Mian Nawaz Sharif is right when he says his estimable reforms will be “hit for a six” if the serious erosion of law and order is not checked swiftly. But he is absolutely wrong if he thinks he can sort it all out by strengthening administrative measures and backing Jam Sadiq Ali to the hilt.
When Mian Sahib became PM, his first administrative response was to issue an ordinance prescribing the death penalty for kidnapping. Since then, we have had more kidnappings than in all the years Pakistan has been in existence.
Then there is his favourite device, the special, speedy court. Many more such tribunals are on the way. Ms Benazir Bhutto, for one, can probably tell us a thing or two about how speedy they are or the sort of justice they dispense. At any rate, they have done precious little to dam the torrent of lawlessness which threatens to engulf us all.
Then, of course, Mian Sahib has given Jam Sadiq a free hand to do much as he likes. For nine months we have been fed lies about how the law and order situation in Sindh has been improving while it has progressively gone from bad to worse. Jam Sahib has been much too preoccupied trying to save his seat by brutally settling scores with the PPP, to care two hoots about anything else. If he is the PM’s prescription for controlling kidnapping and dacoity in Sindh, then Heaven help us. When last reports came in, the Sindh CM had bunged over 3000 workers of various Sindhi parties and groups into prison. But he was blissfully oblivious to the fact that a certain Mr Chandio, of Chinese-kidnapping notority, was meanwhile flaunting his hard earned ransom money by leading a celebratory motorcade of Pajeros in his constituency in rural Sindh.
Now, we are informed that yet another dubious Operation-Cleanup has been launched in Sindh under the care of Jam Sadiq Ali. We are most apprehensive that the Sindh CM will use it as a pretext to post select police officials of his choice in crucial areas where his autocratic writ has hitherto run into political opposition. The forthcoming by-election in Jacobabad, where he is pitted against Mr Hafiz Pirzada who is supported by the PPP, is clearly item no 1 on his agenda.
It appears that Mian Nawaz Sharif is determined to make matters worse by arming Jam Sahib with new and awesome powers. According to the proposed amendments in the Qanoon-i-Shahadat, via yet another ordinance, “if a person has been at a place in any terrorist-affected area, at a time when firearms or explosive substances were used, at or from that place, to attack or resist members of the armed forces or the forces charged with the maintenance of public order, he shall be presumed, unless the contrary is shown, to have committed such offence”. In layman’s terms, this means that if you or I simply happen to be bystanders or passing through or living in an “affected area” when fireworks erupt between Jam Sahib’s friends and detractors, we shouldn’t rush to count our blessings for having narrowly escaped being shot to death. No, for according to this law we would be in deep trouble already if Jam Sahib happens to dislike us. “Guilty of terrorism unless proven innocent”, he would thunder, relying on the new law.
If we are lucky enough to escape his clutches, he can always haul us up on the basis of yet another new law. This law says that if anyone, byword or deed, is seen to oppose “the ideology of Pakistan”, then it’s curtains again. Since most of us don’t quite know what ideology is, let alone the ideology of Pakistan which remains the subject of an intense debate between the 265 different fundamentalist sects and everyone else, we cannot claim immunity from the tentacles of this law by pleading ignorance. Before long, anyone who is not in the IJI or related to the President, Prime Minister, COAS or Jam Sadiq, or is not a real down-to earth dacoit or terrorist, will find it getting extremely hot under the collar.
No, Mian Sahib, this strategy is doomed to fail. And not all your privatisation reforms and historic accords and special courts and special laws will save you in the end. Sooner or later, you will have to accept political solutions to political problems. And the sooner you get rid of Jam Sahib and shake hands with Benazir Bhutto, the sooner you can rest at ease and comfortably finish your first full term as Prime Minister of Pakistan.