I am constantly being asked about the series of the “Problems on hold” and why it is still ongoing.
Did not the 25 January 2011 Revolution bring out into the open all the files that had been shelved before? Sadly, I have to confirm that the confused, retrogressive day-to-day reality in post-revolution Egypt has tackled none of the problems placed on hold before the revolution; in fact it has added an entire new collection to them. This should come as no surprise given the security breakdown on our streets, and the vicious struggle between the various political and Islamist forces to hijack the revolution, each to its own end. Add to this the disgraceful failure by the State apparatuses and authorities to impose the rule of law, and more problems on hold are added by the day to the old file. Following is but a small sample of such incidents.
The goings-on in Egypt’s courts of law today threaten to collapse the Egyptian judicial system, and with it the entire country. In criminal, political, or constitutional court cases, a mob typically invades the courtroom and terrorises the attendants and the judges, wielding threats that unless the court issues the rulings the mob desires all hell will be made to break loose. Two weeks ago, while the administrative court in Cairo was seeing a case, the mobbing crowd shrieked at the judges: “We will seize our right whether by law or through the [mob power in the] street.” The disgraceful incident aside, no one was caught or brought to justice. The dignity of the State and the law was defended by none.
Some three weeks ago, the Egyptian reporter Shaimaa Adel headed to Khartoum among a group of Egyptian journalists to cover the uprising in Sudan. Her colleagues came home safely, but Adel was detained by the Sudanese authorities. All Egypt, the journalists’ syndicate and the public, rose in rage demanding that the Egyptian authorities should persuade the Sudanese to release Adel. At the time President Mursi was in Addis Ababa for the African summit in which the Sudanese President Omar Bashir was also participating. They talked over the Adel predicament, and Bashir was persuaded to have her released and sent home. But instead of flying Adel north to Cairo, she was flown south to Addis Ababa, for her to come back home hand in hand with Mursi. They were received in Cairo with ululations of joy but, until today, there has been no official explanation of why she had been detained. A curt declaration by Bashir said she had exceeded the requisites of her journalistic duty, an allegation that has not been validated by the Egyptian side. So, apart from the theatrics involved in the incident, Egyptians have no way of learning the truth about the Adel incident.
The third case among the new sample of problems on hold concerns the derailment of the train heading from Cairo to Sohag, some 500km south, two weeks ago. This was not an accident that occurred because of technical error or gross negligence; it is a case of criminal lack of discipline by the public. What happened is that a slower train had to wait at a juncture at Badrashein some 30km south of Cairo to give way to the speedy Cairo-Sohag train. The passengers of the slower train apparently found that unacceptable; they assaulted the train driver and placed rocks and iron rods on the rails. The southern-bound train derailed and caught fire; five of its 15 carriages overturned and four passengers were injured. The passengers were terrorised out of their wits.
All around the world slower trains give right of way to more speedy trains; the practice has never been taken as a provocation. Yet the crime at Badrashein has gone undeterred.
And people ask how come the “Problems on hold” series is still alive?
WATANI International
29 July 2012
