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1. Blatant violation of traffic rules
Symptomatic of a deeper ailment
AMID chaotic traffic in the city, one may not make much about an aberration. But when that
deviant behaviour comes from people who are supposed to abide by traffic laws it's altogether a
different matter. For compliance with traffic rules is the foundation of urban existence. Traffic
rules are a basic prerequisite for the city's smooth and purposeful functioning. Diligent abidance
by these rules is a fundamental precondition for an orderly civic life.
Sadly, as per the lead photograph published in our paper on September 2, we witness the
opposite happening and that too not for the first time as far as we remember. It is unfortunate to
behold vehicles belonging to high ranking police and military officials blatantly using the wrong
side of the road for their movement, while the other side for common people remains jam-packed
and at a standstill.
When people in authority who are supposed to uphold law and rules break these with reckless
abandon then what stops others from doing it? That is where the danger lies. The law is
applicable for all and that includes the law enforcers and other public servants including
members of parliament; in fact, they have to lead by example. We find this display of undue
privilege in utterly bad taste too. As a matter of fact, Dhaka traffic is already heavily congested
so that such wanton abuse of road space can spell the crumbling down of the whole traffic
system. Nowhere in the world can anyone take liberty with public's easement rights. Let good
sense prevail on those highly placed who make such mockery of law in full public glare. It is
reprehensible, unacceptable and condemnable.
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Published: 12:00 am Wednesday, September 03, 2014
TAGS: violation of traffic laws traffic rules violation of traffic rules traffic rules violation

2. Pakistan's unending agony
Army must not undermine democracy
IF proof were needed of the immense damage Imran Khan has been causing to Pakistan's fragile
democracy, one has only to observe the anguish with which his party colleague Javed Hashmi
has noted the manner in which he let his followers loose on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's
residence in Islamabad. Three people have died and hundreds have been injured as a result of
Khan's brashness. Khan now charges Sharif with murder when the fact is that it was he who
encouraged his followers to create terror on the streets.
Imran Khan and the cleric Tahirul Qadri have created the perfect conditions for democracy to go
through a fresh battering in Pakistan. The army has come to the forefront, suggesting that force
must not be used in the current crisis. That in effect is an undermining of the country's elected
government. Nothing has been said about the chaos Khan and Qadri, in clear violation of the
constitution and the law, have been causing. The future, one could argue, is thus fraught with
dire consequences. Sharif is now a much weakened prime minister and Pakistan is
haemorrhaging yet once again. The very demand that Sharif resign despite the fair and free
elections which brought him to power fifteen months ago is a harkening back to times when
politicians unable to win public support have looked to the army to overturn the popular
mandate.
It should now be the job of the army to uphold the constitution. A weak and battered democracy
is a recipe for danger. And demagogues like Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri can only push
Pakistan over the precipice yet once again. The law must deal with these two rabble-rousers
firmly and decisively.
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Published: 12:00 am Tuesday, September 02, 2014
TAGS: Pakistan Nawaz Sharif Imran Khan Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Tehreek-i-Insaf

3. Securing Pakistan's democracy?
Peter Drysdale
THE two-week-old political crisis in Pakistan took a sharp new turn over the past few days as
the military leader, General Raheel Sharif, positioned to mediate the stand-off between Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif and opposition demonstrators on the streets of Islamabad, led by cleric
Mohammed Tahir-ul-Qadri and his ally cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan. Whether Prime
Minister Sharif or Tahir-ul-Qadri and Khan initiated the move to military mediation and how
the military has played into the development of the crisis itself are questions that are at this
stage difficult to determine. But senior politicians and constitutional experts have denounced it
as a national disgrace that reflects badly on the commitment to genuine democracy across the
political spectrum.
It's little more than a year since Prime Minister Sharif was swept to victory in the first
democratic change of government in the country's history.
This success, despite a violent campaign by religious extremists to derail the election, saw a 60
per cent voter turnout and a result that reflected disenchantment with the ousted Pakistan
People's Party and its corruption and poor economic management, within the framework of the
growing strength of the courts and constitutional process.
Sharif, a self-made billionaire in the steel industry, promised a more market-oriented and less
regulated economy than that of Pakistan under President Asif Ali Zardari, as well as the prospect
of a pick-up in economic growth. But judged on his previous stint in power, it was unwise to
expect any marked diminution in corruption or 'money politics' from Sharif, or restraint in the
victor-takes-all approach to political conduct. Far from providing good governance, security of
life and property and basic necessities, Prime Minister Sharif and his political and blood brother
Shahbaz Sharif, chief minister of the most populous state of Punjab, have focused on high
visibility projects and overseen the descent of the economy into the inflation and electricity
shortages which characterised the previous Zardari regime, although capital flows have risen
and inflation fallen somewhat. Broken commitments on releasing former general Pervez
Musharraf and public condemnation of the former army chief by Sharif's allies have also
incensed the rank and file of the army.
Two things triggered the present crisis. Imram Khan's belief that there was widespread vote-rigging
in the 2013 elections, explains Sajjad Ashraf, led to him to call for an audit of four
constituencies where his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party lost. Instead, Sharif offered an
audit of four constituencies where PTI candidates won'. Fearing a meltdown in his Muslim
League, Sharif stonewalled, leading Khan to up the ante with the campaign for Sharif's
resignation.
Tahir-ul-Qadri's joining the campaign, Ashraf goes on, was triggered by the 'attack on his
Lahore offices by the Punjab Police killing 14 and injuring 90 on 14 June. For over two months

4. the Pakistan Awami Tehrik's attempt to get the case registered against the 23 accused — which
includes the Sharif brothers and several of their henchmen — has been thwarted despite a court
order…Qadri seeks justice for the victims among other demands for the cleansing of the political
system'.
As Syed Mahmud Ali points out in this week's lead 'Pakistan's history has been marked by
turbulence, as elected politicians vie with permanent bureaucracies — uniformed and civilian —
for power and influence. Abysmal governance, rigged elections, violent protests, military coups
and separatist insurgencies have plagued national progress. Although democracy has been a
useful framework for both governance and power transfers (even by military rulers), popular
consent and aspirations have shaped policy only marginally'.
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Ali argues that the outpouring of frustration at the base of the present impasse is symbolic of
Pakistan's political systemic dysfunction. The state remains divided along myriad fissures, and
the construction of a coherent, overarching national identity is a national task that is still far
from complete. Punjab's overbearing political, military, demographic and economic dominance
is not mediated by political power-sharing among the stakeholders, a condition that, in 1971,
saw East Pakistan's secession and the formation of the state of Bangladesh. The non-Punjabi
provinces are yet to be 'tamed' within the state.
Against this backdrop, Ali argues, 'Nawaz Sharif's landslide victory in May 2013 did nothing to
resolve the fundamental malaise afflicting Pakistan'.
Civilian governments have in recent times sought to weaken the army's role in critical areas of
foreign policy and security. Though some say that the army is behind the current unrest, the
generals do not seem intent on taking over a direct administrative role. But if the political
protagonists cannot be brought to resolve their differences through processes that show respect
for democratic process, the military was unlikely to watch from the sidelines.
As Ashraf says, 'democracy is not just numbers — it is about accountability, transparency,
effectiveness and justice in governance, all of which are strikingly absent from Sharif's agenda'.
That is why Ali sees these protests as far more important than their forerunners. They could, he
concludes, 'represent the arrival of a perfect storm', with young people comprising half the
population, women increasingly engaged in political activism, rising unemployment and deep
economic vulnerability.
An awesome responsibility now falls upon the Pakistani military in midwifing the birth of a non-martial,
non-corrupt, democratic political culture, since that is what is critical to confidence in
investing both domestic and foreign money in the nation's future and breaking with a 'tradition
of violent agitation and rough justice, interrupted only by corrupt passivity'.
The writer is Editor of the East Asia Forum.

5. Published: 12:00 am Tuesday, September 02, 2014
TAGS: Pakistan Nawaz Sharif democracy Imran Khan PTI Tahir-ul-Qadri Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf
Containing child marriage
A compelling agenda we must redeem

6. AN under aged mother produces an undernourished child, and what you look at is a generation
of underachievers.That about sums up the ill-effects of child marriage.
Indeed,there is an increasing realization that by effectively combating child marriage we would
be redressing a whole lot of other problems that spring from it.It is pivotal to cutting back on
baby boom,maternal and child mortalities ,malnutrition and domestic violence.When such is the
potential range of benefits promised by eradication of child marriage ,the lack of matching
efforts to fend it off is both inexplicable and inexcusable.
How despite our realization of its baneful effects ,we have allowed its magnitude to grow is
appalling:As many as 66 percent of girls under 18 have been victims of being married off with
severe health risks to underaged mothers and the new-born babies.
Given the defiant and pervasive nature of the problem,we need to launch a massive social
sensitization campaign against what is essentially a social malaise.Gender discrimination is at
the root of the problem.Literacy and awareness of a girl child's rights will be of help.Basically
though,the rejectionist approach would have to come from within households and
communities.
Of course, the archaic law of 1929 is shame .An updated ,strong law prescribing exemplary
punishment to offenders and plugging hole for cooking up age of the bride in particular are
imperatives.Digital birth registration should be an antidote.
The services of local government representatives, teachers, NGO activists and imams need to be
employed for the drive.
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Published: 12:00 am Monday, September 01, 2014
TAGS: Child rights child marriage

7. DAP in a bind
Stop the tinkering
IT is the second time in less than a week that we have been constrained to comment on the
status of the detail area plan for the capital city. This is to reinforce even further our
consternation at the prospect of DAP, the document which is the basis of the master plan for the
development of Dhaka city, becoming irrelevant given the very abject manner in which the
government has chosen to bend its provisions to meet the interests of vested groups. It has been
four years already since DAP was approved, and all we have seen are attempts to foil its
implementation.
We must put on record our reservation about the justification of a ministerial committee on
DAP with the task of final review of a document that has not only been approved but issued as
gazette also. As it is, the document is rather flawed given the many compromises that had to be
made to cater to the requirement of many different interest groups during its formulation, and
could do without motivated tinkering.
DAP is a part of a three tier plan package which is complemented by other two tiers, viz.
Structure Plan and Urban Area Plan which were prepared during 1992-1995. And any alteration
without consultations with the experts who framed DAP might leave a gaping hole in it and
ultimately cause the collapse of the other two segments of the Dhaka Metropolitan Development
Plan. And this is exactly what might happen if the order of the housing and works minister, who
is also the head of the ministerial committee on DAP, almost unilaterally endorsing filling up of
8000 acres of flood flow zones and farm land on 25 August, is not rescinded.
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Published: 12:00 am Monday, September 01, 2014
TAGS: Detailed Area Plan (DAP) Urban Area Plan Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan

8. Enforced disappearances on rise
Public security in question
The rising trend of the incidence of enforced disappearances has come as a rude reawakening for
common citizens. That is more so because going by the versions of the victims' relatives,
apparently members of different law-enforcement agencies allegedly 'picked up' those persons.
Disturbingly, the police, when approached by victims' relatives, are often found unresponsive to
their concerns.
A human rights body, Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), reports that some 74 people have been the
victims of such disappearance in the first six months of this year alone. Of those, 16 could be
traced, while bodies of 23 have been found. It gives one the jitters, especially, when one
compares the current spate of such incidents with the average figures of the past five years.
However much the home minister may deny that these were cases of 'enforced disappearance,'
or resort to semantics to call them 'abductions,' he owes it to the public to explain why those are
happening in the first place. Even if those are cases of 'abduction', then the responsibility still
falls squarely on the shoulders of the police to rescue the victims as well as to arrest the
perpetrators.
We believe it is the state's responsibility to provide safety and security to its citizens rather than
be in a denial mode virtually giving indulgence to possible abuse of power by those who are
supposed to protect citizens.
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Published: 12:00 am Sunday, August 31, 2014

9. Repair flood embankments
Essential survival kits needed
Nearly a third of the country is now inundated with water levels rising on all major rivers
including the Jamuna, Padma, Teesta, Ghagot, Dharla and Arial Khan. These high tides are
stripping away at flood protection embankments and spilling over to cause major havoc on
infrastructure and agriculture. Though the government has mobilised food supplies and cash
handouts, catering to the needs of some 900,000 people in the 19 affected districts will require
much greater efforts. We understand that the flooding will probably hit the low lying areas
capital city within the coming days and that poses a headache of its own.
We are thankful that there have no reported cases of death, but the fact remains that the current
wave of flooding will be here for some time. It has put a massive strain on resource mobilisation
at both local and central levels. What has become evident is that cracks and collapse of a major
flood control embankment in Bogra precipitated Jamuna spilling over into a number of
upazillas. This incident merely highlights all the more the need to work round the clock to
reinforce embankments wherever needed so as to avoid further marooning of people so far not
affected by floods.
Entire communities have seen their property and livelihoods washed away. These unfortunate
people are now marooned in isolated areas facing critical shortage of essential items like food,
safe drinking water and medication. The thrust of activities must focus on their survival and
containing the outbreak of diseases that come inevitably when floodwaters recede.
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Published: 12:00 am Sunday, August 31, 2014

10. Violent murders in the city
Don't term these as stray incidents
WE have been shocked by the two very recent incidents of murder on subsequent days in the
capital. One of the victims was a high profile TV personality and well respected religious scholar
and Imam of the High Court Mosque. What is frightening is that these killings have occurred in
the early part of the evening by forcing into the victims' homes and perpetrating the crimes
virtually in the presence of the other inmates.
We must put on record our strong reservation about the failure of the police to find out the
killers of most of these murders, and in fact very few, if at all, of the high profile killings,
abductions and disappearances in recent times, like that of Sagar-Runi and labour leader
Aminul Islam have been solved.
We take issue with the state minister for home that the latest shooting to death of three of a
family is a stray incident. The minister should acknowledge the reality that these are clear
indications of deteriorating law and order when even ones own house is no longer a safe place
for a citizen. It will be well to remember that stray incidents accrete till they assume
overwhelming proportions that becomes too difficult to handle.
The current state of law and order will only help sap public trust in the agencies. While we
admit that not every bedroom can be guarded by the police, what the taxpayers can at least
expect from the police is that the felons would be apprehended and meted out the punishment
they deserve. And that would act as effective deterrence.
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Published: 12:00 am Saturday, August 30, 2014
TAGS: TV personality Shaikh Nurul Islam Faruki