Dawn CoLumn’s Social Media Pakistan 0345-6738217New president E was the country’s first civilian president to complete his tenure; now, Asif Ali Zardari’s election as president will make him the first Pakistani to hold that office twice. It is evident that his style of politics has kept currency in the corridors of power despite the many sociopolitical changes this country has seen since the last time he occupied the presidency. It is, undoubtedly, a remarkable comeback orchestrated by a sharp political mind. According to the public opinion polls conducted in the run-up to the general election and publicised through national media, the PPP was always a distant laggard compared to the PML-N and PTI. With the fortunes of Messrs Asif Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari looking modest outside their traditional bastion, most attention had remained on their bigger rivals. Yet, it was the PPP which somehow emerged as the strongest party after the ECP announced its results of the general election, which ensured a split mandate. Mr Zardari had quietly gained immense leverage over the political configuration due to the bitter acrimony between his rivals. His party offered both the bigger parties an opportunity to form the government, while making it clear its support would require several important constitutional posts in return. ‘When the PTI refused to bargain, the PML-N — whether under compulsion or considering it politically expedient — eventually made the deal. As a result, the next regime will have a PML- N-led government overseen by the PPP from its constitutional posts. It will be interesting to see how the arrangement will pan out. Though a national unity government had long been presented as a solution to Pakistan’s poly-crisis, those calculations likely did not factor in a large, vocal opposition buoyed by a strong narrative around its victimhood. Such an arrangement also needed a garb of legitimacy, which the recent election was unable to confer. Mr Zardari is a keen player of the power game and the most successful at it by a fair degree. He had made his way into the presidency for the first time by using a complex strategy that involved using the then army chief to oust Gen Pervez Musharraf from office. He had then kept that office for the full five-year term, despite facing immense pressure from powerful quarters to abdicate. All of his faculties will be required by the new set-up if it hopes to succeed in achieving its goals. Of course, there are some who believe that the PPP has merely positioned itself to keep its traditional rival on a leash and that it will always put its own interests above anyone else’s. The two have previously worked together, but the PPP also seeks an independent identity under Mr Bhutto-Zardari. It will, therefore, be interesting to see what arrangement the two parties eventually reach.Handing over Discos RIME MINISTER Shehbaz Sharif’s plan to transfer the P 10 public-sector Discos from the centre to the provinces was ostensibly aimed at offloading their significant losses to the latter. Another reason could be the belief that the provinces are better placed to manage and fix these cash- guzzlers due to their close proximity to the power distributors and consumers. However, the idea, which comes as a surprise given the earlier decision of the Special Investment Facilitation Council to turn over these companies to the private sector through ‘long-term concessions’, may well prove a non-starter and thus a waste of time. No province is likely to want them as it would put a very heavy burden on their budgets. Balochistan. and KP neither have the financial muscle nor the capacity to manage them. Then, there are other issues such as the application of a countrywide uniform consumer tariff and subsidies, in addition to legal complexities that would have to be tackled before any progress on this idea can be made. It was for these reasons that the previous three attempts to transfer the Discos to the provinces failed. There are no two opinions about the financial burden the Discos are putting on the deficit-ridden federal budget and the capacity constraints of the centre in properly managing these mammoth organisations. It would be a big mistake to expect the provinces to transform them into functional, profitable businesses, even if they are able to reduce power theft and improve bill recoveries. Also, the authorities need to eliminate the annual losses of nearly $1bn that these companies cause to the exchequer rather than shift the liability to the provinces. Given the long history of resistance by vested interests to the privatisation of these companies, it is not surprising that many look at this move with suspicion. It may not be a derailment of the power sector reforms agenda needed to fix the electricity distribution system, but repeating the mistake is a sheer waste of time. With the country in need of quick decisions to stabilise the economy, the new government has little time at its disposal to indulge in such futile experiments. It is time Mr Sharif decided to stick to the power-sector privatisation plan rather than spend his energy on ideas that are likely to fail.Bitter honey-traps HE repeated failure of state-sponsored operations to capture gangs presiding over swathes of riverine katcha I areas, particularly in upper Sindh and lower Punjab, says more about the half-hearted approach of law enforcers than their determination. Ahead of the game with better equipment and crafty strategies, gangs of bandits make the rules in these parts and hit the headlines with troubling regularity. Recently, their honey-traps have resurfaced, and despite warnings from the police, men are becoming easy prey — an employee of Rescue 1122 in Bahawalpur was abducted for ransom recently, as were others in Kashmore and Ghotki. Baits in the form of women or rewarding business deals keep the criminals safe in their hideouts as targets are brought to them. When victims arrive at a pre-set location, they are kidnapped. Such ensnarement has been frequent: in 2023, some 250 people from KP, Sindh and Punjab were taken hostage. Although law-enforcement agencies assert that outlaws were weeded out from 58,500 acres last year, the fact is that several actions did not uproot their brutal foothold. Why has their brazen defiance not seen a decline even after numerous operations? Moreover, the irony of a police force sans modern arms or an adequate number of armoured personnel carriers facing criminals who brandish weapons fit for battle, including rocket launchers, should not be lost on the government and the LEAs. The hour has come for public resources to be used for the security of the vulnerable through effective action — trained law enforcers with sophisticated weapons, bulletproof gear and transport and drone surveillance should patrol the troubled areas; security agencies need to present a suitable picture of their prowess with a strategy that wins wars. The region’s socioeconomic realities must be addressed with education and employment so that the poor shun crime. Decades-old problems such as the katcha ganglands cannot thrive without patronage.OUSTED SC JUDGE MAZAHAR NAQVI TO BE DEPRIVED OF JUSTICE’ TITLEBY MUHAMMAD AMIR RANA the a The Taliban character Pak-Afghan ties won’t improve unless the Taliban fulfil their commitments. THE Afghan Taliban’s character hasremained tricky throughout their history. Their leadership is notorious for shifting positions and breaking its promises. Who knows better than Pakistan’s security institutions, which have dealt with them since the beginning? However, there is more recent testimony from Saudi Arabia, which recognised their regime in the mid-1990s along- side the UAE and Pakistan, while they were in the midst of a war with their rivals. Prince Turki al-Paisal al-‘Saud, former head of the Saudi intelligence, detailed his departments involvement in Afghanistan (1979-2001) in his book The Afghanistan File. The purpose of the publication was to clarify the Saudi position on Afghanistan — from the Afghan-Soviet war to 9/11 —as different accounts existed about Saudi Arabia’s involvement in Afghanistan and nur- turing of a militant brand of Islam across the world. The book also confirms many previous accounts but better explains the Saudis’ posi- tion. Some chapters are relevant to understand- ing the Taliban’s character, as Prince Turki pro- vides a detailed account of Saudi efforts for Osama bin Laden’s (OBL) extradition. However, the Taliban leadership tactically manipulated the issue. The book focuses on the Taliban’s harbouring of OBLand their link to 9/11. While Prince Turki accuses OBL of using the Pakistani militant group Harkatul Ansar’s camps, Pakistan, simul- taneously demanding the return of Pakistani militants involved in sectarian killings, failed to pressure the Taliban for OBL’s extradition. The chapter culminates with Prince Turki’s descrip- tions of his two meetings with elusive Taliban leader Mullah Omar. The chapter describes how Mullah Omar had shifted his position without recognising that commitments had been made in the presence of many officials and the Pakistani head of intelli- gence of that time Rana Naseem. The author recounts a meeting with Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader in June 1998. The prince requested that OBL be handed over to Saudi Arabia. Mullah Omar expressed his willingness but felt constrained by his obligations as a host. Mullah Omar agreed to form a joint committee of ulema from Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia to draft a legal judgement that would allow Mullah Omar to surrender his guest. The committee would meet within two weeks. There was an understanding that OBL would be turned in, with the committee serving as a formality. Before the second meeting, a Taliban delega- tion led by Maulvi Mutawakil visited Saudi Arabia. He assured them that OBL would be swiftly expelled from Afghanistan. The delega- tion admitted that OBL had supporters inside Afghanistan as well as good contacts with a large number of individuals due to the financial sup- port he had provided them. They proposed: “It would be better to examine this together and col- laborate on developing a mutually beneficial solution.” In Afghanistan, they agreed to apply pressure on OBL to get him to leave the country. There is an interesting account in the book of how when OBL had declared war against the US. and announced the killing of its citizens, he had cited fatwas issued by Pakistani ulema in sup- port of his arguments. This could be the reason why the Pakistani ulema were not included in the committee. However, the Taliban did not deliver on their promise. This forced Prince Turki to plan another meeting with Mullah Omar in September of that same year. This time, Mullah Omar denied making any agreement to hand over OBL, claiming mistranslation. He criticised Saudi Arabia’s alliance with the US and blamed them for the suffering of the Afghan and Iraqi people. The prince was offended by the outburst and cut short the meeting. Later, the new ISI chief, Gen Ziauddin Butt, informed the prince that Mullah Omar had not been in “a good mood” that day. It was a major disappointment for the prince, and was a factor that contributed to his decision to quit his position. The Afghan Taliban seem to be playing the same game with Pakistan. Several recent media reports indicate that the interim Taliban admin- istration in Afghanistan has once again claimed to have taken action against the banned Tehreek- i-Taliban Pakistan militants and arrested many of them. They assert that there are no militant groups currently operating inside their country. However, Pakistan has refuted these claims and has urged the United Nations to conduct an investigation te determine how the TTP acquired advanced military equipment and weaponry and to also identify the sources of financing of the terrorist group, which is said to be supporting 50,000 fighters and their dependents, as well as its operations. The same situation has been depicted in the Afghanistan File, but in the Saudi context: Al Qaeda was actively involved in terrorist attacks and the Taliban were denying the Islamist group’s presence in Afghanistan with similar fervour. Terrorist attacks are again on the rise in Pakistan, yet the TTP has only accepted respon- sibility for a few of these attacks. From Dec 1, 2023, to Feb 29, 2024, there were 62 attacks (51 in KP, nine in Balochistan, and two in Karachi). However, the TTP has only acknowledged responsibility for 34 attacks. This could be an attempt to show that the Afghan Taliban interim regime is putting pressure on the TTP. The relationship between the Taliban and Pakistan cannot improve until the Taliban lead- ership learns how to fulfil its commitments, especially made to its close allies. One can understand why the Saudis are not enthusiastic about supporting the Taliban regime this time. Pakistan has a few more bitter experiences, as the Taliban regime is exploiting them as it indi- cates growing relations with India. The major lesson for Pakistan in all this is to take the issue to parliament and have an open discussion before deciding on its future course. ‘The Saudis had the option to curtail their rela- tions with the Afghan Taliban. However, Pakistan does not have this option, as Afghanistan shares a crucial border in all strate- gic, economic, and political contexts. The writer is a security analyst.BY ABBAS NASIR BY the time you read these lines Pakistan will have a new president in the person of Asif Ali Zardari, cementing further the status quo result- ing from the disputed Feb 8 election result. Unless it can muster huge support on the streets, the opposition too will settle down to carrying out protests in parliament and long-drawn-out legal battles. ‘As we speak, there are allegations of wide- spread electoral malpractices supported by evi- dence that innumerable Form 45s — which are supposed to indicate the final count at each poll- ing station, certified by polling agents of all con- testants, and uploaded by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on its website — show significant, and crudely done, overwriting and alterations. The ECP has come in for considerable flak, and with justification, for the delayed results on election day and also for missing deadlines for posting Form 45s and Form 47s, which show the consolidated results based on Form 45. But our sad experience is that once a government takes office, it takes ages to address the grievances of parties and candidates declared unsuccessful. The example of Qasim Suri, the deputy Speaker of the last National Assembly, is very relevant because there were serious flaws in how his election result was tabulated and announced but he stayed a member of the Assembly for its entire term on a court ‘stay order’, besides being one of its guardians/ stewards for more than three years. Tam aware that many of the readers are sensi- tive to any mention of the 2018 election and its comparison with the most recent exercise, but any discussion has to be informed by precedent and real examples from the past. Citing past examples is by no means an attempt to justify any wrong today but more to spotlight the rather sad state of our democracy. So, what can the PTI do? Its options aren’t end- less and one of the major limiting factors would be its relations with the country’s powerful establishment. In the 2018 elections, it saw what the establishment could deliver when the party was dragged over the finish line and ushered into government. After the oft-quoted ‘same page’, its harmoni- ous relations with the military nosedived when the ambitions of the then army chief clashed with the game plan of the prime minister he had helped to install in office. In the Pakistan experience, in any such tussle, there is usually just one winner. All that is in the past. A recent PTI decision seems to suggest that it is prepared to learn from its own mistakes. For one, it has now distanced itself from the main instigators of the May 9 events. The two instigators seemed to have led the PTI leadership up the garden path. It seems that junior ex-military officers/ vlog- gers led the party into believing that it had suf ficient support within the establishment to trig- ger a ‘revolt’ in the event of any crackdown Making decisions based on poor counsel spelt disaster for the PTI in more ways than one. against its leadership. In fact, one of them was doing a YouTube running commentary on May 9 and seemed to have assumed the role of a com- missar/ field commander, directing his cadres where to go, what to target, even giving them the home address of one security official. There can be no denying Imran Khan has sup- port in the country and, by the same token, within the establishment. But had these ex-offic- ers even commanded a battalion, let alone a bri- gade/ division or a corps-level body of troops, they would have known how the central com- mand structure of the army works and how such ‘revolts’ don’t and can’t happen. Making decisions based on such poor counsel spelt disaster for the PTI in more ways than one. The first was that it created an unbridgeable gulf between the current military leadership and the PTI. It also led to a brutal crackdown that degraded the party’s organisational structure. PTI and the art of the possible It is clear that the party would have been much better served by keeping its powder dry then and putting it to better use post-election by taking its protests to the streets and agitating in large numbers to be heard. It seems after brav- ing months of a crackdown the party cadres are in no position to exert such pressure. While the PTT is reviewing some of its policies, one that could do with a review more than the others is the party’s refusal to engage with politi- cal forces in the country. Stolen mandate or not, it has to show a willingness and flexibility to talk to other political forces. It may have preferred to engage with just the establishment in the belief that nobody else had the means or the power to prise open and hold the door to power for it. But as things stand, it is clear that for its part, the establishment isn’t interested in talking to the PTI. One indication was the recent statement issued after the Corps Commanders Conference where the institution threw its weight behind the new government. I believe the party has chosen the right strat- egy by staying in parliament and not leaving the field open for the hybrid set-up to do asit pleases. After all, the parties now in government also stayed in the system when the PTI was part of the hybrid set-up. That presence enabled them to launch a bid for government backed by the then army chief and to continue in power to this day. By the same token, the Imran Khan-led party should examine what can emerge from an engagement with other political parties. It has long taken the public stance that all major parties apart from PT are ‘chor, dakw (thieves, robbers)’, but to use a cliché politics is the art of the possible. It is time the ‘cornered tiger’, as supporters fondly call Imran Khan, tried to assess if a change in strategy will deliver dividends such as meaningful electoral reforms so that nobody’s mandate can be stolen. Perhaps his unsuccessful presidential candidate Mahmood Khan Achakzai can serve as a bridge and facili- tate dialogue. m The whiter is a former editor of Dawn. abbas.nasir @hotmail.comFROM THE PAST PAGES OF DAWN 1974\s"" New Cabinet RAWALPINDI: A new Central Cabinet will be inducted after the forthcoming session of the National Assembly. This was disclosed here this morning [March 9] by Prime Minister Bhutto in his brief chat with the pressmen, whowent tothe airport toreceive the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Zaid bin Sultan AlNahiyan. The Prime Minister ... after receiving the distinguished guests, came to the Press enclosure... .— Islamabad Bureau [News agencies add] ...Sheikh Zaid ... was accorded a warm welcome on his arrival ... to begin a four-day State visit to Pakistan. He was received ... by President Fazal Elahi Chaudhry and [PM] Bhutto as he stepped out of the chartered PIA plane that brought him from Abu Dhabi. The UAE President warmly shook hands with the Pakistani lead- ers as a 21-gun salute boomed out to herald his arrival. The sleek PIA Boeing, carrying the UAE Head of State and his twenty-mem- ber entourage ... was escorted by four Pakistan Air Force Mirages, two on either side. Two little children, in colourful dresses, presented bouquets to President Nahiyan which he smilingly accepted.] 9 9 Seventy-five A years ago ‘Panacea for evils’ KARACHE Dr Ishtiaq Husain Qureshi, Deputy Minister, replying to the arguments of Opposition members in the Constituent Assembly ... declared that politics could not be divorced from religion and ethics and that acceptance of ethical and moral princi- ples as the foundation of the future constitu- tion of Pakistan was the best guarantee that could be given to both the minorities and the majority of Pakistan against absolutism. In all, 14amendments were moved by members of the Opposition seeking clarification of the provisions of the Objectives Resolution relating to minorities in an attempt to make it, according to them, more definite. Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, speak- ing at the end of the discussion, supported the resolution and said that Islam alone could save humanity from the evils of Communism and capitalism. [He] reminded the Opposition of Mr Gandhi's directive to the provincial premiers to model their Governments on the pattern of the Government of Umar Faroog and Abu Bakr. He said it was the same constitution that the resolution sought to introduce in Pakistan. Dr LH. 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