reconciliation
Dusting off UN blacklist
The five men no longer under sanctions are former Taliban and part of the Afghan government or living under its protection
By Rahimullah Yusufzai
In a decision that should have been taken much earlier, the names of five former Taliban ministers were removed from the UN Security Council's 'blacklist' after having been sanctioned in late 2001 for links with al-Qaeda.

Changing face of Lyari
Ripples of target killings of Baloch in Karachi are being felt in Balochistan
By Aoun Sahi
Baloch-dominated areas in Karachi have been traditionally a stronghold of PPP since 1970s. In all these years, whether it was general elections, Bhutto's return to city from exile or political gatherings, the jiyalas of Lyari and surrounding areas have always showed their love and loyalty for the PPP. The importance of Baloch areas in Karachi for PPP leadership can be judged from the fact that Benazir Bhutto had selected Lyari town for her wedding ceremony. She always had a great respect for the jiyalas of Lyari and used to call them 'Lyari kay laadlay'.

Jyoti Basu, the veteran communist leader of India, who died on January 17, 2010, bestrode Indian political scene like a colossus. His demise severs last link in the chain of political leaders that stretches back to pre-partition days. With Jyoti's passing, who was truly India's history man, an era, a tradition, an outlook and a style of left-wing electoral politics has come to an end.

Born to well-heeled middle class Bengali family, and educated at elite St. Xavier's presidency college Kolkatta, he sailed to Britain to pursue his law degree in 1935. It was in London that he was shaped politically; and it is where the lineament of his future politics can be discerned. There he attended lectures by Harold Laski, professor of politics at London School of Economics. The other strand of political education was supplied by the British Communist Party whose stalwart leaders Harry Politt and Rajni Palme Dutt came to exercise great influence. During his London years he also worked among immigrant community living in East London. Jyoti toyed with the idea of joining the British Communist Party but was dissuaded by its secretary general, Harry Politt, for fear of Jyoti getting into trouble with British authorities upon his return to India.

While studying for his law degree, Jyoti was swept up in the cross currents of anti-fascism, anti-colonialism and, significantly, communist politics raging at the time. Inspired by Indian freedom struggle, he joined India League where he arranged meeting of visiting Indian dignitaries like Nehru with the British Labour Party and the wider socialist movement. India League in those days was frequented by Indian students like Raj Mulk Anand, MD Taseer and others who made a lasting impact on post-partition days. He played a vital part in organising political rallies of Congress leaders from the platform of the London Majlis – a grouping of Indian students – of which he was the president.

These experiences went into making what Jyoti Basu turned out to be in later year – a Marxist in the head but pragmatic socialist in politics in the British tradition of Fabianism. The influence of London years was to stay with him throughout life. He would spend summers in London and drop in on India Club Bar for a shot of whisky. His taciturn and fiercely private nature is also attributable to stiff upper lip a proverbial characteristic of English social life. Yet he could also enthuse a crowd of millions when electoral politics required it.

In 1940, Jyoti returned to India an out and out Marxist after completing his education. He shocked his traditional conservative middle class by announcing to join politics and that of the left variety. Though he had the potential to become leader of all India stature, he chose to work among people of Bengal. He threw himself in union organising among railway workers. Thanks to his organisational abilities he rose to the secretary of the union.

In 1946, he entered the parliament on the communist ticket after defeating Congress stalwart Humayun Kabir. In parliament, he became the leader of opposition to the Congress government. Slowly he shone in making the Communist Party a winning electoral machine and his stature in the party rose.

In 1964, he cast in his lot with the CPI (Marxist) faction of the undivided Communist Party when the party split over 1962 Sino-India war. This was the shrewdest move since most of his London-educated comrades sided with the other faction. From this point onwards Jyoti focused his energies on building up the CPI (M) as electoral machine in West Bengal.

In 1972, the Communist Party came close to dislodging Congress from its long-held parliamentary perch amid allegation of widespread rigging. In 1977, however, Jyoti Basu rode to victory as the head of the Communist Party and became undisputed chief minister of the state of West Bengal, a position he was to hold for the next 23 years.

The sheer longevity of this stay conferred upon him the status of a patriarch. This was evident in outpouring of spontaneous grief among ordinary people when the news of his death broke out. During this period he made the Communist Party the most formidable electoral machine. In the process, he managed to make it the natural party of government. More significantly, he made the party first choice vote of Bengalis and somehow a small part of Bengali identity.

When he left the government Bengali exceptionism and anti-Congress feeling had come to settle in the Communist Party. This anti-Congress bent inculcated in the Communist Party had a downside too. This led the party in forging alliances with right wing parties as pointed out by Jawed Naqvi. The rise of BJP could be the result of this anti-Congress alliance forging mania. Despite this, he kept the communal virus that swept across the rest of India at bay in west Bengal. This attests to Jyoti's ingrained secular outlook.

During his years in power, Jyoti's singular achievement was land reforms which saw the land distributed among landless peasants. Decentralisation or panchyat raj was another political reform which was widely appreciated and copied as pilot project in other areas. Despite being the architect of the left's irresistible rise in Bengal state, he remained a party man at heart. When the opportunity of becoming the prime minister of India loomed in 1996, his party prevented him from grabbing this ultimate prize in politics. Ever a party man, he pocketed his frustration with good grace at the moment, but characterised it as a historic blunder later on.

In 2000, he left the chief ministership but stayed as politburo member of the CPI (M) till 2008. With his retirement from active electoral politics, the fortune of the Communist Party flagged only showing how adept electoral tactician Jyoti was. A fiercely private person, he gave few interviews. He is survived by a son; his second wife died before him.

Life is unpredictable. Accidents happen. Pandemics spread out. Calamities occur. We get diseased. Hence we require healthcare. The math is as simple as this. Healthcare is a vast field. But an imperative branch of this field which is often found to be arcane is the emergency healthcare.

Emergency medicine requires an entire team of physicians on their toes all the time. A team of diagnosticians on call with effective nursing staff and vigilant on-duty doctors plus a good ventilator support system make an effective emergency unit. Now the question is: how many hospitals in our country have such emergency care systems? The answer, sadly, is not enough.

"In Lahore, the emergency services available are of variable quality and there is tremendous room for improvement," says Dr. Faisal Sultan of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital.

He adds, "the situation in Lahore is not well-defined, and the ability of different hospitals to deal with emergencies is different," This, he says, is based on staff available, facilities at hand as well as backup in terms of blood bank, operating theatres, diagnostic services, critical care and ICU services and specialist doctors.

But, he elaborates, emergency treatment anywhere in the world is not uniform in all hospitals -- "In addition to quality, the range of services is also different in different hospitals. For example, in the United States, each emergency department is classified at a certain level with a certain range of facilities and skill level. Thus major trauma will be taken only to designated centres."

The way forward, according to Dr. Sultan, is to have formally trained emergency medicine doctors. "Just like training a specialist in medicine or surgery or gynaecology, it takes three to five years to train a doctor for emergency care. For this there needs to be appropriate residency training programmes for physicians and surgeons."

According to a survey on emergency medicine conducted by Dr. Junaid Razzaq, Department of Emergency Medicine, Aga Khan University, Karachi: "39 medical colleges are recognised by Pakistan Medical and Dental Council. Of these, responses were received from 26 teaching institutions in the country. A majority of the respondents (85 per cent) were not satisfied with the care provided in emergency departments of their primary teaching hospitals, and three-fourth (74 per cent) thought that doctors specialised in other disciplines, like internal medicine and family medicine, cannot adequately manage all emergencies. When asked if Pakistan should have a separate residency training programme in emergency medicine, 96 per cent responded in affirmative, and 85 per cent thought they will start a residency programme in emergency medicine if it was approved as a separate specialty".

Conclusion of the survey was that there is a "significant support for a separate local training programme for emergency medicine in the country".

The residency programme in Emergency Medicine at Aga Khan University is the first organised residency training programme in Pakistan. Education is supported by a highly trained and experienced faculty as well as a well-equipped hospital system. Residents receive high quality training through rotations in various specialties.

Defending the emergency healthcare in the country, Dr. Javed Akram, Principle of Allama Iqbal Medical College, Lahore tells TNS, exceptionally trained staff is hired for emergency. And also, the emergency staff is highly paid, explains Mr. Tanveer Baig, Director of the Finance Department at Jinnah Hospital.

So, where's the problem? "Emergencies in local hospitals are over-crowded. The government should construct more hospitals to match the population growth. New hospitals should be built in different places so that each district has a hospital," iterates Dr. Akram.

According to a consultant at Services Hospital Lahore, "The emergency departments in government hospitals can really be a blessing for the public provided the government funds it properly and bring it to international standards of healthcare."

But what when there is a road accident, murder case or any criminal case? The victim has to be moved to a government hospital emergency immediately then a medico-legal report has to be put in order and an FIR has to be submitted.

In case of such emergencies, Dr. Javed Akram says, "even if the patient is taken to a private hospital, he will receive instant life-saving treatment there but will have to be moved to a government hospital immediately for his treatment to proceed."

Dr. Faisal Sultan states, "Private hospitals generally avoid taking medico-legal cases since these involve additional hassles of working with police and later with courts. Government hospital emergency rooms often have specific staff to handle the medico-legal documentation".

But for the time being funds allocated for the health sector are negligible. This is the reason why the government hospitals cannot come up to the mark regardless of all the trained specialists working there.

In a decision that should have been taken much earlier, the names of five former Taliban ministers were removed from the UN Security Council's 'blacklist' after having been sanctioned in late 2001 for links with al-Qaeda.

However, the much-anticipated move failed to have any impact on those whose names were deleted and one of them Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil, former Taliban foreign minister, argued that they were wrongly blacklisted and now their basic right has been restored. The decision was predictably rejected by the mainstream, Mulla Mohammad Omar-led Taliban movement.

The five men who are no longer under sanctions are former Taliban and are part of the Afghan government or living under its protection. Mulla Omar's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the name officially used by the Taliban to describe their movement, have time and again made it clear that the former Taliban like Mutawakil don't represent their movement.

Mutawakil, who has been living in Kabul since 2005 under government protection after being freed from the US military prison in Bagram in Afghanistan, tops the list of the five Taliban who until now were under UN sanctions. He had surrendered to the US forces in February 2002, two and half months after the fall of the Taliban regime. As he didn't take the Taliban leadership into confidence before surrendering, the Taliban are still not willing to forgive him. In fact, their distrust of Mutawakil, who belongs to Kandahar, would increase now that he has found favour with President Hamid Karzai and the US and its allies and his name has been taken out from the 'blacklist.'

The other four Taliban officials whose names were removed from the sanctions list include Abdul Hakim Munib, former deputy minister of tribes and border affairs, Mohammad Musa Hotak, the ex-deputy planning minister, Haji Fazl Mohammad Faizan, former deputy commerce minister and Shamsul Safa Aminzai, a senior media official in the Taliban Foreign Ministry in Kabul.

The sloppy manner in which the list of 144 Taliban figures was drawn up and put under sanctions in 2001 could be gauged from the fact that in this single case of five men almost all the names were incompletely written. Munib was not added to Abdul Hakim, which is a common name, and not many people would have figured out that this one was the former deputy minister Munib. In case of Mohammad Musa, the name mentioned in the UN list didn't mention Hotak. Then Aminzai, the last name of Shamsul Safa, wasn't there in the UN list and all those who knew most Taliban leaders and commanders were at a loss to find out as to who was Shamsul Safa. The Afghans normally address a person by his last name and its absence causes problems in recognising that person.

Munib defected to the Karzai government soon after the collapse of Taliban regime and was rewarded with the job of Governor of Urozgan province, which is a Taliban stronghold. He was sacked following allegations of corruption.

The others too dissociated from the Taliban long ago. In fact, Musa Hotak was elected member of Lower House of Parliament from his native Wardak province.

The fact that the UN 'blacklist' still contained the names of former Taliban officials who renounced violence years ago explains the inefficient manner in which the Security Council's sanctions committee operates. All five are living peacefully and have not fought against the Afghan government or the US-led coalition forces after the fall of Taliban regime. The UN list was never reviewed and was forgotten after being drawn hastily. It was dusted and reviewed a day before the international conference on Afghanistan in London for maximum effect. The timing was crucial as President Hamid Karzai sought backing at the conference for his "reintegration" plan under which Taliban who give up fighting would be offered means of livelihood, education and protection.

The next step would be removing more Taliban names from the UN sanctions list, but both the US and the Afghan government have made it clear that those having links with al-Qaeda would stay on the 'blacklist'. There is, however, some difference of opinion between President Karzai and the US and it allies on the fate of Mulla Omar. While Karzai has time and again offered talks to Mulla Omar and promised to provide him security if he came to Kabul, the US at this stage is unwilling to negotiate with the 'irreconcilables' who include Omar and all hardliner Taliban figures ready to fight until the last bullet.

Some on the original UN 'blacklist' of 144 Taliban figures have died while others are in jail or living quiet lives. Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, pointed out recently that some of the Taliban on the list have died and others are no longer fighting. He backed the proposal for reviewing the list and removing the names of those Taliban members who have left their movement or were living peacefully.

The effectiveness of the UN sanctions on the Taliban leadership too has been questioned. The sanctions include arms embargo, ban on international travel and freezing of bank accounts and other assets. Taliban probably have more weapons now than ever, they don't need to undertake international travel and none had any bank account. In fact, they considered the banking system as un-Islamic. There has been no study about the impact of these sanctions on the Taliban. No figures were provided as to how much in bank assets were seized anywhere in the world after sanctioning the top 144 Taliban.

As there was no real impact of these sanctions, nobody in the UN or somewhere else bothered to follow up the issue, study the sanctions' effectiveness or review the listed names.

It is also interesting that the sanctions weren't tightly applied. Mutawakil undertook international travel despite being under UN sanctions when he paid a visit last year to Saudi Arabia as a guest of the Saudi government and performed Umra. In fact, that visit by him and other former Taliban officials fuelled misplaced speculations that Saudi Arabia was trying to mediate between the Taliban, the Karzai government and the US.

Baloch-dominated areas in Karachi have been traditionally a stronghold of PPP since 1970s. In all these years, whether it was general elections, Bhutto's return to city from exile or political gatherings, the jiyalas of Lyari and surrounding areas have always showed their love and loyalty for the PPP. The importance of Baloch areas in Karachi for PPP leadership can be judged from the fact that Benazir Bhutto had selected Lyari town for her wedding ceremony. She always had a great respect for the jiyalas of Lyari and used to call them 'Lyari kay laadlay'.

According to residents, besides being a stronghold of PPP, Lyari is also known for its gang wars, overflowing gutters and piles of garbage outside houses. "We have always voted for PPP, but whenever the party comes into power, our services are ignored. At present, Lyari is among the most neglected and backward parts of Karachi. Instead of solving our problems, the PPP government has launched an operation in Lyari during the second week of January 'to eliminate criminals' in which 27 innocent Baloch, including women and children, were killed," Mehbub Baloch, 55, of Lyari tells TNS on phone.

He thinks things have been changing in Lyari. "In the past, slogans in support of PPP were the only things written on the walls of Lyari. But now slogans in favour of Brahamdagh Bugti, Khair Bakhsh Marri, an 'independent Balochistan', and 'Khan Bhai' (Rehman Dakait) have started replacing them. All this change has not happened overnight; rather the continuous cleansing of Baloch has turned the tide. Baloch nationalist parties have been making inroads in Lyari and adjoining areas, especially among the youth. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto or Benazir are no more their ideals as Nawab Akbar Bugti, Brahamdagh and Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri have replaced them," he explains.

The recent developments show that linkages between the Baloch living in Karachi and Baloch Nationalist Parties active in Balochistan have become very strong. On January 15, a complete shutter-down and wheel-jam strike was observed in different cities of Balochistan against the killing of Baloch and security forces' operation in Karachi. The protesters torched vehicles, motorbikes and pelted stones on official buildings and banks in different towns of Balochistan. Call for the strike was given by the Baloch National Front (BNF) which was also supported by all other nationalist parties.

In Khuzdar district, two Baloch political activists were shot dead and four others were seriously injured after security forces opened indiscriminate fire at a protest rally taken out by the Baloch Students' Organization (BSO).

For many experts, the overwhelming reaction throughout Balochistan over killings of Baloch in Karachi is a new phenomenon. "The nationalist parties in Balochistan were never interested to own Baloch of Karachi in the past because of their support for PPP while the Baloch of Karachi were against all these hardcore nationalists and their armed struggle. After the killing of Akbar Bugti, linkages between them revived. Some Baloch nationalist leaders, especially Ghulam Muhammad Baloch who was killed last year in Turbat, worked hard to restore ties among the Baloch of Karachi and Balochistan. He played a very important role in raising Baloch nationalism in Karachi," Quetta-based senior journalist Malik Siraj Akbar tells TNS.

"The recent strike in Balochistan in support of Baloch in Karachi was the first of its kind in the recent history of Baloch. All Baloch nationalist parties are very active in Karachi these days because they believe PPP has started losing its control on Baloch-majority areas of Karachi. In the given circumstances when security agencies are very active in Balochistan, Karachi can prove to be a safe haven for them," he maintains.

"The killings of Nadir Baloch and Nisar Baloch by land mafia and Rehman Dakait by the PPP government have opened the eyes of Baloch living in Karachi. Now we are also fighting for an independent Balochistan with Karachi being a part of it," says Fateh Muhammad Baloch,Chairma Baloch Rights Council part of BalochNational Front, an umbrella organisation of seven Baloch nationalist parties active in Karachi. He believes theBaloch population in Karachi has realised that "not PPP, but independence is the only solution of their problems". He claims that nationalist parties are becoming more and more popular in Karachi these days.

Abdul Rauf Mengal, a former MNA and leader of Balochistan National Party (Mengal Group), condemning target killings in Baloch areas of Karachi, narrates, "The old name of Karachi was Mykolachi and Baloch have been living there for the last 700 years. We observed a strike in Balochistan to show solidarity with the Baloch population of Karachi. Baloch are being treated as enemies everywhere in the country."

"The Baloch of Karachi have always been supporters of PPP, but the acts of present government have made them think of other options," he tells TNS, adding nationalist parties are active in Karachi because this is right time to provide moral and physical support to the Baloch of Karachi.

Nabeel Gabol, PPP MNA from Lyari, thinks otherwise: "We are still the most popular party in these Baloch-dominated areas, because there is no alternative available to them. Nationalists have been trying since long to make inroads into Karachi, but they have failed. The population of Lyari is one million and if 50,000 among them are anti-PPP, it does not mean we are losing the area to nationalist Baloch parties."

"The government has announced a Rs2.5 billion package for Lyari. Establishment of a medical college, a law college and a university has also been approved for Lyari. The nationalist parties of Balochistan which are very active here these days were unable to get even a single seat in Balochistan. They cannot manage to gather even 500 people in Lyari and they are talking about knocking out PPP here," he concludes.

A practicing journalist for more than half a century, Irshad Ahmed Haqqani had a large readership. The huge number of letters that came in response to his columns was a proof that he was a voice of the people. And sometimes the readers' letters found space in his columns.

He also served as a caretaker information minister in Malik Meraj Khalid's interim government in 1996. He kept writing till the end though his health had deteriorated considerably last year. He died last Sunday, on January 24, 2010. Here are views of some of the columnists who knew him in person.

Ataul Haq Qasmi

"Irshad Ahmed Haqqani was among those journalists who researched extensively before writing. He had an in-depth understanding of the issues he used to write on, always maintaining objectivity in his column.

He would not lobby for or against anyone. He was for Pakistan and democracy and held on to those principles till the end. He would criticise and appreciate, keeping best interest of the country in view.

There was a time when Irshad Haqqani was a member of Jamaat-e-Islami, but when the party announced to withdraw from elections at a rally in Rahim Yar Khan, he left the party for good. His expressed views were totally different from that of the JI and he remained independent in his thinking and writing till the end."

Nazir Naji

"Irshad Haqqani spent his life teaching, studying and writing thought-provoking columns. Of what good is writing if it does not spark imagination and provoke thought. We agreed and disagreed on certain matters. He would write between the lines while I would take up the same points but talk about them pointedly. He would really mind this sometimes and overlook at other times. But our relations at personal level always remained warm and never changed.

I had the opportunity to travel with him often. He was caring. He would often correct me whenever he thought I was being incautious. And I would say "I cannot follow your lifestyle".

Once we were together in Quetta, shopping, with Haqqani Saheb giving me his advice at every step. Someone who was hearing us and recognized us said, "You two appear very different in your columns, but you seem to be great friends here."

Hasan Nisar

"Haqqani Saheb would worry a lot about the future of this country and decadence of society. His death is a loss to the nation, but good for him. I still remember my first meeting with him. After a half an hour meeting, he said, "Before this meeting I thought you were an angry, secluded, irritable, tense person. To the contrary, I found you a relaxed and pleasant person." He expressed such thoughts at the back flap of my book. I occasionally write column by the title 'Kalay Qaul' (Black Deeds) which he liked very much and would encourage me to often write in this vein. Today, I have again written some 'Black Deeds' in memory of this broad-minded, big-hearted man with a prayer."

Sadia Qureshi

"Haqqani Saheb enjoys a special place amongst columnists writing in Urdu. According to a survey, he was the most widely read columnist. Certainly, he had seen the glamour that comes with such popularity and had rubbed shoulders with those in power, but he remained independent and honest in his views till the end. To me this is what I found remarkable in the man. People may agree or disagree with his views, but he was honest in his writing and conduct this was his major strength which places him on a pedestal few can achieve."