Fear of the Big Brother
Enters Pakistan Parliament
By
M Afzal Khan
ISLAMABAD,
Sept. 17: The fear of the Big Brother has finally reached the
Pakistani Parliament and elected MPs are scared and complaining.
In
1996 when an elected government was dismissed by the then president,
he cited phone-tapping ordered by the government as one major
reason for his action. Today you talk to anyone high and low in
the government or others in the public life, cabinet members,
bureaucrats, lawmakers, all are wary of speaking out their mind
on telephone for fear they are being tapped.
In
public and social gatherings, they look around before whispering
any truthful revelation. Even e-mail is no more safe from eavesdropping
and intervention while critical news web sites are blocked. The
National Assembly on Friday (Sept 17) heard members complaining
that they are being watched and even hounded. Speaker Chaudhry
Amir Hussain admitted a privilege motion from MMA's Usman Khan
Advocate on the subject.
The role of security agencies came under spotlight when the government
moved a bill to exempt the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) for
sending its request for recruitment of civilians in the officers
category, to the Federal Public Service Commission. PPPP's Majeed
Pirzada and PML-N's Khawaja Asif made some fine speeches on the
issue. It also resonated in the Senate which met simultaneously,
though in another context. Senators from Balochistan believe that
army actions are being taken in the province on faulty information
provided by semi-literate field staff of the security agencies.
"The
genie is already out of the bottle, do not make it still more
powerful," Khawaja Asif exhorted the National Assembly while
opposing the ISI bill. The intrusive role of country's super spy
agency has already swept all facets of life. It is engaged in
making and unmaking governments and political parties, much of
it at the cost of its original assignment of preserving national
security.
The
ISI denies that it is too deeply involved in internal politics,
though it admits that funds and staff for its political wing have
inflated in recent years. The paramount task of the agency, say
its officials, remains the identification of security risks and
supplementing the ability of the armed forces to safeguard national
security and defence through operations within and abroad.
ZA Bhutto expanded the political role of the ISI and his daughter
had to reap the harvest. Soviet invasion of Afghanistan brought
ISI to international spotlight as West's first major outpost in
the proxy war against the Soviet Union. In cahoots with CIA, the
agency touched the pinnacle of capacity, expertise and proficiency.
Zia bargained with Reagan administration that all funds given
by US and matched by Arabs and others would be routed through
and operated by the ISI. In the absence of any audit or scrutiny
of how these funds were disbursed and spent, corruption crept
in on a massive scale.
Technically, the ISI is supposed to be under the Prime Minister.
Ms. Bhutto tried to exercise effective control by appointing retired
general Kallue as its head. After all the ISI, as is publicly
claimed by its former chief Gen. Hameed Gul, created IJI and perennially
denied her majority in Punjab and a stable hold in the center.
But Gen. Baig neutralized Kallue by shifting covert political
tasks to the Military Intelligence.
Nawaz
Sharif had a handpicked ISI chief in Gen. Ziauddin whom he also
named as army chief, hours before being ousted by General Musharraf.
There were complaints that important figures in the military hierarchy
were also being watched. President Musharraf has boasted more
than once that the government knows all about what transpires
between the two exiled prime ministers and their political surrogates
inside the country.
It may not be technically or administratively
possible to snoop at every prominent person, tap the telephones
and listen, record and sift from everything being said on phones.
But the pervasive sense of insecurity and endemic fear of being
under constant watch generates an environment that is hallmark
of fascist and totalitarian regimes of the Nazi and KGB type.
Mild-mannered, soft-spoken, articulate but deadly accurate on
statistics, Sen. Sanaullah Baloch never misses an opportunity
when it comes to the interest of Balochistan. Though bitter on
the injustices and deprivations suffered by his province during
last 57 years, he never loses poise and balance. On Friday Baloch
regretted the woeful absence of medical facilities in the province
and the miserable plight of its ill-equipped and poorly manned
hospitals.
Amanullah Kanrani, Aslam Buledi and Farhatullah Babar took pains
to warn the nation that the simmering discontent in the province
over military actions, exploitation of vast natural resources,
development projects and construction of cantonments may some
day flare up to unmanageable proportions. "Pakistan's future
lies in this strategically important province which is enormously
endowed in natural resources," Amanullah observed.
Baloch
said the federation must first recognize the ownership rights
of the people of Balochistan, as also all other provinces, on
their resources and then a mutually agreed arrangement could be
worked out for their exploitation.
PPPP's Babar spoke to express solidarity with other three Baloch
senators. He endorsed their claim that they are not against mega
projects but have genuine misgivings about the ulterior motives
involved. "Let the money being spent on cantonments, be diverted
to building schools, hospitals and other social needs, and you
will see the change in the attitude," Babar said.
Referring to confusion in ordinary minds about the opposition
to Gwadar Port project which puts Baloch leaders in bad light,
Babar cited the example of the Gwadar Port Order issued by Gen.
Musharraf on Oct 17, 2002, when the national and the provincial
assembly were in place.
The
government, apparently, had something to hide from public representatives
and avoided an embarrassing debate in the assemblies. He compared
it to issuance of a similar order by Gen Zia through which private
housing societies were taken over by the Defence Housing Authority
in Karachi and another by Gen Musharraf in Sept. 2002 under which
the Lahore Cantonment Housing Society was converted into Lahore
DHA. "The Baloch feel that all this is being done for distribution
of real estate," he said and demanded that the Gwadar Port
Order be referred back to Balochistan Assembly to settle the issue.
