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By Ameer Buksh Bhutto ON May 28, the Nepalese parliament passed a declaration dethroning King Gyanendra and abolishing a 240-year-old monarchy, declaring the country to be a republic. This is how things are done when there exists an honest commitment and sincerity to achieve a certain goal.
Our awami government, on the other hand, has wasted more than two months doing nothing more than wrangling over whether the judges should be restored by means of a resolution or a constitutional amendment.
They have nothing tangible to show for all the committees they cobbled together and all their highly publicised meetings in Bhurban, Dubai, London and Islamabad. Far from dethroning anyone, our parliament does not even seem to be up to the task of striking down a blatantly illegal PCO. This is what happens when leadership is lacking and self-interest in the preservation of the status quo, courtesy the deal, overrides national interest.
Apart from the judges’ issue, there are other pressing issues that require the government’s immediate attention. Asif Zardari himself has said that instead of the restoration of the judges, the common man craves prompt relief from crises such as lawlessness, high prices of essential food commodities, power shortages, etc. Having identified these core issues, what has his party’s government done to tackle them?
The law and order situation is indeed very serious, particularly in Sindh, but it can be brought under control relatively quickly and with minimal expenditure. The law-enforcement agencies have to be cleaned up and made to do their job. It really is as simple as that. For instance, on May 13, the law-enforcement agencies conducted a raid in the kacha area near Naudero, where the Zardaris have set up headquarters at a Bhutto family residence, in Larkana district, and arrested three innocent haris in connection with an abduction case.
Less than a kilometre away was Sharifpur Forest, which is a government forest that has become a notorious safe haven for dacoits and criminals. They have set up a flourishing village there, with power generators for tubewells which they use to cultivate land and even issue fishing and woodcutting leases as if they own the whole area. The authorities, from the SHO level all the way up to the IG and chief minister, know and the local police have established friendly contacts with the criminals of this two-year old hideout. But no one from the law-enforcement side dares to act.
Also, on May 28, there erupted a severe conflict between the Shar and Khosa tribes over a land dispute near Lakhi Ghulam Shah in Shikarpur district that resulted in the killing of seven people. The police remained idle spectators on the sidelines, periodically pleading with the feuding parties to allow them to take away the dead bodies, instead of taking firm action to stop the bloodshed and arrest the culprits. Law-enforcement authorities refuse to intervene in any tribal conflicts, allowing wholesale murder and pillage, conveniently transferring the blame to tribal elders and sardars. How can law and order be restored if the law-enforcement authorities are afraid to confront the criminals and hide behind flimsy excuses?
Another issue that should have been addressed right away was the issue of the United Nations inquiry into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Procrastination by the government is unjustifiable. This delay has given rise to all sorts of speculation. People are asking whether this government has something to hide. Is there a shady cover-up afoot? Even now all we have is a statement from the government that a request for an inquiry will be submitted to the UN, but no such request has as yet actually been submitted.
People fear that as more time passes and the murder trail goes cold, the chances of the truth surfacing will diminish. All the people who voted for the People’s Party, primarily on a tidal wave of emotions and sympathy because of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, must now at least hold the government accountable for this inordinate delay.
The first 100 days of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration are still the yardstick by which all new administrations are judged. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto too blazed a mighty trail during the early days of his administration to transform the face of a shattered nation and build a new Pakistan. This government has limped and crawled through its first two months in power. It suffers from administrative paralysis and indecision.
One day the by-elections are postponed on the instructions of the prime minister’s advisor, then a few days later, they are ‘un-postponed’. One day a federal minister announces the scrapping of the Kalabagh Dam, then the next day, in the face of a brewing storm in Punjab, even from within government ranks, he announces that the scheme has not been killed completely after all. One day Zardari announces that President Musharaf must go and the next day he approves a draft of a constitutional amendment giving legal cover to the president’s actions. This is a farce reminiscent of the BBC television series ‘Yes Prime Minister’.
To successfully tackle the issues the government is confronted with requires the genius and leadership of political giants. Who among their ranks qualifies as a giant? There are certainly no FDRs or ZABs among them.
The people of Nepal elected a parliament on the basis of issues and ideology that is now faithfully representing the aspirations of the nation. The people of Pakistan, by contrast, voted purely on an emotional surge without considering the merit of the individuals involved or their thinking. As a consequence, we find ourselves encumbered with a government that solely represents vested, foreign and self-interests rather than those of the people. Is it any wonder the ship of state is sinking?
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