DEVOLUTION IN PAKISTAN (REGRESSION)

[ICG(International Crisis Group) unveils the true picture of Musharaff's much touted devolution plan , aimed to destroy the very foundations of administrative & judicial system of Pakistan]

ICG:EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Pakistan's military government launched a campaign for political devolution in 2000 that it said was aimed at transferring administrative and financial power to local governments. The scheme was to strengthen local control and accountability and, according to President Pervez Musharraf, "empower the impoverished". In practice, however, it has undercut established political parties and drained power away from the provinces while doing little to minimise corruption or establish clear accountability at a local level. The reforms, far from enhancing democracy, have strengthened military rule and may actually raise the risks of internal conflict.
Under the Devolution of Power Plan announced in August 2000, local governments were to be elected on a non-party basis in phased voting between December 2000 and July 2001. District and sub-district governments have since been installed in 101 districts, including four cities. Operating under its respective provincial Local Government Ordinance 2001, each has its Nazim and Naib Nazim (mayor and deputy mayor), elected council and administration.
Like previous local government plans, Musharraf's called for re-establishing elected local councils at district and sub-district levels. It promised substantial autonomy for elected local officials and, most notably, placed an elected official as overall head of district administration, management and development, reversing a century-old system that subordinated elected politicians to bureaucrats.
Musharraf's scheme ostensibly aimed at establishing the foundations of genuine local democracy. However, the main rationale for devolution was and remains regime legitimacy and survival. Aside from the widespread allegations of rigging and manipulation that have shadowed them, the non-partisan nature of the local elections has exacerbated ethnic, caste and tribal divisions and undermined the organisational coherence of political parties.
Devolution, in fact, has proved little more than a cover for further centralised control over the lower levels of government. Despite the rhetoric from Islamabad of empowerment, local governments have only nominal powers. Devolution from the centre directly to the local levels, moreover, negates the normal concept of decentralisation since Pakistan's principal federal units, its four provinces, have been bypassed. The misuse of local government officials during the April 2002 presidential referendum and the October 2002 general elections has left little doubt that these governments were primarily instituted to create a pliant political elite that could help root the military's power in local politics and displace its traditional civilian adversaries.
Friction is growing between various levels of government, especially since the military transferred power, at least formally, to the central and provincial governments that were formed after the 2002 elections. These tensions are partly the result of the manner in which the devolution plan was devised and implemented in the absence of elected officials and against the strong opposition of the major political parties, civil society and media.
Despite its lack of domestic legitimacy, the devolution plan has considerable support from donors, who mistakenly believe it is advancing democracy and building down military rule. For now, the military's backing as well as this external support works in its favour. But low domestic acceptance undermines its long-term prospects, and the military's political engineering that accompanies it is widening divisions at the local and provincial levels. Some of these could well lead to greater domestic violence and instability.

SECLUDED VEILS

((FREELANCE ARTICLE, WRITTEN ON SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT))

It’s an old adage that both man & woman play an integral role in the hermetic episode of life. This adage may be true for a large part of burgeoning world but it’s far from realization for a passive country like Pakistan. This Promised Land is a place where so called enforcers of social, religious & cultural norms push the fair sex behind the dark passages of secluded veils. Pakistan is perhaps the least gender sensitive region in the world. It is the only region in the world where men outnumber women. The sex ratio is 105.7 men to every 100 women. The situation is extremely alarming for rural & underdeveloped areas. In the rural areas, women are like slaves subject to drudgery. They are there just to obey their fathers, brothers and husbands. They do not have the right to decide about themselves because women are considered as foolish creatures according to the dominant social and cultural norms. Likewise marriage is also a sort of trade between different families both in the rural and urban areas. They are highly vulnerable to violation of their rights to life. Women are not only subjected to financial discrimination, but they are also victims of inhuman customs and laws such as:
Karo Kari, Qasas , Marriage to the Quran & education as a social taboo.
Karo Kari is the form of honour killings. Hundred of women are murdered every year in the name of honour. It is a matter of great dismay that almost 90 % of these cases are planned to gain petty benefits like grabbing the land of enemies, protecting the fiefdom from transferring to other family, taking revenge for committing a love marriage. A few examples of this heinous trade are enough to clarify the depth of this victimization:
In the village of Moratha(remote village of Sindh) there was a case of Karo Kari(honour killing). The motive of the killing was that the murderer wanted to marry a married woman. He killed the husband of that woman and his own innocent sister and he was released from jail after a few months.
Many of the cases of Karo Kari are related to love marriage. Recently(a few months ago) a woman with her little child of five months, husband and four other members of her in-laws, was killed because she had committed the crime of love marriage. Most of the women in Pakistan are not allowed to marry a person of their choice.
There are hundreds of such cases that are not registered. But if we go to the root cause of these honour killings we see that they are linked to the question of land, water, money and property. But again, only the women of the poor classes are victims of this inhuman custom of Karo Kari. This custom is seldom implemented against rich women.

“Qasas” is an integral part of Islamic Law but unfortunately, the way it is abused over here is intolerable. It is also used to victimize women, because under this law if a person kills somebody and the family of the victim compromises with the killer then they are paid an agreed amount of money, land and of course women by the assassin's family.

“Marriage to Quran” is another spurious law that is enough to defy all the bounds of religious and social norms. It is common in Sindh. Under this law a woman has to live without a husband throughout her life. But this law is only applied among the class of landlords who want to protect their fiefdoms from going to another family by grabbing the land of their sisters and daughters.
Education is another taboo for the girls of underdeveloped provinces like Baluchistan & NWFP. Only 10 percent of rural girls receive education in Baluchistan. In these regions, Education is considered as a social evil for the girls.

“In context of Baluchistan, they are among the few girls who go to school”
“Look in the eyes of these sweet little girls. You can see a shine of a long forgotten hope.”

WOMEN IN THE LIGHT OF ISLAM:

“Western media often distorts the image of Islamic teachings under the umbrella of extremism & terrorism”

Islam safeguards the spiritual, social & economical rights of women which can be clarified by the following verses of Quran:
‘He (God) it is who did create you from a single soul and therefrom did create his mate, that he might dwell with her (in love)’…(Quran 7:189)
“Whoever works righteousness, man or woman, and has faith, verily to him will We give a new life that is good and pure, and We will bestow on such their reward according to the their actions. (Quran 16:97, see also 4:124).”
“When news is brought to one of them, of (the Birth of) a female (child), his face darkens and he is filled with inward grief! With shame does he hide himself from his people because of the bad news he has had! Shall he retain her on (sufferance) and contempt, or bury her in the dust? Ah! What an evil (choice) they decide on? (Quran 16: 58-59).”
According to Islam, no one can suppress the women to marry against her will.

Ibn Abbas reported that a girl came to the Messenger of God, Muhammad (P.), and she reported that her father had forced her to marry without her consent. The Messenger of God gave her the choice . . . (between accepting the marriage or invalidating it). (Ibn Hanbal No. 2469). In another version, the girl said: “Actually I accept this marriage but I wanted to let women know that parents have no right (to force a husband on them)” (Ibn Maja, No. 1873).

It is a matter of common sense that no country can make a great stride without the active participation of the half of its total population. If we want to bring some change to the desolated picture of our country then we have to bring each & every individual in the main stream without committing any harassment and victimization.

GOOD BREAKFAST, BAD SUPPER

Someone has rightly said that hope is a good breakfast but a bad supper. Our nation is a live and vivid example of this saying. The people of Pakistan have been lured by the politicians, military generals & feudal lords for the last 60 years. Every new general election or a military coup gives us a new creed of hope. We recollect all our optimistic speculations to believe that the new reign will provide us all the basic necessities of life like shelter, food, job & security. Last elections are an example of how our politicians play with the feelings and problems of the people to gain petty benefits. In these elections, people gave their verdict by giving a vast majority to anti-Musharaff forces i.e PML(N), PPP & ANP because these parties gave a new hope of better future as a good breakfast to the “Simple Simons” of this country. Expectations were sky high; people thought that the new government will solve all their problems with a single stroke of pen but Alas! Every dream ends up in despair but don’t worry our dreams are not worthy of benediction under the rule of Zardaris & Musharaffs of this land. After its establishment, the new government tried its best to defy all the traditions of public welfare. The escalating prices of gasoline, food items & products of daily use show that our politicians have learned nothing from the past. The real administrative problems like the abolishment of “Devolution Plan” & the “Restoration of Judiciary” are still are in the pipeline. Excessive & unsolicited use of national exchequer by our politicians is a major source of nation debt. It’s a matter of great dismay that we are losing Pakistan with every tick of the clock and the resentment of general public is on the rise. The good breakfast of hope has become a bad supper of resentment & it is all because of our burgeoning evil desires.

 

Virgin Rain

     

Tick tick tick … with every tick of the clock.

                                                The water drops like the pearl of the heaven

Dip dip dip … with every dip in the splashing water

                                                We can hear our heart thumping out

Take take take…. Take a deep breadth

                                                To fill your heart with aroma of joy

Look  look look in the eyes of my friend

                                                I can see a deep mysterious shine welcoming a new creed of pleasure

 

 

SLAVES OF THE TIME

We are all the slaves of the time, watching our lives dwindling with rhyme 

Ye divide the time in minutes & seconds, racing against time spawning with crime 

Making the fun of others, we "Simple Simon” of time 

Dani can see auroras of time swinging like the saline of the lime 

Can't think more at this time of the night coz we are the one in catacombs of time

 

 KHURRAM PERVAIZ

 1:15 AM  (  June 30,2007 )

REFLECTIONS OF MY PAST

WHEN I WAS JUST ONE YEAR OLD

I COULD STILL REMEMBER THOSE WINTER DAYS

WITH MY LITTLE BROTHER FURQAN PERVAIZ

PLAYING WITH TOYS

ACHTUNG UBER SOLDAT

ACHTUNG UBER SOLDAT

SONG OF THE PEOPLE

[THIS SONG WAS WRITTEN TO UNVEIL THE TRUE PICTURE OF JUNTA GOVERNMENT IN PAKISTAN]

Each morning after Sunblast
Feel the rhythm of junta dogmatism
I waited by the headquarters
In time for benediction

Living a law just short of delusion
When we fall in love there's confusion
This must be the place I waited years to leave

To our voices nobody's listening

To our tears nobody’s seeing
We shiver in the rain by the touchline

We are left spell bound by the axis of junta

Searching for a ride to graveyard

Then a coach ride to the station

"My lord, the carriage awaiteth!"

Living a law just short of delusion
When we fall in love there's confusion
This must be the place I waited years to leave
This must be the place I waited years to leave
And how
How long?

I am seeing the things to see them never again

The swarm of loaded men squeezing the den of the local men

Killing the woodland men, on the orders of alien men

The fear of hetman ◌

I don’t want to belong

I am listening to the words I thought I would never hear again

A litany of saints and other men in uniform

Unfurling every nook of their beard to keep the uniform in place

They are, they are the slaves of a man

Kneeling on the red parquet

Whatever has gone wrong?

The fear and feeling hopelessness
I don't want to belong

With a peep of nostalgia

I can see a general, waiting outside “Senorita Home” ◌

Giving an outstanding example to the next generation

I don’t want to belong

With a system of district rule

Giving every devil a chance to rule

Devolution & demolition giving the right

For every street dog to rule

I dreamt I was back in uniform
And a candidate for examination
History, someone had blundered

Sordid and squalid rule must remain plundered
And a voice rapped "knuckle under!"
Living a law just short of delusion
When we fall in love there's confusion
This must be the place I waited years to leave
This must be the place I waited years to leave
And how
And how
How long?

◌ COURTESY:

1) HAMOOD-UR-REHMAN COMMISION REPORT ON THE FALL OF DECCA

2) MILITARY. ETI: POLISH

KHURRAM PERVAIZ

October 2007