Issue 41 Vol II, June 15, 2007

C O M M E N T

Army Dictatorship  Scared of Book on Military’s Business Empire

LAST fortnight when Dr Ayesha Siddiqa wanted to launch her book, “Military Inc: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy, [ www.southasiapost.org ] this military analyst had first taste of the dictatorship of the army. No hotel and no public place were available for her selective function.  It was launched from a virtual sanctuary from the office of a non government organisation. Nevertheless high-profile political reviewers seized upon it to denounce the army’s role in Pakistani politics. It was to be launched from Pakistan’s elitist Islamabad Club.

But the author told a surprised audience that not only the club cancelled the booking of its auditorium, “all hotels in Islamabad were also told” by unspecified authorities not to allow the use of their halls for this, forcing the organisers to find a sanctuary at a third-floor room provided by a non-governmental organisation.

60 academics slam interference with Dr Siddiqa’s book

Academics and professionals in the US, UK, Holland, France, Canada, Pakistan and India, including well known professors Howard Zinn, Ayesha Jalal, Shahla Haeri, Shahnaz Rouse and Phillip Oldenburg, have expressed grave concern about the interference with the launch of Dr Ayesha Siddiqa’s recently published book ‘Military Inc: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy’.

Threats and intimidation she is facing for her courageous independent research ‘gives us grave concern,’’ they said in a statement issued to the press. Although Dr Siddiqa managed to use the office of a non-government organisation after hotels refused to provide a venue, subsequently her phone service has repeatedly been disrupted while giving interviews. She has told the Committee to Protect Journalists and others that she feels increasingly isolated and physically threatened.

According Pakistan’s leading English daily DAWN, People’s Party legal leaders Aitzaz Ahsan said the time had come to stand up against the military dominance while PML-N Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal accused Pakistan army generals of not learning a lesson from other countries that said goodbye to military rule.

But some other speakers had a dig also at politicians for doing little to keep the military in check while being in power and at times celebrating the ouster of their rivals.

Mr Zafar Abbas, resident editor of Dawn, Islamabad, and Dr Farrukh Saleem, also complimented the 292-page book published by the Oxford University Press.

It speaks about the role of the military power in transforming the Pakistani society, armed forces becoming an independent class entrenched in the corporate sector and their five giant welfare foundations, or conglomerates, running thousands of businesses ranging from petrol pumps to industrial plants.

The British media says respected Pakistani woman scholar Dr Ayesha Siddiqa’s book on the Pakistan Army is set to become a major issue for General Musharraf, after the sacking of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

The media predicted that Dr Ayesha’s book, “Military Inc: Inside Pakistan Military Economy”, would create formidable problems for Gen Pervez Musharraf and his military generals. “It (book) has come at a sensitive time for Gen Musharraf”, who is struggling to rebuild his popularity after the botched dismissal of Chief Justice Chaudhry”, The Guardian writes.

The media reports paid rich tributes to the woman scholar of outstanding calibre for conducting such a massive research about an institution which is considered to be one of the most powerful ones about whom nothing can be documented or written in Pakistan by media or researchers.

The Guardian declared the book a “ground-breaking study” on Pakistan Army and its commercial interests. It said Gen Musharraf was already in trouble because his move to sack the chief justice sparked nationwide demonstrations that have snowballed into a powerful protest movement. It said the furore has offered an insight into the raw power wielded by the generals.

Siddiqa fears her book, which names and pours cold water on boastful claims, may step on some powerful toes. “Over the past three years, a lot of my friends have advised me not to publish this book. They think I have suicidal tendencies.”

But Talat Hussain, a retired general and political analyst, said Siddiqa was a “courageous” researcher. “This area has always been considered a sacred cow in our society,” he said. The military spokesman, Maj-Gen Waheed Arshad, said he had not yet obtained a copy. “Let me read it and then I’ll get back to you,” he said.

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A religious mission or foreign junket?

A person who occupies the temporal seat of the Sikhs and claims to be their spokesperson had to eat a humble pie when plans to send a delegation of relatives to Canada to locate the  kalgi worn by guru Gobind Singh has to be abandoned in midstream. Bitten by a foreign junket bug, Jathedar Akal Takht Joginder Singh Vedanti proposed to include his wife among 12 persons planning to go to Canada for "preliminary preparations and holding delegation" with Sikh organisations and officials of government of Canada for bringing holy "Kalgi" (sacred Crest) of Guru Gobind Singh from Canada.

Newspapers reported that the delegation, proposed to be headed by Kamaljit Singh Boparai, include the names of Harbhajan Kaur, wife of  Vedanti, her personal assistant Amarjit Kaur, Prithipal Singh Sandhu (officer on special duty), Akal Takht ( cousin of Mrs Vedanti), Manjinder Singh (son of Prithipal Singh Sandhu).

The names include Sukhjinder Kaur Boparai and Rashinder Kaur Bual, wife and cousin of Boparai - head of the delegation. Boparai and his wife will be accompanied by Pavneet Kaur and Jagbir Singh - their daughter and son. Name of the son of Prithipal Singh Sandhu has been mentioned as "religious preacher" of Akal Takht. Apart from this, Sukhwinder Singh, Amandip Singh and Kulwant Kaur wish to visit Canada as programme organiser, financial controller and religious writer respectively.

As per the letterhead signed by Jagbir Singh, personal assistant to Jathedar Akal Takht ( he is a relative of  wife of Jathedar Akal Takht), the list of the delegation has been approved by the Jathedar.

Though the letterhead of Akal Takht mentioned Akal Takht shall bear travelling and other expenses of delegation members, yet Boparai clarified,” I will pay all the expenses of all the delegation members from my own and the holy Kalgi should be brought back to entire Sikh Community at any cost". What makes him so magnanimous, no one knows.

Balwant Singh Khera, who heads the Malta Boat tragedy Probe Mission, has termed SGPC as a ‘den of Kabutarbazi’ [human trafficking].  He describes this proposed visit as an attempt to traffic people from Punjab.  He alleged that a nexus was at play. Something similar had happened earlier too.  In 2001 a delegation of SGPC and Akali Dal that had gone to Vancouver on the pretext of carrying arms of Guru Gobind Singh on the occasion of Baisakhi, one of the Panj Piaras sought political asylum and two went messing. Khera after his efforts failed to seek probe though the then Chief Minster Parkash Singh Badal and the SGPC failed, he filed a case in Delhi court which is still being contested.

There was criticism from many quarters and seeing this could cost him dearly Vedanti thought best to be abandon the trip.

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Towards Peace in South Asia

SOUTH Asia’s public is yearning for peace and development in the region. It is sick of chicanery politics and violence. Somehow the politics mired in hatred and revenge does not allow peace to prevail.  Fortunately there are voices, now increasingly becoming powerful that would not rest and are seeking peace, justice and development. One such voice is of South Asia Free Media Association [SAFMA] that held its meeting in Shimla from June 02-03, 2007. It had more representation from the political class this time than from the media; nevertheless it sent a powerful message to create a south Asian parliament on the pattern of European parliament. Given the present status of SAARC, this may look to be a mere dream. Yet dreams are important as without these human lives would be more miserable. We are reproducing some extracts from the final document.

 “The participants overwhelmingly endorse the view to initiate a process of moving towards the creation of an institutional interactive mechanism for parliamentarians of South Asia, keeping in mind the concept of a South Asian Parliament (SAP).

A full fledged SAP may take a decade or two, but it is time to initiate moves in that direction. To begin with, the conference proposes: a) Creation of an Intra-Parliamentary Union in South Asia; b) SAARC may in principle agree to create a South Asian Parliament and appoint a group of experts, responsible before the SAARC Speakers Forum, to prepare a comprehensive report and a timeframe to establish it in stages and through an evolutionary process;

c) The SAARC Speakers Forum should be activated; d) To begin with, SAP may be set up as a deliberative and consultative body, not as a legislative body, so as to create regional opinion and build regional pressures on the issues pending for implementation at the SAARC level; e) There may be an annual conference of parliamentarians to discuss issues of common regional concern.

This deliberative body may work within the SAARC agenda, by ultimately creating a South Asian Parliament, the evolution of a regional South Asian identity, without in any sense compromising on or conflicting with respective national identities and sovereignty of nation-states of the region.

In order to implement the above, a South Asia Parliamentary Commission, consisting of four MPs from each member countries of SAARC to be nominated by the heads of leading parliamentary parties, and two experts to be nominated by SAFMA, is to be constituted under the patronship of Somnath Chatterji, Speaker, Indian Lok Sabha. The Commission will meet periodically to pursue its agenda.

Beyond cooperative security, South Asian nations must ultimately move towards South Asian Human Security by placing people – their well being and rights to peaceful life and development – at the centre of security concerns, rather than intensifying the arms race.

To include the excluded, governments of South Asia should take concrete steps to implement the SAARC Social Charter and give priority to poverty eradication by implementing the ISAPC Report on Poverty Alleviation and meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

This can be done by increased investment, enhanced economic growth and development, which do not necessarily translate into poverty alleviation unless structured to address the root-causes of poverty and give priority to human resource development, employment generation and empowerment of the dispossessed, women and poor in particular.

Poverty is the most serious issue that has to be handled both at national and regional level. The South Asian region has all the resources, economies are growing, yet poverty is worsening. Increasing defence budgets and heavy debts are two major contributing factors to the phenomenon. Therefore, we demand an early resolution to all conflicts and a considerable moratorium by the lending agencies and countries for the repayments of the debts.

The whole issue of poverty must be fast-tracked and address with a comprehensive approach – this would include targeted social intervention, safety nets, micro finance and micro enterprise development, access to markets and improved distribution facilities, direct investments in basic infrastructure and diversification of exports. The equitable distribution of income is a responsibility of the government -- policy measures need to be taken to ensure proper sharing of the GDP.

All countries in South Asia constitutionally guarantee the equality of women as severe biases against women prevail in all states. The feminisation of poverty has to be addressed by mainstreaming of gender in national and regional macroeconomic policies. We need gender sensitivity through the engendering of overall development plans with priority to education, health and access to resources. All political parties in the SAARC region must provide for affirmative action through enrollment of women in their governance offices and enhanced role in the electoral process.

South Asian region is under high environmental stress brought about by both natural and human made causes. Intra-State and inter-State conflicts are a major contributor to environmental destruction. Countries may act on the knowledge base of the vast range of environmental issues in the region only by sharing this knowledge.

Given the regional scope of the emerging environmental crisis there is a great need for regional level cooperation in disaster preparedness and management. Energy, a major factor in economic development, may require a regionally integrated power infrastructure.

The Draft on Human Rights Code presented before the Bhurban Parliamentary conference may help as a starting point for SAARC to address human rights issues and evolve an agreement on a Human Rights Code for South Asia.

Countering the widespread threat of terrorism, the SAARC countries must implement the current protocol for cooperation against terrorism and bring it in line with the international norms. The regional efforts against terrorism must also include measures to combat the spread of small arms and light weapons, narcotics trafficking, smuggling, organised crimes and criminal mafias.

This will require exchanges and interaction between the national intelligence and security agencies with their counterparts across the border and greater interaction between the armed forces and military establishments in the region. The SAARC countries should offer no shelter, no arms, no training to terrorists. A joint policy of all SAARC countries is needed to fight terrorism and narcotic export.”

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