Rethinking our priorities

The government has once again proved that Pakistan is essentially a state obsessed with security – by placing before the National Assembly a new bill tackling matters of national safety. While such bills would not be opposed by anyone if they truly helped end terrorism and sectarianism, the bill in question was placed before the House under somewhat questionable conditions. In the first place, it was tabled just as the National Assembly session was about to end and there were very few members left in the House.

As such, almost no MNA read the bill which has now been passed on to a committee. The bill resembles the one put in place in early 2015 following the APS disaster of December 2014. At the time, we were told the law was necessary given the prevailing situation. Most people accepted that indeed such measures needed to come in place given the massacre that had occurred.

One of the more questionable clauses of that law, and it is believed also of the new law now tabled, is that someone can be arrested on mere suspicion that they will become engaged in terrorist activities. This gives a huge margin of action to the authorities to act as they please. This includes political opponents and other persons who are not seen as friends of the state. The bill, like the one in 2016, has a ‘sunset clause’ which means that it will automatically expire after two years and fall into non-existence. We ask what the government hopes to achieve through this measure and if it is the correct way to handle terrorism.

We did not see any end to terrorism after the 2015 action and Nacta, the body set up at that time, has been largely ineffective in doing its job. Terror continues across the country and it cannot end until the root causes are addressed and groups engaged in it in some way banished or reformed through measures of various kinds. This has been the course adopted by other nations and it is a course we should learn to follow.

The question also is why Pakistan is so centred on security and not on other issues. Taking up these issues could make the state more secure by improving the lives of its people and giving them a better way to live. If they had this opportunity, perhaps fewer young people would be tempted to join extremist organisations or take up guns in their name. This is today happening all over the country and the arrival of newer radicalised groups has only heightened the level of violence the country faces today.

On the other hand, we have done very little to improve the rate of educational success in our country. Pakistan ranks amongst the lowest countries in the world in its ability to provide basic literacy to its people. It has today fallen behind even many sub-Saharan African states and is by a considerable margin the least successful country in South Asia in terms of the ability to educate its people. For example, Bangladesh has a literacy rate of over 66 per cent.

Pakistan’s literacy, according to official figures, stands at around 60 per cent and is considerably lower according to many organisations which monitor education in the country. Literacy after all is often measured simply by the ability to sign one’s name or to read a single headline from a newspaper. In some cases, even this criterion is dropped.

In contrast, Vietnam, a country which also faces poverty and economic distress, has been able to raise its literacy rate to 96 per cent and is nearing the 100 per cent mark. Both Bangladesh and Vietnam, the countries with the clearest examples of success despite economic disarray have also focused on providing women with education and training people in vocational skills. This is important in a number of ways.

If there is a skill-based labour force, other countries would bring their investment to Pakistan and provide much-needed employment. At the moment, in our country, people are in some cases unable to feed their families, leading to the stunting of nearly 50 per cent of children and the removal of some from schools or colleges. Some reports suggest that Pakistan’s literacy rate has fallen over the last two years rather than increased. This of course is immensely disturbing as is the poor quality of literacy and education we can offer even when people are successful in accessing it for their children.

The same is true of other fields such as health and social welfare. We have transformed ourselves into a national security state and have not really been successful, even in providing the safety net people need to live their lives. This has been the pattern followed in Pakistan since its inception in 1947. Through the periods of repeated martial laws – and Pakistan has seen at least four dictatorial regimes lead the country as well as multiple hybrid regimes – there has been a focus on national security rather than on national welfare.

Only if people are empowered and able to choose how they live their lives can there be any real security and any real harmony in the country. We are failing badly on this front. The failure is highlighted by how the latest bill has been tabled. Bills as important as those which deal with security need to be discussed not only in parliament but also at various civil forums. This has also been pointed out by Amnesty International in clear-cut terms.

Pakistan needs to rethink the direction in which it is headed and how it is managing its affairs. The rate of success has not been very good and we must consider why we have fallen so far behind other countries on the globe. Pakistan has resources and some brilliant minds, including amongst its young people. There is no reason why these cannot be used to build the country and take it forward.

Our obsession with national security, however, takes away from us this ability and leaves us less able to succeed amongst the family of nations as they move forward and try to gain a standard which leaves us able to feed, educate and provide basic health care and welfare for all our people each month in the years to come.

The writer is a freelance

columnist and former

newspaper editor. She can be reached at:

kamilahyat@hotmail.com