Megalomaniac

In the land of the ‘pure’, hypocrisy reigns supreme. A glaring example of this is Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan’s recent and not-so-recent antics. The law minister was able to get his own high-rise plaza exempted from scrutiny. Not only did he get illegal paper-work done to show his three-storey building as a two-storey building, he also papered over the fact that the building was being used for commercial purposes and was not a residential building as he had claimed in the official documents. Not only is Mr Sanaullah Khan a member of the ruling party in Punjab, the PML-N, he is also the provincial law minister. If the law minister himself is breaking the law, how can the government of Punjab have the moral authority to ask the citizens to follow the rule of law? With the Punjab chief minister’s drive against ‘illegal buildings’ and the Punjab government on a rampage against high-rise commercial plazas, the omission of Mr Sanaullah’s own property is a grim reminder of the dou...

“Blessed is the leader who seeks the best for those he serves” is an adage that best describes veteran communist leader of India, Jyoti Basu, who passed away on January 17, 2010. He was 95 years old. Even in death, the great leader proved that he was a people’s man through and through. Mr Basu’s body will be donated for medical study and research while his eyes were donated to an eye bank right after his death. While pursuing a law degree in Britain, Jyoti Basu developed an interest in Marxism. Upon his return to India, instead of practising law, he joined the Communist Party of India (CPI). He earned the respect of the party as well as the people by his dedicated work for people’s rights. He soon joined politics and was elected to the Bengal Provincial Assembly in 1946. When the CPI split in 1964, Basu joined the CPI (Marxist) and was the last surviving member of the party’s first politburo. The split in CPI took place after differences between China and the Soviet Union emerged. The ...

Just days ahead of the London conference on Afghanistan, a meeting between the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan took place in Islamabad. The timing of this trilateral meeting is of utmost importance. The purpose of the London conference is to set an agenda for bringing peace in war-torn Afghanistan with the help of the regional players and the international community. The conference is being touted as one of the most important agenda-setting ones for the future of Afghanistan. Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan’s trilateral meeting is significant as it is very rare to have these three neighbours sitting together. The foreign ministers discussed the situation in Afghanistan and agreed on a joint framework to meet the regional security challenges. The declaration said that any regional or international conference on Afghanistan should “acknowledge the salience of our trilateral engagement and cooperation for achieving common objectives and lasting peace and stability in Af...

A US delegation led by the Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, met President Zardari in Lahore. The president took up serious issues with Holbrooke keeping in view present and past circumstances in the region. Of great significance was President Zardari’s mention of fighting a ‘rival ideology’ in the past along with the US and the West. The reference was obviously to the Afghan communist regime and the ensuing battle between the mujahideen and the communists after the Soviet forces entered Afghanistan in support of their co-ideologists. President Zardari told Holbrooke that it was because of the Afghan jihad that militancy rose in Pakistan. Though this is certainly not something new for the Americans, the president’s reminder about the West’s role in general and the US’s role in particular in leading to the rise of religious extremism in this region is noteworthy. The covert support of the US for the jihadis in the Afghan war is no secret. It was a policy ...

Sixty-two years ago, Pakistan was created on the basis of the Two-Nation Theory. Those who fought for the freedom of this country might have had a secular perspective but were still of the view that in order to secure the rights of the Muslim minority in the Indian subcontinent, a new country had to be formed. It is quite ironic to see that a country that came into being to secure the rights of a minority is now itself guilty of violating the rights of other minorities living here. Uri Avnery, an Israeli peace activist, quoted a letter from his Israeli friend Dov Yermiya in an article ‘Our responsibility’ ( Daily Times , August 4, 2009). Mr Yermiya declared that he would not be “loyal to the Jewish fascist state and its mad visions” and further wrote, “Israel will never be forgiven for the terrible toll of [Palestinian] blood spilt, and especially the blood of children, in hair-raising quantities.” I wonder if Pakistan could be forgiven for spilling the blood of its own people, especia...

Conspiracy theory is the only industry in Pakistan that runs round the clock and the production quality as well as product variety are absolutely out of this world. The whole school of conspiracy theory reflects a certain mindset, which comes up with half-baked stories based on little or no evidence. Just like former US President George W Bush had his axis of evil, a lot of Pakistanis have their own axis of evil — India, Israel and the US. If anybody so much as sneezes in the land of the pure, any one of these three countries or all of them are behind it. This is exactly what Mr Ijazul Haq did in his two articles, ‘A criminal conspiracy’ and ‘Punish the Bahawalpur conspirators’ published in Daily Times on September 8 and 9, 2009. He has not only blamed Pakistan’s own ‘axis of evil’ but he has blamed everyone and his uncle for General Ziaul Haq’s death: Russia, Afghanistan, Al-Zulfiqar, the Pakistani military and many others. First, let us examine why the Russians may not be responsibl...

As part of my morning regimen (read drudgery), I have been scanning half a dozen local English dailies for the last few hours. I find something in common in almost all the Editorial/Opinion pages of these dailies (including this newspaper’s). The subjects being discussed in editorials or opinion pieces are the same: Asif Zardari, Nawaz Sharif, Musharraf, deposed judges, democracy in Pakistan, ‘crises’ (which range from rising militancy to soaring inflation, from energy debacle to oil crisis, etc.) facing down the barrel, called, my country. Well, pardon me dear readers, but I will be committing the sin of touching upon the same topics, albeit a bit differently – which by the way sounds like a clichéd dialogue spouted by scores of pedestrian Lollywood movie producers/directors/actors/actresses, engaged in the lowly business of making a rehashed version of a gazillion Bollywood movies and then claiming, “ Ismay kuch different dekhne ko milega public ko ” (The public would get to see so...

The ‘marriage of convenience’ between the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has ended up in divorce. The PML-N on Monday (August 25) formally pulled out of the coalition government. Their representatives will henceforth sit on the Opposition benches in parliament. In a press conference at Punjab House, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif showed the media a copy of the agreement made with the PPP – on which the PPP later backtracked – outlining the steps intended to be taken for the impeachment of then president Pervez Musharraf and restoration of the deposed judges. Mr Sharif said that he was left with no choice but to snap ties with the PPP. “It was a tough decision which we had to take. We made many efforts to keep this alliance alive,” he said. All eyes are now set on the presidential elections, scheduled for September 6. The PML-N has nominated Justice (retd) Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui for the office of president while Mr Asif Zardari is the presidenti...

‘Liberty, equality and fraternity’: the Dravidian Movement in South India “We are fit to think of ‘self-respect’ only when the notion of superior and inferior caste is banished from our land” — Periyar Ramasami. I visited India last year in November as a Panos fellow. The trip was quite memorable in itself, but one thing that left a deep impact on me was our visit to Anna Arivalayam in Chennai, the official headquarters of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). DMK is the ruling party in Tamil Nadu. A permanent exhibition depicting the entire history of the Dravidian Movement has been installed in Anna Arivalayam. The exhibition includes portraits of Dravidian stalwarts, scholars and leaders who inculcated the spirit of Tamil language and Tamil culture into the minds of the people; drawings and photographs of significant events that took place during the evolution of the movement; a mini-theatre has been set up where documentary films of Dravidian leaders, namely Periyar Ramasami, C.N. A...

If there is one barometer through which one could gauge the intensity with which the engines are moving towards acquiring the vision of ‘Shining India’, it is their mass media. Wilbur Schramm, the guru of mass communication, too emphasised that the mass media is reflective of a society’s level of development. Using this touchstone, it would be advantageous to compare the media of both Pakistan and India with regard to the quality, cost, readership/viewership, economics and the amount of freedom afforded them by the state to know at what level of development – political, social and economic – both states stand at present. During my stay in India as a Panos fellow, it was quite amazing to see that an 84-page English newspaper costs Rs 2.50 in India, while a 20-page English newspaper in Pakistan costs Rs 13. It is quite another thing that the 84-page Indian newspaper is full of advertisements (nearly half of the pages carry advertisements), a lot of pages are filled with showbiz news (som...

It is being widely debated these days how the deposed judges can be restored. Three options have been proposed till now. One, the deposed judges can be restored through an executive order; two, the National Assembly can bring about a resolution with a simple majority on this issue; and three, the issue can be resolved by making some constitutional amendments, for which a two-thirds majority of the parliament is needed. These are the three options doing the rounds. Yet there could be a fourth option – that of a referendum, as suggested by a renowned politician and former parliamentarian, Haji Saifullah Khan, in an exclusive interview with Channel 5 . A veteran politician, Haji sahab is one of those few parliamentarians who not only understand the Constitution and the law very well, but have deep knowledge of parliamentary practices too. Haji Saifullah said when the 160 million people of Pakistan would vote for the restoration of the deposed judges, the judiciary would not only be indep...

The Community Development Exchange defines ‘community development’ as: “The process of developing active and sustainable communities based on social justice and mutual respect. It is about influencing power structures to remove the barriers that prevent people from participating in the issues that affect their lives…Community workers (officers) facilitate the participation of people in this process. They enable connections to be made between communities and with the development of wider policies and programmes…Community development expresses values of fairness, equality, accountability, opportunity, choice, participation, mutuality, reciprocity and continuous learning. Educating, enabling and empowering are at the core of community development.” Community development, and struggle for the rights of the downtrodden that are embedded in Gandhinian philosophy have their manifestations in present day India. Mahatma Gandhi was a man of the masses – ready to take up the cudgels on behalf of ...

With the results of the February 18 elections out, Pakistan has entered a crucial phase of its transition towards democracy, that of forming stable governments both at the Centre and provinces and thereby help the country wriggle out of its many crises, ranging from flour and energy shortage to the militancy raging in the tribal areas and spilling over into settled areas of the country, especially in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). Most important, however, remains the task of restoring Pakistan’s original Constitution and, subsequently, instituting a strong parliamentary system. Restoration of the sacked judges forms an essential part of this undertaking. This would of course require forcing the exit of President General (retired) Pervez Musharraf, who can be rightly blamed for inflicting the most fatal wounds to Pakistan’s parliamentary democracy by ruling through a handpicked prime minister and a spineless parliament that functioned under the shadow of a constitutional amend...

Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on December 27, 2007. With her died the hopes of millions of Pakistanis. And like most people, her death has shaken me to the core, though I was not a great fan of her politics. Yet the uncertainty her death has generated looms over this country and bleeds the heart of every Pakistani. The foremost casualty of this tragedy is the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), whose future hangs in the balance. The co-chairperson of the PPP, Asif Zardari, is a controversial figure due to many charges of corruption, etc., in which he was allegedly involved. After Ms Bhutto’s unfortunate death, controversy again enveloped Mr Zardari when he said that Benazir Bhutto’s ‘will’ would not be made public. What has made this statement come under scrutiny is that according to the ‘will’, Ms Bhutto appointed her husband Asif Ali Zardari as the party chairman. When this ‘will’ was read before the PPP’s Central Executive Committee, Mr Zardari refused to become the new chairman and ap...

One of the most controversial Indian politicians of his time, Narendra Modi, has been voted back for the third time as Gujarat’s chief minister. Most of us associate Modi’s name with the violent communal riots of 2002, while his supporters associate his name with ‘Vibrant Gujarat’! In an article titled, ‘Why Modi appeals to Hindus’ ( Rediff News, December 24, 2007), Mr B Raman analyses what the Hindu community sees in him. He asks: “His [Modi’s] simple and austere living…His reputation as an incorruptible politician…His style of development-oriented governance…The fruits of his policy, which Gujarat and its people are already enjoying…His tough stance on terrorism…His lucid-thinking on matters concerning our national security…His defiance in the face of the greatest campaign of demonisation mounted against him…?” And then Mr Raman goes on to give one other factor, which he says is more important than the ones stated above. That one factor is: “…for large sections of the Hindus – young...

India, a country that evokes all sorts of emotions in Pakistan and Pakistanis – some like it, some hate it, some are not bothered about it, while some (like me) love it. It had always been my dream to visit India one day because the country fascinates me. India’s rich culture and history and the fact that both India and Pakistan share a common history, including bittersweet memories, only added to my fascination. Add to it the fact that I have a lot of Indian friends whom I have met online and some of who, over the years, have become like family. Thus when I got a chance to visit India, I was overjoyed. Panos South Asia, a media organisation, had arranged a media exchange programme for six journalists from Pakistan to visit India. This was part of a people-to-people contact programme in order to promote peace between the two South Asian neighbours. It was a 15-day trip and the three cities that we were going to visit were Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. All of us were excited at the prospec...

Pakistan today is on the verge of a civil war. As explained in this space last week, Pakistan’s U-turn on its Afghan policy has resulted in a catastrophe. The demons of extremism, unleashed by Pakistan itself, have come to haunt us today in the form of local Taliban. The Northern Areas and NWFP remain in focus these days due to the increased militancy. But while all this is going on, we must not forget another province that is also on fire – Balochistan. The International Crisis Group (ICG) recently released its report, ‘Pakistan: The Forgotten Conflict in Balochistan’, which once again highlighted how the Musharraf government tried to tackle a political problem with military might. This inevitably resulted in an armed resistance by the Baloch people. The government might label the insurgency as ‘anti-state’, but it is far from that. The insurgency is the result of the Centre’s faulty policies from the day Pakistan emerged on the world map. “Within 24 hours of the creation of Pakistan ...