Time for a pact with the devil

In order to run a polio vaccination campaign in Afghanistan and to stay alive while doing so who's permission and protection you need? Health workers in Afghanistan feel safer carrying a piece of paper, a letter of introduction from Mullah Omar, leader of Afghan Taliban who has been in hiding since the US invasion of Afghanistan. Apparently a copy of a piece of paper with Mullah Omar's signature provides you more security while carrying out social work than a US army hummer.

The WHO and Unicef, who are running these polio vaccination campaigns, like other UN agencies have been banned from engaging with the Taliban since the security council blacklisted them as terrorists after 9/11. In order to carry out essential vaccination campaigns they contact Mullah Omar through the International Committee of the Red Cross, the only international organization that maintains regular communications with the Taliban command and act as an intermediary every time a new letter of support is needed.

According to Yaroslav Trofimov writing for Wall Street Journal

"For U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan, the arrangement represents a moral dilemma. Coalition military officials shy away from criticizing the WHO and Unicef for reaching out to the Taliban.

Nevertheless, the fact that the international community and Afghan government authorities must request Taliban permission to operate in large parts of the country makes some Western officials wince. "It's a pact with the devil," says one senior Western diplomat in Kabul. "But it's a pact in order to save lives."

Taliban control over one third of Afghanistan while president Karzai's influence is limited to urban areas.

Since Mullah Omar's first letter was issued, in August 2007, vaccinators gained entry to dozens of previously out-of-bounds villages, WHO officials say. More importantly, the Taliban endorsement allowed many vaccination teams that considered pulling out because of safety concerns to continue operating in other districts, even as fighting intensified.

Mullah Omar's cooperation with Afghanistan's polio drive contrasts with the ban on polio vaccinations imposed by leaders of the separate, but affiliated, Taliban movement in neighboring Pakistan...Antipolio campaigns have long been opposed by conservative clerics across South Asia as an American-led conspiracy to sterilize or poison Muslim children. This is a key reason why the disease persists in India and Pakistan.

Afghanistan's Mullah Omar adopted the opposite approach. His letter, viewed by The Wall Street Journal and issued on behalf of the movement's parallel government, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, urges all jihadi fighters and Taliban sympathizers to work with Unicef, WHO and the polio teams. It instructs villagers to take children to a specially designated area where they can receive their dose.

Since the beginning of Afghan war a major error in US policy in Afghanistan has been that the Americans in their infinite wisdom complicated the problem of international terrorism at hand by putting Taliban and Al-Qaeeda together - exactly the way they got sidetracked in Iraq. Not all Taliban are terrorists - narrowminded fundamentalist bigots for sure but not international terrorists. While a large number of them are thrity year long battle hardened guerilla fighters whose only passion in life is to fight against an enemy, many of them are still looking for legitimacy as real rulers of Aghanistan. Mullah Omar has not turned a social worker overnight. Signs are that he wants to engage. Long term solution to the Afghan problem is not in more Nato soldiers, it is in engagement with moderate Taliban elements. It is time to do a pact with the devil!

Pakistan People's Party - collective leadership failure

by Dr Nazir Ahmed

President Zardari alone is not responsible for perils faced by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) today. Being the president of a country his personal problems are now hampering the progress of Pakistan. The problems are growing with the time and it appears to be consuming most of his waking time in meetings with so called friends and allies or political partners - time that he should rather spend on betterment of people of Pakistan who are stuck in a country where the quality of rulers seems to be dwindling with each successive government as Father of the Nation Mohammad Ali Jinnah predicted before his death in 1948.

But could Zardari alone be held responsible for the current plight of PPP or does the entire PPP leadership carry the blame? There is no doubt that luck played a big part in Zardari’s ascent to power. It clearly was a very difficult period in PPP’s history after the party was left devastated by the loss of its all powerful leader, Benazir Bhutto . Also there is this traditional style of ascent to political leadership in the subcontinent where a single person becomes the face of the party without whom nothing seems to matter.

For this reason the senior party leadership thought that they needed a figurehead in the form of Zardari, being father of Benazir's children, to carry on that legacy. This was understandable logic at the time but the leadership had a much bigger and wider role to play.

The party leadership should have been able to see outside the box and should have able to imagine the ramifications of Zardari’s candidacy which they approved on his flimsy evidence. Evidence that Mr Zardari refused to share with the public to whom they owe everything, who have made them the “leaders” they are.

The traditional style of thinking and jumping on the band wagon without proper assessment would have normally worked in Pakistan only if the candidate in question was a normal first husband. The man in question was, however, no other but Mr Zardari and the party leadership failed to recognise the extent of the baggage he carried and his capacity to be ever able to emerge from those shadows.

The PPP Central Executive Committee was witness to the fall of its government on two occasions and on either occasion Zardari’s corruption was blamed for it. It is only fair to expect from members of CEC that they would have been capable of such risk assessment and its management. They failed dismally on both counts.

Before making a decision on a new party leader the senior leadership should have carried out wider discussions over many days involving all stake holders instead of a two hours meeting just two days after the death of a cult like personality Benazir Bhutto.

The question in consideration should have been that in Pakistan where a party chairman is a supposed to be a visionary personality who leads his/her party to success and glory wcould Zardari be that person or would he become a liability for the party because of his past and that whether that damage would be sustainable.

Secondly once they had agreed to his ascent to power there should have been a comprehensive strategy development exercise aimed at enhancing his stature to such a point that effortlessly appeared convincing to the masses. This should have been possible by putting together a governing team without a blemish on their character that executed political programme that uplifted the lives of masses.

Quite to the contrary the party made mistakes after mistakes refusing to accept the consequences. The party somehow convinced itself that as they had accepted Zardari so will the masses and all other stake holders. They failed again to recognise that whereas they had a personal interests in selecting him but other stakeholders did not. And to be fair to other stakeholders including Pakistani public, PPP political allied parties, opposition parties, judiciary, agitating lawyers, establishment and media time and again gave Zardari and the PPP benefit of the doubt. But time and again Mr Zardari faled all of them by breaking political promises and agreements.

The CEC, that “expressed full confidence in Mr Zardari” after each political disaster, should have foreseen the consequences that such behaviour invited and should have stood up to his style of governance. As Mr Zardari’s political behaviour became more and more erratic and unpredictable the CEC only concerned itself to repeatedly reposing its trust in him leaving people shocked and hopeless.

Mr Zardari somehow believed once ratified by CEC all his wrongs will become right. No dissenting voice was heard in public apart from rare few who didn’t matter anyway as Zardari had isolated them. Although the CEC looked after Mr Zardari’s interests they showed a blatant disregard for the interests of PPP workers, its supporters and its electorate. CEC failed in its primary function to ensure that the collective decisions were in the interests of the party, its supporters and most of all Pakistan. One wonders how do a group of such individuals, who repeatedly and deliberately fail in their sacred responsibility of looking after the interests of millions, live with their conscience on daily basis. How do they fail

repeatedly not to recognise right from wrong? How do they not feel guilty by always giving in to such demands and not thinking of the impact of such decisions on scores of people? How dare they insult the intelligence of Pakistani public by endlessly arguing in favour of their repeated betrayals of Pakistan and its public on electronic media rather than hiding behind walls. For it is Pakistan that made them who they are today and without it although they might have palaces in different countries around the world but will have no identity.

PArty leadership's decision about Zardari leadership has seriously wounded the party and it is now time for the CEC to make its mark. The senior leadership needs to come out of Zardari’s shadows and play an active role in steering the country out of this situation. Without further delay they need to strongly support and implement some long awaited and popular demands like the restoration of constitution, rationalising the cabinet and take strong measures against corruption.

If Zardari is stubborn enough to continue to disregard the senior leadership and treat them like hired managers of a private business then they need to reflect that rather than humiliating themselves on daily basis by making vain attempts to justify his selfish blunders is it worthwhile to resign from CEC and live like decent men with their heads high rather than govern with a bleeding conscience.

Manifesto for a generation

Have Pakistani youth given up hope! Hope that Pakistan can be pulled out of the crisis it is in at the moment. Hope that lasting change is within reach!


Pakistani youth involved in writing of "The Next Generation" report by the British Council were asked to create a manifesto for their generation listing the goals they beleived young Pakistnis should set themselves and their peers in the pursuit of positive change for Pakistan. A group of young people from my home town Lahore came with the following manifesto:

• Zero tolerance towards corruption.
• Thou shall judge your fellow human beings based on nothing but his/her merit.
• Teach Pakistan, server Pakistan. I pledge to spend at least 4 hours per month for 5 years teaching in community service.
• I shall read at least one book a year that is in direct conflict with my belief.
• I will not discriminate.
• I pledge to accept all my mistakes instead of justifying them.
• I will not be a second-class citizen in my own country and not compromise Pakistan and its sovereignty while doing so.

Hope is not lost, yet!

The Next Generation - trials and tribulations of Pakistani youth

Headlines from recently launched report "Pakistan: the next Generation" by the British Council has taken many across the world by surprise. The report highlights that since 1980 (year when proportion of adults to children and old people reached its lowest level in Pakistan) there have been more young people in Pakistan than old. We are now a younger and increasingly urban society - half of Pakistani citizens are under twenty; two thirds have yet to reach their thirtieth birthday.

With more young people ready to join the work force and engage in making a difference Pakistani leadership has an opportunity to turn this into an economic development opportunity.

This demographic dividend first became available in the 1990s. The window of opportunity will close around 2045, by which time the society will be ageing rapidly. During this period, therefore, investment in the next generation will have a huge impact on Pakistan's long term prospects. The dividend doesn't come for free. It has to be earned.

Pakistan needs to educate its youth and make sure they are healthy; find them jobs as they get older and provide them with opportunities to save; and offer them ways of expressing their desire for social and political change.

Young people offer great promise for Pakistan's future, but only if they are equipped to lead productive, engaged and fulfilling lives. At present, this generation is in grave peril. It is starved of education and opportunities, and vulnerable to manipulation by those who do not have its best interests at heart. This [younger] generation is at a crossroads. Starved of opportunity, it feels bottled up and frustrated, trapped in a world where only the wealthy and the well-connected thrive. While few believe violence is justified, many understand its causes, believing that injustice and poor economic conditions are fuelling social unrest and terror.

According to the survey main areas of concern for young people in Pakistan are:

Economic survival: 72% of young people believe that their personal economic situation has got worse in the past year. Only one in ten are hopeful for things to get better in the near future. Of course, they are worried about terrorism and the security situation, but their main worries are day-to-day survival

Lack of trust in political leadership:

Disillusion with democracy is pronounced. Only around 10% have a great deal of confidence in national or local government, the courts, or the police. Only 39% voted in the last election; while half are not even on the voters' list.

Many in the media would like to read it as a vote of no confidence in President Zardari but that would be unfair. Young people are disillusioned by political elite in the country - not just by one political party or one individual. The political class is seen as selfish and corrupt:

“Politicians are busy in their own fighting and no one even cares or bothers". Many in the next generation do not believe Pakistan's leaders really want the country to change. And although they have ideas about the future, the next generation are convinced nobody is listening.

Trust in military and religion: Trust in the courts, police and local government is severely depleted, while only the military is widely trusted. This should be taken as a vote of confidence in Pakistan army as an institution - a sign that while general public despises General Musharraf's regime, Army has been able to re-establish its credibility at the most crucial time in our history.

Hunger for self expression:

Young people feel they have few platforms from where they can express themselves, while a failure to enforce basic civil liberties means that few young Pakistanis feel able to campaign for change. The next generation needs opportunities to express itself politically and to participate in building a cohesive society. Frustrate its ambitions or waste its energy, and you have a recipe for social failure and disruption.

Education:

The violence that has plagued Pakistan in recent times deters young people from attending school, going to work and socialising with their peers. It is a major impediment in achieving their goals. An overriding priority must be to expand access to education. The experience of other countries shows that rapid progress is possible, given political will, adequate funding, and effective delivery. Though the government is now committed to increasing expenditure on education to 7% of GDP by 2015, through its new National education Policy the Ministry of Education struggles to spend its current funding allocation highlighting issues with capacity for delivery.

Due to a lack of proper planning nearly twenty years of the [demographic] dividend have already been wasted...Time is running out to put appropriate policies in place...the absence of which may result in large scale unemployment and immense pressure on health and education systems. In short, a socio-economic crisis may take place, making the demographic dividend more of a demographic
threat.

The report acknowledges that the international community has failed Pakistan, while pursuing a myopic and narrow minded agenda that has not delivered any tangible improvement in the security of ordinary people.

Pakistan risks falling prey to a worsening cycle of poverty, polarisation and conflict, at a time when the population continues to increase rapidly and growing numbers of Pakistanis hunger for a better life. Demographic challenges place Pakistan at a crossroads. Action taken today will have an impact for a generation or more. Conversely, the country will reap the consequences of failure for decades to come."

It is heartening to note that despite their growing frustration, young people still love their country, with a majority believing it is the best country in the world to live in.

Scaremongering about Pakistani nukes

Writing for New Yorker Seymour Hersh has tried to launch another scaremongering campaign against the security of Pakistani nukes. But this time the boogyman is not the usual piniata - a fierce looking beareded Taliban from the North West. For a change he is raising doubts on the integrity of Pakistani armed forces

The principal fear is mutiny — that extremists inside the Pakistani military might stage a coup, take control of some nuclear assets, or even divert a warhead.

Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee of Pakistan Army General Tariq Majid objected:

We have operationalised a very effective nuclear security regime which incorporates very stringent custodial and access controls...as overall custodian of the development of our strategic programme, I reiterate in very unambiguous terms that there is absolutely no question of sharing or allowing any foreign individual, entity or a state, any access to sensitive information about our nuclear assets.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton agrees

“We have confidence in the Pakistani government and the military’s control over nuclear weapons.”

Hersh has reiterated age old American desire of some how taking Pakistani nukes into "protective custody" to save it from barbaric Pakistanis.

Washington...has been negotiating highly sensitive understandings with the Pakistani military. These would allow specially trained American units to provide added security for the Pakistani arsenal in case of a crisis.

And to make matters worse he attempts to malign General Kiyani by branding him as another American stooge -

understandings on nuclear coöperation benefitted from the increasingly close relationship between Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General Kayani, his counterpart, although the C.I.A. and the Departments of Defense, State, and Energy have also been involved.

American scaremongerers like Seymour Hersh need to come out of the wonderland they are living in. Before talking about mutiny in the Pakistan army and trying to help secure our nukes you better pay attention to securing Fort Hood.

Self regulation by Pakistani media and government attempts to curb its freedom

In September I wrote on Increasing bad taste and need for self regulation in Pakistani media

Two significant developments in Pakistan that have bearing upon freedom of Media are worth taking note of:

It has been reported that eight major electronic news outlets – KTN, Samaa, DawnNews, Dunya, Express News and Express 24/7, ARY, Geo and Aaj TV have reached an agreement on a code of conduct in terms of the coverage of terrorism. These channels have agreed upon a set of rules governing broadcast of images in the aftermath of a terrorist attack, the need for time-delays on live broadcasts, guidelines for covering hostage situations, the airing of demands and messages by terrorists, and the training and safety of news crews and reporters;

While news media is demonstrating sensitivity to public demand for this kind of code of conduct for self regulation the government appears to be going in the opposite direction. The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting has decided to endorse laws restricting the independence of the electronic media. These are meant to be incorporated into the proposed Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Act 2008. According to reports this is being done to ensure that nothing prejudicial to the ideology of Pakistan or the sovereignty and security of the state is propagated by TV journalists. This argument and the proposed new set of rules is open to misinterpretation and abuse - as has been at various stages in Pakistan's history where similar arguments have been used to throttle freedom of press and political opinion. These rules can amount to sheer censorship and the muzzling of dissent and criticism.

While we should fully endorse and support the steps taken by the electronic media self regulate and to introduce a code of conduct lets hope that attempts to curb their independence by the current political establishment, that owes its very existence to this free media, is checked by the National Assembly. I sincerely hope that this is not one of the long list of suicidal political gaffes by our current lords and masters.