Daily Times

Still reeling from the trauma of the Peshawar school attack, we have crossed the threshold over into the new year. At such a transitory stage, we all look back individually at the preceding days and resolve to improve ourselves in one way or another by addressing the areas where we found ourselves wanting. Such an exercise in reminiscence is important at a collective level too because then we can take inventory of all the happenings of the previous 365 days, so as to learn from our mistakes.

However, in Pakistan’s case, such an endeavour is bound to leave us drained since the areas for improvement have virtually remain unchanged for some time now, with little or no improvement whatsoever. Even without the terrifying deaths of schoolchildren last December, we were already having a tough time coping with the challenges. And then the school attack kick-started an unnerving pain cycle with discernible, long-term consequences. Death ruled supreme in Pakistan in 2014, and there is no reason to believe that 2015 will be any better. If one can dare to be a bit clairvoyant, it does not take long to see how the agenda items on Pakistan’s list will remain more or less the same going into the new year. One change though is the added weightage now given towards the issue of terrorism, which is bound to leave some other areas neglected. The following lines will try to shed some light on the challenges that await us in the coming days.

For all intents and purposes, the civilian and military leadership seem intent on addressing the terrorist threat head on in 2015. However, whereas the national consensus after Peshawar is a welcome change, the measures proposed so far have not been satisfactory. Particularly, the contention arising around the establishment of military courts is worthy of a conscious debate about the consequences for civil liberties. After all, the resolve that helps to fight terrorism is quite different from the one needed to introduce reform in other sensitive areas such as civic sensibilities, gender sensitisation or minority rights. Also, it remains to be seen if the distinction between the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Taliban has been completely eroded, since the ones that are anointed bad now were once considered good too. But that being said, even international law has special provisions for war time, from where military courts can derive their legitimacy. When the fundamental right to life and security of the citizens is under threat, it appears that other laws, including the right to free and fair trial, have to grudgingly take a back seat.

If the judicial system of the country is in need of dire reform, then starting with protection programmes for witnesses and judges might have been a good idea but it seems now that this might just be water under the bridge since the powers that be are in no mood to let go of this long-awaited aspect of the new counterterrorism policy. The result is going to be an enhanced military presence in all sectors of the government and society this year. Short of an outright coup, this is perhaps the most effective way in which power is being shifted away from the civilians. For their part, the civilian leaders have failed to even recognise the extent of the threat but, if we are to look beyond our own selfish interests, a weakened democracy will hurt us all in the long run.

Talking about democracy, the PTI and PAT sit-in took over the airwaves for a considerable amount of time last year, much to the chagrin of the ruling party, the PML-N. The protest was eventually and conditionally called off in the wake of the Peshawar school attack but seeing how Prime Minister Sharif is mixing words over the constitution of the judicial commission for investigating electoral rigging, the protestors might be back out on the streets in a short while. So, while the politicians do what they do best and engage in aimless nagging, the internal and external policy of the state will be left to the only institution with the discipline to wade through difficult times such as these.

And then there are some other crucially important issues that will be put on hold for now. For instance, nearly 25 million children of school-going age — the second highest such number in the world — are devoid of any educational facilities in Pakistan. Secondly, access to basic health and proper nutrition for citizens, especially women, is also a long forgotten dream. Additionally, nearly 60 percent of the Pakistani populace falls below the poverty line if we raise the poverty line to two dollars, above and beyond the 58 million people that already form the poorest segment of Pakistani society.

Also of noteworthy consideration are the complexities of the insurgency in Balochistan, the plight of the people in interior Sindh and the cries of the suffering in Thar. Combine these with endemic electricity and gas shortages, complete with abject administrative failures, and you can begin to understand the immensity of the task that is national development, especially in wartime. Another issue that holds particular significance for South Asia in general, and Pakistan in particular, is that of global warming and climate change. All scientific estimates point out towards the disastrous consequences of climate change on the local populace through wasted crop yields and famine. Moreover, Pakistan will be considered a country faced with the problem of water shortage by the year 2017, with the available water resources in the form of glaciers melting away by the year 2035. By all means then, gazing into the crystal ball for Pakistan’s future is a melancholic experience. Perhaps the truly optimistic can see a silver lining in all this but, truth be told, we are standing at the very edge of a colossal abyss, confounded by the haunting reflections that are staring back at us.

The author is a freelance columnist with degrees in political science and international relations