Repealing Hudood laws

THE government finally appears serious about the need for changing or possibly repealing the Hudood laws. At a meeting over the weekend with the Council of Islamic Ideology, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and ministers and officials concerned with religious and women’s affairs, President Pervez Musharraf emphasised the need for developing a consensus for effecting changes in the Hudood laws, which, he said, were made by one man — a reference to Gen Ziaul Haq. One extraordinary feature of the Hudood and blasphemy laws is that there was no national consensus behind them. Even if these laws had to be promulgated by decree because there was no parliament then and the country was under martial law, these ordinances could have been drafted in consultation with various sections of the ulema and leaders of public opinion. Instead, the wisdom behind these laws came from the coterie of those religious leaders who were Ziaul Haq’s political allies and who helped him perpetuate himself in power for 11 years. These laws were basically of a political nature, meant to lay the foundation of an Islamic legal system of Zia’s choice.

Coming specifically to the Hudood law regarding sex offences, its most abominable aspect is its persecution of the victim, because the moment a woman reports rape she is arrested unless she can produce four eyewitnesses in support of her allegation. Pending the arrest, trial and conviction of the rapist — and that is not always possible — she must suffer incarceration. The result is that women arrested under the Hudood laws form the single largest group of nearly 6,500 women now in prison. Thus the law as enacted by Ziaul Haq victimises the victim, the arrest of the rapist being a matter of secondary importance. The law also provides for Qazf — punishment for those who falsely accuse a woman of adultery, which often is the case in disputes over land, property and marriage. Yet, while there is no dearth of women arrested for adultery, one seldom hears of a man being arrested and punished for Qazf. Thus, from the point of view of both textual merit and implementation, the Hudood laws as they stand now violate the norms of justice, equity and fairness as they exist in all civilised societies.

There is no doubt that some sections of the ulema will oppose any move to repeal or amend the Hudood laws. Their motive can only be obscurantist or political and these have no place where justice and fairness are concerned. These laws concern society, and for that reason all arguments for or against amendments or repeal must conform to the highest principles of jurisprudence with a view to sorting out those clauses that militate against equity and justice. Finally, it is parliament that must be the vehicle for change. The existing Hudood laws were enforced through ordinances, and that is one more reason why they are controversial. The enactment process this time must be democratic, and all sections of society and leaders of all Fiqhs must be associated with the debate before the CII presents the draft laws to the National Assembly. Here one must welcome the president’s move to order the release of the thousands of under-trial women involved in crimes other than murder, robbery and terrorism. A substantial number of these women must be those who have been languishing in jail simply because they reported rape.

How to tackle power crisis

WILL Karachiites know no respite from the agony of power breakdowns that have been the bane of the city for the past several weeks? Prolonged hardship caused by frequent loadshedding and breakdowns in power transmission, combined with the hot, sultry weather, have taken the people to the end of their tether. The question being asked is: who is to blame and can anything be done about it? From all available information, it seems that one can only hope for some relief when the weather cools down and the power consumption falls. The fact is that the KESC was in a shambles for quite some time but had been pulling along by resorting to stop-gap measures. The change of management on account of the privatisation of the utility appears to have come as the proverbial last straw.

There is a wide gap between demand and supply. According to the KESC’s CEO, the peak consumption at present is 2,330MW and the KESC’s own generation capacity is 1,300MW. It gets 250MW from two IPPs and Wapda was supposedly providing 600MW which has now been increased on the prime minister’s orders. Kanupp is at zero generation at the moment. This means that even in the best of times there is a shortfall and that calls for loadshedding. While the KESC juggles around with the localities where the supply is stopped, breakdowns also take a heavy toll. One should not forget that maintenance and repairs have never been the KESC’s strong point and last winter nothing was done because it was then that the change of management took place. In these circumstances, can one dare be hopeful? No, not in normal course, considering that the new management is saying it will need two years to turn the utility around. It is time for the government to intervene in arranging for increased supply from IPPs and Kanupp. The promised campaign for conservation of electricity has yet to get off the ground. The city government, cantonment boards and housing societies which have done a good service to the citizens by opening parks and leisure spots could contribute their own bit by switching off their high-powered lights that blaze for the whole night.

Substandard food at schools

THE PCSIR’s research findings regarding the quality of food and beverages served in 110 public and 380 private schools in Karachi should confirm the worst fears of parents. About 44 per cent of the samples tested were found to contain non-food grade colouring additives. Similarly, more than one-third of the water samples tested were contaminated. An even larger proportion of beverages, other than water, was found to be undrinkable. All these fell in the category of unbranded items, while items bearing company logos were found to be generally safe. Unfortunately, the kind of foodstuff that appeals to most students and is generally considered more affordable is unhygienic ‘street food’. Whether bought at the school canteen or at vendor stalls outside the school gates, the preparation — much of it involving substandard ingredients — of sherbets, fried snacks, milk-based desserts and fruit and vegetable items is substandard and is often the cause of stomach ailments.

There are a number of food safety regulations to keep a watch on the preparation and sale of eatables. However, so far, the city government has been unable to crack down on those involved in selling impure or substandard food. Hardly any visits are made by food inspectors to check the quality of beverages and edibles and there is no effort to take action against those responsible for preparing and selling impure or unhygienic snacks. This is taken by canteen and roadside vendors as a licence to continue to flout food safety rules. Drastic intervention is needed, and school administrations and parents should step in to call attention to the situation, and work out ways and means of ensuring pure, germ-free food and drink for their wards. It is only when this happens that the government will be forced to take note and implement the rules.

New Russia’s new rich class

MOSCOW seems shamefaced about summer. Thirty degrees centigrade in the forenoon of last Wednesday is 40 degrees higher than during my last visit in December. Moscow then was a grey world flecked with snow white. The wind screamed at the fur hat and taunted the ear muffs.

Local faces had the confident serenity of a winter people, and a mild chuckle in the eyes at the visitor’s bewilderment at winter. Summer heat has surprised men and disoriented technology. The air-conditioner in my fancy, new hotel room leaks like an overburdened tarpaulin in monsoon. Complaints evoke genuine sympathy and the occasional mechanic, but no solutions. If the heater had been giving trouble in December they would have known precisely what to do. The male dress code for summer is linen half-sleeves. For women, it is a bit of an undress code: they peel off as much as they dare and store up the sun in their skins for the long dark winter just around the corner. I wonder if the side-to-side and back-to-back traffic at noon is another sign of summer, with people finding any excuse to get out of office. This is not office-rush; this is out-of-office rush. By Friday afternoon this escalates into out-of-town mass escape.

The weekend is sacrosanct from Siberia to California: as they put it, only thieves and policemen work on weekends. Not even newspapers are published on weekends. Information is an unnecessary intrusion on tranquillity. If a world war broke out on Saturday Muscovites would probably not know until Monday. On the other hand, they did fight a world war, albeit a cold one, for five decades — with both sides taking the weekend off. Very civilised. I wonder what would have happened if the Soviet Union and the West had fought each other on all seven days.

The role model for new Russia is a former KGB agent, Alexander Lebedev. A fortnight ago he threw a party in England at the 8,500 acre estate in Northamptonshire where Princess Diana was born and now lies buried. When Lebedev throws a party, it travels very far indeed. His idea of entertainment was a volatile mixture of Russia Wild East, Hollywood, confused Arabian Nights and high art. Extras in 18th century dress lounged among the distant trees. Others wandered around leading wolves on a leash.

Cossacks charged across the English landscape. A camel or two sauntered by. The Christ Church Cathedral schoolboys’ choir sang from the balcony to shift the mood. One of the Russia’s finest pianists, Andrei Gavrilov, soothed guests along with oysters and champagne. After dinner dancing was in charge of the Black Eyed Peas (a band) with help from a videolinked U2.

The guest of honour was former Comrade Mikhail Gorbachev. The cause: funds for the Raisa Gorbachev Foundation to help children suffering from cancer. Money was raised by auction (of a ride in the world’s fastest MiG, for instance). Salman Rushdie was among the guests, but I have no idea whether he coughed up anything. One million pounds were raised in a single night. How much money was spent on that single night? #1.3 million. Lebedev could have saved everyone the trouble and handed his bill for the party to the foundation, but that wouldn’t have been any fun, would it? Charity begins at home. How did Lebedev become a billionaire, starting from a KGB salary? He resigned and set up an investment company during the heyday of Gorbachev’s glasnost. He stood on the same side of the barricades as the reformers when the old established order nearly pulled off a successful coup in 1991. In 1995, he was rewarded with the chairmanship of the National Reserve Bank, which was struggling to stay in business. It stopped struggling after Lebedev got the account for Gazprom, the massive state-owned energy conglomerate. Lebedev now owns 31 per cent of Aeroflot, among other things. He also contested for mayor of Moscow and semi-secretly dreams of becoming president of the Russian Federation one day.Watch the news.

I gather that the new international corporate mantra for upwardly mobile management types is to look each morning in the mirror and call yourself a rock star. This apparently provides enough of an ego boost to send your competence soaring. But take your time about behaving like Lebedev, or indeed any other rock star. Here is what I gathered from one article in a magazine abandoned at an airport.

When Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt went to Namibia to have their baby in the mother of all nations, they demanded, and got, a no-fly zone over their villa. Foreign journalists were permitted to enter the country during their stay only if the Jolie-Pitt gang had cleared their arrival. A South African journo who violated this ban ended up in prison for three days. Namibia declared a national holiday to celebrate the birth of the infant Jolie. What makes you laugh-cry more? Rock-star stupidity or Namibia’s idiocy?

Elizabeth Taylor wanted Buckingham Palace swept for security when she went to collect the gong that made her Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. (It exists. Britain still rules a couple of tiny islands in the West Indies.) Tom Cruise’s servants had to sign a contract that punished them with an escalating series of fines if they were caught passing on information to the media. A nanny could, theoretically, end up with a bill for a million dollars. Any management trainee with a hint of such airs is likely to get the sack rather than a promotion. Maxine Maters, my Dutch friend who lives in Moscow and is the publisher of Moscow News, thought it a big relief that Holland had not qualified for the World Cup. It gave her the liberty of being neutral. Modestly, I pointed out that I had the same freedom. India had not qualified either. I changed the subject before she could ask me at what point of the tournament India had been eliminated. I had the liberty of being neutral while watching Argentina play Germany on the big plasma screen set up in the hotel foyer. The commentary was in Russian, and it did not matter. There is no verbal commentary that can match the swooping cameras darting upon faces, on the field, on the sidelines or in the stands. Cameras create the ratings in sport. If the cameras had been inside our hotel at that hour, they would have dwelt I suspect on the undress-code ladies occupying the sofa between me and screen. I did wonder though if the real game of these ladies was football. Since neutrality is anaemic, I have tried out a variation of historical determinism in order to find out who I should support. This system might also be called Losers’ Ladder. It is based on empire and colonies. As an Indian, my first preference was for the old colonies: Australia, Ghana, Togo. The whimper-exit of Ghana eliminated that option.

My sympathy should, logically, have then transferred to the comparatively underdeveloped world, and thus to Latin America. The Latins also play great football. But, frankly, it is difficult to support a continent one has never visited. You can’t put a context to your cheering. Logic took me to the next category: the countries in which one had good friends. I am pleased to report that some of my best friends are English, but England ruled itself out because it had made the mistake of ruling India once. That left me with Germany and Italy. Both won on Friday night. Thank you, Moscow.

The writer is editor-in-chief of Asian Age, New Delhi.

Passports for health care

UNDER a new federal law that took effect on Saturday, poor Americans are required to produce proof of citizenship to be eligible for Medicaid. This may sound like a sensible safeguard against providing government-paid health benefits to illegal immigrants who fraudulently claim eligibility.

It isn’t. The new law and the unduly stringent rules that the Bush administration has produced to implement it are unnecessary, expensive and mean-spirited. They pose the threat that millions of people entitled to receive Medicaid benefits will be denied coverage.

The political benefits of this latest form of immigrant-bashing are obvious. Rep. Charles Whitlow Norwood Jr. a chief sponsor, cited “the outright theft of Medicaid benefits by illegal aliens.” But there’s scant evidence of widespread fraud under the current system. In all but four states, Medicaid applicants attest, under penalty of perjury, that they are citizens, and officials can ask for documentation if there is reason for suspicion. As Mark B. McClellan, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, wrote in response to an inspector general’s examination of the issue last year, “The report does not find particular problems regarding false allegations of citizenship, nor are we aware of any.”

If the problem is unproven, the solution will be expensive — both for the states that are required to enforce it (or risk losing millions in federal funding) and the recipients who have to obtain documents. In fact, this new requirement runs precisely contrary to recent efforts to streamline Medicaid enrolment procedures to make certain that all eligible recipients get coverage.

But the biggest risk is that, rather than preventing fraud, the provision will result in the denial of benefits to eligible Americans who can’t come up with the required proof.

—The Washington Post