Opinion Off with their aid

An editorial in Dawn on July 12 mapped the ramifications of the suspension of aid: “In response,the Pakistan military seeks to reassert its sovereignty in the eyes of an increasingly unsympathetic domestic public. But this latest move is more than just swagger,and could have very real implications. The money being withheld apparently includes reimbursements for counterinsurgency expenses as well as counterinsurgency equipment for the Frontier Corps and the military. The loss of this aid could directly impact both Pakistan’s security and that of the US.”

Dawn reported the foreign office’s views on July 15,quoting the minister of state for foreign affairs,Hina Rabbani Khar: “The $500 million cut in US aid to Pakistan is due to the drop in US trainers in Pakistan… the US also withheld $300 million from the Coalition Support Fund.” Meanwhile,the ISI chief,General Shuja Pasha’s damage-control trip to Washington is reported to have gone off “very well.” The Express Tribune reported on July 15: “‘Both sides were able to agree on the way forward in intelligence,’ a Pakistani official said on condition of anonymity. ‘This visit has put the intelligence component back on track completely’.”

Governing Sindh

The PPP-led government in Sindh and the MQM have locked horns over the revival of the commissionerate system (inherited from the British Raj) of local governance. This has led to more violence across Sindh. Despite strong opposition from the MQM,the Sindh assembly went on to approve the bill to revive the commssionerate system tabled in the provincial assembly,reported The Express Tribune on July 13. This system seeks to revive the the powers of the five divisions of Sindh — Karachi,Hyderabad,Sukkur,Mirpurkhas and Larkana — and their districts possessed before the Sindh Local Government Ordinance,2001,was promulgated.

This takes control away from the hands of elected representatives (many of them,across urban Sindh,from the MQM) and passes it to bureaucrats or commissioners,thus diluting the MQM’s power base in Sindh’s cities and towns. This has led to the escalation of violence in Karachi and some have even suggested seeking the army’s help to contain the crisis. Daily Times,in its July 15 editorial,stated: “Things being as tense as they are,there are advocates of calling in the military. This should be avoided at all costs. Inviting the military to control Karachi may open the doors to another military intervention… If the military is unleashed,the fallout would be dangerous; the damage may be permanent,but the ‘good’ effect (peace and quiet) will not last.”

Former Sindh home minister Zulfiqar Mirza’s derogatory remarks about MQM chief Altaf Hussain worsened the situation,to the extent that interior minister Rehman Malik had to apologise to the MQM,and President Asif Zardari made a reconciliatory call to Hussain in London. Mirza was made to issue a televised apology. Newspapers reported that Mirza spoke about his sworn enemy Afaq Hussain of the MQM splinter group,MQM (Haqiqi) and Altaf Hussain in the same breath. He is reported to have said that if Afaq was a criminal,then Altaf was a hundred times worse.