The Throwaway Girls: New Age Islam's Selection, 09 May 2017

New Age Islam Edit Bureau

09 May 2017

•  The Throwaway Girls

By Bina Shah

•  Economic Murder Of Gilgit-Baltistan  

By Munir Ahmed

•  Pakistan’s Cyclical Consciousness

By Ammar Ali Jan

•  Peace to Remain Elusive In Afghanistan

By Mohammad Jamil

•  Unpacking Macron's Win In France

By Obed Pasha

•  The Original Sin

By Anjum Niaz

•  Nawaz Is Not The Only Target Of Dawn Leaks

By Adnan Randhawa

•  Is the Left Falling into BJP’s Trap?

By Jawed Naqvi

•  Why Women Make Better Managers?

By Nefer Sehgal

Compiled By New Age Islam Edit Bureau

----

The Throwaway Girls

By Bina Shah

May 9th, 2017

IN Pakistan, the case of Tayabba, a 10-year-old maid allegedly beaten and tortured by her employers, a judge and his wife in Islamabad, serves as an ugly reminder that the myriad of programmes and campaigns for girls’ education, awareness and empowerment, aren’t making much of a dent in changing negative attitudes towards girls and young women in our society.

Perhaps that’s because we aren’t addressing a basic paradox: that Pakistan’s girls are not just socially shortchanged but are also vigorously economically exploited in all strata of society. In 2012, 12.5 million Pakistani children were involved in child labour, according to the ILO. No official study on child labour has been conducted by Pakistan since 1996, so no figures exist to examine the huge economy of girl-child labour in Pakistan. Yet it’s precisely this economy that we have to short-circuit before any meaningful change will take place for Pakistan’s girls.

Some development programmes in Pakistan try to offset the economic losses parents face when choosing to send their daughters to school instead of putting them to work. Nutritional interventions feed girls in school, such as the Tawana Pakistan project; others provide a small stipend, as in the Girls Stipend Programme in KP. But these projects are largely symbolic and financially nugatory. They do not compensate for the monetary worth a girl can provide her family through more profitable but illegal means.

The belief that girls are inferior and unwanted when compared to boys mixes toxically with the pressing urgency to feed hungry families. Girls are told they’re disposable throwaways but in reality they are commodities with material value. Their uselessness impressed upon them from birth, they are put to use as cheap labour in their own families: assisting their mothers as household drudges and child-minders, or working on a farm and rearing cattle. Or, they’re employed in the cities, as Tayabba was, or in factories, or on the streets, where they are begging or sexually exploited.

In reality they are commodities with material value.

Tayabba was sold to an agent for Rs18,000; she worked for two years in the house of a serving judicial official in Pakistan’s District and Sessions local courts, Raja Khurram Ali Khan, and his wife. She first said she got her injuries — gruesome bruises, a swollen eye, and burnt hands — from falling down the stairs. When the couple were finally arrested and brought to trial, Tayabba confessed that she was beaten and the judge’s wife held her hands to a cooker, after a broom went missing in the judge’s house.

Tayabba’s father showed up at the court and publicly forgave the Khans, assisted by a lawyer who was related to Raja Ali Khan. The judge and his wife were released on bail, whereupon Tayabba and her father disappeared. The Supreme Court ordered the police to find Tayabba, overturned the ‘pardon’ of the Islamabad court, suspended Raja Ali Khan and are re-hearing the case right now.

For decades Pakistanis harboured the misapprehension that raising a girl and keeping her ‘at home’ afforded some protection against the dangers of the street and the outside world. Decades of poverty and deprivation shows us that gender is no protection at all. Pakistan’s girls are blamed for their own existence, then exploited to make money for a chain of people — parents and relatives, husbands and in-laws, employers and purchasers.

The origins of this cycle begin in the very place where a girl’s life begins, with their mothers who are little better than child factories. Dr Anokhi Khanum, who worked with Médecins Sans Frontières in 2016 to help women and children in KP and the tribal areas, observed mothers’ bodies worn out by multiple childbirths — eight, nine, 10, not including stillbirths or miscarriages. An unusual number of twins and triplets are being born in hospitals in Peshawar because women take high amounts of fertility drugs timed with the visits of their husbands working as labourers in the Gulf.

Later, Pakistan’s girls become brides in marriage transactions, often to older men, even though their own bodies are barely ready for the task. In each instance, there is a financial transaction behind the activity: either a sum of money exchanged, or another girl in exchange for the first amongst families in a complicated tangle that holds kin and communities together. There is no price for the most valuable function of all: giving birth to the next generation. And so the cycle continues.

For every Tayabba rescued, there are millions more of Pakistan’s girls labouring away in fear, hunger and solitude. Until we decouple their lives from the unmeasured economic gains that their virtual imprisonment provides, they will continue to live as marginalised slaves in millions of households, their own, and others’. We have to drive the economy of girls as it exists in all its forms in Pakistan out of business.

Source: dawn.com/news/1331903/the-throwaway-girls

----

Economic Murder of Gilgit-Baltistan  

By Munir Ahmed

09-May-17

Federal government is still reluctant to withdraw its order imposing ban on the foreign tourists visiting Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) without obtaining an (additional) no-objection certificate (NOC) from the ministry of interior in Islamabad despite of a formal request from the GB chief minister. A letter recently sent by the ministry to the Gilgit-Baltistan government says that it has been reported that foreigners are frequently visiting Gilgit-Baltistan without obtaining an NOC or security clearance from the ministry, which is against the rules. The letter asks the authorities concerned to take concrete measures to curb the practice.

The GB government and the tour operators have a valid stance that the foreign tourists wish to visit Gilgit-Baltistan do not get visa until they have compulsory NOC and clearance from the federal ministry of interior. Why another NOC after their arrival? There has been no precedent for foreigners to obtain an NOC for visiting tourist points after getting visas — a process of two to three months. This seems to be intentionally discouraging Gilgit-Baltists tourism — the only seasonal source of livelihood for the natives after the small portion of dry-fruits sales.

On the other hand, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government withdrew the NOC required for foreign tourists visiting Malakand division in March 2016 to promote tourism in the area. The only threat they are facing is an increase in the tourism.

To me, this letter reflects the cowardly defeat of the federal government to prevent the country from security breaches. Despite the deployment of heavy contingent in Gilgit-Baltistan spearheaded by a Corp Commander, I believe the agencies could not impede and arrest the culprits involved in unfair practices. So, they are suspicious about every activity in the northern parts, and discourage every foreigner coming to Pakistan. In many cases, the locals are also monitored minutely by the army while they go for trekking.

The federal government letter to strictly implement the NOC shows that the agencies have totally collapsed to interrupt the outflow of information. The letter seems to be an out-dated approach that reminds the era of British slavery when every place was no-go-area. The outflow of information depended on the piece of paper. Maps and photographs were manually done and developed. Skilled riders and trained horses were used to send information from one place to another.

The dearest federal interior minister shall know that those who want to spy on any part of Pakistan need not to visit these places. They have the best spying tools to monitor every inch of our country. So, please get out of the ‘slavery era’ practices. These do nothing but harm the life and livelihood of the locals, and the sanctity of their homeland. Please don’t punish Gilgit-Baltistan for their ancestors’ decision to unify with Pakistan. Respect those who willingly come to see the natural treasures of our country and spend their hard-earned money to fly to Pakistan, helping us earn good foreign exchange. Learn from the neighbouring South Asian countries as how to be more tourists’ friendly and observe the hospitality norms.

We all know our governments and the establishment is always reluctant to bring about positive changes. But, we need to demand the facilitation of foreign tourists coming to our country. Believe it or not, the tourists won’t harm us or our land. Be confident to assume that everyone visiting our country is not a threat. After successfully organising the final match of the 2nd PSL in Lahore, the government should have faith in its capabilities.

Pakistan Association of Tour Operators (PATO) has already termed the imposition of the ban as the ‘economic murder’ of Gilgit-Baltistan where the 70 percent of the locals’ livelihood depends on tourism.

Thanks to the GB government’s international partners who have spent a lot of money to showcase the region as a peaceful territory of culture and landscape. Let’s not damage the investments made on the propagation of soft image of the region and the country during the last several years. The tour operators put a lot of efforts and invest resources to attract foreign tourists to Pakistan while the federal and provincial governments sleep over their responsibilities to promote tourism. Imposing another NOC would further discourage foreigners from visiting GB. Let us all be a part of the promotional efforts, and discourage the government from igniting the problems for the GB economy.

Source: dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/09-May-17/economic-murder-of-gilgit-baltistan

-----

Pakistan’s Cyclical Consciousness

By Ammar Ali Jan

May 9, 2017

The recent ‘rejection’ of the government’s notification on Dawnleaks by the army was interpreted by analysts as a sign of increasing fissures between the apparatuses of the state. That it was the civilian government that panicked, rather than the military high-command for its legal insubordination, confirmed the essential truth about power: it is not located in the pages of a constitution but rests with those who are able to ‘demonstrate’ it in moments of crisis.

Such overt interventions of the military in the political arena are complemented with rising indifference, if not outright disillusionment, to the procedural details of democratic rule. The public response to the Panamagate verdict further confirms the lack of enthusiasm for defending democratically elected governments. Does this mean that Pakistanis essentially prefer dictatorial rule, and gravitate towards it at opportune moments?

A cursory glance at Pakistan’s history reveals a different story. Few societies have demonstrated such resilience in the face of authoritarian rule. From Fatima Jinnah’s challenge to Ayub Khan to the lawyers’ movement against the Musharraf government, our history is replete with instances of popular rage directed at authoritarianism. Yet, once civilian rule is restored, rather than critiquing its shortcomings from within the system, we immediately become nostalgic for what has just passed. And like all nostalgia, ours is also one for a golden place and era that never actually existed, except in the realm of our memory.

Much of modernisation theory has argued that societies develop through a linear path, going from feudal to capitalist, and in the political field from authoritarian to democratic. This notion of history is challenged by events in Pakistan, where one mode of governance is superseded only for it to return in a few years. Rather than linear, we remain victims of a cyclical consciousness, where the vestiges of the past perpetually haunt our imaginary, and prevent us from moving on. ‘The more things change, the more they remain the same’ seems to be an apt description for our political history.

Our task is to explain the basis of this obsessive repetition that seems to have taken hold of our consciousness. My hypothesis is that one fundamental basis for this cycle is the dangerous disconnect between the political sphere and the social sphere. Let me explain.

There is indeed a democratic ethos in Pakistan’s polity that makes the prolonged rule of dictatorships, like those in much of the Arab world, almost unthinkable. The repeated bouts of popular agitation stem from the Subcontinent’s common anti-colonial history. Colonial rule promised a gradual movement towards self-rule for Indians once they were sufficiently ‘civilised’, while perpetually deferring the final date for the completion of this civilisational mission. Indian historian Dipesh Chakrabarty has called it the “waiting room of history” mode of politics, where the colonised were expected to patiently wait for the transfer of power.

Anti-colonial politics were directed precisely against this mode of waiting – by demanding self-rule in the immediate here and now. Rather than accepting colonial arguments against the inherent deficiency of Indian subjects, anti-colonial leaders argued that Indians were ready for self-rule, and colonial tactics of deferral were a mask for perpetual plunder of the region’s wealth. According to Chakrabarty, the history of anti-colonialism produced a “politics of impatience” as a response to the colonial “politics of waiting”.

This partly explains why governments in South Asia find it impossible to rule with the confidence of a Gulf monarch or 20th-century Baath Party officials. The drudgery, alienation and humiliation experienced by citizens are directed against governments that are accused of ‘abandoning’ their citizens, an allegation that gains potency from its deployment against the British during the anti-colonial movement. Yet, whereas this impatience has led to a widening of the Indian polity with the inclusion of lower castes, classes and regional and anti-corruption movements, in Pakistan this rage is primarily mobilised to demand a return to an imagined past.

It is here that the question of social reform, if not a social revolution, becomes central for overcoming cyclical consciousness. For example, in Europe, revolts against monarchies remained common throughout the Dark Ages, as well as the Renaissance. What was distinct about the French revolutionaries was that they attacked the entire edifice on which the authority of the monarchy rested; the church, the nobility, the feudals etc, and replaced them with the concept of citizens, representation and separation of powers. While this new republicanism has had a tortured history, it nonetheless ensured that nostalgia for the monarchy remained an impossible desire, lacking a material base in society.

On the other hand, a major reason for our cyclical consciousness is that democratic forces have been unable to forge a social coalition that will have no interest in a return to authoritarian rule. While political parties are able to use the public’s desire for change to force military juntas to re-institute the constitution, they are unable to build a large and effective alternative power that could see its interests reflected only under democratic rule.

Trade unions, student groups and media organisations remain either banned or under strict surveillance, international financial institutions and their demands remain central to financial policy, bureaucrats remain arrogant and the critique of our national security policy remains outside the purview of acceptable discourse, while ethnic and religious minorities continue to experience the horror of mere existence. In other words, despite formal democracy, the lived experience of millions continues to remains one of subjugation, fear and humiliation.

This is not to suggest that there is no difference between the two forms of rule, or that political parties have not developed an elaborated electoral machine for themselves. Yet, such power quickly evaporates in the event of a coup d’état, where the enthusiastic participation of the people is required to save democracy. But whether it was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto or Nawaz Sharif, they witnessed their political machines melt as their allies deserted them and joined military juntas en masse. Yet, such political figures remain indispensable for political parties once civilian rule is restored. Faisal Saleh Hayat’s recent re-entry into the PPP, despite his betrayal in 2002 to become Musharraf’s interior minister, is the latest example of how the shift from military rule to civilian rule does not produce a rupture in this logic of power.

For Ambedkar, the Dalit leader and astute political thinker of colonial and postcolonial India, Indian democracy could only work as long as it allowed for the expression of contradictions within India’s social life, in particular the caste and religious problem, rather than their suppression through force. For democracy to acquire popular appeal, it must not only allow for dissent, but must also give space to embarrass the rulers so as to force an acknowledgement of social ills and a willingness to address them. This way, marginalised social groups would end up seeing their political being attached to democratic rule, thus becoming a bulwark against authoritarian rule.

Rather than looking down upon the people of Pakistan for their lack of interest in democracy, we should ask whether political parties give sufficient reason to citizens to identify with them. If a Hari in Sindh or a katchi abadi resident elsewhere cannot differentiate between life under democracy or life under military rule, then the emptiness of democracy is the fault of those leaders in whose name ordinary people have given countless sacrifices.

Only a political force capable of connecting the realm of everyday life with national-level concerns will be able to overcome the unending tussle between civilian and military rule so as to begin focusing on ways to deepen democracy. And only then will we end the cyclical nightmare we find ourselves, and begin to dream about possible, alternative futures.

Source: thenews.com.pk/print/203312-Pakistans-cyclical-consciousness

----

Peace To Remain Elusive In Afghanistan

By Mohammad Jamil

May 9, 2017

AFGHANISTAN has been in the throes of a multidimensional civil war for over three and a half decades. With the rift between the partners of Unity Government and intensified Taliban attacks, the country is adrift to more uncertainties, chaos and anarchy. Afghan National Unity Government, instead of putting its own house in order, continues to blame Pakistan for its failures which will not help control the situation. There is record increase in violence in Afghanistan and the Taliban have expanded their influence by gaining control of at least 50% of the territory. Russia, China and Pakistan tried to persuade the Taliban to end violence and come to the negotiation table, but President Ashraf Ghani and CEO Abdullah Abdullah appear to be averse to the idea and are playing in the hands of India which is fraught with extreme dangers.

There are other developments in Afghanistan. For quite some time, efforts were being made to woo the leader of Hizb-e-Islami, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to appease Pushtuns, and agreement to that effect was made two weeks ago. There is also a perception that Afghan government wants Hizb-e-Islami militants to take on Taliban, and in the process both become weak. Hekmatyar, in an address to thousands of his supporters in Ghazi Stadium in Kabul on Friday, recalled his recent remarks about militants and said the Afghan war is being financed from abroad in an apparent reference to Pakistan. Referring to the war in Afghanistan, Hekmatyar said: “We hate those who insist on continuing the war in Afghanistan – the war which sacrifices only Afghans and the war that is financed from abroad.” This statement belies claims of Paksitan’s chattering classes that with agreement between the government and Hizb-e-Islami Pakistan will be the beneficiary.

The Hizb-e-Islami leader once again called on the Taliban to quit insurgency and join the peace process. At the same time, Hekmatyar criticized the decision based on which the National Unity Government was formed, saying that he is in favor of a ‘centralised’ government in Afghanistan. The peace delegations of Afghan government and Hizbe-e-Islami had signed a peace deal in September last year. As part of this agreement, the first batch of the Hizb-e-Islami prisoners — which included 55 inmates — were released from Pul-e-Charkhi prison in Kabul. Last week’s agreement will give Hekmatyar and his supporters an immunity for killing thousands of Afghan civilians in the civil war that wracked the country soon after the Russian soldiers left. The problem is that President Ashraf Ghani and CEO Abdullah Abdullah do not wish to hold talks with the Taliban, as they will have to share power with the Taliban.

But this is a flawed strategy, as they would continue to see turmoil and violence. Last, month, at least 140 Afghan National Army soldiers were killed when Taliban gunmen and suicide bombers in military uniforms stormed an Afghan Army base in northern Afghanistan. Six assailants dressed in military uniforms drove in two army vehicles past the first checkpoint, according to Lt. Colonel Abdul Qahar Aram, a spokesman for the corps. At the second checkpoint, one of the suicide bombers blew up his explosives, allowing the militants to enter, take up positions and start firing at soldiers, who were leaving after their prayers and making their way to lunch. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack through a spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid. The Taliban spokesman said at least four of the attackers earlier belonged to Afghan National Army, which shows that the Taliban have infiltrated in Afghan forces.

Anyhow, it was intelligence and security failure, and the biggest attack after 9/11. Analysts and officials with the American-led coalition forces, who are training and assisting the Afghan forces, have been very critical of the inept leadership and widespread corruption in the ranks, which is contributing to the large number of casualties. General John W. Nicholson, the commander of the American and NATO forces, demanded a few thousand more American troops on the ground to assist and train the Afghan forces. Analysts said the repeated ability of a few militants to cause tremendous bloodshed in highly secure areas was a troubling sign ahead of the Taliban’s spring offensive. Jawed Kohistani, an Afghan security analyst, said the Balkh attack seemed to be in retaliation to Afghan Special Forces’ targeting local Taliban leaders in night raids. With this ongoing quid pro quo, peace will remain elusive.

But there are other factors such as rampant corruption and ghost soldiers in the Afghan National Army. During the last few months, the U.S. military has removed more than 30,000 names of suspected ghost Afghan soldiers from its payroll, as part of a widening corruption crackdown that a top American general estimates will save the U.S. millions of dollars each month. Major General Richard Kaiser said that U.S. military would pay only Afghan soldiers who were biometrically enrolled in their country’s army and had matching identity cards. In addition, US Commander General Nicholson had told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Russia and Iran were aiding the Taliban, accusing Russia and Iran of trying to scuttle its mission in the war-devastated country. He alleged Iran was directly involved in providing support to the militants, which may or may not be true.

Northern Alliance was opposed to Pakistan because it had recognized Taliban government. Furthermore, Abdullah Abdullah and other leaders had suspected Pakistan for suicide attack on Ahmad Shah Massoud. On September 9, 2001, two days before the cataclysmic attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon, Ahmad Shah Massoud, commander of the United Front guerrilla opposition to Afghanistan’s Taliban regime, was assassinated in the Afghan town of Khwaja Baha-ud- Din by two Arab men posing as journalists. Both of the assassins died – one in the attack itself, blown up with his own bomb along with Massoud, and the other was shot while trying to escape shortly afterwards. Ahmad Shah Massoud was unhappy with Pakistan, as he believed that during Afghan Jihad Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was given more of funds and ammunition. In fact, the US had kept Massoud and his resistance at arm’s length, perhaps because they were receiving weapons from Iran, and logistical support from Russia and the Central Asian republics.

Source; pakobserver.net/peace-remain-elusive-afghanistan/

----

Unpacking Macron's Win in France

By Obed Pasha

09-May-17

Sanity took a sigh of relief on Sunday as the globalist Emmanuel Macron won the French presidential election, with a staggering 65 percent of votes, against the populist Marine Le Pen.

Francoise Hollande had won the presidency with only 52 percent of popular vote in 2012 and Nickolas Sarkozy with only 53 percent in 2007.

With the latest election outcome, the French society has rejected xenophobia and given a much-needed respite to Europe and rest of the world.

The electoral system for French presidency comprises two rounds of voting: all candidates take part in the first round, and the top two candidates contend in the second — needing at least 50 percent votes to win the presidency. Such a system not only allows multi-party candidates representing a variety of opinions within the society, but also ensures that the winner has support from at least half of the electorate. For instance, Jean-Luc Melanchon’s leftist La France Insoumise and Francois Fillon’s centre-rightist Republican Party each got almost 20 percent of the votes in the first round. Both parties trailed Macron (24 percent) and Le Pen (21 percent) but secured enough votes to convey the public mood to the legislators and the next president.

Furthermore, any candidate gaining more than five percent votes in the first round is reimbursed half of her campaign expenses by the state — to reduce corruption and allow people with relatively fewer resources to contest elections. With their anger vented in the first round, people from the left and the right could come together to vote for a centrist like Macron. In comparison, a more complex and out-dated Electoral College system for the US presidential race allows candidate with fewer popular votes to win the election.

The second factor that helped Macron’s win was the apprehension regarding Donald Trump within the French society. Followed by the Brexit referendum last June, Donald Trump’s win in the US presidential elections had sent chills around the world and raised concerns about the growing xenophobia in the West. The media frenzy that followed his win and the weakening of American exceptionalism alerted many people in Europe. Thus, the American elections cast an unprecedented influence over the French elections. On the one hand, Le Pen’s supporters promoted her as a Trump-like populist candidate and portrayed Macron as the Hillary Clinton of France — a member of the global elite with close ties to Germany’s Angela Merkel. On the other hand, Macron’s supporters played on the failures of Donald Trump, urging people to prevent a Trump-like takeover of France. This strategy paid off as many people, including many of my own friends in France, voted for Macronnot because they were excited about him but because they feared the repercussion of having a Donald Trump sitting in the presidency.

The third factor pertains to the strong welfare system in France. Life is becoming increasingly arduous for agriculture and industrial workers in the West due to dwindling employment opportunities as a result of automation and shifting of businesses overseas. Devoid of a hope for a better future, these worker soften resort to xenophobia and nationalism, accusing everyone from the elites to the immigrants for their anguish.

Thanks to the French social welfare system, however, the French workers were not as disgruntled as their American and British counterparts. French state offers substantial support such as healthcare, education, transportation, and unemployment benefits to citizens who need it. The state also provides a comprehensive job retraining programme for those previously employed in defunct industries, letting them acquire new skills for in-demand occupations. Such pampering reduces anger within this group, as they feel they are being taken care of by society at large. Therefore, the anger that swept through these demographics in the US bringing Trump in power, was much weaker a factor in France.

A final yet crucial factor in Macron’s victory is the distinct attitude of the French society vis-à-vis immigrants.

Like the White working classes in the US, French working classes also blames immigrants for taking over low-paying jobs that they would be willing to do for higher comparative wages. Low-rent public housing in France is often referred to as taxpayer-subsidised servants’ quarters for the metropolitan rich who contract low-cost services of immigrant men and women — working as nannies, drivers, and caretakers. The native workers hope that sending these immigrants back will increase demand for such jobs, raising salaries and opening more opportunities for them.

Though these concerns may be similar to those found in the US, France offers a completely different way to manage her immigration problems. The American society deals with immigrants by respecting their solitude, and giving them space to practice their religion and culture without much intrusion. As a result, immigrant populations develop social network within their own communities that persist over generations. The French society, on the other hand, expects its immigrants to assimilate and become ‘French’. The sense of otherness is much diluted when the immigrant is viewed as a potential member of the French community. Scholars of history and sociology like Francis Fukuyama and Thomas Cahill trace these differing attitudes to religious underpinning of these societies: The French society is predominantly Catholic and hence more community-oriented, whereas the Protestant US has a more individualist culture. Although religion itself plays a much weaker role in these societies, especially the French — these attitudes have pervaded culture over centuries.

The French election results have given a much-needed boost to the European Union, which is now more likely to survive than it was till last week. As the new leadership begins working on its regional and global agendas, it is expected that it will also tend to the needs of the forgotten worker who requires support from the state to make the transition from traditional farming and industrial jobs to service oriented occupations.

Source: dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/09-May-17/unpacking-macrons-win-in-france

----

The Original Sin

By Anjum Niaz

May 7, 2017

Blindsided by love for father, the first daughter needs a lesson in investigative journalism when she calls the Panama Leaks “crap.” Another required reading for Maryam Nawaz is a handbook called Law for Dummies. It will educate her that lying under oath is perjury. And that is the original sin at the heart of her father’s false statements before the Parliament, press and the Supreme Court. The premier stands automatically disentitled for violating Article 62(1)(f) of our Constitution. Justice Asif Saeed Khosa’s opening lines of Balzac: “behind every great fortune there is a crime”, are the guiding star for the men, awaiting selection, in the Joint Investigation Team to navigate the labyrinth of lies in money laundering by the Sharifs.

“I only wish our judges and legal community start seeing the legal changes occurring around the world,” says Aftab A Khan, advocate Supreme Court and senior partner at a law firm. Writing in Pakistan Law Journal on White-Collar Crime And Punishment, Khan argues that while criminal jurisprudence presumes alleged murderers, rapists, thieves and thugs to be innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt, the same standard should not apply to offenders of white-collar crime in politics and corporations. These influence-wielders often exercise “extraordinary powers to their own advantage and benefit at the expense of the masses.”

White-collar crime is a term referred to crooks attired in suits and ties. Upton Sinclair, an American writer, first coined the phrase in the ’30s. “White-collar crimes, also called ‘paper crimes’ included wire fraud, forgery, embezzlement, money laundering and much more,” says Khan. It was in this scenario that the need arose for Edwin Sutherland, an Australian socialist, John S Baker Jr, an eminent American law professor and Hazel Croall, a British law professor, to confront this elephant in the room. With time, white-collar crime won a seat in the halls of justice engaging the public and the legal community to aggressively pursue and punish white-collar criminals, observes advocate Khan. Adding, that instead of waiting for the criminals to prove their innocence, it was considered prudent to step on the plate and adjudicate “because if left to whiter, white-collar crime could become a mushroom cloud spreading corruption, economic chaos and political instability among nations… Ask the disenfranchised masses in Pakistan who blame the lacunae in our laws that provide a free pass for the rich and the corrupt, while the ordinary Joe ends up getting the rough end of the stick.”

If justice is blind, as the immortal epigram carved in stone, assures us, why then is Pakistan swarming with profiteers? Our legal fraternity seriously needs to rethink calling for a review to relitigate cases where justice appears to have fallen through the cracks. Almost all such judgments have erred on the side of caution, codifying corruption, fraud, bribery and misrepresentation by people in power. These tycoons buy the best legal brains to let them off the hook, while the underprivileged land in jail or pay heavy penalties for lack of professional defence. As a layman, with 20/20 vision, I can safely vouch, along with millions of my Pakistani compatriots, that the corrupt are visible to the naked eye, but not to the law.

Just care to read Khan’s article to fully understand the urgency for the legislative body and courts to take immediate measures for imparting justice. The blunt instruments in our legal system need to be sharpened to protect society from the ever-growing malignancy of white-collar crimes, widely practiced by the highest in the land and their associates.

In the words of Martin Luther King Jr, “the ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”

Source: tribune.com.pk/story/1403075/the-original-sin/

-----

Nawaz Is Not the Only Target of Dawn Leaks

By Adnan Randhawa

09-May-17

That gentlemen want to hold the civilian government on a tight leash — come what may — is an open secret in Islamabad. And if we go by the latest ‘coup d’étweet’ — as a commentator has described it — made in the backdrop of so-called Dawn Leaks, there is no gainsaying the fact that the urge is not time-bound or era-specific. It has been the norm for decades and current democratic era is no exception.

The Dawn Leaks saga was a storm in the proverbial teacup from the day one — a means to arm-twist the civilian boss. To a prudent and impartial democratic mind, there was no substance in allegations raised following the publication of the original report. It seems that these allegations had been raised with the sole objective to reclaim the lost turf.

On the other hand, we have a civilian boss whose love for power trumps any other consideration — be it morality, propriety or even personal safety. He is aware that he has played his innings, but is now obsessed with bequeathing his political fortune to his heiress apparent. The boss has played the innings. His detractors know that and they also know about the fixation with passing on the mantle to the heiress apparent.

Panama Leaks was a godsend with the potential to obstruct this dynastic transfer of authority, but it was not sufficient. It was too risky to entrust the task to the judiciary given its chequered history well known to the centres of power that wield real authority in Pakistan. Time has proved their wisdom. The composition of the JIT formed in the wake of the Panama Papers verdict is an open invitation to them in case they wish to support cleaning up the mess. But the process is not under the direct control of the powers-that-be. The lordships hold the final veto power.

This is why Dawn Leaks is a useful crisis to perpetuate with the help of television channels and digital media. The civilian boss is doing what he is good at: evading, escaping, delaying, defusing, and, thus, hoping to rescue himself from the emergent situation. In the process a few scapegoats–close confidants of the Prime Minister such as the former Information Minister Pervaiz Rasheed, former Principal Information Officer Rao Tehseen and Adviser on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi — have been sacrificed to make khakis happy.

It is difficult to guess who said what. But it’s hard to digest that Mr Fatemi may have leaked the proceedings of a sensitive meeting to the media. Fatemi, a trained diplomat aware of the surveillance web made it to the top of the bureaucratic hierarchy. He must have been privy to a lot of top-secret stuff throughout his career. It is nearly impossible to imagine that he spilled the beans to please his civilian boss.

The PM Office notification on the Dawn Leaks inquiry came just a few days after the Panama Papers verdict. And like the Panama Papers verdict, the notification was not good enough as it missed the vital target. PM’s camp knows it. One of the PML-N’s spokesmen has expressed this view on Twitter. His statement was endorsed by one of the five bloggers who had gone missing earlier this year. The blogger who returned to safety after weeks of disappearance posted a tweet saying that it was not the second but the third time that the target had been missed. He said that the bloggers were asked if they had a connection to PM’s daughter.

It’s only in this context that one can understand the seemingly angry tweet that made headlines not only in Pakistan but also abroad. But this was a faux pas as public outrage over the tweet could not be controlled. The reactions were strong and one could sense that a majority of Pakistanis had a ‘civilian’ conscience; and the usual self-censorship by democrats, bloggers, social activists and commentators dissipated in thin air.

Sadly, most political parties tried to fish in the imaginary troubled waters of civil-military relations, only to find out that they were making themselves a target of public ridicule. The powers-that-be miscalculated the reaction in a vibrant, noisy democratising country.

It’s the first time in recent memory that people have been demanding scapegoats from the other side of the divide.

Source: dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/09-May-17/nawaz-is-not-the-only-target-of-dawn-leaks

----

Is the Left Falling into BJP’s Trap?

By Jawed Naqvi

May 9th, 2017

AS a Dalit student from Maharashtra who became a Buddhist, my friend Chandan Kamble was curiously sceptical of Marxism. My Marxist friends on the leftist campus were equally sceptical of Chandan with his Afro hair and his perpetually smiling, piercing gaze.

He was sinfully prankish and was never bereft of a wild observation about anyone, perfect strangers included. He was at his acerbic best when within earshot of a dyed-in-the-wool communist. “In capitalism, man exploits man. In communism, it’s the other way around.” The kindergarten lines were deliberately parcelled and farmed out depending on the moment, and Chandan was a practitioner of precision timing, like a jester in a serious play.

The words may not be his, but they gained currency on the campus because of his love for political banter. At the same time, he got excellent grades from the MPhil tutor in international studies. “A politician is someone who knows which side his bread is buttered.” The banal words are suddenly making sense.

I have no idea where Chandan has disappeared. We were in the same hostel at Jawaharlal Nehru University. A common JNU friend in Princeton said he last saw him years ago in a US university campus, possibly Harvard. Why am I suddenly thinking of the missing Mahar friend whose cryptic homilies on politics and Marxism, in particular, I indulged but disagreed with? A possible answer lies in the question itself.

Indian Marxists, like their comrades elsewhere, are a threatened species. The BJP is out to swallow their two remaining hubs.

Why did the Marxists shun Dalits as Dalits? They worked hard to get the Dalit students priority in admission and so forth. Yet there was a pronounced aloofness at an intellectual level, a palpable snobbery. Or was it because B.R. Ambedkar had poured vitriol on Indian Marxists in his great work on the revival of the Dalit cause? If that was so, why didn’t any comrade woo the lowest in the caste heap to his or her side, ignoring or critiquing Ambedkar if they had a valid argument?

What puzzles me equally is the shocking ability of the BJP to woo Dalits — in Gujarat, in Uttar Pradesh and so forth. It is perhaps this worry that has sent me cartwheeling into the past. Here is a perfectly casteist party, one that Ambedkar would have loathed. He had described Hinduism in no uncertain terms as a “chamber of horrors”. And Ambedkar’s followers are today marching mindlessly, one should add, self-destructively into the Hindutva fold.

Of course, there is Chanakya’s wily wisdom at play. Divide and rule, Emperor Chandragupta’s Brahmin counsellor had decreed, way before the advent of colonialism of any stripe. It worked in Uttar Pradesh last month. Jatav versus non-Jatav Dalits; Yadav versus non-Yadavs among the other backward castes; something similar with Muslims is afoot. That’s BJP. What about the Marxists?

Indian Marxists, like their comrades elsewhere, are a threatened species. The BJP is out to swallow their two remaining hubs — one in the tiny tribal state of Tripura and the other, of course, Kerala, the redoubtable communist bastion. One should have thought that the BJP was a cause for serious worry. But the Marxists seem to have different priorities. They look keener to bring down the Mamata Banerjee government in Bengal, possibly in cahoots with the Congress. The BJP would be only too happy to let them do its dirty work.

The thought is horrifying for the sheer lack of sensitivity. The Marxists took a lead in fighting Indira Gandhi’s emergency, and they were a source of strength to the movement that ended in the Janata Party experiment. The experiment included the BJP then called the Jan Sangh. And the first thing that the Janata Party government did was to ban school textbooks on history that were authored by Romila Thapar, R.S. Sharma and Bipan Chandra.

The ground was laid in 1978 for the assault on Wendy Doniger’s study of Hinduism and A.K. Ramanujan’s Three Hundred Ramanayas — a brilliant research of the diverse Rama legends. The Marxists didn’t give up here, as they again came together with the BJP to shore up an anti-Congress V.P. Singh government in 1989.

For better or worse, they then came up with the formula of supporting non-BJP, non-Congress parties and alliances. There are three that fit the bill. They are Mamata Banerjee in Bengal, the Lalu-Nitish coalition in Bihar and the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi. All three are targeted by the BJP. The Congress too has joined the expedition in two, barring Bihar, where it is a junior partner in the state government. The Marxists set up candidates against all three.

The problem is that these three are the ones they count among the 59 per cent that didn’t vote for the BJP. The three are also those that stopped the BJP juggernaut. All three are accused of corruption by the BJP, a ruse that is seen as a first step towards their dismissal.

Any sane observer of the unfolding Indian scenario would have thought that it was time all opposition parties came together as they once came up against Mrs Gandhi. What is happening instead is that one by one the non-Congress and non-BJP governments, including the Left Front, are coming in the cross hairs of the Modi establishment. It’s almost like Germany in the 1930s to give an overused but relevant example. There the communists and the social democrats were taken out one by one.

Chandan Kamble is perhaps watching today’s denouement with concern. He had a habit of mixing up metaphors. “We are all sailing in the same soup,” he would say. Will the Marxists be able to untangle the jumbled aphorisms?

It is worrying that the main Marxist groups — and not to forget the Congress — seems to believe that the threat posed to India’s democracy by the BJP is comparable with Mamata Banerjee’s rule in Bengal and Arvind Kejriwal’s in Delhi. Could Chandan Kamble be right?

Source: dawn.com/news/1331908/is-the-left-falling-into-bjps-trap

-----

Why Women Make Better Managers?

By Nefer Sehgal

09-May-17

Business is all about taking risks, but wise business person will take a calculated risk whenever the opportunity arises. So as unlikely as it may sound, such businesses have the perfect opportunity in Pakistan to hire from a pool of professional women managing their side businesses along with their day jobs.

Lately, foreign companies and freelancers are flocking to the country, because they know this is where they can build or expand their empire. But there is one problem: the nation’s pool of fresh graduates lacks the hunger or the drive sought by foreign investors. In fact, these youngsters are so comfortable in their ways that they are not interested in changing their work ethic. Their education degrees have given them the confidence to feel that they cannot be replaced.

Against this backdrop, I have seen companies beg and offer higher than market salaries to overseas Pakistanis to return to their homeland because they cannot find anyone suitable locally. I have seen companies settling for someone with work experience in a bank just because that is the closest they can get to a ‘finance guy’.

So here is why the woman who owns a startup that sells shoes online might be a better bet for these companies.

She is more patient and willing to put in more hours. A woman seeking employment in Pakistan generally has to deal with a ‘boys club’ workforce. Thus, over the years these working women have developed thicker skins and they have dealt with their work situation by exerting more than usual effort on increasing their productivity at work.

The working woman is a fast learner because she is driven to be more competitive. Sure, she may not have taken all those macro-economic courses and may need more on-the-job training, but that will incentivise her to be more committed to her work. And since she has been maintaining her own business on the side, the basics are already self-taught.

Her digital marketing research has allowed her to tap into who-is-who and — what of work. Most working women use Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Facebook to sell and advertise their products in Pakistan. Online shops are easier for them to work from home or after office hours. They are also aware of market trends online and have gained a sense of all industries with their social interactions.

Working women are more grateful and excited to work in a professional environment. In a country where your marital status and gender determines your salary and treatment in offices, women are more likely to take more pride in the job prospects given to them.

They have multiple careers, meaning they are all-rounders. To prove their worth in their careers, a lot of women take on extra tasks or create startups because they want to have more on their plate then given.

Working women are more sensitive and aware of their surroundings. This makes her more likely to keep a professional attitude even in stressful moments. They are less distracted by outside factors because they have been spending more time in improving their side businesses. And with learning how the cheeseburger was made from start to finish, they make better leaders with their experience and decision making skills.

They are young and passionate for an opportunity to prove their worth. So, take a calculated risk on working women of Pakistan.

Source: dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/09-May-17/why-women-make-better-managers

----

URL: https://www.newageislam.com/pakistan-press/the-throwaway-girls-new-age/d/111073