Misplaced focus
CIVILIAN governments change, as does the military leadership, yet one factor remains constant in our confused political culture: the desire to crack down on those expressing dissenting views. These reprehensible tactics are applied equally by our civilian rulers as well as those in uniform calling the shots from behind the scenes. The arrest of retired general Amjad Shuaib on Monday, under sections of the law that address “statements conducing to public mischief”, came after he made remarks on a TV show about the PTI’s ongoing ‘Jail Bharo Tehreek’. Reportedly, the former general had urged the PTI to, instead, focus on preventing government servants from attending office in the federal capital. This perceived call to civil disobedience has rubbed our rulers the wrong way; the long arm of the law swiftly moved to apprehend Mr Shuaib, who has been remanded to police custody.
The abovementioned episode follows a familiar plot line. In countless such instances previously, something someone has said on television, or on social media, has hurt the sentiments of some of our hyper-patriotic citizens, often residing in far-flung towns of the country. More often than not, outraged citizens, from multiple cities and towns, collectively take umbrage, citing the same reasons for approaching the law against ‘offensive’ content. Such ‘offensive’ statements often feature mild criticism of the military or other institutions. But in Mr Shuaib’s case, the charges are quite preposterous. The PDM government has used the same playbook to lock up its critics since it came to power, while earlier, the PTI also employed similarly atrocious tactics to silence its opponents. Whether it is civilian rulers or the military establishment, the use of vague legal provisions to silence dissent must be abandoned. Unless an individual is advocating violence, indulging in hate speech against any particular group or breaking a specific law, the right to freely express opinions needs to be respected, and government opponents should not be silenced.
Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2023
Hospital waste
THE news report that medical waste generated at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences ends up in Islamabad’s ‘black market’ for reuse is not only disturbing but also a symptom of a much bigger problem in a country where infectious diseases are rampant. The report that appeared in this paper on Tuesday informs us that a vendor hired by PIMS to incinerate the medical waste on hospital premises has been involved in the sale of infectious material, such as discarded syringes and blood bags, with the help of the hospital staff. According to the World Health Organisation, 15pc of the waste generated by hospitals and other healthcare facilities is hazardous, and can be infectious, toxic and even radioactive. The remaining 85pc is considered non-hazardous. In a country like Pakistan, however, where laws and administrative controls pertaining to healthcare are weak, there is always the danger of unscrupulous elements trying to make a quick buck by recycling hazardous material for sale in the black market. Very few healthcare providers here follow the international medical practice of segregating hospital waste at source and disposing of it properly. This carelessness has been put down to high costs, ignorance and a general apathy towards patient welfare. The effect has been disastrous. For instance, the reuse of contaminated syringes is believed to have contributed significantly to the spread of blood-borne diseases such as hepatitis C across the country — no surprise, given that large sections of our population have evinced a preference for ‘injections’ over regular medication, which doctors readily administer.
Hospitals are not the only place where medical waste is generated. Diagnostic laboratories, animal hospitals, blood banks and collection service centres, too, produce tonnes of medical refuse every day. Unfortunately, incinerators are in short supply, not only in the smaller towns and villages but also in major cities such as Lahore, Karachi and the capital itself. The proper management of healthcare waste, especially hazardous material, is crucial for preventing an adverse impact on health and the environment. But that cannot be ensured without an appropriate and effective legal framework for medical waste management in accordance with international best practices as well as trained human resource. Such a framework should include regular monitoring by the health authorities to ensure that all medical units in the country are complying with the rules of medical waste disposal.
Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2023
Troubling rhetoric
THE words may have been spoken in the heat of the moment or deliberately uttered as a rhetorical flourish. Either way, they were ill-chosen, especially coming from a political leader whose father, Nawaz Sharif, has built his party’s narrative around the slogan of ‘vote ko izzat do’ (respect the vote).
On Monday, at a party workers’ convention in Sahiwal, PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz delivered an impassioned speech during which she claimed that elections in the country could only be held after labels like ‘Godfather’ and ‘Sicilian mafia’ that the judiciary used to describe Mr Sharif, were withdrawn.
There would be no election, she said, before justice was done and until fake cases against the PML-N supremo were withdrawn and he was declared innocent in the Panama Papers case. Of course, it can be argued that Ms Nawaz was merely trying to whip up the party’s support base by resorting to emotive language as a counter to the PTI’s narrative which appears to have lost little of its traction.
Nevertheless, Pakistan has a troubled history where elections are concerned, and throwaway remarks about delaying polls underscore the fact that the country continues to have a tenuous relationship with democracy in general.
Political messaging must rise above immediate considerations; it should seek to educate and enlighten as well as inspire if a democracy is to evolve and mature. Certainly, a civilian leader bears little resemblance to a military dictator — whose power is unaccountable in the extreme — but Ms Nawaz should step back from the temptation to make elections even appear contingent upon anything but the Constitution.
Postponing, rigging or engineering polls are all means of thwarting and subverting the electorate’s will. These tactics have most often been employed by unelected forces to achieve political ends, yet no one has ever been held accountable for the crime of stealing the people’s mandate.
It took over two decades for the Supreme Court to deliver a landmark judgement in the Asghar Khan case pertaining to the manipulation of the 1990 elections; despite that, those involved remain unpunished.
On July 5, 1977, the day he removed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in a bloodless coup, Gen Ziaul Haq declared he would hold parliamentary elections in 90 days. But then, just weeks before the scheduled polls, he abruptly cancelled them saying there was too much turmoil in the country for power to be returned to civilian hands.
Cases against Mr Bhutto first had to be decided before voting was held, he declared. Gen Zia’s 11-year dictatorship and his decimation of the political culture — one instance of which were the party-less polls in 1985 — inflicted such profound damage on Pakistan’s polity that we are paying for it even today. Elections are key to democracy; they must never be subject to leaders’ whims.