Time to look ahead

NO ONE should underestimate the challenges that lie ahead for Pakistan both in terms of political stability and continued security, but President Pervez Musharraf took a step in the right direction when he removed “general” from his formal title by resigning his command of the army and being sworn in yesterday as a civilian president. Further, by pledging to lift the state of emergency which had brought his administration more troubles than it solved by Dec. 16, Musharraf has met a key demand from his opponents at home and friends abroad. It may seem a tall order in a country where political memories tend to be long, but the future now depends on Pakistani politicians putting the past behind them and focusing instead on fostering the creation of a responsible government, in which the old payola, corruption and administrative ineptitude no longer play a part. The political parties whose leaders were arrested or persecuted in the past or are still in jail are understandably angry with Musharraf and in a mood to challenge the legitimacy of his new presidency. However, the question that they should be asking themselves is: What risks would such a confrontation pose? Assuming they can take part in free and fair elections slated for January, they will have re-established their position on the political scene. Politics may be about power, but those parties that find themselves in the opposition must use their presence in Parliament to challenge the government in a measured and informed manner — to keep the government of the day accountable for its actions, and hopefully honest.
As in Bangladesh, Pakistani politics has for too long been distorted by feuds based on personalities not policies. And it is only policies, sound political programs that will permit Pakistan to grasp the considerable economic opportunities that are already there with the rapid rise of India toward global economic status. The prosperity that such wise policies will bring will cut into the poverty and backwardness that has fueled violent dissent in the country. While the security forces may be able to hold rebellion in check, they cannot of themselves defeat it. Only a flourishing economy in which the benefits flow right down to the man in the street can bring an end to all but the most fanatical disaffection. In this respect, it must be hoped that Musharraf’s surrender of his army commission also marks the end of the military’s interference in Pakistan’s politics. Its interventions have not only done the country no good but have also set back the armed forces themselves. Professional soldiers should concentrate on their military duties and take orders from elected politicians. They should not compromise their effectiveness by meddling in government. If politicians now decide to put the interests of Pakistan ahead of their own lust for power, there is a rich harvest to be reaped. The last thing the country needs at a time of instability is internecine rivalries and disorder based on primitive feuding among personalities.

Danger in cyber space

TWENTYFIVE COMPUTERS can help us and harm us, in equal measure, of course. It will, thus, be educative to note that the US would spend as high as 35 billion dollars over the next five years to guard against cyberspace attacks and strengthen net-related security. Computers, after all, must be handled with care. The American initiative is in the backdrop, also, of reports that the Chinese military is developing viruses to attack enemy computer systems. The dangers are for real, especially in terms of military and banking/financial systems that have been integrated to global networks, not to speak of other governmental, corporate and individual units. What has happened in Estonia, Europe, is educative: of the virus attack there resulting in a denial of services spanning education, banking and governmental sectors for several weeks earlier this year. Under the existing circumstances, especially post 9/11, the US is in an unenviable situation, it also being the global hub for Internet communications. That some 37,000 breaches of American government and private computer programmes had been attempted to so far this fiscal year, and some 80,000 cyber attacks took place on its military networks, is startling.
In reality, modern warfare need not necessarily be by military means or through a demonstration of the might of the arsenals at one’s command. We have seen images of how conventional systems of warfare, wherein the land army played the main role, are being upstaged by aerial firepower, hitting targets with precision-guided missiles from the air, as was demonstrated in the Iraq war. But wars of the future can be altogether different. It could as well be that mere computer keyboards in some far corners of the world would upset the lives of enemy nations at will, and throw their financial, administrative and even the command and control systems in deep disarray. So, the billions that America is spending on cyber security is going in the right direction.Others must, too. But the stress of such preventive measures must be on security and social wellbeing; not on governmental whims or on curtailing the general freedom of the net users, as some dispensations are showing a proclivity to.

—Khaleej Times