OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF THEIR MINDS

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2018/10/22/out-of-sight-out-of-their-minds/

• Culture of violence

On December 14 2012, in Connecticut in the USA, a twenty year old man shot and killed his mother, then twenty children between six and seven years of age and six members of staff at their elementary school at Sandy Hook before shooting himself dead. It was the deadliest shooting at an American school. It was found that the shooter had Asperger’s Syndrome and had suffered from depression, anxiety, compulsive obsessive disorder and a preoccupation with violence. Under the State’s laws he was old enough to possess a rifle or shotgun but too young to possess a handgun. A large quantity of all of these and semi-automatic weapons were found on him, in the school and in his car.

The old school was demolished after the massacre, and now, a new Sandy Hook Elementary School building costing 20 million dollars is ready to welcome back its students. It does have heavy duty windows and a high-tech security system but there are also courtyards, study spaces made to look like treehouses, a raingarden, and also: ultra-safe ‘soothing’ classrooms all set to give students a ‘great big hug’ when they walk through the doors.

In the meantime, many cases of gun violence later the US has been unable to set any restrictions on the possession of arms. The National Rifle Association, the NRA, has too strong a lobby and is well able to protect its interests. So, God forbid should any such thing happen again, at least the victims will have been hugged when they walked into school. It hurts to be flippant about such a matter but the intention is better than these words.

In short what has happened in Sandy Hook is that the issue of gun violence and the ready availability of guns has been hidden behind an expensive new cover and words that mask the seriousness of the problem.

It needs no stretch of imagination to extend this analogy to many places and issues, including to what is happening in Pakistan, where the very serious matter of harassment of women by men is put aside, instead of which whether or not women shroud themselves in chaddors and burkas is focused upon. The claim is that this is demanded by Islam, that women who don’t shroud themselves deserve harassment. Meantime nothing is done to change the male mindset which if it were as it should be, would not hurt a woman – or any other human being – regardless of dress. Nothing is done to prevent men from hurting and harassing women. Men in this society possess the clout and attitude that the NRA does, and nothing appears to dent it.

At a recent incident at the Punjab Secretariat a guard denied women entry unless they were wearing a dupatta. He said women would be allowed to go in so long as they had a dupatta on their person, even if it were slung over one shoulder like a sash

There are a thousand examples to bear out this observation about the attitude. Such as the official calendar published by the Punjab Bar Council which contains the Bar Council’s logo at the top of each page. The page for the 6th October of this calendar bears the following words of wisdom: The society that gives its women too much freedom will definitely regret its mistake one day.

Not only does the statement sound ominously like a threat, but it has nothing to do with the law, or with justice, or with anything to do with the Bar Council. It is grossly misogynistic and brutish which makes it both illegal and unjust. It casts a slur upon women as something that must be kept contained like a disease, and nowhere mentions the fact that those who impede the freedom of women are the ones who must be curtailed instead. Such as those who provide the guns should be the ones to be stopped.

At a recent incident at the Punjab Secretariat a guard denied women entry unless they were wearing a dupatta. He said women would be allowed to go in so long as they had a dupatta on their person, even if it were slung over one shoulder like a sash. He also claimed that the directive was a new one and had been issued by the provincial minister for primary and secondary healthcare Dr Yasmeen Rashid.

Dr Rashid refuted the guard’s claim, and said she had issued no such order. It is to be seen whether those orders were some kind of a practical ‘joke’ by someone whose idea of funny is to drive around the city passing lewd remarks at women. The guard, when passing on the false orders appeared to be courteous enough. Wherever they came from, they are as sharp an illustration of the way people think in this country where making women invisible and keeping them out of sight is supposed to cure the problem, like making a school pretty, colourful and welcoming is supposed to cure gun violence in the US.

JARNDYCE and JARNDYCE vs DECOY DETONATOR

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2018/10/15/jarndyce-and-jarndyce-vs-decoy-detonator/

• Time to do the right thing

With just a couple of months to go till retirement, the CJP has thrown himself into his mohim to fix the country and bring it onto some kind of track. With a pack of photographers and hangers-on in tow he arrives unannounced at institutions and questions personnel on the premises about the institution’s administration, and contribution to society. He does this with the best will in the world, one is sure, and the zeal of a reformer, although you wonder what set the zeal in motion so all of a sudden, and why the aggressive stance, but oh well. It isn’t clear what but something’s going on. If you’ve read the Harry Potter books these incidents smack of Weasley’s Decoy Detonators which are little objects that run around letting off bangs and puffs of smoke, creating diversions where required. What the bangs and smoke are hiding… in Harry Potter it could be something quite sinister, like He Who Must Not Be Named. Real life is often quite out of a book.

But the CJP is right. Everything needs fixing. Not least of all the judiciary, which seems to have been included in the list at the last moment as if it had suddenly occurred to someone as something that had best be mentioned too.

The legal situation in Pakistan smacks of Dickens’ Jarndyce vs Jarndyce in Bleak House, a case that dragged on and on. Dickens describes it like this:

Jarndyce and Jarndyce drones on. This scarecrow of a suit has, over the course of time, become so complicated, that no man alive knows what it means. The parties to it understand it least; but it has been observed that no two Chancery lawyers can talk about it for five minutes without coming to a total disagreement as to all the premises. Innumerable children have been born into the cause; innumerable young people have married into it; innumerable old people have died out of it. Scores of persons have deliriously found themselves made parties in Jarndyce and Jarndyce without knowing how or why; whole families have inherited legendary hatreds with the suit. The little plaintiff or defendant, who was promised a new rocking-horse when Jarndyce and Jarndyce should be settled, has grown up, possessed himself of a real horse, and trotted away into the other world. Fair wards of court have faded into mothers and grandmothers; a long procession of Chancellors has come in and gone out.

There are several cases this reminds one of but none as much as the case of Asia Bibi. Please CJP, settle this before you go if you want to earn that medal of a knight in shining armour.

Aasiya Bibi is a 47 year old Christian woman who has been in prison since 2009, ten long years, made that much longer for Asia as a woman with five young children, who like the wards of Jarndyce have grown older while their mother’s sentence drags on. A death sentence hangs over Asia’s head but has been postponed several times following appeals.

The reason for Aasiya’s incarceration appears to be an accusation of blasphemy made against her by a woman already involved in a tu tu mai mai (unpleasant disagreement) with Aasiya’s family regarding damage to property. Aasiya’s crime was said to be drinking water from the same cup as some Muslim women, which they claim is not allowed in Islam. Really? My daughter in law is Christian. She and I have no such hang ups. But then of course she is white which is categorised differently.

In response she was thrown into prison. Is that really what our Prophet (pbuh) did, or what he would have done? What an ideal opportunity to have thrown away, if one must proselytise at such a point, of enumerating the Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) great deeds and forgiving nature, how he would never belittle another person’s beliefs to start with, or treat a woman like Aasiya had been treated, how he was kindness incarnate, and just and merciful as well.

What the CJP and Imran Khan’s government does in the case of Aasiya Bibi is likely to be the pivotal point of judgment with reference to them. You hope they will have the strength of character to do humane justice by her.

IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES, IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2018/10/06/it-was-the-best-of-times-it-was-the-worst-of-times/

Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation shows how far the #metoo movement still has to go

Despite protests by thousands against his appointment, Mr. Brett Kavanaugh appears set to be confirmed to the American Supreme Court with undecided Republican Senators announcing to vote ‘yes’. But the imbroglio involving Kavanaugh and his accuser Dr. Christine Blasey Ford has added one more pebble to the well, raising the water level a tad higher for women in the struggle against sexual exploitation. It’s a shot in the arm for the Me Too campaign, even if Kavanaugh is nominated.

It is an emotive issue, an explosive one, in which almost every positive has a negative, but in the end, it is a winner because it empowers women to speak out against sexual exploitation.

Sexual exploitation is nothing new. It takes place in every society to a lesser or greater extent. It is probably women’s physical frailty that causes it. That, and the fact that with countless exceptions, men appear to be ego-bound for which nurture and not nature is at fault. What makes a difference in this battle – as in others, are justice and the law.

It makes you cringe when a potential judge of the Supreme Court is accused of sexual aggression, not for the first time either. Any judgement given by such a man, unless the accusation against him is proven wrong, would always be suspect.

It makes you cringe when a potential judge of the Supreme Court is accused of sexual aggression, not for the first time either. Any judgement given by such a man, unless the accusation against him is proven wrong, would always be suspect.

Women who accuse men of sexual exploitation are almost always accused of being attention seeking.

In the case of Dr. Ford, this does not smack true. Mr. Kavanaugh has served as a judge for the US Court of Appeal for the DC Circuit since 2003, to which position he was nominated by President Bush, Jr. Dr. Ford had time to accuse him then, but she did not, even though she did not know if she would get another chance. The Supreme Court appointment appears to have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Yet all things taken into account there is no way to prove either the accusation or the rebuttal. Yes, Kavanaugh’s ranting rebuttal of the accusation was enough to set up most people’s back, that and the fact that he is Trump’s nominee. The indecent manner in which he was defended by Trump also works against him. And yes Dr. Ford’s clean record and a testimony that appeared extremely genuine gains support.

But these are all subjective reactions. There is no proof, and that is what is most required for justice. That’s the damning thing.

Issam Ahmed in his well-written report for AFP has presented different views held by participants at the recent rally against Mr. Kavanaugh in DC. Among these was a Ms. Robinson who does not believe Dr. Ford. She says, “I have a son and a daughter. I wouldn’t want my son treated like Kavanaugh, and I wouldn’t want my daughter saying that somebody assaulted her and not have any evidence of the fact.”

I couldn’t agree more with that last bit. No one who has children would wish something like this to happen to them.

But Ms. Robinson appears to have missed a crucial point, that had someone really assaulted her daughter, Ms. Robinson would be the first to want her daughter to have the ability to bring the incident to light.

Also, that if Mr. Kavanaugh has really committed the acts he is accused of, is he the best person for the job of a supreme court judge? What price justice in a country where such persons dispense it?

The American constitution does not place any criteria upon the appointment of a supreme court judge, which is at the discretion of the President and the support of the senate. For those who argue that there ought to be stipulations there is the example of ‘sadiq and ameen’ in Pakistan, which is about the most misused stipulation in existence.

Such cases are important for Pakistan where sexual aggression is probably more common than in many countries, where women are muzzled by society and prevented from speaking up, and men get away with anything.

At the same time one would hope that one’s judge would be free of such accusations.

At the same time yet again, how easy is it to discredit a person by making such accusations against him or her? How many instances can we enumerate in politics and in social interaction when persons have been wrongly accused?

A crucial question is: should an accusation if it is unproven – or unprovable, be taken into consideration?

Without a doubt, accusations destroy lives. Yet all accusations must be taken into consideration and investigated. The FBI in Kavanaugh’s case has been accused of making a poor investigation.

The second question follows that while it is unproven, should such accusations be made public?

A proven accusation must be made public. But in the case of Kavanaugh vs. Ford, whether you believe this side or the other is a subjective matter, and there is no chance of an objective ruling. It would have been better to keep the issue quieter than it has been until proof is obtained. But that is easier said than done, and in this case almost impossible. Yet you wish that the media were less vociferous. But then if the media is restrained too much it creates a situation we are familiar with. And the issue would not be brought to public attention. It’s a tough one.

So really, the best thing about this incident is that women seem to be on the way to being able to speak out, which is a major win and a great thing. That, and the fact that the Me Too movement into which this case slots has started a crucial debate about what is appropriate and what is not, what can be done about it, and shown how sexual exploiters are brought down. It’s an immense deterrent and a debate that was long overdue.

Such cases are important for Pakistan where sexual aggression is probably more common than in many countries, where women are muzzled by society and prevented from speaking up, and men get away with anything. “Log kia kahain gay” what will people say, “tumhari shadi nahi hogi” you will never get married, “khandan ka mun kala ho jai ga” the family will be disgraced – such sentiments are part of the social psyche. Here, if accusations without evidence are given official credence, something they already possess to a great extent unfortunately, it is mindboggling to think of the injustice that will result.

At present Pakistan is not the best place for a woman to live. Check the polls. The only way to help women is to bring the law more into line with women’s needs so that justice can be done. It would truly be a great thing if women feel empowered to speak up. But unless they are supported by more stringent means, relevant education in schools and homes, and greater punishment for proven aggressors or those who give false evidence, none of these measures may lead very far.

OF RICKETY LITTLE STRUCTURES

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2018/10/01/of-rickety-little-structures/

DHA in Lahore is going through a massive restructuring, with underpasses and overpasses and bypasses, you name it. If these are considered crucial for the health and happiness of the nation, the sudden rash of little Minar-e-Pakistans at every crossing are definitely not. Having made a hash of honouring the real national monument which represents the Lahore Resolution written by Sir Zafarullah Khan – the Resolution that started the concept of Pakistan – one wonders what so many rickety models are supposed to represent, and such garish ones too, unless of course they are meant to be a satire.

The above may be a trifling example of squandering at the taxpayer’s expense but there are innumerable such examples, and numbers have a habit of adding up, as do grievances.

Pakistan has a crying need for many things. Rivers be dammed, we need education, and real, informed justice dispensed by rational minds. But right now, and most crucially it is Baluchistan that needs attention. For this every little bit counts.

Baluchistan has had a turbulent history, and even its present lacks the prosperity one would expect from a province as minerally rich as it is. Not only is Baluchistan the largest province in the country with reference to land area, it is immensely rich in mineral resources. Its coal, marble, limestone, and other minerals are all currently being mined, and there are further untapped reserves. Baluchistan’s greatest contribution though is the gas piped from Sui to the rest of the country. This makes the Baluch resentment completely valid, that the province itself does not benefit as it should from its own crucial resource. There is no law and order in Baluchistan and its people lack personal security. Any protest movements have dire consequences for people indulging in them, and the ghost population of the province is growing by the day.

Baluchistan remains Pakistan’s most poverty-stricken province, with the greatest human rights violations, political and sectarian. But now that poverty has taken a turn for the worse, because of drought which has been coming on for a couple of years or more. There was ample time for something to be done had matters at the top been less disorganised and less involved in sorting out power deals. The situation is now at the stage where the population is suffering from severe malnutrition, the highest in the country. Also the highest in the country is Baluchistan’s infant mortality. As a result, the growth – height and weight – of Baluch children is suffering.

A hundred and two luxury and other vehicles are to be auctioned. Up to a few days earlier sixty-one of these were sold. Just one of these cars, a Mercedes SUV, was sold for Rs14.5 million

Imran Khan did well to highlight the matter in his inaugural speech when he expressed his government’s commitment to tackle this and other issues — such as discrimination. The only thing is one is somewhat chary of laying much faith in such stated commitments following the Atif Mian episode where the PM reneged on his own promises of non-discrimination made so recently.

So, what is to be done?

Following the recent auctions of cars, cows and other property, it would be an idea to divert the proceeds towards helping the people of Baluchistan on an urgent basis. After all it is tough that the very province that provides the gas to cook the abundant niharis and gulab jamuns for the rest of the country should itself not have enough to eat. What could be more urgent than this, unless of course the government does another Atif Mian on this issue.

The auctions, a laudable move by the government, must have raised a great deal of money. They did after all raise Rs2,302,000 on just eight buffaloes belonging to the ex-PMs house. One of the buffaloes actually sold for Rs385,000 for which one must be grateful to NS and his daughter because the purchaser felt he would be somehow reminded of them by his purchase.

A hundred and two luxury and other vehicles are to be auctioned. Up to a few days earlier sixty-one of these were sold. Just one of these cars, a Mercedes SUV, was sold for Rs14.5 million, while a Land Cruiser was sold for Rs27.4 million. All this adds up to a great deal of money. Whatever this money is designated for should be determined by popular consent, officially determined. But Baluchistan must surely be the prime choice, although even these funds will not be sufficient. The uplift of an entire province from such poverty will require a great deal of ongoing effort. But it would be a crucial start.

Pakistan is one of the lowest spenders on health, specifically maternal and infant health in the world. It is one of the few countries where polio is yet to be eradicated. It contains some of the worst education in the world and one of the worst records of law and order. Yet a substantial percentage of its budget is spent on its military, which owns the DHAs dotted around the country where the rickety little structures mentioned before have been erected. One hopes that the governance of the country is in more stable hands. It remains to be seen.

WHEN HISTORY IS SUPPRESSED

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2018/09/24/when-history-is-suppressed/

• Ignorance of the past allows the suppression of the present

About fifty years ago, a site was prepared for the Aswan dam on the Nile in Egypt, by the government of Gamal Abdel Nasser. It was a massive undertaking and required not only the resettlement of the Nubian people who lived in that area, which would soon be a great lake created by the dam, but also of the ‘resettlement’ of ancient Egyptian monuments, temples and statues, that would come under the lake waters.

The resettlement of the Nubians was the government’s responsibility, and the Nubians were never happy with it. To this day there are movements to return their ancestral land along the Nile to them.

As for the monuments, several countries came together to work on the project of saving the world heritage temples in a rare exhibition of international cooperation in a cause other than war. The temples and the statues were cut into small blocks and lifted block by block to the top of a cliff by cranes, where they were reassembled in exactly the same way as the original. To this day tourists come to view these temples in their new site. History was successfully preserved there. The people of Egypt have not re-converted to idol worship, and the temples and statues continue to contribute to the fund of human knowledge regarding the life, beliefs and construction methods of the ancient Egyptians.

History and human knowledge were not as lucky elsewhere. In Afghanistan in Bamyan three massive statues had been carved centuries ago. One of these was the tallest statue of Buddha in the world, carved in the fifth century BC. Not even successive generations of Muslim rulers over 1,200 years had destroyed these statues, until the Taliban came along, and predictably enough destroyed them in 2001, saying that they were an affront to their religion.

The past is allowed to remain in the human brain as memory and passed on to successive generations as history for a very good reason. An awareness and understanding of past facts helps human civilisations progress. It is beneficial to view, study and analyse the past, which explains the present and guides civilisations towards a better future, each generation learning from the mistakes and the strengths of the past, avoiding a repetition of mistakes to a great extent as a result.

History and human knowledge were not as lucky elsewhere. In Afghanistan in Bamyan three massive statues had been carved centuries ago

It is therefore beneficial to inculcate a curiosity about the past in children right from the start. To start from their immediate environment: what is Chauburji? Wow a palace! Who was Mohatta? What is Hazarganji? What does the word mean? Who was Anarkali? Why is that bazaar called Qisakhwani bazaar? The Badshahi mosque is so big! May I skate inside? Can you skate in a church?

At present the past is ignored except as a certain point in the past which is taught as part of Islamiyyat, not as a fragment of history to be scrutinised but as a point in time to which one must strive to return. That time has a linear trajectory appears to have bypassed the attention in some quarters.

To expect the younger generation of Pakistan to understand why half the country was lost in 1971 therefore is like expecting them to possess a degree without having made it through primary school, since few children today know that Pakistan once consisted of two wings, that we lost the other wing in 1971. That crucial point in the history of Pakistan is glossed over in our textbooks. For those who have heard rumours hinting that such a thing happened, the fault is laid at the door of our neighbours and the amputated wing, but never at our own doorstep. How then do we expect children to understand the value of democracy, and the role of various organisations within the country?

How in fact can we expect the population of this country to learn anything from the past when history wears a burqa to keep it good and suppressed, when the names of roads and cities are changed so regularly, when monuments are allowed to decay and crumble and the contribution of historical figures is selectively taught?

An ignorance of the past allows the suppression of the present and an indifference towards the future, and all of this is happening in Pakistan today.

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2018/09/19/alternative-solutions/

• Spending on restricting population growth is worthwhile

Polluted waterways are a major environmental issue, and the looming spectre of extreme water shortage only adds to it. The efficacy of dams as a solution for the shortage is surrounded by controversy, but it is believed by many to be a solution. Let’s hope that proposed projects work and do indeed make a difference. Dare anyone say otherwise?

That however does not mean alternative solutions do not exist.

The versatile people of Pakistan manage to find a solution for every problem, which is providential in the short term since they, the people are unlikely to be helped otherwise. Generally, the more devious the solution the more it is appreciated, and so ‘kundas’ are placed on power lines, tiny gizmos that divert power into unauthorised areas. It was apparently ‘placed on record in the Pakistan Senate in 2013 that in the previous five years Pakistan had lost Rs90 billion in electricity theft and line losses.’

The same devious/versatile mindset comes in useful where water is concerned.

The problem of water theft in the Punjab led the government to get technical and financial assistance from the World Bank last year. This invariable reaching out for assistance from international organisations poses a problem in itself.

Assistance from international organisations may involve payment at a later date, or installments, neither of which translates to free. Eventually, placed in the same hands, it does little but add to the ever-rising national debt. Who says that sensors that monitor the flow in dams, barrages, canals and tributaries will not be tampered with and have their own ‘kundas’ attached as on power lines? In the case of water, kundas are replaced by deliberately created breaches in dams, and tubes that are somehow sunk to steal water away from other farmers, resulting in poor crops and great financial loss. It is the affluent landlords who are indulging in this practice in collusion with officials. Sensors, once installed can be fiddled with too. Remember, we’re a versatile people, with a wealth of experience in such practices. There really is no substitute for simple putting a stop to corruption and making sure that offenders are brought to account.

Imagine also the difference it will make if the population that produces this waste is not as large and stops growing at the rate it presently does

The large sums of money that are supposed to go into building massive structures that provide water (over 8.5 billion dollars) will hardly be enough for the construction, as well as the resettlement of the three villages and several industrial units that will be submerged. Less can be spent instead on ensuring that officials do not collude with users, who do not seek that collusion in the first place.

What if for some reason the promised structure is not built. What will happen to the funds that have been collected? Will they go into another glittering project that some other important official sets up as his retirement trophy?

Pakistan, a poor country, needs to think small to achieve big. Our waste problems need to be dealt with on as much a priority as anything else, so that waterways – existing and planned are not clogged by the staggering amount of waste produced by the nation. Expenditure on waste management will have more far reaching consequences. As will expenditure on population planning.

DHA settlements account for hundreds of thousands of people in the country. Let’s take these alone as an example. The Authority, very properly, provides each house with a roll of plastic bags which are supposed to contain the sum total of household rubbish, and these are collected every day. It’s all very laudable. Each house in DHA throws out at least four plastic bags a day plus that one large bag issued by DHA. That makes hundreds of thousands of plastic bags multiplied by at least five, all of which will lie around somewhere and many of them will end up in the waterways, drains and landfill, and none of these bags will degrade over time, because they are not biodegradable.

Would it work if DHA, rich as it is, provides each home with a reusable trash can which must NOT be lined with plastic. All the rubbish can be thrown into this and the rubbish and the can may be collected every day, the dirty can replaced with a clean one. The dirty cans can be washed and brought back on one of the following trips.

That, or DHA can invest in biodegradable bags which is by far an easier and better solution. Just imagine the millions of non-degradable plastic that will no longer clog the waterways as a result of this small change. Small, because the armed forces and their organisations do not lack funds after all.

Imagine also the difference it will make if the population that produces this waste is not as large and stops growing at the rate it presently does. This will also mean that the population requiring water is smaller, and does not grow the way it presently does. Spending on restricting population growth is therefore worthwhile, every which way you look at it.

IS PAKISTAN HALAL (Pakistan for All)

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2018/09/13/is-pakistan-for-all/

• This is not cricket

The Sindh governor’s house opened its door to the public for the first time recently. Cute. All that equality and openness.

Now how about Pakistan opening its doors to its own citizens and treating them all equally? Too risky? Oh.

The above is actually a spot-on example of the hollow showiness with helicopters laid on that has suddenly become the trend. This, as opposed to real equality which needs a lot more courage, determination and planning. With the courage falling short right away as demonstrated by recent events surrounding appointments and resignations to the Economic Advisory Council, let’s see how the determination and planning shape up.

When this government elected members to its Economic Advisory Council and selected Atif Mian as one of them, there was a ray of hope for the first time since it came into power, that perhaps the PM was living up to his claims and to what people appear – for some reason – to expect from him. One hoped that maybe he did have some courage, that he was feeling his way forward given the challenges and electing the right persons regardless of their religious affiliation, that after this he would move on to other, larger reform. But no. He does not seem to have the guts to stand up to the extreme right, unlike lone, defenseless women such as (all of them now late) Sabeen Mahmud, Perveen Rehman, and Asma Jehangir.

The prime minister apologised when he retracted Atif Mian’s name as his Cabinet’s finance minister. ‘I didn’t know he belonged to the Ahmadiyya community’ is what he said. That was before he nominated Mian as an office holder to the EEC, and then caved in to pressure and withdrew that nomination as well. This is not cricket, Mr Khan. Like most other persons in government, it is obvious that your exalted position is all that is worth hanging on to, and that you too tend to the extreme right. God help this country. And welcome to the same old ghissa pitta Pakistan, with added scars of shame.

Anyone who wants to bring about real change must show, first and foremost, that the reins they have been handed following elections really are in their own hands

It was an extremely pertinent question that someone on social media posed recently:

Would this dam be halal if overseas Ahmadi Pakistanis also fund this dam?

I mean if later we find out that Ahmadis money was used in this dam too?

Asking so we should make Imran Khan say “everyone except Ahmadis should donate”….

Oh, and also, is Pakistan itself halal, seeing that one of its founding fathers was Ahmadi? Sir Zafarullah Khan, if you remember, was author of the Lahore Resolution, chief negotiator of the Radcliffe Line, and the first foreign minister of Pakistan.

Any comments?

There is an argument that since this is (supposedly) a democracy, and most persons do not wish to include the Ahmadiyya community in matters pertaining to the country (so the argument runs), then the government must accede to the wishes of the majority.

The Ahmadiyya community managed to coexist with the mainstream – after all it is in the Quran 2:257 ‘La Ikraaha fiddeen (there is no compulsion in religion) aside from some incidents. It was not until ZA Bhutto declared the members of this community non-Muslim in 1974 that the real persecution started and gained momentum when ten years after that Gen Zia came up with Ordinance XX which made it illegal for members of the Ahmadiyya community to call themselves Muslim. They must now declare their affiliation and are not, for example, allowed to vote. Or hold public office, it appears.

Both the actions, Bhutto’s and Zia’s took place without any official, objective reference to the sentiments of the majority. The sentiment taken into account belonged to the popular fist pumping segment of society which is the most visible and also the most violent. There has been no attempt to ascertain numbers since either. Therefore, the argument about democracy and what most people want does not stand.

Despite the fact that the majority of people in this country is uneducated, and has had the misfortune of being brainwashed by extremists and other uneducated persons, Pakistan also has the great good fortune of counting among its citizens many, many persons of compassion, basic decency and an understanding of religion. For these people the persecution of a community despite injunctions to the contrary in Islam goes against their nature and good sense.

Anyone who wants to bring about real change must show, first and foremost, that the reins they have been handed following elections really are in their own hands. If anyone else pulls them, that in itself is contradictory to democracy since the rulers the people elected, the visible ones, are not the real rulers. It also goes against democracy if the rulers lack the courage to stand up to threats against loss of life and power. No one else after all is surrounded by as much security, security that the country pays for. What then is it being used for?

The biggest factor is that going against the constitution of a country is a grievous offence. Here is what the Constitution of Pakistan has to say about this matter. This is Article 27 of the Constitution:

“No citizen otherwise qualified for appointment in the service of Pakistan shall be discriminated against in respect of any such appointment on the ground only of race, religion, caste, sex, residence or place of birth.’

This means that ZA Bhutto, our illustrious military ruler after him, and whoever else after him I don’t care to name, have committed treason.

Will anyone stand up against this and against this event in the EAC? Hats off to the two other appointees to the EAC who already did.