ON November 10, 1942, at London’s Mansion House, British Prime Minister Winston Spencer Churchill spoke to those present: “The Germans have been outmatched and outfought with the very kind of weapons with which they have beaten down so many small peoples, and also large unprepared peoples. They have been beaten by the very technical apparatus on which they counted to gain them the domination of the world. Especially is this true of the air and of the tanks and of the artillery, which has come back into its own on the battlefield. The Germans have received back again that measure of fire and steel which they have so often meted out to others. Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps the end of the beginning.”
The world believed him. On July 8, 63 years later, the day after London was hit with a string of exploding bombs which have so far killed over 50, fatally injured many others, and hospitalized a few hundred, British Prime Minister Tony Blair speaking to the world told us that what had happened was “the beginning of the end of terrorism.” How many believed him? It is the leader that counts.
On July 3, last Sunday, the same day that my column ‘Who will protect the parks?’ was printed, after having read >bs
It enclosed a copy of my column and read: “The article is about the ordeal of the 30 acres park land adjacent to Safari Park, KDA Scheme No.36, Karachi, allotted in 1982 during the regime of President Ziaul Haq for Horticulture Society of Pakistan (HSP) for the development of a Horticultural Complex and a Botanical Garden. However, the allotment was cancelled in 1989 and subsequently restored by the Honourable High Court of Sindh on March 24 2005.
“It is noted with concern that on June 28, whilst a small monument was being constructed on which would be affixed the inaugural marble plaque (supposed to be inaugurated by the ex-city nazim, Karachi) allegedly an unidentified group of people, claiming they had the authority of the District Officer (Safari Park) arrived and forcibly demolished the monument, threatened the HSP men and forced them to leave the area.
“I personally went through the article and having taken cognizance of the issue hereby constitute the following high-level inquiry committee to probe into the matter. The committee comprises: 1) Executive District Officer (Revenue) CDGK, Chairman; 2) District Officer (Land Revenue) CDGK; 3) District Officer (Land Management-I) CDGK; 4) District Officer (Land Management-II) CDGK; 5) District Officer (Parks & Horticulture) CDGK.
“The committee so constituted will examine the contents of the article and submit its specific recommendations within three days enabling the undersigned to fix responsibility and take appropriate penal action against officials, if any, as per law.
“This matter shall be accorded top priority.” Copies were marked to officials of the office of the Sindh chief minister.
On July 4, I met the de facto ruler of Sindh, Commander 5 Corps Lt General Syed Athar Ali, at his office and handed over to him a letter I had written to him on behalf of the HSP (‘funded by donations from the people’), attaching a copy of my column and a copy of Fazlur Rahman’s note. Inter alia, I wrote: “Nazim Naimatullah Khan was most helpful, but he has now been shot out. The government of the day in Karachi is run by the MQM, a party known for its own particular brand of antics... We of the HSP request your help to ensure that the people’s asset, this park land, is not encroached upon.”
On July 7, I rang Fazlur Rahman to ask what was stated in the report he had called for from his committee. I was told that the committee had been unable to meet as the mother of the convener was ill. End of story.
On July 9, a headline in the national press read ‘PM urges implementation of anti-land mafia law.’ This was next to a photograph of Shaukat Aziz, standing between a seated Sindh governor and chief minister, waving to a crowd assembled at Thatta. He sported some strange device on his head, and his shoulders and neck were swathed in an assortment of techni-coloured garments. The exigencies of power do the strangest things to the most balanced of people.
Anyhow, under the headline was reproduced what he had said on the land mafia issue: “Parliament has passed the bill against land grabbing and the president has signed it to make it law. Now it is the responsibility of the province to implement it.”
As to land grabbing and the messing up of land revenue records, the prime minister should ask the Sindh chief minister for details of the accusations against his suspended minister, Imtiaz Sheikh, now free to cover his tracks as he has applied for and obtained bail before arrest. He is of course supported by President General Pervez Musharraf’s political kingmaker, that devious leader of the ruling party. A second news report of July 9, dealing with the strange case of the rising incidents of ‘mobile kidnapping’, “Despite having an additional cell to counter street crime, the city police have failed to curb the menace, as dozens of people are deprived of their cash and valuables every day while the majority of the victims are unwilling to report the matter to the police as they believe that doing so would invite more trouble.”
It is extremely difficult to disagree with this. That same morning we found that the main door of our office on Chundrigar Road had been broken open, and the premises burgled. The private security firm’s guards were either asleep or absent and when it was suggested that the matter be reported to the police I firmly declined. Many years ago, dacoits broke into my parents’ house in Civil Lines (civil?). My father, then in his late eighties, was tied up whilst my mother’s jewellery was stolen. We filed a report with the police. A case was registered, I was called to appear in court every month, to absolutely no avail, and finally, some ten years after both parents had died, I pleaded with my pleader (an obstinate law-abiding Zoroastrian) to have the case closed and put away and was willing to pay to have this done.
The president-general really has no option but to follow the first dictum of the founder and father of his country: “The first duty of a government is to maintain law and order so that the life, property and religious beliefs of its subjects are fully protected by the state.” His problem is that the democratic government he has installed is by its very nature incapable of doing so. Are you the ‘Boss Man’ or not, general? Does the buck stop with you or not?