Editorial: DAWN - 06 June 2013

Three is history: Mr Sharif returns — cautiously

THE tables have turned. Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif is back in the prime minister’s chair and Gen Pervez Musharraf is under arrest and facing trial. Mian Sahib is the first man to be elected prime minister in the country for a third time. He is unparalleled as a Pakistani head of government ousted in a military coup and brought back by popular vote. There may be more reasons why the occasion needs to be celebrated just as it has to be marked with some solemn vows.

In his speech after his election in the National Assembly by an overwhelming majority, the new prime minister made a conscious effort to build on this reputation as a politician who has undergone the course and has learnt. He solicited political consensus, his emphasis on the economy in accordance with the PML-N’s line since its victory in the May 11 elections. He spoke of merit, about economic and social mobility manifest in his promise to have a train run between Khunjerab and Gwadar and before that he talked about respecting the mandates given to political parties. Nevertheless, it was clear that there are a few issues which he is not ready to take up as yet.
Mr Sharif did not address terrorism and his mention of the drones was too cautious and too fleeting a remark to qualify as a statement of intent, let alone one of policy. It was a mild protest, a polite complaint, a question left hanging in the air. China in Gwadar was easier to handle and it did elicit a word of praise from the new incumbent for
the previous government which had handed over the port’s management to the Chinese.

The supremacy of democracy, a call for consensus, the protest against the drones, the respect for popular mandates — the themes were not out of the routine. Five years ago, the stress was on reconciliation, on the need to shape a national policy on many issues. Those who spoke after Mr Nawaz Sharif’s speech in the assembly on Wednesday did highlight some of the issues where consensus is hard to achieve: law and order in Karachi and elsewhere, and lack of local governments, which was a big subject missing from the first address of a prime minister aspiring to empower people as were energy and terrorism. The new prime minister’s promise in dealing with these problems lies not so much in the numbers he has by his side but in the belief about the security and resultant maturity of the elected collective. Politicians will err and then correct their mistakes, so long as they have the time and the security of tenure.

Inside job: Convicts operating from prison

THE Sindh High Court chief justice’s recent observation that convicts on death row are operating their networks from within jails is worrying. Though many familiar with the state of the criminal justice system in Pakistan will say this is old news, it is still a matter of grave concern that terrorists and hardened criminals can operate with impunity right under the noses of jail staff. Perhaps the most high-profile case in this regard was that of militant Omar Saeed Sheikh who, while incarcerated in Hyderabad jail, placed a hoax call through his mobile phone to this country’s president and army chief following the 2008 Mumbai attacks. In another incident, a raid on Karachi jail in 2011 yielded mobile phones and drugs from prisoners, some of whom were linked to militant outfits. Yet the problem is not limited to Sindh. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, for example, jailed militants reportedly maintain contacts with accomplices on the outside while kidnappings are also said to be organised from inside prisons. Jail authorities are hesitant of taking action, fearing reprisals from militants.

As it is, the conviction rate in Pakistan is miserably low. It is unnerving that even the small number of terrorists and criminals that do end up behind bars are able to carry on with their activities with relative freedom. That convicts can carry on like this without the knowledge and connivance of prison authorities beggars belief, and that is why the onus for putting a stop to such activities lies squarely on prison administrations’ shoulders. Pakistan’s jails are overcrowded and ill-managed, while corruption within the jail authorities is rife. Yet the status quo cannot continue. Failing to arrest and convict terrorists and murderers is bad enough. Allowing those that are caught and convicted to carry on with business as usual from inside jail is simply unforgivable. All provincial administrations need to make a thorough assessment of jail conditions to ensure convicts are unable to carry out criminal activities from within prison.

Good intentions: Fata development plan

THE priorities are right. According to a Fata secretariat handout, the financial year 2013-14 annual development plan for Fata places emphasis on the completion of ongoing schemes as well as those with immediate and visible socio-economic benefits, and discourages projects which would have little impact. Unlike many other parts of the country that are also backward, Fata — despite the extension of the political parties act to the area — is still not part of the national mainstream, and international crises on its periphery have added to its misfortunes. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the US-led attack on the Taliban-ruled country, and the wave of militancy that spilled over into Fata in the wake of these events destroyed such industry as it had and threw the tribal people decades back into time. While the degree of militancy varies from one agency to another, the cumulative effect on the entire region is hostile to all development activity.

However, the Fata population in its entirety must not be tarred with the same brush. As last month’s elections have shown, the majority of Fata people and tribal elders are keen to shake off retrogressive attitudes and become part of the mainstream. This arms the federal government and Fata authorities with a moral authority to work for the welfare of the majority and disregard the minority standing between the tribesmen and a better life. Yet, going by the fate of annual development plans over the last few years, it is unlikely that the Fata administration will be able to utilise even half of the nearly Rs19bn allocated for 2013-14, particularly if steps to bring the law and order situation under control are not simultaneously undertaken. Much more concerted efforts are required to bring the area at par with the rest of the country.