Sindh Hindu Marriage Act — Relief or Restraint? By Shahid Jatoi: New Age Islam's Selection, 09 June 2017
New
Age Islam Edit Bureau
09 June 2017
• Sindh Hindu Marriage Act — Relief or Restraint?
By Shahid Jatoi
• Thoughts on Aftar
By Asha’ar Rehman
• Candle of Hope
By Zubeida Mustafa
• Governance Woes
Rukhsana Shah
• The Panama Jitters
By M Ziauddin
• Is It Worth Fighting For US-Pak Relationship?
By Dr Ejaz Hussain
• The Battle for Pakistan Is Over And Done With
By Nirvaan Nadeem
• The Power of Affluence
By Chris Cork
• Pakistan as Member Of SCO
By Dr Muhammad Khan
Compiled By New Age Islam Edit Bureau
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Sindh Hindu Marriage Act — Relief or Restraint?
By Shahid Jatoi
June 8, 2017
On June 19, 2014, a Supreme Court’s special bench headed by then chief justice Tassaduq Jillani gave a landmark judgment, directing the federal and provincial governments to safeguard the constitutional and legal rights of the country’s religious minorities. Responding to this ruling and also to the decades-old demand of the Hindu community, two different laws with a similar name were enacted — the Sindh Hindu Marriage Act of 2016 enforceable in Sindh province and the Hindu Marriage Act of 2017, which extends to the Islamabad Capital Territory, Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces.
After the 18th amendment, all laws related to religious minorities became the responsibility of the provinces until the provinces themselves choose to relegate those powers to the federal authorities under Article 144 of the Constitution. Hindus constitute 1.6 per cent of the country’s population and a majority of them live in the province of Sindh. Unlike other three provinces, Sindh exercised its power to legislate for its substantial Hindu population and decided not to refer to the federal government for a uniform Hindu marriage act.
Perhaps the ruling party in the province, PPP, views the Hindu community as its political constituency and is unprepared to allow the PML-N government at the centre to take credit for legislation on Sindh’s Hindu minority as that would jeopardise its vote bank in the province. This is understandable in the wake of the PPP’s dwindling popularity which has confined it to just one province in the country.
The law passed by the Sindh Assembly for the Hindu community was technically the first legislative initiative in the parliamentary history of Pakistan. Nevertheless, paradoxical to its title, the Sindh Hindu Marriage Act of 2016 is mere a registration act. The Sindh Assembly passed this law in a hurry to principally restrict the federal law, if enacted that time, was to be implemented in Sindh as well in the absence of the provincial law of Sindh until Sindh Assembly passed a resolution to abandon it. The act indeed provides some relief to the Hindu community, especially in establishing marital relationships, acquiring of official documents such as CNICs, passports and also succession certificates. However, the Sindh Hindu Marriage Act of 2016 is incomplete, somewhat faulty and cannot fulfill the marriage and post-marriage arrangements.
Article 25 of 1973 Constitution stipulates ‘all citizens are equal before [the] law and are entitled to equal protection of [the] law’. Further, Article 35 provides constitutional guarantees for the ‘protection of the marriage, family, woman and the child’. Though the federally enacted law ensures these constitutional rights of Hindu citizens of Pakistan but Sindh Hindu Marriage Act of 2016 failed to promise these rights. According to section 10 of the act, the government had to constitute the rules within three months of commencement of the act; however, even after more than a year, the rules have not been framed yet.
In fact, the current Sindh Hindu Marriage Act of 2016 deals only with the registration of Hindu marriages. The act also provides Hindu citizens the criteria to marry and register their marriages but unfortunately it does not satisfy the other post-marriage rights of Hindu people living in Sindh. For instance, the law does not cover the right to protect the dignity of one’s family, the right to dissolve marriages, the right to fight against cruelty, and the right of the financial security of woman and children. It further means, the act does not provide for the restitution of conjugal rights, judicial separation, and termination of marriage, marriage termination by mutual consent, alternative relief during termination procedure, and procedure of remarriages for couples and widows, and legitimacy and acknowledgment of children born out of void and voidable Hindu marriages.
For instance, though the federal law also provides for ‘termination of marriage’ rather than the word ‘divorce’; however, it provides some respite to suffering Hindu citizens if they wish to dissolve their marriage and to remarry again. In Sindh law, there is no such provision available if the married couples are unable to live with each other due to various problems. Nonetheless, it happens in some cases that a husband leaves his wife without fulfilling his marital duties, especially the maintenance of wife and bearing of child expenses. This also creates hindrance in the way of re-marrying, as in the absence of divorce certificates, remarrying is a legal issue.
Additionally, there are also some technical errors in the Sindh Hindu Marriage Act. The certificate of marriage annexed as Schedule A of ‘The Sindh Hindu Marriage Act of 2016’ provide the “Matrimonial Status” as Single, Married, Divorced and Widower. Nonetheless, the section 4 (e) of this act prohibits the marriage if either party in the marriage have a spouse living at the time of marriage. In this case, there is no point to mention ‘married’ in the said column. Secondly, in Sindh there is no law for a male or female to get a divorce or a verdict of divorce, so the question remains unattended how a divorced person may register his or her second marriage.
Furthermore, the section 7 (4) of act stipulates that: All the entries in the Marriage Register shall bear the official stamp of the officer concerned and shall be signed by (i) the person solemnising the marriage. Whereas the section 11 of this act maintains the status of act as having retrospective effect, which means all Hindu marriages solemnised before commencement of this act should also be registered according to same procedure provided in Section 7. However, the law does not provide the alternative in cases where the persons solemnising the marriages (for instance, Pandit, Mahraj), is no more alive.
Last but not least, since Hindu citizens live across Pakistan in all four provinces, Hindu couples are likely to marry at the inter-provincial level as well. If this happens then under which law should the marriage be registered and in case of post-marriage arrangements, which law would be referred in the courts. On the one hand, the federal government, along with the three provinces, is in the process of framing rules of business to implement the law. It is sad then by Sindh still has an incomplete law. Despite the existence of two marriage laws, there is no respite especially for women folk in the community.
Source: tribune.com.pk/story/1429958/sindh-hindu-marriage-act-relief-restraint/
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Thoughts on Aftar
By Asha’ar Rehman
June 9th, 2017
THE original word we used at home back then was aftar or aftaar and not iftar as is in vogue these days. It was as though the formula that prevented us from addressing our daily dose of news as akhbar and not ikhbar applied to aftar. Aftar. Fulfilling.
In those times of utter bliss where the cholesterol-watching doctors and the army of sincere nutritionists didn’t quite have the presence they have today there were no ‘ifs’ about it. It sounds all the more grand in comparison to its rather modest and softer latter-day alternative, iftari.
Those were the times when the salt would not be passed around at the table unless and until the ‘needy’ agreed to modify nimak to namak in his or her speech as we — a small protective group of us— sought to get our pronunciation right in defiance of the all-corrupting world around us.
It is unclear when aftar became iftar. Or maybe iftari did exist in the free world outside the home that was bound by its own smells, peculiar phrases and exclusive brand of humour. We were quite intent on sticking with aftar derived from the word ‘aftartoo’ in the prayer the faithful say when breaking their fast. It can be said with confidence that this was much before the media channels took over the job of setting our linguistic emphasis right, often doing it in a most arbitrary, almost imperialistic fashion without any upcountry participation.
You will never settle for one pronunciation, and there is no reason why you should actually.
From memory, iftari has been around for far longer than has been aspataal or iskool, the local variants of the original hospital or school, two foreign secular institutions to have survived our campaign for purity, which requires the substitution of these imported words with a set of other foreign sounds and vocabulary.
The new stresses promoted by the brains behind the forever running scrolls on television screens were necessary. Those who owned and knew the language could not withstand the wide-mouthed haspatal or sakool or sacreen as against iskreen or sapprite in place of isprite.
The debate will continue. You will never settle for one pronunciation, and there is no reason why you should actually. However, the ‘I’ sound will likely appear at the beginning of more and more words in the Urdu tickers of English words run on channels as the experts — call them media imperialists when you find them at their most intrusive — down by the sea persist with their voluntary services to a national cause of their choice.
There are other centres, of course, which are forcefully trying to get our verbal expression right, eg schools. Some have been as eager to get the English accent right just as some others have been influenced by the trend of ridding the students of the desi cadence and providing them with a — genuine — Arabic accent.
Indeed, this process, among other things, led to the rehabilitation of some words in their original form. Like Mall (road) which was revived after having earlier been rechristened as ‘Maal’. Or Hall Road which had long been masquerading as ‘Haal’ before being restored by an increasingly English-medium populace.
There are many English inflections that would still sound off to those who have learnt their ABC under the old school teacher in the habit of breaking words into smaller units for clarity. Like ‘photo-graph-er’ who has now been neatly welded into the smooth yet more dramatic photographer. Or the latest crispier version of ‘oppor-tunity’ which has been liberated from the mundane existence it once was reduced to inside our Urdu-medium classrooms.
In times where people here are exposed to so many varied influences these changes are but understandable, our personal acceptance or liking or otherwise for a term notwithstanding. What is a little puzzling is the high intensity with which we greet or oppose certain terms, our response often informed by the frustration that has come to characterise all discussion and debate in this country.
Recently, there was a news item according to which a local cleric in Gujrat — simply an office-bearer of a religion-based organisation — had called for the ultimate punishment for those failing to respect Ramazan, meaning those who were found eating in public during roza hours. The gentleman had been sufficiently upset by those who violate the spirit of the holy month to actually demand death for them. The seriousness of his purpose was clear since the letter in which he asked for the extreme step was reportedly addressed to the top policeman of the area.
The message drew instant criticism from many on the social media, and the commentators appeared keen to use the instance to highlight extremist tendencies. But if the severity of this reaction was valid or understandable how would we explain when the same or similar intensity is on display in our arguments over other, one would imagine, less controversial issues?
For many years now, so many Pakistani minds are locked in debating what is the best spelling — Ramazan, Ramzan, Ramadhan or Ramadan? The crucial question has been whether those who called it sawm were more likely to be placed amongst the company of the pure as opposed to those content with keeping the old roza.
Seriously? Does the matter dictate an argument as intense and full of anger and, indeed, acrimonious as the one that has been unfolding without end here for so many years now? Or is it a kind of escape in itself, the current heated debate — more a protest and a lament than anything else — keeping us away and secure from other, more pertinent, questions?
It does not take a genius to realise that these stresses result from our exposure to the purer versions of the faithful we have had an opportunity to mingle with over the last half a century. It is an import that makes us feel genuine. The loudness, both for and against, is purely ours.
Source: dawn.com/news/1338325/thoughts-on-aftar
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Candle of Hope
By Zubeida Mustafa
June 9th, 2017
WHEN you start to despair — and we have too many occasions for that — go get the light of hope from someone who holds the candle. So I went to see Dr Ruth Pfau, who has been an inspiration for many, especially the most stigmatised of segments — her leprosy patients.
Even in her poor state of health in her hospital bed, Dr Pfau continues to be the candle of hope she has epitomised. She was hospitalised recently but is now in her own apartment in her neat and prim clinic. Of course, she is happy to be back home, she told me.
As I held her hand I could feel the “enrichment flow from her into me” to use her words. That is the role she has been playing since she arrived as a young woman of 31 in Karachi from Germany in 1960 and made Pakistan her home. It was chance that took her to the Lepers’ Colony behind the commercial offices on McLeod Road (now I.I. Chundrigar Road). The squalor and subhuman conditions did not deter her. Within three years, she had set up a proper leprosy clinic, now an eight-storey hospital on Shahrah-i-Liaquat, and the hub of 157 leprosy centres all over the country. There followed an arduous journey of over five decades devoted to “serving the unserved”. At no stage has her commitment slackened.
In her forthcoming autobiography, quoting an axiom, she writes, “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness” and, better still, “to keep it burning”.
Leprosy, according to Dr Pfau, ‘is not just a sickness’.
What I find striking about Dr Ruth Pfau is her holistic approach to the people she works for and whom she loves unconditionally.
Thus leprosy, the disease she focused on, is, according to her, “not just a sickness” with specific medical conditions, but also a monstrosity due to society’s attitude towards the person who is suffering from it. He or she is dubbed a sinner, a victim of the scourge of the divine.
It is this stigma that robs patients of their dignity and deprives them of their basic birthright that Dr Pfau finds disquieting. Hence in her scheme of things the cure is a process which not only treats the physical ailment but continues until the patient has been rehabilitated and has access to his right to food and clothing, shelter, education, health, equal job opportunities and, above all, social acceptance. With the risk of relapse ever present, leprosy workers have to establish lifelong associations with their patients who are monitored for early signs of any recurrence of the disease.
This sounds so idealistic in Pakistan’s context. But it has actually worked because Dr Pfau’s strategy from the initial years has been to focus on community development as well. She took healthcare to the patients’ right to their doorstep, personally visiting families to convince them that leprosy, a grossly misunderstood disease, was treatable.
After studying Dr Pfau’s approach, I feel that is the only one which can work in a Third World society. To be effective, a four-pronged strategy is needed: a) adopt preventive measures; b) educate communities to lower the incidence of diseases; c) provide curative treatment to those who still fall ill; d) monitor and detect early cases that recur to nip the damage in the bud.
Dr Pfau made an impact on the leprosy scene in Pakistan and in 1996; WHO declared that leprosy had been controlled in the country. Dr Pfau then set her sights on leprosy elimination, a bigger challenge as the incubation period can last from two to 40 years. In 2016, the number of patients under treatment in Pakistan were only 531 — a far cry from 19,398 in the early 1980s.
To use fully the capacity, it had created, the Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre (MALC) branched out into tuberculosis and blindness prevention programmes in support of the government. Why TB? The TB bacterium is related to the leprosy bacillus. Why blindness? For the leprosy patient, blindness enhances his helplessness since he is robbed of his tactile ability as well. You need a lot of compassion to understand the feelings of those suffering from either of the two.
TB and blindness programmes require similar community efforts. With the socio-medical infrastructure in place for leprosy, the MALC could include these in its sphere of work.
Dr Ruth Pfau saw a rat nibbling the decayed foot of a leprosy patient who had lost sensation in his legs. That prompted her to “care for such patients” as she puts it.
What would you say about the case of a doctor in Umerkot who, reportedly, refused to touch a sanitary worker who was brought to the hospital in critical condition after inhaling gas in the gutter he was cleaning? The reason that was supposedly given was, “The man was covered with filth and I was fasting.”
Source; dawn.com/news/1338320/candle-of-hope
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Governance Woes
Rukhsana Shah
June 9th, 2017
ONE of the fundamentals of good governance is the ability to mobilise existing resources efficiently and to ensure their sustainability. This is mainly done through sound policies and their implementation which was the hallmark of the Ayub regime, whether it was in relation to the Green Revolution or industrialisation.
The fact that many of these policies benefited West Pakistan at the expense of East Pakistan is not the subject of this article: my point here is that the bureaucracy of that time effectively carried out its mandate to mobilise and utilise resources for big dams, irrigation systems, infrastructure development, food autarky and economic growth. Its performance outstripped that of many other countries in the region.
Then, it was mandatory for all department heads to visit their subordinate offices at least once a month. The Dak bungalows and circuit houses were maintained by the government to facilitate officers on tour, who journeyed by train to visit field offices in their jurisdiction, checking accounts and inventories of sub-offices, visiting schools, inspecting roads, railway tracks, canals, dams, electricity lines, wheat silos etc.
Timely implementation of projects and accountability of officers serving away from the metropolis was thus ensured. Sadly, since the 1990s, official tours in Pakistan have meant only foreign tours. All middle and senior government officers spend a considerable amount of time attending workshops and conferences abroad. They rarely go on local tours unless these are to accompany their political bosses on ceremonial occasions.
Bureaucracy has become subservient to the rulers.
The last Pildat report on governance reflects the social disquiet resulting from the government’s failures on key developmental indicators such as clean water, housing for the poor, employment generation etc. Even economic growth is lopsided with one province enjoying financial patronage at the expense of others. The core issues of corruption, opaque public procurement, blind infrastructure projects and the increasing gap between the rich and poor are left unattended.
Today, most bureaucrats do not take simple decisions on the files. They are ‘risk-averse’ mainly due to political expediency, but also because there is too much personal interest at stake — from cushy jobs and project allowances to government housing, cars, plots and foreign trips.
Recently, the chief secretary and the IGP, Punjab, were given additional post-retirement lifetime perks including orderlies, petrol, electricity, gas and telephone charges for having carried out their normal duties in the course of their careers. This largesse at the expense of the taxpayer was followed by the Azad Kashmir government too except that there, the IGP, Bashir Ahmed Memon, refused to accept these post-retirement perks on account of the huge burden they would entail on the government’s cash-strapped resources. However, the IGP of AJK and the IGP of Sindh (on other counts) are rare exceptions. With each political and military change in the country, the civil service has become more subservient to the rulers and greedy for benefits which their predecessors could not have imagined.
Shared intrinsic values and necessary communication lines between the political leadership and the masses are indicators of good governance. Today, despite the devolution of power, this communication gap has increased not only in Balochistan and Sindh where the populace stands marginalised, but also in the Punjab, the most pampered province. All decisions, critical or trivial, centre on the chief minister. Even academics are sometimes refused NOCs to attend conferences abroad because of over-centralised decision-making riddled with circuitous rigmaroles and bureaucratic obduracy.
That the delays caused by this chronic procrastination result in spiralling financial and opportunity costs for the country is not even considered. More importantly, the frequent transfer of secretaries — sometimes after only two months — means that there can neither be any continuation of programmes, nor any ownership of failures.
Good governance is based on, among other things, the timely implementation of policies. Decision-making, delegation and devolution of power to subordinate offices, vigilant monitoring and regular performance audits are fundamental to efficient resource utilisation. However, every year, the budgets of different departments in all provinces lapse due to a failure to follow these fundamental requirements.
Failures reflected by Monitoring & Evaluation Cell reports which are useful to gauge performance, are left unpunished. Accountability of public servants requires political energy whereby civil society, the judiciary, media and opposition parties can effectively challenge the status quo and press for reforms. Meanwhile, the civil servants themselves need to develop a sense of responsibility towards the taxpayers, as ably demonstrated by AJK’s inspector general of police.
Source: dawn.com/news/1338318/governance-woes
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The Panama Jitters
By M Ziauddin
09-Jun-17
No matter who prompted him to issue such dire threats to no matter who, Senator Nehal Hashmi needs to be taken to task for what he did. If he had done the mischief on his own its consequences for him should be even severer. In case he was prompted then the prompter should be identified without fail and meted out exemplary punishment.
Mouthing such menacing language publicly allegedly against the three-member supreme court bench hearing the Panama case and/or the six-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) tasked to find answers to the 11 questions that the former had posed should be unacceptable under any circumstances.
One had expected the Supreme Court bench in question to dispose of the case on merit on the very day the Senator was called in to explain his position. Surprisingly it was not to be so. The accused has been allowed more than a week to prepare his defence but he is seemingly using it solely to hog the media limelight for what it is worth which he is doing with great relish displacing from air space more important national and international news.
Those who have not taken their eyes off the ball since the JIT started its investigations despite so many immaterial media distractions find it difficult to believe that the investigators would be able to complete the exercise in time. They seem to go by what the JIT has succeeded in achieving in the first 30 days of the 60-day limit imposed by the bench — not much.
In order to put the things in the correct perspective sans the media distractions let us recall here the questions asked by the bench: 1. How were Gulf Steel Mills set up? 2. What happened with the returns of Gulf Steel Mills? 3. How did the money earned from Gulf Steel Mills ended up in Jeddah, Qatar and Britain? 4. What were the reasons of selling Gulf Steel Mills? 5. Did the young Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz have resources enough to buy flats in London in the 90s? 6. Is the Qatari letter a reality or just a fabricated letter? 7. Who is the real owner of Nelson and Nescol? 8. How did the bearer certificates of the offshore companies turn into flats? 9. Where did Hassan Nawaz get the money from for a flagship company and business in London, while there is no transaction recorded to prove the flow of money? 10. How was Hill Metal Company set up? 11. How did Hussain Nawaz gift millions of rupees to his father and where did the money for those gifts come from?
Ruthless accountability of top office holders in countries practicing democracy is not a new normal. But in Pakistan this is happening for the first time. In the past such accountability was reserved for out of power politicians
The answers for the first four questions, it is presumed, have been obtained in the very first couple days of the investigations from Tariq Shafi, cousin of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The question number six regarding the Qatari letter on which perhaps hinges the entire case of money trail has continued to remain unanswered one way or the other. The exchange of letters between the JIT and the Qatari Prince in question have only added to the confusion about whether or not the Prince is willing to answer JIT’s questions in person. The answers to questions number seven and eight would flow from the personal evidence that is anticipated to be provided by the Qatari Prince.
The JIT seems to have devoted most of its time in the first 30 days to trying to find answers to questions number 5, 9, 10 and 11 from Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz. This attempt has, however, turned the whole affair into a Tamasha. The comings and goings of the Prime Minister’s sons to and from the Judicial Academy — the temporary Thana the JIT has been using for interrogation — has spun into a raucous media spectacle of pathetic proportions.
This spectacle accompanies opposing narratives, one from the PML-N lackeys full of sob-sister stories of imaginary victimhood and the other mostly from PTI puppeteers calling for immediate resignation of the Prime Minister as according to them he has been found guilty as charged. Along with this go the visuals of the PM’s sons shown accompanying a huge crowd of supporters usually led by known PML-N hecklers.
In the first place, since the two youngsters — Hussain and Hassan — do not hold any political office in Pakistan and have their businesses outside Pakistan they are not legally obliged to appear before the Pakistani JIT, especially to answer question number 11, but for being the sons of the Prime Minister.
Also, since they have already said that they owned the flats in question there was no need to grill them for hours together. All that the JIT needed for them to produce were authentic documents to back their claims. In case they produced the said documents, end of story. If not, the story goes back to the bench. As simple as that.
There seems to be some kind of inexplicable reluctance on the part of the JIT to invite Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for interrogation, as one presumes the two hold all the information that the JIT requires.
While the JIT seems to be going around in circles, the PML-N has been using the opportunity to undermine the credibility of the interrogators using the ‘leaked’ picture of Hussain Nawaz and the WhatsApp related ‘fake’ news.
Those in the opposing camp, who interpret this seemingly counterfeit campaign of the PML-N against the JIT as a panicky response of a guilty party, perhaps rightly, seem to be smelling victory. But let this camp be warned that it would have nothing to complain about if at the end of the day the same JIT were to give a clean chit of health in favour of its tormentor — the Sharif family. However, even if that were to happen on technical grounds, by the time the case would come to its logical or illogical end, it would have cost the ruling party dearly in terms of politics. Ruthless accountability of top office holders in countries practicing democracy is not a new normal. But in Pakistan this is happening for the first time. In the past such accountability was reserved for out of power politicians.
Still, to our good fortune there are no signs on the horizon of what is called judicial coup in the making and so far neither has the Army shown any inclination to step out of the barracks to ‘set things right’ in its own parade ground style.
Source: dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/09-Jun-17/the-panama-jitters
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Is It Worth Fighting For US-Pak Relationship?
By Dr Ejaz Hussain
09-Jun-17
The other day Moeed Yusuf argued in Dawn that it is time Pakistan conveyed its strategic concerns to the US in a frank manner. The crux of his argument, which is realistic in nature, is the US past and present administration lacks trust in the security establishment of Pakistan due to the latter’s preoccupation with India which, by extension, determines Rawalpindi’s relations with Afghanistan and, onwards, Iran. Subset of Pakistan’s India policy necessitated, from the perspective of the security establishment, a Jihadi approach in especially Kashmir where the Indian army is belligerent to the extent of using Kashmiris as a human shield.
The recent statement of India army chief, Rawat, outlines Indian army’s onwards tactical approach to counter the Kashmiri resistance for self-determination. A recent report of the US congress, too, talked of Pakistan employing militant organizations for strategic purposes in Afghanistan where peace has been a distant dream despite over decade-and-a-half military and political efforts on the part of the United States and its NATO allies. The recent attacks in and around Kabul expose inherent weaknesses of the Afghan state which is struggling to establish its writ over a territory which is home to multiple local land barons with competing interests in addition to many proxies backed by different powers from within and outside the South Asian region.
In such a troubled regional context, will the US and Pakistan work together to counter extremism and terrorism from Pakistan and Afghanistan?
To begin with, the US-Pakistan relations have a long history dating back to the early days of the Cold War. Contrary to what many in Pakistan believe, the nature and character of the bilateral relations was determined by the Cold War requirements: the US needed allies across the world to contain and combat communism. Whenever the US decided to contain its ideological “other” in South Asia, it looked up to Pakistan as a given choice and, importantly, Pakistan never disappointed its patron. Hence, be that the Ayub, Zia and Musharraf regime, Pakistan acted as a crucial client. Interestingly, as Christiane Fair argues, whenever the US withdrew from South Asia, it put Pakistan under sanctions for the former did not like to contradict its principal position on, for example, nuclear proliferation in a post-Cold War “New World Order”. This also explains the temporary transactional nature of US-Pak relations which, in turn, explicates past and contemporary fractures in the bilateral relations.
From the American perspective, it makes sense to blame Pakistan to have taken undesired advantage of its relations with Washington by going to war with India in 1965 or keeping up Jihadi organizations in the 1990s and 2000s onwards. The US approach is predicated on realism and reflects a superpower mentality that engages with peripheral puppets for short-term goals and disengages at will. On the other hand, Pakistan has internalized such a policy posture as a tested case of distrust, deceitfulness and derogation.
From a neo-Marxist perspective, a Pakistani may argue the US exploited Pakistan through (post) Cold War alliances, sale of expensive weapons, indebtedness to US-controlled financial institutions and non-settlement of Kashmir issue. However, a US official may counter it by arguing that Pakistan survives today because the US gave an ultimatum to India in 1971 and 1999. Though a passionate Pakistani, on the other hand, may counter it by referring to the Chinese warning to India in 1965 and 1971, if not 1999. The fact of the matter, however, is neither the US nor China supported Pakistan militarily in its wars with India.
That essentially is the reason, in the post-1971 period, Pakistan’s civil and military leadership sought panacea of its Indian problem in going nuclear. China did help Pakistan in this respect as argues Andres Small. “China does understand Pakistan’s predicament vis-à-vis India while the US never did”, argue our ex-servicemen on TV channels. This is the reason Pakistan has strategically shifted to China with which it has maintained long-term transactional relations. CPEC is, thus, an outcome of this structured relationship. In this context, it will be hard for the US, as the past suggests, to convince Pakistan over its Afghanistan policy while ignoring Rawalpindi’s reservation over India’s role in Kashmir and Kabul. This means Pakistani security establishment will not abandon the use of force multipliers for dividends in Afghanistan and Kashmir. In such a scenario, the US is left with one choice: sanction and bomb Pakistan. The latter, in my view, is ready for both.
If there is a war between US and Pakistan, India and Afghanistan are likely to side with the US. However, Pakistan is most likely to use its Jihadi assets in both of these neighbours, thus, expanding the zone of conflict to more than half of South Asia where many global corporations do businesses
According to surveys, Pakistanis are, by and large, anti-American and, any extreme step, will add fuel to fire. Plus, in case of applying military means against Pakistan, the US will invade another Muslim country, thus, generating further hatred and breeding ground for future jihadists. Moreover, in the US-Pakistan war scenario, China is likely to support Pakistan diplomatically, if not militarily. In addition, if there is a war between US and Pakistan, India and Afghanistan are likely to side with the US. However, Pakistan is most likely to use its Jihadi assets in both of these neighbours, thus, expanding the zone of conflict to more than half of South Asia where many global corporations do businesses. Alarmingly, then, the fate of nukes will be unpredictable. If attacked massively by the US (or India etc), it is very likely (tactical) nukes could be used as per Pakistan’s first-strike doctrine for the country has very limited conventional capability and Pakistani state is ideological in nature. This is my prediction which maybe proven wrong as it is hard to take account of situational variables. Hence, in view of the foregoing, it is rational for Pakistan and the US to avoid a war scenario and instead engage each other in cordial terms and work together to stabilise Pakistan and Afghanistan. If the US, along with China, can convince India and Pakistan to settle Kashmir amicably, this will deprive Pakistan o fraison d’être to keep and use Jihadi proxies. Such a policy will also carry positive implications for peace and stability not only in Afghanistan but also the entire region.
This obviously sounds ideal but not impossible. Therefore, the US-Pakistan relations can have a future that starts with interacting each other in non-temporary manner and with the aim to resolve conflicts in the region. This is time the US engages Pakistan above and beyond Afghanistan for its own sake and Pakistan, for its national interests, does the same regardless of China.
Source: dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/09-Jun-17/is-it-worth-fighting-for-us-pak-relationship
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The Battle for Pakistan Is Over And Done With
By Nirvaan Nadeem
09-Jun-17
There was a time, when we used to actually believe something, anything. There was a time, when people used to support a political party largely, because they used to actually believe in it. It was a time of ideologies and vision. The supporters of PPP fundamentally wanted a socialist Pakistan. Many were baton charged, scores spent years in jail, some even lost their lives. The PML-N believed in a centrist and moderate ideology, MQM struggled for the middle-class while the JUI propagated the complete establishment of ‘Sharia’(Islamic Law) and an all-encompassing Muslim caliphate.
The masses, like robots and blind mice, follow their respective ‘saviours’. Some dedicate their life for the glory of a particular sect of Islam, and their entire paradigm consists of combating the ‘evil other’. Then there are those who think the solution to all major problems lies in flyovers and bridges, while single out corruption as the biggest affliction.
From anti state movements in Balochistan to sectarian violence in Punjab, from water shortages in Sindh to power failures in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, political leaders tend to practice point-scoring. The so-called leaders decide what the real issue is, and who the real enemy is. And the masses blindly follow them.
Why can’t we unite as a nation and believe in one ideology? What stops us from developing a consensus, follow a well-defined narrative and stick to it? Why is it that the public gang rape of a woman generates temporary outrage and it is business as usual after a few days? Why does public lynching in the name of ‘blasphemy’ not prompt immediate action from the government?
Fundamentally, those in power, throughout the world, employ various ‘tactics’ to prevent uprisings, change in power dynamics, exerting influence, basically to keep the masses in check. One of the most effective methods is also the simplest — poverty. Keep the masses struggling for their next meal, and they will be least concerned with words such as ‘accountability’, ‘narrative’ and ‘ideology’. Seldom will an empty stomach fight, or care, for the collective good. However, as in France, though highly unlikely, it is still possible. Our leaders know this, and even a small chance is a threat to their iron clad grip on our minds.
How to completely break the backbone of the masses? How to make it almost impossible for them to stand up? How to leave nothing to chance? Poverty at most is a high stakes gamble. Is there one single, fool proof method of removing all challenge to authority? Unfortunately there is one — confusion.
Why is it that we have forgotten Mashal Khan? How is Lal Masjid back in business? Where are the planners of the APS massacre? Under what logic are capitalist Ramzan shows allowed on air? Why do we take billions from the west? Why do we call a home-grown terrorist a ‘Mujahid’ and foreign ones as ‘monsters’?
These are the issues that threaten the very existence of our glorious nation. Nations that have changed the path of the world, leaders whose names are etched permanently in the annals of history, civilizations which have remained for thousands of years, all had vision. Without vision, a nation is purposeless.
The body may live another day, but until the underlying disease is actually identified, every wound stitched will only open up another. Critically exasperating the situation would be a widespread debate on the nature of the disease itself, and if there is even one in the first place. The result is confusion. How long can we survive in this vague, uncomfortable, destructive and criminal grey area? We condemn the murders of so many Mashal Khans yet remain ambiguous on the law that causes it all. We raise our voice against countless bomb blasts yet remain silent over hate speech?
We come from a nation that has made some of the greatest contributions to mankind. Our land has produced some of the greatest mathematicians, scientists, artists and philosophers. We are the ones who have given direction, to not only our land, but the entire world. We idolise Imran Khans and Nawaz Sharifs. One plans the other to be hung upside down, the other wants to drag him through the streets. When we cannot take a stand for an issue because we do not believe in it with all our heart, waiting for a magical saviour is a sign of lethargy. Fight yourself as a united whole for a cause, a vision- and you will see the saviour right before you. You are the saviour.
Source: dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/09-Jun-17/the-battle-for-pakistan-is-over-and-done-with
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The Power of Affluence
By Chris Cork
June 8, 2017
Every month, soon after the ‘due date’ for payment of the electricity bill a man with a clipboard appears at the gate. He inspects the paid bill, compares it to his printout and peers closely at the meter — all in the pursuit of ensuring that there is no hanky-panky going on and everybody in the electricity cycle is cleaner than clean. I recently asked him how it was that we seemed to escape the worst of the power cuts that plagues other parts. ‘People in this area pay their bills on time,’ said he, so they get a good supply.
The conversation came to mind as we endured an almost-30-hour blackout this week. It took a while to pin down a Wapda person willing to even admit that they worked for Wapda, but there was an increasingly angry small crowd forming around a faulty transformer at the end of the road. Add to the crowd, many of whom were familiar faces, a distinctly irritated gora with a notebook, camera and a prominently-worn press card and the Wapda persons present either ran away smartly or went into rabbit-in-headlights mode.
There had been two replacement transformers by this time both of which failed within minutes of powering up. There had been a plea from local mosques via Wapda not to turn on a/c units when power returned. Well that was never going to work was it? It didn’t. So up rolls Wapda yet again this time with a new and considerably beefier transformer. Power returned around 3am this morning and so far seems steady.
Having got a Wapda person nailed to the wall by his ears interrogation commenced. All the power lines had been upgraded in the last six months so why this problem now? Turns out there are too many people that have installed a/c units in the last year. Too many for the transformer to handle that is. They pay their bills in a timely manner and, this being the hottest that the country has ever been, crank the a/c units down to 18°C and chill. Or not as in our most recent example. Too many huh? Cue Google Earth.
The earliest image for the area I live in held by Google Earth is dated mid-2005, about a year after we bought the house. Our property is in almost complete isolation, open fields to the front and sides, a view confirmed by a scroll through old digital images. Track forward and little changes apart from a few plots getting filled in until 2011 when a building boom gets into gear and accelerates to the point today where virtually all once-arable land has been replaced by housing. And these are not small houses. Most sit on 10-15 marla plots, many are two or three storied, several operate as schools — two on the road I live on — and close inspection of the imagery indicates an abundance of split a/c units. We have three and I am sure we are not alone. The nailed-to-the-wall Wapda man begun to make sense.
‘So why upgrade the wires and not the transformers?’ say I. Nervous laughter from Wapda man. You and your organisation cannot have been unaware of the upturn in consumption in recent times — can you? Shakes head. Clipboard Person comes every month and makes a report that presumably somebody reads? Nods and smiles. So if me and my neighbours come down to your office, burn it to the ground and hang you and your co-workers up by their toes from the nearest bijli-pole you will have no objection? (…OK I made up the last bit but there were certainly some destructive rumblings in the neighbourhood.)
Unhooking Wapda-man I sent him on his way. My bill-paying neighbours nodded appreciatively as I wended my way home, a handshake here, a smile and a nod there, and today it is all a fading memory. I went back to Google Earth and looked across the city as a whole. What was striking was that the poor areas, the bustis, had remained virtually the same size in the last decade, whilst the areas of obvious affluence had grown almost exponentially. Must be a PhD for somebody in there. Tootle-pip!
Source: tribune.com.pk/story/1429944/the-power-of-affluence/
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Pakistan as Member of SCO
By Dr Muhammad Khan
June 9th, 2017
WITH the full membership status to Pakistan and India in Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the organization will become world’s largest forum after United Nations Organization. Besides, it will have its footprints in South Asia for the first time, ever since its origin in 1996 as Shanghai Five. There are many speculations that, with the membership of Pakistan and India in the forum, there may create an element of split in the organization.
However, as per Lin Minwang, a Professor in the Institute of International Studies of Fudan University, “SCO is not a place for India and Pakistan to quarrel, but a platform for members to settle their disputes.” ‘The Global Times’ further clarified the misperception associated with Indo-Pak membership. Li Wei, an anti-terror expert at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said, “There is some concern that the hostility between India and Pakistan might affect the organization’s unity. However, the SCO will also become an ideal platform for members with disputes to solve their problems bilaterally based on the Shanghai Spirit.”
It was the historical Ufa Summit of SCO, held on July 10, 2015, which formally initiated the expansion plan for membership of this organization. Prior to 2001, it had only five members. In 2001, with the inclusion of Uzbekistan as full member, its membership rose to six and it was renamed as Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) from its original nomenclature of Shanghai Five. With the inclusion of Pakistan and India as new members of SCO, the number of member countries has risen to eight. There is strong hope that Iran may be admitted in the organization in the next sessions of SCO.
The expansion of SCO has regional and global implications. Regionally, two important South Asian countries have been housed in the organization as full members; a step forward for the regional integration process of the Asia and Eurasia. Globally, Russia and China has given a clear indication to present a joint disagreement against the current unipolar world order, where US is the sole super power. Besides SCO, in the Ufa moot of BRICS-2015, it was clearly hinted that, there would be Silk World Order in the coming decade. One Belt One Road idea of the China is in fact gained currency thereafter. Seventh BRICS summit at Ufa, indeed, gave a clear roadmap for the Eurasian Century and Silk World Order. This includes “everything from a transcontinental mega railroad network connecting the Iberian Peninsula to the South China Sea and to what has been dubbed as the modern city of the Eurasian continent in Belarus.”
It is expected that with the expansion process of SCO ‘from South and Southeast Asia to the Middle East and Eastern Europe, the reaction capability of the organization will enhance. It will be able to ‘modern threats and challenges and to find regional solutions to regional problems.’ Besides, its political and economic potential will be significantly improved. At the level of South Asia, it is a well-coming step that Pakistan and India have will have full membership of SCO. Their entry into the organization will pave way for improvement in their bilateral relationship. This aspect has been even supported by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping, who said that, “India and Pakistan’s admission to the SCO will play an important role in the SCO’s development and it will play a constructive role in pushing for the improvement of their bilateral relations.”
The Astana Summit of SCO, June 8, 2017 will, take ‘concrete steps to further improve SCO’s functioning, develop cooperation in all priority areas, in security, counter-terrorism, the economy and humanitarian affairs. The traditional exchange of views on the most crucial regional issues, primarily, of course, Afghanistan and the Middle East.’ It is an excellent opportunity for Pakistan to exploit its sacrifices against global terrorism. Since China and Russia have soft corner for Pakistan, therefore, Pakistan stands at a higher pedestal compare to India. The expression and body language of leadership will make the real difference. Let us not forget the human rights issues in IOK.
Source: pakobserver.net/pakistan-member-sco/
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/pakistan-press/sindh-hindu-marriage-act-—/d/111467