Books
Bangladesh And The Army
As Bangladesh lurched from crisis to anarchy during the final days of 2006, one held one’s breath. With the two major political parties locked in a no-holds barred “winner-take-all” confrontation, the population was wary of the Army’s moving into the vacuum, its involvement in governance being always a catch-22 solution. A tiger (given that the East Bengal Regiment are known as “Tigers” that is no pun) does not become a man-eater unless it has tasted human blood. As everyone and his uncle knows, it is always very difficult for the Army to disengage once it gets involved in running the affairs of the country. Even with the sincerest of intentions, the trappings of power is a heady aphrosydiac, personal ambition can find any number of reasons for remaining in power!
Justice and Democracy
Democracy and Justice may not be Siamese Twins, in a manner of speaking they are inseparable. A democracy institutionalises accountability by the people, vitally necessary for enforcing the laws of the land. The basic responsibility of governance is integrity and impartiality, requiring a concerted effort by whoever is the ruler, whether a dictator or in the case of democracy legislators and the judiciary, to ensure implementation of the rule of law. Even a dictator with the sincerest of intentions can have his will subverted by minions with personal agendas of their own, in the purest of democracies this can be waylaid by vested interest. An independent media monitors and force-multiplies the process of transparent enforcing of the rule of law by keeping it in the public eye. The ultimate onus for ensuring implementation falls on the superior judiciary. Unless really independent, and with the courage to take decisions on merit as well as a penchant for suo moto challenges of issues of governance, justice will remain denied and an abstract fantasy for the masses that it is today.
That Davos Spell!
Even the terminally illiterate get under the spell of “the Magic Mountain” towering over Davos. As billed, DAVOS 2007 lived up to its expectations. Maybe a few less Heads of State and Government than is usual, but akin to “combat fatigue” there is “conference overkill.” The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Annual Event may have been depleted in numbers in the “leadership” category, the deficiency being made up and more by the number of top private entrepreneurs, academics, senior corporate executives, media personalities, NGO’s representatives, etc gracing the ski resort this year.
Regional Complications
One of Ariel Sharon’s last actions as PM in December 2005 before he had a stroke and slipped into coma, in which state he remains today, was to activate Unit 262 (equivalent of US Special Forces and our Special Services Group) and 69 Squadron of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), mandating it to be ready for action by end March 2006. F-15s from 69 had successfully carried out the June 7, 1981 Osirik raid to destroy Saddam Hussein’s nuclear ambitions. Israel, and thereby by default the US, have treated Iranian President Ahmednijad’s threats quite seriously, and have said so, focussing on that as “casus belli”. Iranian nuclear sites will be targeted by surgical strikes, sooner rather than later.
Migrants and Pakistan
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Geneva, Switzerland chose Islamabad for a Coordination Meeting to be participated in from Jan 17 to Jan 19, 2007 by about 10-15 members from various IOM Missions in West and Central Asia as well as from their HQs in Geneva. To give migration issues in Pakistan due exposure, as well as give reciprocal exposure to stakeholders in Pakistan to migration issues, as a member of the IOM’s Business Advisory Board (BAB) I requested IOM to take time out and use the opportunity for inter-active Seminars in Karachi and Islamabad. IOM detailed three of their Principal Officers, Ms Anne-Marie Buschman-Petit, Special Assistant to the Director General (DG) IOM, Ms Jill Helke, Executive Officer to the DG IOM, and Mr Richard Danziger, Head of Counter-trafficking IOM, to participate in two inter-active Town Hall format Seminars in Karachi and Islamabad, held on Jan 15 and 16 respectively in association with the Karachi Council of Foreign Relations, Economic Affairs and Law. One must commend the excellent work of the Secretary General, Ahsan Mukhtar Zuberi.
Iraq Beyond Saddam
The problem in being a compromise choice for leader is that unless you are an extraordinary person capable of standing your ground (given that you have the genius to sift the mundane from the important), you will be pummeled from all directions and unable to satisfy the individual and/or collective demands of all your masters (or mistresses). Or worse, you could fall back on only protecting the vital interests of your prime sponsor and thus compromise good judgment and principles. While many Iraqis hated Saddam for what he was, a brutal murderer with no qualms about human life, and a fair amount of the population looked forward to his climbing the steps of the scaffold, the timing of his execution and the manner it was carried out was atrocious. Iraq’s PM Nur Maliki managed to sacrifice the parameters of good governance on which he had advertised his ascendancy to the PM’s post, he might as well have thrown national unity to the wolves. Displaying profound bad judgment, he proclaimed his allegiance, neither to Iraq nor to muslims, but only to Moqtada al Sadr’s so-called “Mahdi” army. It will have long-term repercussions for Iraq, for the region, and as a result for the world. That the US will dump him is only a matter of time, Nur Maliki will more likely pre-empt his dismissal by resigning, sooner rather than later.
Bangladesh, Democracy In Crisis
Completing their 5-year term in late Oct 2006, Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) duly handed over power to a Caretaker Regime. In a strategic mistake, the Awami League (AL)-led opposition did not agree to Retired Chief Justice K M Hassan, the man who (according to the Constitution) was to be the Head of the Caretaker Regime, as being “partial” to BNP. A man of great integrity and known impartiality, Justice Hassan himself refused the office, leaving the doors open for the President Iajuddin Ahmed (who is very partial to BNP) to double as Chief Advisor. With the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Zakaria clearly BNP-partisan, there was no way that the AL-led 14 party alliance was going to accept this “double whammy”. The resultant 60 days of street unrest, resolved only when the President agreed to send Zakaria on leave beyond the election date and announcement of results thereof. Four of the Advisors resigned rather than not being able to fulfil their responsibilities to the citizens of Bangladesh under the Constitution. Subsequently another three resigned, refusing to be rubber stamps of the President, dozens of honourable men and women also denied to be Advisor-posts on the same grounds. With both sides taking up intractable positions, foreign govts and international institutions applied enormous pressure on both sides to compromise before events spun out of control.
Managing Issues Of Migration
Migration takes place because of many reasons, among the two major ones, viz (1) to escape various forms of oppression viz (a) political (b) racial (c) religious, etc (2) the search for a secure law and order environment and (3) and to earn a better livelihood. Migration mostly happens from country to country, for the same aforesaid reasons, it can also take place within the country. While economic reason dovetails with and encroaches many times over on the others, the fact that business has a central role to play in migration is seldom recognised. International Organisation for Migration (IOM), with Geneva as its HQs, is the international entity tasked to look after the safety, security and welfare of immigrants, to mitigate their circumstances at origin, during transit and in host countries, to stop the flow and even to revising it if possible. Recognising that business is a principal stakeholder in migration, IOM set up the Business Advisory Board (BAB) in 2005.
Fighting Corruption
The founding of Transparency International (TI) in Berlin in 1993 was one of the most significant private sector initiatives in fighting universal corruption. I had the privilege of meeting Dr Peter Eigen, the first Chairman TI (who remains a good friend) very soon afterwards in 1994 during the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Annual Summit in Davos. A lawyer by training, Dr Eigen managed World Bank programs in Africa and Latin America for 25 years. Disgusted at seeing scarce funds being misappropriated by public officials and politicians in third world countries, aided and abetted by senior executives of multinationals of the first world, he alongwith his colleagues decided to do something tangible about it, thus was born the TI initiative. The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) was first launched in 1995. This survey of many countries by independent institutions was meant not to measure corruption itself, but to quantify what was perceived to be corruption by ascertaining the views of the general public, interested observers and independent institutions.
Geo-Political Changes
During the 19th century geo-political changes were to be expected every 50 years or so, during the 20th century it came down to about 25 years. With technology racing forward in making the world a global village, this period is now down to a 5-10 years period. Events of the past year, viz (1) the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan (2) North Korean nuclear blast (3) Iran’s uranium enrichment process (4) The Darfur crisis (5) the Somalia problem etc are indications that US ability to influence events as the sole Superpower in the world has diminished from what it was 5 years ago. Elections to the US Congress reflected the frustrations of the US electorate at shortcomings of the Bush Administration foreign policy. With neo-cons wielding absolute power in the US after January 2001, 9/11 gave a powerful excuse to pursue a narrow parochial agenda, with scant regard to any dissent, both within and outside the US. After the geo-political changes because of one september morning of horror, the world is now ready for another course correction. The question remains as to which quagmire the US must get out from and which one to concentrate on.