By
New Age Islam Edit Desk
20 March
2021
• The
Islamic Golden Age and Medical Science
By Dr
Imran Syed
•
Reforms for Fata
By
Mona Naseer
•
Women’s Rights In Jammu And Kashmir
By Dr
Shagufta Ashraf
•
‘Sarah Everard’s Murder: No Justice for Us without Radical Change’
By
Marienna Pope-Wiedemann
•
Crisis of the Left
By
Khalid Bhatti
• The
Baton Passes On…
By S
M Hali
•
Nervously Waiting For Signals from Washington
By M
Alam Brohi
•
Another Round of Lost Decades?
By M
Ziauddin
------
The
Islamic Golden Age and Medical Science
By Dr
Imran Syed
March 20,
2021
The
debilitating effects of a pandemic that refuses to go away can make just
remaining safe and healthy seem like accomplishment enough. The public policy
aspiration in such times should be to navigate through the pressing challenges
of the present and concurrently chart a course for a healthful and prosperous
future.
As Covid-19
extends into 2021, vaccines and vaccinations are providing a glimmer of hope
and optimism. Building on this optimism, now is a good time to reflect on
specific areas where we need to place some of our future public resources, in
view of the lessons that have been learnt in dealing with the Covid-19
pandemic.
One
immensely important area of development is strengthening our technical and
scientific expertise in handling pandemics. In terms of developing professional
expertise, we need to realize that along with the focus on acquiring knowledge
in digital technology and the physical sciences we also need to educate and
train experts in epidemiology and in pandemic-relevant medical science.
To help us
progress forward with the right measure of confidence, it may be useful to look
back in history to gauge if Pakistan, and other predominantly Muslim developing
countries, can hope to rise to play a more meaningful international role in
epidemiology and the medical sciences. Here, it is heartening to see that there
was a time in world history, during the Middle Ages, when Muslim scientists
excelled in the fields of medicine, astronomy, mathematics, and physics, among
others.
The Middle
Ages are a period of history that span from the fifth to the fifteenth century.
This period is also divided further into sub-categories by regions and
sub-periods. The first half of the Middle Ages in Europe is sometimes
classified as the Dark Ages. This classification reflects the widespread lack
of interest in the sciences and philosophy that prevailed in Europe during that
time. Interestingly, the period of the Dark Ages in Europe overlaps with a
period that was classified as the Islamic Golden Age. This period, roughly from
the eighth to the thirteenth century, saw a flourishing of culture, science and
the economy in some predominantly Muslim areas of the world.
In this
Golden Age, there were many Muslim scientists who contributed significantly to
development and progress. These scientists included Ibn Sina, Ibn Tufail, Omar
Khayyam, Ibn Al Haytham, Ibn Khaldun, and many others. An area of science where
the Muslims of the Golden Age excelled was medicine. Also, traditionally, the
physician or ‘Hakeem’ has been accorded importance in Islamic culture, and
medicine during the Golden Age was closely allied with the other sciences,
especially philosophy, and many noted physicians were polymaths.
One
influential medieval Muslim scientist in the field of medicine was Al Razi
(also known as Rhazes in Latin). Al Razi, whose full name was Abu Bakr Muhammed
ibn Zakariya Al-Razi, was one of the renowned Muslim physicians of the Golden
Age. He was born in Ray and is reported to have lived from 854 to 930 AD. Al
Razi held an influential position as head of the hospital in Baghdad and is
known to have written over 200 works; almost half of which were on medicine,
and the others were works on philosophy, mathematics and astronomy.
In the
fifteenth century, Europe started improving its cultural, economic and
scientific conditions and these changes then led to the Enlightenment. It would
seem plausible to reason that the Muslim, given their level of progress
compared to Europe, would in some way have contributed to the Enlightenment.
This is not hard to imagine because such sorts of flows of ideas and
innovations have been taking place between regions and civilizations throughout
history. In fact, important sources of knowledge during the Islamic Golden Age
were the works of Greek philosophers and scientists of classic Antiquity, such
as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, etc.
To see how
Al Razi contributed to the development of medical sciences, we need to see how
he developed on the work of Galen, who is regarded as one of the most
accomplished physicians of Antiquity.
Claudius
Galenus or Galen lived in the second century, in some accounts from 130 AD to
204 AD. He is considered the most accomplished of the physicians of the
classical Antiquity period and served as the physician to the emperors of his
time. In addition to medical science, Galen also contributed to philosophy and
logic. One deficiency of Galen’s anatomical research was that it was primarily
based on the dissection of animals. Nonetheless, Galen’s views, to varying
extents, were influential in medical science for almost a thousand years.
The
distinguishing characteristic of Al Razi was his emphasis on observational
diagnosis and therapy rather than on the theory of illness. He also advocated
empiricism and questioned the existing medical knowledge of his time and would
not accept prevailing knowledge about medicines and cures without personally
investigating it. The most important of Al Razi’s works is ‘The Comprehensive
Book of Medicine’. The original Arabic version of this lengthy book consisted
of twenty-four volumes. Al Razi’s work on smallpox and measles was translated
in Western languages and was considered an important text in Western medicine.
Al Razi
also wrote a book titled, ‘Doubts Concerning Galen’. He believed that medical
knowledge should be open to criticism, as this critique would help medical
knowledge improve with time. Due to his reputation and influence, Al Razi has sometimes
been referred to as the Second Galen.
The
contribution of Al Razi helped develop on the work of existing medical
knowledge by emphasizing the importance of empirical observation and
experimentation. The works of this physician significantly improved medical
knowledge and eventually contributed towards establishing the scientific method
of inquiry and knowledge gathering. This approach to knowledge contributed to
the development of the West during the Renaissance and led to the Age of
Enlightenment. Enlightenment, in the seventeenth and eighteenth century,
propelled progress and development in Europe and one aspect of Enlightenment
was the use of the scientific method and empirical knowledge.
For
Pakistan to forge forward towards attaining excellence in epidemiology and the
pandemic-relevant medical sciences, we need to cultivate the right mix of
confidence and vision by remembering that at one juncture in history, Muslim
scientists led the world in making contributions to medical science.
We also
need to lay down public policies and provide resources to encourage Pakistanis
to pursue and achieve excellence in epidemiology and pandemic-relevant medical
sciences in the future.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/806962-the-golden-age-and-medical-science
-----
Reforms
for Fata
By Mona
Naseer
March 20,
2021
Wikipedia
-----
It is a
fact that two decades of militancy have devastated the country's erstwhile
tribal areas. If they are continued to be poorly governed, they can again
easily fall into the vicious cycle of violence and anarchy, even though in
North Waziristan, a very high-profile military operation was carried out
against militants. Besides the operation, military forces and police are
present and active in the area.
It has been
nearly two years to the 25th Amendment under which Fata reforms were initiated;
however, it has yet to see any tangible results. The implementation of reforms
in the former tribal districts is either being carried out in a very
unprofessional manner or by incompetent people. Like the old system of
political agents, merit in the appointment of local administration has been
trampled upon, and the old practice of bribes and manipulation is in practice.
Those
deputed in these areas consider themselves de-facto political agents with no
social responsibility and beyond any accountability. They usually also have no
knowledge of how to distribute land or deal with land distribution; most of
them rely on the lower staff (legacy of the old corrupt structure) such as
tehsildars, patwaris and girdawars. And poor people have to bribe the lower
staff even for distribution of property and land among families.
Blue-eyed
officers have no knowledge of collective land (shamilaat) and land disputes,
and are thus unable to carry out the job. Therefore, due to this incompetence,
we are witnessing land disputes developing into skirmishes between tribes in
almost every tribal district. During these clashes over land, there is a
display of ammunition despite claims of mass deweaponization in the region.
The
newly-merged tribal areas need competent officers and administration that can
understand the Shamilaat system and can address the thorny land issues.
Otherwise, these skirmishes can escalate into larger disputes and culminate
into a kind of civil war. And let us not forget that this could have a
trickledown effect on Islamabad and Karachi too, which have the largest Pashtun
tribal settlements. It is important to form a revenue and land record, which
continues to be missing from the former tribal districts. For that, competent
officers are needed with a better understanding of the revenue and land system.
Deliberately ignoring the persistent complex issues is also a form of
structural violence. Moreover, the state's inability to mediate between competing
interests is hurting the people of the tribal areas too.
Many people
fail to realise that conflict-hit areas need to be prioritised in terms of
developing just governance structures, a viable legal apparatus and accessible
justice system. If that doesn't happen, peace will remain an elusive goal not
just for the border areas but for the rest of Pakistan too. Developmental
intervention and progress provides a foundation for sustainable peace, but it
depends on how institutional capacity and line departments are established and
built in the merged tribal districts.
The justice
system is the mainstay of any state contract with its citizens; however, it is
lagging in a most unfortunate manner in the former tribal districts, where it
looks as if the extension of the judiciary to the newly-merged tribal districts
is nominal. In many areas, the judicial setup is in the adjacent settled areas
and inaccessible to local people – thus, forcing many people to go back to the
outdated jirga system. In many areas, the number of courts and its benches are
insufficient and without support, and also lack the infrastructure and
logistics needed.
Economic
policies and developmental work are important means of building peace, but are
effective only in the longer term. Therefore, they need to be complemented by
other policies such as strengthening of line departments and the police
department for the merged districts and can be instrumental in maintaining the
peace. The absorption of existing Levy and kKasaddar forces into the police
department is a commendable effort in the reforms, however it also needs
trained officials who have the capacity of writing an FIR (first information
report properly). The capacity building of the existing institutions needs to
be updated on an urgent basis.
Post-conflict
societies face an alarmingly high risk of reversion to conflict. And for peace,
the economy is most important. The promised three percent from the NFC Award is
yet to be delivered, and unfortunately the collection of taxes from the merged
districts is contrary to the government’s commitment towards development of
erstwhile Fata. The border areas facilitate two billion rupees trade annually
so it deserves to be treated better than what is currently accorded to the
region and its people.
The
contract which was offered by the state seems to be failing the inhabitants of
the tribal areas, particularly the young who were more than ready to embrace
the change in shape of constitutional reforms and citizenship of the Pakistani
state.
This region
has been brewing with so much discontent for the last two decades. If it
continues, we could see another sub-conflict between the state and the people
of the tribes. The peace and prosperity of Pakistan lies in the successful
implementation of reforms, and in the social contract deliverance by the state
to the former tribal areas.
Security
concerns are slowly and gradually being replaced by economic concerns in the
international system, so the Pakistani state should start thinking about
transforming the border areas into a trade and commercial hub with the idea of
a duty-free zone.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/806963-reforms-for-fata
-----
Women’s
Rights in Jammu And Kashmir
By Dr
Shagufta Ashraf
MARCH 20,
2021
Kashmiri
women are the biggest victims of the ongoing conflict. They have suffered human
rights abuses under the impunity of the suffocating Indian military presence in
Indian administered Kashmir. According to statistics from Jammu and Kashmir
state commission from women, a now defunct government institution is
established to protect women and children rights to ensure quick prosecutions.
Cases of domestic violence and general violence have been rising more than
three thousand a year during the previous clampdowns in 2016 and 2017.
Let us view
this problem, in the light of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948.
Since the founding of the United Nations, gender equality is the foremost
agenda and has been among the most fundamental guarantees of human rights.
Adopted in 1945, the Charter of the United Nations sets out as one of its goals
“to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the
human person, [and] in the equal rights of men and women”. Furthermore, Article
1 of the Charter stipulates that one of the purposes of the United Nations is
to promote respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms “without
distinction as to race, sex, language or religion”. This prohibition of
discrimination based on sex is repeated in its Articles 13 (mandate of the General
Assembly) and 55 (promotion of universal human rights).
In 1948,
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted. It, too, proclaimed the
equal entitlements of women and men to the rights contained in it, “without
distinction of any kind, such as … sex,”. In drafting the Declaration, there
was considerable discussion about the use of Women’s Rights Are Human Rights of
the term “all men” rather than a gender-neutral term. The Declaration was
eventually adopted using the terms “all human beings” and “everyone” in order
to leave no doubt that the Universal Declaration was intended for everyone, men
and women alike.
I would
like to discuss the status of women rights in conflicts, different Indian
governments during the past seventy three years have architected the present
disturbing scenario in Indian Administered Kashmir. The situation has worsened
ever since the present government has assumed office in Delhi since 2014. This
government systematically implemented a muscular policy and a doctrine of state
is quelling the rebellion by force. This policy change has dangerous
implications.
On 5th
August India launched its intended assault to fracture the state of Jammu and
Kashmir in two union territories. This scenario should be kept in mind when we
are discussing women rights in Indian Administered Kashmir.
Widows and
half widows
Ever
increasing number of widows and half widows in Indian Administered Kashmir is a
matter of great trauma as it reduces the grace and color of life of a woman.
There is a long way to get freedom for women from the clutches of suppression
and humiliation committed against them. Women of Indian Administered Kashmir
die in silence. The economic, social and psychological status of widows
devastates under the social patriarchy and inequality. In most of the cases she
loses the property rights. There is no existence of initialization and
rehabilitation. Most of the widows and half widows are from poor families. Half
widows are such women whose husbands are subjected to enforced disappearances
but have not been declared dead. These half widows live in isolation with
little or no social or financial support. Most of the half widows have not
remarried due to doubt about their husband’s fate and lack of consensus among
Muslim scholars from this issue. According to a Kashmiri sociologist, Dr.
Bashir Ahmed Dabla, the conflict has affected women and children more than any
other group or class especially widows and orphans.
United
Nations Security Council has stressed the need to survey and compensate women
in Indian Administered Kashmir, whose husbands have been killed or maimed. The
situation of widows and half widows is an eye opener for the world if it
realizes that more needs to be done rather than observing an international day
for widows.
People of
Indian Administered Kashmir are frequently facing human rights violations.
India as a party to the dispute has failed to protect human rights. The right
to live a respectful life without external interference is a dream for all,
especially women, but this right has not been granted to the women of Indian
Administered Kashmir. Indian army denied, distorted and buried all evidence and
suppressed the truth.
Kunan and
Poshpora in the India-administered Kashmir was such an incident that had
changed the social and mental life of our women when 150 girls and women were
raped that night; nearly 200 men were tortured. Barns became torture chambers.
The next morning, as one can well imagine, was marked by immense horror and
paralyzing pain. And yet, justice is elusive over all these years, as the
Indian army has continued to exercise brutality and has enjoyed complete
impunity, thanks to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). The
controversial law lets Indian Army personnel enter any premise at any time in
the Valley, without a search warrant, and use lethal force, if they deem it
necessary. The Indian state has continuously avoided responsibility for abuses
at the hands of the Army. Human rights groups have repeatedly condemned
extrajudicial killings by Indian forces [BBC report].
The Shopian
rape and murder case is the abduction, rape and murder of two young women
allegedly by local Indian army, in mysterious circumstances between 29 and 30
May 2009 at Bongam, Shopian district in the Indian administered state of Jammu
and Kashmir. Two women who were sisters-in-law went missing from their orchard
on the way home on 29 May 2009. The next morning, their bodies were found both
one kilometer apart. Local police rejected the allegations saying that the women
appeared to have drowned in a stream.
There has
been no justice since and that is what they mean when they say justice denied.
“The killers, the rapists are the ones who are doing the investigation,” says
the father of one. How can you trust a system that is run by the very people
who are part of the society that questions the integrity of a woman who has
been raped?,
Eight year
A. was kidnapped and gang raped and then murdered by the priest and government
servants in a temple in Kathua, in Indian-administered Kashmir. On the morning
of 17 January, Muhammad Yusuf Pujwala was sitting outside his home in Kathua
when one of his neighbors came running towards him. He stopped in front of Me
Pujwala and broke the news: they had found his eight-year-old daughter, A. B..
Her body lay in bushes in the forest, a few hundred meters away. The Indian
Administered Kashmir valley has a turmoiled relationship with India – the way
women and children have been targeted.
I demand an
impartial investigation of all these cases by international organizations. The
way women and children are used as weapons of war is alarming. Indian rule from
1989 to 2020 has increased pain among women and their families by arresting
their only bread earners and kept in different Indian jails. Despite the fact
that 187 countries have ratified the United Nations Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW),
discrimination against widows has been ignored. Before conclusion it needs to
be emphasized that every conflict has many consequences. Oppression and state
sponsored terrorism are responsible for increasing the population of widows,
half widows and rape victims. Enlightened opinion of the world must converge to
resolve the conflict by redeeming their democratic right to choose their future
as per United Nations Charter and United Nations resolutions.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/736282/womens-rights-in-jammu-and-kashmir/
-----
‘Sarah
Everard’s Murder: No Justice for Us without Radical Change’
By
Marienna Pope-Wiedemann
March 20,
2021
I know what
it’s like to take your missing person posters down because your girl’s never
coming home, so Sarah Everard’s story cut deep. But a lot of our demons are
coming out of the shadows this week. Most people and almost all the women
reading this will have endured something that means Sarah’s story, the victim
blaming and the police brutality that followed, really hit you where you live.
I really
started feeling it – the horror – on Saturday, when I read that despite a High
Court ruling to allow the Clapham common vigil for Sarah to proceed safely, the
Metropolitan Police were refusing to cooperate. Knowing this groundswell of
grief and outrage was unstoppable, many predicted what was to come. That
doesn’t mean the footage of mass brutalisation was any easier to watch, or the
Met statement basically saying they had it coming any easier to read.
What some
outside of this experience looking in have criticised as the ‘politicisation’
of Sarah’s death is something much deeper than that. This is gut and heart
politics. This is our survival instinct. This is mass mobilisation in response
to a shared experience of existential threat. Sarah Everard, like George Floyd,
was a spark – but our lives were already littered with kindling.
My cousin
Gaia was 19 when she disappeared on November 7, 2017. Our search lasted 11
days. We battled through a bogus murder investigation and tensions with the
police even before her body was found. Gaia had already been let down once when
Dorset Police failed to properly prosecute the known sex offender she told us
raped her. Dorset Police have one of the United Kingdom’s worst records on
sexual violence. We learned from a Freedom of Information request that in 2020
just 29 of the 2,058 offences recorded were taken to charges and court summons.
I had a
front-row seat to how women reporting abuse are treated by the police because I
sat with her through her interviews. She was brave beyond the telling of it.
Like many, Gaia deserved justice. Like many, she deserved appropriate support
when she developed life-changing post-traumatic stress. She was denied both and
I believe it killed her.
Though we
have to wait for it until April 2022, we have won a full inquest with a jury
because our senior Dorset coroner, Rachel Griffin, believes “actions or
omissions” by Dorset Police may have contributed to Gaia’s death. But I don’t
need an inquest to tell me what I and everyone who gathered at Clapham Common
already know: the state is failing survivors and it’s costing lives.
I read an
article by a friend of Sarah Everard’s who believes Sarah would be “unsettled
by how her death has been politicised”. I wouldn’t presume to know how Sarah
would feel and as someone intimately familiar with the complexities and horrors
of losing and grieving someone in the public eye, I know “unsettling” is a mild
word for that nightmare.
But we need
to recognise this upsurge of protest for what it is. It is not, as we do
sometimes see, an opportunistic hijacking of one tragedy for political ends.
This is real rage, real terror, real pain given voice by a generation of us who
feel unsafe because we are unsafe.
Eight years
ago the UK government signed the Istanbul Convention for the prevention of
violence against women and girls and has failed every day since to implement
it. Instead we see a rising epidemic of domestic and sexual violence, amplified
by the pandemic and still basically ignored by the government.
Life-saving
support services have been slashed for a decade straight, with survivors
waiting months and years for support and many Rape Crisis Centres forced to
close their waiting lists or shut completely. Meanwhile conviction rates for
rape have fallen so far through the floor, you’re less likely to get a
conviction today than you were in the 1970s. We are routinely denied justice
through the courts, support through the NHS, and respect from the police.
Excerpted:
‘Sarah Everard’s Murder: No Justice For Us Without Radical Change’
By https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/806964-unsafe-streets
-----
Crisis
of the Left
By
Khalid Bhatti
March 20,
2021
There are
very few people on the Left who are ready to accept the fact that the Left
movement has been facing a crisis of ideology since the collapse of the Soviet
Bloc and Social Democracy since the 1990s. With the collapse of Social
Democracy and the Soviet Union in the 1990s, the Left lost its ideology and its
way.
The failure
of the Left to develop a new ideology in the last thirty years is the
underlying reason for its weakness today. A huge credibility gap exists about
socialism and the Left in the minds of the working class. And that is not
surprising at all.
The Left
failed to respond when its ideology faced a deep crisis in the early 1990s. By
then it had become obvious that the Left’s 19th Century socialist ideology had
failed when put into practice in the 20th Century.
The
collapse of social democracy represented the failure of the reformist wing of
the socialist movement. The collapse of the Soviet Bloc (the Soviet Union and
Eastern Europe) represented the failure of the more radical wing of the
socialist movement. These two wings represented the whole socialist project in
the eyes of the world's population. The failure of the socialist project raised
serious questions on the credibility of the socialist ideology.
Tragically,
this momentous defeat was not recognised as such by almost all socialists. And
thus, they failed to take the steps needed to reconsider and renew their
ideology.
The main
challenge before the Left movement was to develop a democratic model of
socialism after the failure of the top-down bureaucratic and authoritarian
model. But the Left movement failed to develop a democratic model of socialism
which guarantees democratic and political rights, freedoms and liberties.
In
particular, the Left was unable to see that its old ideology had been missing
the vital ingredient of democratic control by the working class. The Left’s
emphasis on planning, public ownership and public services had left out the key
question of how these institutions were going to be run. How they would be made
accountable to their workers, service users, customers etc.
In the
absence of any clear programme for participatory democracy in the state and the
public sector, these institutions had ended up under the control of bureaucrats
or elites. As a result, each attempt at socialist reform or revolution has
produced top-down, bureaucratic and inefficient systems. In all the experiments
of implementing socialism, there was a common feature – the working people were
alienated from power.
Experience
has shown time and time again that democratic control of society by working
people will not emerge automatically. It must be specifically planned for and
campaigned on if we are to see it arrive and flourish. Because of this, popular
control has to be at the heart of any new democratic socialist ideology for the
21st Century. Not added on as an afterthought. The lack of this is the root
cause of the failure of the old socialist ideology.
Before the
collapse of the Soviet Union and right-wing turn of social democracy, socialism
was a viable alternative to capitalism. It was part of the political
consciousness of the wider layers of working people around the world. Socialism
was a credible alternate in the eyes of millions of working and young people.
The Left was a credible political force in society.
But today’s
reality is different. Even though capitalism discredited itself in the eyes of
millions of people around the world in the last three decades, the Left has
failed to emerge as a viable alternative. Socialism is no more on the agenda
and the Left is not a credible political force in society. The Left has been
pushed aside since the rise of the neoliberal capitalist ideology.
Millions of
young people, workers, unemployed, small traders, farmers, peasants and women
are angry with the existing socioeconomic conditions in which they are forced
to live in. They wanted to get rid of inequality, poverty, exploitation, alienation
and unemployment. The anger against authoritarian neoliberal capitalism is
growing in many countries – both rich and poor.
Under
neoliberal capitalism, there is a growing level of discontent. The decades of
austerity, cuts on social spending, privatization, deregulation, pro-market
reforms and attacks on the welfare state have fueled anger against neoliberal
policies. Life meanwhile gets harder and more uncertain for most of the working
class. Thus, increasingly obscene wealth for a shrinking, super-rich minority
starkly contrasts with the falling living standards for the rest of the
population. Under modern capitalism, each new generation is increasingly worse
off than the one before.
In response
to these worsening conditions, we see increasing anger and prejudice, political
polarization and degenerating public debate. All reflected in the rising
racial, ethnic and religious conflicts that sometimes break into civil war.
Looming over everything there is the threat of climate change – and the wider destruction
of our animals, forests and habitat forced on us by the incessant drive for
profit.
But the
lack of any alternative to capitalism constantly undermines the consciousness
of working people and cripples their struggles. Who can really resist an attack
when they can't see an alternative or even the hope of success?
Many people
asked why the Left has failed to capitalize on the failures of capitalism. The
main reason is the failure of the left movement to develop a new ideology of
socialism since the collapse of the Soviet Bloc and social democracy.
In the
absence of a new credible ideology, the Left is badly fractured. Ideology often
acts as the glue that holds a movement together. In its absence, the Left is
repeatedly torn by disunity – constantly sidelined into potentially disunifying
struggles such as identity politics, rather than able to integrate such
struggles into the central need to create a democratic socialist society.
In society
more generally, the collapse of the Left’s old ideology has left a vacuum into
which has rushed not only neoliberalism, but nationalism, racism, sectarianism
– and all sorts of divisive movements.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/806965-crisis-of-the-left
-----
The
Baton Passes On…
By S M
Hali
March 20,
2021
Change of
command in any service is a serious affair and Pakistan Air Force (PAF) is no
different. At a solemn but impressive ceremony, the passing of the baton is
symbolized by handing over the command sword by the outgoing air chief to his
successor.
It seems only
yesterday that Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan took up the mantle of the
office of the chief of air staff from then outgoing Chief of Air Staff Sohail
Aman on March 19, 2018.
Every air
chief has faced some element of trial and tribulation, be it wars, natural
disasters, political upheavals, pestilence attacks or heightened tensions with
hostile neighbours. Since 2007, a new adversary, terrorism was introduced into
the threat paradigm against which fresh doctrines, rules of engagement and even
operational platforms to detect, decapitate and destroy capabilities were
developed.
Mujahid’s
tenure started right from where he had left before he was anointed as the air
chief, because he had served as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (Operations),
Director General C4I as well as the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (Support) and
Director General Air Force Strategic Command at Air Headquarters, Islamabad.
While these prestigious and sensitive appointments may have honed his skills
but what he was to face 2019 onwards was unprecedented.
2018 was
consolidation of the operations in the war against terror but 2019 started with
a twist where our eastern neighbour unveiled false flag operations using it as
a plea to launch surgical strikes against Pakistan. Mujahid and his op-intel
team read the situation correctly and were fully geared to meet the threat and
had briefed the highest civilian leadership, obtaining clearance to retaliate
with a hard hitting punch. The balloon went up on February 26, when using the
February 14 Pulwama false flag operation as an excuse, Indian Air Force (IAF)
fighter aircraft crossed the international boundary and targeted an alleged
terror training camp at Balakot. The intruders were detected and air defence
interceptors were dispatched thus in their panic, the IAF dropped its munitions
hastily beating a retreat, without causing any damage. Mujahid’s team chose to
launch Operation Swift Retort in broad daylight and came out on top inflicting
severe damage to the enemy and its morale.
My article
‘Operation Swift Retort & beyond’ published in the same space on the second
anniversary of the bold move provided ample details so they will not be
repeated here. The downside of Operation Swift Retort is that PAF think-tanks
have had to evolve fresh tactics and employment of air power doctrines, because
of the enemy’s exposure to the previous ones on February 27, 2019.
Mujahid’s
real challenge came with the advent of COVID-19. Shutting down the country as a
preventive measure may work for the nation, but what about the armed forces,
especially the air force, where the threat from the enemy posed a clear and
present danger and guard could not be let down. Maintaining vigilance while
keeping the personnel safe must have been an uphill task, because a number of
personnel reside in civil areas outside the bases and could not be insulated
totally. Some workforce did contract the dreaded pandemic thus imposing
quarantine was another challenge and a logistic nightmare. Preserving and
protecting the capability as well as the capacity of the human resource element
of PAF presented an unprecedented challenge.
Despite
these vicissitudes, Air Chief Marshal Mujahid leaves behind a rich legacy,
which will be a hard act for his successor to follow.
On
Independence Day 2018, only six months after taking up the command of PAF, ACM
Mujahid gave the concept of Clean, Green and Compassionate Air Force. He
visualized that steps should be taken to conserve the scarce resources of water
and energy while endeavouring to preserve the environment and wildlife. He
outlined compassion as the qualities of a leader, who maintains discipline yet
ensures the welfare of those under his command.
The very
next year—again on Independence Day—Mujahid gave the concept of “Building the
Next Generation of PAF by 2047, when the nation will be celebrating its 100th
birthday. Steps have been taken and plans put in place for PAF to become
self-reliant in developing state-of-the art technology, which is an uphill but
noble task, which his successors will build upon.
As part of
PAF Resolve 2020, he envisioned the strategy of Recollect (past achievements),
Recalibrate (strategies and tactics), Reorganize, Replenish, Reinvigorate and
Resolve to achieve excellence.
One notable
initiative taken by Mujahid has been the establishment of PAF Airmen Academy
Korangi Creek now known as the “Home of Airmen”. Earlier, recruits selected to
become airmen in various trades, were imparted general service and technical
training at PAF Kohat, from where they were sent to other bases for deployment
or on the job training. ACM Mujahid envisaged that PAF needed to revamp the
existing training model of the airmen, who are considered to be the backbone of
PAF human resource; train all Airmen at one place and bring the PAF Airmen Training
Academy at par with PAF Academy Asghar Khan, which is a premier training
institution of the officers’ cadre.
Having
taught Mujahid at the PAF Academy, when he was a Flight Cadet, I have followed
his growth in the PAF with pride and admiration. He was the recipient of the
coveted Sword of Honour, Best Pilot Trophy and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff
Committee Gold Medal from PAF Academy Asghar Khan. His various command and
staff appointments have held him in good stead but more importantly it has been
his qualities of head heart that have turned to good account. In one of his
first addresses after assuming command of PAF, he humbly acknowledged the
contribution of his teachers to his achievements. The very first Eid after
becoming the Air Chief, Mujahid traced me out in Birmingham, where I was
visiting my daughter to wish me “Eid Greetings”.
Eagles who
soar high but have their feet planted firmly in the ground too; earn the
respect and prayers of their peers and subordinates alike. You have played a
good innings Mujahid, May Allah be with you.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/736281/the-baton-passes-on/
------
Nervously
Waiting For Signals from Washington
By M
Alam Brohi
MARCH 20,
2021
We have
written many columns on Pakistan’s place in the priorities of the Biden
Administration. All these writings by finer minds have spared no factor-
economic, political or strategic, no issue –regional or international, and no
condition – internal or external – that may likely impact the future relations
between the two countries. There were some overlapping arguments, repetitions
in the analysis of the country’s internal and external weaknesses and
strengths, all ending at the final advice we should concentrate on resetting
our house and expect less generosity – economic, political and strategic – from
our erstwhile uneasy patron.
This advice
is pragmatic. Scratch my back, I shall scratch yours is the maxim followed in
the global power politics or interstate relations delicately founded on the
bedrock of national interests with no exception whatsoever. We have always
scratched the back of the US for economic and strategic advantages. Ironically,
this arrangement was always preceded by big incidents of international concern
including our sudden importance to the US in the War against Communism; the
Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan; the counterterrorism.
In these
phases of our relationship, our approach was transactional and short term
grabbing economic aid, strategic assistance and political legitimacy than
seeking long term friendship founded on shared economic, political, strategic
and technological interests. The political and institutional objectives of the
rulers were prioritized over the country’s interests. The economic aid received
in 1980s and 2000s was not utilized to found the economy of the country on
sound structural basis, and to bring about any improvement in the social and
economic life of the masses. The subsequent civilian regimes also continued to
have an aid-dependent and sick economy run on borrowings and grants.
We fought
the Americans’ war in this region plunging the country into a messy security
situation. The people of Pakistan, who never felt stakeholders in these two
wars, suffered enormous losses in life and treasure from the terrorism. We
behaved as a client than the strategic partner of the US in the
counterterrorism war. We knew our partnership with the US in these wars would
be transactional leaving us high and dry at the end. Consequently, we have had
the biggest disappointments in our diplomatic history. The economic and
military aid to Pakistan was conveniently discontinued as the situation in
Afghanistan afforded the Americans an opportunity.
Do we have
something to offer to the US for an advantageous relationship based on geo-
economics? Is our economic position strong enough to lure American investments;
the relocation of the labour intensive American industrial enterprises? We do
not have an investment friendly atmosphere; the law and order situation is bad,
the bureaucratic procedure cumbersome and the judicial system un-inspiring. We
do not have steady supply of energy for our people and industry. Our exports
have revolved around $20-22billion. We are short of finances for increased
imports. No quick relief from these conditions.
Do we have
some diplomatic leverage to exercise on Taliban in Afghan issue? The resolution
of the Afghan conundrum, as signals show, is going to be a multilateral affair
involving all the regional countries and Russia. Moscow talks have resurfaced.
These countries would expect us to play a wise role in the multilateral peace
process. We are conscious the Ashraf Ghani regime and the Northern Afghan
leaders, being closer to India, do not trust Pakistan. India is very much
present in the multilateral approach. It would be critically important how we
balance our divergences with India in this multilateral game.
The
Afghanis particularly the Taliban would not accede to any peace plan imposed
from outside. The Taliban, as the US leaders warn, are credibly poised to take
over Kabul militarily. They would loath to squander the gains they have made in
the battle fields on Pakistan’s bidding or any other country, or for any
power-sharing formula falling short of their expectations. The Ghani regime and
the Northern leaders with India and Iran at their back would not easily accept
to give Taliban a lion’s share in power. Thus, our importance in connection
with the Afghan issue stands diluted in the new scheme of peace process. If we
are to play a role, the demand for that would come from the countries to be
involved in the peace process along with the US officials.
However,
Pakistan – a nuclear state of a vibrant population of 220 million people, has
an important strategic location to count on. It could be an economic hub hosting
north-south energy pipelines along with Iran and Afghanistan competing with
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, and joining the Russian sponsored North-South
Transport corridor along with 20 member states, linking Russian Volga/Caspian
port of Astrakhan with Chabahar seaport raising the interests of the energy
hungry Western countries. We can strengthen our position in economic
connectivity within the economic and energy projects like TAP, TAPI, CASAREM,
and the potential South-West energy pipelines.
But again,
this depends on political and strategic stability in the Gulf region and return
of peace to Afghanistan, and improvement of law and order situation in the
country including reduction in political polarization and a negotiated end to
the Baloch insurgency. We need to make a start towards improving the things
within our control. We can only make a modest contribution towards peace in the
Gulf and Afghanistan. We should recalibrate our relations with Iran and
Afghanistan commensurate with the promising economic connectivity in the
region.
We have new
diplomatic vistas to take advantage of within the gradually firming up
partnership among the regional countries including China and Russia to open a
window for multipolar system. There is a new-found trust and vigour in our
carefully advancing political and strategic relations with Russia – probably
tempered only by our concern to the sensitivities of China. Under the surface
of friendly relations, there are undercurrents of competition and rivalry
between two powers. We cannot sacrifice our friendship with China at any altar.
So, options
are limited and challenges daunting. We need to play our cards wisely.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/736283/nervously-waiting-for-signals-from-washington/
----
Another
Round of Lost Decades?
By M
Ziauddin
March 20,
2021
The
opposition chooses to call Imran Khan the ‘selected’ Prime Minister. The
epithet clearly carries the stigma of having been helped into the position
presumably by the so-called establishment. But then, none of the PMs that
occupied the exalted office since ZA Bhutto, except for Benazir Bhutto when she
became the PM for the first time, could claim to have had no clandestine help
from the ‘selectors’ in their journey to the top.
In the case
of ZAB, the army had him sworn in as the president, the commander-in-chief, and
the first civilian chief martial law administrator (CMLA) in December 1971. PM
Mohammad Khan Junejo was hand-picked by then president General Ziaul Haq in
1985. In 1988, the establishment tried its worst to keep Benazir Bhutto from
getting elected but failed. But the ‘elected’ executives that followed her,
Nawaz Sharif (1990), Benazir Bhutto (1993), Nawaz Sharif (1997 and 2013) and
the ‘all powerful’ president Asif Ali Zardari (2008) — were all, in fact,
selected.
Like in the
1990s, currently as well the government of the day and the opposition are not
on talking terms. In fact, like in those highly hostile political settings, the
government and opposition are enjoined today in a bitter contest bordering on a
race to completely annihilate each other. The language they use against each
other is as harsh, if not more, as the then government and opposition had used
to attack each other. And today’s opposition, ironically, is threatening to use
the same tactics — long march, sit-ins, resignations — that the PTI had used
when in opposition to force the government of the day to resign, and which the
then PML-N government had termed undemocratic.
It was only
when both the PPP and PML-N were out of power and in exile with the military
dictator General Musharraf ruling the roost in Islamabad, that the two realised
that they had been pitted against each other by the establishment to keep the
reins of power firmly in its control while the two political parties
conveniently provided the democratic façade. So, the two signed the Charter of
Democracy in 2006. The document guaranteed that whenever any of the two came to
power in future, the other would not join hands with the establishment to bring
the other down. The journey after 2008 when PPP came to power was full of
pitfalls and slippages but the two finally managed to get the 18th Amendment
passed which restored the 1973 Constitution almost in its original form making
it almost impossible for the establishment to take full control of the ruling
enterprise. Because of this amendment, the establishment had to seek the help
of superior courts to get rid of the ‘unwanted’ PMs as the Constitution barred
sending entire governments home. That is perhaps why both the PPP and PML-N
could complete their tenures losing, however, one PM each to court verdicts
rather than being subjected to constitutional ouster.
But instead
of realising that the establishment was only trying to repeat the game it had
played to the hilt during the 1990s, the 11-party opposition conglomerate, the
PDM led by PML-N, PPP and JUI-F, seems to be futilely trying to remove PM Imran
using the same undemocratic tactics that he had but vainly used to oust the
elected government of PML-N. So far, the PDM has neither marched on Islamabad,
nor tendered resignations. It has, however, kept the government under constant
pressure, especially since September 2020. Its success in getting Yousaf Raza
Gilani elected as a senator has certainly dealt a severe blow to the
government’s scheme of things. But Sadiq Sanjrani’s election to the office of
the Senate chairman in a House in which the opposition is in majority, however,
seems to have restored its faith in the one-page mantra. And now instead of
seeking the PDM’s cooperation in running the government as per the
Constitution, it seems all set to resume its witch-hunt against the opposition
with reinforced vigour. So, we seem to be regressing into the politically
unsettled period of the 1990s, beckoning the resumption of another round of
lost decades.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2290393/another-round-of-lost-decades
-----
URL: https://newageislam.com/pakistan-press/pakistan-press-islamic-golden-age,/d/124586
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