THE POWER OF SYMBOLISM

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/02/25/the-power-of-symbolism/

People appear to be divided between two opposing camps, one that believes there is eternal glory in store for those who give up their lives in war.

The other says there is no glory in war, and that it produces no heroes; that glory comes from actions that prevent war, that heroes are the ones who implement these actions.

It is hard to believe in the absoluteness of either view, surely there is something in between? Something that says that those who die in war – if they die knowing that they die for a greater cause, something that would save lives and make this a better world, such persons only are heroes. Which means there would be little glory in killing your enemy and being killed by him if he – for example – spat on you (Hazrat Ali).

Whether there is eternal glory is known only to Him who is able to grant it. What is sure is that such heroism is not to be aspired to over and above peace on earth, and each of us must do all in our power to make that peace a reality, and refuse to be impressed when they are just words in the mouths of people who seek to gain power via that peace, or that war. And that is what is happening these days with the PM across the border expressing anger at the violence in Pulwama, and the PM on this side protesting his dedication to peace. While it is clear that with elections coming up soon in India, across the border is spouting election rhetoric and depending on the drums of war to beat up support, you do wish that PM Khan’s protestations were genuine. Or let us assume they are, but what is being done to live up to them?

The suicide bomber whose act of detonating 350 kilos of explosives that killed 44 Indian soldiers was a resident of Indian Held Kashmir. It was probably the highhandedness of Indian troops in his homeland that compelled him to do what he did.

But the group taking ‘credit’ for the attack, Jaesh-e-Mohammad, which has links to Al-Qaeda, a group that previously functioned under another name, is based in Pakistan. Their leader Masood Azhar is a resident of this country. The attack in Pulwama is not the first they have been implicated in. Yet the group runs mosques and seminaries here. The goverment of Punjab sealed one mosque seminary complex in Bahawalpur following the attack, another such complex was similarly sealed by the Counter Terrorism Department in Sialkot. Surely, the government of Pakistan, previous and current ought to have made it a matter of priority to shut these down earlier. Much earlier.

The ceremony would be funny if it were not imbued with patriotism, when it is perceived as impressive, even though all it is is high/goose-marching men who raise their legs above their noses, wearing starched turras on their turbans, who stomp their feet and shout and glare at each other

There are other things that could be done. Some are symbolic. Note the ‘symbolic’ all by itself, unqualified by ‘only’ or ‘just’. Symbolism is powerful. One of these things is the Wagah Border Flag Ceremony, which began in the late 1950s, the flag lowering ceremony on either side of the border which is framed as an entertainment geared to tourists who come to view the sight of the Pakistan Rangers on this side and the Indian Border Security Force on that, recreating the pomp and ceremony of a battlefield — because only tourists and overzealous patriots who believe there is eternal glory in store for those who give up their lives in war can imagine a battlefield as possessing pomp and ceremony.

The ceremony would be funny if it were not imbued with patriotism, when it is perceived as impressive, even though all it is is high/goose-marching men who raise their legs above their noses, wearing starched turras on their turbans, who stomp their feet and shout and glare at each other for almost an hour, recreating the two countries’ warlike attitude and contempt for each other.

I cannot speak for the Hindu set of beliefs, but Muslims believe in the power of symbolism, in the power of acts such as bowing five times a day leading to a genuine submission to Allah. Is it not amazing then that if peace were ever sought between the two nations, Pakistan at least should not have tried to replace this pantomime with something less aggressive? Something that would suggest peace to its people, and congeniality, rather than war and animosity?

MANIPULATIVE ADVERTISING

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/02/18/manipulative-advertising/

Advertising is not meant to be simply inane jingles and cavorting models, although it often is; there is supposed to be some serious psychology behind the exercise, and only then can a product be sold. The best advertisements keep in mind the target audience’s psychographics, which define consumers according to their ‘personality, values, opinions, attitudes, interests and lifestyle.’ Effective advertising in short figures out what makes consumers tick and aims its message squarely at that. Therefore ‘Ae Khuda mere Abu salamat rahain,’ which sells life insurance using a jingle sung by a sweet little girl, would have listeners saying ‘amen’ every time in a society where emotion takes a firm upper hand.

Some of the best advertising in the world such as Nike’s ‘Just Do It’ puts its finger right on the ‘dukti rug’ of not being able to get started on a challenge. Just do it, it says. Don’t think about it, run that marathon, jog an extra mile every morning, just do it. And the audience does, or at least wears Nike while it thinks about it.

But there is also the less innocuous advertising, such as the commercial that pushes the New York Times broadsheet by means of images of Syrian refugees, images that speak of “fear, desperation and hope”. The commercial asks viewers to “think about how bad it must be in their country” that ‘they’ put their families in such precarious rafts (shown) to seek a life elsewhere. “The truth is hard to find,” it says. “The truth is worth pursuing.” And, it says, the New York Times does that. Here the bleak, tragic lives of refugees are being used to make money. Here is manipulation at its most sickening because the words ‘refugees’, and the images of laden boats of broken, shattered humans including children resonates with viewers, particularly in the West. Such manipulation, apparent only when one thinks about it is enough to make a person not buy the New York Times. Ever. This angle would not have worked as well in a third world country where we are used to seeing broken, shattered humans including children all around us with our own eyes. Here, there are other things. Here what works is the weepy sort of emotion of the sort in the mere abu commercial. Here everything – including religion — is infused with generous helpings of that sentiment, if sentiment is a behaviour pattern that is strong and fixed, ‘typically based on emotions and beliefs, and often disconnected from reality, reason or logic.’ Once that connection is made religion is used ruthlessly.

Somewhere where DHA meets the Cantonment in Lahore is a wall of five posters, showing five shaheed army personnel who laid down their lives to keep the country safe for which the country definitely owes them a debt of gratitude. Each poster has the sentence ‘Join the army’ underneath. There can be little doubt what that plays on. In a country where religion makes people tick, where along with everything else religion is infused with sentiment to the extent that all reason has been knocked out of it, joining the ranks of martyrs is likely to be a huge inducement. There is little one can say to counter this sentiment in Pakistan. It would be resented, it would be misunderstood, it would not be tolerated.

In one of his articles some years ago, Dr Khalid Zaheer, a religious scholar speaks of the definition of a shaheed, saying that there is ample evidence in the Quran to say that the status of a shaheed is one to be bestowed on a man by God alone

In one of his articles some years ago, Dr Khalid Zaheer, a religious scholar speaks of the definition of a shaheed, saying that there is ample evidence in the Quran to say that the status of a shaheed is one to be bestowed on a man by God alone, not by his fellow humans. He points out that in Urdu, Hindi and Bengali, the term ‘shaheed’ is used to honour a person who dies in a war or an accident and has no relationship with the actual religious meaning and with what the Quran says.

But who knows this.

So, what does this advertisement say except that it places the employer in the exalted position of being able to grant its employees access to heaven? Heaven is not the place for mines and bombs, guns, mortar and explosions. It does not generate amputees, widows and orphans. You are not required to defend your borders or your country in heaven. This is glorifying war, and it places the armed forces where they become untouchable. The public ought to resent such manipulation. It would be much better to simply say ‘Your Country Needs YOU’ as the Allies did during the World War. That at least says it as it is. Our country does need us. In every way.

MEOW?

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/02/11/meow/

• The legal fraternity in Pakistan needs to grow up

In Karachi, a car driver – a woman — was recently charged with killing a cat in a road accident.

It seems that the woman’s car hit the cat in Defence Housing Authority. A witness to the incident who happened to be a lawyer, asked the woman to have the cat’s wounds treated but the woman refused, upon which the lawyer reported the matter to the police. The police refused to lodge an FIR. They also gave their opinion of the matter, that the lawyer was as culpable since he too had not treated the cat’s wounds.

A local court took up the case. A case has been registered against the woman. She has not been arrested as yet, and it is not known if she has been fined.

Section 429 of the Penal Code under which the case has been registered says “Whoever commits mischief by killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless, any elephant, camel, horse, mule, buffalo, bull, cow or ox, whatever may be the value thereof, or any other animal of the value of fifty rupees or upwards, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years, or with both.”

Since the cat could easily have been worth much more than fifty rupees if it was a pet – it is unknown if it was a pet or a stray — the prescribed penalty could apply to the person who injured it, since it is hard to establish whether the accused meant to ‘commit mischief’ or was merely driving without mischievous intent.

One supposes the court had to take up the case since the busy witness insisted on pushing it. He probably felt frustrated with the endless parade of dead animals with which the roads in Pakistan are littered and this hapless lady was the only one he managed to nab as is generally the case with women. Or he had nothing else to do.

You wish there was some other mechanism to settle such matters rather burdening already burdened courts with them, but there does not appear to be such a mechanism. The striking aspect of this was the argument rather surprisingly put forward by the police – of the lawyer being equally culpable. He was not legally responsible since he did not kill the cat in the first place, but from the humane point of view the lawyer certainly shows up as a hypocrite. But he gets away without a stain on his character.

A local court took up the case. A case has been registered against the woman. She has not been arrested as yet, and it is not known if she has been fined

Instead, his action elicited quite an approving response, probably from persons who read the newspapers only for the weather and miss the fact that the country this incident took place in is the one where most of a family was shot dead on the road by anti-terrorism personnel. Also, that the city the incident took place in is one with a high incidence of car theft, homicide and kidnapping for ransom. No doubt the lady was supposed to leave her car and kneel beside the injured cat on a road where cows, donkeys, humans and vehicles alike wander around in such a way that to avoid one it is often necessary to hit another. And while she knelt beside the cat someone would have swiped her car, or/and her bag, very possibly shot her or worse, or obtained a nice fat sum after kidnapping her.

Undoubtedly, kindness to animals is a considerable virtue, but kindness and justice to humans takes precedence. When the latter exists, the first generally follows.

It appears to be the fashion to take up a cause at random ignoring all other factors that contribute to it. It was in this vein that the Chief Justice of Pakistan, the one mercifully now retired, took up the cause of providing water for the nation. That reference may appear to be a departure from the subject at hand, but it is not because the retired CJP too ignored factors contributing to the water shortage and concentrated on the image boosting project. Just as the lawyer appears to have taken up cudgels in favour of animal rights. Wow. Kind man and all that.

Such cases are not simply silly or irritating, they are maddening. How can a cat, accidentally killed, even enter the judicial horizon when the persons who falsely accused Asia bibi remain at large, for example?

A news item appearing a year ago says that there are 1.87 million cases pending in Pakistani courts. It says that the superior judiciary is inundated with political petitions which consume much of its attention at the cost of other cases.

The legal fraternity in Pakistan needs to grow up. Considerably. And while it is doing that it might clear some of the backlog it is faced with, starting with the cases that involve humans.

GENDER INCONGRUENCE

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/02/04/gender-incongruence/

• There is little point in a ruling unless it is enforced

The ICD, International Classification of Diseases, is the ‘standard diagnostic tool for epidemiology, health management and clinical purposes,’ directed and coordinated by the WHO. It contains a section dealing with the preference for a gender other than the birth gender, also known as transgender. The WHO uses the term ‘gender incongruence’ instead of transgender.

Right up to very recently the WHO had classified gender incongruence as a pathological condition, a mental disorder. But now, the WHO has made an important amendment which has been welcomed by many human rights organisations, and medical practitioners.

The Coordinator for the Adolescents and at-Risk Populations team of the WHO has stated that with a better understanding of the matter they have realised that gender incongruence “wasn’t actually a mental health condition,” and that classifying it as such was “causing a stigma.” “So, in order to reduce the stigma while also ensuring access to necessary health interventions, this was placed in a different chapter.”

Gender incongruence in the ICD 11 will now be found in the chapter dealing with sexual health, which may come as a shock to a society such as Pakistan – and other similar societies, where transgender persons are still considered an abomination and treated as such.

Naturally, change takes time, particularly change as radical as one that would permit transgender persons to live the discrimination free life to which each human, and each citizen is entitled. But it is certainly helped along by changes such as the above.

Pakistan contradicts itself in the matter of transgender persons. Persons who do not answer to the gender of their birth are both treated with contempt and held in awe. They are rarely refused alms because it is believed that their curses are effective, yet they are invited to perform, sing and dance at weddings because it is believed their presence brings good luck.

Pakistan possesses a legal Act to protect the rights of transgender persons which was passed into law by the president in 2018. Under this law Pakistanis may identify as whichever gender they prefer

Pakistani society is divided between the more educated and the conservatives who almost unilaterally condemn intimacy among individuals of the same birth sex. And yet there is a small group called the ‘Tanzeem e Ittehad e Ummat’ which in 2016 declared transgender marriages legal under Islamic law.

Pakistan’s laws themselves are confused since they are a mixture of colonial laws (the Penal Code), the Hudood Ordinance which was enacted in 1977 and was part of the ‘Islamisation’ of the country, it prescribed extreme punishments for various things among them same-sex acts. And then there is are some newer laws which are more enlightened.

As listed in \https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Pakistan: in 2009 a Supreme Court ruling said that transgenders were entitled to equal benefit and protection under the law. It called upon the government to protect transgender persons from discrimination and harassment.

The following year once again, the Supreme Court ordered the full recognition of the transgender community, including the provision of free medical and educational facilities, microcredit schemes and job quotas for transgender people in every government department.

In 2017, the Lahore High Court ordered the government to include transgender people in the national consensus.

In February 2018, a Senate committee determined that transgender people could inherit property without being required to have their gender decided by a medical board.

Pakistan possesses a legal Act to protect the rights of transgender persons which was passed into law by the president in 2018. Under this law Pakistanis may identify as whichever gender they prefer. That preferred gender will then be stated on their official documents. A transgender person is given the right to inherit property and run for public office. Sexual discrimination is forbidden under this law and the government is obliged to provide the same assistance to transgender persons as it must to cisgenders.

Yet in Kohat in Pakistan, earlier this month, a transgender person died because the hospital would not send a doctor to treat him. And earlier, in 2016, a young transgender woman Alisha was taken to a hospital in Peshawar after being shot several times. She bled to death in that hospital while doctors debated which gender ward she should be taken to. In both these cases it is striking that the prejudice that led to the death of two persons stemmed from the same community of professionals which in another country made a historical amendment to the way transgenders are categorised.

It is hoped that in the same way as the new WHO categorisation is likely to help remove the stigma surrounding transgender sexuality, its recent Supreme Court rulings will make a difference in Pakistan. But they are unlikely to do so unless transgressions are punished. There is little point in a ruling unless it is enforced.