SOME STRIKING PARALLELS

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/04/26/some-striking-parallels-2/

• Covid-19 is making us face some uncomfortable questions

Women have often dreamed of an opportunity to put men in their shoes, to see how far they can walk in them. That opportunity it seems is here.

Both men and women have been heard complaining about how uncomfortable it is to wear a mask. “Its hard to breathe,” “It makes me feel hot, suffocated,” and “I can’t wait to take this ruddy thing off my face,” are some of the things being heard.

Well, it is most understandable, so perhaps one could stop for a moment to perceive the parallel between ‘this ruddy thing’ and the face covering that many women are expected to embrace, the covering that Islam does not require but is said to expect women to don. One moreover that does not end with the discovery of a vaccine but carries on till the woman’s last breath.

Yes it is very hard to cover one’s face, particularly when the temperatures go up. It is impossible to believe that Allah, the One we call Rehman and Raheem, would put woman through this torture.

But there is more. Putting a covering over the face reduces peripheral vision which makes it hazardous for a woman in a tent to drive a car and cross the road. And then there is also the fabric wound around the head, no different to wearing a scarf in searing temperatures. A trailing abaya often accompanies all this other gear; it is both unsanitary and once again a torture, particularly in the heat. Both the trailing abaya and scarf are prone to getting snagged in the wheels of a motorbike, making it extremely dangerous and even life threatening for a woman precariously seated on the bike and for the child or children very often in her arms. In fact it should be illegal in this case. But when have the authorities ever been known to stand up to the religious mafia?

In fact, there are many facets to this coronavirus business. This episode will hopefully encourage people to take a closer look at some of the practices so deeply ingrained in our society in the name of religion.

There is of course the fact that the clergy seems to disregard all evidence to the contrary and is insisting on resuming congregational prayers in mosques, expecting worshippers to be somehow protected from infection.

This is nothing but an example of self-interest dictating policy, as for example is happening in the USA with the President suggesting medications in the making of which he holds a financial interest. Where would our poor uneducated mullah get the high that comes with authority without the congregations they head?

It is perhaps natural for a group of persons whose only claim to elevated position is their supposed knowledge of religion to be reluctant to relinquish it. Clerics have long fought against science, because they feel threatened by it, although Islam does not claim any conflict between the two. The Quran in fact repeatedly asks us to observe nature and learn from it.

In the Quran it says: “Have those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the Earth were a joined entity, and we separated them and made from water every living thing? Then will they not believe?”

And again: “It is He Who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon. All (the celestial bodies) swim along, each in its rounded course” (21:33).

“It is not permitted for the sun to catch up to the moon, nor can the night outstrip the day. Each just swims along in its own orbit.”

There are numerous other such examples. So where does the conflict arise?

Why, for example can we not fix our lunar calendar instead of going through the moon-sighting ritual? Perhaps alone among the Muslim world, the people of Pakistan never know when they are expected to start fasting and when they must stop.

This is a democracy. It was a certain set of people that was elected to govern the country. It seems though that that set of people have little say in policy. If they say that congregational prayers will not be held until the threat to the health of the nation is over, congregational prayers should not be held. But that is not the case.

Why?

FAISAL EDHI: DONATING TO THE GOVERNMENT'S COVID FUND

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/04/18/faisal-edhi-donating-government-covid-fund/

There is a process involved in donating money. Most people give tips and the odd few hundred to someone who appears to need it without much thought, but larger sums of money always involve an assessment of whether or not the person genuinely requires it; while donating to an organisation is definitely based on which organisation you trust– and which you don’t.

It is not right therefore if the organisation you donated to because you trusted it passes the money on to another one, because there is a possibility that the donor did not donate to that other one because he did not trust it.

There is a good reason for example why many people did not donate to the damn fund, sorry, the dam fund, remember it? The one that was renamed ‘The Supreme Court of Pakistan and the Prime Minister of Pakistan Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand Dam Fund,’ when Imran Khan the then newly elected Prime Minister of Pakistan jumped in in 2018 – as he does, into this, yet another example of judicial activism by the former Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar. Those who did not donate to that fund obviously did not consider the Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand Dam worth supporting. Perhaps they took into account expert opinion, an opinion that was ignored by the authorities and which said that such large dams were actually counter-productive and were not the way to deal with the issue of water shortage. Others did not donate to the fund because they did not trust that the funds would be used as they were meant to be.

On the other hand several people and organisations did donate. Even so, the target of some Rs 1.5 trillion needed for building the dams was never reached and only Rs 9.8 billion were ever collected, which is a tiny fraction of the amount required. And then the Chief Justice sahib said, when questioned about ‘what next,’ that the fund was never meant to be for the dam really, it was only to ‘raise awareness’ of the issue. That response came as an unpleasant surprise for the donors.

Since then the fund has been in limbo, while the good judge has been too busy marrying off his son in a ceremony so lavish it boggles the mind, and makes you wonder, putting two and two together and coming up with much more than four.

It is never a good idea to cover everyone with the same blanket. There will always be exceptions to the rule. But the general rule in Pakistan appears to be that its governments are rarely to be relied upon to function honestly. There has never been a government that was an exception to that rule, not even the one currently in power, seeing that it is composed greatly of people who rolled over and into it from the previous one and the one before that. There have been wheat scandals, and sugar scandals, and questions as to whether the frontispiece is actually the person named or someone else pulling the strings.

Therefore, when Faisal Edhi donated Rs. 10 million to the Prime Minister for the government’s coronavirus relief fund, it was not appreciated by those who donate to Edhi.

Faisal Edhi’s father Abdul Sattar Edhi, helped by his wife Bilquis Edhi, was one of Pakistan’s─ and even the world’s─ greatest philanthropists. People donated to the Edhi Foundation, a non-profit charity organisation, knowing that the money they give was safe and would reach the people it was intended for. Edhi set up the world’s largest fleet of ambulances, homes for the destitute and other things that have benefited millions in this country over the years.

Abdul Sattar Edhi kept his charity organisation to itself with good reason. He helped whoever was in need of a helping hand regardless of the recipient’s religious belief, and was criticized by some so called religious figures for this. He retorted that he did not believe in discrimination. People put obstacles in his way and maligned him, but he never let them deter his good work, determinedly remaining independent because he wanted no strings attached to his work.

Perhaps Faisal Edhi has not understood the reasons behind his father’s refusal to ally with other groups, much less the government. Faisal has said that “if all stakeholders don’t work together and if they maintain gaps, the public will face problems.” He has urged “critics, opposition, the Centre and other parties to forget their difference and stop criticizing each other,” saying that “if we don’t form a consensus then it will benefit the coronavirus, not us.” He is also quoted as saying that “he is full and gratitude and very happy that the Edhi Foundation is working with the government.”

Well he’s very right about cooperation. But there is a difference between ‘working with’ and cooperation, at least in the context that Faisal has used it. Cooperation does not have to be monetary. Everyone, individual and organization, can and should forget their difference and work together towards a common good. The Edhi Foundation could loan out its ambulances where required, it could provide quarantine facilities and food for those infected with the virus and many such things. But money? How do you track where money goes? Take this seriously, because money very often can and does go walking where it shouldn’t. One hopes most ardently that Faisal will come to realise that his father had it right all along, before the Edhi Foundation falls victim to a lack of trust. What a huge pity that would be, given the lifetime of extreme hard work, self-denial and commitment put into the organisation by Abdul Sattar Edhi. May God bless him.

QUALITY ASSURANCE

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/04/11/quality-assurance/

With cases of the novel coronavirus increasing in the country as well as around the world the government of Pakistan is now encouraging the local production of ventilators, sanitisers and a larger quantity of chloroquine. It has also given the go-ahead for clinical trials for plasma therapy if required following infection with the covid-19 corona virus. This is good; it is in fact something that should have been done long ago. Sanitisers and chloroquine are already being made in Pakistan, but it is necessary to keep an eye on their quality if they are in much greater demand.

Making ventilators too is well within the capability of local manufacturers. The cost of a single ventilator is prohibitive, and it makes sense for the government to try and produce them right here in Pakistan, but stringent quality standards must be adhered to and no one, but no one, must be allowed to get away with carelessness.

Locally manufactured products tends not to be made with a care to safety. Ventilators require meticulous manufacturing as well as maintenance, or they can lead to a patient’s death from the treatment rather than the disease.

As for clinical trials, they pose a similar question mark.

Plasma therapy requires a plasma donor and a recipient. The plasma donor must be recently recovered from covid-19, which means he should at the time of donation be confirmed as negative following a positive diagnosis for infection with covid-19. And so that the plasma does not pass on any diseases, the donor must be tested negative for diseases such as HIV, AIDS, Hep-C, syphilis or others. If he or she is free from all of the above, he can then donate blood from which the plasma– the liquid part of the blood- is separated and transfused into a recipient who is currently critically sick with covid-19. The idea is that the antibodies in the plasma of the donor will generate similar antibodies in the recipient.

Clinical trials are a meticulous exercise conducted in several stages, all of which will not apply in this case because plasma therapy is not a new treatment, Still, the effect on recipients of the plasma donation must be painstakingly recorded and studied, also because covid-19 is a new disease, and so therefore is whatever is being used to treat it.

The donor’s blood must be properly screened to prevent diseases being passed on to the recipient. A single mistake can lead to terrible results.

Phase II of a clinical trial involves testing of the drug, transfusion or procedure on patients to assess and record the effectiveness. The process is monitored by the researcher. Any side effects must be noted and recorded.

During transfusion attention must be paid to sanitization, which is not one of our strong points.

Phase III involves much the same with a larger number of patients, and this time also a clinician to oversee the process.

Phase III is a follow-up phase after treatment. Personal physicians are involved in this phase where long-term effects of the treatment, positive and negative are noted and recorded.

Pakistan is not best known for meticulous work. Gross carelessness and even fudging of records and results by medical assistants and even doctors has been experienced even in some of the best hospitals of Lahore. It must be the same in other cities. Even students have been known to be censured when their figures did not meet the data conclusions anticipated by their University. You wonder how much of this is likely to occur during the course of these trials, which stand in danger of not being taken seriously by the international community just because of where they took place.

In Pakistan the Drug Regulatory Authority is in charge of clinical trials. No trial can be carried out without a certificate from this authority which is issued after the scrutiny of an application and the payment of a fee. The proposal must also pass through an ethics committee, and the researchers must possess the specified qualifications and experience.

Unfortunately in Pakistan money changes hands all too frequently to get the desired results. It takes place in every sector, every aspect of national life. In the case of clinical trials and the manufacture of life saving equipment more than any in other, such deplorable practices must not be allowed to happen, or the death or disability of hapless individuals will be on the heads of the authorities, if they care.

WHAT THE MOON SAW

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/04/05/what-the-moon-saw/

• A look beyond the pandemic

“Tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” Malcolm X

“Unless we see the new moon through these, our lowly eyes, neither the joys of Eid nor the mourning of Muharram can proceed.” Mullah in What the Moon Saw.

In 1967 Ghulam Abbas wrote a short story called Dhanak, one of the most remarkably prescient stories ever written. It is translated and included in a selection of Modern Urdu short stories by Amina Azfar. In the English version this story is called What the Moon Saw. In this tale Abbas talks about mullahs becoming increasingly bold in Pakistan, until they view any action by the government as interference in religion. The legitimate government finally becomes unable to move, even to do what was right, and eventually the mullahs take the reins of government into their own hands. Section 144 is imposed, and there is a crisis in the country. Many professions come to an end, and thousands lose their livelihood.

What was shown as likely to happen is eerily similar to what is now happening, a government too afraid to do what it thinks is right, if it has thought at all.

You wonder what, at the end of this worldwide tragedy called COVID-19, the moon will see when it looks down upon this shattered earth. Will it see some people with blood on their hands, among them those who insisted on gatherings and congregations even when quarantine was the need of the hour?

Will the moon see people picking themselves up as if after a battle, dazed, surrounded by shells of homes and stubs of trees? Will it see raiding gangs and ravenous mobs devouring whatever comes their way, something like the Chinese people whom we see fit to blame for this event? Perhaps the Chinese too learnt to eat anything and everything after exactly such a calamity, it is said that that is very possibly the reason.

As for the people, they are now and will be even more so later too caught up in a frenetic cycle of making ends meet and trying to survive, much too caught up to look for ways and means out of the situation.

Will the moon see a massive and inevitable rise in violence and robberies, the only recourse for a desperate people for whom help was announced with much fanfare but when it came to the point it was too complicated to work?

Even if people were to search for a way out, how would they know what there is out there? Would they be able to think of anything other than a roof to sleep under, bread, water and – these days mobile phones? Lacking education and even literacy, they do not possess the advantage provided by books, those extendable poles which look beyond immediate surroundings. The vision books provide might give them something to work towards. Is this why little effort has been made to bring the two together?

If people come together with books they might read in the same anthology Manto’s Jhooti Kahani, all about an ‘association of rogues and criminals,’ fighting for their rights, a satire on the workings of public office.

And these are only a handful of stories. Others can be found on the faces of those who have lost their livelihoods, and now have nothing to eat.

Future generations need us in the present to pave the way for them to understand the challenges they face. We do not need another generation of ‘institutional decay, social anarchy, intellectual degeneration and urban decline.’

When all this is over people need food, yes, and jobs, yes, and the means to survive. But most of all they need to be able to think for themselves. They must no longer be led by the nose to drink at troughs in which the water has been laced with brain-numbing drugs.

The situation is not good, and the government is facing an uphill task. Its fears are legitimate. But just as doctors and nurses all over the world have rolled up their sleeves and carried on working even without proper safeguards, the authorities need to stand up to the hurdles it faces and do what is right, which is what they were elected to do.