EDITORIAL : THE DAWN, PAKISTAN

Election preparation

WHO will get to vote, and will the Election Commission be able to protect that vote? The new chief election commissioner was sworn in yesterday, and these are the two major issues he should focus on before the next polls. As many as 20 million Pakistanis of voting age — the majority of them women — are estimated to have been unregistered in the draft electoral rolls revealed in March. The other major problem was registration of citizens at the wrong addresses, especially migrants registered in their hometowns. What is important now is that the time is taken to fix these flaws if they still exist in the updated rolls due this month so that no citizens — especially women, migrants and young people who have recently turned 18 — are disenfranchised. There has been a general hurry about this, with the ECP, in part pushed by the Supreme Court, rushing to draft rolls, producing a flawed list and missing several self-imposed revision deadlines. But if the new list is also flawed, the ECP needs to ensure citizens have an easier way to check and correct their status this time by increasing the number of display centres and making the process more efficient. In the worst case, if problems are widespread, it may have to conduct another door-to-door exercise. But ensuring that all citizens have the ability to vote is worth the effort.

There is also the issue of the ECP’s authority over polling staff. Brought in from the local bureaucracy, they are not subject to disciplinary action by the commission. Nor does the ECP have the authority to transfer or discipline administrators, such as those from Wapda or the police, who can influence outcomes in their areas. Electoral reforms to address these issues have been praised in the Indian context, but they are languishing somewhere between the ECP and parliament in Pakistan, and now is the time to pass them. There are other issues with staff too — both polling staff and many returning officers are under pressure from local politicians. Posting them outside their districts, or appointing more lower-court judges as returning officers, are alternatives to look into.

Much progress has been made since the last election. Linking electoral rolls to Nadra data has reduced duplication and will allow more reliable identification of voters. We now have an ECP and a CEC appointed by consensus between the government and the opposition. But these improvements are not enough. More people need to be able to vote, and the commission needs to be empowered. It is worth taking the time to do this before the country goes to the polls.

Addressing change

THE Saudi king has called a summit of Muslim leaders for next month to address risks of ‘sedition’ within Muslim countries. It is not yet clear if this will be a purely Saudi-led initiative, or if it’ll happen under the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s aegis. Over the past few years, confronting change from within has become the biggest challenge for Muslim-majority states. However, even though the events of the Arab Spring have severely shaken the status quo, many Muslim autocrats remain in a state of denial. First and foremost, that is about clinging to power in a world that is crumbling around them. As in the case of Egypt, Middle Eastern rulers rallied to Hosni Mubarak’s support at first, frightened by the possible repercussions for them if a symbol of the old order collapsed. But, as in the case of Bahrain and Syria, sectarian dimensions have also crept in.

The lack of fundamental freedoms is what is driving the fury and anger against Muslim rulers. Apart from a handful of democracies, Pakistan — imperfect as it is — being among them, most Muslim-majority nations are either ruled by absolute monarchs or strongmen in republican garb. Democracy and representative rule need to be gradually structured into the systems so that people don’t take to the streets or, as in Syria’s case, take up arms and seek to violently overthrow the system. The often violent suppression of dissent in many Muslim countries has also been citied as a key factor behind the growth of extremism and terrorism. The mode of ruling countries through families and clans needs to be reconsidered. If the meeting in Saudi Arabia can succeed in discussing meaningful reform for the people’s welfare, it’ll be a considerable achievement. If it is just another OIC-like talk shop, or worse, an attempt to protect Muslim autocrats, the masses shouldn’t expect much from the summit. The proposed meeting also raises questions about the OIC’s utility, for the pan-Islamic body has been a perpetual underachiever. In short, Muslim leaders can choose to address and accommodate change, or wait for the anger of the masses to boil over into the streets.

Archives in distress

IF anyone ever wonders why Pakistan seems to learn no lessons from the past, part of the answer can be found in the manner in which we treat our links with history. Even when the state’s intentions are good, poor execution means that the end result is far from desirable. Just recently, the Karachi police intercepted a truck-load of Gandhara-era artefacts. Yet the police then went on to handle it with such carelessness that a number of pieces were damaged; others were stolen from the police station premises. No better treatment is being meted out to the treasure trove of archival material collected at the National Archives of Pakistan, including irreplaceable documents such as the Quaid-i-Azam Papers that include Jinnah’s personal notebooks, Fatima Jinnah’s letters and royal orders from the Mughal emperor Akbar. But the collection is aging and decaying, partly due to insufficient temperature-control facilities and partly because of the institution’s inability to carry out restoration work.

Preserving and restoring documents is a specialised field, and it is to some extent understandable that NAP is unable to do much in this regard. However, that such historical records are allowed to be damaged by the elements — heat, humidity, etc — is unpardonable. The fault lies not so much in funding as in interest, as is evidenced by the fact that the same careless attitude is evident in institutions across the country. Paintings in Islamabad’s National Art Gallery are suffering damage because the administrators have not been able to ensure a suitable environment, for example. The situation at the permanent art gallery at the Alhamra Cultural Complex in Lahore is no different. For such cultural and historical treasures to be saved, it must become a priority. And for that to happen, Pakistan must learn to recognise the value of such material. That is a far harder task than installing air-conditioners and dehumidifiers.