The Illusion of Debate by Kamila Hyat: New Age Islam's Selection, 25 January 2018
New Age Islam Edit Bureau
25 January 2018
• The Illusion of Debate
By Kamila Hyat
• Beyond Shame and Inquisition
By Imtiaz Alam
• Making Peace with Israel
By Hussain Nadim
• An Ungrateful America under Trump
By Murtaza Malik
• Ownership Of War? Political or Military
By Muhammad Ali Ehsan
• Ghani’s Admission and Afghan Conflict
By Dr Raza Khan
• Another National Narrative
By Reema Shaukat
• Who Approves This Indecency?
By M Omar Iftikhar
• Let Him Come Home
By Sarah Belal
• Housing In-Laws
By F.S. Aijazuddin
• Vengeance Is Not Justice
By Khurram Husain
Compiled By New Age Islam Edit Bureau
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The Illusion of Debate
By Kamila Hyat
January 25, 2018
If we use lively talk shows and the ceaseless discussions on political events over social media as a gauge, we would imagine that we are a free people living in an open society.
Over the past few months, the debates that we are hearing have widened and gained momentum with the uncertainties of national politics; the upcoming elections; the question of the Senate polls; the role of various institutions in these events; episodes such as the brutal rape and murder of Zainab in Kasur; and even Malala Yousafzai’s decision to participate in a promotional event for an Indian film, bringing forward a storm of opinions and arguments.
But is all this really a façade? Are we truly able to hold a discourse on matters which lie outside a predefined spectrum? Is the illusion of debate simply a means to keep us occupied, content and locked into the belief that we are a free people?
Noam Chomsky, among other thinkers, has put forward the argument that through the control of the media and other forums by giant corporate interests, the spectrum for debate has, in fact, been deliberately narrowed across the world. At the same time, a lively debate is especially created within a small space to keep us content, happy and locked into the belief that we are able to put forward all kinds of ideas and views without any form of external control. Like hamsters spinning on wheels in their cages, we are kept content.
Let’s consider the areas that exist as black holes in our society. These are vacuums that a large number of people don’t even realise exist. There are no discussions, debates and talk shows that address these areas. A few of these ‘black holes’ include various leftist ideologies; capital punishment; the situation in Balochistan; the questioning of beliefs on religion; marital rape; reproductive rights; and even notions that women have ownership over their own lives in terms of what they wear and where they go.
As time goes by, countless other issues have come together to form larger vacuums. In the 1960s and 1970s, socialism was a perfectly acceptable idea, with student groups on university campuses holding it up as an ideal. Since then – and notably after the crackdowns of the 1980s – it has slipped into the realm of ideas that are considered to be irreligious and, therefore, immoral or unacceptable.
Even the land reforms that our country so desperately needs to resolve its economic disparities are hardly ever discussed. It should, in fact, form the centre of debate in a society that has seen the income gap widen from one decade to the next. There are, of course, other taboos that all newsrooms are aware of and stay away from because they recognise that if they deviate from making this ‘choice’, more coercive pressures will immediately be exerted.
We desperately need to widen the sphere of discussion. One of the reasons why discussions and the high-pitched arguments that we hear over television – and, to a considerable extent, over social media – have become so meaningless is because they only exist within predefined parameters. No one steers outside these tightly drawn lines. The consequences are visible in many forms.
Our mainstream political parties are all far more similar now than they were ever before. Their manifestoes, for the most part, mirror each other. There is little scope for diversion and real difference. When arguments take place, they do not involve policies or matters that directly impact the people. Instead, they involve conspiracy theories; tensions between institutions and within parties themselves; turmoil within the country, which arises not from an ideological divide but from a quest for power; and social issues that fall within the predefined spectrum. Issues such as incest, which lie perhaps at the very edges of the lines that are drawn up, are occasionally mentioned but never delved into at any length or with any sense of passion. We prefer to ignore them.
The same can be said about capital punishment. Following the death of Zainab and now the reported arrested of her killer – a Sunni and not an Ahmadi as her parents had feared – there has been much talk of public executions, public lashings and castration. The figures that have emerged from groups engaged in serious research, such as the Justice Project Pakistan, prove that there is no correlation between capital punishment and a reduction in crime rate.
Out of the 465 executions carried out in the country since the moratorium on the death penalty was lifted in 2015, 83 percent took place in Punjab. Despite the spate of hangings, only a 9.7 percent decline in the murder rate has been observed in the province. In Sindh, where only 18 executions took place, the murder rate fell by 25 percent. There needs to be a more cohesive discussion about these facts.
We also appear to have been given an uncontrolled platform on which to discuss issues related to blasphemy. The tragic murder of a college principal in Charsadda by a grade 12 student whom he had rebuked for failing to attend college for three days and instead participating in the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan’s rally at Faizabad, is an example of this. The teenager, who shot the highly-respected teacher six times, has said that he has no remorse.
The focus of most reportage on the incident has been on the character of the victim Sareer Ahmed: the fact that he held a degree in Islamic Studies; was a devout Muslim; and a Hafiz-e-Quran.
The notion that a point-blank shooting would be considered a terrible crime, regardless of the victim’s personal behaviour or the question of whether he had indeed committed something akin to blasphemy, has not been widely discussed. After all, the judicial system exists to determine guilt.
More often than not in blasphemy cases, we try to predetermine whether blasphemy has been committed – as was the case with Mashal Khan – as if to somehow justify murder if there is some evidence of behaviour that veers outside the box. This is what happened with Salmaan Taseer. The discussion on permissible actions in society need to be taken much further at a time when the limits that are laid down by the law of the land and the constitution are being stretched thinner and thinner.
Although these ‘no-go zones’ exist as far as our discourse goes, people are given the impression that almost everything is open for argument. This illusion is created through talk shows in which guests – and sometimes hosts – are permitted to use derogatory and sometimes abusive language against their opponents and repeatedly engage in venomous debates about the same issues.
Issues of corruption –and now rape – are among the current favourite topics. The flavour could change over time. But the boundaries that lay down what can be discussed will remain largely unaltered. Ideology, for instance, is hardly brought up, even though it should be the primary focus of all political parties and of analysts.
When debate has no meaning, it is merely a collection of words hurled into an empty space. This is what we are witnessing today. The consequences of failing to bring other issues into the mainstream could prove to be extremely damaging to an increasingly directionless society in the future.
Source: thenews.com.pk/print/272580-the-illusion-of-debate
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Beyond Shame and Inquisition
By Imtiaz Alam
January 25, 2018
Zainab’s molester and killer has finally been arrested for her rape and murder and for killing seven other adolescent girls from the same area. According to some reports, he has confessed to the crime.
Families, communities, clerics, teachers and local administration in our country are so oblivious of potential psycho-social-path(s) within the neighbourhoods that this serial molester-killer continued with his sadist criminal pursuits for years. Indeed, after thorough psychoanalysis, the paedophiliac-killer deserves to be given an ‘exemplary punishment’ as required by law, and through a due judicial process.
But the whole focus on giving the alleged culprit inquisitional punishment, such as a public hanging, is unlikely to deter other countless psychopaths – and, no doubt, there are countless such people out there. The Senate Standing Committee on Interior has apparently recommended changes in the PPC so as to allow for public hangings of those who are found involved in sexual crimes and murder of children.
The focus should have been on how to save the infinite numbers of Zainabs who become a victim of paedophilia that is so rampant in homes, localities, communities, schools, seminaries and playgrounds. Though the national outrage over such brutal sexual crimes expresses our national guilt, our societal shame cannot be compensated by begetting brutality with brutality. With the hanging of the accused man, all this national fury will go to sleep over what is a daily occurrence. Unfortunately, we prefer to keep paedophilia under wraps to avoid humiliation and cover-up shame – forgetting that the victims are likely to suffer from severe depression and many post-traumatic disorders for the rest of their lives.
Paedophilia exists everywhere, regardless of religion and Oriental or Western civilisation. It is also not due to the bad influence of Western culture or dilution of the pristine Eastern culture the way our self-appointed moral brigades have been trying to drum up unabated. It is now much documented that religious seminaries, whether of Christians and Muslims or other faiths, are not immune to paedophilia. In fact, child abuse is rather quite rampant in places of learning and where children are employed as labour.
The killer of Zainab and seven other girls was a religious person who is also known to have been a Naat-Khwan. Imran Naqshbandi (his full name) had also offered funeral prayers for Zainab behind the prayer-leader. It is interesting to note that while our society is one of the most religious Muslim societies among the comity of Muslim-majority nations with an incomparable mullah/people ratio, it is still among those countries where child sexual abuse is quite rampant. It is also noteworthy that the Subcontinent also suffers due to a flourishing industry of male potency quackery and religious pirs who use this insecurity among men for their own material ends.
Yet, our moral hypocrisy forbids us from giving sex education or awareness about sexual abuse to our children. Parents are not cautious about incest or paedophilia. Children are not aware of what is sexual abuse, nor are they prepared to resist it or speak about it. They are repressed both by their families and society at large and so suffer from depression and various psychological disorders. In some areas, sexual abuse of young boys is not considered much of a social stigma.
Gender discrimination while raising boys and girls is starkly different: girls are taught to be subservient and boys are boosted to show their masculine prowess. In fact, in the face of stronger female presence, men end up reacting in aggressive ways to show their masculinity. There are ineffective laws and nominal departments in all our provinces to protect children from sexual and various other abuses, such as child labour. The fact is that the wellbeing, healthy growth, education and nourishment of our children are not our national priority, even though our children constitute half of our population.
The accused in the Zainab case, a psychopath, has taken the plea that it was not him but djinns who made him commit his horrific crimes. In his book, ‘Character-Analysis’, Wilhelm Reich refers to three different layers of biopsychic structure in the evaluation of human reactions. According to the great psycho-analyst, “these layers of the character structure are deposits of social development, which function autonomously. On the surface layer of his personality the average man is reserved, polite, compassionate, responsible and conscientious. There would be no social tragedy of the human animal if this surface layer of the personality were in direct contact with the deep natural core. This, unfortunately, is not the case. The surface layer of social cooperation is not in contact with the deep biologic core of one’s selfhood; it is borne by a second, an intermediate character layer, which consists exclusively of cruel, sadist, lascivious, rapacious and envious impulses”. It represents the Freudian “unconscious” or “what is repressed” or in Reich’s sex-economy “the sum total of all so-called “secondary drives”. This conflict of the character structure of the suppressed man not only produces sexual maniacs, but also creates fascist sentiment which if combined with extremist ideologies produces terrorists and suicide-bombers.
A repressed and suppressed man is bound to react in a way that tears apart his surface layer of piety. If ethical and social ideals of liberalism advocate self-control to suppress the “monster in man”, religious scholars emphasise the primacy of ethical values and moral inhibitions. Both have failed to address the real psycho-social causes behind the emergence of the beast they both hate.
n authoritarian system and its mechanical-mystical conception of life will continue to suppress humans, which will, eventually, produce rapists and fascists. Unless the upper sober layer of humans comes into contact with and to the satisfaction of the third biological core, tragedies such as the cases of Zainab or Asma will continue to happen. In the meanwhile, certain safety measures are required to safeguard our children. Parents, children, communities, teachers and Maulvis should be educated about sexuality and sexual abuse. Life skills need to be imparted to children so that they can defend themselves against sexual assault. If we will not educate our educators, our parents and our children about sexual abuse, our young ones will continue to remain vulnerable to sexual assault and abuse.
Source: thenews.com.pk/print/272583-beyond-shame-and-inquisition
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Making Peace with Israel
By Hussain Nadim
January 24, 2018
There are bad policies, and then there are senseless policies. The good thing about bad policies is that they can be changed. The problem with senseless policies is that they are path dependent and nobody knows why they are there to begin with. Changing them, hence, is a challenge nobody is willing to take.
Pakistan’s position on Israel is one of those senseless policies that have been in practice for over seven decades handicapped by inertia, propaganda and misplaced emotions that no one dares to even question the need to revise the policy.
As a foreign policy realist, I have long been a strong proponent for a major disruption in Pakistan’s foreign policy that includes opening up of ties with Israel as a necessary step to balance Pakistan’s Middle East equation, win favourable position in Washington, DC, and most importantly have one enemy less in a seemingly hostile neighbourhood.
One could understand Pakistan’s position on Israel back in 1950s and 1960s; the need to be part of the Ummah, reap the benefits of growing Islamic bloc, etc despite the fact that the Ummah provided little support to Pakistan on the Kashmir issue. But 1970s onwards Pakistan’s policy not to recognise Israel is plain ridiculous.
For one, the Arab-Israel issues got reduced down to Palestine-Israel issue with major stakeholders, including Jordan, Egypt and to an extent Turkey, developing full diplomatic and trade ties with Israel. Even Saudi Arabia, the bastion of Islam, has maintained backdoor channels with Israel ever since the Iran Revolution and there are whispers that under Muhammad bin Salman, Saudis are in the process of officially recognising Israel. That leaves Pakistan as a loser in this regional game where it is the only one left playing a game that is not even its own and for no reason. Yet, there is no one in the policy community to recognise and rectify this costly adventure.
Second, in changing global political alliances, Pakistan at least needs its full hand of cards to play with. Going by the first rule of foreign policy playbook that there are no permanent friends or foes, only interests, one wonders what national interest the Pakistani civil and military leadership is pursuing by creating an additional enemy out of a potential ally. Especially, if Pakistan can open up with Russia — a country that we fought an entire proxy war for the Americans, have ties with arch enemy India and continue to have relations with Myanmar after Rohingya genocide it doesn’t make sense why there can’t be a change of heart towards Israel.
In all my discussions with the high-ups of the Pakistani security establishment, politicians and diplomats there is a high acceptance and willingness to engage with Israel. The problem is that nobody wants to take the lead and responsibility fearing a backlash from the right-wing religious hawks that wrongly put it as a religious issue. The result is that Pakistan’s foreign policy has continued to suffer due to its short-sighted and spineless leadership that fears mullah more than Allah.
Pakistan’s stale Israel policy reflects a deeper level rot in its governance, inability to change and non-strategic personalised foreign policy. Take for instance Pakistan’s bi-relations with Saudi Arabia. It’s more of a House of Saud and House of Sharif relation than a state-to-state level relation. The US-Pak relations are in reality Pakistan military and US relations. Same is the case with Pakistan’s relations with Turkey, Iran and the UK. Essentially, the ruling elite in Pakistan have used the state to garner and develop its personal interests at the expense of national interests — a tragedy that inhibits Pakistan from any real policy change.
Make no mistake; Pakistan’s Israel policy is not driven by any grandiose ideas of human rights or Muslim solidarity, and especially not out of any national interest. The senseless policy on Israel continues to exist because the elite don’t see any personal or institutional benefit in the relation. The day our leadership sees a personal financial or military benefit, no fear of mullah or Allah can stop. Until then, Pakistan will continue with its senseless policy expecting a different result in its global standing.
Source: tribune.com.pk/story/1616257/6-making-peace-israel/
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An Ungrateful America under Trump
By Murtaza Malik
January 24, 2018
After two decades or so of America’s China policy, with emphasis on blocking its membership of the United Nations and leaving it in isolation, Washington was desperately trying to find a bridge that could help it establish links with Beijing. After a hectic search and analysis, it pinned its hope on no one else but Pakistan.
Consequently, the regime in Islamabad headed by then president Yahya Khan was approached to help achieve the objective. The secret mission was accomplished after the Foreign Office had successfully persuaded its counterpart in Beijing to take up the issue with the hierarchy, conveying President Yahya Khan’s personal message. When all was set, two US diplomats secretly flew out to China by PIA to establish the link and negotiate the preliminaries. It was a world-class breakthrough and surely Pakistan deserved lifetime gratitude for the gesture.
US President Donald Trump, who loves to talk candidly and foolishly about all things under the sun, is most unlike his predecessors. Barack H Obama for one would not have even thought of such tomfoolery as Trump has. And the US leader has done it at a time when his country already stands isolated as shown by the recent voting in the UN General Assembly on the Palestinian issue. No sensible person in the chief executive’s post or the leader of the world’s sole superpower would have talked such garbage at least after being knocked out by the two most important international forums.
He could only speak in terms of the millions of dollars that his country had given to Pakistan under different heads without taking into account the thousands of casualties suffered by Pakistan as a result of toeing the US line in the region. The dollars he has talked about could not have compensated for the loss of even one Pakistani soldier or civilian. The Americans should not forget that the biggest favour Pakistan had rendered to Washington was the bridge provided for their links with the People’s Republic of China. How this gesture was appreciated and acknowledged by then president of the United States Richard Nixon is explained in a handwritten letter to President Yahya Khan, which said:
“I have already expressed my official appreciation for your assistance in arranging our contacts with the People’s Republic of China. Through this personal note I want you to know that without your personal assistance, this profound breakthrough in relations between the USA and the PRC would never have been accomplished.
“I wish you would extend my personal thanks to your ambassador in Washington and to your associates in Pakistan for their efficiency and discretion in handling the very sensitive arrangements.
“Those who want a more peaceful world in the generation to come will forever be in your debt. Dr [Henry] Kissinger joins me in expressing our heartfelt gratitude for the historic role you played during this very difficult period.”
Similarly, the Secretary of State Kissinger in his letter said: “I have so many reasons to thank you that it is difficult to know where to begin.
“First of all, there is the vital role that you played in establishing communications between us and the People’s Republic of China. Your initiative and discretion made possible the reliable and secure contacts that led to my visit and the president’s forthcoming trip. You were also well served. Mr President, by your representative hero. Ambassador Hilaly’s part in this operation vividly demonstrated why he has compiled so remarkable a diplomatic career.
“Then the skill, tact, and efficiency with which your officials carried out my secret mission were nothing short of brilliant. I hope you will pass on my deep appreciation, and that of the President, to all those who realised this venture, including some of your closest advisers. The military personnel who paved our way to and from the airport. And the captain and crew of your airplane. My colleagues and I were greatly moved by the historic nature of our flight and the care and warmth with which we were treated as we crossed some of the world’s highest mountains.
“Mr President, the deepest thanks go to you who led and orchestrated the entire enterprise. I shall always remember your generosity in our talks on July 8 when you insisted on setting aside the massive problems that your country faces and concentrating instead on my visit to Peking (Beijing). In addition, I enjoyed, and profited from, my too brief stay in Pakistan itself, the conversation we had, and the gracious Pakistan hospitality.
“Your efforts and those of your colleagues have made indelible contributions to my personal experience, the foreign policy objectives of the United States, and I believe the goal of peace in the world.”
That is the way to acknowledge one’s goodwill gestures but it all depends on the calibre and stature of a person and draw a line between sense and nonsense.
What the sitting president of the United States is uttering or doing gives the impression of a trump card instead of Donald Trump. A trump card is a secret weapon used in a critical situation to ensure that it would yield a positive result. Donald Trump’s penchant for irresponsible words and deeds suggests that somebody else is using this trump card to bring about a horrible disaster, not only in his own country but also globally.
Perhaps his mission is to achieve what had been done on somebody else’s behalf in the Soviet Union. In this scenario the happiest person should be Hillary Clinton. To vote a man like Donald Trump into the White House should set off an era of disgrace. There could be no worse choice perhaps, as explained by the long list of US presidents.
Source: tribune.com.pk/story/1616261/6-ungrateful-america-trump/
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Ownership Of War? Political or Military
By Muhammad Ali Ehsan
January 23, 2018
We have won many battles but the war is still not won. The military method of winning the war is to nail things down, to wrap and close options unlike politics and those who conduct it. They try to juggle with conflicting concerns, keep options open, unwrap and unfold all options for political discussions and strive in all directions yet seek a politically rewarding near-term solution.
Sadly, the problem with the irregular war that this country is fighting for a long time is that over the years it has ceased to remain an extension of politics. Military operations have been driving the policy instead of serving it and thus the war has been creating a military momentum of its own. There was no North Waziristan operation until General Raheel Sharif decided to initiate it in June 2014. There was no visible coherent, consistent and direct translation of civil-military preferences into military plans and action — until the Army Public School Peshawar incident of December 2014 forced the political conscience of a polarised political system to succumb to the possibility of a joint sitting to draft and approve a national action plan. Still, regardless of the current political chaos and the ‘attention diverting political activities’ the military is doing everything possible not to allow internal as well as external circumstances and pressures to undermine the very purpose for which this war is being fought.
As a student of art and science of war it is not difficult to deduce that the irregular war that our military fights today is not a servant of politics. Not because it cannot be and it will not be, but only because it has been fought and mastered for a long time now by the generals unhindered and uninterrupted by politicians who every time they come to power are most adapt to securing and enlarging their political positions, political space and political power rather than reaching out to the military to introduce and devise a joint strategic framework to secure the nation-state, its citizens, its economy and even its institutions.
If intrusion means ‘putting oneself deliberately into a place or situation where one is unwelcome and uninvited’, then the question that we must ask today is who has intruded whom? — Politics upon war or war upon politics? The civilian control over military is idealised but if war is understood in the language of the famous military theorist Carl Von Clausewitz ‘as a political act’, then it’s not the civilian but the political control over the military that terminates war into a political act. Not the ‘civilian’ but the all-encompassing ‘democratic political control’ that should be responsible for a country’s strategic decision-making — including the decisions on the political objectives of the war. If democracy suffers in this country so does the irregular war that the nation fights. Castigated and reprimanded recently by a strong candidate (Imran Khan) for the position of prime minister in 2018, the Pakistan parliament will only be able to exercise ‘democratic political control’ over the military if its members serve their individual conscience as much as they serve the dictates of their political parties.
In the day of instant media, the civil-military leadership seems more inclined to use media’s services to push forward or backwards each other’s concerns — this is being done through selective leaks and the most prominent of them in the civil-military context in the recent past has been the Dawn Leaks. Fashioned to draw favourable civilian or military response these leaks are mere manipulations designed to do the bidding of either of the two stakeholders. The political motive is the public disclosure and revelation of any military attempts to insert itself in politics. Military motive for any leaks would be to reluctantly highlight as a last resort any civilian decision that is regarded and judged as ‘dangerous’ for national security. Although from the military perspective and its Pakistan Military Academy’s Ingall Hall inscribed motto of ‘honour, duty and country’ the choice before any military leader should be simple — either live with the civilian decision and carry it out (not a popular choice) or if the decision is bad (dangerous) for our national security, publicly resign and state the reasons in the resignation letter. Working the system by utilising leaks to build political pressure to force the civilians to change the decision is not the military way, that teaches its officers right at the outset in the military academy not only to keep their uniforms but their honour and their institution’s honour wrinkle-free.
Interestingly, today armies trained to fight conventional warfare are shifting to execute more and more counterinsurgency, counterterrorism and nation-building operations. This shift leaves little room for generals to make themselves legends like Patton and McArthur. As a consequence of this shift the theatre of war is reduced and limited to internal boundaries and thus it’s not the massive military operations at grand scale but small tactical battles put together that will determine the outcome of this war. Under this military scenario the visible physical space that the military occupies has its importance but it is the greater political space that the political leadership must occupy through its political control, politics and exercise of executive power. For politicians to achieve this military operations cart must not be tied ahead of the political horse.
Unfortunately, a country that is fighting an existential war has too lessen a political patronage on the battlefield to guide the course of war. War preferences are to be debated on the negotiating table before they are translated into military actions on the battlefield. Without the presence of politics (policy) that oversees military plans the military will continue winning us the military battles but would not be able to estimate the culminating point of victory or know how to get out of this war by determining an exit strategy — in this irregular war that we fight this remains the domain of politics.
Lastly, comparing the permanent presence of political leadership compared to the three years’ tenure of the military commander our former president Asif Zardari had famously said, “We are here to stay, you are here only for three years.” Now that one looks at the current political environment in the country from the military’s perspective it seems that the military is more than glad that the Constitution of Pakistan ensures that the political leadership is possibly turned over every five years at the executive level through the process of elections. The military as an institution that stays in place so does parliament — what is likely to change is the occupiers of the parliamentary seats. Maybe with it will change the ownership of war — more political than military.
Source: tribune.com.pk/story/1615337/6-ownership-war-political-military/
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Ghani’s Admission and Afghan Conflict
By Dr Raza Khan
January 23, 2018
The recent admission by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani that his country’s security forces and government would collapse within merely six months without US support reveals the state of affairs in the war-ravaged country. The statement of Ghani made during an interview to a US media outlet suggests that the entire Afghan state paraphernalia is just a façade. This has proven the Afghan Taliban’s long-held argument correct that the Kabul regime is only a puppet of Washington.
There is little doubt that America’s critical financial and military support to Kabul is the latter’s lifeblood but the question is why the Afghan president had to make such a revelation. There could be multiple objectives of such an admission. The foremost is that Ghani wants to convey to Washington that it has to keep on financing his government. However, the US presence in Afghanistan is also critically needed. But here the question arises is that for how long would Washington financially and militarily sustain the Afghan regime. The US has already spent nearly $1 trillion on the war effort in Afghanistan since the fiscal year 2002, including $121 billion on reconstruction efforts alone. So if by spending so much money and even losing around 2,400 of its soldiers Washington could not erect a viable state structure in Afghanistan then such a sponsored reconstruction strategy needs to be revisited. The US in the middle of last year came up with a new Afghan strategy but most of it revolves around militarily defeating the insurgency of the Afghan Taliban. There is little comprehensive non-military aspect of the strategy to win the war against the Taliban. Whereas the fundamental reason for the seemingly interminable conflict and insurgency in Afghanistan is social and political.
Before throwing light on the basic problem in Afghanistan it is important to note that President Ghani’s disclosure that the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF) could not withstand the Taliban insurgency for more than six months without US support reveals utmost incompetence of more than 300,000-plus members of the ANDSF. According to the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, a watchdog agency, “More than 60% [$73.5 billion] of the approximately $121 billion in US funding for reconstruction in Afghanistan since 2002 has gone to build up the ANDSF.” No meaningful and highly professional force could be raised with such a huge investment which itself is surprising.
On the contrary, President Ghani’s top US military commander in Afghanistan, Gen John Nicholson, thinks the new US war strategy in Afghanistan would achieve its objectives and the foremost of which is to defeat the Taliban. But as the new US strategy focuses on the Pakistan factor in Afghanistan believing that pressuring Islamabad would result in the Taliban’s defeat by pulling from the latter its major source of sustenance, it is somewhat unrealistic. Considering Pakistan, howsoever huge its role in Afghanistan may have been, as the mainspring of instability and insurgency in Afghanistan is somewhat incorrect and externalisation of blame. Factual analysis reveals that much of the problem lies within Afghanistan. If the 300,000-plus strong ANDSF personnel have been suffering from large-scale incompetence and lack of professionalism, could anyone blame Pakistan for this ineptitude? The Afghan leadership and its American supporters need thorough soul-searching for achieving any desired results.
Afghanistan wants world powers to ramp up pressure on Pakistan: US envoy
The fundamental problem in Afghanistan has been its inability to establish modern self-sustained political, economic and administrative structures. The Afghan state has always been the extension of a tribal social structure. Modern Afghanistan as a result could not establish a viable and vibrant state structure and institutions respectively. Afghan society has always been based on a tribal social system. The state could not dismantle the long-existing tribal value system and pave the way for the formation of a modern, civilised, forward-looking Afghanistan. The Afghan Taliban if partly were the result of external engineering; Afghan social structure is also largely responsible for their and many other militias’ emergence.
US and Pakistan clash at UN over Afghanistan
The US and Nato allies’ war effort in Afghanistan has failed primarily because the Western forces could either not understand the true character of the conflict and insurgency in Afghanistan or the strategy has been faulty with misplaced emphasis. Realistic analysis is that Afghanistan has had lacked institution-making and infrastructure development. The two presidents which Afghanistan has had since the introduction of the existing constitution in 2003 namely Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani have lacked the ability and commitment to address the multipronged conflict and crisis of Afghanistan. They could not lead from the front. The only qualifying factor for Karzai was his Pakhtun background. Same is the case with Ghani. Though President Ghani has been far more articulate and committed than Karzai, he still could not understand the dynamics of the crisis in Afghanistan and Karzai’s personal political and economic interests, which prevented him to lead from the front. Personal political ambitions also greatly compromised the effectiveness of his administration. The Western allies banking on Karzai and Ghani has proved disastrous for Afghanistan as both for their respective reasons have not been serious about meaningful engagement with the Taliban for peace talks.
Source: tribune.com.pk/story/1615342/6-ghanis-admission-afghan-conflict/
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Another National Narrative
By Reema Shaukat
January 24, 2018
WE have seen our homeland standing against all odds. It was the test of time when we witnessed all political parties and whole nation on one page when a narrative was launched after APS attack in the form of National Action Plan (NAP). This 20 point agenda brought an appraisal or strategies against terrorism and militancy in Pakistan. NAP truly was the need of hour but over the years, it was observed that it was not able to bring the desired results. Though the counter terrorism strategies are practiced but still not able to curb this menace forever. NAP was a comprehensive and consolidated measures by the government and law enforcement agencies to eradicate extremism in country and all political and religious parties despite their difference of opinion on certain other matters, agreed and showed willingness on this NAP. It’s a long debate about the implementation of NAP and flaws which caused damage to the prolific results of NAP.
Recently, religious scholars of country gathered under one roof and gave a 22-point joint declaration naming it as Paigham-i-Pakistan. This Paigham-i-Pakistan’ fatwa (decree) is to address the challenges of sectarianism, extremism, and terrorism. In a ceremony held at the Presidency, political and religious party’s representatives emphasised on national solidarity and called for a unanimous, undisputed narrative to fight the terrorism in the country. President Mamnoon Hussain while addressing the ceremony said that the issuance of the unanimous fatwa through consultations is a step in the right direction and it would go a long way in projecting the soft and positive image of Pakistan across the globe. He further highlighted that this decree, prepared in the light of true teachings of Islam, will transform hearts of people and pave the way for their salvation in the hereinafter. The President pointed out that the state and its institutions to a certain extent fell short of exercising their responsibilities during 1970s to 1990s which resulted in several complexities.
He said the nation sacrificed 70,000 precious lives and suffered huge financial loss due to terrorism and urged all segments of the nation to make a resolve not to repeat such mistakes. He further said that the roots of extremism and militancy lied in intolerance and in not appreciating different points of views, which fostered sectarianism by eliminating moderation. He said the country’s constitution provided a strong foundation for national unity and communal harmony, and was the fundamental narrative based on the teachings of Holy Quran and Sunnah and on the sagacity of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He regarded the Constitution as the essence of Charter of Medina and the agreement between the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) and the Christian tribe of Najran. “It is our foremost responsibility that we must hold this foundation (Constitution). It is the base which will provide us the strength to achieve a dignified place amongst the comity of nations and enable us to meet the challenges at national level. Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said “a unanimous narrative showed the resolve of Pakistan to end the extremism and terrorism from the country”. He said that war on terror will continue until the end of terrorism. Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal also emphasized the need for promoting unity at all levels in country to achieve a bright future. He highlighted that international community needs to fulfil its obligations in order to tackle terrorism successfully.
The fatwa which is signed by 1800 clerics from different school of thoughts in Pakistan states that suicide attacks are Haram or forbidden. The ruling states that those who commit suicide attacks, those who order such attacks, those who train such people are all considered rebels against the true spirit of Islam. The decree further said Pakistan state has the right to act against people who commit such act. It outlined clearly that the act of waging war and bloodshed in the name of Jihad can only be initiated by the State. Those who impose their viewpoints on by force are responsible for spreading mischief on earth (Fasad fil Arz). The fatwa also mentioned that armed conflict in the name of Islamic Law (Shariaa’h) is forbidden (Haram) in Pakistan.
The declarations in this fatwa are not new but what the Islam has taught us more than 1400 years ago. There is a dire need that clergies, Islamic scholars must clearly convey the teachings of Islam in true essence and according to the need of present world. Where frustrations are increasing day by day and so-called holders of Islam are brain washing innocents, it is the responsibility of state to rheostat such elements which are leading to intolerance. Not alone these objectives or measures to control such elements are done in single day but its high time now. This peril of terrorism which is persisting at all levels must now be obliterated. It is not about just suicide attacks but the wrong practices of society must be chalked out and solved. Madaris play a significant role for Islamic teachings but if they are kept unchecked, definitely their malfunctioning will give suicide bombers or insane people to country. Like NAP, from Paigham-i-Pakistan, people expect implementation and improvement in all domains. Narratives, legislation, drafts, charters or any kind of declaration lose their worth if they are not implemented and acted upon timely.
Source: pakobserver.net/another-national-narrative/
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Who Approves This Indecency?
By M Omar Iftikhar
January 24, 2018
DURING the colonisation of the US, Black Americans were auctioned in a public gathering with their lives continuously hanging in the hands of their owners. Years later, in the Indo-Pak sub-continent, women would dance in secluded public gatherings to satisfy the urge of those having money and time to spend. Recently, a privately owned television channel of Pakistan, claiming to have a host who is ‘Number One’, is hosting in his morning show a dancing competition inviting young girls to move to the beat. Titled as Dance Competition Season 2, with the name of the morning show preceding it, young, innocent girls dance in front of a live audience and with the telecast airing in over a hundred countries. Shockingly, these girls wear skimpy clothes, show skin and shake their upper body and belly akin to item song dancers seen in Bollywood. The youngest of these girl contestants are eight to nine years old.
Also seen in this dance off are four judges who perhaps have no clue to what dancing is and are proudly sitting in their seats pretending to know all about this profession. The host, more than often seen holding a teacup in his hand, is also applauding the contestants and hollers whenever a contestant shakes her body wildly. The audience, too, enjoy this parade that is perhaps the final nail in the coffin in which are placed the moral values of our society. Those viewers, perhaps a handful of them, at home watching this indecent display would wonder how the parents of these juvenile dancers allowed them to appear on LIVE television wearing clothes that would be deemed inappropriate for teenage girls. Such parents do not know the importance of indulging their children in healthy, constructive activities.
A number of factors have led to the demise of quality content that was once the epitome of our television. First, such writers and producers who loved to show a better picture of the society with elements of decency and character are overtaken by those who prefer earning money even if their creative acumen produce mediocre results. A proof of this notion lies in the television dramas we see on our channels today. Nearly every television drama is about men dominating women, extramarital affairs, divorces and uneven distribution of wealth leading to a number of conflicts within the family. Seldom do we see dramas where a meaningful dialogue is heard between characters, where the story has a compelling message and where the plot uplifts the human soul. Unfortunately, what sells in the electronic media are such thoughts that, even discussed by the multitude, will not change the complexion of the society for a nation changes when individuals or groups work to satisfy a need, resolve a problem or curb their enthusiasm of the unknown.
In fact, the stories depicted in the dramas of today have such deep-rooted messages that only infect the young minds in following trends, fashions, mindsets and opinions that are in direct contradiction to the norms of the society. Second, the viewers at large want to watch such content on electronic media that stirs controversy or negates our traditions and cultural values. It is in human nature to see what must not be witnessed, and capitalizing on this concept, television channels do air content that becomes a welcome sight. However, the adults in these dramas play a character and the concerned directors and producers and production houses can come up with decent ways of the character’s on-camera portrayal that is decent to say the least. Third, India’s electronic media heavily influences Pakistan’s electronic media. While dancing and singing is an aspect of the Indian culture, Pakistan’s media cannot adopt it just because it is being widely followed across the border.
Moreover, children, especially girls, dancing live in this dance competition on a Pakistani television channel have the permission of their parents and elders of to appear on television. There is no drama nor any script involved. What transpires on the set is uncut, raw entertainment that goes to show the abyss of ignorance which our electronic media has touched. It is only playing with the minds and lives of the youth. If the society does not feed the youth with a goal of life, focus and the ability to learn what is right or wrong, then the media brainwashes them in considering every indecent act to be just. However, if the youth have a strong moral and ethical sense imparted to them by their parents and elders at an early age, they will always have their vision set on higher goals rather than making an effort for two minutes of fame. I hope Pakistan’s youth identifies the difference between what is acceptable and what should they refrain themselves from before they are reduced to nothing but a liability and not a strength for the country.
Source: pakobserver.net/who-approves-this-indecency/
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Let Him Come Home
By Sarah Belal
January 25, 2018
IF 52-year-old Zulfiqar Ali’s death sentence had been carried out in Indonesia in July 2016, it would have been execution by firing squad. A 27-point guide details how he would have been tied to a pole in a sitting, kneeling or standing position. A doctor would mark out the location of his heart in black, on his simple, clean and white prison-supplied clothes.
Twelve shooters, nine blanks, three minutes for the spiritual leader to ‘calm’ the prisoner before the trigger is pulled. A sword is literally drawn, brandished and swung to start the firing.
If he had survived the hail of bullets, or had it been botched (which in all likelihood it would have) he would have been shot in the temple above his ear immediately.
The nine blanks are there so that none of the shooters can be sure that they fired the fatal shot. This is how they pretend they did not partake in the taking of a life. It could have been anyone of them, they think.
The death penalty machinery is nothing, if not prepared.
Pakistan must raise Zulfiqar Ali’s case with President Widodo.
But no amount of preparation, pomp or ceremony could have primed Zulfiqar’s family for what happened to him. The father of five has spent 14 years on death row, in and out of Indonesian prisons and hospitals, trying to prepare himself for a moment he should have never had to face. Having been implicated in a crime only because of a torture-induced confession, Zulfiqar was denied a lawyer for a month and received next to no translation assistance during his trial. No one from the Pakistan embassy was contacted. There is overwhelming evidence of his innocence.
The noise that Justice Project Pakistan, the media and his family made in his home country was heard just in time. The then prime minister Nawaz Sharif intervened himself after public support for Zulfiqar was galvanised through the media. Zulfiqar was granted a last-minute reprieve, as testament to the power of diplomatic representation when done right. It was unclear why or for how long, but Zulfiqar was spared — albeit in constant fear of being served another execution warrant.
But as he waited, death came for Zulfiqar from within his own body. Fourteen years ago, he was brutalised by the Indonesian police in hopes of gaining a confession that would support their paper-thin case against him. He was kicked, punched, threatened to be dragged by a moving car. When he passed out from the pain, they rushed him into emergency surgery. The torture irrevocably damaged his liver and kidneys. In a cruel twist, his family had to bear the expenses.
In December 2017, Zulfiqar’s physician told him he had stage four liver cancer. His underlying medical conditions are unlikely to help him find a donor. Three months is all he has. Six, if he can afford the medicines.
So far, his medical expenses have cost him almost $40,000. Part of this has been generously paid for by Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The remainder has come from the sale of his childhood home in Lahore. His mother now lives with her sister-in-law. This has not been enough. A $5,000 pain management medicine remains out of his reach. The same pills cost a fraction of that in his home country.
President Joko Widodo is visiting Pakistan on Friday, Jan 26. His Pakistani counterpart has arranged an elaborate banquet for his arrival. President Widodo will be addressing our parliament. He will be accompanied by a large business delegation, and will also meet Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
So there are, no doubt, plenty of moments available to the Pakistani government to raise Zulfiqar’s case with President Widodo. The overwhelming fact of Zulfiqar’s innocence, the violation of his fundamental rights during trial, the cruel and degrading treatment he has been subjected to, the life that has been stolen from him can all be talked about. It is an important conversation, one that will set the tone for how Pakistanis take care of their own abroad, one that might potentially bring Zulfiqar home.
President Widodo displayed wisdom, patience and flexibility when he spared Zulfiqar’s life in July 2016. The Pakistani government signalled to the world that its citizens and their rights are sacred and non-negotiable. That when there is a will, lives can be and are saved. There is no one who comes up short by showing mercy to a dying man, by sending him home to his family where he may live out the rest of his days not confined to a prison cell.
It’s a 10-hour flight from Jakarta to Lahore, but I sincerely hope that Zulfiqar will be boarding it soon. Fourteen years too late, but still — soon.
Source: dawn.com/news/1385041/let-him-come-home
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Housing In-Laws
By F.S. Aijazuddin
January 25, 2018
FEW sons-in-law have had the good fortune of marrying as well as Mr Asif Zardari did. Mr Feroze Gandhi married into the Nehrus, then lost his wife Indira to her possessive father. Mr Zardari lost his wife to posterity. He buried her next to her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the father-in-law he never knew.
Father and daughter and other dead Bhuttos are interred in a shining white mausoleum in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, in Sindh. Like the Taj Mahal, it is a monument to retroactive devotion. The mausoleum lies off the main road from Naudero, accessible to the determined who must run the gauntlet of three security checks before they can reach the inner sanctum, or to the PPP faithful who on martyrs’ days throng the vast open area before it.
Whoever designed that mausoleum had been weaned on Mughal architecture. Its design follows the tenets of imperial Mughal tombs — the crowning domes, the tiered edifice, pillars and screens carved in marble, and an inner void in which the meditative recitation of the Holy Quran can resonate freely.
The first gallery one enters there is a family album, displaying plex enlargements of Benazir reading the Holy Quran, of her with her three children when they were still young, of Benazir and her son Bilawal, and on the far wall a collage of the PPP trinity: Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, his wife Nusrat Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto. None of the tomb’s caretaker Mr Zardari.
Inside the main hall, three covered graves dominate the foreground. Above each, a roof is supported by pristine white marble pillars carved with coils. The grave in the centre needs no introduction. At its head, instead of a conventional tombstone, is an oversize metal diadem around a turban, surmounted by a plumed aigrette. Its design is not dissimilar to a Qajar dynastic crown. The Urdu inscription reads: Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
The Bhutto mausoleum is a monument to retroactive devotion.
To one side of Mr Bhutto lies his second wife Nusrat Bhutto and on the other the modest, self-effacing grave of Benazir Bhutto, draped in a green sheet embroidered with scarlet flowers. Facing these three graves is a sloping glass frame that protects the black panel heavily embroidered in gold thread. It once hung over the entrance to the Holy Ka’aba. It is a gift from the Saudi government.
The location of this sacred fragment is strategic. It is almost as if it promises a direct portal into heaven.
Less than a cricket ball throw away from this main group is the grave of Ameera Begum, Mr Bhutto’s first wife. The unadorned grave of an unmourned Murtaza Bhutto is nondescript by comparison, and in the far background are the graves of the Bhutto elders, including the patriarch Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto.
The fortunate (or the well-connected) are escorted up a staircase to the upper storey where again the Mughal influence is unmistakable. The domed roof has a lower ring of calligraphy and frescoes delicately painted arching upwards. Beneath the dome, on a raised marble platform, are two marble cenotaphs of the devoted daughter and her doting father. This too replicates a feature of Mughal tombs in which the actual grave lay in the earth, above it an ornate cenotaph, and on the roof a stone cenotaph, open to the skies for the blessings of the Almighty to rain down on the deceased.
This upper storey in the Bhutto mausoleum is designed for VIP visitors. They can climb the broad staircase from the outside and enter directly into the upper chamber. This suspicion of exclusivity is reinforced by the inscription on the two marble slabs. They are both in English. One lauds Benazir Bhutto as ‘the first female prime minister in the Muslim world — martyred, fighting for democracy and the peaceful message of Islam’, while the second honours Mr Bhutto as a ‘Poet & Revolutionary’. Unconscionably, Mr Bhutto’s name has been misspelt as ‘Zulfiqar’ instead of his preferred ‘Zulfiqar’.
It is said the hair and nails of corpses continue to grow for some time even after death. That is equally true of the reputation of political dynasties: the Kennedys, the Nehru/Gandhis, the Bhuttos. Their fame grew posthumously and then gradually disintegrated. In the 1970 elections, Mr Bhutto led his PPP to a surprise landslide victory in West Pakistan, garnering 6.1 million votes. Forty-three years later, in 2013, his grandson Bilawal Bhutto could secure only 6.9m votes. Now, in a recent effort to retrieve receding ground in the Punjab (once Mr Bhutto’s stronghold), a hamstrung PPP led by Mr Zardari has had to share a platform in Lahore with faux leaders who were in their cradles when Mr Bhutto was already in his grave.
The 2018 general elections will show whether Garhi Khuda Bakhsh is a family necropolis or also the cemetery where the political legacy of the Bhuttos lies buried.
Source: dawn.com/news/1385040/housing-in-laws
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Vengeance Is Not Justice
By Khurram Husain
January 25, 2018
NOW that an arrest has been made in the gruesome case of the horrific murder of little Zainab of Kasur, it is disturbing to see calls mounting for a ‘public hanging’. At the very outset, mobs protesting the crime in Kasur, and outside the DHQ hospital, demanded ‘public flogging and hanging’ of the murderer. Then a few journalists endorsed the idea publicly.
Senator Rehman Malik, a former interior minister, introduced an amendment to the law in the Senate Subcommittee on Interior that he heads, to make possible public executions in cases of violent crime against children. The amendment passed and moved to the house, where similar calls have been raised by other lawmakers. Most recently, Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif also made the same call during the news conference where he announced that an arrest had been made in the case on the basis of a DNA match.
Let’s get one thing straight. I fully understand the sentiments of those who are making such a demand, and have had to restrain my own visceral impulses when following this case. But it is important to point out how deeply flawed and misguided such sentiment is, especially when dealing with a serial killer, and, yes, the police have said that the killer in Zainab’s case is a serial killer whose DNA was found on six other victims, all young girls.
‘Hanging people publicly will not deter such crimes in the future.’
Serial killers are not deterred by violent punishment, nor are they apprehended through normal investigative means. And the worst way to deal with such criminals is to execute them extrajudicially like what probably happened to Javed Iqbal, a serial killer from more than a decade ago who claimed over 100 victims, mostly children.
The reason is that to be able to catch a serial killer, and they exist in every population, one needs special tools. The FBI has a special department only to hunt and track down serial killers, because the detective work required for their apprehension is different from normal policing.
To get a better idea of what is required in such cases, I reached out to Dr Ali Hashmi from the Department of Psychiatry at King Edward Medical University, Lahore. The police availed themselves of the services of this department during their investigation in the Zainab case, and Dr Hashmi has also publicly taken a strong stand against a public hanging.
“[T]hese incessant calls for revenge by baying for a public hanging are totally insane!” he tweeted recently. “Hanging people publicly will not deter such crimes in the future. It will only further brutalise an already brutalised society and may make such crimes more likely.” He followed up by underlining the importance of psychological profiling of such criminals and maintaining a database.
“There are similarities in criminal behaviour,” Dr Hashmi told me when I spoke with him on the phone. I asked him what a psychiatrist would look for when building such a profile. “You study the morphology of the crime, the time of day, location, how the victim was induced to follow the attacker and other such things, as well as the background of the criminal, such as early life, childhood, schooling, family relationships, sexual history and so on. After that we would get into the specifics, such as how the killer chose the victim and the location where to take them and so on” for the purposes of the crime.
“If you build a proper psychological profile, it will give you clues about where to guide your investigation; of course, it won’t lead you straight to the killer, but it will help. You can also build a picture of the kind of person who is more likely to commit such a crime in the future.”
There is another advantage of such profiles, after the killer has been identified and apprehended (which, let us admit, has not yet happened in the present case. We only have an accused at this point, and every accused is entitled to a fair trial and an opportunity to defend himself or herself, even those accused of child molestation and serial killers). The other advantage is that building a psychological profile begins during the investigation, long before the actual apprehension, because it yields clues about the future course of action, and provides opportunities to ensnare the criminal.
“A year ago we discovered in Sargodha that children were being abducted and murdered,” Dr Hashmi told me. “Clues from there can help. In this case [Kasur] they had no database, they were going door to door, speaking to thousands of people” in order to track down the killer. Such a high-intensity dragnet was possible in this case only because of its massive public profile, but it is not practical to do this in all cases involving serial killers or other criminals acting on deranged impulses.
The baying for blood must stop. Senator Rehman Malik should withdraw his amendment calling for the law to be changed to allow ‘public hangings’ of criminals whose victims are children, and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif should not offer further promises of a public spectacle. Instead, the political leadership should ask law enforcement, and other professionals involved in the apprehension of such cases, what resources they require in order to streamline their efforts and sharpen their investigations. Dr Hashmi has advised the building of a database of psychological profiles of all such killers — and there are lots of them — much like a fingerprint or DNA database.
The general public can be excused for succumbing to reflex, and confusing vengeance with justice. But thought and opinion leaders, as well as the political leadership, must not pander to such sentiments. The calls for visible punishment help slake the bodily thirst for retribution, but will do nothing to protect the millions of other children in our society, as well as future generations, from those who stalk them with criminal intent.
Source: dawn.com/news/1385039/vengeance-is-not-justice
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