Regret to say that current PPP gov't is setting new records in knee jerk ractions and complete lack of common sense. I quote an article which says it in a much better way than I possibly could.
The rarity of common sense
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Kamila Hyat
The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor
As the French philosopher Voltaire noted, common sense is not so common at all. This certainly seems to be the case in Islamabad, from where it appears to have evaporated altogether.
The fiasco that followed the statement by the Prime Minister's National Advisor on Security, Lt-Gen (retd) Mahmud Ali Durrani, that Ajmal Kasab was a Pakistani national is just one example of this. The question is why an attempt was made to cover up this fact in the first place, especially as media teams had already visited Kasab's home, spoken to family members and to other people in the town of Faridkot who could recall the boy as he grew up. The assertion that all these people could be Indian agents is obviously absurd. What is more, dismissing Durrani after he had made his statement only worsened matters, making it seem as if Pakistan was determined to hide the truth and would punish anyone who did not lie. Predictably enough, the Indian media quickly picked up on this theme, and so did the New Delhi government. Demands from the US that Durrani now be restored further complicates the picture and exposes the fact that Washington evidently regards Pakistan as no more than a subservient entity to whom brusque orders can readily be given.
There are other examples of a similar lack of good sense. The civilian award to Richard Boucher, the US assistant secretary of state, has naturally ruffled many feathers. The hanging of a medal around the neck of a man whose government has backed a policy of bombing targets in Pakistan's tribal belt only strengthens the perception that terrorism is being battled only on US orders, and that it is Washington's war rather than Pakistan's. The award is particularly insensitive as it comes at a time when people die each day in Gaza, due to actions by US-backed Israel. The similar honour given to vice-president-elect Joe Biden is equally inexplicable. The impression of simply following White House orders is one our leaders need to strenuously combat. The only way to defeat terror is to persuade ordinary people that we need to make our country a safer place. There is evidence that many citizens recognise the truth in this. In villages, even those in the NWFP, people talk of their opposition to the militancy. They realise it is a hurdle in the way of economic progress and development, and that many of Pakistan's current problems are in one way or the other linked to it. Most communities seek education for daughters and hold strong sentiments against those who bomb schools or threaten pupils.
These sentiments need to be tapped into. The effort to eradicate terror must be made a more indigenous one. In Swat, in Bajaur, in Waziristan and in other places, local people often have meaningful ideas on how this can be achieved. The authorities need to hear these and to engage with people. Rather than becoming mere victims as conflict rages around them, people need to be made a part of the battle. The vote delivered by these citizens, for forces that oppose militancy, shows where sentiments lie. But at present, through the continued razing of homes in Swat or bomb Bajaur, while doubts linger as to real commitments to eliminate terrorists, an effort seems to be on to deliberately undermine the ANP government and ensure its popular appeal is eroded. These internal games are immensely dangerous. It is uncertain how far the federal government is a party to them, but it does need to sit up and see the facts.
This, of course, is possible only if it begins to act as a body whose main task is to offer people good governance. Over the past ten months, since it took charge in Islamabad, the gulf between people and the government it elected has grown rapidly. There has been little evidence that the government is acting in the interests of people. Conjecture about deepening fault-lines between the offices of the prime minister and the president, and within the PPP itself, has added to the general perception of indifference to people's issues. The incompetence in many ministries only adds to the growing disillusionment, and this of course makes for a situation that the establishment relishes. Discredited democratic governments, after all, will always serve the interests of other forces, even if the weaknesses that exist are not immediately exploited but allowed to gradually grow and, like untreated sores, fester till they spread and destroy the body.
There are other examples of a lack of good sense. This week, a day after Ashura, Lahore was rocked for the third time within four months by low-intensity explosions. The bombs, placed this time at two city theatres, were obviously intended to deliver a moral message. This has been the case too on previous occasions, when juice shops frequented by students of both genders and a festival featuring music and dance were targeted. But while police maintain they had "prior information" regarding the attacks, no attempt seems to have been made to prevent them by using this information to track down the culprits. More alarming still are the insinuations, from people in important places in Punjab, that members of the police force may have sympathies with the bombers. This is not far-fetched at all. In the 1990s, groups such as the defunct Sunni-extremist Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and its deadly off-shoot, the murderous Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), made extremely well-planned efforts to find allies within the police and other government setups. To a considerable extent, it succeeded. There is reason to believe this strategy has been continued by other groups and within our security setup we have people who condone the strategies of the extremists. There has been talk, from time to time, of purging the police of such elements. There is obviously no time to wait any longer.
What we need most of all is greater thought within government. At present we appear only to lurch from one crisis to the next. The good sense that is required, the realisation that all these crises are in many ways interlinked and can only be resolved through the adoption of holistic strategies and long-term policies, seems to be lacking. The Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw observed: "Two percent of the people think; three percent of the people think they think; and ninety-five percent of the people would rather die than think." This may be an exaggeration. But certainly, our government seems to be terribly short of people with the ability to think coherently, reason logically and use basic common sense to make an attempt to move closer to solving the many grave problems we today face as a state that seems to have lost direction.
Email:
kamilahyat@hotmail.com
The rarity of common sense
