I am trying to work out which one is the greater challenge.
That there are Taliban in Swat or that the police and judiciary fall short of minimum standards.
To say that a militia of a few thousand fighters at best, is likely to run over a 600,000 strong Pakistan Army stretches creduility. Even the mighty Rustum feared taking on such odds in his own legends. That Taliban can run over Pakistan is similar to chicken little’s hue and cry about the sky losing altitude. However, absence of consequences for criminals CAN plunge the country into lawlessness.
In fact it already has and that is the clear and present danger.
Defense from external threats has always been on top of national agenda without exceptions. However, it appears that defense from internal threats, or law and order has been relegated to use in slang.
The per capita expenditure on law enforcement in District Rawalpindi, one of most well policed district, is Rs350 per person per year, with one police person for every 800 people. I don’t believe a scholarly effort is required to prove that this department of the state is badly dysfunctional.
The Lahore high court has 36 judges that adjudicate the disputes of about 90 million people. That is less than one Judge per 2.5 million people. No wonder LHC and its lower courts have 1.3 million cases pending as of April 2009
Peshawar High court has 13 judges that mind the disputes of 21 million people. That is one judge for every 1.6 million people. PHC and lower courts had 200,000 pending cases as of 1 April 2009
We need to fight the battle in NWFP. However, fighting a battle without a strategy for winning the war is another fanciful enterprise. That containing the Taliban will somehow cause the people of Pakistan to be more satisfied with their grievious lot is silly. To expect that if someone’s daughter is raped and there is no justice in court, they will sit tight and not pick up a gun or an axe and go for walk, is rather optimistic.
One in ten registered FIRs make it to court. That coupled with 1.6 million pending cases in the court system of Pakistan, says we are sitting on dynamite, getting dryer by the day, and starting to crackle.
Taliban is not the core issue. The core issue is effective policing and dispensation of justice.
It is not a tall order to appoint another 1,000 judges countrywide. Such a measure may re-motivate people to respect the law. That is a priceless dividend for a cost which is slender in comparison. Yet, the police is far from effective and the judiciary remains crippled.
Such neglect may be deliberate on the part of the government, but it seems there is a lot more that certain organized segments of the society, particularly the media, and civil society can do to motivate the government to focus on this issue. If a thousand militants, in an ex-tourist resort, armed with guns, can literally grip the attention of the world, what can a million organized voices armed with pens do.
Relevance of Munir Report on 1953 Riots For Today’s Pakistan
http://www.civilservice.org.pk/DMGArticles/65_Muni rRptRelevance.pdf
Recommendations of the study;
- We should seriously move away from considering Islam as the basis of our nationhood. In the last 59 years we have achieved much as a nation. We are a nuclear power. We have won Olympic 60 gold medals in hockey and have been World Champions in squash and cricket. One of our citizens has won the Nobel prize. Such events are the basis of creating fierce national pride and even as a new nation we now have enough motivation to have nationalism as our ideological basis. The message in this connection needs to be explicitly and implicitly built into our curriculum. Our independent media, specially the new T.V channels are already discussing this issue. Our state controlled media should also systematically work on this aspect. Patriotism instead of religiosity needs to be stressed further. Attention should however be on stressing our positives without raising jingoistic feelings that may compromise our peaceful existence.
- The popularity of religious parties is over-rated. Without crutches of the establishment they tend to flounder. Petty interests in supporting these parties should end and our next elections should be completely free and fair in order to promote the mainstream parties.
- Our salvation is in true democracy. Cure for bad democracy is more democracy and not greater control of undemocratic forces. Efforts at creating controlled democracy should end. Under the present scenario there is no likelihood of a popular movement that could unsettle the establishment. This public attitude has more to do with a total disenchantment with affairs of the state, than any 61 political consideration. Such disenchantment, however, eventually compromises all feelings of nationalism. The Army as a strong national institution has to rise above petty interests and has to recognize the importance of building civilian institutions. True democracy is possible only if it is actively allowed to continue as such by the army as an institution. The powerful in this case has thus to recognize its patriotic duty. As a beginning, a sense of responsibility in this connection needs to be built up in the armed forces. The true import of the oath taken by all members of the armed forces needs to be stressed in all military training institutes at all levels. Greater civilian control over military training institutions would help in this context.
- Media should be allowed to be completely free. Monthly envelopes for journalists should end. State advertisements through press should be discontinued and they may be made through internet. Joy rides for journalists on foreign tours should also end, as all these interventions are mere euphemisms for bribing the media. A free media shall ensure the necessary external check for keeping democratic governments on track.
- Judiciary should be completely free. Mode of selection of judges should be changed and a US style selection system may be adopted. This would provide backbone to the judiciary to withstand illegal demands of un-representative governments and 62 would transform them into truly bi-partisan defenders of the Constitution.
- Bureaucracy should be given protection to play its due role in a Whitehall style relationship with political masters. Service organizations may be encouraged and they should become the watch guards for maintenance of standards within the service groups. Whistle blowing may be encouraged as this would in itself promote a system of checks and balances within civilian governments. The start in this connection would be through completely free elections as validly elected governments would themselves realize the benefits of such arrangements for ensuring strengthening of civilian institutions.
- As there is little likelihood of any further war and we already have nuclear deterrence, the size of army and defense outlays may be reduced. Provision of higher funding for social sector development would in itself ensure development of enlightened institutions in the longer run. We should learn the futility of large military machines in the absence of equitable social development by observing the fate of the Soviet Union.
- Provinces should be provided maximum autonomy and the control of federation may be minimized. Larger resource transfer for provinces may be ensured through amending NFC mechanism. A regular NFC secretariat, that works around the 63 year to finalize resource allocation proposals should be set up. Stronger Provinces would entail a stronger Federation. This would also reduce inter-provincial frictions.
I am amazed you have not done a post on Justice Munir report on 1953 riots which raised many points that are still relevant today.
Report on riots of 1953 (Urdu)
http://www.thepersecution.org/dl/MunirReport.pdf
Report on riots of 1953 (English)
http://www.thepersecution.org/dl/report_1953.pdf
Most people are not getting the importance of this document. They need someone like Taliban to teach them these lessons the hard way.
Here is a study of this report by Javaid Aslam
Relevance of Munir Report on 1953 Riots For Today’s Pakistan
http://www.civilservice.org.pk/DMGArticles/65_Muni rRptRelevance.pdf
Recommendations of the study;
- We should seriously move away from considering Islam as the basis of our nationhood. In the last 59 years we have achieved much as a nation. We are a nuclear power. We have won Olympic 60 gold medals in hockey and have been World Champions in squash and cricket. One of our citizens has won the Nobel prize. Such events are the basis of creating fierce national pride and even as a new nation we now have enough motivation to have nationalism as our ideological basis. The message in this connection needs to be explicitly and implicitly built into our curriculum. Our independent media, specially the new T.V channels are already discussing this issue. Our state controlled media should also systematically work on this aspect. Patriotism instead of religiosity needs to be stressed further. Attention should however be on stressing our positives without raising jingoistic feelings that may compromise our peaceful existence.
- The popularity of religious parties is over-rated. Without crutches of the establishment they tend to flounder. Petty interests in supporting these parties should end and our next elections should be completely free and fair in order to promote the mainstream parties.
- Our salvation is in true democracy. Cure for bad democracy is more democracy and not greater control of undemocratic forces. Efforts at creating controlled democracy should end. Under the present scenario there is no likelihood of a popular movement that could unsettle the establishment. This public attitude has more to do with a total disenchantment with affairs of the state, than any 61 political consideration. Such disenchantment, however, eventually compromises all feelings of nationalism. The Army as a strong national institution has to rise above petty interests and has to recognize the importance of building civilian institutions. True democracy is possible only if it is actively allowed to continue as such by the army as an institution. The powerful in this case has thus to recognize its patriotic duty. As a beginning, a sense of responsibility in this connection needs to be built up in the armed forces. The true import of the oath taken by all members of the armed forces needs to be stressed in all military training institutes at all levels. Greater civilian control over military training institutions would help in this context.
- Media should be allowed to be completely free. Monthly envelopes for journalists should end. State advertisements through press should be discontinued and they may be made through internet. Joy rides for journalists on foreign tours should also end, as all these interventions are mere euphemisms for bribing the media. A free media shall ensure the necessary external check for keeping democratic governments on track.
- Judiciary should be completely free. Mode of selection of judges should be changed and a US style selection system may be adopted. This would provide backbone to the judiciary to withstand illegal demands of un-representative governments and 62 would transform them into truly bi-partisan defenders of the Constitution.
- Bureaucracy should be given protection to play its due role in a Whitehall style relationship with political masters. Service organizations may be encouraged and they should become the watch guards for maintenance of standards within the service groups. Whistle blowing may be encouraged as this would in itself promote a system of checks and balances within civilian governments. The start in this connection would be through completely free elections as validly elected governments would themselves realize the benefits of such arrangements for ensuring strengthening of civilian institutions.
- As there is little likelihood of any further war and we already have nuclear deterrence, the size of army and defense outlays may be reduced. Provision of higher funding for social sector development would in itself ensure development of enlightened institutions in the longer run. We should learn the futility of large military machines in the absence of equitable social development by observing the fate of the Soviet Union.
- Provinces should be provided maximum autonomy and the control of federation may be minimized. Larger resource transfer for provinces may be ensured through amending NFC mechanism. A regular NFC secretariat, that works around the 63 year to finalize resource allocation proposals should be set up. Stronger Provinces would entail a stronger Federation. This would also reduce inter-provincial frictions.
Why do so many parents have to choose madrassahs or other village schools for their children where they receive basic education, food and shelter but also get indoctrinated in extreme ideologies? Why do people not get justice when they have a complaint against the rich and powerful? Why do so many of our leaders enjoy the title of “Makhdoom” rather than Khadim?
There are many reasons why Taliban have had some success in Swat and other places, but the key reason is that successive governments (and government policies) have failed to provide the basic services such as education, employment, security and healthcare.
In my opinion, the real reason is that the country’s rulers and leadership come mostly from the landowning class or the military who care more about maintaining their own privileges than serving the people. Just hiring police and appointing more judges is not going to solve this problem. More police and judges will most likely end up doing the bidding of the same ruling elite rather than responding to the needs of the people they are supposed to serve.
What is really needed is an end to the current feudal-tribal system controlled by a few families who have inherited rather than earned their status in society. Economic growth leading to a larger middle class as the backbone of a real democracy serving the people is what will do the trick for Pakistan. If a benevolent dictator can get us there, as shown by examples in East Asia, that would be fine with me.
Babar, the following may be of interest to you.
Similar to ignoratio elenchi, a red herring is an argument, given in reply, that does not address the original issue. Critically, a red herring is a deliberate attempt to divert the argument. ( wikipedia )
Red herring (narrative), a technique used in literature to mislead the audience.
Taliban Khan is a mad man..he is now physically attacking people…politics Taliban style..
Taliban Khan, Taliban Mir and Taliban Abasi are of the same ilk.
Dar readers,
No tliban and no terrorist exisist in pakistan.these are the creation of pakistan government.
why they creat?
These are the big source of pakistani politician income.if in case if there is no taliban in pakistan or in Swat , so from where our President get 1.90 million dollars.and our pervious president and politician also involve in these activities.
bsically they dont want to finish taliban.if they want so they can do it in few days,
if the readers know, they will be surpirised that how a trainer of 20 days or 4months can defate army of a country who is fully equifed of modren weapons?
And even now in the fresh operation of Swat valley they not kill more then 4 0r 5 Terrorists.
yet they are killing dozzens of innocnt peoples.
we the people of swat are not satisfied from the current operation aganist taliban.And i request from this flatform to all the readers That this operation is not anti taliban but anti inocent peoples.
so must struggle for stoping this operation.
I fully agree with the content of the article, so let us hope that the journalists and the civil society will hear your call and stand to save the future of this country…
It is high time, and I am with you!
And Hamid Mir comes to the rescue of I.K. Notice also , in a rather ironic way, speaking good Urdu is also now a sign of being American agent
http://jang.com.pk/jang/may2009-daily/11-05-2009/c ol2.htm