Order and Anarchy

President and General Musharraf introduced the present Local Government Plan on 14th August 2000. It was an Independence Day “gift” of “democracy” from the General to the people of Pakistan. The objective of this plan was purported to be the empowerment of people and the establishment of genuinely working democratic institutions.

However, from the looks of things, it seems that Musharraf has just followed in the footsteps of his predecessors namely, General Zia and Field Marshall Ayub Khan. Like them, Musharraf quickly jumped on the idea of devolution of power to the grassroots level. Well, it is understandable, that all of them including Musharraf needed some means to legitimizing their hold of the government and their seizure of power of the State. All of these dictators have used the system of Local Governments to achieve results like depoliticizing the tiers of the government.

Musharraf’s plan envisaged extensive decentralization of political and administrative authority. This is probably the one point that can be singled out which differentiates General Musharraf’s plan from those of his predecessors’.

Apparently, Musharraf’s plan seems to have some very noble objectives, but reality is different. The Musharraf regime has spared nothing in using this system for its’ own advantage. For example, everyone in Pakistan knows how district nazims used public resources to stage pro – Musharraf rallies during the presidential referendum campaign in April 2002 and during the General Election campaign.

Although the plan aims to establish and strengthen democracy, it has infact served as a tool to legitimizing and strengthen the dictatorial regime. In a world where military dictators are frowned upon, the Musharraf regime desperately needed some sort of mechanism, which could give the regime its needed support. So, the military came up with a power devolution plan, which would create nominal local governments at the district level. The local governments were to create the military’s democratic image and were to create an image that the military was serious in restoring civilian rule.

One of the most important aspect of the Local Government Plan is that the system that it seeks to implement is of a party – less nature. Historically, the military has always remained allergic to party politics. It has always tried to undermine party politics. This approach helps the military greatly in its approach of divide and rule. Also, such a non – party political setup promotes politics of favoritism on the basis of caste, region, etc.

Additionally, the Local Government Plan beautifully bypasses the provincial tiers of governance. This leads to the weakening of the federation. For instance, in order to provide security to the plan from the whims of any elected government that may try to amend it (atleast in the foreseeable future), General Musharraf has placed the Local Government Ordinance in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. Article 268(2) of the Constitution says that the laws specified in the Sixth Schedule may not be altered, repealed or amended without the prior permission of the President. This fact also implies that although making local governments a provincial subject, the provinces don’t have real control.

The current state of things has unleashed a large-scale political engineering that seeks to undermine the political parties in the country as well as to enhance divisions between the different layers of the government. Instead of promoting democracy, the present system has only enhanced the scope and projection of military control.

So now that we are done with the exercise of electing local district governments in the country, I want to put my mind out on the efficacy of the whole process.

It’s worthless now to repeat the mode in which these polls were held – in two phases. The government had promised that these elections would be held on a non – party basis and that no efforts will be spared to make sure that the whole process remains transparent. For this purpose, the Election Commission of pakistan had also issued a Code of Conduct and had also instructed that whoever found violating the code, will be dealt with strictly.

Now with all this rhetoric over, we look at what actually took place in the name of elections.

BBC reports that around 37 people died in poll related violence accross the country in both the phases – 15 in the first phase and 22 in the second. And just look at the “holy” cause for which these people laid their lives – petty local body seats.

This shows the extent of moral depravity of our society and the extent to which materialism has penetrated in it. Anyways, this was just another aspect.

The widespread flouting of the Code of Conduct was visible throughout the election campaigns and on the polling day also. Adding insult to injury, the Election Commission seemed to be doing simply nothing regarding the wholesale contempt shown to it. But we can expect such a thing happening in a country where almost every stakeholder of the society indulges in law breaking – right from the legislators who frame the laws to the common man on the street.

The Election Commission had directed that there shall not any sort of display of symbols of any political party in election campaigns. And every political party in the country worth its name was involved in disregarding this directive. Even today as of this moment, one can see a life sized billboard advertising a political party and its leader is affixed on a building in the Guru Mandir area in Karachi. This was put there during the campaign of the first phase of elections. this political party also happens to be part of the coalition government both at the center and in the province of Sind.

The Election Commission of pakistan also directed that any sitting legislator of any political party shall not participate in campaigning activities. However, the what to say of the Chief Minister, when the Prime Minister himself disregarded this directive by campaigning in Hyderabad.

The press is awash with stories about incidents of bogus voting aqnd large scale rigging. This also includes reports of a large number of candidates having been elected unopposed.

All such incidents have turned the local body polls into a futile exercise, meant only as an eyewash, with a pre – planned agenda in mind on the part of the powers that be. In my opinion, these polls were meant to, as is the case with all such elections in the chequered political history of Pakistan, make a fool of the intellect of those who believe that Pakistan is being led to a full working democracy with tranparent processes.

Today, I read in the newspaper that a technical committee that was constituted by the government some time back for the purpose of determinig the feasibility of large dams in the country, has proposed that the construction of atleast five big dams is technically feasible and these include Skardu-Katzara, Bhasha and Kalabagh dams. The proposal also adds that consensus needs to be evolved in the country on any of these.

I wonder what consensus this report talks about.

Only one province, Punjab, seems to be fully satisfied by the construction of large dams and reservoirs in the country, specially the Kalabagh Dam.

The concern for creating large reservoirs immediately is understandable, keeping in view the acute water shortages that the country is expected to face in the near future. However, pursuing the way ruthlessly damming the rivers is no solution. Instead, it has the potential to create new problems, which may be very hard to resolve. In this context, political rhetoric aside, there are some very valid arguments on the side of the Sind province that go against constructing large dams.

Although dams play a vital role in the progress and development of human beings and their standards of living, usually a huge and unjustifiable cost is paid to acquire these benefits in terms of social and environmental issues. The same issues are at play here, against the construction of large dams in Pakistan.

One of the most important consequence that dams wreak is on coastal ecosystems. In Pakistan too, river flow patterns altered by dams upstream the Indus River have caused unmitigated misery in the costal areas of Sind province.

I read in Dawn that due to the negative effects of the altered waterflows in the Indus River, some 2.2 million acres of fertile farmland have been inundated due to sea – intrusion in the coastal districts of Thatta and Badin, in the Sind province, due to shortage of waterflows in the Indus Delta. Further, some 0.3 million people have been forced to migrate from the region and 2.7 million people forced below the poverty line.

Lack of freshwater in the Indus Delta has also reportedly caused the mangroves to shrink to one – third. This does not stops here. Delta regions provide a very suitable environment for shrimps and fish farming. The loss of waterflows downstream Kotri have also affected the fishing communities intesively.

However, there is a widespread view in Pakistan that letting the required water flow down into the sea is akin to wasting a valuable resource. I think that this is not so. Water has to be let to flow into the sea. If there was ample water available to flow into the sea consistently, poor farming and fishing communities would not have been affected in such an adverse manner. I wonder why proponents of large dams on the Indus assume water flowing into the sea as being wasted. It is so important for the coastal economies that are so poor. it is so important for the survival of coastal ecosystems. Infact, this discharge into the sea should be treated as an investment.

This was just the tip of the iceberg.

The agony that dams cause to populations which they dislocate is another major issue.

I’m sure there would be a large number of qualified hydrological engineers in the country. I really wonder why can’t they come up with nice alternatives. Well, there happens to be a very good alternative and I’m sure that the good and able authorities and engineers won’t be naive enough not to have realized it. And it is “Water Conservation”. So much of water is simply wasted in our country. Why don’t proper steps be taken to arrest this wastage.

For example, take the city of Karachi. There remains a prennial shortage of water in this godforsaken mini – Pakistan. But they say that if the waste of water that takes place from lawns to parking lots to industries is arrested, the gap between the demand and supply of water in the city would shrink to zero.

Therefore, I think that General Musharraf, who is going to take a decision on the construction of a large dam on the Indus River, should very well look into all the aspects and consequences that will come alongwith it. From his statements in the media, it seems that he is all out in favour of yet another dam on the Indus. He should very well look into all the aspects and consequences that will come alongwtih a new dam. He should not be guided alone by the pro – dam lobby. He should also make use of his own judgement in view of the available facts.

General Musharraf may be well advised that he may look back in history and seek lessons from it so that avoidable miseries may not be leashed onto the people as well as the environment. And history tells us that dams are notorious for doing the same.

This is to congratulate the Pakistan Hockey Team for winning the eight – nation Rabo Trophy in such a beautiful manner specially after an inept performance at the Hamburg Masters. There also, Australia trounced Pakistan 4 – 3. Pakistan did the same to Australia in the Rabo Trophy Final….Thumbs up to the Pakistan Hockey Team!!

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you dear Pakistan
Happy birthday to you.

May you have many more
May you have many more
May you have many more dear Pakistan
Happy birthday to you.

Tomorrow, we – the great Pakistani nation – are celebrating the 58th Independence Day of our beloved country. The nation is already in a festive mood. There is a feeling of celebration and joy all over the place. The usually frustrated and dejected masses have suddenly found a certain pride.

Here at the IBA campus in the Karachi University, although students are in a joyous mood, but there is no sign of any activity related to the event. This may be because that little time is available to the students in between the classes to indulge in such sort of activities. However, while coming here in the morning, I saw a flurry of activity in the main Karachi University campus.

There, the students were busy in all sorts of activities like decorating their departments with paper flags. Female students wore a uniform outfit comprising of colours of the National Flag.

So all in all, there is quite a bustle around here.

Let me wish my Pakistani brethren a very happy, peacefull and joyous day on the 14th of August, and always.

Pakistan’s 58th Independence Day falls just this Sunday. there has been a flurry of activities to celebrate the event. Members of the population, both young and old, are busy in decorating their premises and the streets with the National Flag.

However, there seems to be a neglible concern about the respect being given to the National Flag. I see so many small paper flags lying around on the floors and the streets and in the garbage dumps.

Peope should see to this matter at every level, and everyone of us should review our actions. On the one hand, we want to show so much enthusiasm, vigour and patriotism while on the other, we show so much of a contempt and disrespect to our National Banner.