The deadly tracks
THE Railways, one of the most helpful contributions of science and technology in recent history, have helped men and material move faster. In the colonial days, India acquired miles and miles of railway tracks. Steam engines or the rolling stock symbolised a significant march of civilisation.

Ensuring speedy justice
CHIEF Justice of India A.S. Anand made a startling revelation last week at a seminar on judicial reforms in New Delhi that India was placed at the bottom of the list of the availability of judges per million population in the world.

FOREIGN POLICY CONSENSUS
by Hari Jaisingh
THINGS would have been different for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government at the Centre, had Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee shown decisiveness in appointing persons of his choice to occupy certain key positions in the Union Cabinet. It took him more than eight months—that too after the Assembly poll shock—to induct persons of the stature of Mr Jaswant Singh, Mr Jagmohan and Mr Pramod Mahajan into the Cabinet last week.

China: the Tibet syndrome
by N.K. Pant
AS had been hinted earlier by the spokesman for the Tibetan government-in-exile, the anticipated reconciliatory statement of the Dalai Lama on the status of Tibet surprisingly did not come through during his 10-day-long sojourn in the USA in the first half of November.

Pak women activists quit govt panels
by Cassandra Balchin
IN a dramatic move designed to build pressure on Pakistan’s Government in the wake of the controversial 15th Amendment Bill, women’s rights activists have resigned from several government committees.These committees were set up to meet international commitments, following the Beijing fourth World Conference on Women and Pakistan’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

Our friend from Pakistan
by D.R. Sharma
SOME time ago we were watching the Star news about the then on-going Indo-Pak parleys. The moment we saw the leader of the Pakistani delegation shake the hand of his Indian counterpart, it rang a bell. Though considerably filled up, the gentleman looked groomy like someone we knew 20 years ago in the USA. Our hunch proved to be right when his name was announced: Syed Roshan Zamir, Secretary, Culture, from the Civil Service of Pakistan.

75 Years Ago

East India Loans Bill
MR Austen Chamberlain: “My noble friend, the Under-Secretary, will not be surprised at my intervention because he knows that when in office he and I had some conversations about a similar Bill and I was considerably shocked to find that pledges had been given by the India Office, which could not, of course, be reopened at that moment, but which tied the hands of the government in respect to that partial loan.

The deadly tracks

THE Railways, one of the most helpful contributions of science and technology in recent history, have helped men and material move faster. In the colonial days, India acquired miles and miles of railway tracks. Steam engines or the rolling stock symbolised a significant march of civilisation. While the bullock cart, like the spinning wheel, kept on moving at its primordial pace, mechanisation gave speed and enhanced the reach of the people. Dipping into the history of the Indian Railways, we find slow trains moving on small tracks at a moderate speed. There are mentions of accidents. But the word "safety" is repeated more frequently than "mishap". When we have tragedies like that near Khanna on a cold November night, we are suddenly reminded of the total failure of a time-tested system of transportation and a major source of revenue. We have not often heard of multiple fractures of railway tracks. We have, however, been fed daily with an information diet about fast trains, jubilee expresses and special coaches meant for honeymooners. But the track record of the Railways has been quite alarming and there is no reason to celebrate the accelerated speed or the expanded services. True, a Khanna does not happen every day, but trains run on cracked lines. Mechanical failures are attributed to minor human beings and those really responsible for accidents find easy scapegoats. The Shatabdi Express and the Himalayan Queen have been trains of celebration. They have, in popular estimation, been associated with speed coupled with efficiency. Thousands of people have surrendered their right to life to bunches of fellow human beings trained to drive them safely to their destinations. Such persons come in a hierarchy— the Railway Minister to the guard. Now the Railways represent sudden death and destruction. In Dickensonian idiom, one of our Micawbers will say: "Accidents will occur in the best regulated families." Perhaps, "families" will be replaced by "systems". But it is distressing to know that the rather limited stretch of 197 km between Delhi and Ambala has been suffering multiple fractures of the tracks. About 1,400 cracks have been identified. More than the credibility of the steel structures, the reputation of the Indian Railways has been damaged within a few weeks. Travellers feel unsafe and trains are being called conveyers of life into the dark territory of death.

We had Railway Ministers like Lal Bahadur Shastri and Jagjivan Ram. It seems that these names belong to India's ancient chronicles. One thinks of Lalit Narayan Mishra and persons of his kind who cared more for party politics than for the departments they were heading. This is the era of Ram Bilas Paswans and Nitish Kumars. The aggrieved people call them self-seekers and time-servers. After an accident, passengers go to their long home and mourners go about the street. Commissions of enquiry are set up. Cosmetic treatment is given to the damaged parts of the system. It is business as usual for some time. Then again comes a Khanna! Lal Bahadur Shastri resigned taking moral responsibility for a railway accident. But our Paswans and Nitish Kumars are wiser men. They blame everything on fate. Did the 1,400 cracks develop overnight? Would the Railways have incurred an expense of more than Rs 4 crore on inspecting the lines with the help of ultrasonic machines? Those who are repairing the tracks did not have enough drills and welding machines. So why think of diagnostic scanners? Have you heard of engines moving with "flat tyres"? Train services in our region will not be normal for at least two weeks more. The inconvenience caused to the public is beyond imagination. The loss of revenue will run into crores of rupees. The faith of the commuters will be eroded further with each passing day and they will not be able to sleep in a train anywhere in the country even if they have reserved sleeper berths. The situation is alarming. Mr Nitish Kumar is a part of a tottering political edifice. Will he resign on ethical grounds and seek partial redemption? Those responsible for keeping the tracks safe owe an explanation to their conscience. Negligence, not a coach, now rolls on battered tracks.

Ensuring speedy justice

CHIEF Justice of India A.S. Anand made a startling revelation last week at a seminar on judicial reforms in New Delhi that India was placed at the bottom of the list of the availability of judges per million population in the world. The ratio is just 10.5 judges in India, whereas the Law Commission had recommended in 1987 that it should be at least 50 judges. This is one area which demands urgent attention of the government. But before increasing the sanctioned strength of the judges at different levels, the existing vacancies should be filled soon. The Supreme Court acquired four new faces on Wednesday, but it still has four vacancies. As many as 145 vacancies are to be filled at various high courts. At least this much should be done as early as possible to minimise the delay in dispensing justice.

The time has come when the legal system in India will be accused of denying justice, in most of the cases if not all. The reason is that the courts are invariably taking an unduly long time to deliver justice. There is growing frustration among litigants. If they lose faith in the country's judicial system, only the government and the courts will have to blame for it. Even the President of India, Mr K.R. Narayanan, feels highly disturbed at the situation. He gave expression to his feelings at the seminar where the Chief Justice of India was present. Mr Narayanan was candid in declaring that legal procedures must be simplified to ensure that justice was dispensed quickly and at the minimum cost possible. He spared no one, not even the judges. If lawyers are responsible for prolonging the disposal of cases by every means available to them, the judges have failed to prevent the misuse of the law to seek the adjournment of cases at will. A system must be evolved to ensure time-bound disposal of court cases.

Legal luminary Atul Setalvad laments: "And though, in 1966, the Civil Procedure Code was amended to provide that adjournments should not be granted to accommodate advocates, the provision has remained a dead letter. Advocates blithely ask for adjournments to suit their convenience; the opposing advocate does not object, as he knows that there will be a time when he will want an adjournment." It matters little to either the advocates or the judges if the litigants suffer in the process. The system only helps the practitioners of law to mint money by moving from court to court, seeking fresh dates and preventing a quick disposal of cases. Thus, one should not be surprised if trials are yet to be held in cases filed 10 or even 20 years ago, or if the backlog of undecided cases has gone up to 30 million! The problem is not new. It has been discussed off and on. Various commissions and committees have also studied it and made recommendations. But the situation has only aggravated. This clearly proves that not enough has been done to make the system litigant-friendly. The messy situation at the lower courts, as highlighted in this newspaper some time ago, must be corrected on a war-footing to create the right condition for the disposal of cases. The experiment of Lok Adalats should be taken more seriously. Wherever it is possible, these should be accorded a permanent status, as has been done in Chandigarh. It has the potential to speed up the delivery of justice. However, the malaise has grown deeper roots. Only careful surgery can cure the diseased system.

FOREIGN POLICY CONSENSUS
Deeper probing of realities needed

by Hari Jaisingh

THINGS would have been different for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government at the Centre, had Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee shown decisiveness in appointing persons of his choice to occupy certain key positions in the Union Cabinet. It took him more than eight months—that too after the Assembly poll shock—to induct persons of the stature of Mr Jaswant Singh, Mr Jagmohan and Mr Pramod Mahajan into the Cabinet last week.

An able administrator, Mr Jagmohan is a no-nonsense man. He does not allow himself to be bogged down by narrow ideological or religious considerations and has clarity of thought and perspective on the key problems facing the country. It is a treat to see the seriousness with which the former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir pursues his academic interests. A regular visitor to the India International Centre in New Delhi, he sets an example to public men on how they should keep their mental faculties charged when not in power.

Mr Jaswant Singh is another man of substance. He has established his credentials in the world of diplomacy and evolved working equations with some of the key US policy-makers, specially Assistant Secretary of State Strobe Talbott. A skilful negotiator, he conducts dialogue with professional dignity and sophistication. Of course, he tends to be less communicative, probably thinking that diplomacy is a subtle art of maintaining secrecy, doing things away from the public glare. However, effective communication matters a lot in today's competitive diplomacy.

A degree of secrecy, of course, has to be maintained in a sensitive negotiation. But the absence of effective communication can lead to a wrong impression among the people about the government's ability to deliver the goods.

Now that Mr Jaswant Singh is at the helm of the External Affairs Ministry, we should expect better clarity in the conduct of our foreign affairs. As it is, India's credibility in international relations has suffered considerably in recent months.

In the first place, national consensus, which was the hallmark of India's foreign policy, seems to have broken down. This has been apparent from the position the various political parties have taken on the CTBT and related strategic issues.

It is necessary to maintain a consensual approach to foreign affairs. This is possible if a process of regular consultation is kept up between the ruling party and the Opposition. Mr Inder Kumar Gujral, both as Foreign Minister and Prime Minister, tried to promote the culture of consensus. He and Mr P.V. Narasimha Rao earlier fully utilised the skills and affability of Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, then Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, to pursue larger national goals in foreign affairs.

Under the Prime Ministership of Mr Vajpayee no serious efforts have been made to evolve a coordinated approach to vital foreign policy issues in consultation with the Opposition parties. His first meeting with the Opposition leaders the other day in this respect shows he has realised his folly. But that is too late in the day. Perhaps the Prime Minister has been too preoccupied with crisis management of the coalition government and is hardpressed for time. But foreign policy is a critical area in today's competitive global diplomacy. It is, therefore, absolutely necessary that the nation should speak with one voice.

Broadly speaking, foreign policy is normally designed to be above political controversy so that it reflects the best interests of the nation. This fact alone demands a deeper probing of the realities and testing of new concepts and options.

It so happens that our foreign policy has lost its original moorings and is now moving into areas of unrewarding or frustrating submission and compromise. Global changes can be seen as giving us a chance to carry out corrections without any damaging repercussions. But are we responsive enough to these changes?

As it is, enough damage has already been inflicted on India's image abroad. A new beginning is definitely called for. Perhaps in coordination with the Prime Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh should be able to take concrete steps to promote consensus on foreign policy and national security. It is also necessary for the Opposition parties to refrain from playing political football with issues that are vital to India's interests and security.

Not that Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee does not have a grip on foreign affairs. In a way, he symbolises some sort of a continuity in the Nehruvian school in foreign affairs. But he has often been caught in contradictory pulls of his own key functionaries. This confusion should end now since Mr Jaswant Singh is expected to be his own boss in the foreign office.

What is required now is a clear sense of direction. India has flip-flopped for too long on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Where does it stand now? After the five nuclear tests on May 11 and 13, a guarded official statement said that India was willing to "adhere to some of the provisions of the CTBT". This had the rest of the world in confusion since it is well-known that an international treaty approved by 140 nations in the UN is almost impossible to be opened. Also, a treaty cannot possibly be acceded to on a piecemeal basis.

It must be said that the government has bungled badly in tackling the CTBT issue. At one stage the Prime Minister reportedly said the government had no objection to signing the treaty. Later he did an about-turn and said that it would not sign the treaty in its present form. This was followed by yet another statement from the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr Brajesh Mishra, that India was not looking for textual changes in the treaty. Two days later, the Prime Minister again said that India was not close to signing the CTBT and that it was flawed.

A series of conflicting statements from the highest level does no credit to any government. This is a classic example of how not to conduct foreign affairs. The nation has to have total clarity on what is good for the country's interests.

Linked with this is India's strategic dialogue with the USA. The nation has no idea where exactly the matter stands. The USA has made it clear that Washington is not interested in Mr Nawaz Sharif's linking of the CTBT with the Kashmir issue. The Assistant Secretary for South Asian Affairs, Mr Karl Inderfurth , has dismissed this matter as a mere political posturing meant for Pakistan's domestic consumption.

In any case, from India's point of view, the vital question remains unanswered. Issues are surely complicated, but the country expects both consistency and coherence in foreign affairs. How can a bridge of consensus be built with the Opposition if the government itself is not sure of what it wants? The moral is clear: The Foreign Ministry under Mr Jaswant Singh will have to do serious homework on several critical areas so that New Delhi is able to effectively cope with the new global challenges, including the economic sanctions. The need of the hour is to put India back on the global map as a vibrant nation with a pro-active economic thrust.

It is not enough to know how to react to Pakistan's public postures without caring to present India's vital interests in a composite and coherent manner. The ongoing dialogue with the USA apart, the country will need to have a fresh look at its ties with the neighbouring nations, including China. We have to evolve a new approach to these countries by taking into account the changed global scenario on security and economic matters.

In fact, trade, not politics, has to be the new buzz word in foreign policy. In this context, a broad consensus has to be built on all sensitive matters. What is regrettable in this search for consensus is that the Indian politician is not well informed of the state of the new world order. No useful purpose will, therefore, be served by merely denouncing the rest of the world. There is nothing like a level-playing field in the intricate world of diplomacy.

There are international policies and regimes that are not favourably inclined towards this country. But the challenges lie in working around it so that we can derive the maximum advantage from flawed regimes. In fact, market access and market consolidation should guide India's foreign policy. This will mean concentrating on core areas and getting out of situations that have no direct bearing on national interests.

In fact, the search for an alternative foreign policy has to be in tune with the changing global realities, Indian interests and the Indian psyche. For this purpose, it will be worthwhile to shake off the constraining yoke of the present foreign policy pursuits.

India's foreign policy must cut across individual brain-waves of political leaders, bureaucrats and their aides. We must not allow ourselves to be guided by the whims and hunches of adventurers, policy fixers and lobbyists. It is equally necessary to overcome our intellectual laziness which often expresses itself in "an obsession with the cliches of yesterday", which prevent us from grasping the extraordinary changes taking place in global ties.

Every bilateral and global issue these days has to be tested on the touchstone of India's interests. Only then can a purposeful foreign policy be evolved from SAARC to the WTO. Over to Mr Jaswant Singh.

China: the Tibet syndrome
by N.K. Pant

AS had been hinted earlier by the spokesman for the Tibetan government-in-exile, the anticipated reconciliatory statement of the Dalai Lama on the status of Tibet surprisingly did not come through during his 10-day-long sojourn in the USA in the first half of November. On the contrary, much to the chagrin of the Chinese rulers, President Clinton not only had a very cordial meeting with the Tibetan spiritual-cum-temporal leader but also reiterated strong commitment to the preservation of Tibet’s unique religious, cultural and linguistic heritage, including the protection of human rights in the erstwhile Shangri La but now a veritable hell on earth.

As expected, there were instant diplomatic protests from Beijing only to be ignored by the Clinton Administration. Ironically, China has been demanding from Japan a full-fledged apology for the killing, rapes and looting committed by the Japanese army in China from 1937 till the end of World War II. Will the Chinese apply similar logic to themselves as regards Tibet which was overrun by Mao’s Red Army cadres in 1950 in the name of liberating the territory over which they had sometime in the past exercised symbolic suzerainty?

The Chinese will definitely term it a distortion of history, but the historical account tells us that Tibet was an independent kingdom from the 5th century AD. It came under normal Chinese suzerainty about the year 1700 although most of the time the region had governed itself as an independent state. In fact, culturally, religiously, economically and even politically, Tibet had been much closer to India and Nepal than to China, and rightly in 1912, Tibetans got rid of the dragon’s so-called self-styled symbol of sovereignty. However, the country was destined to be in the shackles after the Communist take over in Beijing. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) attacked and occupied Tibet in 1950 forcing the Dalai Lama to take refuge in India.

He returned to Lhasa in 1954 and was allowed to function as nominal, spiritual and temporal head of his homeland. In 1959 there again was an uprising against the Chinese tyrannical rule which the PLA suppressed with an iron hand. The Dalai Lama and thousands of his supporters once again had no alternative but to flee to India. Hundreds of thousands of simple folks on the “roof of the world” had perished during the half a century reign of savage repression let loose by the Chinese dragon besides about 300,000 have taken shelter in India, Nepal and Bhutan as helpless refugees. The “Middle Kingdom” continues to sustain its oppressive rule over Tibet with the help of a quarter of million soldiers and a similarly large barbaric police force. Moreover, the Tibetans have become a minority, especially in their own towns as a large number of Hans have been brought in from the Chinese mainland for permanent settlement in the unfortunate country.

On paper Tibet is now an autonomous region of China with its own government and People’s Congress, but the actual controlling force is the Beijing-based Communist Party of China represented locally by an autocrat First Secretary who is an ethnic Han. The Tibetans from time to time have been organising peaceful protests against the imposition of Chinese rule which on several occasions have turned violent resulting in the death of demonstrating monks and civilians. In the meantime, in order to escape ill treatment of the worst kind, refugees still keep trickling into India after making a long arduous icy trek in the most inhospitable Himalayan region. Fierce pro-independence demonstrations had erupted in Lhasa between 1987 and 1989 but were mercilessly suppressed by Chinese troops. In 1996, the Han soldiers began a crackdown on Tibetan monastries that resulted in death and injuries to several monks. The movement still remains incendiary as the locals display a high degree of restiveness. Despite sympathetic world opinion and pressure from some of the Western democracies, the diehard Chinese refuse to loosen their brutal grip on the Tibetans. The truth is that the wily Chinese are waiting for the day when the ageing Dalai Lama leaves his mortal remains enabling them to gobble Tibet once and for all. They had even been deputing agents to Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama’s headquarters in India, to assassinate the Tibetan supreme guru whose Gandhian type of leadership has won him respect all over the world and the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Tibetan hard-liners may not approve of the idea, but the Dalai Lama has lately been at pains to explain that he is not seeking independence and would be satisfied with genuine autonomy for his homeland. His Holiness has even revived low profile covert channels of communications with Beijing’s representatives. He has been pleading for proper autonomy in domestic affairs with the constitutional protection of liberties and democratically elected head of the autonomous government pledging that he would play no part politically in a future Tibet. Curiously, such pleas have drawn flak from the intransigent Communist rulers earning him typical sobriquet like “a national splittist with a religious overcoat”.

India has all along been following a weak-kneed polity over Tibet. It is high time India enunciated a more assertive policy on the question of Tibetan autonomy, honourable return of the venerable Buddhist spiritual leader, thousands of refugees and others.

Our friend from Pakistan
by D.R. Sharma

SOME time ago we were watching the Star news about the then on-going Indo-Pak parleys. The moment we saw the leader of the Pakistani delegation shake the hand of his Indian counterpart, it rang a bell. Though considerably filled up, the gentleman looked groomy like someone we knew 20 years ago in the USA. Our hunch proved to be right when his name was announced: Syed Roshan Zamir, Secretary, Culture, from the Civil Service of Pakistan.

Roshan and his charming wife Sophia met us soon after our arrival in the married students’ apartments on one American campus. The moment our department chairman ushered us in a compact two-bedroom unit on the ground floor, we saw an Indian-looking couple hurrying to greet us. “I heard about you this morning from the housing director,” said Roshan as he introduced Sophia to us. “You’re eating with us tonight,” he added and explained the location of their apartment in the next block.

And what a lavish spread it was. After checking the door latch and window curtains, the kindred spirit remarked: “A good Muslim doesn’t drink, but I’m coastal from Karachi who enjoys an occasional swig,” he remarked after cutting an apple and checking his sparkling crystal glasses. The dinner was delicious for me and our seven-year-old son, though my wife had to use her skill to rescue some beans and carrots from the sinister grip of lamb chops and chicken legs. Feeling a bit sheepish, our hostess apologised for not having been fair to “Bhabhiji.”

Two or three weeks later – and by then our son had adjusted to the new rhythm of his elementary school – arrived Halloween, the festival of spurious fright and contrived horror, with all those witches and ghosts and black riders on black horses. The Zamir girls, Attiya and Fiza, older to our boy, painted him black and blue and designed his headgear to make Mukul look like an authentic Red Indian who was to visit homes and say “trick or treat”. And what a treat it was to see him return with a bagful of goodies and a handful or pennies and dimes.

Roshan and his family distinctly added to our happy American memories. Since his exchange fellowship terminated after one year during which he had earned a diploma in public administration, he had to get back and resume his duties as Deputy Secretary in Islamabad. Whenever we went for groceries on the week-ends, I complimented him on his big Sedan, since that big a car we had never seen in India. “American piggyride? I would say and he would snap at our Russian fixation.

Whenever we happened to discuss the politics of prejudice between our two countries, he would come out with his major grievance that India was a big country. I would ask him not to worry on that score since India had also a big heart. For the first time I learnt from him that it was erroneous to call a Muslim a Mohammedan. I wonder if V.S. Naipaul knows that.

Pak women activists quit govt panels
by Cassandra Balchin

IN a dramatic move designed to build pressure on Pakistan’s Government in the wake of the controversial 15th Amendment Bill, women’s rights activists have resigned from several government committees.

These committees were set up to meet international commitments, following the Beijing fourth World Conference on Women and Pakistan’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

In a strongly-worded statement responding to a call by the feminist lobby Women’s Action Forum (WAF), the activists noted that “the recent policies of the Pakistan Muslim League Government require a re-evaluation” of their cooperation with the Government.

Specifically targeted for criticism was the so-called Shariat Bill, a constitutional amendment which seeks to make the Quran and Sunnah Pakistan’s supreme law. The Bill has already been passed by a massive 151:16 majority in the lower house of Parliament.

“The introduction of the 15th Amendment makes it clear that the government is not serious about its commitments to either women’s rights or democratic processes,” said the statement. “The involvement of women and women’s organisations in committees regarding CEDAW and other commitments now appears to be a mere formality that is being carried out for the sake of avoiding international embarrassment.”

Those who have resigned, bringing to an end a process of cooperation which began with the run-up to the 1995 Beijing conference, include some of the country’s best known activists such as Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Chairperson Asma Jahangir, Shirkat Gah Women’s Resource Centre Coordinators Farida Shaheed, Khawar Mumtaz and Hilda Saeed, Aurat Foundation Director Nigar Ahmad, Simorgh founder Neelam Hussain, constitutional expert Shehla Zia, Society for the Advancement of Higher Education Director Fareeha Zafar, AGHS Legal Aid Cell founder Hina Jilani, and Shahtaj Qizilbash, convener of the Joint Action Committee for People’s Rights (JAC).

Although WAF had opposed the 15th Amendment since its announcement at the end of August, the resignations seemed to have been sparked by statements issued by Minister of State for Women’s Development Tehmina Daultana in October.

Daultana dismissed women activists opposing the Amendment as “westernised”. Following the outraged reaction of a number of women’s groups, the Minister of State attempted to retract her statement, but reiterated her stand that, “women should not feel apprehensive about the Shariat Bill as it intends to promote and protect the rights given to them in Islam.”

The activists’ resignation statement retorted that “in the past too, Islam was used by the dictator Zia-ul-Haq to introduce fundamentally unjust laws, the consequences of which women are still having to live with.... Shariat has consistently been interpreted to mean women’s isolation and segregation, the denial of their right to move and take decisions as adults.”

It is clear that the government is well aware of the potential impact that the resignations will have on Pakistan’s international standing. One of the activists who has resigned said that government officials begged the women to at least go to the capital Islamabad and negotiate with Ministry officials.

In a remarkable break from past traditions of tension between women’s NGOs and government bodies, the run-up period to the Beijing conference saw unprecedented levels of cooperation, to the extent that Pakistan’s country report for the conference was entirely drafted by women from NGOs.

Post-Beijing and following Pakistan’s ratification of CEDAW in 1996 under Benazir Bhutto’s Government, the cooperation continued, with activists being included not only in several government committees but also being closely involved in the development of the country’s Ninth Five-Year Plan. The national plan of action, designed to implement the Beijing Plan of Action in Pakistan, was a joint government-NGO exercise, with women’s activists participating in the national and provincial core groups.

“The whole concept” explains Khawar Mumtaz, “was to develop a viable mechanism for government-NGO collaboration. When it came to the CEDAW framework, these same mechanisms and guidelines were used.”

The extraordinarily outspoken 1997 report of the government sponsored Commission of Inquiry for Women, which recommended sweeping legal and procedural reforms, was also made possible largely because of its visionary chairman, Supreme Court Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid and its inclusion of women activists.

Patience, however, began to run out when, under the new Nawaz Sharif Government, the Women’s Ministry was merged with several minor ministries, effectively downgrading it to a division. Budgetary commitment to making women’s empowerment a reality appeared not to be forthcoming. Pakistan is already more than a year overdue on its commitment to present a country report to the UN Committee on the Status of Women (CSW) on concrete measures taken to implement CEDAW.

Commenting on this situation, Farida Shaheed stated plainly: “They kept on asking the NGOs to write the report. But it’s not our commitment, it’s the state’s commitment and they have to say why they have not been able to do anything in terms of policies.”

However, within the bureaucracy there are currently few with the capacity of designing effective interventions, let alone the skills required to explain away the government’s failure to meet its commitments.

The resignation move may affect overall government-NGOs relations. “What we now need to consider seriously,” commented Khawar Mumtaz who is also a council member of the World Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), “is whether all the NGOs should withdraw from all government committees. So far it has only been the women’s NGOs who have taken this action because they feel more threatened by the situation. But the move has been greatly appreciated by the local NGO community.”

In the long term the resignations may have a serious effect on donor attitudes. Almost all multilateral and bilateral funding of social development programmes carries the implicit conditionality of NGO involvement, particularly in areas effecting women. With major women’s NGOs now so clearly distancing themselves from the official development process, donors may find themselves reviewing the release of funding. After going nuclear, the government has found itself facing a major economic crisis and any withholding of funding will hit hard.

For the NGOs, the decision to cooperate with the government had not been an easy one, particularly since on the ground there had been no effort to review discriminatory legislation and boost actual outlays in areas affecting women’s development.

But Khawar Mumtaz recalls the reasons for the NGOs’ decision to “critically participate” in government development efforts: “We should remember that we agreed to work with the government, especially in areas where the government lacks the expertise. When the government approached us, we felt we should respond as our goals were similar. We’d been critics for so long, we felt we should be cooperative.” But with hindsight tinged by bitterness, she adds. “We took the government’s intentions at face value.”

The resignations evidently signal a reassessment of this relationship, with women’s organisations finally deciding that the drawbacks outweigh the benefits.

It is clear that, whether or not the 15th Amendment is eventually passed, its impact is already being felt by the country’s women. — WFS

75 YEARS AGO

East India Loans Bill

MR Austen Chamberlain: “My noble friend, the Under-Secretary, will not be surprised at my intervention because he knows that when in office he and I had some conversations about a similar Bill and I was considerably shocked to find that pledges had been given by the India Office, which could not, of course, be reopened at that moment, but which tied the hands of the government in respect to that partial loan.

“He will, I think, recollect that I said that so long as I was in the House, he would find much difficulty in getting a Bill for another East India loan without some kind of assurance from the Government of India that, as far as they could, they would spend the money which is not required in India itself in this country under present circumstances.

“My noble friend will, therefore, not think that I am taking up any new line. I do not think the question is quite as simple as the honourable member from Illford (Mr Wise) made it appear. It is, of course, a truism of trade that the great bulk or, or at any rate, a very large proportion of these international transactions are not merely financial as my honourable friend says.

“You may, indeed, have even more angles than that. A purchase or a sale beginning in this country may run in a circle round the world in a series of transactions before the account is eventually balanced”.