After Sharm el Sheikh

AFTER initial reports that the Egyptian police were looking for some Pakistani suspects, Cairo has officially denied that any Pakistan nationals were involved in the Sharm el Sheikh blasts. The denial has come from both the authorities in Cairo and the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad. The belated denial came too late, for the damage had been done. Immediately after the blasts, Egyptian investigators released the pictures of five Pakistanis but on Tuesday they said this was a mere precaution. The most fantastic of the press reports was that the Pakistanis were illegal immigrants who had fled the blast site after leaving their passports behind. More bizarre, that they had fled to Israel. If the Egyptian police’s initial reaction was the first-ever of its kind against Pakistanis, one could have ignored it. But the truth is that wherever there is an act of terrorism, Pakistanis are presumed to be involved, lack of hard evidence notwithstanding.

The world now knows that no Pakistani was involved in the attack on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. All the hijackers belonged to other countries and were inspired by a man who had previously targeted the US destroyer Cole and the US embassy in Kenya. That was why, long before 9/11, President Clinton had authorized Osama bin Laden’s elimination. Yet it is Pakistan which has borne the brunt of the accusations and the gratuitous “do more” advice. The terrible massacres in Bali, Istanbul and Madrid were not carried out by Pakistanis, and the Indonesian, Turkish and Spanish governments had the good sense not to jump to conclusions and blame Pakistanis for the crime. Some Pakistanis were arrested by the Spanish police but were later released after questioning. Yet a cacophony of unofficial voices, exaggerated and garnered by speculative media reports, serve to lead all trails to Pakistan. In the London blasts, four British nationals are presumed guilty, but Mr Tony Blair asks Pakistan every other day to do more and crack down on madressahs, without realizing that such actions could have political repercussions. An indication of the anti-Pakistan paranoia is evident in the diversion of a London-bound flight to Boston. The crew found some “suspicious Pakistanis” on board, and the flight was diverted. Questioning by the FBI showed that the Pakistanis were businessmen who were travelling on valid visas. The most bizarre of such cases was the murder of illegal Pakistani immigrants in Macedonia in 2002 when it occurred to a minister, now facing trial, that he could win plaudits from the US if his security forces were found to have discovered and killed some terrorists. So six Pakistanis (and one Indian) were murdered in cold blood.

Yet all that the world thinks of Pakistanis and Pakistan has a basis. The 9/11 hijackers were not Pakistanis, but Osama bin Laden operated from an Afghanistan whose Taliban supporters were at one time funded and armed by Pakistan. The reversal of our policy after 9/11 has been acknowledged by the world. But the stigma attached to Pakistan’s name sticks. By any standards it is a difficult situation. Islamabad has to do some tight-rope walking. It must root out terrorism and extremism in its own interest, but while doing so it cannot afford to stir up a hornet’s net. Reining in madressahs requires wisdom, patience and a proper strategy and not a general crackdown that will be counterproductive. We need to make this plain to our foreign friends and critics.

Dealing with North Korea

WHILE it is encouraging that the six-party talks, involving North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the US have restarted in Beijing after a gap of 13 months, impediments remain in the way of persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear programme. The latter has been a major source of tension in Southeast Asia for several years now, and especially after North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003 and scrapped an accord with South Korea for keeping the region free of nuclear weapons. Several times North Korea has also fired missiles into the sea, setting off alarm bells in the region, and has violated peace accords, including the 1994 Agreed Framework according to which Pyongyang would abandon its nuclear plans in return for oil and light water reactors from Washington. Blowing hot and cold over the issue, it has gone ahead with its ambitions giving rise to fears of a nuclear strike in the region - a scenario that cannot be ruled out given North Korea’s erratic leadership in the person of Kim Jong-il.

Washington and its partners will have to tread very carefully if they want to see a positive outcome of the talks — hopefully, a joint pledge to de-nuclearize the Korean peninsula. More flexibility is needed on the part of the US that has so far been saying that aid and better diplomatic ties could come only after North Korea has seriously demonstrated its resolve to dismantle its nuclear facilities. Pyongyang insists on concrete security assurances first. Cut off from the international community, the North Koreans are verging on widespread hunger and many have been reduced to eating grass. None of the six parties, in particular Washington and Pyongyang, can afford to maintain a rigid stance as the human tragedy in North Korea worsens and peace moves remain hostage to nuclear ambitions. South Korea’s proposal of immediate aid to Pyongyang and the normalization of ties as soon as the latter takes “verifiable” steps to halt its nuclear programme, must be seriously considered by all sides if the goal of lasting peace in the Korean peninsula is to be achieved.

Crime in D.G. Khan

THE news that 220 cases of kidnapping for ransom have been reported in the last six months from the four districts of the Dera Ghazi Khan police range highlights the deteriorating law and order situation in the province. This is an astonishingly high number of kidnappings to occur in just six months, but no one in the government seems perturbed by this crime surge. During the debate on the Punjab budget in June, an opposition member had pointed out that despite hefty budgetary allocations for crime control, the overall crime rate in the province had increased by 27 per cent, with kidnapping and kidnapping for ransom up by 20 per cent. Even these startling disclosures, which point to a near collapse of the law and order situation, did nothing to shake the government out of its stupor. Dera Ghazi Khan is no stranger to incidents of kidnapping but the alarming rise in numbers calls for immediate attention at the highest level. The most recent case of the kidnapping of three PARCO officials abducted last month remains unsolved, as no major breakthrough has been made.

What is always tragic in cases of kidnapping is the agony of the families of those abducted; they can only watch helplessly as the police remain moribund. That the notorious Bosan gang (known for kidnapping) is alive and well — and allegedly involved in the PARCO case — shows just how ineffective the police are in providing protection and security. To combat such horrendous crimes, the police will have to be more than just vigilant. They will need to develop effective preventive and control strategies in dealing with crime and criminals. They should also try to secure the cooperation of the local community in dealing with the various aspects of the worsening crime situation.