Dear Editor,
I welcome the news of a civil society’s “Stakeholders meeting on crime crisis,” (SN, February 27), featuring AFC/ GAP-ROAR playing a pivotal lead role calling for the revamping of the police force and urging new governance measures.
Ever since the AFC won five parliamentary seats in 2006, it has faced an uphill struggle to be accepted by the PPP and PNC as a serious political contender and helpful partner in parliamentary politics. In fact, it has been deliberately shut out by the two major parties because, as many now believe, the AFC represents the type of political change from ethnic-based politics to which the two major parties have become accustomed and rely on each other for to ensure their individual viability.
Had the president and the PNC leader displayed the maturity and sensitivity in recognizing that the AFC had earned the respect and support of even a comparably smaller percentage of voters, they would have asked or invited the AFC leader to join them in their discussions on whatever issues were on the table.
But since the President and the PNC leader are the only ones who know what they have talked about so far, the public knows only what they report. There is no independent third party that witnessed or participated in the discussions that can vouch for either man’s veracity.
Matter of fact, had the AFC been involved in those discussions, then it might have prevented the president and the PNC leader from being caught up in a highly publicized political fight over the latest deadly criminal attacks. It was shameful to be reading of the PPP-PNC verbal sparring alongside the detailed reports of the attacks and the impact these attacks were having on a visibly traumatized society.
No one can argue that the criminals are the ones directly responsible for the attacks; even if the attackers have a ’cause’ of some sort. But then the attacks and attackers become the responsibility of the government to address on behalf of the people, to bring the attackers to justice, to work with survivors in whatever way possible, and placate wider society’s concerns.
In short, the government – not the criminals – has the ultimate say. It also owes society an explanation why it failed to radically reform the police force since the 2002-2004 crime waves, and what it plans to do to prevent a recurrence, including having meaningful dialogue with the AFC/GAP-ROAR and society’s stakeholders, which it asked to attend a hastily called meeting with the president.
Society, for its part, has to recognize that even if the PNC is caught up in a political war of words with the PPP and is failing to put the right kind of pressure on the regime to play fair by and be accountable to all and sundry, that there are other players in leadership positions who can do just as effective a job representing society’s interests and concerns.
This is where the smaller parliamentary parties, the AFC/GAP-ROAR, have to take over from the PNC – the main parliamentary opposition – and directly engage society’s stakeholders as a team so that they can speak with one voice on one shared platform. This new grouping needs to also take its message to the people via press releases, made-for-TV roundtable discussions and street meetings. Start a movement and build momentum in which people can hear voices that share their concerns and be given a chance to also voice their own concerns.
The only voices we have been hearing for the last ten years have been those of the leaders and apologists of the PPP and PNC. And when it comes to deadly criminal attacks, like the last two, we have seen where rank partisan politics trumped the genuine pain and cries of a hurting people.
It’s like the people have a right to feel pain but not be heard; pretty much like the AFC/GAP-ROAR have a right to be in Parliament, but not be engaged by the PPP and PNC.
I commend the AFC-ROAR/GAP for taking this initiative.
Yours faithfully,
Emile Mervin
