By Wiktor Wojciechowski, Sergio Daga & Ali Salman
For the U.S. aid efforts to be effective, ineffective economic grants must be supplemented with aid directed towards the civil administration and a criminal justice system to enforce the rule of law. It is time for U.S. policy-makers, as well as U.S. tax payers, to build pressure on their administration to do the right thing. It is time to focus on rule of law.
Osama bin Laden is dead. But think about hundreds of potential Osamas being captured in Pakistan – who are then being released! They are let off the hook due to an inadequate and inefficient prosecution system. Lack of reliable evidence. Requirements of dispensation of justice because of a poorly functioning criminal justice system.
The counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency efforts by the U.S. and its allies have relied mostly on military power and economic aid. In the last five years the United States assistance to Pakistan has increased from $690 million to $1,800 million per year (U.S. Congressional Report 2011). Pakistan has become the most important recipient of U.S. foreign aid in South Asia.
Approximately 76 per cent of U.S. assistance to Pakistan supports counter-terrorism, border security efforts and economic growth. But the U.S. aid to Pakistan has never focused on the most important issue: the lack of Rule of Law. At a briefing on the internal security situation in February 2011, the government was informed that of the 1443 militants arrested, 695 had been bailed out mostly by appellate courts, while 48 others had been acquitted by anti-terrorism courts. This reflects the fact that according to the International Property Rights Index Pakistan ranks 115 out of 129 countries evaluated in the Rule of Law category, and also ranks last in South Asia region.
This requires supporting to:
• Build pressure on the U.S. Administration to review its aid strategy vis-à-vis its effects on improvements in the civil administration, particularly the criminal justice system in Pakistan
• Raise awareness in your respective constituencies, communities and organizations about the importance of strengthening rule of law for a peaceful Pakistan contributing to a stable world
• Encourage the U.S. Administration to keep Rule of Law as its top priority area, particularly focusing on combating corruption that siphons off the tax payers money into a black box
Most policy makers around the world associate terrorism with poverty and education and recommend doling out money to appease and educate the disgruntled masses. Pakistan, for example, is considered as a major hub of terrorist activities and its poverty profile therefore gets the attention of world’s policy makers and opinion makers alike. However, as proven by Osama Bin Laden and his associates in various American planes on 9/11, none of the so called terrorists hail from poor or even middle class families. All of them belonged to wealthy urban, highly educated and upper middle class.
Noted economist Alan Krueger has concluded that there is no relationship between the poverty, education and terrorism. Krueger has modeled his thesis along the lines of economic explanations of criminal activities and violent crimes and has largely used the data set representing the Middle East. Krueger has also argued that investing more in the education does not help stopping terrorists to function; however investing more in expanding a pluralistic political culture at the global level certainly helps. Thus Krueger has called for political actions to thwart terrorism instead of economic actions. He has also called for a context specific explanation of violent crimes and has resisted the idea of universalizing his thesis across all conflict zones.
Another prominent US lawmaker, Senator Bond stresses that ‘security, development and governance must go hand in hand.”
This view is also supported by John Kerry, the chairman of US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the co-author of Kerry-Lugar Bill presented recently. When Kerry visited Pakistan in April, he cautioned that “tribal areas are too violent to benefit from aid.” It means that US is realizing that aid would land into a virtual black box in the absence of rule of law.
For the U.S. aid efforts to be effective, ineffective economic grants must be supplemented with aid directed towards the civil administration and a criminal justice system to enforce the rule of law. It is time for U.S. policy-makers, as well as U.S. tax payers, to build pressure on their administration to do the right thing. It is time to focus on rule of law.
Wiktor Wojciechowski, Sergio Daga & Ali Salman are members of the Rule of Law Committee, an international network of think tank leaders dedicated to encourage a more balanced US-Aid Strategy for Pakistan.