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probe Rights
vs wrongs Yeh
Woh assembly Loss
of a voice Out
of reach
probe “If I am killed, these people must be probed,” wrote
former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in a letter to the Karachi police chief,
a few days after an attempt on her life on October 18, 2007. Were these her
last words of caution before she was assassinated three months later on
December 27? Federal Interior Minister and then chief security officer
of Benazir Bhutto, Rehman Malik, and three senior officials, including Khalid
Qureshi, head of Joint Investigation Team (JIT), gave an unprecedented
account of BB’s murder investigation in the three hour long briefing in the
Sindh Assembly on Feb 21. Interestingly, the government account is not different
from the investigation carried out by the Musharraf government. Both had
suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda, both had accused former Taliban leader
Baitullah Mahsud and the suspects facing trial are also the same. The only
difference is that the present government had also arrested and charged CCPO
Rawalpindi Saud Aziz and SP Khurram Shahzad for criminal negligence in
withdrawing the police escort assigned to provide security to Benazir and
washing the crime scene. The Sindh Assembly resolution presented on Feb 13 is
nothing short of an embarrassment for the government, an affirmation that the
PPP Sindh legislators were not satisfied with the investigation and trial of
some suspects at the Adiala Jail. They want to know the names of the
conspirators. The Rehman Malik briefing was in response to this
resolution. What Rehman Malik did not answer convincingly was the
question addressed to him by a woman MPA from PML-F: “Where were you at the
time of the incident? What was your role?” One still does not know anything
about the communication between Rehman Malik, Babar Awan and Farhatullah
Babar with those in BB’s vehicle because, unlike other times, these three
left for Islamabad in another vehicle. There are so many grey areas in the case that it is
difficult to even list them in one article. Lt General Nadeem Taj, then ISI
chief, is said to have met Benazir Bhutto on December 26 to advise her not to
visit Liaquat Bagh — a statement not denied by the PPP. What exactly was
the advice and why was she not stopped given that the advice was not from an
ordinary intelligence officer? What was the role of Pervez Musharraf is not at all clear
in the probe. Despite his statements to the contrary, a reporter who was
present in the presidency on December 27, 2007, revealed that Musharraf had
recorded a tv programme in the afternoon. “In his chat with us he was
speaking against Bhutto and Nawaz and predicted their defeat in the general
elections. There was not much concern on his face after he heard about the
incident,” the reporter had said while recalling the incident. Bhutto neither trusted Musharraf nor did she enjoy good
relations with the Chaudhrys of Gujrat. Musharraf and Ch Pervaiz Elahi have
denied their involvement in the murder. One was sent abroad while other is
PPP’s most trusted ally today. Musharraf believes Bhutto became the victim of her own
fault. “…despite having specific threat reports about December 27
meeting, she went there and came out of the roof of the bullet proof car.”
Musharraf also raised the question about Malik’s absence from the scene and
change of route, about allowing the crowd to enter through the security gate
and surround her vehicle. Rehman Malik says the postmortem was the responsibility
of the police. But the officers who have been charged were not accused in the
chargesheet of not allowing the postmortem of the slain leader. Was it
because Saud Aziz had once reportedly stated that Asif Ali Zardari did not
allow her postmortem? If that is the case, then Zardari’s statement should
also come on record. There was not much substance in the briefing and one
wonders whether the PPP workers were satisfied with the outcome. As far as
the tall claims of Malik about Musharraf’s red warrant and arrest through
Interpol are concerned, it is a fact that the leadership of the PPP never put
Musharraf’s name on the Exit Control List (ECL). Benazir Bhutto had named former President General Pervez
Musharraf, former Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi and former IB Chief Brig. Ejaz
Shah in her letter-cum-complaint which was sealed at Ferozabad Police Station
after the Oct 18 bombing incident. The role of the present Sindh government
in this case is also under question. For several months, BB’s letter was
not unsealed. No investigation was conducted on the October 18 incident by
the present government. No inquiry was held on Khalid Shahanshah’s murder
in Karachi (he was a member of BB’s hardcore security team). At this point in time, all those suspected by Benazir
Bhutto have been exonerated by the FIA. Musharraf did not bother to give a
written reply to the FIA’s memo nor did Pervaiz Elahi respond to the
written pro forma sent by the FIA. Brig. Ejaz Shah, Safdar Abbasi, Amin Fahim
and Naheed Khan narrated their own version of the incident. Prior to her journey to Pakistan, BB had written scores
of emails about the possible threats to her life and about those who were
after her life. Some of her last messages and memos written after October 18
could still be with her trusted friends. Will these ever be made public? One still wonders why her apprehensions were taken so
lightly by her own party. Was she such a naïve politician that she named
people just to get political mileage out of it? BB often used her Blackberry
for sending messages/memos to her trusted friends around the world and she
did the same between October 18, 2007 and December 27, 2007, during which at
least three attempts were made on her life (these three attempts were
disclosed during the interrogation of two suspects arrested in connection
with the case). In my last interview with Bhutto at Zardari House in
Islamabad a few weeks before her murder, she expressed fears that some hidden
forces were after her life. “They can’t scare Bhuttos,” she said.
Knowing her for almost 30 years, I can say that her courage became her
weakness as those “assigned the job” to kill her were told about it. Interviews with some of the investigators reveal that
murder investigation was not held on a scientific basis. The terms of
reference of UN Commission and Scotland Yard were limited and they were not
supposed to name possible suspects. Some questions ignored by the FIA
investigation are: Why did Benazir Bhutto decide to write such an important
will when she was neither old nor sick (some parts of the will no one knows)?
Did she know she would be killed? Did she know her possible killers? Why did
the FIA decide to send questions to the people she had suspected and did not
interrogate them? Why did the FIA express its complete satisfaction over the
replies sent by them and never questioned them further? Did the FIA
interrogate the party’s security team? The answer to none of these questions is known, as
disclosed by one of the team members. What is known is that none of those
charged with conspiracy and murder was ever suspected by her. Each year, the PPP Central Executive Committee holds
meetings, passes resolutions and reassures people that the conspiracy to kill
Benazir Bhutto will be exposed. Is the PPP satisfied with the investigation
and the people charged in this case so far? If not, why do the PM and others
still say they will arrest the killers of Benazir one day. The conspiracy to kill Benazir was certainly hatched much
before her arrival in Pakistan. She was clear about the people who were after
her life. The fact is that all those named by her in her official letters,
memos, emails, SMSs were not even called to the FIA headquarters for
questioning. I wonder whether all those documents were ever provided to the
investigators. The investigators did not even bother to review the security
plans of the rallies. As mentioned earlier, she came under attack three times
prior to the final assault on her life at Liaquat Bagh on December 27. “It
appeared that the killers followed her from the day of her arrival and
watched her movements, knew exactly about her plans and finally got her. It
is not a case planned by a few militants in connivance with some police
officers,” says a senior investigator, on condition of anonymity. A senior FIA official, who was part of the investigation,
revealed that they did send the questionnaires to all the high profile people
named by her and except two all of them had sent their replies. “They were
all cleared and not required for any further investigation,” he said. The FIA also wanted Federal Interior Minister Rehman
Malik for ‘questioning’ but could not get the permission. Despite
repeated requests, the FIA could not succeed in getting his version on the
case. “Being the chief security officer of Dec 27 meeting, his statement
was important,” he stated. Those facing the charges in the case include Rafaqat
Hussain, Hasnain Gul, Sher Zaman, Rashid Ahmed, and police officials Syed
Saud Aziz and Khurram Shahzad. All of them have been charged with ten counts
including Qatl-i-Amn and conspiracy to kill Benazir Bhutto. Former CCPO Saud
Aziz was charged with failure to provide adequate security with ulterior
motives and conspiring with the co-accused. Aziz was also charged with
deliberately withdrawing ASP Ashfaq Anwar from the escort duty, thus paving
way for the other accused to carry out the attack. SP Khurram was also
charged with deliberately washing the crime scene and wasting vital evidence.
No one in the challan has been mentioned as the
mastermind, and the names of Taliban leader Baitullah Mahsud, Ikramullah and
Nadir Khan alias Qari Ismail appear as Proclaimed Offenders. After reading all the 10 charges of Pakistan’s most
high profile case, it appears as if the case has been treated as a simple
murder case committed by a group of alleged criminals in connivance with a
few police officers. All the accused have already denied the charges and
pleaded not guilty. There is no doubt that some of the militant groups were
against Benazir. But why has no group claimed the responsibility of such a
high profile murder? On the contrary, Baitullah Mahsud denied his involvement
in the murder. Why was this denial not taken seriously? The tenure of the present PPP government will come to an
end around the same time as Benazir’s fifth death anniversary. People will
continue to be in the dark about the actual conspiracy behind one of the most
tragic incident of Pakistan’s troubled political history. Democracy is the best revenge, so long live the killers. The writer is a
senior journalist and former secretary general of the PFUJ.
Rights
vs wrongs The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) continues to face
the rage of national and international human rights and media groups. The
Judicial Commission investigating the May 2011 assassination of a senior
journalist, Syed Saleem Shahzad, recommended in its inquiry report that the
ISI must deflate its larger-than-life image, focus on its mandated job and
evolve a transparent policy in its liaison with the media. The commission, however, failed to get to the bottom of
the murder, prompting the Human Rights Watch (HRW) to state that the failure
of the commission to identify culprits in Shahzad’s murder illustrates the
ability of the ISI to remain beyond the reach of Pakistani criminal justice
system. Observing that the Judicial Commission appeared fearful of
confronting the ISI, the HRW demanded that the Pakistan government should
take every possible step to identify the culprits. The five-member
commission, headed by Justice Saqib Nisar of the Supreme Court of Pakistan
and tasked with examining the murder and identifying his killers, said in its
report that it does not have the evidence required to fix responsibility for
the killing. Having investigated for six months the murder of the
journalist who authored ‘Inside al-Qaeda and the Taliban: Beyond Bin Laden
and 9/11’ (Pluto Press 2011), the Judicial Commission stated on page 96 of
its report: “The commission is convinced that there are sufficient reasons
to believe that the intelligence agencies, including the ISI, have been using
coercive and intimidating tactics in dealing with those journalists who
antagonise the interest of the Agency and this needs to be deprecated in
strongest terms”. However, Brad Adams, Asia Director of HRW, expressed
disappointment over the commission’s failure to identify Shahzad’s
killers, adding that the slain journalist had made it clear to the Human
Rights Watch that should he be killed, the ISI should be considered the
principal suspect. Adams said on January 30 through a press release:
“Saleem Shahzad had not indicated he was afraid of being killed by militant
groups or anybody else. [Thus], the [Pakistan] government still has the
responsibility to identify those responsible for his death and hold them
accountable, no matter where the evidence leads.” Brad Adams added: “At great personal risk, scores of
journalists, human rights activists, and others presented themselves before
the Judicial Commission to offer accounts of the ISI and military’s
involvement in human rights abuses. The commission repaid this courage by
muddying the waters and suggesting that just about anyone could have killed [Saleem]
Shahzad. The ISI abuses will only stop if it is subject to the rule of law,
civilian oversight, and public accountability. It is the government’s duty
to insist on such accountability and the military’s duty to submit to it.
The ISI needs to stop acting as a state within a state. We have extensively
documented the ISI’s alleged intimidation, torture, enforced
disappearances, and killings of many journalists, and fears that the
[judicial] commission’s failure in naming a culprit hints back to the
ISI’s stronghold over the country’s judicial system.” However, the media organ of the Pakistan armed forces
(Inter-Services Public Relations) reacted angrily as usual 20 days after the
HRW statement was issued, saying the HRW appears to have seriously
jeopardised the bipartisan and objective nature of its work and it will be in
fitness of things to expect the HRW to withdraw the biased statement. The
ISPR spokesman said in a February 19 statement that in one stroke, Brad Adams
discredited the Judicial Commission that investigated Shahzad’s murder,
demonised the ISI and castigated the government, going on to suggest a darker
destination of evidence if pursued again. Stating that Adams may had his head
buried deep in sand and that the HRW might be choking under heaps of bias,
the ISPR spokesman concluded that the allegations levelled against the ISI
are simply baseless and untenable both by evidence and logic. But Saleem Shahzad’s friends and colleagues keep
pointing the finger of suspicion at the ISI, reminding that some senior
officials of the Agency had warned him thrice prior to his abduction and
subsequent murder that he was under serious threat due to his writings. The
truth is that Shahzad was abducted and severely tortured to death before
being dumped alongside a canal. His post-mortem report found the journalist
had at least 17 wounds, including deep gashes... “The ribs from the left
and right sides seemed to have been hit with violent force, using a blunt
object. The broken ribs pierced Shahzad’s lungs, apparently causing the
death.” Therefore, the million-dollar question remains: who
killed Saleem Shahzad and why? While the ISI had maintained before the
Judicial Commission that Shahzad might have been killed by the Ilyas Kashmiri
faction of the Harkatul Jehadul Islami (HuJI) for the damage he had done to
their network, a leading US magazine, The New Yorker, had claimed that “the
order to kill Pakistani investigative journalist Saleem Shahzad came from a
senior officer of the Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani’s staff”. Authored
by Dexter Filkins, the September 11, 2011, report stated that Shahzad had
angered the Pakistani authorities by writing about al-Qaeda infiltrating the
Pakistan navy at a particularly sensitive time as Pakistani leaders were
reeling from the humiliation of the May 2 raid by the United States Special
Forces that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan. While exploring Saleem Shahzad-Ilyas Kashmiri link, The
New Yorker report said that the militant was killed in Pakistan’s largely
lawless tribal region only four days after Shahzad’s body was discovered.
“Given the brief time that passed between Shahzad’s death and
Kashmiri’s, a question inevitably arose: Did the Americans find Kashmiri on
their own?” Filkins asks. “Or did they benefit from information obtained
by the ISI during its detention of Saleem Shahzad? If so, his death would be
not just a terrible example of Pakistani state’s brutality; it would be a
terrible example of the collateral damage sustained in America’s war on
terror.” In fact, Shahzad’s cell-phone records revealed more
than 258 calls in one month to and from a single number that may have been
Kashmiri’s. This could have prompted the intelligence spooks (who had been
bugging Shahzad’s phone) to abduct the poor journalist and torture him to
extract any possible information about Kashmiri’s whereabouts, eventually
leading to his death. Yeh
Woh The more Pakistani mass media flourishes, the more
complex the question of identity becomes. Who are these people among us who
fit the descriptions: the masses, awaam, the common people? It definitely excludes the person using the epithet
because it is never used in the first person. You won’t hear someone say,
‘we, the masses are illiterate’ or ‘Mukhtar Mai is the bravest woman
among us common people’. This enigmatic group of people is always referred
to as ‘they’. Even when a political leader addresses a gathering of
several thousands, he or she dwells on the tribulations of ‘poor awaam’
in the third person, and everyone understands that there are some wretched
human beings somewhere in this country, but it is not the speaker and it’s
not me. Our leaders, some of whom come from pretty modest, even
depressed backgrounds, remove themselves from their neighbourhoods the day
they are made leaders, because ostensibly, the masses don’t want one of
them to be their leader. What kind of a leader sits with the lowly tradesmen,
rides a motorbike, and eats at home like everyone else? Sheikh Rasheed? Is he
a leader? They want a real leader who rides a Corolla if not a Crown, has his
blood pressure checked in London, who can summon a DSP and order him to
arrest someone right there, who drinks only Scotch and eats desi chicken, and
who never has time for them. That’s what they call a leader. But then
Aitzaz Ahsan created more confusion by repeatedly referring to Prime Minister
Yusuf Gillani as a ‘common man’ in the Supreme Court where he was charged
with contempt of court. A common man committing contempt of the highest
court? Between Mr. Ahsan and the honourable judges, one party has definitely
got it wrong. Media makes the distinction of a common man even more
complicated. They find a small crowd gathered at a street corner, swearing at
Zardari for prolonged power cuts. The media person tells them how to behave,
and records a public protest in which masses are burning tyres, pulling their
hair out and chanting slogans against loadshedding and America. Or a few
dozen madrassah students shouting death threats to America for offending
cartoons published in Denmark, are shown as awaam raging at their government
for not denouncing the cartoons more strongly, and chanting slogans against
Zardari. There is another awaam shown on media supporting a
political party or personality. Dozens of video cameras are employed to show
us the size and density of a crowd, and is termed ‘awaami support’. Every
other day some leader pulls a big crowd somewhere, and all events are
supported by awaam. If you believe the television, half the men and quarter
of women in this country get ready every evening to attend a political event.
What is not shown is that the rest are sick of these events because they
interfere with their daily routines. So which one of the groups is awaam? If
the politically active are awaam, what do we call the quiet ones? If they are
neither awaam nor khwaas — the elite — who are they? It is the majority of this country that does not know
itself. The leaders and the media tell them they are un-awaam, and they
agree. They actually believe themselves to be a few notches above the awaam
station. One may draw the line of awaam-ness yards below one, he or she will
be below the line drawn by someone else. My search for the pukka awaami person led me into a small
and cluttered room at the back of my house. That’s where my
gardener-cum-watch man-cum-handy man lives. “Are you a common man?” I asked him nice and
straight. “Of course I am sir. I am poor, I am uneducated, I am
uncivilised… living at your largesse sir.” This man and his two sons work as domestic help in
Islamabad. They ride bicycles, eat the cheapest vegetables, and wear clothes
given in charity or bought from Sunday Bazaar. But back in their village,
theirs is one of the more prosperous households that has a television, a
fridge, and other items considered luxuries by the majority in the
neighbourhood. The common man in Islamabad becomes a man of means in his
village and counts those less fortunate than himself as poor awaam. And who
knows, those poor souls may be looking at other wretched humans around them
as the real awaam. masudalam@yahoo.com
assembly There are various ways to look at the Feb 19 rally of the
Muttahida Qaumi Movement that joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Maulana
Fazlur Rehman, Pervez Musharraf’s Muslim League and the dubious Pakistan
Defence Council by deciding to hold a mass rally at Karachi’s
Bagh-e-Quadi-e-Azam. While all the above-mentioned parties replayed their
respective rhetoric of protecting Pakistan from India, US and corrupt
leaders, the MQM’s all women public meeting definitely made a powerful
impact on the national political discourse during an election year. The Sunday meeting maybe seen as an attempt by the MQM to
establish its credentials as a party committed to equal rights for women.
Party leader Altaf Hussain hit all the right notes. He condemned the
regressive customs of honour killings, Vani and “marriage of the helpless
women with the Holy Quran.” He said that the incidents of Karo-Kari, gang
rape, and throwing acid on the faces of the women were an ugly blot on the
face of society. He paid tribute to women for their courage and called them
as equal partners in national life. The occasion reinforced the eternal association of the
South Asian women with beauty, colours and celebrations, as stalls were set
up for applying henna, face-painting, glass bangles. Being a well organised
meeting, first-aid stations and booths for locating lost children were also
arranged. According to reports, even food was served. At the end,
participants danced to the beat of dholaks and the message of the celebration
of the female being was very well put out. If one looks at the background of the MQM, it is puzzling
why the party would need to so vigorously promote itself as a pro-woman
party. Being a representative of the urban middle class, the MQM,
undoubtedly, is one of the parties, that has never been a hindrance to any
pro-woman movement. It might not be as pro-active on women’s rights as it
is on political and economic issues related to its immediate constituency,
mainly based in Karachi, the pro-women political and civil society lobby can
safely count on MQM’s support for any effort to promote women’s rights.
Even in its formal organisational structure and in terms of political
participation including the assemblies the party reflects no anti-women bias
and has a fair number of women both as its public face and rooted in its
internal structure. In many ways, the Feb 19 rally served multiple purposes
of the party, some not very strongly linked to the cause of women. There’s
no doubt that the MQM is a powerful political force, not only because of its
presence in the National Assembly and the Sindh Assembly but also because of
its hold on Karachi. Even when it has not been a part of the assembly, its
strength as a representative of the urban middle class of the country’s
commercial capital makes it an unavoidable partner on both local and national
political spectrum. However, the organisation’s eager efforts to establish
itself as a national force could best be served if it broadens its mandate to
cover national issues rather than have itself outlined only as a flag-bearer
of Karachi’s multi-ethnic middle class. Its stand on extremism, feudalism
and support for women’s empowerment earns itself this recognition. Following the spate of rallies at Karachi’s
Bagh-e-Quaid-e-Azam, MQM, being a well organised party could have mobilised
any number of people to assert its dominance on its home constituency. That
it chose to carry out a focused women’s-only public meeting is an
indication that it is thinking national and even international. It is not just the cause of women that the public meeting
sought to promote. The all women jalsa also put out a strong message
regarding the strength of the party as far as women participation is
concerned. Altaf Hussain paid glowing tribute to women party members and
affiliates. “These brave women had held funerals of their loved ones,
suffered hardships and went to jails but did not swerve from their path...”
In the end, in a message aimed more at his rivals, the Party Chief said that
other political parties had been making tall claims about holding large
public meetings at the Bagh-i-Quaid-i-Azam, but the MQM had demonstrated that
even women workers of the MQM were enough to meet the challenge of the
opponents. MQM is very flexible a party that has partnered with
political and authoritarian regimes both because it is clear about the
advantages of work on the system from within rather than without. It has no
convincing answers to contradictions such as despite being anti-feudal, it
remains a coalition partner with the PPP that is largely seen as a party
dominated by powerful landlords. This and the last many years, the
Eid-e-Milad celebrations saw the party proactively organising milads and
religious gatherings to mark the Prophet’s (PBUH) birth anniversary. It
follows the events of Muharram with equal respect. It condemns the
narrow-based ideologies of the right-wing but also takes up the cause of
Aafia Siddiqui, who is otherwise the domain of the religious parties. So even when it calls itself Pakistan’s only secular
party, it makes sure no religious occasion, event or development goes without
its participation, helping it come up as a powerful alternative to the
religious parties. This is particularly important for that section of the
population that sees the role of religion in politics but does not support
the hardline views of the religious right. Sunday’s rally was a win-win event for MQM. Besides
being a step towards building the party as a national force, it softened the
party’s image for those who disagree with its politics while it also left
the mainstream political parties looking for answers for queries regarding
the position of women in party’s internal structure and vision for national
politics.
Loss
of a voice Abbas Najmi has turned his back on this world after over
a yearlong ailment. In 2010, brain tumour caused paralysis that severely
afflicted the right part of his body and snapped his speech, which
undoubtedly was his greatest asset. Conversation, whether in the form of
teaching or debate, had been his forte besides other myriad dimensions that
he was endowed with. Sadly enough, the speech which was his identity and
insignia, jilted him which he could not countenance. That agony was far too
excruciating for such a sensitive person as Abbas Najmi, one of my dearest
friends. For the last year and a half, he led a life of a recluse. Probably
he knew the inevitable was just round the corner. Professor of Punjabi language and literature at GC
University, anchor, tv host, radio artist, poet, proud scion of a small
peasant family from Chichawatni and above all a gregarious, good human being,
he has left bereaved not only his family but countless friends. Imbued with
confidence, God-gifted talent and self-assurance, Abbas Najmi climbed the
ladder of success and popularity while keeping his feet firmly planted on
ground. He was like an open book to all and sundry. Very proudly, he told
about his poor parents and background. Like every self-made person, he was
proud but also self-righteous. He was endowed with exceptional talent as a media man.
Panjnad at tv and Sohni Dharti at Lahore Radio brought him tremendous
acclaim. Panjnad was originally hosted by legendary Dildar Pervez Bhatti but
in the wake of his untimely death, Abbas Najmi stepped into his big boots and
the programme continued for many years afterwards. Besides he hosted numerous
Punjabi and Urdu programmes on television — news analyst on Waqt tv being
his last engagement with the idiot box. Abbas Najmi invariably introduced himself as a college
teacher, but electronic media remained his first love. He tried his luck as a
radio producer in late 1970s but found it an absolutely bland and spice-less
field. Therefore, he quit and started teaching, which too he did not relish
much. The reasons were two-fold. First, students opting for Punjabi at the
intermediate or even at Bachelors level were extremely poor academically;
most of them had sought admission on sports base. Hence, Abbas Najmi was
always at his wits end when he came back from the class. Second, being a
staunch believer in the scriptural version of Islam, he did not appreciate
most of the Sufi poetry in which maulvi was demonised. He was visibly
uncomfortable about that particular streak that reigns supreme in the Punjabi
poetry whereby syncretic and plural tradition are fore-grounded. That
probably was the fundamental reason for selecting Hamdiya (In praise of
Allah) Poetry in Punjabi as a topic of his PhD thesis. Having said that, he loved Punjabi as a language and
always preferred speaking it in all circumstances. His both children, Umer
and Fatima speak Punjabi at home which indeed is a rarity because majority of
the middle class households of the Punjab have disdainfully shunned their
mother tongue. Najmi led an extremely busy life. Whenever he had any
leisure time, he used to be among his friends. He was not fond of reading but
he adored luminaries. Sharif Sabir, Sharif Kunjahi, Khwaja Zakariya, Khurshid
ul Hassan Rizvi, Asif Khan, Aseer Abid and Shafqat Tanvir Mirza were the
scholarly stalwarts whom he held in very high esteem. On certain issues, his
information was amazing. I vividly remember the extent of his knowledge on
religious organisations, Ulema and Deeni Madaris. Three hours of conversation
with him gave me enough clues and I did not feel the need to turn to anybody
else. Religious zeal in him was unflinching, which he had imbibed from his
very strong association with Ataullah Bokhari and his sons. Another important
dimension of his personality was his kinship bonds. He was Jat to the hilt.
Thus his identity was steeped in Deobandi denomination and his Jat self. Going to the Institute of Punjabi Language and Culture as
director was a mistake. Unceremonious exit from that ‘Institute’ in 2010
shattered him irreparably. It indeed was not his cup of tea. He was a
sensitive human being who had a very kind heart in his robust exterior. May
his soul rest in peace.
Out
of reach The government’s recent
decision to raise prices of around 350 medicines, including many lifesaving
drugs, has been severely criticised from different quarters. MQM MPA Syed Khalid Ahmad
objected to this development in the Sindh Assembly, saying it would make life
even tougher for the people. Sindh Health Minister, Dr Sagheer Ahmad,
expressed anger over the fact that this move had been made without taking the
provinces on board. The cabinet division
statement added that after the 18th Amendment, seven pharmaceutical companies
had increased prices of many of their products by up to 127 per cent without
approval of the government. When the Drugs Control Administration acted
against them, these companies knocked the doors of the Lahore High Court (LHC)
and got stay orders. A meeting was held to
consider the prices of these drugs under the LHC directions, and it approved
raise in prices of a few low-prices medicines, the statement adds. Though the matter has been
put on hold till the proposed Drug Regulation Authority (DRA) is formed, the
determination of prices of medicines remains a contentious issue. Individuals and consumer
protection groups protest raise in medicine prices and approve only marginal
increase in select cases. Whereas, the pharmaceutical industry alleges the
political governments have deprived them of the justified raise in medicine
prices to avoid public retaliation and in many cases led to disappearance of
many medicines from the market. Pakistan Pharmaceutical
Manufacturers Association (PPMA) North Zone Chairman, Dr Riaz Ahmed, tells
TNS there has been no across-the-board raise in the prices of medicines
produced locally since 2001. The Drug Pricing Wing, he says, has raised
prices of some medicines only when there was no option left and the
manufacturing companies had even threatened to wind up operations. He says a medicine known
for treatment of thyroid is absent from the market as the government did not
increase its price despite repeated requests by the company producing it. The
company refused to supply the medicine in the market as Rs100 price tag for a
50-tablet pack was in no way viable for it. Dr Ahmed says the cost of
everything starting from raw material, transportation, cardboard and other
packing materials, energy and labour have increased over the last 12 years.
“While other businesses automatically pass on these costs to consumers, the
pharmaceutical companies cannot do so — as the prices of their products are
determined by the government.” Nadeem Iqbal, Executive
Coordinator at The Network for Consumer Protection, tells TNS they are
gathering feedback on the draft of DRA ordinance and will be able to take a
stance once the exercise is complete. “The pharmaceutical sector’s
perspective may also be correct keeping in view the existing inflation, but
the interest of consumers would also have to be considered.” Muhammad Sajid, an
executive at a Lahore-based pharmacy, believes the prices of medicines are
rising everywhere in the world and the best way to make them affordable is to
introduce generic medicines. But, unfortunately, the level of trust on
generic medicines is quite low in Pakistan as these are approved without
making them undergo clinical tests. For this reason, he says, the costly
medicines marketed by pharmaceuticals companies are relied upon. Sajid shares with TNS that
at the time of registration many companies do costing on the basis of
high-quality imported raw materials. But with the passage of time they switch
to cheaper imports from countries like China and India. “If you want to see
how much profits they make, just look at their cost of marketing through
medical reps.” Nadeem Iqbal, Secretary
General of Pakistan Pharmacists’ Association (PPA), denies that expenditure
on marketing medicines through medical reps reflects on prices. “The reps
just introduce the medicine to doctors as pharmaceutical industry is barred
by law from advertising their products through conventional channels.” Pharma Bureau Executive
Director, Dr Sadia Moazzam, tells TNS the inconsistent pricing policies have
given way to the unscrupulous elements to hoodwink the consumers at retail
level. “These policies have given too much power to bureaucrats who decide
on critical pharma matters on their whims.” She says that in an
environment of continuing inflation, the prices of only 80 low priced
products, out of 60,000 registered drugs, have been recommended for
adjustment to ensure their continued availability in the market. Dr Sadia points out that
the prices of imported drugs, which are imported through parallel channels
and not subject to regulation by the health authorities, are increasing
continuously due to lack of a mechanism to monitor them. “The increase in
the prices of imported drugs creates perception that the entire local
pharmaceutical industry has increased drug prices.” She adds the last formal
price increase was approved by the government in 2001 and that too after
inflicting a lot of damage on the industry. “Rather than making the
patients suffer by forcing them to wait for cost effective medicines or
buying expensive imported alternatives, granting due raise will ensure the
availability of those drugs in the market as the local manufacturers would be
able to carry on production without losses,” Dr Sadia concludes.
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