Pakistan Press on Gilgit-Baltistan And Pakistan-China-Iran Trilateral Cooperation: New Age Islam's Selection, 10 November 2020
By New Age Islam Edit
Desk
10 November
2020
• Towards A Constitutional Provincial Status
For Gilgit-Baltistan
By Mehdi Hassan Khan
• Pakistan-China-Iran Trilateral Cooperation
By Nawazish Ali
• Rationalizing Politics And Governance
By Syed Wajahat Ali
• From Streets To Prisons
By Sarmad Ali
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Towards A Constitutional Provincial Status For
Gilgit-Baltistan
By Mehdi Hassan Khan
November
09, 2020
Gilgit-Baltistan
is all set to go to polls on November 15, 2020, to elect the candidates of the
24-member Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly (GBLA) for the next five years.
The unprecedented attention that G-B’s upcoming election has been receiving
from the leadership of the mainstream political parties of the country has
tremendously added to the election frenzy in the region. Unsurprisingly though,
all political parties going to the ballot in G-B are predominantly resorting to
the prospective provisional provincial status for the G-B province, for gaining
political mileage in the election. The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan,
during his visit to Gilgit on November 1, 2020, to celebrate the 73rd
Independence Day of G-B, also reassured unveiling the details of the
provisional provincial status that is to be granted to G-B after the elections.
While it
remains to be known as to what exactly the provisional provincial status for
G-B may entail, the response of the residents of G-B with respect to the
overture is divided where a fairly vast segment of the populace tends to
believe that the overture may be more of a political stratagem around elections
rather than something that would satiate the longstanding demands for
constitutional and political rights of the people of G-B. But what is known for
sure is that this trust deficit amongst the residents of G-B stems from a deep
sense of political deprivation entrenched in the region over the years.
Contrary to the aspirations of the people of G-B — who have been demanding, for
decades, a constitutionally backed provincial status for the region that
commits to bringing the politically deprived province on a par with the rest of
Pakistan in all spheres, including social, political and economic — the area
has been administered largely through ad hoc based presidential orders, the
latest being the Gilgit-Baltistan Order, 2018.
Having said
that, the Gilgit-Baltistan Order, 2018 proved, in many ways, to be very
consequential for G-B’s struggle to find its place in the Constitution of the
pure land. First, this order caused the G-B’s constitutional conundrum to be
pitched to the highest level of Pakistan’s judicature as it was challenged in
the Supreme Court of Pakistan when it was annulled by the Supreme Appellate
Court, the apex court of G-B. The Supreme Court of Pakistan, in its landmark
decision dated January 17, 2019, in the case, restored the Gilgit-Baltistan
Order, 2018 and directed the federal government to treat the residents of the
region the same way as the citizens of any other part of the country. This
verdict from the Supreme Court of Pakistan serves as a strong legal base for
any prospective act of parliament including constitutional amendments aimed at
granting political and constitutional rights to G-B.
Secondly,
by maintaining the case, the apex court ruled for the first time in the
judicial history of Pakistan that the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of
Pakistan extends to G-B as well. The Supreme Court of Pakistan, in its verdict,
further observed that it was strongly committed to serving the rights and
liberties of all the people, and those of the people of G-B made no exception
for the court.
Thirdly,
the Gilgit-Baltistan Order, 2018, also empowered the GBLA by transferring several
important subjects of legislation including tourism, hydropower and minerals
from the G-B Council which is represented by non-elected members.
It is high
time for the federal government to mull over pragmatically addressing G-B’s
constitutional enigma, through an act of parliament or constitutional
amendment, so that the decades-old disenfranchisement of the people of G-B
comes to an end. The deep sense of political deprivation that prevails amongst
the residents of G-B can be fairly gauged from the phrase “Sar Zameen e Bai
Aayeen (the land without a constitution)” which the people of G-B usually use
to refer to the constitutional enigma the region faces. G-B represents the area
of Pakistan which liberated itself from the Dogra rule in 1947 through an armed
struggle and acceded unconditionally to Pakistan with aspirations to become an
integral part of the country. Yet it still continues to struggle in the
constitutional quagmire even after more than 73 years of its independence.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2271667/towards-a-constitutional-provincial-status-for-g-b
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Pakistan-China-Iran Trilateral Cooperation
By Nawazish Ali
NOVEMBER
10, 2020
“Economy
and environment are the same thing. That is the rule of nature”. (Mollie
Beattie)
The
significance of financial resources is central to the possibility of
economiccollaboration among various countries all around the globe. However,
the commercial linkages in state-to-state relations cannot be entirely
independent of political and strategic environment of the region in particular
and the world in broad-spectrum. Respective national interests may not always
align when more than one country are involved and economic cooperation that has
the potential to create a win-win situation for all the parties involved should
not be neglected. China’s rise, Iran’s attempted economic isolation by the USA
and Pakistan’s crucial geostrategic location are all factors that have the
capacity to bring these three countries in sync. China and Pakistan have a long
history of deep friendship. The evolving China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
(CPEC) hasfurthercreated prospects for adjacent regional countries to benefit
from this connectivity.
The
challenges to these initiatives are many as the security situation in the
region has always remained worrying. Terrorism, religious extremism, sectarian
clashes and interference of extra-regional actors are only a few challenges
that stand in the way of this nexus. The internal challenges of political
instability and socio-economic factors can also affect this relationship
adversely. However, if the leadership, governments’ policies and public opinion
in these three countries remain steadfast in support of this trilateral
cooperation, there is no doubt, the success of this interconnection would
change the economic and regional balance of Asia forever.
China’s
economic rise, its status as a permanent member of the United Nations Security
Council (UNSC), its widespread global influence and connectivity initiatives
make it the next world power in making as a rival to the USA. South Asia, East
Asia and the Middle East are regions that occupy Centre stage in world
businesses. Their cultural diversity, natural resources, maritime routes,
geography and conflicts have wideranging implications even for the day-to-day
affairs of almost all countries worldwide.With such adjacent allies, Pakistan
can surely achieve prominent stature in the regional and global arena.
Pakistan
has been facing challenges to its national security due to the turbulent
situation in Afghanistan since 1979. Iran and China also have serious security
and economic concerns tied up at fag-end of global war on terror. Iran and
Pakistan have not seen eye to eye on the solution to Afghan war in the past as
Iran backed the Northern Alliance after the Taliban seized power in 1996
whereas Pakistan, on the other hand,recognised the Taliban government in
Afghanistan. China has high stakes in Afghanistan as it seeks to link it to its
grand initiative of the Belt and Road (BRI). The Chinese access to Central
Asian states and their oil resources is thwarted by the constant state of
turmoil in Afghanistan not to mention the fear of spillover from northern
Afghanistan into Xinjiang.
China and
Iran also reiterated their deep strategic cooperation ahead of the expected
Saudi investment in Pakistan, which means that China does not stand opposed to
either Saudi or the Iranian participation in the upcoming CPEC projects
The
peaceful Afghanistan is vital and stays a point of unification for these three
countries, if they wish to effectively counter the Indo-US dominance in South
Asia. They need to make sure that US withdrawal from Afghanistanshould not
plunge the AfPak region into another civil war that would certainly upset the
regional peace and any chances of further trilateral cooperation among these
three countries. The significant role recently played by Pakistan in the Afghan
peace process provides an opening for cooperation by Iran and China as their
regional interests of keeping peace in Afghanistan align perfectly with those
of Pakistan.
Iran and
India enjoy a friendly relationship as the two have shared a cultural and
linguistic affinity for a long time and further warmed up to each other when
they signed a significantdefence agreement in the year 2002. Following that,
the two have engaged in several trade contracts, the most prominent of which
has been the Chahbahar Free Trade Agreement. In response to the launch of
Gwadar port, as the sign of friendship between China and Pakistan, India
pledged to assist Iran in expediting construction ofChahbahar port.
Iran is
pivotal to the realization of China’s trans-continental, infrastructure-focused
One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative in ways that Saudi Arabia is not. Iran’s
oil and gas reserves, fourth and second largest in the world, spell out a boon
for China’s exponentially rising energy needs. Out of the three markets that
Iran’s massive piped gas reserves can be sold to, the closest and most
accessible is China.
Gwadar is a
deep-sea port with harbouring potential manifold that of the size of Chahbahar,
which is only feasible for a transit trade arrangement via Afghanistan. Iran
has quite tactfully declared Chahbahar a ‘sister port’ to Gwadar and managed to
keep the option for cooperation with China open for all future ventures. Hence,
it is evident from the Iranian stance that it wishes to bring its maximum
resources to the CPEC for all practical purposes. Having stable economic
cooperation with Pakistan, Iran can quite easily extend it further to China.
China and
Iran also reiterated their deep strategic cooperation ahead of the expected
Saudi investment in Pakistan, which means that China does not stand opposed to
either Saudi or the Iranian participation in the upcoming CPEC projects. Rather
itprovides China more avenues of participation and cooperation in the Middle
East and Gulf region. China as a persuasive force in the SCO will make it
easier for Pakistan to link energy corridors and, if Iran’s bid to join the SCO
is also accepted, it will be another economic opportunity for the nexus among
these three countries.
China as a
rising economic power is making linkages worldwide and is offering monetary and
commercial opportunities for developing countries with resources to join the
wave of economic harmony. A potent economic force is expected to emerge in the
foreseeable future having an anti-American agenda at heart. However, it will
take serious concerted efforts from the regional players to resolve mutual
differences and be determined to cooperate on economic fronts with one another
to ensure regional harmony and prosperity. There are many avenues for
cooperation and a huge amount of untapped potential lies in this trilateral
collaboration that needs to be utilized to the maximum. Pakistan’s significant
geographical locationstays central to this new emerging bloc.
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Nawazish Ali is a retired Pakistan army officer
https://dailytimes.com.pk/687236/pakistan-china-iran-trilateral-cooperation/
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Rationalizing Politics And Governance
By Syed Wajahat Ali
NOVEMBER
10, 2020
The
exceptional propagation of globalization triggered by the dominance of world
capitalist system in the economic, administrative, cultural, political, and
intellectual demesne in most countries around the world. The purpose of
globalization is to have identical rules and regulations across the
institutions of the world so that institutions may benefit from the experiences
of each other. Key ingredients of these reforms were enhancement of private
sector, facilitation of market forces and encouragement of cross-national
mobility of private capital. These reforms further encouraged developing
countries to restructure their public institutions with a more developmental
oriented approach which ultimately gave birth to “developmental administration”
or global institutionalism .
The
rationalization of political institutions has been the subject of several
national as well as international seminars, conferences, and publications all
over the world. Many measures have been taken in developed countries for
transformation of academic research into policies, such as preparing tool kits
for defining the priorities of research, capacity building of universities
accordingly, by designing political maps for a better comprehension of the
decision-making process by increasing research-based input, and by increasing
liaison between higher education research and state institutions .
Politicians
are not scientists and they should trust researchers for validation of policy
hypothesis. The connection between executing agents and researching minds is
impeded by several factors like bureaucratic frictions, lack of funds, and
coordination between researchers and legislators. The consequence is the deviation
of public policy from objective investigation and critical analysis towards
rhetoric and populism . This is also seen in the context of developing
countries where the national policy making is much likely to be affected by
international variables. One such example would be the case of indebted third
world countries which are significantly burdened with the policies of their
donor countries or otherwise devise their public policy under traditions
settled by bureaucratic and normative compulsions , like in the case of
Pakistan.
Some
African counties took substantive measures to allocate space for academic input
in national policy subjects of war, diplomacy, economy, and domestic resource
allocation. Universities played role in providing scholastic feedback to state
agencies in form of think tanks, consolidated research reports, joint ventures,
business incubation and funded projects. Research outcomes of universities are
making a social intervention to develop a practical and sustainable approach,
by increasing exactitude in data identification .
The
reformation in education planning and re-shuffling of research priorities not
only uplifted the acute economic dependencies but also helped in removing class
conflicts by reducing frictions and strengthening social institutions
The
structure of governance is getting more and more complex due to diversification
of socio-economic challenges in the 21st century. Open market competitiveness
and globalization of demand and supply has tremendously evolved economic determinants.
Policymaking institutions are the structural backbone of a community to
confront the complexity of both targets and tools associated with this concept
of development. The political impact of research and education is so
comprehensive that it nearly changes the outlook of a human society completely
by introducing innovation and organization in it .
The stability
of politics is linearly dependent upon the quality of knowledge induced in it.
In modern society, with the development of the theory of social stratification
researchers have come to agree that the education and possession of theoretical
knowledge is the dominant figure in “post-economic society where public policy
can deliver only when it is formulated after proper research and investigation
of complex social, economic, and political undercurrents of that particular
society. It is relevant to connect research channels with real-time modalities
of intricate public policy matters to expedite the growth of research and
public institutions exponentially .
An
extensive research dealing with the rationalization of politics in Kazakhstan
was conducted. Early 90s Kazakhstan was characterized with economic recession,
weakening economic and diplomatic relations with the republics of the former
USSR, the establishment of political relations with other countries, the
formation of foreign and domestic policy. The internal socio-economic situation
was also in a deep crisis. The reformation in education planning and
re-shuffling of research priorities not only uplifted the acute economic
dependencies but also helped in removing class conflicts by reducing frictions
and strengthening social institutions. The policies in the field of education
contributed to the formation of a new identity of Kazakhstan, needs to master
the skills needed in the workplace and appropriate knowledge and skills of
international standards to steer and improve societal processes through social
institutions.
Public
relevance of academic research is envisioned in national policy documents of
Pakistan as well. The strong emphasis research and innovation is stated in
Vision 2025 document compiled by Ministry of Planning Development and Reforms
as “we will build a worldwide education & research network of universities
which will allow institutions to initiate research through government and the
private sector focused support enabling them to build an international
partnership program” (p. 35). Keeping in view the circular progression of
politics in Pakistan, it is needful to deal with public policy purely on
scientific grounds so that it is less likely to be impacted by day-to-day
political antagonism and polarization. The most significant way to achieve this
goal is to connect policy institutes with academic research. The liaison will
be mutually interactive and beneficial for institutions.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/687234/rationalizing-politics-and-governance/
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From Streets To Prisons
By Sarmad Ali
NOVEMBER
10, 2020
Consortium
for Street Children(CSC) in London estimates that there are about 1.5 million
children on streets of Pakistan they are often subjected to violence, sexual
abuse, child labour or forced into drugs. Karachi is the city of Pakistan-
where it is said that 50,000 children have been connected to street many among
them are involved criminal cases informed to the Sindh High Court by Sindh
authorities in response to a petition filed to the Sindh High
Court.Approximately, 20,000 street connected children said to have been in
Quetta city of Balochistan out which 60 % are scavengers.However, population of
street connected children must have been much higher in Punjab considering its
all over population. Out of 1.5 million 43 % said to have not attained more
than 15-year of age. Most of those have been associated with garbage collection
work, begging, drugs users, and some of them have association in capital making
industries as child labour. These children do not have access to education,
health, and legal supportapparently, they are deprived of basic fundamental
human rights. Despite laws in place across Pakistan (even weak to some sense)
population of street children had increased in last decade or so even after
introduction of numerous policies and strategies in order to minimize rampant
increasing population of street connected children.
Prior to
introduction of Destitute and Neglected Children Act (DNCA) 2004 (amended in
2017) in Punjab, primarilyfour major laws said to have existed across Pakistan
for protection of rights of children. After the promulgation of DNCA 2004 in
Punjab Child Protection & Welfare Bureau was created under the law for
overseeingissues of childrenacross Punjab. Today, it had 08 operational units
all across Punjab, and some 11 units will be established in coming year all
across Punjab. It is on record of Child Protection Bureau that from 2013 to
2018, the Child Protection Bureau had rescued 30,992 children (a total of 2,093
children were rescued in 2013 while in 2014, 4,707 children were saved).
Similarly, the figure was 4,536 in 2015; 7,087 in 2016, 7,412 in 2017; and
5,157 in 2018.Akin to that, a total of 117 children were taken into judicial
custody, while another 113 children-who experienced domestic violence-were
given protection.Moreover, cases against 489 accused persons-who were charged
with the crime of forcing children into beggary and subjecting them to physical
and sexual abuse-were registered.Throughout the five-year period, around 25,766
children were reunited with their families.
Juveniles
behind prisons and street connected children do not have access to education as
guaranteed under Article 25 (A) of the Constitution of Pakistan, 1973 nor
authorities tend to have schemes or strategies for their integration into
society
To the other
hand, Sindh provincial assemblyin year 2011 passed a set of laws on basis of
which Sindh Child Protection Agency was notified in year 2014.The funds for the
agency were allocated in the 2016-17 budget, but the institution had yet to
start operations and nothing had been happening in Balochistan and KPK
provinces. However, it is not out of place to mention here that law passed in
Punjab, Sindh are meant to provide protection to children those who have not
charged with any criminal act. For dealing with such incidence, Pakistan
introduced a Federal lawJuvenile Justice System Act (JJSA)2018 for protection
of rights of children in conflict with law. JJSA 2018repealed Juvenile Justice
Ordinance 2000 with a view of strengtheningjuvenile justice system of Pakistan,
and integrating juvenile offendersin lines with General Comment No. 10 on
United National Convention on Rights of Child (CRC) which Pakistan ratified and
signed in 1990.
A
non-governmental organization Legal Awareness Watch (LAW) orated in recent Conference
on Issues of Street Childrenorganized by(CSC) held virtually in London this
year due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 that the street childrenhave often
subjected to violence, abuse, or sexual exploitation all across Pakistan akin
to that it is safely depicted that children who have been behind notorious 104
prisons of Pakistan were street children at glance. The first premises of
children who have no parents/orphans or eloped from their homesdue to poverty,
lack of food, family’s oppression, etc.live on streets andthey are the ones
languishing in prisons on account of alleged criminal act. Furthermore, it
surfaced during the said conference exact figure on population of street
children, and juveniles behind prisons across Pakistan to date is not unknown
to this reason policies and strategies aiming at protection of children those
introduced in past years had found to be miserably failed and inoperative.
Promulgation of JJSA 2018 at national level, and child rights laws at
provincial levels could not provide protection to children those behind bars
and on streets of Pakistan. Provisions of JJSA 2018 to date had not been
implemented all across Pakistan. Children below the age of 18-year often found
subjected to violence(as same as street children) in prisons or killed extra
judicially during physical remand under section 167 CRPC 1898 i.e. Muhammad
Rizwan in 2017 in Lahore.
Juveniles
behind prisons and street connected children do not have access to education as
guaranteed under Article 25 (A) of the Constitution of Pakistan, 1973 nor
authorities tend to have schemes or strategies for their integration into
society. In writer’s view juvenile justice system and laws pertained to street
connected children shall be construed and seen from the prism of UNCRC itself
and its comments i.e. General Comment No. 10, and 21. The process of protection
of child rights had emerged in Pakistan after it withdrawn its reservation on
July 23, 1997 (that the provisions of the CRC shall be interpreted according to
the principles of Islamic Laws and values). Thereafter, in year 1999 the then
President of Pakistan Pervez Mushraff issued a presidential notification
grating remissionto children behind bars and sentenced to death or life. That
was a point where laws specifically for juveniles and children in general
beginning to emerge from the floor of Parliament. The writer submitted that
children either allegedly accused of criminal acts or living on street of
Pakistan shall be given their due fundamental human rights and laws promulgated
for their protection must be implemented effectively. That would only be
achieved if exact figure pertaining to street children and children behind
prisons would trace out. Population of street children and juveniles across
Pakistan isn’t accurate rather outdated.
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Sarmad Ali is an advocate, based in Lahore. He
can be reached at greenlaw123@hotmail.com
https://dailytimes.com.pk/687233/from-streets-to-prisons/
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