FALLEN STANDARDS

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/11/30/fallingen-standards/

• The Bajwa extension exposed a mess

Standards in public life have decayed over time…incompetence is the norm.                

                                                                                                                                        -Jed Mercurio

Governance here is like a disastrous musical performance with the instruments twanging, clashing, and shrieking out of turn in an attempt to cover the fact that the singers haven’t a clue of the words or the tune. And nothing made the performers’ ineptitude more obvious than the recent fiasco regarding the COAS’s extension, although the brouhaha surrounding Nawaz Sharif’s leaving the country achieved almost as much.

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s throwaway statement a year ago about legislating by means of ordinances was probably the only time he did not execute a u-turn, because now the government is further down that path and in the case of the COAS’s extension acting first and then promising to come up with legislation to make their actions legal at a later date. Should the country’s Supreme Court have allowed this? The Prime Minister could have been called to account for his extremely unprofessional announcement of this extension, but he was not; the Supreme Court has allowed the extension to go through for an initial period of six months.  By doing so they set a precedent for further such transgressions, but then again, perhaps by doing so they managed to prevent the matter from escalating into an even bigger and more humiliating state of affairs.

In fact the COAS and the PM could both have been asked to explain why the extension was so crucial. Does this pushed-through extension mean that the Pakistan Army cannot produce another person competent enough to fill the current boots? That is doubtful since the top brass in the army appears to be of …er… more or less the same calibre. There should have been no problem there. So what is it? Has no one else been groomed and to deal with the tense situations on Pakistan’s borders, its ‘regional security environment’? If that is the case, what does that say about the leadership in the Pakistan Army and its dedication to smooth transitions, and to the nation it serves? And since no one can be in office indefinitely, in what position does that put whoever comes next? Not to mention that it would be good to know what makes the current COAS so important to the present government. Is the government itself not competent enough? To function without this COAS, that is?

You wonder if the PM even knows…well he probably knows now (we hope), but when he blew in with his bald statement concerning General Bajwa’s extension, did he know then that it is the President of the country who appoints the COAS, that it is the President who is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces? See Article 243 of the Pakistan Constitution. You wonder if the PM or anyone in his government has read the Pakistan Constitution. If so, surely the letter announcing the COAS’s extension would have reflected this.

The leaders of the country appear to be playing some kind of a dance. When in 2016 Nawaz Sharif who was then the Prime Minister offered Gen Raheel Sharif an extension, Imran Khan– then in the opposition– criticized the move and accused Mr. Sharif of being afraid of the Army. Does that apply to Mr Imran Khan now? When General Sharif refused the extension Mr. Khan praised him, saying the nation respected him for his decision. If that was the case, you wonder what the nation thinks of General Bajwa now for accepting his extension, especially given that the nation finds itself in this imbroglio as a result.

The PPP also, during its tenure, gave Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani a three year extension, but now its representatives have criticized Imran Khan for General Bajwa’s extension.

Is it possible that politicians suffer from irreversible memory loss, and/or chronic inability to keep their heads down and get on with their job? Does either of those things make them incompetent to be appointed to positions in government?

It is interesting to conjecture what happens if this government is unable come up with the promised legislation regarding the extension/reappointment of an Army Chief within the stipulated time of six months, legislation that would give General Bajwa’s extension beyond six months a legal stamp of approval. Will the Army Chief be out then? Somehow, that does not seem likely given the ‘yes sir’ relation between the armed forces and Pakistan’s civilian authorities.

Will our leaders ever learn? It appears extremely doubtful. What made us think IK would be any different?

JUST LET THEM TALK

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/11/23/just-let-them-talk/

Donald Trump is known for many things, including his discriminatory policies. Several years before he became President, his company Trump Management was sued by the Department of Justice for discrimination against African-American tenants on its properties. So, perhaps the reason why the President is so critical of the newspaper The New York Times today has to do with the fact that its Executive Editor since 2014 Dean Baquet is black, the first black man to serve in this capacity. Although he is known for abusing journalists generally, Mr Trump has frequently criticised the Times in particular, saying earlier this year that the White House would stop subscribing to the newspaper, adding that he would also direct federal agencies to follow suit.

The New York Times is the winner of 127 Pulitzer prizes, a greater number than any other newspaper in the world. It has a wide international readership and has been ranked at number three in circulation within the USA.

Noam Chomsky said that The New York Times was the first thing he looked at in the morning, that “Despite all its flaws— and they’re real— it still has the broadest, the most comprehensive coverage of I think any newspaper in the world.”

Returning to the President, Mr Trump has been accused of racism as well as sexism, yet Mr Baquet, himself a Pulitzer Prize winner for investigative reporting, has refused to call the President ‘racist’ or ‘sexist’.

Jim Waterson, Media Editor for The Guardian questioned Mr Baquet about this in an interview, at which Mr Baquet raised an important point. He said he did not believe in making value judgments and putting them into words. In other words, he said that he did not believe in ‘branding’ people. He said his job was to “cover the world with tremendous curiosity” not to act in opposition to the President. He said he was not in a position to know if the President said the things he did because he was a racist and a sexist or because he was trying to “stoke his base”, because he was not in his– Mr Trump’s– head.

“I will tell you the most powerful writing I’ve ever seen about race, as a black man who grew up in the south, did not use the word ‘racist’. It quoted people saying what they had to say, and described the world they live in. And you made your own judgment. And the judgment was pretty clear. And I think that’s the way to write about Donald Trump and everybody else. It’s just to let them talk.”

And we hear this talk. It is a problem that few people seem to know how to use what they hear to arrive at the right decision, since people are taught to react to certain catchphrases, and politicians learn to use this habit.

Baquet’s suggestion to ‘let them talk’ is a powerful concept. It would be an interesting exercise to apply the idea to the many things people say and then to see what you end up thinking about them. What would you think about Maulana Fazlur Rehman, for example, when he declares the entire country to be his war zone, in a war that would end only when the government falls. Do such statements make you question just how much the Maulana values peace, democracy and the well-being of the people of this country? If not, they should.

This is a thing that ought to be taught; how to listen closely, and to assess persons based on their actions rather than on superfluous things. If this were to become more common the fact that a leader spent time and resources for the welfare of the people should raise him in people’s opinion, but that he elects the persons he does to important office would bring him down. And that he was once a dashing international star would hold very little water.

How is a democracy to succeed when people have no idea how to judge the worth of a public figure, so they may decide who is to lead them? How is anything rational to be achieved when a few strategically used Arabic words and the mention of some historical religious figures raises people beyond criticism, and the label kafir (disbeliever) or murtid (apostate), is enough to condemn a person to death? The first could be true of Mr Qadri, and the second of Abdul Sattar Edhi.

If such throw away words, such cleverly used accusations, can easily obtain approval or condemnation, then government, judiciary, the country, and the life of its people….everything is at risk, and it is.

FOSTERING TRANSITION

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/11/17/fostering-transition/

Environmental pollution is now a visible, tangible, acutely serious issue, and Pakistan ranks second only to Bangladesh as the country with the second dirtiest air quality in the world. We see the problem manifested all around, in Lahore for example with its horrendous smog that reaches ‘hazardous’ levels, becoming worse every year. And no, this is not an Indian attempt to destroy Pakistan, although smoke resulting from crop burning across the border does drift across to us contributing to the problem. Crop burning is alive and well in our own country where there are, in addition, unrestrained and growing ‘fuel emissions from vehicles on city roads, untreated emissions by industries, particularly steel re-rolling mills that burn used rubber tyres and plastic waste material as an alternate to costly electricity and gas.’

The overuse of plastic is one of the major reasons behind this pollution. At least eight million tons of plastic end up with other waste in the oceans all over the world, destroying the natural water habitat and its creatures. When eventually the water breaks up the plastic, it takes the shape of tiny flecks that make their way into the bodies of humans and animals on land and sea.

Several organisations are trying to combat this problem such as The New Plastics Economy, in initiative sponsored by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a charity registered in the UK. The New Plastics Economy is trying to eliminate unnecessary use of plastic, and to make plastic reusable, and eventually recyclable and biodegradable.

In Pakistan there has lately been an attempt at bringing down the use of plastic bags, but like all other things in this country, this is a patchy attempt, almost definitely born less of a concern for the environment than a quest for applause. Some places are stricter than others and some are ignoring the initiative altogether.

The world is in transit, moving from ignorant violation of the environment to the present where we are aware of what we are doing, but have not as yet worked out how to change the situation. The reason is often economic. If we aspire to 3D housing for example, it requires not just expensive equipment, but it uses 50 per cent less manpower, so we lose jobs for construction labourers on a large scale. The benefits could yet outweigh the losses, but not unless a serious attempt is made to make it so. No such attempt is made, however, which is to do with a lack of long-term vision and a genuine dedication to the cause

Countries that are serious about combatting pollution have come up with some marvellous solutions. Seoul is putting up solar panels on all public buildings and a million homes, and Kenya is the proud owner of Africa’s largest windfarm.

According to a publication of the World Economic Forum, pollution in Indonesia is acute, and is killing its rivers and beaches. Indonesia has now come up with ‘plastic’ bags that are utterly and completely biodegradable. Made of cassava, the root vegetable similar to sweet potato, these bags dissolve in water if left in it, and the resultant solution is safe enough for both animal and human consumption. Unlike plastic therefore, if it is dumped into the river it will neither clog and pollute the waterways, nor will it kill sea life.

Most of the trash and plastic in the world’s oceans comes from just a few rivers and canals. A Dutch start-up has devised a ‘bubble barrier’ composed of nothing but bubbles to stop waste from travelling to the sea. Tests prove it prevents 80 per cent of the trash from floating downstream. Amsterdam is using this system in its canals. How difficult/expensive is this system? It works by laying a tube diagonally across the bed of a river or canal. The tube has holes all along its sides. Air is pumped into the tube. The air comes out upwards from these holes into the water in the shape of bubbles which float to the side of the waterway, carrying trash upwards and sideways with it. The trash can then be retrieved easily and prevented from carrying on to the sea.

On other fronts, Dubai has come up with its first two-story building entirely printed on a 3D printer. With this technology there is 60 per cent less construction waste. France has used this technology as well to make affordable housing, also with less waste, and 3D-printed shelters are also being built in Haiti and El-Salvador.

In India, the place we love to hate, there is a serious attempt to cut down pollution in Kolkata where 80 electric buses have been introduced into the city’s mass transit system this year. By next year they plan to introduce another 100. It is hoped that these 180 electric buses will together lead to an annual reduction of 14,086 tonnes of CO₂ emissions. A report by the World Economic Forum says ‘the government provided 60% of the funds for the initial 80 electric buses and helped install the charging infrastructure.’

The report also noted that ‘partnerships can foster rapid transitions. For example, the long-term vision both at the state and national levels enabled Kolkata to set out the strategy to transition its entire bus and ferry fleets to electric.’

The world is in transit, moving from ignorant violation of the environment to the present where we are aware of what we are doing, but have not as yet worked out how to change the situation. The reason is often economic. If we aspire to 3D housing for example, it requires not just expensive equipment, but it uses 50 per cent less manpower, so we lose jobs for construction labourers on a large scale. The benefits could yet outweigh the losses, but not unless a serious attempt is made to make it so. No such attempt is made, however, which is to do with a lack of long-term vision and a genuine dedication to the cause.

With all the enterprise and ability to work hard that our society has to offer, what innovations have we come up with as yet? What transitions have our governments fostered other than a constant transition from one government to another with dire consequences for the country? At present all we appear to be producing is a leadership in uniform woven with seminary fibre. You wonder if any of this is compostable.

DHARNA: GRABBING AT STRAWS

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/11/09/dharna-grabbing-at-straws/

Eight days since its inception the most recent dharna in Islamabad has undoubtedly been yet another drain on an already exhausted, mismanaged economy and a huge inconvenience; but then that’s what dharnas do, and yet politicians– who claim to care for the country and its people organise them.

The dharna in 2014 was no different. It too led to massive economic losses and disruption, roads were blocked, and routine was interrupted. In fact, the current sample has an edge over that one in that this time around– as yet– there has been no violence. Whereas in 2014 Al-Jazeera had reported that the protesters had used cars to break through the boundaries of the National Assembly and were occupying its grounds. Then the inevitable tear gas and rubber bullets were used, and batons were wielded. It is said that three people died as a result, and hundreds were injured.

Yet the PTI leadership claims to be outraged. Fawad Chaudhry, currently the Minister for Science and Technology, in his media conference had things to say about the dharna and about Maulana Fazlur Rehman. He accused Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s dharna of disrupting normal economic activities and schools. Mind you, schools had been closed down in 2014 too when the PTI organised its protest/dharna, because thousands of police had been housed in them. The Minister also had a personal swipe at Maulana sahib, saying that disruptions of schools probably didn’t matter to Fazlur Rehman since the Maulana’s own kids, now grown, never went to school anyway. Not sure where he got that from, but it is unlikely that the children of a man who did his Masters from Al-Azhar grew up uneducated. Still, Maulana sahib should count his blessings for having escaped a slap, literally, unlike a news anchor who was assaulted by Mr. Chaudhry sometime in the not too distant past.

Without being in any way an admirer of Maulana sahib, in fact very, very far from it, you have to admit the participants of this dharna have had a different style, almost as if they were enjoying themselves. Here is where we find the common man of Pakistan, impoverished, desperate, a fervent believer in an irrational variety of religion; these men grab at straws, at anything that might alleviate their desperate plight. While the powers that be indulge in verbal attacks, they have organised games, prayed, talked and laughed on the pavements and roads, in the rain, in the open and in tents. You suspect– and you’d probably be right– that this event has been a mode of relaxation for them, a desperate satire on Glastonbury. When else could your average farm worker, fruit seller, shopkeeper find time to spend a few days in the company of thousands of others like himself, when else could he take such a long-time off work? As for amenities, who has amenities anyway in the segment of society represented by these men? In the side lanes in bazaars can be seen lines of horrifically impoverished homes, shoulder to shoulder in noisome lanes thanks to open, blocked, overflowing sewers. Does anyone care, even their elected councillors? This is not where many of these men live though. That would be something even less attractive. Nothing is being done about such environments. No one in government, in short, gives a hang about them or a thought to his or her actual job. No one ever has.

The protestors in such rallies know little about systems and means of establishing and changing governments. That is for those who lead them to explain, instead of which those who lead them capitalise on that ignorance and take them along down routes such as dharnas, using the sheer number of followers as a clout. Nothing will be achieved at the end, not for these participants anyway. Governments might remain or they might fall, these men will go back to the same homes and live in the same conditions they always did. A good education will still be beyond their means, as also a full stomach, while a decent home will remain the stuff of dreams

Nasim Zehra spoke to many participants of this dharna when it had just started. It seemed the reason most of them were there was that life had become too expensive for them, and they just wanted someone to do something about it, please. They weren’t wrong.

The protestors in such rallies know little about systems and means of establishing and changing governments. That is for those who lead them to explain, instead of which those who lead them capitalise on that ignorance and take them along down routes such as dharnas, using the sheer number of followers as a clout. Nothing will be achieved at the end, not for these participants anyway. Governments might remain or they might fall, these men will go back to the same homes and live in the same conditions they always did. A good education will still be beyond their means, as also a full stomach, while a decent home will remain the stuff of dreams.

“This march will enter the corridors of power and sweep away the trash,” said the JUI(F) chief during one of his addresses to the participants of the protest.

Well, at least the man recognises himself.

THE UNFORGETTABLE EXHIBIT

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/11/02/the-unforgettable-exhibit/

• How a political statement got amplified

What is art?

Prehistoric art during the Neolithic age was a commentary on the life of the time, the progress of man, his achievements and his setbacks. Man was new to his implements and materials but use them he did to depict the life around him, the animals he encountered, as a warning to other hunters, an observation of the terrain. It revealed his flights of fancy, his deepest wishes; it was a reaching for the stars, a lament following war. If the artist observed a tiger stalking a deer, he drew it, he molded stones in the shape of the weight on his heart and made fledgling efforts at portraits of warriors, headmen, and tribesmen. This after all was the politics of the time. In addition those artists made lines and dabbed on paint just for the heck of it too.

It carried on. David’s statue in Florence, a symbol of the defense of civil liberties embodied by the Republic of Florence, a city-state threatened by rivals and by the all-powerful Medici family; Catalano’s statue about the heartache of migration, this is what artists aspire to, to create a spur to thought, to produce the kindling that fires imagination, to present a message encapsulated by skill and imagination. This is the real thing of beauty that is a joy forever.

Human rights supporters stood each stone up again and lay down behind each one, representing the body in each grave. What a superb response. We will remember Suleman’s exhibit which otherwise we would have appreciated very much but would have forgotten in time, but now this exhibit will remain in our minds. Because it became such a powerful commentary on the times we live in. This is something that is beyond the capacity of ‘Intel Agencies’ to understand, that censorship eventually rebounds on the censors.

The Karachi Biennale 2019 recently held its annual event at the Frere Hall. What is the Karachi Biennale? It is the flagship project undertaken by the Karachi Biennale Trust designed to use art as a vehicle to discover, discuss and respond to Karachi.

The exhibition this year included a work by the artist Adeela Suleman. It consisted of 444 grave markers, each depicting a person murdered by Rao Anwar of Karachi, now the former SSP of Malir. As Jibran Nasir pointed out, the murders are not disputed, they are on police record. The SSP was later also indicted for the murder of Naqeebullah Mehsud, a young aspiring model who Anwar claimed was a member of the TTP. Give us a break.

Part of the exhibit at Frere Hall was also a video installation with images of Mehsud’s father and the place where he was killed.

Unidentified persons raided this Karachi Biennale 2019 display at the Frere Hall. They toppled over each stone representing each grave marker thus destroying Adeela Suleman’s exhibit, and sealed off the lower hall.

So, who were these people? Which ‘Intel Agency’ were they from with enough power enabling them to arrive in trucks and threaten the staff of Frere Hall, disrupt Jibran Nasir’s press conference, throw away the medias’ mikes and prevent them from going on air? The fact that the organisers of the Biennale issued a statement afterwards in which they refused to support Suleman and said that her exhibit was against the ethos of the event and would create ‘false divisions’ between art, the public and society suggests that the organisers too perhaps were muzzled by the ‘Agency’. After all each exhibit must have been vetted and given approval before the event.

Were these self-appointed censors expecting pieces of art utterly devoid of commentary on the surroundings in which people live? Did they want or expect just lines and dabs of paint, paintings of voluptuous beauties and monuments in praise of our rulers, statues of figures from our apparently glorious past, or a collage of the achievements of Pakistan? Of course, with Malala conspicuously missing, and Abdus Salam blacked out.

This incident gives rise to many questions, but also whether art should foster political debate in a society.

That depends on what the definition of politics is. If it is the expression of the will of the people, their concerns and the issues they face, then Suleman’s exhibit is right up that alley.

If on the other hand those in power in Pakistan define politics (only to themselves of course) as a vehicle for the power the government holds over the governed, then what followed the destruction of Suleman’s exhibit was an even more powerful commentary than the commentary that was destroyed, and its censors failed abysmally in their attempts to hush it up. And what followed is this:

Human rights supporters stood each stone up again and lay down behind each one, representing the body in each grave.

What a superb response.

We will remember Suleman’s exhibit which otherwise we would have appreciated very much but would have forgotten in time, but now this exhibit will remain in our minds. Because it became such a powerful commentary on the times we live in.

This is something that is beyond the capacity of ‘Intel Agencies’ to understand, that censorship eventually rebounds on the censors.

How many people read Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses before it was banned? How many read it afterwards?