Owning Mashal Khan: New Age Islam's Selection, 20 April 2017
New Age Islam Edit Bureau
20 April 2017
• Owning Mashal Khan
By Beena Sarwar
• No More Lynchings Of Our Mashals
By Imtiaz Alam
• Talks On Afghanistan
By Malik Muhammad Ashraf
• Psychopathology Of Violence
By Aziz Ali Dad
• A Woman In China
By Rafia Zakaria
• Engaging Middle East
By Raashid W Janjua
• The Struggle Against Mob Mentality
By Syed Ali Zafar
Compiled By New Age Islam Edit Bureau
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Owning Mashal Khan
By Beena Sarwar
April 19, 2017
The mob murder of a student at a public university campus in Mardan on April 13, 2017 hit home through videos and photos of the gruesome act. In the ensuing outrage, many are calling for the “animals” involved to be hanged – even though animals don’t torture other creatures to death like this – and see no hope after this brutality, which is extreme even by Pakistani standards.
But beyond the horror of this extreme cruelty, it is important to contextualise the depravity Pakistan has developed over the years and find a way out of it. The murder – for which there is no justification religiously, morally or legally – was not an isolated or spontaneous act. The case fits into a well-documented pattern evident in many of the attacks on individuals accused of “blasphemy” – an English term that inadequately refers to any ‘gustakhi’, disrespect to Islam in Pakistan’s context.
Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code, which prescribes death for disrespect to the Prophet of Islam (pbuh), was imposed through an amendment under General Ziaul Haq’s military regime to Section 295. This was a British-era law prescribing three years of imprisonment for “deliberate and malicious acts” that intend to “outrage or insult religious sentiments”. The critical term ‘malicious intent’ was left out of the Ziaist amendments.
The option of life imprisonment for 295-C convictions lapsed in 1992, leaving death as the only punishment. Pakistan’s first ‘blasphemy murder’ took place when a young Anjuman-e-Sipah-e-Sahaba (ASS) member – as the now banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) was then called – stabbed the progressive Punjabi Christian poet and schoolteacher Naimat Ahmar in Faisalabad.
Since then, the offshoots of this lobby have been determinedly pursuing cases of ‘blasphemy’, developing a network of hundreds of lawyers for this purpose (‘Pakistani lawyers’ group behind spike in blasphemy cases’, Reuters, Mar 6, 2016).
Pakistan has yet to execute anyone under Section 295-C. However, vigilante mobs or individuals instigated by the ‘religious’ lobby in conjunction with land and criminal mafias have killed more than 60 persons for alleged ‘gustakhi’, including “disrespecting” the Holy Quran since 1992 – including inside prisons.
The pattern includes rumours and posters about the victims’ guilt. Independent investigations into all such ‘blasphemy’ cases have found them to be mal-motivated and false. Examples include the lynching of Najeeb Zafar, a young Muslim factory owner in Sheikhupura in April 2009, the razing of two Christian villages a few months later and the lynching of Shama and Shehzad, a Christian couple, in 2014. Vigilante violence and mobs have also been unleashed upon those accused of other transgressions. These include the brothers Muneeb and Mughees in Sialkot and the robbers burnt to death in Karachi in 2008.
Fuelling this vigilantism is the rhetoric that emanates from clerics, politicians and television ‘journalists’ who seem bent upon getting people killed for mere allegation. It has become a convenient tool to silence political and intellectual dissent as evident in the alarming rise in attacks and disappearances of humanist social online activists.
Judging by his posts, young Mashal Khan was firmly part of this community. He constantly spoke out against injustices and upheld progressive values, including women’s rights and a love for history and pluralism. On Feb 17, 2017, he tweeted: “Hide History and Hate Hindus. This is what we are taught in Schools ... #Pathetic...”. He struck at one of the basics of the false narrative perpetuated in Pakistan’s mainstream discourse.
He was leading a protest camp on campus against the misdoings at the Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan where he was a journalism student. In a television interview, two days before being killed, Mashal had highlighted problems brought on by the vacancy of the vice-chancellor’s position, faculty corruption and the unfair fee structure.
Pakistan’s dominant narrative facilitates attacks against irritants like Mashal Khan, especially when they don’t fall in line with social pressure to prove their faith through showy religiosity. To counter the false ‘blasphemy’ narrative, there must be a sustained effort to highlight some basic points in public discourse and on public platforms:
• Regardless of anyone’s alleged wrongdoing, it is a criminal offence to attack and kill them. There is no justification for such murders.
• Enforce the law to punish those making false accusations, especially when the victims have been legally acquitted.
• Highlight that Islam does not prescribe death for the religious offences being used as a pretext for murder (for which there is ample research-based evidence).
Stressing these points and rule of law in the public discourse and in school curricula will counter terrorism more effectively instead of focusing on who is a traitor or not a ‘true Muslim’.
Is the tide turning? The wheels of justice in Pakistan may move slowly, but we are seeing them start to turn. The execution of Taseer’s killer Mumtaz Qadri last year may mark a turning point, the debate about the efficacy of capital punishment notwithstanding. A murderer was punished for his criminal action, regardless of the religious right’s attempts to glorify him as a martyr.
The police are investigating the cleric who refused to lead Mashal Khan’s funeral prayers for spreading hate speech. They have also arrested university employees who participated in his killing.
After the carnage at the Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16, 2014, the entire state machinery came out against the terrorist attack – although the inconvenient questions raised by the APS families have since been stifled.
Civil society activists came out in outrage in major cities the day after Mashal Khan’s murder. Hundreds attended his soyem in Zaida village, Swabi. The mourners – including women – marched through the streets and chanted slogans: Mashal – an innocent, ‘shaheed’ and martyred victim.
True, it is unlikely that there would be such support for Mashal Khan if his innocence wasn’t so obvious. And we are still seeing poisonous comments on social media and by journalists who are trying to establish his ‘guilt’.
The brutality in Pakistan may be the most extreme in terms of continuity and frequency, but it is not an isolated phenomenon. We are seeing vigilantism and mob violence in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka – all of which share this “postcolonial moment” as journalist Raza Rumi notes. Black and brown people are routinely targeted in the US, more so since the last presidential election campaign.
But Pakistan’s situation is exacerbated by factors including prolonged periods of military dictatorship. In addition, the wave of militancy cultivated since the first Afghan war in the 1980s in collaboration with Saudi Arabia and the US, the introduction of discriminatory legislation and the brainwashing of children to despise ‘the other’ through textbooks.
In the US, when President Trump announced his ‘Muslim ban’, thousands showed up to protest at airports and lawyers, stayed up all night preparing pro-bono briefs to ensure that the order was overturned. Closer to home, there is a determined and visible rejection of India’s “cow vigilantism”. In Pakistan too, people are increasingly countering the dominant narrative.
The strength of the pushback against fascism in India, Pakistan and the US appears to be roughly proportionate to the strength of their functioning democracies and how long they have had a continual democratic political process. A continuation of this will eventually reap dividends. But along the way, there will be painful losses and more bloodshed.
Despair is not an option. We must fight the demons – even if we will never reap the benefits in our lifetimes – for the sake of future generations.
As Mashal Khan’s dignified, grieving father, Iqbal ‘Shayr’ (poet) said, we must ensure that what happened to Mashal is never repeated.
Source; thenews.com.pk/print/199451-Owning-Mashal-Khan
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No More Lynchings Of Our Mashals
By Imtiaz Alam
April 20, 2017
Will this be the last time a promising youngster is lynched at a supposed place of learning by a crazy mob in the presence of those who are bound to protect the right to life of a citizen from such inquisitional outlaws?
While deeply mourning the unforgettable, unpardonable but not unprecedented tragedy that has yet again exposed the bloody face of the spectre of vigilantism – even though for once one can see a late awakening of many hearts and minds – I am not sure we have the necessary will and vision to eradicate the root causes behind this, and tame the beast within us.
Mashal’s brutal killing on the fabricated pretext of blasphemy at a university campus seems to be a well-orchestrated crime by bloodthirsty zealots and a section of the Abdul Wali Khan University administration. The murder has touched the hearts of people across the land and nothing is helping the extremist sections of the clergy to find a pretext to uphold their appalling crusade and penchant for mob justice. For the first time in this land of the pure a victim of blasphemy accusations has been seen sympathetically, with demands being raised to revisit the bloodletting in the name of blasphemy and to make false accusers and murderers equally accountable.
Since nobody dares to bring the appropriate amendments to the loosely defined blasphemy laws – and they are rampantly being misused – the focus is now against its abuse and to bring false blasphemy accusers to justice. These people usually either get away scot-free or are liable to six months imprisonment under Section 182-PPC and seven years under Section 211-PPC for false accusation.
Indeed, blasphemy in any way or any pretext is condemnable and Muslims of all hues are very passionate about the sanctity of Prophet Mohammed (pbuh). Even a false accusation or rumour is enough to rouse the sentiments of the people. This is what makes it easy for certain self-appointed guardians of faith to capitalise on the alleged hate-speech to promote far greater hate-mongering and fanaticism.
Those who seek sadist pleasure by indulging in blasphemy in fact promote hate-speech and serve the interests of those who are against free speech. Since the state – ‘created in the name of Islam’ – is handicapped by its guilty conscience, it succumbs to the frenzy and conveniently fails in its duty to enforce rule of law, including the blasphemy law. We have seen investigators, prosecutors, witnesses, judges, politicians and journalists succumb under pressure from unruly mobs.
The laws are made to prevent hate speech, crime and lawlessness. But strangely enough, blasphemy, blasphemy cases and killings are on the rise after the introduction of changes and additions into the prevailing blasphemy laws. As rightly mentioned by Syed Talat Hussain in his column in these pages (‘Mashal’s murder’, April 17), there were only two cases of lynching of the alleged blasphemers between 1946 and the mid-80s and, after the amendments/additions brought into blasphemy laws, the numbers rose to 57 till 2014. No less intriguing is the fact that, compared to seven blasphemy cases between 1927 and 1985, there is a phenomenal rise in blasphemy cases – 1,335 blasphemy cases were registered between 1985 and 2014.
The prevalent blasphemy laws have become a tool in the hands of those who fan communalism/sectarianism, indulge in apostatising others and want to settle scores with their rivals or grab property. It is hence time to revisit these laws, which rather than preventing seem to be promoting inverse blasphemy and religious frenzy. It is quite apologetically and frivolously being propagated that lack of convictions in blasphemy cases is forcing people to take law into their hands.
What is true, though, is that the accused face extreme odds, persecution and even lynching. There cannot be any justification for the curse of vigilantism that brings a bad name to our faith.
Despite the efforts at creating inter-faith harmony, communalism and religious-based majoritarian nationalism are on the rise across the globe and the South Asian region.
It is pertinent to mention that the last of Allah’s Prophet Mohammed (pbuh), declared by the Almighty as a blessing for all the worlds. The social and political contract the Prophet (pbuh) signed in Medina included the followers of Christianity and Judaism.
Unfortunately, the decline of the Muslims led to the resurgence of the Khwarji, Takfeeri and Ibne Taymiyyah’s schools which have become the ideological bedrock of rising violent extremism. The common spiritual space espoused by Ibne Arabi and the religious tolerance and inclusive approach pursued by our great Sufis is being undermined by those who are quick to term people infidels or blasphemous.
The lynching of an inquisitive and promising young student in a university is not surprising since universities in the entire Muslim world have ceased to be places of learning for the last eight centuries. Since ‘nationhood’ and the building of the state in Pakistan is based on Islam, religion is seen as the sole defining ideology and source of knowledge, culture, societal evolution and human resource development.
Barring few exceptions, all schools, colleges and universities reject all sources of knowledge other than Islam. Thanks to the prevailing ideology, the domination of religious dogmatism in almost all spheres of intellectual discourse, a lack of scientific and enlightened education policy and a poisonous curriculum, our education system is attuned to produce half-baked illiterates and bigots. The hegemony of extremist religious ideology has promoted intolerance and violence.
The tragedy is that the state has for too long promoted violent extremism and terrorism. And we are now reaping the harvest of that violence. The spectre of jihad that we fomented is now eating us all. For the first and last time, in 1953 the state came down heavily against communal riots. After that, it gradually coalesced in while discriminating against its own citizens on religious and sectarian grounds. Resultantly, there is an increasing hardening of sectarian positions and targeting of people on that basis.
Mashal’s case warrants the full might of the state to overturn the Qadri example. An exemplary collective punishment is required for all those involved in the most despicable crime. But that will not be enough. To save our future generations from the heart-wrenching end of Mashal Shaheed and from the misadventure of Noreen Leghari, society and all institutions of the state must get together and act at all levels to defeat violent extremist ideologies and promote tolerance, understanding, accommodation and humanist values.
Let violence be discarded from our ideological, political and religious discourse. And let everybody respect the right to life, to choose and practise his/her faith, and to adopt a lifestyle of his/her choice; and let the state treat all its citizens equally and without any discrimination.
Source: thenews.com.pk/print/199657-No-more-lynchings-of-our-Mashals
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Talks on Afghanistan
By Malik Muhammad Ashraf
April 20, 2017
As expected, the third round of talks under the Russian-sponsored initiative to find an amicable solution to the conflict in Afghanistan failed to make any headway. However, this time the Central Asian States also attended the moot along with China, Pakistan, Iran, India and Afghanistan.
The US, which was invited by Russia to be a part of the dialogue, declined the offer, saying that the motives of the talks were not clear. Afghanistan has also been expressing its weariness about Russia’s attempts to woo the Taliban. The Taliban, who had earlier welcomed the Russian move, reportedly threw a spanner in the works by withdrawing their support to the dialogue.
The spokesman of the Taliban told Voice of America that: “We cannot call these negotiations…a dialogue for the restoration of peace in Afghanistan. This meeting stems from [the] political agendas of the countries who are organising it. This has…nothing to do with us, nor do we support it”.
With the Taliban having withdrawn their support, Afghanistan looking askance at the initiative and the US abstaining to attend, the Russian initiative, for all practical purposes, seems to have come to a naught. Its significance lies only in the fact that they gathered, discussed and dispersed.
At the end of the talks, the Russian ministry of foreign affairs issued a statement. It stated: “The parties had a frank and thorough exchange of views on the current political and military situation in Afghanistan as well as on its prospects and expressed common concern over growing terrorist activities in the country, leading to rising tensions and increasing violence which adds to the predicament of the Afghan people.
“The meeting’s participants stressed that there was no military solution to the Afghan crisis while the only way to resolve it was by ensuring a national reconciliation using political methods in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions. The parties reiterated their support for the efforts being made by the Kabul government and the country’s social and political circles which are aimed at bringing peace to Afghanistan”.
The foregoing statement by the Russian foreign ministry is an attempt to conceal the embarrassment that Russia had to face as a result of the withdrawal of support to the talks by the Taliban and the reservations of Afghanistan and the US about the motives behind the effort. Pakistan has, all along, rightly maintained that the participation of the US was absolutely imperative in any initiative related to promoting peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan, as it was the biggest stakeholder in the issue.
The view held by Pakistan has great merit. The US – since its invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 – has invested astronomical amounts of dollars and has lost hundreds of their soldiers. It has failed to end the insurgency by the Taliban who remain a potent threat to the Afghan government installed and propped up by the US. It is now in the process of getting out of Afghanistan and wants to see an end to the conflict in that country before leaving. However, it will not abandon the Afghan government when the situation is not under its control. Instead, it wants to make sure that Afghanistan does not relapse into factional fighting during the Taliban regime. The US must, therefore, be part of any effort to end conflict in Afghanistan.
But the fact remains that the regional countries– like China, Russia, Pakistan and Iran – also have a huge stake in peace in Afghanistan. The best way to move forward will be if all the stakeholders to get together and use their collective wisdom to find a way out of the conundrum. This is, however, easier said than done. The situation is complicated and has made even worse by the US-Russia tiff over the US bombing of an airbase in Syria.
The possibility of these two powers coming together in the foreseeable future to resolve the Afghan conflict appears to be remote. Another factor which has reduced the prospects of talks on Afghanistan is the Taliban’s position that they will not participate in any dialogue before the foreign troops leave the country.
How can Russian even promote intra-Afghan dialogue without Afghanistan and the US agreeing to the proposition? In fact, under the prevailing situation, the solution to the Afghanistan conundrum lies in the hands of the US administration and the Taliban. How to bring these two stakeholders to an agreement on resolving the Afghan conflict remains a million dollars question.
The recent developments suggest that the US will probably get tough under the Trump administration and pursue an aggressive policy on Afghanistan. The bombing of an airbase in Syria, the dropping of the largest non-nuclear bomb in Afghanistan and a tough stance against North Korea point towards to the things that have yet to come.
The unannounced dash to Pakistan by the US National Security Advisor Lt Gen HR McMaster in the backdrop of the foregoing developments is also of great significance. He has met the prime minister, the adviser to the PM on foreign affairs and the COAS. According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister House, the US security adviser assured the prime minister that the new administration was committed to strengthening bilateral relations and working with Pakistan to achieve peace and stability in Afghanistan and in South Asian.
A day earlier, while speaking to Tolo News in Afghanistan, he said: “The best way for the Pakistani leaders to pursue their interest in Afghanistan and elsewhere is through diplomacy and not through the use of proxies that engage in violence”.
The prime minister reportedly briefed the general about the efforts that Pakistan has made in combating terrorism and the steps taken to improve the security situation and maintain a peaceful neighbourhood. He also spoke about the country’s resolve to work with the international community to find an amicable solution to the Afghan problem.
In addition, the prime minister expressed Pakistan’s strong desire to work with the US to promote peace and security in the region and highlighted the desirability of the US playing a role in resolving the Kashmir issue. The statement did not say whether there was any change in his alleged view about Pakistan using proxies or not.
The US recently had indicated the possibility of it playing a role in defusing tensions between Pakistan and India before anything happened. For that to happen, Pakistan will have to focus more on winning the confidence of the US regarding its indiscriminate action against all terrorists rather than pursuing its objectives through proxies, as alleged by the US.
Source: thenews.com.pk/prin/199659-Talks-on-Afghanistan
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Psychopathology Of Violence
By Aziz Ali Dad
April 19, 2017
There is gainsaying the fact that religious militant groups in Pakistan have turned the country into a sanguinary place – with common citizens as fodder. The question is: are militants aliens with a different mindset? No. The militants are very much a part of our society and reflect just an extreme form of our violent instinct that broke the boundaries of humanity to emerge in its crudest form in our society.
The brutal murder of Mashal Khan by students of Abdul Wali Khan University is a symptom of our dark mind that is devouring every ideal in its black hole. The murderers of Mashal invoked the idea of blasphemy to justify their atrocious act. They are not militants trained in guerrilla warfare, but normal people living with their families in a particular social setting and pursuing education in a university – not a seminary. That they, despite leading normal lives, still committed such a terrible act speaks about how much brutality has permeated into our social psychology.
I absolve animals from comparison as they do not have such a law. Mashal’s murderers are simply a product of a society where the inversion of values has turned every ideal topsy-turvy.
One of the consequences of living with inverted values and closed mindsets is that the loftiest of ideals also get corrupted in the morbid mind of society. The very law of blasphemy was introduced by a military dictator, Ziaul Haq, to perpetuate his rule. At the social level, Zia did engineered a particular mentality so that a dark self could be produced to fight against the colours of life.
This is the mind that has taken charge of divine affairs in its hands. According to its inverted logic, light is defined as darkness. Ironically, such dark teachings were catered to by a person whose name was light (Zia). That is why Habib Jalib in his famous poem ‘Zulmat ko Zia’ refused to accept the dark narrative of the sacred presented as light and said: “Zulmat ko Zia, bandey ko khuda kia likhna.”
Psychologically speaking, any idea sacred or profane is internalised by the individual in a particular social setting within the frame of a certain cultural ethos. This internalising process changes the very essence of the idea by imbuing it in the socio-psychological makeup of the members of society. It is only after being cast in the mould of social psychology that the idea or ideal expresses itself. If an artist like Gulgee internalises the idea of beauty, he produces exquisite paintings to represent the divine. In case of music, we have Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. In literature: the poetry of Rumi and Hafiz. In dance, it expresses itself in the whirling dervishes.
Unfortunately, the myriad ways of divine expressions were restricted through social engineering by the state with the support of the mullah to produce a monomaniac religious mentality and identity. It is the mullah who fears light, beauty, happiness and openness. As a result, the diversity of sacred expressions is reduced to the insecurities of the religious right.
The fearful mind of the clergy has reduced the status of divinity to hangman. Today the closed mind wants to eliminate the last vestiges of enlightenment and sanity. This mind is playing havoc with every sphere of life – from private to public, subjective to objective and arts to aesthetics. It creates an aesthetics of its own by glorifying the ugly as beautiful, truth as lie, light as darkness, mind as blind.
We become what we feed on. We have become so used to death, destruction, atrocity, violence, gore and mayhem that we have lost the capacity to feel and get shocked. When it comes to religion, our dark spirit and inverted mentality become evident in brutal forms.
Under the influence of our closed mind, our aesthetic sense has been etherised. By choking the sense of beauty, the managers of the sacred have fed our souls on ugliness, misogyny, hatred, fear, violence, and darkness. We relish blood and gore, and glorify those who commit inhuman atrocities in the name of sacred. Violence and murder is the aesthetics for many in Pakistan. This aesthetics is against the divine concept of beauty which says ‘Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty.’ The tragedy is that we are not aware of the profanity we are committing with our blind and morbid mentality. We are singing while digging our own graves.
Given our inverted mind, it may be possible that the murderers of Mashal will be celebrated as heroes. It has also been reported that one cleric refused to read Mashal’s last rites. Here the cleric is not to blame but we as a people. Such people should be boycotted by local people, and this should be replicated all over country against clerics who indulge in hate-mongering. Why seek support for our burial from someone happy with our murder. It is we who provide social space to such clerics. When we stop consulting them in social affairs, they will automatically cease to be relevant.
How do we get out of this mental morbidity and social morass we are in? How to get rid of the miasma that is corrupting and undoing us? In order to extricate ourselves from the darkness, a change in social ethos and state policies is indispensable. In Pakistan, the self is created either on the mard-e-momin of national narrative or male ethos in regional groups. This has created a macho culture, which by default feeds on violence, fear, honour, dominance and power. The concept of the mard-e-momin reached its apotheosis in the slogan of mard-e-momin mard-e-haq Ziaul Haq during Zia era. In society, it manifests in the practice of honour killing, suppression of women and vulnerable groups, xenophobia, violence and hypocritical social values.
At the social level, traditional institutions, values and structures are breaking down. But in their stead, modern trends are not taking roots because of certain local traditions, tribal mentality and social ethos. This situation has put society in a quandary since it carries a mental baggage that is incompatible with modern times. Therefore, localised social movements in different cultural groups in Pakistan are imperative.
The purpose is to supersede the dominant narrative that focuses on the hard aspects of self like bravery, honour, power, strength and dominance, and introduce soft power like kindness, empathy, openness, and aesthetics. Remember, late Mashal Khan was a victim of mard-e-momin not momina. Soft power will help us in smooth the rough edges of our crude selves. So far, the hard power of masculinity has determined the social and mental contour of our society. Let’s make our values and aesthetics more female to save society from violence continuously perpetrated by men.
Source: thenews.com.pk/print/199452-Psychopathology-of-violence
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A Woman In China
By Rafia Zakaria
April 19th, 2017
SOMETIMES it takes a single person with courage to awaken a society. So it may be in the case of Ye Haiyan, a women’s rights activist in China who has sacrificed nearly everything to bring to attention the condition of sex workers in her country.
Ye Haiyan, born to poverty in a tiny village in rural China, began working as a sex worker just so she could highlight the abuse and suffering of the many thousands of such women in China. One of the cases she protested against involved a school principal using young female students enrolled in his school for this purpose. She wanted him to be arrested and punished. For raising her voice on this controversial issue, Ye Haiyan lost her home and was chased from city to city until she took refuge in her childhood village.
Ye Haiyan’s story is the subject of a documentary titled Hooligan Sparrow, produced by filmmaker Nanfu Wang. Wang followed Haiyan and her fellow activists as they protested outside the school and engaged in other peaceful demonstrations that highlight the plight of women in the sex trade in China. Wang herself had to contend again and again with people trying to take away the film footage. Often she could only record audio by hiding the mic inside her clothes. In several cases, even people posing as fellow activists tried to obtain access to the footage, saying that they would keep it safe and return it to Wang later, when the Chinese government or the bosses of the Chinese sex trade were not looking.
Like Haiyan herself, Wang did not fall for the false promises of people posturing as activists or the Chinese authorities. The result: this documentary is a rare and riveting look at an aspect of Chinese life and society that is otherwise unknown. Many (including myself) would assume that a strong state would also mean equal protections for women.
Animosity towards women can now be added to the list of things that the Pakistani and Chinese states appear to have in common.
It is well known that one of the cornerstones of the Cultural Revolution was to bring Chinese women into the workforce and free them of the traditional bondage imposed by gender inequality. Consequently, one assumes that women having options other than sex work would not have to engage in it in order to survive.
As the movie reveals, this is not the case; not only are young women trafficked and misused by men such as the school principal, they are later blackmailed by their male bosses who threaten to hand them over to the authorities if they do not comply. They remain stuck and abused by the men who pay for their services and by the men who enslave them in the profession. The Chinese state seems to care little or not at all about their welfare; the well-being of these women or even of the young girls who are forced into the profession appears to be a seemingly low priority for the Chinese state.
In Pakistan, as in the rest of the world, this face of China is rarely seen. The friendship between the countries has long been celebrated. Even before there were plans to build an economic corridor, schoolchildren like myself were taught to sing songs praising the brotherhood between the two countries. With China poised against India, the simple calculations of common enemies meant an adulation of the Chinese.
Chinese goods flood Pakistani markets and Pakistani newspapers and television anchors have routinely sung the praises of their always-present-in-times-of-need neighbour.
Animosity towards women can now be added to the list of things that Pakistan and China appear to have in common. Just like Pakistan, it seems that China too wants to use the veneer of respectability and pretend that abused women, particularly those forced to work in the sex trade, simply do not exist. This faulty morality impacts the women who are pushed and forced into the profession; it threatens them with arrest and punishment if they are found out. This dynamic forces the women to stay silent and invisible so that they are available to be abused by men. No one knows how they live and no one cares when they die. Both societies are completely comfortable with this.
For all of these reasons, Hooligan Sparrow, the brave chronicling of how one woman stands up to the silence and shame of society, is a film worth watching. It is harrowing to see how landlords throw everything that Haiyan owns on the street. It is inspiring to see how she refuses to be cowed, wanders from city to city with her daughter, and never once complains about the consequences of raising her voice.
In one moving scene, particularly pertinent to Pakistan, Haiyan talks of how the women in her village sacrifice everything for their families, their lives and futures hacked to pieces for slight improvements in those conditions. The fate of Pakistani women, of all classes, is much the same, their desires and wishes and dreams placed on the chopping block, by men for whom they are pawns in some other game.
Women’s activists in Pakistan, particularly those who raise their voices without the protection of wealth and family, can find in this story a different basis for Pakistan-Chinese solidarity. With so much effort being made in developing stronger linkages between Pakistan and China, perhaps this link could also be forged. Ye Haiyan and many of her fellow activists had to serve prison terms for their activism; the lawyer who defended her continues to remain in prison without trial. Their courage, one hopes, could forge a different sort of bond between Pakistan and China.
Source: dawn.com/news/1327796
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Engaging Middle East
By Raashid W Janjua
April 19, 2017
HOW does General Raheel Sharif ensure that he does not meet the fate of Spartan General Pausanias in the service of Greco-Spartan alliance? The Spartans had allied with the Greeks during the first two decades of Greco-Persian wars acting as the “dues ex machina” for a militarily enervated alliance of Greek city states that accepted Spartan military shield against the marauding Persian Empire. In 479 B.C the Delian League was formed as a reaction to the Greek estrangement with their Spartan allies during the famous siege of Byzantium that was under Persian occupation. The estrangement was a consequence of a Spartan General named Pausanias’ ham handed treatment of Greeks during the siege where he was sent to help the Greeks against the Persians.
The strategic insight of Raheel Sharif a military general of present day Islamic Sparta i.e Pakistan is much valued by Saudi Arabia. He however like Spartan General Pausanias runs the risk of alienating his allies and complicating things for Pakistan. Contrarily he might go on to win laurels through his military acumen and mature handling of the command of the 39 nation Saudi sponsored Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism (IMAFT). A cold calculating analysis of the cost and benefits for Pakistan is de rigueur before giving green signal to General Raheel Sharif to get into catbird seat of the purported alliance.
Pakistan at this juncture of CPEC driven engagement with China is in a very delicate situation politically and diplomatically. The strategic convergence of interests between the USA and India to contain the Chinese juggernaut in South and Central Asia leaves Pakistan in a very parlous spot. In simple words India and USA would do all they could to dissuade Pakistan from too tight an embrace with China. The strategic location of Gwadar and its potential to challenge the commercial interests of existing Gulf ports bring threats of Gulf states’ envy in the Indo-Pakistan zero sum game equation. With the present Afghan government under strong US and Indian influence Pakistan has a two frontier challenge as well. Iran that was once a strategic balancer in the region is no longer playing that role. With its own interests vis a vis Pakistan in Afghanistan and India it is in no position to offer any assistance to Pakistan. Pakistan has to look towards a new concept of soft external balancing by leveraging her diplomatic and economic strengths.
Pakistan has a very strong military instrument and leadership that is respected the world over for its expertise and professionalism. Having been baptized in the fire of brutal asymmetric conflict for well over a decade now the soldiers as well as officers are a lethal fighting instrument capable of holding their own in any adversity. A heavy spending on defence as a compulsion has invested Pakistan armed forces with an efficacy and professionalism that rivals that of any modern nation. With its nuclear status burnishing its credentials as a formidable fighting instrument Pakistan Army stands as a logical choice for any friendly Arab country for military support in terms of training as well as defensive deployment against state as well as non state actors. Saudi Arabia presently is threatened with a spate of threats from Al Qaeda, Daesh, and sectarian militants. The conflict with Houthis Yemen and its putative Iranian connection is another threat that has started challenging Saudi borders lately.
With the current Trump administration’s cozying up to Saudis yet again due to differences with Iran have brought a thaw in the US-Saudi relations. It is a development that presages another cooperative engagement by US in Middle East with Arabs at the cost of Iran. The Saudi threat perception and its offer of military alliance to Pakistan act as veritable soft external balancing options that can help her break her diplomatic isolation besides countering the challenges emanating out of Indo –US strategic convergence. Pakistan can effectively safeguard its security interests as a military foil to a US ally in Middle East countering Indian intrigues indirectly. General retired Raheel Sharif can play an important role in above scenario by acting as commander of Islamic Military Alliance due to his military professionalism and diplomatic sangfroid. He could act as a military advisor to the OIC as well as GCC while working closely with the Saudi military and political leadership.
It needs however to be understood that if Pakistan has thought through all dimensions of this Saudi engagement in the shape of leadership role for Islamic Military Alliance for its ex Army Chief some home truths should be clear to all. General Raheel Sharif would do no service by being a symbolic head of an effete alliance with no teeth or fighting ability. His appointment in fact is a tacit admission of the greater Pakistani role in Middle Eastern threat matrix. Raheel Sharif is therefore a vanguard of a greater Pakistani military engagement with Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries and a personification of Pakistan’s soft balancing ability through military diplomacy. His appointment would logically be followed with some effective military deployments. Pakistan despite its heavy involvement in the asymmetric warfare is capable of sending a Division’s strength of force comprising a balanced mix of armour, infantry and supporting arms. With General Raheel in the alliance headquarters and Pakistani troops on Saudi soil Pakistan’s clout with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE would increase manifold.
For optimal diplomatic advantages Pakistan must have a symbiosis between General Raheel’s role and Pakistani force deployment. General Raheel should be given an important role to play as a military diplomat for Pakistan deriving strength from the presence of Pakistani troops on Saudi soil. Pakistani troop deployment under a serving Major General should have its own vertical and horizontal command and staff linkages with Pakistan, Saudi Arabian and Islamic Military Alliance military headquarters. It is a veritable win win situation for Pakistan minus a caveat and that caveat remains Iranian sensitivities. If Pakistan and Raheel Sharif could act as a bridge between the Arab-Iran angularities the Islamic Military Alliance structure would act as the greatest diplomatic ever pulled by Pakistan.
Source: pakobserver.net/engaging-middle-east/
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The Struggle Against Mob Mentality
By Syed Ali Zafar
April 19, 2017
In colonial Massachusetts, between 1692 and 1693, allegations of practising witchcraft were levelled against over 200 people. Out of these, 20 were executed. There was widespread hysteria, panic and violence, all stemming from mere, unsubstantiated accusations. The period is described by Charles Upham, in his book ‘Salem Witchcraft’, as the “darkest and most despondent period in the civil history of New England.”
Much like the fear and panic that gripped New England in the 17th century, Pakistan finds itself engulfed in the same hysteria. It seems as though our witch-hunt, which began after Ziaul Haq amended certain laws, has taken an entirely new shape and form, having infiltrated what are supposed to be ‘safe’ spaces, purportedly for imparting knowledge and education.
The latest victim of the witch-hunt was Mashal Khan, a young student of Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan. On the basis of mere accusations, with no substantive evidence or proof, a mob tortured, killed and dismembered the 20-year-old student. Let us bear in mind that he was not officially accused of blasphemy, nor convicted of it or produced before the courts for a trial in this regard. The trial and execution were conducted by a mob, despite having blasphemy laws in place to safeguard religious sentiments and beliefs.
The Holy Quran says in unequivocal terms: “Whosoever kills an innocent human being, it shall be as if he has killed all mankind and whosoever saves the life of one, it shall be as if he has saved the life of all mankind”. There is no civilised society in the world that allows us to take the law into our own hands. Moreover, no religion allows for such barbaric, callous and brutal murder.
“You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things! O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,” are the words of Marullus in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, which should resonate deeply within our society in the aftermath of this horrific murder. Much of the play is a scathing critique of mob mentality, particularly owing to its fickleness, as illustrated by the mob changing its loyalties five times in the course of the play. It is that arbitrariness that makes mobs all the more dangerous and condemnable.
While it is definitely reassuring that all major political leadership, including the prime minister, has explicitly, and in strong words, condemned this brutal attack, the fact remains that its punishment is a test for the PTI government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P). That is not to say that lynching is only a problem in K-P. In 2012, there was a lynching in Punjab (July) and Sindh (December), which managed to extract the accused, in each cases, out of police custody and barbarically murdered them. Hopefully, we have not forgotten the lynching of a Christian couple in Lahore.
Regardless, what is required now is speedy justice. Mashal’s father gave an interview to an international channel, where he clearly stated that justice has never been dispensed in the past and therefore, he had no expectation of justice in his son’s murder case. However, he did emphasise the importance of ensuring that such a situation does not arise ever again. In order to guarantee that, the PTI government in K-P must take strict action against all those identified in the gruesome videos circulating on social media.
The most alarming fact is that it took place on a university campus. Universities and educational institutions are citadels for debate and discussion. We often argue that uneducated and illiterate persons carry out such attacks. Education is the answer to the evils in our society. The idea that education will embed within us the ability to rationalise, adopt non-violent approaches to our problems and respect the rule of law has been directly challenged by this cold-blooded murder. It is demonstrative of the fact that, in terms of education, we must begin from the grassroots level. Students in universities who have been indoctrinated and filled with hate for the major part of their lives cannot simply be de-radicalised by attending an institution of higher learning.
The presence of a video makes it all the more essential for the K-P government to — within a period not exceeding a month — identify, prosecute and punish all those involved to ensure that this crime does not suffer the same fate as such crimes have in the past.
When state institutions, particularly the interior minister, openly declares that all accused of blasphemy must be caught, then this tends to create a kind of witch-hunt amongst the public, eventually leading to cold-blooded murders. In fact, the statement attributed to a judge of the Islamabad High Court that if the state does not take blasphemy seriously people cannot be blamed for taking the law into their own hands, can be misconstrued. Such statements from the courts will certainly encourage people to dispense vigilante injustice, especially in a society like ours where religious sentiments can be easily manipulated and misused.
While condemnation has emerged from all important quarters, this is insufficient. What is required is a holistic and comprehensive revamping of the system and laws that allow such occurrences in the first place. Those in positions of power and authority must ensure that their statements are responsible, taking into consideration the volatile situation, with regard to religious extremism, that exists in the status quo. Such incitements, atrocities and violence in the name of religion cannot be tolerated and those involved must be punished.
Above all, no one should be allowed to exploit the name of the religion and a holistic approach to revamp and reexamine our primary and secondary levels’ curricula must be undertaken. It needs to encourage debate and discourse, and teach the true meanings of tolerance and peace.
Source: tribune.com.pk/story/1387536/struggle-mob-mentality/
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/pakistan-press/owning-mashal-khan-new-age/d/110831