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Friday, May 29, 2009

The lesser evil? By Ayesha Siddiqa *****

Why should a bad and inefficient civilian leadership make former military dictators or future ones any better? —File photo
Why should a bad and inefficient civilian leadership make
 former military dictators or future ones any better?

FACEBOOK is a great invention. It allows you to interact with people, without having to meet them, and have discussions. I accidentally got into a discussion with some on my friends’ list regarding my comment on Gen Musharraf’s current status.There were quite a few who responded to my question about who was paying for the former military dictator’s stay at the expensive Dorchester hotel.There were immediate suggestions regarding the source of money. Some believed that he might have earned his money courtesy his lecture circuit. For instance, the Indian Express paid him millions of rupees for his lecture in Delhi. But then Dorchester is no child’s play. It is truly expensive and we are talking a lot of money.The interesting point about the discussion was not whether my friends and I managed to solve what had begun to look like something out of the Da Vinci Code, but that the debate highlighted our attitudes towards democracy versus dictatorship or civilian versus military rule. Very quickly the entire debate began to focus on the issue of the lesser evil as opposed to the bigger one and on whether or not Musharraf was a greater problem than the current regime.Of course, there were some views that were easier to understand such as those of a serving air force officer who tried to reprimand the rest of us for showing lack of respect towards the leadership. One wondered why he bothered to contribute since the discussion was among civilians, generally considered less nationalist and second-class citizens by the men on horseback. One really wondered if the air force officer himself understood that leadership was not about heading an organisation but about motivating people with a set of clear achievements.However, the rest was more interesting as it reflected the confusion that has gripped the entire nation today regarding the lack of choice as far as the leadership is concerned. The problem has intensified due to the inability of the present regime not managing to capture the imagination of the people, especially the middle class and the educated and affluent upper middle and upper classes. It is indeed sad that Asif Zardari seems to have broken all records where losing the people’s confidence is concerned. Consequently, Pakistanis with a US Ivy League background and those in a better position at home are immediately reminded of the days when Musharraf was in power.It is also rather comical that today when Zardari announces that he has brought home money no one is willing to believe that the funds are meant for IDPs. A popular perception is that corrupt practices will take care of a lot of these resources. There are also more fingers being pointed at the behaviour of the ministers. We are probably once more in the same cycle that is the fate of praetorian societies. Short-term planning driven by greed, rather than a long-term vision is the hallmark of such societies. Such behaviour is not specific to Pakistan and can be found in a number of Latin American countries where there is a general inclination towards the military whenever things go wrong, but not to the point of wanting the military to continue permanently.At this point, there are two issues one would like to raise. First, how real is the corruption of politicians in Pakistan? Surely, we would all like to believe that the present set-up is just as corrupt as that headed by its predecessors. It is a fact that the government suffers from genuine inefficiencies and an inept top leadership. However, do we really have a lot of evidence to produce in a court of law regarding alleged corruption? Why is it that successive civilian and military governments were unable to catch ‘thieves’ despite keeping these leaders in prison, throwing others out of the country and having access to all official records?This is not to argue that politicians are clean, but then are they any worse than the generals who take over with the excuse of cleaning up the political and economic system and who manage to do nothing except create greater chaos? Why is it that military regimes never manage to catch the corrupt or is it that there is far more propaganda than what is actually stolen from the coffers? For instance, while the grapevine is rife with stories about illegal money being made by this government, there is very little on how some of the most influential members of the previous government earned their billions.Second, why should a bad and inefficient civilian leadership make former military dictators or future ones any better? Sadly, the middle and upper classes in Pakistan, as in other parts of South Asia, are constantly tempted by Singapore’s political model. Things have to be modern and tidy even if it means no democracy which is not a lame concept dictated by Washington but a system that is marked by good governance and the rule of law.Moreover, why should we imagine that the inept civilian leadership is not a product of its military predecessors? Like many Latin American states, the ineptitude of the civilian leadership distracts people from understanding that corrupt and incapable leadership elements in the military and civilian are interlinked. The greedy senior military generals, businessmen, industrialists, large land owners and influential mullahs are interconnected. These days there are deep familial connections as well. Hence, it is not surprising that the military does not manage to catch any of the corrupt politicians despite its claims of possessing the ‘capability to meet any challenge’.So, while there is no forgiveness for what this government is unable to achieve, it is unfair to get into the lesser evil-versus-bigger evil debate (this reminds one of the classification made by the US of the good Taliban versus the bad Taliban). Evil multiplies and this is what we have seen happening throughout the six decades of our history.

forces advancing to upper areas from Behrain

Security forces have continued advancement in Swat from Behrain to the upper areas of the valley, as operation continued in Mingora.The forces last night targeted the positions of militants in Matta and Kabal regions with heavy artillery fire. The region has been under indefinite curfew, while the population exodus continued. At least 13 militant fighters were killed and several others captured during the security forces operations in Buner and Lower Dir districts as the forces have destroyed several hideouts of the militants and cleared 80 percent territory of Buner. The forces killed five more militants in the ongoing drive in Qambar area of Lower Dir. The troops have also destroyed hideouts of militants and captured arms and ammunition. In the skirmishes with forces eight militants were killed in Daggar and Gokand Darra regions of district Buner, while several miscreants were captured. The authorities have announced curfew break in Buner from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm.Malakand has been under curfew for last 22 days.

Deaths in Brazil dam break

At least four people have been killed and 2,500 others made homeless after heavy rains caused a dam to burst in northeast Brazil.Residents took refuge on rooftops and in high trees when Cocal, a city of about 25,000 in the Piaui state, was flooded on Thursday.More than 100 people were missing and rescue personnel, using helicopters and rescue boats, were trying to find survivors.The waters in the Pirangi river rose suddenly, up to 20 metres in some parts, according to officials."It was a real tsunami," Wellington Dias, the state governor, said after he visited the area.Globo TV, a local television channel, said the rupture sent 50bn litres of water pouring out of the reservoir, causing flooding that stretched 100km downriver from Cocal.Flooding and mudslides in northeast Brazil over the past few weeks have left 57 people dead.The Brazilian government said weeks of rain and heavy flooding had displaced 400,000 people, about 95,000 of them in Piaui state.

New Indian ministers sworn in

Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, has added new members to his week-old cabinet, rewarding loyal coalition allies with ministerial posts.Fifty-nine new ministers were sworn in on Thursday, joining 19 others who took the oath of office on Friday - completing the formation of the new government and ending days of political manoeuvring since the Congress-led coalition swept to victory.Pratibha Patil, India's president, administered the oath to the ministers at a ceremony in the capital, New Delhi.The delay came as Singh and Sonia Gandhi, the leader of his Congress party, grappled with putting together a group that satisfied all the coalition partners and gave due representation to allied parties.

Malaysia ban on 'Allah' upheld

The Catholic church in Malaysia has failed in a bid to suspend a government ban on the use of the word "Allah" in its weekly newsletter after the court rejected its application.The high court ruling on Thursday effectively upheld the federal government's 2007 ban, which has become a symbol of religious tensions in the country.The government directive bars non-Muslims from translating God as "Allah" in their literature, saying it would confuse Muslims in this plural, Muslim-majority country.The Herald, which reports on Catholic community news in English, Malay, Tamil and Mandarin, tried to get the order suspended while waiting for a court decision on the ban's legality.The court will hear the newspaper's original bid to review the administrative order on July 7.

U.S., S. Korea Troops on High Alert Amid Threats

South Korean and U.S. troops facing North Korea boosted their alert level Thursday to the highest category since 2006, after the communist regime threatened military strikes on allied troops in escalating tensions over its nuclear test.North Korea threatened Wednesday to attack any U.S. and South Korean ships that try to intercept its vessels and renounced a 1953 truce halting the Korean War fighting, raising the prospect of a naval clash off the Korean peninsula's west coast.The North was responding to Seoul's decision to join a U.S.-led anti-proliferation program aimed at stopping and inspecting ships suspected of transporting banned weapons, including nuclear technology. South Korea announced it was joining after the North's underground test blast of a nuclear bomb.On Thursday, the South Korea-U.S. combined forces command increased the surveillance to level 2 from the present level 3, Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said. He said that was the highest level since 2006, when the North conducted its first-ever nuclear test.The U.S. has 28,500 troops in South Korea as a deterrent against North Korea.Won said the bolstered level means more aviation surveillance assets, intelligence analysts and other intelligence-collecting measures would be deployed to watch North Korea. He refused to disclose further details.The North has long warned it would consider the South's participation in the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative as a declaration of war against North Korea.The North would "deal a decisive and merciless retaliatory blow" to anyone trying to inspect its vessels, according to a North Korean military statement, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency on Wednesday.Key world powers, meanwhile, have proposed a range of expanded U.N. sanctions against North Korea in response to its nuclear as well as measures to give teeth to existing bans and ship searches against the reclusive country, a U.N. diplomat said Wednesday.

Earthquake hits Caribbean coast

A strong earthquake has hit Honduras and Belize, leaving at least four people dead,  injuring 40 others and razing many homes on the Caribbean coast.The 7.1 magnitude quake struck at 2.20am (0820GMT) on Thursday 64km from Roatan, the biggest of Honduras' Bay Islands."We have confirmed four dead," Randolfo Funes, an official at Honduras' civil protection agency, said."They were all asleep. Most of them died crushed ... There will be many more dead."A six-year-old girl in the Honduran beach town of Morazan was killed when one of the walls of her house fell on her.Another man in the nearby town of Tela suffered a heart attack when the quake struck and was taken for treatment.

Several killed in Iran mosque blast

A blast in a mosque in the southeastern Iranian city of Zahedan has killed 15 people and wounded 50 others, the official IRNA agency says.The toll from the explosion, which struck Amir al-Mohini mosque on Thursday, was based on preliminary reports, IRNA said.The agency quoted an unnamed official as saying that part of the mosque was destroyed and that rescue teams were transferring the bodies of the dead and injured.Officials were investigating the cause of the explosion, it said.Zahedan is the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province, which shares a border with Pakistan and is the scene of frequent clashes between Iranian police on the one hand and drug dealers and armed groups on the other hand.

Deadly blasts hit Pakistani city

At least 11 people have been killed and hundreds of others injured in three blasts in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province.A fourth bomb blast hit a hospital in Dera Ismail Khan, which lies 300km south of Peshawar, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.Thursday's attacks began when two bombs exploded in a market in Peshawar, killing six people. Armed men on rooftops fired at policemen as they arrived in the narrow lanes below.  Shortly after, a suicide bomber attacked a checkpoint on the outskirts of the city, killing five soldiers, Wasiullah, a soldier wounded in the blast, said."He was on foot and as we saw him, he ran and blew himself when he got close to us," he told the Reuters news agency.Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna, reporting from Islamabad, said it appeared the series of bomb blasts were "inextricably linked"."Certainly that is the way Pakistan's intelligence services are seeing it - investigating this wave of bombings that is happening in recent days," he said.Police later said that two assailants from the market bombings had been killed and two suspects detained."Two terrorists have been killed but the operation is continuing. We're carrying out searches as others could be hiding," Sifwat Ghayyur, Peshawar's police chief, said.