Daily Times

Shock is probably not the word that can entirely describe the feeling accompanying this situation. The decision of the democratically elected government of Balochistan to keep the findings of the Kharotabad incident under wraps is nothing short of tactics improvised by a dictatorial regime. The reason given for such hush-hush on the report has been due to the expected exploitation on the part of the media. This seems to be another report from another commission, which will be lost (intentionally) in the archives of government record, never to probably surface again. It has met the same fate as previously had been extended to other such commissions. The reasons for such actions, whenever given, were vague and outright ridiculous or most of the times no one bothered to put forward a reason. The administrations have always relied on other issues plaguing the citizens of this country to come to their rescue and bury such reports indefinitely. The same seems to be expected here, but the same was not expected from an elected government, or the democratic institutions.

The incident at Kharotabad was aired on every TV channel and covered extensively by the print media. Although the news might have shifted to the end of the bulletin or the back pages, but the incident is still fresh in the public’s minds. The gruesome video of people being fired upon indiscriminately by the security forces, while being declared terrorists, sparked public anger and emotions, where a demand was put to investigate the matter. The video sparked the controversy; otherwise the matter would have gained no more attention. If the report’s release and its findings were on the discretion and subject to official scrutiny, then there seems to be no purpose. It is evident that this might have been nothing more than eyewash. Throughout the formulation of the report, recording testimonials of witnesses and officials, there were reports of coercion and discrepancies. Finally when the report was handed over, it has been subjected to censorship. The reason of the entire exercise seems to be a waste of time and resources.

The provincial government through this decision is denying the people their constitutional and fundamental right under Article 19-A to have access to information on matters of public concern. They are deviating from the basic pillar of democracy in Pakistan, which is the 1973 Constitution. This is a violation of internationally recognised basic human rights. Where the constitution has specifically stated to disseminate accurate information to the citizens, the official policy seems to be deviating from this path. The withholding of this report will also result in delay and prevention of justice being served to the families of the victims, while the culprits may also get off the hook. The state is apparently worried about the resulting media backlash on the contents in the report, but even this reason does not seem to hold ground. They should be reconsidering this, if it is indeed the reason for not bringing out the report. The media will have their field day anyway and now with the controversy surrounding the report, this is a surety. One more victim of this decision will be journalism itself, where yellow journalism might surface. The non-availability of authentic information will result in conjectures and spiced up stories.

Commissions and committees have been setup heartily and rapidly after every incident, but their end result has always been kept out of public eyes. The presence of outdated colonial Official Secrets Act, bureaucratic red tape and national interest rhetoric has contributed to this situation. This has led to further misinformation and has done more damage than good. Hamoodur Rahman Commission Report is probably the best example of how the state has been in a habit of declaring everything a secret on the basis of “national interest”. The report concerning with the fall of Dhaka was kept out of public view for nearly three decades and was only published after some of its contents were leaked. Throughout this time the citizens of Pakistan were kept in the dark by incumbent administrations, whether civil or military, about what was presented in the report based on such a major setback in the history of Pakistan. The citizens require answers, whether it is the crash of a private airline, Abbottabad operation or the Mehran base attack, but with so-called “national interest” — or more appropriately vested interests — taking lead, there is little ray of hope. The difference today is that in previous years it was the rhetoric of national interest that was given as a reason to blindfold the public, now it is the exploitation at the hands of media. The question is: who decides what issue pertains to national interest or not? Who decides what colour the media will present on a certain issue?

Dismay is probably the word I have been looking for to add to shock. The promises that had accompanied democracy are still awaited to be fulfilled. It is unfortunate that although a democratic system of governance is in place, the mindsets of officials have perhaps still not fully comprehended the change. Traces of dictatorial rule can still be detected in the policy adopted. Subjecting information to censorship will only serve to weaken democracy. Kharotabad report should not be allowed to be sacrificed in the name of yellow journalism. It is the right of the people to know why and how this incident took place. Who was responsible, how true is the official account and what can be done to prevent such incidents. When will the officials understand that by preventing access to information, they are eventually weakening the institutions of the country and paving the way for an undemocratic system of governance? There are still challenges to democracy and access to information is part of a democratic structure, which is being subverted. The average citizen of Pakistan has waited for a long time for a system that can provide them with their rights. The people are aggrieved but still have not lost their hope in this system and they still believe that democracy will one day deliver.

The writer is an Islamabad-based development consultant. She can be reached at coordinator@individualland.com