ON THE VERGE OF A NEW YEAR

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/12/29/on-the-verge-of-a-new-year/

According to research in the USA, the political system– as in democracy– has failed in that country. Results show that the preferences of the average citizen have a ‘near zero’, statistically non-significant impact on public policy. Jennifer Lawrence in her talk says that once they are in office politicians spend 70 per cent of their time raising funds to ensure that they get back into that office.

As 2019 draws to a close and we stand on the verge of a new year, the situation appears to be much the same in Pakistan where the average citizen is nowhere taken into consideration.

Karachi, the capital of Sindh is still the commercial hub of the country with the most industries. It is responsible for a sizeable chunk of the country’s tax collection, over a third of the total. Almost all of Pakistan’s international trade takes off from Karachi’s ports, and most foreign companies are stationed in that city. With its ethnically diverse population Karachi is endlessly vibrant, one of the world’s fastest growing cities. Yet sadly, it is also one of the filthiest cities in the world and ranks high on the crime scale, although that has come down from the highest in the world since the Rangers were brought in a few years ago. It is very obvious that the city of Karachi and the province of Sindh lack governance, much less effective governance.

The governing party of the province, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is holding a rally in Rawalpindi today on the anniversary of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Coinciding with this event is a heightened criticism of the Benazir Income Support Programme. The BISP was set up as a support fund in 2008 for the very poor, women in particular. It has come under fire over the years for various reasons, for instance because of its name since the funds are not taken from Benazir’s personal money. And now the programme has been accused of using the pay-outs as a means of rewarding support for the political party. More than 800,000 beneficiaries have been removed from its list because they were not among the very poor for whom the fund was originally intended.

Politicians have never been honest fighters in the ring, shamelessly using slogans, ideologies and whatever they can lay their hands on to gain support. To its credit the PPP has not hidden behind the religious card like most of the other players and has been a largely secular party. In the past many years, this has been its only plus point.

What started out as a lion has been reduced to a something like a rat with the passing of time and its original leadership. The PPP, once a nationwide movement has completely lost support in the Punjab where it was once powerful. It is now holed up in Sindh at the helm of the most incompetent government that province has ever seen. And yet it finds itself justified in criticising governance in the rest of the country.

If the federal government’s assessment is correct and the Benazir Income Support Programme is being used as it says, then Jennifer Lawrence’s observation regarding politicians in office spending most of their time ensuring that they get back into that office is as valid here. There is also the fact that the PPP leadership has used the Bhutto name in a way that is nothing if not nauseating.

As for Lahore, the capital of Punjab and the country’s second largest city, it is one of the most polluted cities in the world. The atmosphere in this city that all citizens breathe ranks every day at hazardous, yet nothing, but nothing, is being done to stem the pollution at its source. Factories continue to spew out noxious fumes and pour polluting chemicals into the waterways. The PML-N and PTI governments, much as they aim to stem the flow of PPP criticism, have achieved nothing in their turns. And all of them together are unjustified in criticising the Indian government for its new and discriminatory citizenship laws, when nothing is being done to change the condition of minorities in this country, where the blasphemy law remains in effect and Junaid Hafeez remains imprisoned because of it.

At the end of the day, the people of this country are as tired of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s immature rants, the current Prime Minister’s U-turns and fiery bouncers, and the PML-N’s angry retorts. It is a depressing note on which to end the year, and one can only pray for some improvement in 2020. What little one could hope for though appears to have been ground into the earth by the last few lines of Justice Seth’s verdict regarding General Musharraf.

What hope is there for a country where a high court judge can pen such sentiments?

WAS THAT A JUDGE SPEAKING?

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/12/21/was-that-a-judge-speaking/

• Genneral Musharraf was guilty of taking over, but dragging his corpse to a public spot was going too far

Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah addressed the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on the 11th of August 1947 and said: “…Remember that you are now a sovereign legislative body and you have got all the powers. It, therefore, places on you the gravest responsibility as to how you should take your decisions. You will no doubt agree with me that the first duty of a government is to maintain law and order… …therefore make sure that the corpses of all convicted person, if found dead are dragged to a public spot in our capital city and hanged there for three days.”

With due apologies to the Quaid. Of course he never ended his speech that way. He had no such monstrous inclinations, he was an intelligent man and a dignified one to boot, so one can respect him and his opinions. Which is more than one can say about whoever added those lines in a grisly injunction at the end of the official verdict against General Musharraf, a verdict which is otherwise fairly good and should not come as a surprise. The idea of pretending Jinnah said that was to make the reader start in surprise since we all knew he was too principled a man to indulge in any such ideas, and also to show up the reality on the ground today.
The other persons who imposed martial law on this hapless country are beyond punishment, but Gen Musharraf is not, so he should suffer the consequences of his actions. The Quaid said it best in the same speech above: “We are starting in the days where there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and another, no discrimination between one caste or creed and another. We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State.”

Which means that all citizens of the state– even if they breathe the rarified air of the armed forces– are equally answerable for their actions.

When in 1999 an elected government was sent packing the Army took over– as it has done several times in this supposedly democratic country. General Pervez Musharraf then became the Chief Executive, and when the then President of Pakistan left office wheb his tenure expired, he took over as President. Elections were held in 2002 and Pakistan got another Prime Minister, but there was a tacit understanding that decisions would be made by General sahib.

Five years later, General Musharraf declared a state of emergency, which is in effect a martial law. The constitution of Pakistan was suspended as a result of his actions, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the country was fired.

Whoever does such a thing is undermining the country and therefore committing treason, and he or she should then face the consequences. Quite contrary to what Maj. Gen Asif Ghafoor says, the judgement contains nothing objectionable, other than the grisly rider. Nor is it, as the inimitable Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, suggests some kind of a sinister conspiracy by “anti-state elements” either internal or external, it is not a conspiracy that must be foiled.

The only thing that must be foiled is whatever it is that produces such a mindset, which allows such sentiments to take root in this country.

What is there about the legal system and education in Pakistan that allows such sentiments to arise among the legal fraternity in particular, sentiments that lead for example to lawyers marching on a hospital treating patients with heart disease, causing the death of three of those patients? Our lawyers and judges appear to be confusing justice with revenge of the most sordid kind. Also, instead of being taught that justice must be blind and dispassionate, our legal fraternity appears to imagine to the contrary. Is hanging the body of a convicted person for three days in a public spot dispassionate? Does it gel with anything we stand for as a country, as Muslims (seeing that this is supposed to be an Islamic Republic), or as human beings? Where in medieval times does the honorable judge imagine us to be?

Politics is rife with instances of diversions and convenient footholds. You cannot help wondering if these bloodthirsty lines were deliberately planted, inserted on purpose to give a handle to those who would like to condemn and overturn the entire judgement. It does not appear to be a commonly possessed skill to separate different aspects from the whole. In this case justice is in danger of being subverted by those who like to set certain segments of the country above the law, those who view this judgement as a dangerous precedent.

A NEW LOW - EVEN FOR THE PBC

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/12/14/a-new-low-even-for-the-pbc/

• The PIC attack was indefensible

Lawyers in Lahore have gone on yet another rampage on 11 November. As a result of the inevitable outcry on the media, their spokesperson has protested that this latest rampage was revenge for an earlier attack by doctors on some lawyers at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology when the lawyers went there with a colleague who was under treatment at the Institute. A video of the doctors making fun of those lawyers is apparently in circulation and that is what apparently provoked this latest event.

This may well be true but there is no doubt that over the years lawyers in Pakistan have been increasingly violent. They have thrashed journalists, attacked the Supreme Court, locked judges out of courtrooms, and physically and verbally attacked them. They have beaten up litigants and the police and attacked government servants on the premises of places they were vandalising. Such incidents occurred all over the country, but they appear to be much more common among the legal fraternity in Punjab and to involve members of the Punjab Bar Council. The reason needs to be investigated.

The situation has now unquestionably gone out of hand. On 11 November, lawyers– persons who are supposed to know and respect the law– broke it with a vengeance when more than 200 of them marched onto Lahore’s Punjab Institute of Cardiology. Many of them were armed and they attacked the hospital and even its patients. According to the news they broke the hospital gate, attacked the guards and members of staff, including a female nurse whose shirt was torn and her locket snatched from around her neck, a case of outright theft. The lawyers forced their way into various sections of the hospital including Radiology, the Operation Theatres, and even the Intensive Care Unit. Here they beat up doctors and other staff and pulled the plug on a patient receiving oxygen. The patient subsequently died, as did two others. None of these three people who died were involved in the incident as a result of which this attack on the PIC took place, so even that frail excuse is not present in their case. This was a despicable event, a new low even for lawyers affiliated with the Punjab Bar Council.

FIRs have been registered against the rampaging hooligans under several sections of the law, including assault – which with the death of the patients becomes outright murder. Particularly named are the General Secretary and Vice President of the Lahore Bar Association, and the person hoping to stand for President of the LBA. These persons are said to have been among those who attacked the PIC. One of them made a statement on a lawyers’ forum regarding the patients who died, saying after all other groups of professionals also protest. Why does no one condemn them too?

Not only the law enforcement agencies, but social media and in this case the Punjab Bar Council also need to take action. It must shame on its platform those who are so far enjoying the contemptible fame their videos have conferred upon them, videos that show them egging on their compatriots to destroy, kill and take revenge. These lawyers and their families need to feel shame at these actions and not elation. These people are not celebrities. They are thugs and murderers

She is wrong, and for a professional whose job it is to argue a case, pathetically lacking in that skill. All decent people condemn such incidents wherever they occur, but there can be no doubt about it, lawyers have committed violence much too often, and the Punjab Bar Council in particular has hit a new low. The depths to which it has now fallen shows its members worthy of nothing but disdain. No professional expertise can be expected of a group that takes the law into its hands and hurts, tortures and kills members of the public in the process.

All persons involved in vandalism, destruction of peace and property and murder should be punished, lawyers, doctors, politicians, anyone, whoever they are. If they are not, if nothing is done about this and other incidents and these louts are not shown exactly where they get off the government will have failed to do its job, yet again. Yet of the more than 200 that marched on the PIC on 11 November, only about 34 or so have been arrested. There is also the usual attempt at politicising the incident, with accusations being made against this party or that as being the instigator or organiser, only because someone spotted a person belonging to that party in the group of vandals. Well, the PM’s nephew was also one of the rampaging lawyers. One doesn’t know what party he belongs to, but does that matter? Should we say the PTI organised it? How about dealing with this as a failure to act as law-abiding persons, and above all a failure to act as decent humans, and putting party politics on the backburner? For a change?

There is clearly a problem with the way student unions, doctor’s and bar associations and other such associations are organised in this country, because they appear to resort to violence too often, and they get away with it. Yet it is important for such organisations to exist, because they represent the professionals who are part of it, like parliaments represent– or are supposed to represent– the citizens of a country. But like parliaments there must be controls in place to prevent these other groups from running amok. If these controls fail, it is up to the law enforcement wings of government to punish the offenders.

Not only the law enforcement agencies, but social media and in this case the Punjab Bar Council also need to take action. It must shame on its platform those who are so far enjoying the contemptible fame their videos have conferred upon them, videos that show them egging on their compatriots to destroy, kill and take revenge. These lawyers and their families need to feel shame at these actions and not elation. These people are not celebrities. They are thugs and murderers.

And the Punjab Bar Council. It needs to get its act together, stop protecting its members and affiliates, and take necessary steps to help bring them to justice.

The PIC has had to be shut down to recover from the damage. The people who died are irreplaceable. The equipment and premises will take a great deal of taxpayers’ money to replace. Such violation of a place of healing is a disgrace for the government and for the lawyers of this city. As for the latter, they are now apparently meeting to work on their future strategy following the incident at the PIC. This information was tweeted by Umair Javed with the question: What next? An Orphanage?

Well? Will it be an orphanage next? Or perhaps a school?

IS IT TIME STUDENTS HAD A PLATFORM?

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/12/07/is-it-time-students-had-a-platform/

• Students when they learn the best way to demand their rights translate into citizens who safeguard theirs

The aims, objectives and activities of student unions/guilds/associations vary depending on where they are found. In the USA, student unions mostly take the form of student activity groups with their own governing bodies. In New Zealand they focus primarily on addressing students’ financial issues, such as student debts.

Historically in Pakistan, student unions have been much more involved in the politics of the country starting with the Muslim Students’ Federation, an arm of the Pakistan Muslim League. The MSF was already an established entity when Pakistan came into being in 1947. Subsequently, other student groups came into being as well.

Ten years ago Nadeem Paracha wrote an excellent paper about student unions in Pakistan. One of the (many) things you learn reading this paper is that the Karachi University owes its existence to demands made by the DSF, a student union set up in Karachi’s Dow Medical College. But Karachi University did not come into being until six students lost their lives in processions and riots demanding their rights in the shape of a proper university for the metropolis. The point then is: should student unions exist, and if they do, should there be any perimeters within which they should function?

The primary function of schools and universities is to impart education of course. Whether or not unions exist in educational institutions hinges upon the definition of education. Is learning dates and theorems all there is to education?

Schools and universities can be the cradle where these things are taught and learnt. So long as the authorities stand firm against violence and undisciplined behavior, so long as they insist on academic learning not suffering as a result of these student activities– while remembering that both are important– the country can only benefit from such grounding. Unions can prevent students and citizens from being exploited by universities and later by governments regardless of their gender and religion. This might teach us to tolerate minorities and help us protect the rights of all citizens as already provided for in the Constitution of Pakistan but not practiced. Students, when they learn the best way to demand their rights, translate into citizens who safeguard theirs.

A holistic approach to education would require the student to learn about all aspects of life, social and political, and to acquire the knowledge with which to organise these various aspects. Real education provides students with principles to help him lead a good, decent life, and that definition in turn depends on the defining authorities.

A person who grows up without having learnt about these various aspects of life is left with little option but to allow those with power to govern, and if he manages to get power himself such a person is more likely to use it incorrectly. He is more likely to accept mis-dealings on the part of his government and leaders because he/she does not know any better. That works very well for persons with selfish motivations.

It comes as no surprise then that in Pakistan, student unions are illegal.

It was the DSF that was the first to be banned, in 1954. By the time General Ayub Khan blew in with his Martial Law the National Students’ Federal (NSF) had become powerful. It, and other student unions and all political parties were banned by Ayub Khan. But unions rose again and were a force in bringing Z.A. Bhutto into power.

The late 1970s saw a great increase in the presence of sophisticated arms and ammunition on campuses and powerful student activism. Many violent incidents occurred.

General Zia ul Haq banned student unions in 1984; they were revived again in 1988 and banned again in 1993. The ban was supposed to be subject to review, but a review never materialized, and unions are still for all purposes not allowed to function.

Should this state of affairs continue? Are students justified in their protest against the existence of pressures against reviving student unions?

If there is one thing that sets our culture apart from the West it is the inability to organise. Few people in this country are aware of the due process involved in any organisation. Surprisingly for a culture that prides itself on its tehzeeb (refined manners) few people allow a person to finish speaking before cutting in. Debate and discussion and the ability to reason and infer from available evidence is almost unknown. Instead violence and baseless accusations are resorted to. We are also comparatively new to democracy. It is possible to learn both organisation and the workings of the system on campus by means of student groups.

It has to be a good idea to re-form student unions and insist on them being organised with proper committees and working groups. The committees must run as committees should, with regular meetings conducted in a disciplined manner. The death of students demanding their rights should never happen again.

We have been guaranteed certain rights by the constitution of this country. No one has the right to take them away at any stage. Nor do students shed their Constitutional rights at their university’s gates.

Schools and universities can be the cradle where these things are taught and learnt. So long as the authorities stand firm against violence and undisciplined behavior, so long as they insist on academic learning not suffering as a result of these student activities– while remembering that both are important– the country can only benefit from such grounding. Unions can prevent students and citizens from being exploited by universities and later by governments regardless of their gender and religion. This might teach us to tolerate minorities and help us protect the rights of all citizens as already provided for in the Constitution of Pakistan but not practiced. Students, when they learn the best way to demand their rights, translate into citizens who safeguard theirs.

So, yes, student unions should exist. Subject to certain conditions.

FALLEN STANDARDS

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/11/30/fallingen-standards/

• The Bajwa extension exposed a mess

Standards in public life have decayed over time…incompetence is the norm.                

                                                                                                                                        -Jed Mercurio

Governance here is like a disastrous musical performance with the instruments twanging, clashing, and shrieking out of turn in an attempt to cover the fact that the singers haven’t a clue of the words or the tune. And nothing made the performers’ ineptitude more obvious than the recent fiasco regarding the COAS’s extension, although the brouhaha surrounding Nawaz Sharif’s leaving the country achieved almost as much.

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s throwaway statement a year ago about legislating by means of ordinances was probably the only time he did not execute a u-turn, because now the government is further down that path and in the case of the COAS’s extension acting first and then promising to come up with legislation to make their actions legal at a later date. Should the country’s Supreme Court have allowed this? The Prime Minister could have been called to account for his extremely unprofessional announcement of this extension, but he was not; the Supreme Court has allowed the extension to go through for an initial period of six months.  By doing so they set a precedent for further such transgressions, but then again, perhaps by doing so they managed to prevent the matter from escalating into an even bigger and more humiliating state of affairs.

In fact the COAS and the PM could both have been asked to explain why the extension was so crucial. Does this pushed-through extension mean that the Pakistan Army cannot produce another person competent enough to fill the current boots? That is doubtful since the top brass in the army appears to be of …er… more or less the same calibre. There should have been no problem there. So what is it? Has no one else been groomed and to deal with the tense situations on Pakistan’s borders, its ‘regional security environment’? If that is the case, what does that say about the leadership in the Pakistan Army and its dedication to smooth transitions, and to the nation it serves? And since no one can be in office indefinitely, in what position does that put whoever comes next? Not to mention that it would be good to know what makes the current COAS so important to the present government. Is the government itself not competent enough? To function without this COAS, that is?

You wonder if the PM even knows…well he probably knows now (we hope), but when he blew in with his bald statement concerning General Bajwa’s extension, did he know then that it is the President of the country who appoints the COAS, that it is the President who is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces? See Article 243 of the Pakistan Constitution. You wonder if the PM or anyone in his government has read the Pakistan Constitution. If so, surely the letter announcing the COAS’s extension would have reflected this.

The leaders of the country appear to be playing some kind of a dance. When in 2016 Nawaz Sharif who was then the Prime Minister offered Gen Raheel Sharif an extension, Imran Khan– then in the opposition– criticized the move and accused Mr. Sharif of being afraid of the Army. Does that apply to Mr Imran Khan now? When General Sharif refused the extension Mr. Khan praised him, saying the nation respected him for his decision. If that was the case, you wonder what the nation thinks of General Bajwa now for accepting his extension, especially given that the nation finds itself in this imbroglio as a result.

The PPP also, during its tenure, gave Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani a three year extension, but now its representatives have criticized Imran Khan for General Bajwa’s extension.

Is it possible that politicians suffer from irreversible memory loss, and/or chronic inability to keep their heads down and get on with their job? Does either of those things make them incompetent to be appointed to positions in government?

It is interesting to conjecture what happens if this government is unable come up with the promised legislation regarding the extension/reappointment of an Army Chief within the stipulated time of six months, legislation that would give General Bajwa’s extension beyond six months a legal stamp of approval. Will the Army Chief be out then? Somehow, that does not seem likely given the ‘yes sir’ relation between the armed forces and Pakistan’s civilian authorities.

Will our leaders ever learn? It appears extremely doubtful. What made us think IK would be any different?

JUST LET THEM TALK

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/11/23/just-let-them-talk/

Donald Trump is known for many things, including his discriminatory policies. Several years before he became President, his company Trump Management was sued by the Department of Justice for discrimination against African-American tenants on its properties. So, perhaps the reason why the President is so critical of the newspaper The New York Times today has to do with the fact that its Executive Editor since 2014 Dean Baquet is black, the first black man to serve in this capacity. Although he is known for abusing journalists generally, Mr Trump has frequently criticised the Times in particular, saying earlier this year that the White House would stop subscribing to the newspaper, adding that he would also direct federal agencies to follow suit.

The New York Times is the winner of 127 Pulitzer prizes, a greater number than any other newspaper in the world. It has a wide international readership and has been ranked at number three in circulation within the USA.

Noam Chomsky said that The New York Times was the first thing he looked at in the morning, that “Despite all its flaws— and they’re real— it still has the broadest, the most comprehensive coverage of I think any newspaper in the world.”

Returning to the President, Mr Trump has been accused of racism as well as sexism, yet Mr Baquet, himself a Pulitzer Prize winner for investigative reporting, has refused to call the President ‘racist’ or ‘sexist’.

Jim Waterson, Media Editor for The Guardian questioned Mr Baquet about this in an interview, at which Mr Baquet raised an important point. He said he did not believe in making value judgments and putting them into words. In other words, he said that he did not believe in ‘branding’ people. He said his job was to “cover the world with tremendous curiosity” not to act in opposition to the President. He said he was not in a position to know if the President said the things he did because he was a racist and a sexist or because he was trying to “stoke his base”, because he was not in his– Mr Trump’s– head.

“I will tell you the most powerful writing I’ve ever seen about race, as a black man who grew up in the south, did not use the word ‘racist’. It quoted people saying what they had to say, and described the world they live in. And you made your own judgment. And the judgment was pretty clear. And I think that’s the way to write about Donald Trump and everybody else. It’s just to let them talk.”

And we hear this talk. It is a problem that few people seem to know how to use what they hear to arrive at the right decision, since people are taught to react to certain catchphrases, and politicians learn to use this habit.

Baquet’s suggestion to ‘let them talk’ is a powerful concept. It would be an interesting exercise to apply the idea to the many things people say and then to see what you end up thinking about them. What would you think about Maulana Fazlur Rehman, for example, when he declares the entire country to be his war zone, in a war that would end only when the government falls. Do such statements make you question just how much the Maulana values peace, democracy and the well-being of the people of this country? If not, they should.

This is a thing that ought to be taught; how to listen closely, and to assess persons based on their actions rather than on superfluous things. If this were to become more common the fact that a leader spent time and resources for the welfare of the people should raise him in people’s opinion, but that he elects the persons he does to important office would bring him down. And that he was once a dashing international star would hold very little water.

How is a democracy to succeed when people have no idea how to judge the worth of a public figure, so they may decide who is to lead them? How is anything rational to be achieved when a few strategically used Arabic words and the mention of some historical religious figures raises people beyond criticism, and the label kafir (disbeliever) or murtid (apostate), is enough to condemn a person to death? The first could be true of Mr Qadri, and the second of Abdul Sattar Edhi.

If such throw away words, such cleverly used accusations, can easily obtain approval or condemnation, then government, judiciary, the country, and the life of its people….everything is at risk, and it is.

FOSTERING TRANSITION

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/11/17/fostering-transition/

Environmental pollution is now a visible, tangible, acutely serious issue, and Pakistan ranks second only to Bangladesh as the country with the second dirtiest air quality in the world. We see the problem manifested all around, in Lahore for example with its horrendous smog that reaches ‘hazardous’ levels, becoming worse every year. And no, this is not an Indian attempt to destroy Pakistan, although smoke resulting from crop burning across the border does drift across to us contributing to the problem. Crop burning is alive and well in our own country where there are, in addition, unrestrained and growing ‘fuel emissions from vehicles on city roads, untreated emissions by industries, particularly steel re-rolling mills that burn used rubber tyres and plastic waste material as an alternate to costly electricity and gas.’

The overuse of plastic is one of the major reasons behind this pollution. At least eight million tons of plastic end up with other waste in the oceans all over the world, destroying the natural water habitat and its creatures. When eventually the water breaks up the plastic, it takes the shape of tiny flecks that make their way into the bodies of humans and animals on land and sea.

Several organisations are trying to combat this problem such as The New Plastics Economy, in initiative sponsored by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a charity registered in the UK. The New Plastics Economy is trying to eliminate unnecessary use of plastic, and to make plastic reusable, and eventually recyclable and biodegradable.

In Pakistan there has lately been an attempt at bringing down the use of plastic bags, but like all other things in this country, this is a patchy attempt, almost definitely born less of a concern for the environment than a quest for applause. Some places are stricter than others and some are ignoring the initiative altogether.

The world is in transit, moving from ignorant violation of the environment to the present where we are aware of what we are doing, but have not as yet worked out how to change the situation. The reason is often economic. If we aspire to 3D housing for example, it requires not just expensive equipment, but it uses 50 per cent less manpower, so we lose jobs for construction labourers on a large scale. The benefits could yet outweigh the losses, but not unless a serious attempt is made to make it so. No such attempt is made, however, which is to do with a lack of long-term vision and a genuine dedication to the cause

Countries that are serious about combatting pollution have come up with some marvellous solutions. Seoul is putting up solar panels on all public buildings and a million homes, and Kenya is the proud owner of Africa’s largest windfarm.

According to a publication of the World Economic Forum, pollution in Indonesia is acute, and is killing its rivers and beaches. Indonesia has now come up with ‘plastic’ bags that are utterly and completely biodegradable. Made of cassava, the root vegetable similar to sweet potato, these bags dissolve in water if left in it, and the resultant solution is safe enough for both animal and human consumption. Unlike plastic therefore, if it is dumped into the river it will neither clog and pollute the waterways, nor will it kill sea life.

Most of the trash and plastic in the world’s oceans comes from just a few rivers and canals. A Dutch start-up has devised a ‘bubble barrier’ composed of nothing but bubbles to stop waste from travelling to the sea. Tests prove it prevents 80 per cent of the trash from floating downstream. Amsterdam is using this system in its canals. How difficult/expensive is this system? It works by laying a tube diagonally across the bed of a river or canal. The tube has holes all along its sides. Air is pumped into the tube. The air comes out upwards from these holes into the water in the shape of bubbles which float to the side of the waterway, carrying trash upwards and sideways with it. The trash can then be retrieved easily and prevented from carrying on to the sea.

On other fronts, Dubai has come up with its first two-story building entirely printed on a 3D printer. With this technology there is 60 per cent less construction waste. France has used this technology as well to make affordable housing, also with less waste, and 3D-printed shelters are also being built in Haiti and El-Salvador.

In India, the place we love to hate, there is a serious attempt to cut down pollution in Kolkata where 80 electric buses have been introduced into the city’s mass transit system this year. By next year they plan to introduce another 100. It is hoped that these 180 electric buses will together lead to an annual reduction of 14,086 tonnes of CO₂ emissions. A report by the World Economic Forum says ‘the government provided 60% of the funds for the initial 80 electric buses and helped install the charging infrastructure.’

The report also noted that ‘partnerships can foster rapid transitions. For example, the long-term vision both at the state and national levels enabled Kolkata to set out the strategy to transition its entire bus and ferry fleets to electric.’

The world is in transit, moving from ignorant violation of the environment to the present where we are aware of what we are doing, but have not as yet worked out how to change the situation. The reason is often economic. If we aspire to 3D housing for example, it requires not just expensive equipment, but it uses 50 per cent less manpower, so we lose jobs for construction labourers on a large scale. The benefits could yet outweigh the losses, but not unless a serious attempt is made to make it so. No such attempt is made, however, which is to do with a lack of long-term vision and a genuine dedication to the cause.

With all the enterprise and ability to work hard that our society has to offer, what innovations have we come up with as yet? What transitions have our governments fostered other than a constant transition from one government to another with dire consequences for the country? At present all we appear to be producing is a leadership in uniform woven with seminary fibre. You wonder if any of this is compostable.

DHARNA: GRABBING AT STRAWS

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/11/09/dharna-grabbing-at-straws/

Eight days since its inception the most recent dharna in Islamabad has undoubtedly been yet another drain on an already exhausted, mismanaged economy and a huge inconvenience; but then that’s what dharnas do, and yet politicians– who claim to care for the country and its people organise them.

The dharna in 2014 was no different. It too led to massive economic losses and disruption, roads were blocked, and routine was interrupted. In fact, the current sample has an edge over that one in that this time around– as yet– there has been no violence. Whereas in 2014 Al-Jazeera had reported that the protesters had used cars to break through the boundaries of the National Assembly and were occupying its grounds. Then the inevitable tear gas and rubber bullets were used, and batons were wielded. It is said that three people died as a result, and hundreds were injured.

Yet the PTI leadership claims to be outraged. Fawad Chaudhry, currently the Minister for Science and Technology, in his media conference had things to say about the dharna and about Maulana Fazlur Rehman. He accused Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s dharna of disrupting normal economic activities and schools. Mind you, schools had been closed down in 2014 too when the PTI organised its protest/dharna, because thousands of police had been housed in them. The Minister also had a personal swipe at Maulana sahib, saying that disruptions of schools probably didn’t matter to Fazlur Rehman since the Maulana’s own kids, now grown, never went to school anyway. Not sure where he got that from, but it is unlikely that the children of a man who did his Masters from Al-Azhar grew up uneducated. Still, Maulana sahib should count his blessings for having escaped a slap, literally, unlike a news anchor who was assaulted by Mr. Chaudhry sometime in the not too distant past.

Without being in any way an admirer of Maulana sahib, in fact very, very far from it, you have to admit the participants of this dharna have had a different style, almost as if they were enjoying themselves. Here is where we find the common man of Pakistan, impoverished, desperate, a fervent believer in an irrational variety of religion; these men grab at straws, at anything that might alleviate their desperate plight. While the powers that be indulge in verbal attacks, they have organised games, prayed, talked and laughed on the pavements and roads, in the rain, in the open and in tents. You suspect– and you’d probably be right– that this event has been a mode of relaxation for them, a desperate satire on Glastonbury. When else could your average farm worker, fruit seller, shopkeeper find time to spend a few days in the company of thousands of others like himself, when else could he take such a long-time off work? As for amenities, who has amenities anyway in the segment of society represented by these men? In the side lanes in bazaars can be seen lines of horrifically impoverished homes, shoulder to shoulder in noisome lanes thanks to open, blocked, overflowing sewers. Does anyone care, even their elected councillors? This is not where many of these men live though. That would be something even less attractive. Nothing is being done about such environments. No one in government, in short, gives a hang about them or a thought to his or her actual job. No one ever has.

The protestors in such rallies know little about systems and means of establishing and changing governments. That is for those who lead them to explain, instead of which those who lead them capitalise on that ignorance and take them along down routes such as dharnas, using the sheer number of followers as a clout. Nothing will be achieved at the end, not for these participants anyway. Governments might remain or they might fall, these men will go back to the same homes and live in the same conditions they always did. A good education will still be beyond their means, as also a full stomach, while a decent home will remain the stuff of dreams

Nasim Zehra spoke to many participants of this dharna when it had just started. It seemed the reason most of them were there was that life had become too expensive for them, and they just wanted someone to do something about it, please. They weren’t wrong.

The protestors in such rallies know little about systems and means of establishing and changing governments. That is for those who lead them to explain, instead of which those who lead them capitalise on that ignorance and take them along down routes such as dharnas, using the sheer number of followers as a clout. Nothing will be achieved at the end, not for these participants anyway. Governments might remain or they might fall, these men will go back to the same homes and live in the same conditions they always did. A good education will still be beyond their means, as also a full stomach, while a decent home will remain the stuff of dreams.

“This march will enter the corridors of power and sweep away the trash,” said the JUI(F) chief during one of his addresses to the participants of the protest.

Well, at least the man recognises himself.

THE UNFORGETTABLE EXHIBIT

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/11/02/the-unforgettable-exhibit/

• How a political statement got amplified

What is art?

Prehistoric art during the Neolithic age was a commentary on the life of the time, the progress of man, his achievements and his setbacks. Man was new to his implements and materials but use them he did to depict the life around him, the animals he encountered, as a warning to other hunters, an observation of the terrain. It revealed his flights of fancy, his deepest wishes; it was a reaching for the stars, a lament following war. If the artist observed a tiger stalking a deer, he drew it, he molded stones in the shape of the weight on his heart and made fledgling efforts at portraits of warriors, headmen, and tribesmen. This after all was the politics of the time. In addition those artists made lines and dabbed on paint just for the heck of it too.

It carried on. David’s statue in Florence, a symbol of the defense of civil liberties embodied by the Republic of Florence, a city-state threatened by rivals and by the all-powerful Medici family; Catalano’s statue about the heartache of migration, this is what artists aspire to, to create a spur to thought, to produce the kindling that fires imagination, to present a message encapsulated by skill and imagination. This is the real thing of beauty that is a joy forever.

Human rights supporters stood each stone up again and lay down behind each one, representing the body in each grave. What a superb response. We will remember Suleman’s exhibit which otherwise we would have appreciated very much but would have forgotten in time, but now this exhibit will remain in our minds. Because it became such a powerful commentary on the times we live in. This is something that is beyond the capacity of ‘Intel Agencies’ to understand, that censorship eventually rebounds on the censors.

The Karachi Biennale 2019 recently held its annual event at the Frere Hall. What is the Karachi Biennale? It is the flagship project undertaken by the Karachi Biennale Trust designed to use art as a vehicle to discover, discuss and respond to Karachi.

The exhibition this year included a work by the artist Adeela Suleman. It consisted of 444 grave markers, each depicting a person murdered by Rao Anwar of Karachi, now the former SSP of Malir. As Jibran Nasir pointed out, the murders are not disputed, they are on police record. The SSP was later also indicted for the murder of Naqeebullah Mehsud, a young aspiring model who Anwar claimed was a member of the TTP. Give us a break.

Part of the exhibit at Frere Hall was also a video installation with images of Mehsud’s father and the place where he was killed.

Unidentified persons raided this Karachi Biennale 2019 display at the Frere Hall. They toppled over each stone representing each grave marker thus destroying Adeela Suleman’s exhibit, and sealed off the lower hall.

So, who were these people? Which ‘Intel Agency’ were they from with enough power enabling them to arrive in trucks and threaten the staff of Frere Hall, disrupt Jibran Nasir’s press conference, throw away the medias’ mikes and prevent them from going on air? The fact that the organisers of the Biennale issued a statement afterwards in which they refused to support Suleman and said that her exhibit was against the ethos of the event and would create ‘false divisions’ between art, the public and society suggests that the organisers too perhaps were muzzled by the ‘Agency’. After all each exhibit must have been vetted and given approval before the event.

Were these self-appointed censors expecting pieces of art utterly devoid of commentary on the surroundings in which people live? Did they want or expect just lines and dabs of paint, paintings of voluptuous beauties and monuments in praise of our rulers, statues of figures from our apparently glorious past, or a collage of the achievements of Pakistan? Of course, with Malala conspicuously missing, and Abdus Salam blacked out.

This incident gives rise to many questions, but also whether art should foster political debate in a society.

That depends on what the definition of politics is. If it is the expression of the will of the people, their concerns and the issues they face, then Suleman’s exhibit is right up that alley.

If on the other hand those in power in Pakistan define politics (only to themselves of course) as a vehicle for the power the government holds over the governed, then what followed the destruction of Suleman’s exhibit was an even more powerful commentary than the commentary that was destroyed, and its censors failed abysmally in their attempts to hush it up. And what followed is this:

Human rights supporters stood each stone up again and lay down behind each one, representing the body in each grave.

What a superb response.

We will remember Suleman’s exhibit which otherwise we would have appreciated very much but would have forgotten in time, but now this exhibit will remain in our minds. Because it became such a powerful commentary on the times we live in.

This is something that is beyond the capacity of ‘Intel Agencies’ to understand, that censorship eventually rebounds on the censors.

How many people read Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses before it was banned? How many read it afterwards?

HIDING BEHIND THE PAST

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/10/27/hiding-behind-the-past/

• Plays dealing with present issues are needed

The Turkish television serial Ertugrul: Resurrection has a large viewership, it is immensely popular in several countries. The series has English subtitles so it can be understood by non-Turkish speakers. Unlike the show itself, the subtitles are poor: tough warriors are regularly called ‘niece’ by their uncles, and felicity termed as velocity, and many other errors. But oh well. The superb production and acting, excellent choreography, meticulous sets, and a gripping story more than make up for it, and– a huge relief– it is full of confident women who work alongside with men, women who are not weepy, clingy, shrieky or die-away.

Ertugrul, a real person in the 13th century and a hero in the annals of Turkish/Islamic history, was the son of Suleyman Shah, the leader of the Kayi tribe of Orghuz Turks. Along with his tribe he came up against the Templars.

Our Prime Minister Imran Khan has said he would like to have the play dubbed into Urdu so that non-English speaking people in this country can watch it too and exult in the glories of their past as Muslims.

Muslims did have a glorious past, in a few places not as glorious as we would like to believe, in others even quite inglorious. But it is easy to gild what no longer exists and use it to divert people’s attention from the present. Politicians are therefore consistently keen to refer to said glorious past, towards events unconnected with current issues, so that the woefully little– or even the wrong that is being done in the here and now can pass unnoticed in the hankering for a resurrection.

Pakistan’s PM should, instead of glorifying the past yet again– and good as this series is, look to stress the value of plays that focus on the present and its issues, something other than marriage and nasty in-laws, something more constructive, from which people can learn, a kind of a show and tell.

And we need plays that speak to us about the ubiquitous misuse of the religious card, that sickening use to which Islam is put in this country, a tactic that benefits no one

For example, there could be plays with themes such as what comprises justice. The story could demonstrate just why certain laws such as the blasphemy law are a travesty of justice, and that justice delayed is justice denied, as in the case of the young man Junaid Hafeez. He has been accused of blasphemy, but his case is not being addressed after Rashid Rahman of the HRCP, the one person who dared to fight on his behalf, was gunned down. Junaid has been in solitary confinement since 2014.

There could be plays about the real meaning of honour, about how honour most emphatically does not mean killing people for marrying partners of their own choice, such as the couple hanged in Kalat recently for that very reason. Earlier this year a man was shot in Baluchistan in the name of ‘honour,’ and several people also this year in Karachi.

There could be a movie about power and what it means; with a mocking reference to the use of power to oppress as in the case of Dr Hisham, the provincial health minister in KP, whose guards beat up a surgeon at the Khyber Teaching Hospital. Doctors in that province are on strike to protest against the event, and because the police will not register an FIR against the minister.

There could be plays too about what happens in the event of a war, and a nuclear war in particular, to make it clear to a chest-thumping public on either side that chucking nukes at each other is no way to settle disputes, it is no trivial matter and will solve nothing, only because no one will survive a nuclear war. No one on either side.

We need plays with strong women as central characters, as role models to this downtrodden segment of society which supports their own suppression by perpetuating the myth that to be weak and languishing is to be feminine.

We need plays that speak of government and its institutions, and how different branches of government work best when they stick to their own sphere, instead of interfering in what does not lie within their remit. Inspiration can be drawn from army chiefs who deal with the country’s economy or confer with leaders of the business community.

Definitely, we need a play that would talk about the thing called a constitution and why ruling by means of arbitrary means such as ordinances and decrees is a slap on the face of democracy. That play could be called ‘Taaleem-e-Balighan’.

And we need plays that speak to us about the ubiquitous misuse of the religious card, that sickening use to which Islam is put in this country, a tactic that benefits no one.

WHO SUFFERS FOR POLITICIANS' INEQUITIES?

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/10/12/who-suffers-for-politicians-inequities/

• What will the Maulana’s march achieve?

What exactly is an ‘Azadi March’, which Maulana F plans to organize on 31 October at D-Chowk in Islamabad? Until today the march was meant to be held on the 27th, but it has been rescheduled, leaving the 27th free to express solidarity with Occupied Kashmir with other parties. Finding himself forced to change the dates, the Maulana has justified it by saying it gives more time for people to arrive at the venue.

The Maulana’s expressed purpose for the Azadi march is to express his disapproval against the present government and turf it out, for which he has cited Articles 16 and 17, segments of the Constitution that deal with Freedom of Assembly and Association respectively.

It is an almost amusing example of the way words and ideas are used by politicians to their benefit. Quoting the Constitution of course is supposed to give legitimacy to the march. The common man does not understand such things, but knows that the ‘manshoor’ is something important. So, Constitution quoted.

The maulana per se in all his regalia is of course meant to appeal to the public. A man of God, regardless of the fact that he had connections with the Taliban who are grossly un-Islamic. He is also a man who says he would like to impose Sharia law, and retain the monstrous blasphemy law in Pakistan, but of course those are further examples of catchwords in this country. According to right-wing thought both the Taliban and the blasphemy law are supposed to be sanctioned by Islam. As for the Sharia law, God only knows what that is, since no two individuals are likely to agree on the others’ version. What’s more, since right-wing alliances preclude liberal support, the Maulana has also allied himself with various secular parties–0 ‘liberal’ and ‘secular’, such debauched words in the public arena.

What is the Maulana’s march supposed to achieve? He would like to oust the present government. Why? Because he says the elections that brought in the PTI were rigged.

At the end of such rallies, it is those who conducted it who should be slapped with the bill. And what’s more, they ought to be made to pay. Why should the poor people suffer for their politicians’ inequities?

Really the exercise is because the Maulana has been trying very hard for a long time to become the PM himself.

What will the march achieve? Well, what did the previous such march achieve?

In 2014 the PTI organized another Azadi march, also called the Tsunami March. Its demands then were much the same as the Maulana’s demands now, to get rid of the sitting government, which the PTI accused of rigging the elections.

The rally started in Lahore and went on to Gujranwala, Kharian, and arrived two days later at Zero Point in Islamabad. Protesters were also stationed outside the Supreme court of the country, and it was said that judges were trapped inside.

Meantime Imran Khan took up his position outside Parliament Building and said he would wait for Nawaz Sharif’s resignation there, and then go on to the PM’s house. In short, ‘kick him out, and bring me in.’

On that march, several people were injured, and in the protests in the capital city itself more than 500 people were injured.

The Chief of Army Staff was called in to mediate, although this was a civilian political crisis, not war. How constitutional was that?

And this is what happened in Islamabad alone. Protests also took place in other cities.

All these politicians claim to support democracy, although no democracy supports the forcible removal by violent means of a sitting government.

Schools were closed in 2014, as were government offices, and the police was accommodated in the schools.

According to one estimate the country lost around Rs 800 million as a result of the disruption caused by those marches. According to another the losses were much more than that at about Rs 610 billion. What was our annual expenditure the previous fiscal year– about Rs 475 billion?

Points that appear to have bypassed our leaders is that people are injured when such protests occur and sometimes lives are lost.

The economy is badly hit when businesses do not open and much more often are unable to open. No country can afford such losses. Pakistan– you wonder if they know it– is a poor country and cannot afford such things.

The way towards success is to pull the nation together, not to create dissension.

The way to get a sitting government out is to fight it in an election. All such ‘Azadi’ marches are likely to shake off in the long run is democracy, and democracy, however fragile it may be, is important.

If an election is seen as rigged, it is the election commission that should be examined, and its shortcomings addressed.

The Constitution does guarantee right of assembly. It is up to the leaders themselves therefore to show some maturity and consideration for the people they wish to lead. Sadly, they, none of them, appear to possess either maturity or consideration.

At the end of such rallies, it is those who conducted it who should be slapped with the bill. And what’s more, they ought to be made to pay. Why should the poor people suffer for their politicians’ inequities?

SHOULD WAR CRIMES NOT BE INVESTIGATED?

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/10/05/should-war-crimes-not-be-investigated/

• Does the PM know what is going on?

The Prime Minister’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly was good as speeches by our leaders go. It addressed some important issues, was well laid out, and delivered with conviction. But it contained several inconsistencies that took one’s breath away. Such as the rather plaintive “But one country cannot do anything” (meaning ‘everything’), “this has to be a combined effort of the world”– when speaking about climate change and the PTI’s efforts to mitigate its effects, and how the PTI government had planted billions of trees in KP.

The PM must remember that countries are judged by their overall performance. The world does not care about what the latest government has achieved. And really, what has this government achieved, other than killing the economy and strangling the media?

So, suddenly the authorities in Pakistan woke up to the fact that the country must live up to the image of having done something. There followed a commotion to clean up Karachi– which it has needed for the past many years, and the sudden clampdown on plastic bags– which was also long overdue.

The Mall in Lahore, once a peaceful road, is now best avoided as it is so often the scene of protests and riots. The latest protest was staged by those involved in the manufacture of plastic bags, furious because the ban on the use of plastic bags is to lead to the loss of a million jobs in eight thousand factories in Punjab alone.

While the move to end the use of non-degradable bags is laudable, the arbitrary way it has been done– entirely in keeping with many of this government’s moves– is not laudable at all. Like other arbitrary orders, this one too is likely to be rescinded at some stage, or else ignored. Like the M-tag for motorways, like the sudden clampdown on not using a seatbelt, like the directives in schools and universities. A similar attempt to end the use of plastic bags by the previous government never made it. But in the meantime, this time around, a million people in Punjab are to lose their jobs. Where is the planning that would provide them with alternatives?

Probably the truest part of the PM’s speech was: “There are radical fringes in every society, but the basis of ALL religion is compassion and justice.” Yes, that is true. But this was followed by “I hear such strange things about Islam– that it is against women and minorities.”

Yes, the world has a responsibility towards Kashmir. It must urge India to stop the atrocities there. It is good the PM stressed that. The alternative is, as the AFP reports, a nuclear war which could kill a 100 million

The PM is right, Islam is not against women and minorities. So how then do we explain the persecution of Hazaras, Ahmadis and Shias by mainstream Muslims in this country who almost always get away with it, and the ‘honour’ killings of women? Who is allowing this to happen? Are those ‘“some persons in the West who provoked Muslims” mentioned in the speech, to blame? Are those “some persons” also responsible for the incarceration of Aasia Bibi, for the forced conversions, and for the burning alive in an industrial kiln of Shama and her husband Shahzad Masih? Are they responsible for the young Christian men who have been disappearing from Youhanabad? Because last year their families alleged that 24 young men were picked up from Youhanabad by the police.

Who is responsible for the Ahmadis, Hazaras and Shias who are harassed in this country while the rest flee elsewhere for their lives when they can?

Although compassion is undoubtedly there in Islam, in all religions, where is it in this country and why are there no consequences for most of the people who commit these crimes?

Why were there no consequences for Captain Safdar, for example, when he made a speech in the National Assembly in 2017 saying that Ahmadis should not be recruited into the Army because of their beliefs, and nor should the Physics Department of Quaid e Azam University be named after Abdus Salam for the same reason? No political party or member of Parliament condemned Safdar for that speech at the time.

According to an AFP report a year ago, UN-mandated investigators said they had “reasonable grounds to believe that parties to the armed conflict in Yemen have committed a substantial number of violations of international humanitarian law.” Many of these violations may amount to “war crimes”, the report said, pointing to widespread arbitrary detention, rape, torture and the recruitment of children as young as eight to take part in hostilities.”

Yet, last month, Pakistan said that the UN should not be investigating human rights violations in Yemen. Could that possibly be because its allies may have committed war crimes? Is Pakistan holding back because it cannot do without Saudi aid?

Why is the government not protesting the persecution of Uighur Muslims in China? Is it because of the advantages accruing from CPEC?

All races and people commit such crimes, yes, but that fact does not make ours any more palatable.

Yes, the world has a responsibility towards Kashmir. It must urge India to stop the atrocities there. It is good the PM stressed that. The alternative is, as the AFP reports, a nuclear war which could kill a 100 million.

Still, at the end of the day Imran Khan’s speech leaves you wondering if our Prime Minister is indeed blissfully unaware of the problems that beset Pakistan. Does he even think it is his boot that spurs the horse?