The New Nation - Internet Edition

Dr. M. S. Haq

Pakistan Television (PTV) telecast last evening (PST - 21 July 2008) prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani's address to a gathering of tribal leaders and tribal people at a place in the country's North West Frontier Province - NWFP. The prime minister, wearing the traditional dress, met those people and leaders, listened to their problems with patience, and delivered later a speech that could, in many respects, be considered as essentially timely, contextually and content-wise relevant, incentive-driven, apparently encouraging, substantive, pragmatic, and futuristic - as appropriate, among other things. The speech was delivered in an intelligent and skillful fashion.

One of the main thrusts of the speech was to seek more support, more help, more cooperation and more will power - than those at present - of tribal people and rest of Pakistanis, political parties, and others in pursuits of fighting the ongoing war on terror in a more united, decisive and effective manner - than the existing manner. Despite the call of unity by the prime minister through the speech, it now appears certain things did not come out either clearly or otherwise from that speech. For example:

One, whether or not the government will invite stakeholders - such as PML-Q and other opposition political parties in the national assembly and political parties outside of national and provincial assemblies - to the upcoming meeting on anti-terror strategies. The meeting is schedule to be held in Islamabad on 29th day of July 2008;

Two, whether or not president Pervez Musharraf will be a part of the strategy crafting process - what will be his role - in the foreseeable future - as the head of state when it comes to for example anti-terror initiatives and activities resulting eventually from those strategies? It may be mentioned here: the prime minister did, however, mention, among other things, in the speech something like president Pervez Musharraf's strong resolve for peace in Pakistan; and

Three, how to attract, harness and sustain further support and further cooperation of partners in the war on terror - including inter alia the US - against the backdrop of say, upcoming anti-terror strategies.

One of the concerns here is: the limitations - mentioned and not mentioned so far in the article - associated with the prime minister's unity call could, in a sense, be instrumental in inter alia promoting and sustaining more disunity than unity in the country, resulting in further destabilisation of Pakistan, per se. It is, therefore, expected the government will be able to deal with those limitations in a timely and proper fashion and in the greater and overall national interest, for an instance.

The prime minister's address brought along pieces of good news for people in terror and terror prone areas of Pakistan. They included inter alia and as appropriate: the establishment of a medical college and its operationalization from next year - 2009; establishment of a number of cadet colleges; immediate employment opportunities for about 20 thousand eligible tribal people; additional resources for energy sector developments; additional budgetary allocations; a sunni-shia conference for facilitating intra-faith reconciliation and harmony in tribal areas - the prime minister recounted in that respect the contribution of his ancestors (peace be upon them) - who had intra and inter-generational family connections with Holy Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) - towards preaching and spreading Islam in this part of the world in a manner that was both peaceful and effective; and initiatives for integrating tribal people into mainstream national dimensions.

It will not be out of place to mention here: the success of outcomes resulting from those pieces of good news would depend on inter alia: how best and quickest Pakistan could deliver above outcomes to all concerned and build upon the resultant gains - enabling for example tribal people to take the full charge of their development processes in not too distant a future?

One thing I would like to point out here: prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani did not address directly his Pakistani sisters in the speech - he had addressed directly though, his Pakistani brothers. It could be that there was not a single female participant in the meeting or something else. But I am sure there were at least a good number of Pakistani women who had either followed the speech via the transmission of Radio Pakistan or other radio stations or watched the speech on PTV or other TV channels.

Taking into cognizance above and related considerations and the fact women rights are being brutally suppressed and abused by men (to whom it may concern) belonging to for example the tribal areas, I believe, it would have been more appropriate for the prime minister to address his Pakistani sisters in a diplomatic way like, those Pakistani sisters who were perhaps watching the ceremony on say, TV monitors at this (I mean, then) point in time.

The last word: we should rise to the occasion for protecting, preserving and promoting - at local, national, global and other levels - the equal right given to men and women in Islam and the equal right given to them by existing and pertinent legal, as well as other instruments. The Holy sayings and the Holy practices of Holy Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) with regard to the equal right of men and women - are clear, and are obligatory on the part of all concerned to follow, to practice and to promote. Let us work towards repositioning men and women in their rightful places in societies all over the world - be it Bangladeshi societies, Pakistani societies, Indian societies, Saudi Arabian societies, Sudanese societies, Afghan societies, Samoan societies or other societies - in a more wholesome, synergistic, pragmatic, innovative and result-oriented manner than that at present.

In that respect, it is expected visions, missions and activities of UN and other organizations active in above areas will undergo a BMR (balancing, modernization and rehabilitation) exercise on an urgent basis - with a view to making them (I mean, those visions, missions and activities) compatible with the changing local and global requirements in pertinent areas - under a continually increasing usable resources constraint.