Troubled waters
THE most helpless, poor and frequent casualty of India and Pakistan’s extended antagonism are the fishermen who stray across the countries’ maritime borders. As per media reports, Pakistan is likely to release 200 Indian fishermen today through the Wagah border as a goodwill gesture. But even if that takes place, it would benefit only a fraction of this incarcerated populace. A recent report in this newspaper puts the number of fishermen who have served their sentences in Indian and Pakistani jails at a staggering 740. These men are captured by maritime security personnel on both sides when they make the mistake of trespassing into either state’s fluid boundary and detained for years on end. In addition, their boats are seized, never to be returned. This means that with each vessel, usually a collective investment and source of livelihood, many families on both sides of the border sink into abject destitution for years even after the breadwinners are repatriated. In 2010, the Supreme Court ordered the government to honour the Consular Access Agreement signed two years prior and to ensure legal representation for the detainees, but neither has been done. Also, captive fishermen are denied any contact with their kin.
Both states must discard their decades-old pattern of entrapment and imprisonment of these men, a majority of whom are illiterate and therefore unaware of the India-Pakistan International Maritime Boundary and the bilateral dispute of Sir Creek, a region they often unknowingly sail into. The two countries must devise a system that warns straying boats to maintain a distance from these borders. The tide has to turn in favour of empathy for impoverished anglers and their families so that inadvertent crossovers can be prevented and if caught, consular access and legal aid must be swiftly provided and repatriation done quickly. However, the priority should be to protect them from the subcontinent’s tortuous legal systems. Sending prisoners home should be more than an annual symbol of amity.
Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2023
Internet blackout
FOLLOWING former PM Imran Khan’s arrest on Tuesday, the state responded to real and perceived security threats emanating from the digital domain the only way it knows how — by shutting down the internet. Nearly 48 hours after the incident, most mobile data services remained suspended, while fixed-line internet was also spotty.
Major apps such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook were also disrupted. The state’s rationale behind the digital blockade was apparently to quell violence as supporters of the PTI went on the rampage. Yet, this heavy-handed approach at policing cyberspace has deprived millions of citizens of their right to freely communicate, as well as the right to make a living.
Over 100 leaders from the country’s fledgling startup and ecommerce business community have rightly highlighted in a statement that blocking and filtering the internet amounts to limiting the “rights of peaceful assembly and freedoms of association and expression”, while pointing out that “tens of millions of Pakistanis rely on internet-dependent services to connect … and to undertake essential business activities”.
Indeed, a large segment of the population that depends on cellular data — from food delivery riders and drivers working for ride-hailing services, to digital creators — have all had their livelihoods affected by the blockade. Banking transactions have also been disrupted, while cellular firms claim they have lost hundreds of millions of rupees in revenue due to the shutdown.
Is this what the state means when its functionaries talk of creating a thriving digital economy? Furthermore, countless people who do not have fixed-line broadband or landline connections have had their communication links severed. As the HRCP noted, internet blockades allow “dangerous rumours to circulate and compromise people’s access to information”.
The state needs to lift this blockade immediately. While there may be genuine concerns about violent elements using the digital realm to spread havoc, there should be more intelligent options than to shut down the internet.
The authorities can, by working with platforms, isolate individual accounts involved in promoting violence. But in the future, wholesale blockades of the internet must be ruled out.
As business leaders and civil society activists have pointed out, access to the internet needs to be recognised as a fundamental right. If the state continues to use these clumsy methods at policing cyberspace, it will only make a mockery out of claims that Pakistan is ready for the information and digital commerce revolution.
Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2023
Deus ex machina
SOMETIMES, it seems that Imran Khan may just be singularly blessed. Within three days of the former prime minister being unceremoniously bundled out of the Islamabad High Court by a large contingent of the Punjab Rangers, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by the chief justice yesterday deemed his arrest unlawful and took him into its own custody.
He was ordered to be sequestered for the night in Islamabad’s Police Lines Guest House and to appear before the IHC today, where he had earlier hoped to file a bail petition in the Al-Qadir Trust case before being arrested while he was still completing his biometric verification.
The government and Islamabad Police were further ordered to ensure Mr Khan’s security during his ‘stay’ at the guest house, and the court also instructed that he not be considered a ‘prisoner’ during this period.
Mr Khan’s arrest was deemed ‘illegal’ by the Supreme Court for having been conducted on court premises — a rule that has previously been upheld in other high-profile cases.
The arrest had previously been declared lawful by the IHC’s chief justice, in whose court it was executed, but many in the legal community had decried the reasoning as ‘weak’.
Government leaders were understandably furious at the development: Mr Khan’s arrest had come at a steep cost both for them and the country, and here the Supreme Court — already much-criticised by the present government for being ‘overly sympathetic’ to the PTI’s worldview — once again pulled him out of the state’s grasp.
Indeed, even if the reprieve granted to Mr Khan was partial and may prove very temporary, the speed at which he secured it does contrast sharply with the ordeals of several past prime ministers, who were summarily jailed and faced weeks and months of onerous court appearances and other tribulations in cases that were as politically motivated as the present one appears to be.
Mr Khan should remember that his legal troubles are far from over. While the manner of his arrest was deeply problematic, he must now face the charges brought against him without any further confrontation.
Trials and arrests are part and parcel of the Pakistani political experience, and he should not expect special treatment. Other leaders have also braved such tests and passed.
Moreover, Mr Khan has a huge responsibility to ensure that his supporters and sympathisers do not get into any further confrontation with the state. He must condemn in clear words the violence that broke out after his arrest and ensure that there will be no more of it.
His arrest opened an entirely new front in his party’s conflict with the PDM government as well as the military leadership. He must plot his path forward carefully and with responsible consideration for the consequences his decisions might entail.
Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2023