APS commission report
IS closure even possible for the survivors of the APS massacre and the families of those who lost loved ones on that terrible day? One hundred and forty-seven people, including 132 students, were martyred when militants attacked the Army Public School in Peshawar on Dec 16, 2014.
For hours, distraught parents — not knowing whether their children were alive or dead — were gathered at the entrance as security personnel fought pitched battles through the day with heavily armed assailants inside the premises. At the end of it, several areas of the school presented scenes of carnage, particularly the auditorium.
The families’ long, agonising struggle to have their voices heard and their burning questions answered — primarily about the lapses in security — has finally borne fruit. On Friday, the report by the judicial commission appointed two years ago to inquire into the circumstances surrounding the attack was furnished before the Supreme Court.
However, the 525-page document contains much information that is unlikely to be of substantial comfort to the families; indeed its findings reveal how a faster and better coordinated response could have thwarted the attack, or resulted in fewer deaths. Based on statements from victims’ families, police, bureaucrats and military personnel, as well as its own observations, the report delves into the three-layer security protocol meant to keep the school safe.
There were the guards at the gate, two Mobile Vigilance Teams in the vicinity, the Quick Response Force stationed 10 minutes away and the police’s Rapid Response Force for deployment in the cantonment area. One MVT was lured further afield by a simple decoy tactic: the attackers set alight the vehicle in which they had arrived. That enabled them to sneak into the school premises from the back wall, a critical advantage because they took up their positions inside before anyone was aware an attack was underway.
The inquiry found it inexplicable that the guards displayed total inertia when the sounds of gunfire were first heard from within. The victims’ parents also questioned why the police were not allowed to enter despite having arrived on the scene and notwithstanding that the commandos had not yet reached the site. Above all though, the report regretted that locals had provided shelter to some of the terrorists, thereby facilitating them in their evil designs.
This was a tragedy so monumental that it will likely remain forever seared in the national consciousness. What happened in its aftermath is equally heartbreaking. The victims’ families found themselves stone-walled by the authorities when they demanded answers as to why the security apparatus failed the children so completely and when there would be any accountability for that. At least some of their questions have been answered now. Certainly the security forces have foiled many heinous plots but as the APS attack demonstrates, terrorists have to be lucky just once to negate those efforts.
Renewable energy
THE World Bank has shown Pakistan the way forward in the energy sector by approving $450m to support the country’s transition from expensive fossil fuels to affordable, renewable energy resources so that it can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Pakistan must use this opportunity as a policy impetus to encourage renewable, alternative energy schemes, and not just limit it to a few projects. The World Bank financing has been approved for hydropower and solar energy generation schemes in KP, which will shift the national energy mix to clean domestic resources. As stated by the bank’s country director, the project will support Pakistan’s goal to become a low-carbon, renewable energy-reliant economy by 2030 and target reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change. This is in line with the international shift towards environment-friendly energy sources. The focus on indigenous resources would also contribute to the economic development of communities living near hydropower and solar projects by revitalising infrastructure, creating jobs and supporting the development of tourism in those areas. Now it is for the government to use the bank’s financing to scale up clean energy schemes in the rest of the country.
Sadly, the country’s energy policymakers do not seem to have the capacity to plan beyond conventional dirty energy sources — coal, oil and gas. They seem to be out of touch with ongoing power technology developments and the availability of cheap renewable energy storage solutions, which are expected to change the scenario globally in the next several years. The Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan, 2047, prepared by the NTDC, for example, focuses on costly generation-based coal and RLNG, while ignoring power technology that is set to dominate beyond 2030. The plan includes additions of renewables to meet the targets of the alternative energy policy, 2030, but neglects renewable resources in the overall energy mix beyond that. The overall contribution of renewables to the country’s power capacity drops from 31pc in 2030 to 23pc in 2047, according to the IGCEP. A critique of the plan by an Australian organisation points to the “lack of renewable energy focus … despite the fact that Pakistan has excellent renewable energy resources and … wind and solar — which are already the cheapest source of new power generation in Pakistan — will be even cheaper throughout the 2030s and 2040s”. Unless we cut our reliance on expensive fossil fuels and move towards renewable energy, the goals of sustainability and affordability cannot be met.
‘South Sindh’ province
AMIDST the growing clamour over the state’s neglect of Karachi, the MQM-P has once again raised the controversial demand for the division of Sindh. While addressing a rally in the metropolis on Friday, the party’s leadership renewed the call for the formation of a ‘South Sindh’ province to be carved out of Sindh’s urban areas. The justification for this, as per the Muttahida, is the apparent step-motherly treatment urban Sindh receives from the PPP-led provincial government. While the MQM may have a point where the sad state of Karachi is concerned, calling for the division of Sindh may actually cause more problems than it will solve. Firstly, the PPP commands a comfortable position in the Sindh Assembly, which means securing a two-thirds majority in the provincial legislature — an essential constitutional requirement for the creation of a new federating unit — is next to impossible. Secondly, and more importantly, this demand will increase the Sindhi-Mohajir communal divide in Sindh. Considering the fact that Sindh has suffered from significant episodes of ethnic violence over the last few decades, political players need to bridge divides, and not increase them.
It is true that the Sindh government has monopolised nearly all civic powers under the 2013 LG law, leaving the KMC practically toothless. The results of this can be seen in the dystopian state Karachi finds itself in today. However, it is also true that the MQM, which ruled Karachi and Hyderabad for decades, is an equal contributor to the destruction of urban Sindh. For example, land grabbing — commonly known as ‘china-cutting’ — in Karachi is a black art that was perfected under the MQM’s watch. Therefore, instead of indulging in divisive rhetoric that will only widen the ethnic divide, the MQM and all others who claim to represent urban Sindh must push for a better LG law which empowers civic administrations and gives them the necessary resources. Moreover, the PPP should also let devolution trickle down to the districts instead of centralising governance under the provincial administration.
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