalination is an expensive proposition, one reason why it has not been developed on a large scale in the city — although it is in wide use elsewhere in the world, especially in the Gulf countries — and it is not known at this stage how much consumers will end up paying. One hopes, therefore, that the most cost-effective methods are employed and that the energy sources required are both environment-friendly and cheap. In this regard, solar power could be one option.

However, there should be no room for complacency once this project (and others like the K-3 that aims at supplying Karachi with 100 MGD of water) is completed. The city’s population is growing at an alarming rate, and water needs are continually increasing. The most effective strategy to counter this lies not in new technologies or finding additional sources of water, but in conservation and better management of the existing supply. This lesson needs to be driven home to water authorities and citizens alike. Both have been careless in the distribution and use of water, and have only themselves to blame for the extent of scarcity of this precious resource.