Ratan:
I happened to see this piece in DAWN. TRhere is no mention about minorities in Sindh.
Not quite what Sindh needs
SINDH could have done without the advisory council which has been thrust on it by Syed Ghous Ali Shah, the prime minister's adviser on Sindh affairs. What will this mishmash
achieve and whom is it likely to convince? Some sitting MPAs and a few people with a claim to a political past adorn this hybrid body. But with the political parties that matter in
the province likely to pour scorn over this invention, its utility is far from obvious. The people of Sindh already have no say in how their province is being run. They could be spared more reminders of this distressing circumstance. As it is, the PPP is disaffected. So is the MQM. That leaves the rump around the banner of the PML-N which can hardly be
expected to fill the void created by the absence of representative rule in the province since the end of October last year.
Sindh needs an end to the confusion besetting its affairs. Governor's rule has gone on for much too long and now, far from solving anything, is itself becoming a problem. The Sindh assembly is in a state of suspended animation. It is there but it is not allowed to do anything. In the emptiness created by this situation the loudest sound is that of Syed Ghous Ali Shah's tough and uncompromising rhetoric: which usually in these charged times is of how he will not allow this or that thing. The latest in this genre is the stern assurance to a delegation of Karachi transporters that on September 4 when a strike has been called by traders and opposition parties, they will be provided full protection and that if any "terrorists" approach their vehicles, the police and rangers will "shoot on sight". At this time there is a need for all concerned, and especially the Sindh government, to steady its nerves and act coolly and sensibly. Mr Shah's prescription points in just the opposite direction.
The major problem of course is that the centre seems not to have the faintest idea of what it wants to do in Sindh. There is nothing even remotely visible that could be dignified by the name of a strategy. This omission is feeding a sense of drift in Sindh which in turn is giving
rise to the feeling that whatever happens in the province cannot be of much concern to Islamabad. This is not a happy development. Hitherto, since the end of martial law in late
1985, Sindh has always faced one of two situations: if the Muslim League was in power the PPP was disaffected; if the PPP was in power the MQM was disaffected. It is the peculiar
thrust and wisdom of the PML-N's policies that for the first time we are seeing discontent sitting heavy on both the PPP and the MQM. Can this lead to a modus vivendi between these two parties, previously so bitterly hostile to each other? It will be a good thing if it does. But meanwhile the drift exemplified by Syed Ghous Ali Shah's uncertain stewardship
should not be allowed to continue for this will darken the already tense and uneasy mood in the province. For its own good the PML-N should not seem bent on creating unnecessary
problems. |
