Why the duplicity?

The government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif presented the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance (PPO) to the National Assembly, without allowing much time for clause-by-clause discussion. The NA duly approved the laws on April 7 despite serious reservations by all the opposition parties.
The ordinance had been originally promulgated by the president in October 2013. But it has yet to be approved by the Senate. The government does not enjoy the required majority for its approval in that house but the PPP does. The PML-N does, however, have an ace up its sleeve if it does not, as expected, manage to cajole the opposition into supporting its passage in the Senate. Under the constitution it can call for a joint session of both houses and steam roll the law on the strength of its majority.
The PPO contains many extraordinary provisions that are not found in normal law in most countries. This is the reason many human rights activists believe ordinary people will be deprived of their basic rights. The following two examples are of the utmost importance:-
1. It empowers police officers, members of the armed forces and civil armed forces to arrest without warrant or enter and search any premises without warrant on forming ‘reasonable apprehension’ against any person in respect of commission of a scheduled offence. The schedule attached with the PPO is fairly comprehensive.
2. A special court may deprive the offender of his citizenship in addition to other punishments that may be meted out, thus rendering him stateless.
The introduction of the ordinance in the lower house generated a spontaneous reaction from all political parties in parliament except those toeing the government line. The parties consider it a complete violation of the human rights of the people of Pakistan and object to the transfer of so many powers to the armed forces under which they can arrest any person without warrant on the premise of suspicion of having committed or planning to commit an offence. This power they think will have serious repercussions as the security forces will have a free hand to arrest any person on any pretext – including the prime minister.
The Supreme Court also expressed its reservations over the ordinance considering it a serious blow to the rights of citizens. The chief justice is reported to have said that permission for such all-embracing power in the name of security cannot be given. Despite all reservations, the government seems to be going ahead with plans to present it in the upper house.
What an irony that the powerful have one yardstick for one set of people and another for others. A similar law was imposed on Fata in 2011 under the name of ‘Action in Aid of Civil Power’ giving the same powers to the armed forces. Not one person spoke in my support when I wrote an article about it in ‘The News’ nor considered it a violation of the human rights of the people of that area. Not a single notable of any political party made any comment. They all kept quiet and so did the tribal parliamentarians as if they were not aware of its implications. Or maybe they preferred to continue making money rather than worrying about the rights of the poor tribesmen.
Nobody raised any objection when this black law was imposed only on the people of Fata but now when a similar law is being enacted for the country the political parties have started calling foul. Where were they when the black law was imposed on Fata? Or wasn’t Fata a part of Pakistan? Why this duplicity?
What surprised me most at a round table conference organised by Pildat on the subject were the remarks of a PPP stalwart who not only objected to the ordinance but even listed in detail how it would negatively affect society. The person in question also asked who would exercise control on the powers to be vested in the armed forces, adding that in case there was no such control then it was too dangerous to enact the law.
The honourable delegate conveniently forgot the role he played when his boss Mr. Zardari, the former president of the country, imposed a similar law on Fata in 2011 and that too with retrospective effect from 2008. That regulation had the same or even harsher sets of rules than those contained in the present ordinance. Worst of all, the regulation was imposed when there existed yet another draconian regulation called FCR (Frontier Crimes Regulations) which if applied in the true sense would stops birds from flying over that area leave alone human beings travelling on land.
The FCR is like a permanent state of martial law there and while it is still extant there was no need for imposition of another harsh law in the name of elimination of militants and militancy. And now that the regulation has been extended for the last two years has that eliminated militancy? I leave it to the good judgement of the readers.
In his oath-taking ceremony the new governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sardar Mehtab Abbasi, has rightly highlighted the sufferings of the people of Fata. He has rightly said that Fata has no voice and has been completely ignored for many decades now.
Let us hope the new governor provides some relief to the people. Being a close ally of the chief executive one hopes he will deliver and not follow a pre-defined line of action like his predecessor. The downtrodden people of Fata expect a lot from him. One hopes that he succeeds in following the right path to bring peace to the area and start the long awaited development process to bring Fata at par with the rest of the country.
The writer is a former ambassador.
Email: waziruk@hotmail.com