Tuesday, 11 May, 2021
06 COMMENT
Shopkeepers vs ordinary mortals
Controversy on electronic voting Need for national consensus
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M Imran Khan has a new bee in his bonnet. Without realizing the peculiar social conditions in Pakistan like a weak democratic culture, absence of universal literacy, prevalence of conspiracy theories and people being used to voting through paper ballots, Mr Khan has decided to hold next elections through electronic voting system being used in the United States. On Saturday an all too pliable President issued an ordinance authorizing and directing the eCP to place orders for electronic Voting Machines (eVMs) and enable overseas Pakistanis to exercise their right to vote in the next general elections. The PM has expressed dissatisfaction over the delay in the implementation of his latest brainwave. The eVMs can no doubt help prepare the election results in a short time. There are however solid political reasons against their abrupt introduction at the national level in next elections. The system had to be abandoned by some of the developed european countries because it failed to inspire confidence in voters and led to a return to paper ballots. This will be all the more likely to happen in a country like Pakistan where the vast majority of voters doesn’t know what happens inside the chipset and software and who have gone through the bitter experience of the failure of the Results Transmission System (RTS) in the 2018 polls. There is no way to check rigging through the electronic voting as an eVM cannot prevent ballot stuffing, capturing booths in polling stations, impersonation and other kinds of rigging. eVMs can only be introduced at a prohibitive cost that the country cannot afford. Pakistan will need at least 350,000 machines, each costing about Rs 150,000, with the total cost amounting to about Rs 52 billion for the machines alone. About 50,000 machines will be required as backup. electronic voting requires capital spending every few years to update the equipment as well as annual spending for maintenance, security and supplies. Funds would also be needed for the storage, maintenance, logistics, training and transportation. The introduction of eVMs being a political issue, there is a need to develop consensus over them in Parliament after a thorough discussion in the concerned committees and debate. The eCP needs to be asked to provide inputs to the parliamentarians. The government must meanwhile avoid a hasty decision on the issue.
No match! Until now
HASAN AFTAB SAEED
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ne hears that the French language offers a rich array to choose from when it comes to insulting phrases. That napoleon, who was an extremely eloquent man with all powers of the French expression at his disposal, chose to show his contempt for england by calling it a nation of shopkeepers tells its own story. According to some accounts, it was Adam Smith or Bertrand Barère who originally coined the phrase. Well, why split hairs when there is no controversy regarding the epithet (‘shopkeepers’)? It is pleasant to imagine a parallel universe where shopkeepers do not exist, but in our own universe death, taxes and shopkeepers happen to be facts of life that cannot simply be wished away. no matter how minimalist one’s lifestyle may be, one still needs to occasionally buy things. encountering shopkeepers (and getting fleeced) is an everyday experience for married folks. But let us not be overly harsh on shopkeepers. Just as some men must become miners and some others undertakers, some men must take up shopkeeping. All these professions come with their oc-
South Asian health crisis Covid continues to ravage an entire region
SAlmAN muNir
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LL living creatures, including human beings, have to make a choice when confronted: fight or flight. Introduced by the physiologist Walter Bradford Cannon, it means that when confronted with a situation that evokes fear, pain, anger or anxiety and a person must choose a fight-or-flight response. This thought came to my mind a few days ago during and after the hearing of the case of Justice Qazi Faez Isa before a ten-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. This must be a rare occasion where a sitting judge of the Supreme Court argued his own case before his colleagues. This is called courage. William M. Kunstler writes in his book “The Case For Courage,” the “lawyers, despite their addiction to conflict, share in common with the rest of mankind a natural resistance to involving themselves in situations fraught with grave consequences to their pocketbooks, their reputations and their peace of mind.” What do you do when the fight is thrust upon you? Of course then you fight. That is what Justice Qazi Faez Isa did. Some might argue what is so great about it? If the fight is thrust upon you then it is natural to fight, even to throw the first punch. I beg to differ. Without taking into account the long history of mankind and just focusing on the events in Pakistan since 2000, we find some shining examples of courage and some foxy, even Machiavellian examples of cowardice. Our former three-time Prime Minister nawaz Sharif stands out when we look at cases of flight. After the army coup in 1999, believing in the age old saying that running away makes sure you live and fight another day, nawaz Sharif chose in 2000 to leave Pakistan upon an undertaking and following a Presidential pardon. However, nawaz Sharif claimed during all those years that he was forced to
Arif Nizami Editor Joint Editor
Umar Aziz Executive Editor
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The author is a connoisseur of music, literature, and food (but not drinks). He can be reached at www.facebook.com/hasanaftabsaeed
Qazi Faez Isa stood his ground, fought till the end
Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami
Managing Editor
with men installing your AC. The odds are stacked against you, and in favour of shopkeepers. You just cannot win. Or so I thought for many years before I devised my fool-proof strategy. Which is as follows: The only way to beat shopkeepers is to play along with them. Accept in good faith whatever fairytale they tell you. This admittedly is a tough ask, but it becomes easier with practice. (Recall that it is not as if you have many other options under the circumstances.) It will save you much trouble, besides doing wonders for your blood pressure. Ask the shopkeeper his buying price. Often you do not even need to ask because he will volunteer the information, telling you that he is taking only so much profit on it (an unbelievably reasonable figure). Your job is done, so proceed to purchase the item. In case he is being truthful (a slim chance), you have the satisfaction of having made a good deal. More probably however, you will have a nice surprise waiting for you in the next life. I like to refer to it as my special ‘shopkeeper’ account for the Hereafter, becoming fatter and fatter every year, secure with the Almighty. Last year in a gathering at a friend’s place the conversation turned to retailers. I took the opportunity to present my abovementioned approach to shopping. I could tell from facial expressions that there were those who thought it was a brilliant solution to the shopkeeper problem (three men); and those who were amused by what they thought was an intriguing idea (five men). There was one guest however – a perfect stranger – who started showing signs of extreme perturbation. (It was not long before I found out that the gentleman belonged to the shopkeeper fraternity. no wonder he was neither impressed nor amused.) I was barely done explaining the outlines of my ‘shopkeeper’ account when he could contain himself no longer. He vehemently disputed that any such account existed. I asked him how he could be so sure when he had nothing to do with the said account. He explained that my whole approach was unfair because it left shopkeepers no option but to lie to me. It is not often that I find myself lost for words. I admit that that was one such occasion.
To fight or to flee
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HeRe seems to be no end in sight to the ongoing lethal wave of the coronavirus that has hit South Asia. A mutation of the Covid-19 virus, upgraded to the status “variant of concern” by the UK and dubbed as the “double-mutant” has wreaked havoc in India. At the moment, the daily number of new cases and deaths are averaging 400,000 and 4000 daily. According to the WHO, last week India accounted for 46 per cent of global cases and 25 percent of deaths. These astronomical numbers have caused the country’s health system to completely collapse with a severe shortage of beds, ventilators and most worryingly, oxygen. Cremation sites have queues that force families to wait for hours to perform the last rights of their loved ones. India is now going through the worst humanitarian crisis in its history. What is more frightening is the warning issued by some experts that this may only be the beginning and could continue for a considerable period of time. The spillover from India has now hit nepal that saw a 137 percent increase in cases over a week and is now reporting very similar numbers, forcing the country to go into a full lockdown. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have also detected cases of the Indian variant. The virality and deadliness of this new mutation has all but eradicated the progress made in terms of vaccinating the population on the road to normalcy. Pakistan is smack in the middle of all this and thankfully the Indian strain has not made it across our borders so far. nonetheless, the ongoing third wave in the country has surpassed all statistics posted by the first one. The government, rather reluctantly, has essentially cancelled eid by placing a weeklong lockdown in the worst hit provinces of Punjab and KP throughout the holidays. The government must make the most of its current position by solidifying it further, restricting inward travel from regional countries that could introduce the new variant in Pakistan. Additionally, it must ramp up its vaccination drive to immunize as much of the population as possible to keep pressure off hospitals and reach herd immunity. Whatever help that can be provided to regional countries should be offered while keeping in view our resource restrictions. Pakistan could also become another Covid-19 disaster zone if the government mishandles the situation. extreme caution should be taken for the next few months.
Yousaf Nizami Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad
cupational hazards. The profit motive is not something that is known to bring out the best in men. And, of course, not all shopkeepers are evil. I am convinced that it is only 95% of shopkeepers that spoil the reputation of the rest. The line between lying and fine arts such as advertising and salesmanship is notoriously thin. We all routinely experience this. A shopkeeper quotes you prices of two air-conditioners. You ask him the reason for the price difference. Accustomed to thinking on his feet, he explains that as opposed to the cheaper variety the costlier one ensures that the air stream after moving straight for a while diverges to the left and to the right, cooling the room quicker (he demonstrates the elaborate process using his hands and arms). If you believe the story, you prove yourself a fool to him (and to yourself). Storming off after telling him that it is a load of manure no doubt makes for a tempting dramatic exit. Practically speaking however, you will still have to buy it from some other shop with a proprietor who is likely to be as imaginative (and unscrupulous), if not more. The theory is straightforward enough: visit several shops and buy from the one that offers the most reasonable deal. Alas, life is rarely that simple. In practice, all shops are run by shopkeepers, who – even if they do not formally belong to a cartel – have a shrewd idea about the price quoted by others. So, there is no good option, really. Cut to three hours later. The AC has been delivered and two technicians have turned up to install it. They have instructions to use more copper tubing than is required to connect the indoor and outdoor units since it is you who pays for it per metre. But they cannot tell you that. You can swear that you read somewhere that the longer the pipes the higher the losses, but the technicians tell you an elaborate story about the need to allow at least two ‘safety’ loops to prevent leakage on account of the ‘dangerous back pressure of the refrigerant’. You decide to throw in your lot with science as you recall it and tell them to forget about the ‘safety’ loops. now they play their trump card: ‘We will do so if you insist, but do not blame us if something goes wrong.’ You clearly have no answer to this. For you can be certain that if they say something could go wrong, they will ensure that something will go wrong. It is never the greatest idea to argue with your barber when he has a razor in his hand or
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leave the country. To prove this he approached the Supreme Court, which in it’s October 17, 2007 verdict stated “The former Prime Minister’s release from prison and his journey to Saudi Arabia after getting a Presidential pardon due to an undertaking could not be described as forced exile.” The same decision, however, allowed nawaz Sharif to return to Pakistan under Article 15 of the Constitution. This gave him an opportunity to fight another day. The first shining example of courage is that of a judge of the Supreme Court. Former Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, showing exemplary courage and resolve to fight, refused to resign when forced by the powers that were running the country in 2007. President Pervez Musharraf along with two or three other three-star generals (all in full army uniform) and perhaps Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, also present in the room had called over the 20th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to the Army House. The purpose of the meeting was to read a list of charges and ask Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to resign. This show of power did not impress the Chief Justice and he walked out of the meeting without resigning with his head high. President Musharraf made the Chief Justice non-functional for refusing to resign. The lawyers all over the country then rose in his support and that of the independence of judiciary. The lawyers’ movement turned into a mass movement and after some two years the Chief Justice resumed his office. Chief Justice could have easily gone in exile, chosen another high office, or come to a deal with the establishment. Over all such options, he chose to stay and fight. What a contrast to the former three-time prime minister whose party and election symbol is a lion. The lions of the world must have protested at this injustice to their courage and bravery. The next case of flight, closely resembling to that of the former three-time prime minister, that must be mentioned is of the former President Pervez Musharraf. Musharraf, a self-styled Otto Skorzeny, was the first dictator facing death penalty in a treason case for imposing emergency in november 2007. This emergency led to the suspension of the Constitution, and detention of the judges of the superior courts. In 2009, he went into self-exile for a period of four years until he returned in March 2013 to contest election. After he was disqualified to contest election, he desperately wanted to leave the country on medical grounds and to look after his ailing mother in Dubai. However his name was on exit Control List and
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could not leave the country. In early June 2014, the Sindh High Court ordered removal of Musharraf’s name from the exit control list so he could go abroad and also gave two weeks time to the Federal government to file an appeal against its decision. The government approached the Supreme Court, which struck down the order of Sindh High Court in late June 2014. However, citing medical treatment and vowing to return to the country, in March 2016 Musharraf again went into self-exile and now lives in Dubai. nawaz Sharif, not used to living in prisons, this time after he was disqualified and jailed by the Supreme Court, he put up a great farce with the help of his party and seemingly that of the PTI’s doctors and some ministers. Fleeing, it appears comes naturally to him. Through the rigmarole of medical checkups, laboratory testing and political game-playing he again managed to flee. now he lives in London and has been declared an absconder by the courts. Like Musharraf, he does not plan to return to Pakistan anytime soon. He lives to fight another day, again. In this backdrop of flight, it was pleasant to see a fight taken to Justice Qazi Faez Isa, earlier by the government, and now by the Supreme Court itself, being actually fought. This fight was won by Justice Isa through his review petition challenging the directions given by the full bench of the Supreme Court to FBR to probe his family. Justice Isa could have fled too like Musharraf and nawaz Sharif by compromising or becoming sick. Instead he chose to stay and fight like Iftikhar Chaudhry. During the course of the proceedings in which Justice Isa argued his case, it became clear that the other side was represented by lawyers who were either ill prepared or lacked the basic understanding of the law, sometimes even narrating the wrong judgement. This is exactly what happens when you do not have a case. You prolong your arguments in the hope that something might just come out of it. In this case that something was retirement of one of the judges on the full bench. Like always one party wanted to make haste while the other party was on a go-slow approach. We cannot even imagine the burden that was on Justice Isa’s shoulders and heart. James Baldwin in Go Tell It On The Mountain says “This burden was heavier than the heaviest mountain and he carried it in his heart.” The writer is a management consultant and innocence lawyer. He can be reached at as1236m@gmail.com
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