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policy shift policy healthcare In
the name of honour finances Spatial
shrinking of the government
New security paradigm While the ruling party underplayed the issue of terrorism during its election campaign, two months in power have demonstrated that governing Pakistan without a redefined national security paradigm will not be possible By Raza Rumi Pakistanis have
been informed that there will be a new security paradigm that would drive
the policy and strategy of the federal and provincial governments in
countering terrorism and extremism. This is good news for Pakistanis given
the high levels of insecurity as well as repeated attacks on the state and
its key institutions. Nearly 50,000 Pakistanis
have lost their lives in the last decade including thousands of security
personnel. While the ruling party underplayed the issue of terrorism
during its election campaign, two months in power have demonstrated that
governing Pakistan without a redefined national security paradigm will not
be possible. Sixty terror attacks in first two months could shake any
government let alone a civilian administration that enjoys side support in
the parliament. One of the key features
of the National Security Policy (NSP) will be the establishment of a Joint
Intelligence Secretariat, which will comprise all civilian and military
intelligence agencies, with the primary job of coordinating intelligence
operations and sources of information. The Interior Minister, Chaudhry
Nisar, has assured that the secretariat will start working within six to
seven months. The NSP will also
establish a Counterterrorism Rapid Deployment Force at the Federal level,
which will eventually be replicated at the provincial levels. Staffed with
serving and retired military personnel, this force will be 500 strong and
over time shall increase to 2000 serving personnel, with the primary job
of securing and responding quickly to terror threats. The lame duck
institution, National Counterterrorism Authority (NACTA), is being
envisaged to act as a focal point of the new security policy. Increasing
its capacity and making it fully operational has rightly been identified
as one of the first few steps. The NSP will also be
divided into two broad sections: one that deals with internal threats and
another that deals with foreign threats. The draft NSP also aims to
deweaponize Quetta, while at the same time providing police in Balochistan
with over 5000 SMGs and the requisite training to use them in fighting
terrorist and sectarian elements. Though the formulation
of a NSP is vital and has been long overdue, criticisms of the scope of
the NSP have been widely expressed. The proposed NSP postulates that with
NATO troops’ withdrawal, terrorists in Pakistan will cease to function
as effectively as they do now. This postulation however, as Ayesha Siddiqa
argues, does not take into account the existence of sectarian and
extremist networks in Punjab that have operated independently of the TTP
and Afghan Taliban. By claiming that
terrorism in North Waziristan drives extremism in Punjab, an erroneous
narrative has been constructed which ignores the devastating reach and
impact of localised sectarian and militant groups. These groups are now a
substantive threat since they are propelling communities in these areas
towards radicalisation. Siddiqa has also argued
in a series of articles that the NSP fails “…to see the growing trends
of radicalism and radical movements in non-Pashtun Pakistan that takes
various shapes and forms.” (Fighting Terrorism, August 7, 2013, Express
Tribune). There is little (if any) focus on the NSP in this regard, with
networks such as Hizb-ut-Tehrir (HuT) — which perhaps don’t encourage
violence, but financially support other organisations and disseminate
religious literature, which seeks to radicalise middle class elements in
the society. Though the NSP contains
provisions for capacity building of the police forces, it needs to include
broader reforms to include the judiciary and anti-terrorist courts. That
said, however, there are still not viable methods the NSP lays out that
deals with those who are sympathetic to militancy within the police or the
judiciary. The assumption that US
exit from Afghanistan will tackle the issue of extremism is flawed at
best. A recent report prepared by the Home Secretary, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
has also advised against the idea that NATO troops withdrawal will lead to
reduction in terrorism, arguing instead that the withdrawal will be seen
as a victory for the Afghan Taliban and would further boost the morale of
Pakistani Taliban (TTP). Azam Khan, the architect behind the document,
argues that, “With the departure of the US troops, the TTP and its
multiple partners will pursue their ‘jihad’ with renewed vigour under
the banner for setting up a true Islamic Caliphate in Pakistan.” The TTP, as KP’s
secretary argued, are, firmly entrenched in the region and have
institutional support from the Afghan Taliban, since the Taliban do not
recognise state boundaries due to their belief in the idea of a borderless
Caliphate. Additionally, they are organised and have specialised wings for
training, finance, operations and justice, and are likely to pursue their
stand against a Pakistani government they view as unIslamic. It is vital to expand
the scope of NSP with a view to correct the civil-military imbalance. The
key institutions such as the Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) and
the Defence Council, both of which are almost permanently handicapped due
to the lack of a permanent Defence Minister, need to be reconsidered.
Though the DCC is criticised as not having any military representation,
the Defence Council makes up for that by being the primary advisory body
to the DCC and having more than adequate military representation. As envisaged by the
constitution, the existence of these two bodies is perfectly workable with
a few changes. First and foremost, a permanent Defence Minister is
required so as to alleviate the PM of contrasting and contradictory roles
— e.g. the PM cannot make recommendations to himself nor should he be
expected to sit in advisory board meetings. Secondly, both bodies
have separate secretariats (the Joint Chiefs have their own, while the
National Security Adviser has his own) and their resources should be
pooled together to undertake policy recommendations made and enacted by
the DCC. If comprehensively implemented, these reforms would help provide
the National Security Adviser and the PM with detailed, expert and
comprehensive analysis of defence — and foreign policy — issues. Similarly, there is a
broad need for institutional policymaking arrangements that bridge the
civil-military divide and leads to greater coordination between the two
spheres of government. Currently any coordination between the two exists
on a purely informal basis, with the Joint Chiefs’ meeting the PM and
the President directly, rather than through institutions such as the
Defence Ministry. Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi, a
noted expert in this area, has observed that the appointment of a
permanent National Security Adviser, as an autonomous civilian position
rather than a military one, would help further civilian ownership of
Pakistan’s internal and external security policies as it would require
interaction with the Joint Chiefs and keeping the PM abreast of all
recommendations and analyses. The Ministry of Defence
also needs to be strengthened, particularly by stripping it of its
military inflexions and running it in an autonomous manner. Since the
Defence Council is headed by the Defence Minister, it is imperative that
civilian bureaucrats run the Ministry so as to effectively analyse and
implement recommendations made by the military. Think-tanks and other
research organisations that pepper Islamabad should also be used as viable
platforms to explore and research policies. The time has come when
the civilian government needs to take charge of the security policy and
take it beyond the military domain. Pakistan needs to move towards a human
security paradigm where public welfare, justice and inclusion gain
precedence over containing the archenemy India and the three decades long
policy of acquiring ‘strategic depth’ in Afghanistan. A security
policy is much needed but as the Prime Minister said recently in his
address to the nation, our foreign policy requires a radical review. We
need to focus on the region and building economic ties rather than
remaining in a state of perpetual conflict and fear. Raza Rumi is a policy
advisor, writer based in Islamabad. He is the author of “Delhi by Heart:
Impressions of a Pakistani Traveller” (Harper Collins, 2013).
www.razarumi.com
policy Amendments
in the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) on August 12, 2011 were no small
event in the history of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) of
Pakistan. The reforms
package came after years of deliberations by legal experts and political
workers from Fata to improve the FCR, which would eventually bring the
people of Fata into the national mainstream — by securing their legal,
constitutional and basic human rights. The 2011
FCR reforms, promulgated by the PPP-led government, included the extension
of Political Parties Order (2002) which was not only warmly received by
much of the Fata people but was accompanied by the demand for speedier
changes to the century-old set of British-era legal regulations. While the
overarching structure of the FCR and its legal concepts remain intact,
some of the changes introduced in the 2011 reform package were: protection
of women and children under the age of 16 and tribesmen above the age of
65 from arrest and detention under the FCR act of “collective
responsibility” clause; prohibition against arresting an entire tribe
under the “collective responsibility” clause; appellate authority
power to review and revise decisions and orders; provision for an
independent appeals process; strengthening of the newly-established Fata
Tribunal; reference to “Qaumi Jirga” (council of elders); fixed time
limits for the disposal of cases; power to transfer cases to the assistant
political agent; introduction of the concept of bail; introduction of jail
inspections; fines on communities in the case of murder; acceptance of
local customs and traditions; checks on arbitrary powers to arrest by the
political administration; compensation for false persecutions; audit of
political agent funds by the Auditor General of Pakistan. Although the FCR
amendments were viewed by many as insufficient and additional reforms
continue to be demanded, it was hoped that if the 2011 reforms were
implemented in their true spirit, the reforms package would bring about a
positive change to the existing governance system in Fata. But, these aspirations
of the people of Fata are far from being fulfilled. More than two years
since the enactment of 2011 reforms, political agents across Fata continue
to wield unbridled powers and tribal people are still waiting for justice.
Thousands of diverse cases await disposal at the offices of the political
administration while the concerned officials fail to show any interest in
addressing them on a speedy basis, as is advised in the 2011 reforms
package. Hundreds of tribesmen
are waiting to get their civil documents like domicile, Nikahnama, birth
and death certificate etc. issued but the political muharrers in Fata and
FRs (Frontier Regions) either do not know how to prepare these documents
or are not willing to serve dozens of applicants. Zahir Shah Afridi,
senior journalist based in Khyber Agency, says none of the reforms brought
in 2011 were implemented in Fata, except the Political Parties Act, in the
2013 elections. “Hundreds of appeals
against false judgments issued by the political administration are filed
with the newly-established Fata Tribunal on weekly basis, yet the locals
have seen not a single case whereby an aggrieved party has been
compensated,” Afridi tells TNS. Wali Muhammad Shinwari,
chief executive of Rural Community Development Organisation( RCDO) says
lack of awareness about reforms in FCR is the main hurdle in its
implementation. “Tribal people have no clear idea about the reforms,”
he further adds that the political administration has not formally
implemented reforms because “a few days ago the Khyber Agency
administration arrested a child of 9th grade during search operation in
Jamrud subdivision.” Shinwari says awareness
sessions and seminars across Fata are being held to build consensus to
pressurise the concerned authorities to implement reforms in full spirit. According to the
political party leaders and some of the local elders, despite
recommendations in the 2011 reforms package, political agents are either
not ready or not willing to surrender the powers. A hand-picked
pro-government tribal Maliks continue to enjoy political privileges. In
fact, they consider the 2011 reforms as infringement on the privileges
they receive from the political administration. As a result, many Maliks
oppose changes to the FCRs and the extension of the Political Parties
Order. They supported independent candidates in the May 2013 general
elections. Malik Darya Khan, who
belongs to Zakhakhel Afridi tribe and is a Awami National Party (ANP)
leader, says the Fata people are still victims of the draconian
British-era regulations. On the other hand, some
pro-administration tribal elders are awarded a majority of the development
funds allocated to the region via the Fata Secretariat and elected Fata
members of the National Assembly. The political agents in Fata rely solely
on this closed group of local allies to resolve all major tribal issues. Further, the political
agents rely on the much-abused system of “nomination” (selecting
preferred contractors) and ignore prescribed rules for inviting open
tenders for all development projects. Many of these contractors are the
same pro-administration elders mentioned above and are more than happy to
engage in quid pro quo to secure their share of development projects. As a
result, the quality of construction for most development projects is poor.
In some cases, projects only exist on papers while no work is actually
done on ground. Tribesmen welcomed the
exemption of elders from arrest under the FCR “collective
responsibility” clause. They were equally pleased with the new
prohibition on sealing or confiscating residential and commercial property
under the same clause. Unfortunately, however, tribesmen are still
intimidated and penalised under this notorious and abused clause. Prior to the
announcement of the 2011 reforms package, the President of Pakistan, Asif
Ali Zardari enacted another regulation on Fata governance. In June 2011,
the Actions in Aid of Civil Power Regulation was decreed, thereby
empowering security forces to arrest any tribesmen on suspicion of his or
her association with an outlawed militant group or suspicion of
involvement in any terrorist-related act. The promulgation of this
Civil Power Regulation cancelled the prohibition against arresting elders
as was enacted in the amended FCR “collective responsibility” clause.
In the intervening years, a number of Fata people have disappeared, whose
relatives are still searching in vein for clues as to their loved one’s
whereabouts. Local political party
leadership has also been unable to see the benefits of 2011 reforms,
perhaps due to the strong opposition from the Fata status quo supporters. Besides, the political
leadership feels insecure in the current law and order situation and
therefore rarely organises meetings or assemblies. Akhunzada Chattan,
former MNA from Bajaur Agency, says low levels of literacy and political
awareness have also meant that most of the Fata residents are not aware of
the 2011 reforms package or its detailed contents. He says this political
ignorance can be gauged from the fact that six out of the ten MNAs elected
from Fata in 2013 were independent, not belonging to any political party.
After the elections, he says, one independent MNA from North Waziristan
joined PML-N while the remaining five chose to remain independent,
pledging to work for strengthening the existing “tribal system”. Despite assurances in
the 2011 reforms package, the government has thus far failed to conduct an
impartial audit of the funds accumulated and utilised by political agents
in Fata. Neither do tribesmen in the area have access to administrative
records nor are they permitted to challenge powers of political agents
regarding the utilisation of funds. Tribal elder Malik
Ikramullah Jan alleges that corruption at all levels of the political
administration is rampant. “The Khasadar and levies forces are not
concerned. They fleece local residents at security checkpoints rather than
provide security to the local people,” he says. Jan says it is no secret
that the money collected by Khasadar forces at the security checkpoints is
distributed among political administration officials, while this
collection is supposedly for the Agency Development Fund. “No receipts
are issued for money collected,” he adds. It is also no secret,
Ikramullah Jan says, the post of political agent is auctioned and rewarded
to the highest bidder. Mosam Khan, PML-N
central council member, says the condition of lock-ups and prisons in
several agencies is pathetic — as prisoners are often kept in inhuman
conditions, provided sub-standard food and provided limited access to
medical facilities. “There is no centralised jail facility in any part
of Fata and all prisoners are sent to Peshawar, Haripur, D.I. Khan or
other central prisons in settled districts,” he says. He adds an independent
committee of local elders, media persons and political leaders should be
constituted to regularly report on the reforms being implemented. The PML-N leader says
Pakistan Electronic Media Regularity Authority (PEMRA) laws have not been
extended to Fata and thus it is not permissible to publish any newspaper
or journal in the tribal areas. “This is an obvious affront to the
democratic principles of access to information and freedom of speech,”
the PML-N leader adds. To guarantee basic human
rights and fundamental constitutional rights in Fata, urgent action must
be taken to ensure the true implementation of the 2011 Fata reforms
package and the enactment of substantial additional reforms for the tribal
areas. Contrary to the views of
the political leaders, tribal elders and civil society members, assistant
political agent in Khyber Agency, Jahangir Azam Wazir, tells TNS they have
directed the administration staff to follow the reform package. “We are
producing arrested persons in court within 24 hours. We are avoiding
arrest of elderly persons and children less than 16 years of age.”
Education, not
a priority In terms of
commitment and spending, education sector traditionally stands at the
lowest rung of priorities of politicians and bureaucrats in Pakistan. The
present governments, federal and provincial, are not much different from
the previous when it comes to improving the state of public education.
Some of the parties made tall promises during election campaign before May
11 polls to invest in education for building a quality human capital. It
seems they have forgotten all this and once in power they think in the
same rotten pattern which helps strengthen the “national security
state” syndrome at the cost of millions of “brilliant youth” who are
utterly useless to the country as majority of them are not educated or
trained to contribute in the gigantic but important task of national
development and progress. The federal government
used to take lead in education in the past but after the 18th amendment,
the provinces have control over education, especially the primary and
secondary education, as the higher education is still controlled by
Islamabad through Higher Education Commission (HEC). The federal
government has allocated total Rs. 67,415.07 million for education for
2013-14 fiscal which includes 46,317.39 million for current expenses and
21,097.68 million for developmental purposes. Bulk of the money — 39
billions — will go to the higher education and given to HEC to spend for
universities and scholarships. The total education budget is far below
than the defence budget which is 627 billion after 15 percent increase to
the previous year allocations. The education budget has also been
increased from the previous 52 billion but there is no comparison between
the defence and education spending of the federal government. The provincial
governments are not encumbered by the defence like expenditures and it is
their primary responsibility to divert more money to education and
seriously try to address the perennial issues of “quality and
quantity” in education. Some of provincial governments are headed by
leaders from the political parties that have been highly critical of
previous regimes. For example Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaf of former cricketer Imran Khan controls the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
province in the north-west. Khan in many tv interviews and election
speeches said that a uniform and quality education system will be
introduced if his party won the polls. PTI’s government
allocated 83,678.09 million for education in 2013-14 budget, which
includes 69,848.40 million for current and paltry 13,829.69 million for
development expenditures. The total allocation is higher than the previous
year but the allocation, apart from school education and higher education,
also includes budget for district education and provincial programs which
will eat away vital resources for basic and higher education. Another
drawback in allocations is that lump-sum amounts have been placed on the
discretion of finance department including 3.14 billion for School
Education, 200 million for Provincial Programs, and 762 million for
General Colleges without mentioning of the nature of their usage. The
discretionary use of funds is highly problematic and dependent on vagaries
of the disbursing officers. In the biggest province
of Punjab the total budgetary allocation in the current years for
education is 73,720.58 million, which is lower than both Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
and Sindh, and only higher than Balochistan, which is just a fraction of
Punjab in terms of population. The province has set aside 38,314.95
million for current and 35,405.63 million for development sectors. Budget
books of Punjab do not provide District Education Budget, so it is not
included in this figure. While the Education
budgets of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa include district budgets as well.
But the Punjab education budget includes spending for Special Education,
School Education and Higher Education. In Punjab, the ratio in development
and current expenditures is not wide which shows that more money will be
available for new initiatives. Sindh is leading the
rest of the county in education budget with 131,985.58 million. But the
problems is that hefty 118,743.13 million are just for current expenses
like salaries etc and only 13,242.45 million have been spared for
development which also means fewer new institutions or minimal additions
to existing facilities. Another serious problem with this “huge
allocation” is that the current budget of education as reflected in the
Budget books of Sindh also includes 519.79 million for Culture and
Tourism, 3636.02 million for Health and Medical Education, 268.47 million
for Antiques Department, 280.66 million for Planning and Development
department and 215.39 million for Chief Minister. Deducting these bring
the current budget for education to 113,822.8 million and total education
budget to 127,065.25 million. Balochistan has
allocated 34 billion for education which shows the highest 42 percent
increase in terms of allocation for education in any province as compared
to previous years. But the problem with the province is rampant corruption
and dominant tribal and religious mindset, which in the past created
hurdles in the spreading education and improving its quality. Only
effective and targeted use of money can help increase literacy in the
province. Pakistan’s total
education budget though higher than the outgoing fiscal year is still far
below the minimum 3 percent of GDP target which is considered as the first
step towards official realisation of importance of education. The
political bosses should know that the allocation itself is not a guarantee
to mass literacy and improved higher education unless the micro
managements of expenditures is done properly to account both for quantity
and quality. They should realise that it is equally important to provide
funds for district education officers to travel to remote areas carry out
unannounced visits and monitor the teachers in villages, along with hefty
allocation for setting up computer labs. Regular revision and updating of
syllabus is also important to keep pace with the needs of changing world.
So far it is not clear whether the new budgetary allocations for education
provide any money for research to improve the syllabus. The political parties
should create liaison with the civil society which can play vital role in
increasing enrolment, imparting training to the teachers and improving the
standards of education. Non-profit organisation like Pakistan Coalition
for Education (PCE) are active in education and can help government
efforts. Serious efforts are needed to fulfil the constitutional
requirement of providing compulsory uniform and quality education to the
poor people of this country and can only be done by the joint efforts of
government, media, donors and civil society. The writer is a
journalist and researcher and can be reached at sajjaad@gmail.com
Whenever we
think of medical care we think mostly about doctors and what they do. If
any one comes to me to ask for a recommendation for a surgical procedure,
the one thing they want to know about is the reputation of the surgeon and
his results. Of course most major medical centres in Pakistan as well as
those in more advanced medical countries thrive on the reputations of
specialist physicians on their staff. Every so often,
magazines in the US put out lists of the ‘best’ doctors in a
particular state who are then parlayed into advertisements for the medical
institutions where these doctors practice.
Physicians who develop a
reputation for excellence more often than not deserve it. But then as the
saying goes, behind every successful man there is a woman, and for
successful doctors it is often not just one woman but many; these women
are called nurses. Medical care is no
longer a one-man show. The days when Avicenna or Al Razi strode the earth
as giants of medicine are long gone. Even in their times these great
physicians needed apothecaries to compound the medicines, tinctures and
elixirs they ordered; if the apothecary did something wrong, the great
doctor’s attempts at healing could fail. Modern medicine has
advanced to the point where it has become a ‘team effort’. The doctor,
or more often the senior doctor or surgeon, is still the person in overall
charge of a patient’s care, but he or she needs a lot of help and
support to take care of a sick patient. In most major multispecialty
hospitals, especially teaching hospitals, there are many junior doctors
besides the senior doctor who work under supervision to provide direct
care. Besides these junior
doctors, perhaps the most important component of direct medical care is
the nurses. Without good nursing care, patients cannot do well. In
addition there are now other very important parts of the health care team:
the pharmacy department that that fills out the prescriptions, the
laboratory personnel that perform all the tests required for diagnosis and
treatment, physiotherapists, social workers, dieticians and the entire
maintenance crew that keeps the hospital working and the machines humming.
But it is about nurses I
want to write about today. More than forty years ago when I started my
house job in Mayo Hospital, out of curiosity I looked at the ‘note
book’ one of the student nurses was carrying. On the first page, on the
very top in bold letters she had written: “You will obey the doctor’s
orders at all times”. That was the nursing paradigm then; the nurse’s
primary function was to carry out the orders she received from the
physician, even the lowly house physician. Even so, many basic medical
activities like starting intravenous solutions, drawing blood for blood
tests, giving injections, inserting feeding tubes etc. are things I
learned from the nurses. And the experienced nurses, especially in the
operating theatres, were really a major learning resource for junior
doctors like me. Within a year I was in
the US, starting my training as an ‘intern’. There also nurses were
still pretty low in the medical hierarchy but there was an important
difference. In Pakistan most nurses were from the poor segments of society
and often from minority classes. However, in the US, many nurses came from
the well established middle class families and quite a few were daughters
of physicians. So perhaps there was a cultural difference. The major difference I
noted, however, was that nurses were much better educated and trained in
the US and their services were valued at a much higher level. Frankly,
during my ‘internship’, it was the nurses who taught me about the
basics of medical care in the US. Over the next couple of decades nursing
developed rapidly and soon we were seeing nurse clinicians, specialist
nurses and eventually nurse practitioners. The latter in the US today
fulfil many of the ‘primary care’ functions that doctors used to
provide just a few decades ago. I remember a time during
the 1980s when I was running an intensive care unit (ICU) for cardiac
surgical patients, some of my training fellows, especially those from the
Subcontinent and the Middle East would often complain to me about the
‘haughty’ behaviour of nurses towards them. I had to explain to them
that it took the hospital at least a couple of years to train a specialist
(ICU) nurse and then we expected her to work for us for five or more years
so the hospital would very much like to retain them while the
‘fellows’ were there for only a year or two. So from the hospital’s
perspective as far as patient care was concerned, a well-trained ICU nurse
was more valuable than a trainee doctor! Frankly a well-trained nurse was
hard to come by and trainee doctors were easy to find. Fast forward a couple of
decades and I am running the department of cardiac surgery at Mayo
Hospital in Lahore. The first thing I noticed was that the nurses were no
longer primarily from a minority community but a majority were Muslims
from an emerging lower-middle class. Even so, most of them still suffered
from considerable gender discrimination. Often the nurses complained to me
that the doctors treated them badly. As I compare nursing in
the US with that in Pakistan today, two differences are obvious. First,
the nurses are not as well-trained or educated as they are in the US and
second, women whether they are nurses or not are still held to be of an
‘inferior’ position in our society. Some progress has been made in
this regard but obviously not enough. Going back to the
beginning, medical care is a team effort in the modern world and nurses
are one of the most important part of such care. When somebody asks me
which hospital they should they go for treatment of a complicated medical
problem, as far as I am concerned, most doctors are within a couple of
percentile points as far as ability is concerned; so a patient will
probably get a doctor who can diagnose and prescribe appropriate treatment
in most well staffed hospitals. But for me the more important question is
what hospital has the best nursing care available. That said, sadly nurses
are not provided the educational opportunities or professional support
that can make them feel confident enough to act like the important medical
care-givers that they really are. Let us not forget that for a patient
lying in a hospital bed the nurse is the person who provides direct and
immediate bedside care. So, if we really want to
improve the quality of care in our hospitals, we must make sure that
nurses are well-trained and above all get the respect they deserve as
medical professionals. The writer is former
professor and Chairman Department of Cardiac Surgery, KEMU/Mayo Hospital,
Lahore: smhmbbs70@yahoo.com
Four recent cases of honour killings in KP call for removal of loopholes from the law and amendment in provisions which go in favour of alleged killers By Akhtar Amin Despite hard work of numerous legislators and human rights activists, cases of ‘honour killings’ keep coming up. Four honour killing cases were reported in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa within one and a half month. In three honour killing cases, fathers were the killers of their daughters along with their boyfriends and others. The first case was reported at Mardan district on August 11, 2013. According to first information report lodged at Ghari Kapora police station, one Abdul Zaman, son of Abdul Manan and resident of Ghari Daulatzai shot dead his young daughter Afshan along with her lover Rizwanullah when he found the boy at his house along with his daughter. After killing his daughter and her boyfriend, the accused went to the police station and offered his arrest along with the pistol. The police booked him in double murder case. The second honour killing case took place in Dera Ismail Khan on July 27. A man killed his daughter and her alleged boyfriend after he found them in a room inside his house in Kathar Yanwalla Mohala. A city police official, Ghulam Abbas said that the father came to the police station following the incident and confessed his crime. Abdur Rauf Khattak told the city police he woke up to go to the washroom during the night when he saw a light switched on in one of the rooms. When he entered the room, he saw his 15-year-old daughter, Sabina, sitting with an unidentified boy. Seeing this, the father got furious and killed them both. The accused said he suffocated the boy to death using a pillow and strangled his daughter using a rope. The boy was later identified as Asad Abbas, 20, a resident of Gass Mandi Mohala. The fatha is currently being held in a lock-up at the city police station and a murder case has been registered against him. The third honour killing case was reported from Swabi district on June 26, 2013, in which Gul Rehan allegedly shot his daughter along with her husband and father-in-law in Chauta Lahor tehsil. According to Chauta Lahor police official Fazal Malik, police were informed of a shootout in Bazaar Kallay that Sabz Ali reported Gul Rehan, Mustafa and Yousaf, residents of Manki, allegedly barged into his house and opened fire at Rehan’s daughter Shaista, Ali’s brother Sadiq and father Abdur Rasheed, killing them on the spot. Sabz Ali explained that Shaista had eloped with his brother Sadiq three years ago and they got married in Karachi. The couple had recently returned to their village when her father allegedly killed them both along with Ali’s father Abdur Rasheed. The three accused escaped after the incident. Earlier, Rehan had demanded the family return his daughter to him, said Ali. According to him, Abdur Rasheed refused and replied Shaista was now his son’s wife. Ali alleged Rehan had then threatened to kill the entire family. In the fourth honour killing case on August 16, in Swabi district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, three people, including a woman and her daughter were killed in the name of ‘honour’ in Kala village. The Swabi City Police Official Akhtar Syed Ghani Asghar, a former army serviceman, gave his arrest to the police and confessed he suspected his wife Rukhsar Bibi of having an illicit relationship with Inayat Rahman who lived in the neighbourhood. To confirm his suspicion, Asghar told his wife and daughter Zahra that he was going to Rawalpindi for some work, but instead went and hid on the roof armed with an AK-47. Around 12:30am, Rahman knocked at the gate and his wife let him in, Asghar claimed. When the two were in the garden, Asghar opened fire on them. Hearing the gunshots, Zahra also came out of her room, where she was sleeping, and was shot accidently, Asghar said. All three were killed on the spot after which the accused handed himself over to the police. The AK-47 was seized from him. Legal experts dealing with criminal cases say that the Pakistan Penal Code does not contain any provision which can mitigate the offence of murder committed in the name of honour. The PPC was enacted in 1860. Earlier, Section 300 of the PPC contained a provision of ‘grave and sudden provocation’ that provided lesser punishment for crimes committed in the name of honour. To check honour killing the parliament enacted the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2005, through which amendments were made in some provisions of the PPC and the Criminal Procedure Code. For the first time a definition of honour-related crimes has been incorporated in the PPC, which now provides: “Offence committed in the name or on the pretext of honour means an offense committed in the name or on the pretext of Karo Kari, Sipah Kari or similar other customs or practices.” Following this amendment the courts are now bound to sentence to death or life imprisonment a person after he/she is proved guilty of murder on the pretext of honour. However, still in different cases the courts adopt lenient view towards perpetrators. An amendment has also been made in Section 311 PPC dealing with the principle of Fasad fil Arz (mischief on earth) and the courts have been empowered to sentence a person to over 10-year imprisonment in honour-related offenses. The offense shall also be considered as Fasad fil Arz. That provision has also been rarely invoked by courts. Legal circles believe that the legislature should remove loopholes from the law and amend provisions which go in favour of alleged killers. They believe that existing provisions of the law should also be fully implemented. The HRCP in its annual report 2011 mentioned that at least 943 women were killed in the name of honour. The report stated the purported reasons given for this were illicit relations in 595 cases and the demand to marry of own choice in 219 cases. In 180 cases the murderers were brothers and in 226 cases husbands of the victims. Only 20 women killed in the name of honour were reported to have been provided medical aid before they died. Advocate Noor Alam Khan said that some segments of the society still support this practice. He said there is difference of opinion on this issue, which is evident from judgements of the superior courts. The lawyer said that in some cases the courts favoured the accused on the grounds of “grave and sudden provocation”, whereas in other cases the courts didn’t accept this ground for an honour-related murder. He said the provision of “grave and sudden provocation” had been omitted from the law, but the judges of superior courts often extended concession to the accused on the same grounds. The Aurat Foundation conducted a study on honour killings in Pakistan in 2012 which showed that many cases were not reported to the police and if reported, were not classified as honour killings. The study said the courts usually gave verdicts in favour of the killers by invoking the provision of “grave and sudden provocation”.
finances As reported in
the third week of July 2013, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has
informed the University of Karachi that the university will not get the
required funds this year to cover the salary bill of its employees. Similar response is
given to other universities, many of which are facing grave financial
problems due to multiple reasons. Increase in the number of students and
teaching departments, rise in the number of employees, overall inflation
and price hikes in goods and services consumed by universities are some of
the reasons. The previous government
had advised the universities to raise their own finances. The staff and
management of universities replied that such a move will take some time.
Development projects, programmes of faculty development and research
initiatives were drastically affected. In the present budget,
allocation for higher education has been only marginally raised. The
momentum of growth and progress in the expansion of research work
certainly received a big shock. It was particularly harmful for such
departments that deal with research, engineering, medicine and applied
knowledge, etc. The staff unions are still protesting to restore the old
format of university support as existed in the Musharraf regime. The prevailing situation
demands a dispassionate review of the situation and what is expected to
come. The federal government, which has spent only few weeks in the power
corridors, is reported to have paid circular debt of the power sector. It
has also made headway in respect to the affairs of Pakistan International
Airlines and Pakistan Railways, two important but financially ailing state
bodies. The government is
reported to be planning initiatives to bail out crucial sectors and
enterprises. It will be appropriate if a bailout package for public sector
universities and degree awarding institutions may also be considered. This move will have
multiple impacts. These institutions extend affordable education and
prospects of educational qualifications to the youth even from most
disadvantaged backgrounds. As a country, which has
a majority of its population belonging to the young people, increase in
this investment is desirable. Two, the relative neglect experienced during
the past five years by the universities has contributed to the
accumulation of financial liabilities. If this stalemate persists, the
quality of education imparted to our future generations shall be affected.
Three, the opportunity
of subsidised higher education is perhaps the only worthwhile support from
the state to the deserving but needy youth of the society to socially
develop and position them to compete for a career. If the universities are
incapable of educating the poor youth, the social frictions in the society
will continue to haunt us. And four, with the passage of 18th
Constitutional Amendment, provinces shall have the ultimate ownership of
higher education sector. The federal government
will do well to scale up the financial health of universities to set a
healthy benchmark for centre-province cooperation. If deemed appropriate,
a special parliamentary committee can be constituted to look into this
matter and submit recommendations to the federal cabinet. Universities will have
to raise their competence level for getting more financial resources on
their own. A tried and tested recipe for financial health of universities
is the creation of endowments and trust funds. Almost all the top
universities in the world have resorted to this approach. Harvard
University had an endowment worth more than US $ 32 billion in 2012. This
amount is about twice the foreign exchange reserves of our country. The
National University of Singapore has also established sizable endowment
finances. There are at least half
a dozen universities in Pakistan that have an existence originating from
the British India. Multiple types of endowments can be considered after an
intensive interface with prospective philanthropists and donors. Certain prerequisites
need to be fulfilled in this respect. The respective provincial
legislatures and governors will have to be approached through the right
channels to promulgate necessary bills and statutory instruments to steer
this process in a smooth manner after the administrative spade work is
done. Generation, management
and release of funds will require utmost transparency and fund management
skills to attract progressive donors. There is enormous expertise
available in the corporate and even public sectors which can be approached
for advice. Universities imparting
technical education have the unique advantage of connecting with corporate
magnets. There are many corporations and groups that benefit from the
universities in various ways. Induction of young professionals, conduct of
basic events and provision of technical advice are a few examples. A more
meaningful relationship with the corporate sector can be envisaged by
drawing common agendas. A two-way need analysis
to examine the needs and requirements could be the first step. After
consulting with institutions, such as the Federation of Pakistan Chamber
of Commerce and Industry, (FPCCI), mechanisms can be evolved to develop
mutually beneficial collaborations. Assorted consultancy assignments,
product development and extending innovative ideas to corporate sector are
some of the possibilities. Every university
possesses well-developed space and software, which could be rented out for
revenue generation. Auditorium complexes, exhibition halls, video
conferencing infrastructure and sophisticated IT hardware are a few
examples. The HEC can convene a
series of meetings to gather ideas and feedback for evolving a worthwhile
strategy in this direction.
A validation of the proposed plan of spatial reorganisation of the Punjab Government through automation with some added suggestions By Asif Mehmood This follows a
recent media report that the Punjab Government is set to slash its staff
strength of around 0.8 million people working in different departments at
various levels. The initiative that is in the pipeline aims to increase
efficiency and to cut its administrative expenditure. If productivity and
austerity are the goals, there is another way out too; that is to think
about spatial shrinking of the government — from real to virtual space.
Imagine a compact civil secretariat at the same location housing all the
ministries with paperless offices; you will be half way out of the maze of
Kafkaesque bureaucracy of the largest province of the country. Today, there are 38
departments, 27 attached formations and an increasing number of autonomous
and special institutions scattered all over Lahore. In many cases, even
one single agency is located at different points. Many ministries occupy
vast estates in the heart of the city and others pay heavy amount to house
their portfolios in rented buildings e.g. almost all the arm’s length
bodies and project management units (PMUs) etc. Even in the Secretariat,
irregular and unjust internal distribution of space and resources among
various departments further reinforce thick layers of hierarchy and
favouritism instead of cultivating good working environment. The problem is worsened
by the existence of huge dry record and manual handling of files and
dossiers in every department that are a source of corruption. For evidence
on the case of complex dynamics of space, secretarial records and (in)efficiency,
a short random visit to a government department is suggested for the
reader. The net impact of this
enormity and fragmented existence is reflected in (i) ever-growing
operational costs arising out of inefficient use of resources i.e. from
stationery to energy and (ii) undesired low productivity of daily business
because of redundant procedures, lack of inter-agency coordination and
consequent lack of motivation besides other factors. The ongoing personnel
rationalisation would not prove to be a wholesome policy solution.
Consider merger of Energy and Mines and Minerals Departments, the
resultant abolition of slots and redistribution of tasks will not reduce
costs to a considerable size. Both the ministries will still retain their
spaces and use the resources being allocated to them. The answer lies in
reducing real space of these enterprises through automation of records and
daily business which will automatically rationalise the staff strength.
Shifted to the electronic transactions, you will not need adaftri,
a diary clerk, a stenographer and a personal assistant any more in
a standard section of a department. The same pattern will go to the top. Broadly, an
administrative department carries out four functions; internal
administration, human resource management, budgeting and developmental
planning. The first two are its original tasks. The latter pair is
compilation and review of the data received from the field formations. It
is relatively easier for these policy exchanges to be shifted to
electronic mode as informed civil servants are involved in these
transactions. Piloting of the project, the smaller departments should be
taken in the first phase. Still the sailing is not
so smooth. The departments will have to decentralise powers to their
directorates that interact with public for policy implementation. The
existing pool of civil servants will have to accommodate innovation in the
public interest and to be ready for training to make this policy a
success. Probably, the biggest
challenge would be the new staff rationalisation being born out of new
administrative tools and technologies. It would follow massive surplus and
lay-offs that have obvious political consequences. The new slim size of
the government will also bring in a fresh cadre rift between the federal
and provincial services. Obviously, the
trade-offs involved are tough to choose but the outcome is highly desired.
The economic situation of the country calls for an immediate reduction in
non-development expenses. The donors always press for institutional
restructuring and the public wants a speedy delivery. Against the odds of
bureaucratic resistance, this is an ideal time for the political
leadership to go ahead for such kind of redesigning. The good news is: the
government is already on its way to accommodate innovation in its
administrative design. For example, creation of public sector companies to
handle policy implementation with a corporate outlook, public private
partnership, land record automation and stakeholder consultations in urban
affairs are laudable steps. The proposed plan of spatial reorganisation of
government through automation would also be a great leap forward. The writer is an urban
policy analyst
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