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.
I think there is a bit of distracting from issue here. YES more judges should be added and YES more and better police is needed. But do we really think if we do that tomorrow then next day or next week teh Taliban will disappear.
YES the Taliban have used these issues to rise but their purpose is destruction of Pakistan and now they are setting out to do that. So let us not underestimate the treat they pose.
Family members of cleric Sufi Mohammed say his son, Kiffayatullah, was killed in the Daro area of Lower Dir late on Wednesday night.
“My brother was in his house when a mortar fell on it and he was killed,” another of the cleric’s sons, Zia ul-Islam, told the BBC. Sufi Mohammed’s son-in-law was also injured in the attack.
Sufi Mohammed acted as a mediator between the government and Taleban forces in the north-west and organised the now defunct peace deal in Swat.
There has been no word from the military or the Taleban about the death.
Everyone’s yelling about justice. For someone without a decent livelihood, justice is last thing on their mind. Lack of justice is hardly a primary cause. It is a secondary effect of having no decent livelihood, no electricity, no running water and no functional schools. Oh, and working in slave-like conditions for a handful of people who own everything. These societies are screwed. Reforming them would involve extensive and permanent land reform and a government that delivers basic services in a consistent manner. Neither is happening – not in this universe anyway. So setting up fanciful legal systems to handle that toxic fallout is a sorely wasted effort.
I second the sentiments expressed by Shahab. Punjab need to give more and take less.
I agree with the main thesis of this post. In addition to NFC, most readers will also understand the underlying dynamics well if they read the Frontier Crimes Regulations – the law to which people in FATA have been subjected to. For starters, in implementation the FCR is very much similar to what Israelis are doing to Palestinians…