RESIGNING from the assemblies was a ‘nuclear option’ in which the PPP always had the most to lose among its allies in the Pakistan Democratic Movement. After all, it alone of the component parties has a stake in the current set-up, including the Sindh government. Now that push has come to shove, the PPP’s reluctance to take that step has become crystal clear.
The alliance on Tuesday announced the postponement of its March 26 anti-government long march owing to differences over submitting the resignations. Certainly, the rift in the alliance does not make for good optics, and government ministers are having a field day proclaiming the ‘demise’ of the PDM, once again.
Their glee, however, may be premature. Alliances like the PDM, composed of parties with interests broadly falling along the same arc but varying in their particulars, often suffer some discord along the way. Nor are such divergent political unions uncommon in this country. Even the anti-PPP Pakistan National Alliance, aside from several right-wing parties, also included the progressive National Democratic Party. When cracks appear, strategies must be revised to keep an alliance intact.
The PML-N, fighting with its back against the wall under the PTI government, seems to be caught between two extremes and will be the most demoralised by the latest development. On the one hand is Maulana Fazlur Rehman who, for a change, has nothing to lose in the current set-up and has, perhaps unwisely, linked the resignations to the long march in an attempt to pressurise the other component parties. On the other is Asif Ali Zardari.
Regardless of what he may have led the allied parties to believe, the shrewd politician will only do what serves him or his party’s interests. Indeed, it is worth asking whether a ‘go slow’ in the PDM campaign promises some advantage to the PPP. In the Senate election earlier this month, Yousuf Raza Gilani won the coveted Islamabad seat, a victory ascribed by the PDM to the establishment’s ‘neutrality’. However, the elections to the top Senate offices have thrown a wrench in the PDM’s complacency. The PPP leadership may be thinking, who knows which way the wind will be blowing even if early elections are held?
Moreover, while the opposition alliance is well within its rights to call for early elections, to do so halfway through the PTI’s tenure can be considered unreasonable, even a non-starter, given that poll rigging allegations are par for the course in this country. Compounding the challenge, the establishment for its own reasons is evidently still backing the same horse. Without its support, effecting a change in the political set-up is extremely unlikely. While the PDM may want to reflect on whether it created unrealistic expectations among the public regarding its capacity to bring down the government, the PTI for now has reason to celebrate.
Coal miners’ deaths
THE deaths of over two dozen coal miners in Balochistan in two accidents in the past few days alone underscores the perennially dangerous conditions under which coal is extracted in this country. Archaic mining methods, ignorance or wilful neglect of safety precautions and the state’s apathy have made coal mines across Pakistan venues where deadly accidents are simply waiting to happen. At least 13 coal miners were killed when a ferocious fire erupted after trapped methane gas exploded inside mines in Harnai district and the Marwar area of Balochistan’s Bolan district. In 2020, 72 deadly accidents in different coal mines across Balochistan claimed the lives of over 100 colliers. The dangerous working conditions and the excruciatingly slow and difficult process of granting compensation to victims’ families — who don’t have the resources or time to pursue mine owners and government officials — had come under discussion in the Senate in 2019. The upper house’s Standing Committee on Petroleum lamented the hazardous working conditions of colliers, and yet nothing substantial emerged from that debate. It is an open secret that a large part of the mining industry operates unofficially and the colliers work on daily wages. At the same time, the provincial mines and minerals departments remain critically underfunded as safety inspectors lack even the basic equipment required to do their job. Though the Mines Act 1923 gives vast powers to mines inspectors to ensure compliance with safety standards, judging by the frequency of deadly incidents, it appears they are either neglectful or incapable of performing their duties. In 2019, the provincial government in KP passed the KP Mines, Safety, Inspection and Regulation Act that bars anyone under 18 or over 60 to become a coal miner but it is not clear how the law, which was a step in the right direction, is being enforced and whether miners and workers in the informal sector are now being duly registered.
Unfortunately, the state of the coal mines and the lack of protection for the colliers who risk death and disease as they work long hours underground are a reflection of the generally lax attitude of the government towards people’s lives — especially when it comes to the poorest and most vulnerable segments. It is about time the authorities took stock of the situation and put an end to this cycle of death by strictly ensuring that international safety standards are met and errant mine owners punished.
‘Quad’ meeting
AT the height of the Cold War, a web of competing ideological alliances crisscrossing the globe was the order of the day, with states allied either with the Western or Eastern blocs, or maintaining tenuous neutrality. With the end of bipolarity, the usefulness of these alliances appeared to wane. However, it seems that the US-China rivalry is helping forge new blocs aligned with either the sole superpower, or a rising China that Washington sees as a challenger. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, bringing together the US, Australia, Japan and India certainly seems to be aimed at containing the growth of China and countering the People’s Republic in its own backyard. The leaders of the four states recently held a virtual summit — the first since Joe Biden took office — to discuss the “China challenge”. Expectedly, Beijing has not taken kindly to the Quad discussions, issuing a hard-hitting statement in response. The Chinese foreign ministry has said the attempts to hem Beijing in “will not … succeed” and that the states should “shake off their Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice”.
The US sees China as a serious economic rival as well as a threat to its global interests, thereby explaining the formation of such blocs. However, it is difficult to see how such formations can contribute to global security. What is more, such security and ideological alliances force non-aligned states to choose sides on the global geopolitical chessboard. For example, American officials have subtly and not so subtly criticised CPEC, Pakistan’s landmark venture with China. Moreover, America’s support to India as a bulwark against China has also upset the balance of power in South Asia, with New Delhi harbouring superpower illusions. Instead of forming competing blocs with military dimensions, a much better option would be to integrate regional economies and promote trade and people-to-people exchanges. As for those states that want to form geopolitical blocs, they should not force sovereign nations to toe their line or face isolation for not bending to diktat.
