The New Year is usually associated with joy but this time around a great many countries approached it bad that happened, whether in Pakistan or outside seemed to be our fault or so we were told. And what about our leaders? They being interested mostly in self survival, fell over themselves in keeping the USA, now their master, happy and content. It is our great irony that we have to put up with political storms continuously and are immersed in intrigues and conspiracy theories where rumour mills work feverishly churning out half-truths and outright falsehood, sowing the seeds of misunderstanding and uncertainty. But as a nation of hardworking and honest people, we must never lose hope as we have weathered more difficult times, so let us thank Allah for the good we got in 2011. Taking the bad with the good we must learn from our errors. While we bid welcome to the New Year with some apprehension let us do so with hope for a better future where risks will come but so will greater possibilities. For the benefit of readers I am reproducing my article “RESOLUTIONS FOR 2012.
Facing (with some resilience) the tribulations of an unforgiving world that believes in perceptions more than in fact, Pakistanis complicate this further by living in a dreamworld of their own making. Endlessly bemoaning all our woes and failings, both contrived and real, we debate with both conviction and emotion how to mitigate their effects on our lives as well as on the destiny of the nation, what stops us from taking the remedial measures necessary?
The very first resolve is to request both the Abbottabad Commission and the Judicial one investigating the Mansoor Ijaz-Hussain Haqqani Memo to make life simpler for everyone if these two themselves obtain from “Research In Motion” (RIM) data from their BlackBerrys for the period April 25 to May 15, 2011 and furnish it to the respective Commissions. Since Haqqani claims being” not guilty”, doing so voluntarily will go a long way in clearing himself of the grave accusations against him. The President being hardly likely to testify either in writing or personally, his Principal Secretary can appear before the Commissions and hand over similar data of his own BlackBerry (and other mobiles) to rule out any connection direct or indirect.
Endemic in our public sector institutions, neither nepotism nor corruption can be combated unless we resolve to eliminate “The Curse of Perjury”, to quote my article of Jan 20, 2011 “Every enquiry, every investigation, every trial, every arbitration, etc reeks of rampant falsification and that too with absolute impunity, particularly as paid witnesses in any trial before a court of law. How many times have our honourable judges made an example out of known professional witnesses? All over the developed world the drop in corruption has been commensurate with convictions for perjury. When our bureaucrats lie through their teeth under oath in the Supreme Court (SC), how many have the Honourable Justices sent to jail for perjury? For personal gain, whether monetary or otherwise, false representation (a gentlemanly phrase for “outright lies”) of facts and distortions is the order of the day. Under influence of corrupt politicians, bureaucrats, etc law enforcers do not have the courage to intercede and take action against them. Justice can be manipulated to suit those who have a reason to manipulate it, and have the means, either money or influence, to do so”, unquote. Who used influence in the Moonis Elahi affair or was it “democratic dispensation” to ensure the survival of the govt? Can something on the level of Khurram Rasool’s Rs.450 million outright fraud be perpetuated except under the patronage of the PM’s House? Under whose “protection” is this white collar criminal (and his cronies) managing to stay out of jail?
The District Management Group (DMG) has systematically usurped the rights of all other Services, i.e., customs, income tax, police, secretariat group, commerce and trade and railway officers, but the main sufferers are the Provincial Civil Services (PCS) officers. The federal bureaucrats who are in minority impose blatant discrimination on their majority provincial “colleagues.” Without equal opportunity incentives reconciling the service slots fairly between the DMG and PCS officers, “good governance” will never happen.
Can effective law and order enforcement be possible when more than 92% of the police officers from the Provincial Police Service (PSP) remain aggrieved at the injustice being meted out to them by less than 8% who constitute the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP)? This blatant discrimination is the root cause of the police system’s failure to perform in accordance with its capacity and potential. Rather than attempt to reform the laws, drastic re-organisation of the service structure of the police must reduce the layers of command, bringing the police under the actual control of the provincial governments. Only a well-trained and efficient police force not being subject to political (and other) influence can combat our steady slide towards anarchy. We should resolve to unify them as one combined service entity. A Judicial commission can sort out the glaring anomalies if they themselves cannot agree upon an amicable formula for a combined service mechanism devoted to serving the people.
May 2 could only happen because the lack of integrated command created huge gaps in our defences. The Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC) instituted by late PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was meant for more political ends to curb the power of the Army Chief to impose martial law than the sound military reasons it should have. A COAS Ziaul Haq ensured both did not happen, thereafter to retain power in the hands of the COAS, we are criminally gambling Pakistan’s existence by not breaking out of the mindset shackles of World War 2. We do not have geographical depth or industrial resilience to recover from a military catastrophe. India can suffer a military defeat and survive, we will cease to exist.
Constructive reforms should include, viz (1) JCSC must be GHQ for all three Services (2) create a Joint Operations Chief (JOC) in GHQ (3) for effective authority Chairman JCSC must preside over the senior promotions from one star to three stars in all three Services (4) all postings of three stars to be done with the concurrence of GHQ and (5) all military procurement under GHQ aegis. We need the unified command concept to be implemented swiftly, services integration is a must for standardisation of small arms, weapons and equipment, vehicles, clothing, battle gear, etc.
While it was shocking that Osama bin Laden stayed undiscovered where he did for nearly six years, how come American surveillance of his hideout villa continued for several months undetected by the local police? Such intelligence failures will happen again and again unless coordination and intelligence sharing shortages are remedied. By the very nature of their operations our agencies are extremely important to national security, however they have to operate in the shadowy embrace of a netherworld that is anathema to the human rights concept of various freedoms one expects in the democratic process. In the pursuit of their mission they could perhaps exceed the letter but not the spirit of the law. Real-politik dictates pragmatism because of their major role in preserving national survival. Intelligence units also serve as the barometer for mass perception and national aspiration, to provide (1) a screen against enemy penetration (2) actively ferret out the sources of leakage of information and (3) neutralize enemy propaganda. They cannot spare candour, but are crucially important in maintaining confidentiality for the State. No nation can afford that its secrets are easily accessible to either friend or foe. Agents of influence will always be activated, including breaking their “deep cover” if necessary to bring the intelligence agencies into disrepute in the public eye. Such criminals undermine the existence of the State by selling their souls. However we do need to reform the mission statement and structure of our intelligence services. Instead of re-inventing the wheel we can revise and update Air Chief Marshal Zulfiqar Ali Khan’s still un-actioned recommendations made almost 25 years ago. One intelligence Czar must coordinate all the agencies for effective performance.
All the Resolutions will come to nothing if the SC’s ruling on the NRO is exposed to be bluff on Jan 10, 2012.
