A Fool’s Errand

re: tahmed32 # 138

Agreed!

The sad thing is that it is the American government, which is forcing the Pakistani government to cater to the needs of its citizens and when it does, we as a nation blame the government for capitulating to ``foreign pressures``. We complain when the government ignores our interests and when it is forced to serve the people, Pakistanis complain!

Pakistan needs to be stable economically, because that is in the interest of all concerned including India.

Ciao

re: alias # 133

I am sorry that I could reply to you early, but the power went off because it had rained - one of the charms of living in Pakistan - the uncertainity of life.

Hatred and distrust exists within Pakistan. As citizens of Pakistan, we should highlight it and talk about it openly. Punjab does play a major role in the inta-provincial relations and it does dominate the federation of Pakistan. Blaming Punjab will not solve the problem and the problem will be solved by evolving an infrastructure, which oversees provincial relations and makes sure that one province does not end up dominating other provinces. This will not be easy, but it has to be done. The answer lies in constitutionalism and not seeking to place the blame on a given province.

My education gives me the right to air Pakistan`s problems, because for too long educated Pakistanis have remained silent, while the nation was being politically and economically raped. I am a Pakistani and I love Pakistan, but I will openly call a spade a spade in Pakistan, when I see lies being told. I am a patriot, but my patriotism does not mean to condone wrong actions and my education does not mean that I should feign ignorance in the name of national pride. Education implies an acceptance of reality and not an existence in denial. There is a vast difference between utilizing education as mode of hatred and as means of understanding hatred by talking about it openly and you seem to be confused between the two.

Pakistan has serious problems and the only way to solve those problems is to identify them by discussing them openly and not to chortle debate in the name of provincial harmony. Hatred and distrust exists beteen Pakistanis and we have to accept that; our denial of that fact is not going to lessen the reality that hatred and distrust will cease to exist, because we wish it!

Ciao

re: shahwaiz # 139

Decentralizing power, an idea which I favor, to the provinces sounds good in theory. The problem and the concern is how to decentralize power without causing administrative problems, which translates into hardship for the provincial populations. First of all, you have to replace the existing system with a new one and you have to do this in a manner, which makes the transition smooth; as smooth as possible. The idea of decentralizing power is easy to suggest and very difficult to implment and as a nation we, Pakistanis, are very good in proposing and dismal in implementing ideas into reality.

The article in Dawn, with all due respects, does not offer a solution.

Ciao

ferozk #137 you write ``I just hope that the Americans do not lose interest and keep reminding Musharraf what he has to do! ``

Amen to that!!

Even better: Lets hope someday musharaff (and indeed all our leaders) dont have to be told to do the right thing by the US. Lets hope they get the good sense and the moral compass needed to do the right thing on their own. They would then realize that their job is to improve living conditions for the millions of poor who are invisible to their eyes.

As long as millions of poor go hungry in pakistan, and millions of children grow up illiterate, and millions of pakistanis are virtual slaves to the powerful (be it feudal landlords in sindh or tribal ``elders`` in FATA), it is a monstrous crime and absolute hypocrisy for anyone in Pakistan to talk about liberating kashmir or of introducing islami this or islami that. It is this lack of moral compass that results in external pressures - US primarily, but Indian too indirectly - to get our leaders to do the right thing.

At least let us be grateful that mushy is smarter than mullah omar - the latter was too stupid to do the right thing even when told in no uncertain terms by the US to hand over mullah ben laden or get ready for war.

re: Feroz #136

Blaming the British for creating the system of governance in FATA is useless. The British did not want to police the lawless area and they did not want to pay for the long term deployment of troops into the region. The British interests were well served by having political agents look after their affairs and when ever there was a problem, the British used to buy off the local khans and their jigras.

First of all I`m not blaming the British, although I`ve a right to blame them for establishing such a notorious administrative system. The new masters seem to have learned all destructive politics from their old masters. The same politics, the same subjects but new masters.


The government of Pakistan has no administrative powers and thus, it has nothing to decentralize!

Please read this artilce printed in the daily dawn. The GOP has to decentralize the whole political structure.

In a highly over-centralized financial, administrative and political structure like Pakistan`s, where the federation levies, manipulates and collects more than 90 per cent of the revenues and controls almost all spheres of economic activities, the provincial economy is difficult to define. That is because Islamabad doesn`t encourage the provinces to calculate their own GDP.


khoda hafiz
shawaiz

re: tahmed32 # 134

I am not blaming the people of those areas, but I am holding the politicans of those regions responsible for their malactions and their lack of concern for the common people. The people have no political rights or representation and none of the regional political parties has cared a whit for the interests of the people. My argument is always against the governments and not the people and when I refer to Baluchistan and NWFP and FATA, it is in the sense of governance and not on an individual level of a common person. The people have been ignored by their representatives. Period. They are the victims and not the culprits.

I will give credit to Musharraf that he is attempting to bring FATA within the political gambit of Pakistani interests, but Musharraf needs to be determined to make sure that FATA is incorporated into Pakistan proper. The area exists within a legal and administrative vacuum and that makes it an area of perfect confluence for terrorists, drug smugglers, power hungry warlords, corrupt politicans and all the scum, which thrives in an environment blessed with an absence of law and order.

I agree. The Pathan`s traditional form of jigra, when seen in its most basic form is the closest example of direct democracy that we have any where in the world and the whole enterprise is tailor made for local government and devolution of power to the people. That reality is still a dream as long as the local power of the sardars, khans, maliks and drug financed war barons is not broken. The Pakistani army`s recent operations in Wana, in South Waziristan, was a step in the right direction. The down side is that MMA, which is in political cohoots with the government and has its political constituency in those regions, is admantly opposed to government plans in FATA. The MMA has coalition government in Baluchistan and a majority government in NWFP and it will not risk losing its political power base in those regions and there is no ironclad surety that the government will not make another deal with the MMA to maintain its fig leaf of political legitimacy.

Sirji, political compromises, which harm the interests of Pakistan litter our history and I will not be too surprised if Musharraf changes his tune again. I just hope that the Americans do not lose interest and keep reminding Musharraf what he has to do!

Ciao

re: shahawaiz # 135

Blaming the British for creating the system of governance in FATA is useless. The British did not want to police the lawless area and they did not want to pay for the long term deployment of troops into the region. The British interests were well served by having political agents look after their affairs and when ever there was a problem, the British used to buy off the local khans and their jigras.

I agree with you that system should have been changed in the last 55 years and as long as it exists, the feeling of colonization, rightly or wrongly, will persist in the smaller provinces vis-vis Islamabad. Decentralization is a myth, because as long as the local jigras hold the power, the people will not be given equal rights. Equal rights to the people of the smaller provinces will have to forced down the throats of local chieftens and their power base needs to be destroyed before there is papable progress in Baluchistan and NWFP. The government of Pakistan has no administrative powers and thus, it has nothing to decentralize! The smaller provinces might not wish to secede from Pakistan, but how long are they going to exist as a colony of Pakistan?

Ciao

re: Feroz 131

We were not talking about FATA exclusively but generally about the both western provinces. FATA comes under the executive authority of the federation. And all the 11 agencies are executively and administratively controlled by the political agents (PA), who have been given unlimited powers under the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR was introduced by the British in 1901). The tribal maliks work together with these agents which ensures them their influence and position in the tribal ares. These so-called political agents don`t enjoy a good reputation among the tribes. The government could have changed the whole administrarive structure in the last 55 years. But these cunning and power-ridden politicians and dictators cannot administrate Karachi properly, let alone FATA. Anyway, throw it out of your mind that the NWFP, Balochistan or even FATA want to secede from Pakistan. The smaller provinces don`t want to be treated like a colony. They demand equal citizen rights and fair share in the resources of Pakisatn. Pakistan should decentralize administrative power, give more autonomy to the provinces and ensure equal rights to all citizens.

khoda hafiz

ferzok: It is true that the writ of the pakistan government did not extend to FATA. But lets not blame the people of FATA for that - it is the job of the federal government to ensure that federal laws apply across the land. The federal government found it convenient to pay off the tribal chiefs, rather than impose its authority on them. The result was that FATA became a haven for car theives, smugglers, and kidnappers (those being of course a tiny segment of the population, and the average Joe Muhammed of FATA being as much a victim of this lawlessness as the Rawalpindi dweller who had his car stolen). Thus terrorists fleeing Afghanistan found it a natural hideout for them. Now of course we have the government seeking (with encouragement from the US) to root out the terrorists, and in the process is having to exert its authority for the first time in FATA as well.

Clearly, it is not the people of FATA, but the various governments of Pakistan, that have been derelict in its obligations to provide law and order in those territories. And it has required pressure from the US for musharaff to do what he should have done on his own - bring law and order in that society. That is all water under the bridge.

Now I think FATA presents a terrific opportunity for Pakistan: With a little imagination, FATA could I think be converted into a showcase of local self-government in Pakistan. Pathan society is inherently a far more egalitarian one than virtually any other traditional society in Pakistan (relative to sindh, baluchistan, panjab). The federal government`s role should be to lift the yoke of the criminals (car theives, tribal sardars, and now arab and chechen terrorists), and set the conditions for local self-government to flourish. Give it a decade or two, and FATA could well become the switzerland of pakistan.
This is Dr. Tahmed`s recipe, at least.

Feroz:

You speak of hope, wanting a better outcome of decisions made and treaties signed, you speak of the region, Pakistan, looking and hoping towards better days for the people, unified, sucessful. Rightfully said and wanted!

But then you make sweeping emotional and impulsive generalizations saying that the people from NWFP put their tribal beliefs over their nations, what you refuse to understand here, or perhaps it is a barrier in your learning is that what the people of NWFP and Balochistan for the past 56 years have been trying to do is integrate into the rest of Pakistan. The tribes are not what they were 40 to 50 years ago, people have moved on and settled down into cities near by and far, integrating themselves with Pakistan today, Pakistan moving forward. What reality is, is that these two provinces have been left behind, their basic human rights have not been fulfilled and not been granted. They do obey laws, but the law does nothing for them. If you recall, last summer the export of wheat was banned from the Punjab to the Frontier. WAPDA loots the Frontier of their recourses, etc. Cities like Peshawar and Quetta have digressed rather than progressed, why? Because the Punjab infested by Feudalism, the govt their colourful puppet and Sindh feed of their own and the rest of the countries resources, not sharing the output completely. Do not forget, that Balochistan and the Frontier are paying for the brunt, not as Afghans but as Pakistanis of the cold war and the recent war that has taken place in Afghanistan, and the Federal government is hardly doing anything to pay reperations for them to catch up.

Where it all begins is when these two provinces are accepted, and educated people like yourself don’t make sweeping statements like, “Yes! I will start thinking of them as Pakistani citizens when they start acting as one! If they want to be considered as part of Pakistan and be thought of as Pakistani citizens, they better start obeying Pakistani laws, no matter how flawed and imperfect, over their tribal and family laws, or they can all damn well move to Afghanistan or anywhere else for all I care!”

If the educated people, who’s deep rooted passion and life revolves around International Relations think this way, deciphering between, “your” and “them” rather than an “us” will get no where. We should forget the region, forget signed treaties and handshakes infront of cameras, unless we think the Punjan and Sindh are Pakistan.

Your articles sir are always extremely informative and forthcoming, but to see someone make such sweeping statements really doesn’t accomplish anything on anyones side, except make Pakistan a sad place to be.

“as a people, will never reach the promise the land, because we are too secure in our hatred and distrust of one another to forsake it and give opportunity a chance to succeed…” perhaps you speak on India and Pakistan here, but perhaps you should take your own words into consideration when it comes to Pakistan.

Feroz:

You speak of vision, unity, and hope. Hoping for better days for Pakistan and the region, wanting something to come of signed treaties. Well said and wanted!!

But then you make sweeping emotional and impulsive generalizations saying that the people from NWFP put their tribal beliefs over their nations, what you refuse to understand here, or perhaps it is a barrier in your learning is that what the people of NWFP and Balochistan for the past 56 years have been trying to do is integrate into the rest of Pakistan. The tribes are not what they were 40 to 50 years ago, people have moved on and settled down into cities near by and far, integrating themselves with Pakistan today, Pakistan moving forward. What reality is, is that these two provinces have been left behind, their basic human rights have not been fulfilled and not been granted. They do obey laws, but the law and govt does nothing for them. If you recall, last summer the export of wheat was banned from the Punjab to the Frontier. WAPDA loots the Frontier of their recourses, etc. Cities like Peshawer and Quetta have digressed rather than progressed, why? Because the Punjab infested by Feudalism, the govt their colourful puppet and Sindh feed of their own and the rest of the countries resources, not sharing the output completely. We mustn’t forget that the Frontier and Baloacistan are paying off the brunt of the Cold War and the recent war in Afghanistan, not as Afghans but as Pakistan, and still there has been no attempt at paying them any means of reperations.

Where it all begins is when these two provinces are accepted, and educated people like yourself don’t make sweeping statements like, “Yes! I will start thinking of them as Pakistani citizens when they start acting as one! If they want to be considered as part of Pakistan and be thought of as Pakistani citizens, they better start obeying Pakistani laws, no matter how flawed and imperfect, over their tribal and family laws, or they can all damn well move to Afghanistan or anywhere else for all I care!”

If the educated people, who’s deep rooted passion and life revolves around International Relations think this way, deciphering between, “your” and “them” rather than an “us” will get no where.

Your articles sir always extremely informative and forthcoming, but to see someone make such sweeping statements really doesn’t accomplish anything on anyone’s side, except make Pakistan a sad place to be. We should forget the SAARC summit, signed treaties, because the problem is still imbedded very much in Pakistan, unless we think the Punjab and Sindh are Pakistan.

“as a people, will never reach the promise the land, because we are too secure in our hatred and distrust of one another to forsake it and give opportunity a chance to succeed…” perhaps you speak on India and Pakistan here, but perhaps you should take your own words into consideration when it coms to Pakistan.

re: shahwaiz

The statement simply said that provinces, which do not recognize Pakistan and claim a seperate status from Pakistan, cannot secede from Pakistan.

For example, the FATA cannot secede from Pakistan, because it never belonged to Pakistan either federally or jurisdictionally. FATA never accepted the rule, the legal system or the political writ of Islamabad in its territory and it never considered itself as a dejure part of Pakistan. It has always considered itself to be independent from Pakistan in its laws, customs and politics.

Therefore, how can FATA secede from Pakistan, when it never considered itself to be a part of Pakistan? That is like saying an Indian state can secede from Pakistan! Only Pakistani provinces can secede from Pakistan and since FATA has never considered itself as a Pakistani province, the question of its secession is moot and that is what statement was alluding towards.

Ciao

Feroz, you said:

In order to secede from Pakistan, you have to belong to Pakistan in the first place!

Would you please elaborate on this point?
Thanx in advance.

Khoda hafiz

re: shahwaiz

My cousins live in India and not in Afghanistan.

In order to secede from Pakistan, you have to belong to Pakistan in the first place!

Ciao

Ferozk:

Whether the British refused or ignored, the fact remains that people of NWFP want to join their cousins in Afghanistan.


Stop harping on this same stupid mantra and spreading misinformations here. Who told you we want to secede from Pakistan to join our ``cousins`` across the border? dude, this is our country and if you have some problems accepting this reality then you are free to go there where ``your cousins`` live.

re: shahwaiz

I agree with the article. The whole system of FATA needs to be changed and the Americans, will make sure that Pakistan does not drag its feet on the matter.

Whether the British refused or ignored, the fact remains that people of NWFP want to join their cousins in Afghanistan.

Ciao