Dawn Editorial 22 October 2019

No more PMDC

THE presidential ‘ambush’ that dissolved the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council through an ordinance on Sunday and replaced it with the Pakistan Medical Commission, is baffling to say the least. Even if the intention was honest — the prime minister’s special assistant on health has claimed that the change has been made to modernise the country’s medical education regime — the route taken by the government to bypass the elected parliament on the issue has made the entire exercise controversial.

The government had failed to push through the Senate a similar law — the PMDC Ordinance 2019 — to deal with issues related to medical colleges, attached hospitals and health professionals earlier this year because of stern resistance from the opposition parties enjoying a majority in the upper house. But it would have been much better for the government to have made a serious attempt to take the opposition parties into confidence on its proposals, instead of choosing the less-favoured path of resorting to presidential ordinances. Let alone talking to the opposition parties, the writers of the new law did not even consult the management of the public medical institutions, bodies representing doctors and other stakeholders before unilaterally and secretly implementing the decision. The haste shown by the government in bringing in the ordinance without wider consultation gives credence to the allegations that the step had been taken in connivance with the management of the private medical institutions and to please their politically influential owners.

The PMDC — the statutory regulatory authority responsible for prescribing standards for, and governing, medical education and profession in the country — had for some time been enforcing stricter criteria to regulate the mushrooming of private medical colleges in the country in line with an earlier apex court decision. Some of these colleges were shut down and others were made to stop admitting students who could afford to pay huge sums in donations, even if they were at the bottom of the merit list. In order to mitigate the financial burden on middle-class students, the PMDC had capped the fee for all private institutions. The teaching hospitals attached with these institutions were made to comply with stricter criteria and improve facilities. It is quite obvious that the owners of these colleges did not like the restrictions that would cut into their massive profits and force them to provide better facilities to their students. The new ordinance will allow the private medical institutions much greater autonomy to operate. They will now be free to accept donations from students, charge higher fees, choose a university of their own liking for affiliation, set their own criteria for hiring faculty and what not. True, there had been several complaints against the PMDC and the far-from-ideal manner in which it was being run. But surely, the military-style coup to eliminate it was not warranted in the least.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2019

LoC violence

IT was a bloody Sunday in the vicinity of the Line of Control as at least six civilians and an army jawan embraced martyrdom in AJK due to “indiscriminate shelling” by Indian forces.

The Pakistan Army replied in kind to the provocation, with the ISPR saying that around nine Indian soldiers were killed in the Pakistani counterattack.

The Indians have claimed that “terror launch pads” were targeted on the Pakistani side, but this claim is hardly credible as all evidence shows that innocent civilians were murdered in cold blood by New Delhi’s forces.

According to the Foreign Office, since 2017, the Indians have committed nearly 2,000 ceasefire violations. Such reckless behaviour on the part of New Delhi is totally unacceptable, and in the highly charged atmosphere currently prevailing in South Asia it is akin to playing with fire. Emotions are running high, mainly due to India’s brutal lockdown of India-held Kashmir, and such flagrant violations are sure to draw a response from Pakistan. It would be fair to ask if ultra-hawkish elements within the Indian establishment are purposely seeking to escalate matters with Pakistan.

If India claims it has smashed what it calls terrorist infrastructure in this country, where is the evidence?

The FO has rightly called upon the five permanent UNSC member states “to ask India to provide information about the alleged launch pads”.

The fact is that the state has cracked down on militant groups, and there is no evidence that infiltration into India or across the LoC is occurring from this country. Rather, it seems that the Indians are attempting to promote a psychological warfare campaign against Pakistan.

This is also being done to take the world’s focus away from the atrocious human rights situation in occupied Kashmir.

It seems that the Indian establishment is using a mixture of lies, brinkmanship and violence to cook up another crisis. However, beating the drums of war is one thing; managing a fight between two nuclear-armed states is quite another.

It is hoped that the Hindu extremist clique that rules India realises that should tensions increase to the point of conflict, it will wreak massive devastation in this region.

India needs to immediately cease its hostile behaviour along the LoC and end the siege of IHK. A new conflict in South Asia will be in no one’s interest — and will only worsen matters for the toiling masses.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2019

The religious card

GIVEN the JUI-F’s religio-political credentials, the main participants in the party’s forthcoming march on Islamabad will comprise former or current students of madressahs affiliated with the outfit. It is true that if all goes according to plan, the representatives and supporters of other parties will also take part. However, the religious colour will be hard to miss, ie, the focus will be on the JUI-F cadres. Commentator after commentator on television and in the print media has warned JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and his followers against the dangers of raising faith-based slogans. The interior ministry has already written to the cabinet, asking for a ban on the uniformed stick-wielding razakaar or voluntary force called Ansar-ul-Islam. In fact, the government, right up to Prime Minister Imran Khan, has referred to the ‘religious card’ while discussing the JUI-F march, even if this mention has been limited to cautioning the organisers against resorting to any such option. Politicians supporting the maulana in his anti-government crusade, such as Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, have also voiced their concern on this count.

Alleged poll rigging was the original theme the march was to be woven around. Maulana Fazlur Rehman has been working to create an opposition protest movement around that single point from the day he suffered an ignominious defeat in the 2018 general election. Later, as he wooed his party supporters and followers of the particular sect he represents, he let slip remarks linked to emotive religious issues such as Khatm-i-Nabuwwat. Other JUI-F representatives have also ensured that the religious element in what is purely a political issue is not diluted. They have publicly disparaged the prime minister’s original plan to include an economist from the Ahmadi faith in his finance team and have also criticised him for the acquittal and subsequent release of Aasia Bibi who had been charged with blasphemy. The maulana should know better than to allow his representatives to make remarks that can be construed as hate speech and to use religion for political gains.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2019