jeypore
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Abdul Basit
Ours is a land of strange norms and realities. We not only created unnecessary confusion about our identity right after our independence but delayed the most important business of constitution making for inexplicable reasons without which a state virtually lives in a state of paralysis. Pakistan existed without a proper constitution for nine years after its independence, without a general elections for 23 years, forced a majority (East Pakistanis) to break free from oppressions of a minority (West Pakistan), a country where military rule plagued the national history for more than half of its life, a state where no democratically elected government, save one, completed its tenure, either they were toppled by military coup makers or dismissed by presidents. A place where sates exist with a state, where parallel judicial and administrative systems run. We have hardly learnt anything from past failures.
A cursory look at the present situation and our responses towards it make it clear that we are following ostrich policy by hiding our heads in sand in denial of the storm that is heading towards us. Pakistan was declared a war zone by International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Our government not only debunked this declaration but termed it violation of its sovereignty. Whether ICRC acted beyond its mandate or not is a different debate. Lets take a look at the prevailing ground realities in Pakistan to ascertain the credibility of this announcement. Pakistan, the only nuclear armed Muslim state, has been fighting extremism and terrorism in Fata for the last four years now. While the state turned a blind eye to what was happening in tribal areas after American invasion of Afghanistan, it hardly took any concrete measures to check the growing influence of al Qaeda and Taliban in these areas. The military at that time used terrorism as a bargain chip to perpetuate its illegitimate stint at power. As a result law and order deteriorated eroding states writ.
A common feeling amongst the masses is that the Pakistan army is fighting Americas war in the tribal areas. This distorted version of ground realities has pushed Pakistan on the edge of brinkmanship. We are still trying to tell the masses that all is well and that the government is hell bent on ensuring their safety while if one evaluates these lofty claims against the poor performance of law enforcement agencies in the wake of Marriott bombing and other such incidents it sends a cold shiver down the spine. No debate has been carried out in parliament on counter-terrorism policy, a problem that has put the very survival of the state in danger. No effort has been made to take the public into confidence and evolve a national consensus. The repeated violation of our airspace and drone attacks by US exposes weakness and inability of the government.
On economic situation is far from satisfactory. Inflation is at all time high, breaking all previous records while more and more surcharges and taxes are being levied. Pakistans currency is the fourth worst performing currency of the world. Our forex reserves are depleting and our credit rating has plummeted. Once again, we are looking towards the IMF for loans to run the engine of our economy. Marriott bombing has resulted in the flight of foreign capital. Rupee is at all time low against the dollar. To make matters worse, load shedding has increased the cost of production forcing investors to reconsider their plans for doing further business in Pakistan. Recently, a Polish oil exploring company closed its activity in Pakistan after one of its engineers was kidnapped by militants. British Airways has suspended its flights for Pakistan. Many Western embassies cancelled their visa services for security situation.
Ironically, our state of preparedness in such testing times to tackle an untoward situation is very poor. The inability of fire brigade department to put out fire after Marriot bombing exposed the inadequacy of government infrastructure. Despite getting billions in aid Pakistans paramilitary forces lack equipment to effectively combat terrorist threat in tribal areas. Frontier Corps are without night-vision goggles making them vulnerable to terrorist onslaught who are armed with modern weaponry. Not once but on many occasions Pakistan militarys convoys have been abducted by militants greatly undermining the ability of Pakistan army to counter check the upsurge of militancy. Traditionally, Pakistan army is trained to fight traditional warfare in plains against India and does not have an inkling of unconventional warfare. They are poorly trained to fight an insurgency in mountainous terrain.
The clouds of uncertainty still hover over the political landscape of the country. Though the process of transition from military to democratically elected civilian rule has been completed, still there are fears whether the current government will complete its tenure or not. Whether Punjab government is toppled in near future or will it co-exist with the PPP-led coalition government at the Centre is unclear.
The prevailing situation in the country demands extraordinary statesmanship and vision from public leadership if it is to pull the country out of troubled waters. We have to get our act together as a nation, shun the ostrich policy and admit our failures in the first place instead of going in denial that are pushing us towards a greater disaster day by day. What Pakistan needs is an urgent counter-terrorism policy evolved through national consensus taking all quarters of society into account by creating awareness about the menace of terrorism through media and open debate. This will restore trust and confidence of public in their representatives. Any further confusion will spell disaster.
The writer is an M.Phil Student at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad
Opinion
Ours is a land of strange norms and realities. We not only created unnecessary confusion about our identity right after our independence but delayed the most important business of constitution making for inexplicable reasons without which a state virtually lives in a state of paralysis. Pakistan existed without a proper constitution for nine years after its independence, without a general elections for 23 years, forced a majority (East Pakistanis) to break free from oppressions of a minority (West Pakistan), a country where military rule plagued the national history for more than half of its life, a state where no democratically elected government, save one, completed its tenure, either they were toppled by military coup makers or dismissed by presidents. A place where sates exist with a state, where parallel judicial and administrative systems run. We have hardly learnt anything from past failures.
A cursory look at the present situation and our responses towards it make it clear that we are following ostrich policy by hiding our heads in sand in denial of the storm that is heading towards us. Pakistan was declared a war zone by International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Our government not only debunked this declaration but termed it violation of its sovereignty. Whether ICRC acted beyond its mandate or not is a different debate. Lets take a look at the prevailing ground realities in Pakistan to ascertain the credibility of this announcement. Pakistan, the only nuclear armed Muslim state, has been fighting extremism and terrorism in Fata for the last four years now. While the state turned a blind eye to what was happening in tribal areas after American invasion of Afghanistan, it hardly took any concrete measures to check the growing influence of al Qaeda and Taliban in these areas. The military at that time used terrorism as a bargain chip to perpetuate its illegitimate stint at power. As a result law and order deteriorated eroding states writ.
A common feeling amongst the masses is that the Pakistan army is fighting Americas war in the tribal areas. This distorted version of ground realities has pushed Pakistan on the edge of brinkmanship. We are still trying to tell the masses that all is well and that the government is hell bent on ensuring their safety while if one evaluates these lofty claims against the poor performance of law enforcement agencies in the wake of Marriott bombing and other such incidents it sends a cold shiver down the spine. No debate has been carried out in parliament on counter-terrorism policy, a problem that has put the very survival of the state in danger. No effort has been made to take the public into confidence and evolve a national consensus. The repeated violation of our airspace and drone attacks by US exposes weakness and inability of the government.
On economic situation is far from satisfactory. Inflation is at all time high, breaking all previous records while more and more surcharges and taxes are being levied. Pakistans currency is the fourth worst performing currency of the world. Our forex reserves are depleting and our credit rating has plummeted. Once again, we are looking towards the IMF for loans to run the engine of our economy. Marriott bombing has resulted in the flight of foreign capital. Rupee is at all time low against the dollar. To make matters worse, load shedding has increased the cost of production forcing investors to reconsider their plans for doing further business in Pakistan. Recently, a Polish oil exploring company closed its activity in Pakistan after one of its engineers was kidnapped by militants. British Airways has suspended its flights for Pakistan. Many Western embassies cancelled their visa services for security situation.
Ironically, our state of preparedness in such testing times to tackle an untoward situation is very poor. The inability of fire brigade department to put out fire after Marriot bombing exposed the inadequacy of government infrastructure. Despite getting billions in aid Pakistans paramilitary forces lack equipment to effectively combat terrorist threat in tribal areas. Frontier Corps are without night-vision goggles making them vulnerable to terrorist onslaught who are armed with modern weaponry. Not once but on many occasions Pakistan militarys convoys have been abducted by militants greatly undermining the ability of Pakistan army to counter check the upsurge of militancy. Traditionally, Pakistan army is trained to fight traditional warfare in plains against India and does not have an inkling of unconventional warfare. They are poorly trained to fight an insurgency in mountainous terrain.
The clouds of uncertainty still hover over the political landscape of the country. Though the process of transition from military to democratically elected civilian rule has been completed, still there are fears whether the current government will complete its tenure or not. Whether Punjab government is toppled in near future or will it co-exist with the PPP-led coalition government at the Centre is unclear.
The prevailing situation in the country demands extraordinary statesmanship and vision from public leadership if it is to pull the country out of troubled waters. We have to get our act together as a nation, shun the ostrich policy and admit our failures in the first place instead of going in denial that are pushing us towards a greater disaster day by day. What Pakistan needs is an urgent counter-terrorism policy evolved through national consensus taking all quarters of society into account by creating awareness about the menace of terrorism through media and open debate. This will restore trust and confidence of public in their representatives. Any further confusion will spell disaster.
The writer is an M.Phil Student at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad
Opinion
