Zanzibar diary

Marvels of Zanzibar

Understanding a new case study for Kashmir

Arjimand Hussain Talib

Zanzibar is the larger and the main island in the Indian Ocean which, along with Pemba, was once a separate state. The word "Zanzibar" is generally known to have come from the Persian word zang-e-bar, meaning the coast of the blacks.

This island has a long trading history within the Arab world. Zanzibar was united with Tanganyika to form Tanzania in 1964. However, it still enjoys a high degree of autonomy within the union. For many reasons, Zanzibar has many similarities with Kashmir.

It has a 98 per cent Muslim population, with economic resources which are not enough to sustain it. The capital of Zanzibar, located on this island, is called Zanzibar City, with one of the most exotic historical monuments. It houses the grand Stone Town, which is protected as a World Heritage Site. The town is an architectural marvel, with a blend of aesthetics and military fortifications. Zanzibar receives a flood of tourists from all around the world, its Stone Town and virgin beaches acting the prime attractions.

Zanzibar (locally known as Inguja), like Pemba, grows a number of spices. As was written in the previous column, it along with the nearby Pemba and Mafia islands is still sometimes referred to as Spice Islands.

Some graffiti at Stone City say that archaeological finds in the island attest to at least 20,000 years of human occupation of Zanzibar. However, the islands became part of the world’s historical record only when Arab traders discovered them. The Arabs turned these islands as a base for their voyages between Arabia, India, and Africa. And that is what reflects in Zanzibar today. The unique architecture of most of the buildings on the Island is a blend of Arab, Persian and Indian architectures. The buildings in the Stone City are amazingly beautiful reflecting very rich cultural heritage. Most of the houses have been turned by the locals – mainly the Arabs and Indians – either into hotels or guest houses. Such is a popularity of the place among the tourists; it is not easy to book a room.

Zanzibar offered a protected and defensible harbour, and that is said to be the main reason why the Arabs settled at the Stone Town. Muslims from India who have settled here have come mainly from the Kutch region of Gujarat. They are one of the most prosperous communities on the island. They run hotels, arts and crafts shops and other tourism related services. They are also involved in the export of the spices these islands produce.

The island of Zanzibar has a distinction in that it is here where the Arabs built the first mosque outside the Arab land in the Southern hemisphere. Offering Isha prayer at the mosque along with a number of other people from different races and nationalities is a humbling experience.

During the Age of Exploration, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to gain control of Zanzibar, and they kept it for nearly 200 years. In 1698, Zanzibar fell under the control of the Sultanate of Oman, which developed an economy of trade and cash crops here.

At times the control of Zanzibar came into the hands of the British Empire. In 1890 Zanzibar became a protectorate (not a colony) of Britain. The death of the pro-British Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini on 25 August 1896 and the succession of Sultan Khalid bin Barghash, who was not pro-British, led to the Anglo-Zanzibar War. However, Sultan Khalid’s army could not stand to the might of the Royal British Navy. On 27 August 1896, ships of the British Navy are said to have destroyed the Sultan’s Beit al Hukum Palace in the Stone City. A cease fire is said to have been declared 38 minutes later, declaring the fall to the British.

It is as recently as in 1963 that the islands gained independence from Britain as a constitutional monarchy. Exit of Britain was followed a month later by the bloody Zanzibar Revolution, in which thousands of Arabs and Indians are said to have been killed by the native blacks, and thousands more expelled. The revolution culminated in the establishment of the Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba.

However, the islands’ independence was short lived. In April 1964, the republic was subsumed by the nearby mainland, the former colony of Tanganyika, creating the United Republic of Tanzania.

Today Zanzibar has its own Revolutionary Council and House of Representatives with 50 seats, directly elected to serve five-year terms; to form the semi-autonomous Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar.

However, lately political strife has made the islands little unstable. The ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) considers itself as the custodian of the revolution and does not tolerate dissent. It is seen more or less moderate and tries to keep the more stringent Islamist groups at bay. The Civic United Front (CUF) is the main opposition, which believes in strict Shariah laws. Its main support base is the Pemba Island, which has maintained its profound Islamic character. Consumption of liquor on the island in public is banned by law. Women must dress up in traditional Islamic way. Children’s attendance in madrasas is high.

On the contrary, the island of Zanzibar (or Inguja) is more or less moderate. A large presence of tourists has softened it traditional Islamic culture. Since the early 1990s, the politics of the islands has been marked by clashes between these two political parties. Contested elections in late 2000 led to a massacre, killing 35 people and injuring 600 by government forces. There has been violence again in 2005 after another contested election, which the CUF claimed it had won.

Today the islands’ political situation offers many parallels with Kashmir. After the recent discovery of oil in their seas, there are greater voices calling for independence from Tanzania. Most people in Zanzibar live on incomes of less than US $0.50 per day, with tourism being the only major employment provider. The overall living standards are worse off than in mainland Tanzania, which breeds resentment.

More radical forces have begun to take up to arms in Pemba to fight the CCM-led political system. The government of Tanzania has responded recently by deploying tanks on the island. However, independence for the islands is seen by many as ‘unviable.’ The island has surely limited resources. Its land is under tremendous stress due to high population growth. Climate change and frequent droughts remain key challenges to the islands’ stability.

Nevertheless, with glaring similarities with Kashmir, it is an interesting case study.

Feedback at Arjimand@greaterkashmir.com

Police Reforms in Kashmir

First published in daily Greater Kashmir, 9 Aug, 2009

Don’t ignore sticks

It is time Omar initiates police reforms

By: Arjimand Hussain Talib

The show of political clamour in the State Assembly in on. Every day is a battle of wits – fought on regional, ideological, partisan and even communal frontiers. There is little of substance in the debates. Playing to the galleries has become a culture now.

The political and regional divides in the State look the sharpest today. From the ruling coalition to the constituent regions, hardly anything seems to bind things together other than marriages of convenience. There is urgency for a change. And a new thinking.

Rule of law is critical for bringing in a qualitative change in J&K today. Doubtlessly, demilitarisation is beyond the purview of any government in the State. No degree of the opposition’s hullabaloo and the government’s pointless point-scoring in the Assembly would help our crises.

From the infamous sex scandal to the recent Shopian tragedy, there is one clear lesson: J&K badly needs police reforms. The quality of the rule of law and governance in J&K is closely linked to these reforms. Our current right to information law is of little consequence as long as police reforms remain elusive. Omar needs to act now.

Police reforms are a reality in India today after decades of reluctant political pedalling. The Supreme Court of India has already put the central and state governments on notice - to ensure replacement of the old Police Act. We should we delay?

J&K needs police reforms the most, primarily because it is grinding under a twin saw: carrying the heavy baggage of the colonial rule and the Dogra Maharajas’ autocratic legacies. Then we have the laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, Disturbed Areas Act, Public Safety Act and a serious Official Secrets Act. No genuine democracy and such laws can go together.

In our political system, myriad powers and interests of the political executive, police and bureaucracy often converge. The result is a unique power bloc wherein the checks and balances of a normal democratic system simply dissipate. The Model Police Act emphasises law enforcement as the basic role of the police. It advocates impartial service to the law, without any heed to the wishes, indications or desires expressed by the government. That is something that J&K badly needs today.

J&K needs a kind of policing today which is humane and accountable. Undue political interference with its work needs a check. Accountability and performance evaluation need a new approach. Basic police stations continue to be ill equipped. Policemen at lower levels need better salaries and modern gadgets in dealing with hi-tech and cyber crimes. Police stations need to be networked with computers. Filing of complaints needs to be simplified.

Quite a few states in India are today addressing the issue of promotions and transfers of police officers. The Model Police Act recommends a pre-promotion course before promotion to the rank of an SP, DIG and IG, followed by an examination and an objective selection process. This procedure needs to be adopted for both IPS and KPS cadres in J&K. Merit must be rewarded. It is widely recognised that the threat of transfer or suspension is the most potent weapon in the hands of the politicians to bend the police to their will. Such discretionary powers in the hands of the political class erode the rule of law and dents police’s professionalism.

One grave problem in J&K’s policing system is that it is highly influenced by the colonial police law passed in India in 1861. Policing in India is a state subject, yet J&K has little say in its matters. J&K’s original constitution is no more a reference guide. New Delhi wields significant influence in the decision-making process in this area. So, for all practical reasons, it is hardly a State subject for us today.

The extra constitutional laws and colonial policing practices reinforce the culture of impunity. A decent degree of transparency is very much possible, even as the ‘sensitive’ areas are guarded from undue ‘exposure’. The Model Police Act in circulation must serve as a reference guide on that. It takes care of the ‘State sensitivities’ by advocating discretion when it comes to information on ‘areas of operations’, intelligence used to plan investigations, privacy of the individual citizen and judicial requirements. Making these exceptions possible in J&K’s context could help in overcoming the inhibitions.

Another issue concerns the powers of the District Magistrate (DM) in our State. There is lack of clarity in the exact role and powers of a DM here. The complex ‘division of powers’ between the DM, the police, the army, etc. often leads to a situation of flux. We need clarity if our police are accountable to the law or the District Magistrate. We also need clarity on the roles of the army and the political executive. This state of flux often manifests in confused official response to crisis situations. What happened in the immediate aftermath of the Shopian tragedy is an important pointer of that.

The Model Police Act stresses that police performance not be evaluated on the basis of crime statistics or number of cases solved. In our case, police officials’ performance is often evaluated on the basis of the number of ‘militants’ killed/arrested, arms seized, information got on “anti national activities” and so on. This system of performance evaluation is a recipe for gross indiscipline. It blatantly undermines the rule of law. In the past, custodial murders of innocent civilians have often been lured by promotions and cash prizes. There could be better performance indicators. For instance, busting crimes which impact common people’s lives. Motivation and incentives could be more professional.

The serious dearth of women police officers and police stations in J&K also needs attention. The way policemen generally deal with women filing complaints in police stations is little gloomy. The manner policemen treat peaceful women protests on the streets doesn’t make a good sight either.

Governance is undoubtedly one area which needs drastic amends in J&K today. And that could happen only when the supremacy of the rule of law is established with meaningful police reforms. Omar Abdullah continues to have a burden of expectations. Time has come for him to initiate these long-pending reforms. And create a State Security Commission and a State Police Commission. Then he could go further to set up Complaint Cells at district and State levels.

Feedback at arjiamnd@greaterkashmir.com