By
New Age Islam Edit Desk
12 December
2020
•
Morocco-Israel Ties
The
Dawn Editorial
•
Afghan Peace Talks And Its Many Hurdles
By
Rustam Shah Mohmand
•
Protecting Human Rights
By Dr
Ramesh Kumar Vankwani
•
Israeli- Saudi -Indian Engagement: Impact On Pak- Saudi Ties?-II
By
Syed Qamar Afzal Rizvi
• The
Academic Rankings Racket
By
Pervez Hoodbhoy
-----
Morocco-Israel
Ties
The
Dawn Editorial
12 Dec 2020
King Mohammed VI of Morocco (L) and Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu
-----
THE slow
but steady wave of normalisation between Arab states and Israel rolls on, with
Morocco being the fourth nation in recent months to establish ties with the
Jewish state. The development was announced on Thursday via Twitter by outgoing
US President Donald Trump, who has made cobbling together a ‘coalition of the
willing’ of Arabs and Israel a central plank of his foreign policy.
Mr Trump
has labelled it a “massive breakthrough”, while Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel
chimed in by terming the scheme “another great light for peace”. In return for
establishing ties with Tel Aviv, Rabat has won American recognition for
Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara.
Where Arab
politics is concerned, Morocco is an outlier, so it is difficult to be
convinced by the American and Israeli exuberance over the latest deal. However,
Arab regimes know well that the road to Washington goes through Tel Aviv, which
explains their eagerness to ditch their Palestinian ‘brothers’ and Arab
consensus over the Palestine question, and embrace Israel. Moreover, the UAE
and then Bahrain — which were the first Arab states in decades to recognise
Israel — have found a kindred spirit in Tel Aviv that also seeks to ‘contain’
Iran.
More Arab
and Muslim states will expectedly follow, paying lip service to the just cause
of Palestine while booking the next flight to Tel Aviv. Yet the elephant in the
room is Saudi Arabia. There has been fervent media speculation over covert
Saudi-Israeli meetings; one report even said Mr Netanyahu flew to northern
Saudi Arabia for clandestine parleys with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The
Saudis have officially denied this as it is a sensitive matter, with the
kingdom hosting Islam’s holiest cities. In fact, senior Saudi Prince Turki bin
Faisal was highly critical of Israel at a recent summit in Bahrain, with the
Israeli foreign minister attending remotely. This shows that even within Saudi
Arabia there is resistance to embracing Israel fully, without an equitable
solution to the Palestine question.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1595279/morocco-israel-ties
-----
Afghan
Peace Talks and Its Many Hurdles
By
Rustam Shah Mohmand
December
12, 2020
Intro-Afghan Peace talks in Doha
------
The
agreement that was reached between the Taliban and the Afghan government
representatives on December 1, in Doha, offers some hope for moving forward on
substantive issues. In a way it is a significant step forward. But it is just a
framework of rules that ‘would guide’ deliberations on major issues in the
months ahead. This framework of how talks should proceed should have been
worked out in the first few days. It has taken three months of discussions on
seeking common ground on how the discussion should proceed. That would give an
idea of the attitude of the participants seeking a consensus on how to bring a
long conflict to an end.
The
euphoria generated by the agreement on how to conduct meetings may have been
prompted by an urge to see “some visible progress” on the way to a
comprehensive agreement. But fast on the heels of the so-called agreement there
was an uptick in violence in Afghanistan. The Taliban, the Afghan Security
Forces and US Air Force launched deadly attacks causing the deaths of civilians
and combatants on a large scale across the country.
The Afghan
peace process would now be impacted by the internal dynamics of a conflict and
by the changing regional environment. Then there is a change of leadership in
the US. The new leaders in Washington would have to deal with the prospect of a
quid pro quo — the Taliban agreeing to allow some notional US forces in the
country in exchange for a transitional government dominated by the Taliban. The
possibility of the US rejoining the JCPOA and its impact on the Afghan scenario
is another imponderable. But what the new administration in Washington would
certainly have to face is the rising level of violence if a settlement is not
reached soon enough.
In its
assessment of the current situation in Afghanistan, the US administration would
have to take cognisance of the following ground realities:
The Taliban
have severed all links with Al Qaeda. If anything, Al Qaida is now an
adversary.
The Taliban
have no trans-border ambitions. They are just a ‘shariah’ enforcement movement
confined to Afghanistan.
No
government that does not include the Taliban would be able to defeat Daesh, the
Turkistan Islamic Movement or other militant outfits operating in the country.
Only a Taliban inclusive government can deliver durable peace to the
war-ravaged country.
Ashraf
Ghani’s government remains the biggest obstacle to any settlement with the
Taliban.
The key to
resolving the impasses in talks lies with the US — the Kabul government cannot
survive without external financial support. Any real pressure brought to bear
upon a beleaguered Kabul government would yield a tangible outcome.
The way out
of the deadlock is a multi-ethnic, broad-based government that includes the
Taliban as a major partner and other factions including those currently in the
government.
The new
transitional government will be established by convening a Loya Jirga — the
traditional and time honoured Afghan institution that is respected all across
the country.
Continuance
of the status quo will be dangerous because the increasing polarisation would
spread chaos that could engulf the neighbouring countries also.
These are
some factors that would need to be incorporated in any approach or initiative
for ending the conflict and ushering the country on a path to sustainable
peace. Contrary to the opinions expressed by certain quarters there are no
‘spoilers’ of the peace process other than those currently at the helm of
affairs in Kabul. All regional countries would benefit hugely from a stable and
peaceful Afghanistan that would reach out to all regional and world powers to
protect its stability and make progress to change the lives of an impoverished
people who have suffered for too long.
Any prolongation of the conflict would spell disaster.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2275634/afghan-peace-talks-and-its-many-hurdles
------
Protecting
Human Rights
By Dr
Ramesh Kumar Vankwani
December
11, 2020
Every year,
December 10 is marked across the globe as International Human Rights Day,
commemorating the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the
United Nations General Assembly in 1948. This was the era when the
international community was looking at the damage caused by the horrific World
War II.
At that
critical time, the biggest challenge before the UN was to restore the trust in
peace; and so in this regard, 48 member states of the United Nations signed the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948 in Paris.
The UDHR is
no doubt a remarkable achievement in our modern history. Under the auspices of
the United Nations, for the first time the human rights for every person in the
world were defined in a very comprehensive way, regardless of race, colour,
religion, gender, language, or any other difference.
Eleanor
Roosevelt played an instrumental role as chairperson of the drafting committee
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. First lady of the United States
of America from 1933 to 1945, she was appointed as a delegate to the United
Nations General Assembly in 1946. Besides her, various other women diplomats
and activists from other parts of the world, including the USSR, Poland,
Denmark, Lebanon, also proactively contributed in shaping the document.
Available
in more than 400 languages, the UDHR is considered the most translated such
document in the world. Consisting of 30 articles, the declaration is known for
its "universalist language", which equally addresses all humankind
with no discrimination for or against any particular nation, culture, political
system, or religion. According to Article 1, “All human beings are born free
and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience
and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” Similarly,
Article 3 proclaims that: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security
of person.” Article 4 used to discourage slavery and the slave trade in all
their forms.
Articles 18
and 19 urge the signatory member states to ensure that everyone must have the
right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Further, the right to
freedom of opinion and expression must include freedom to hold opinions without
interference.
In my view,
every article of the Universal Declaration is the voice of the heart of human
rights activists around the world. The golden words of the Universal
Declaration provide hope and courage to everyone who is engaged in serving
humanity. We must understand that every person deserves to be respected with
due dignity and honour. That is why every religion in the world also emphasizes
respect for other human beings.
Human
history is witness to this undeniable fact that peace and prosperity is
directly linked with the protection of human rights. All those countries that
ensured respect for human rights made amazing achievements in the national
journey of progress and prosperity. On the other hand, the main reason for the
collapse of many powerful and mighty states was the violation of human rights.
Pakistan is
among those pioneer founding countries that signed the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights in 1948. However, it is a matter of great concern that today our
beloved country is being criticized by the international community for human
rights violations. It is therefore our national, religious, moral and social
responsibility to follow the peaceful vision of Quaid-e-Azam. We must keep
struggling to transform Pakistan into a role model country where every human
being, be it a man, a woman or a child, a minority or a majority, must have
freedom to live happily within constitutional limits. The Universal Declaration
of Human Rights should also be broadcast on Pakistani media with Urdu
translation.
Today, it
is also the responsibility of all member states of the United Nations,
especially the superpower America, to play a leading role in protection of
human rights across the globe.
-----
Dr
Ramesh Kumar Vankwani is a member of the National Assembly and patron-in-chief
of the Pakistan Hindu Council.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/756675-protecting-human-rights
-----
Israeli-
Saudi -Indian Engagement: Impact On Pak- Saudi Ties?-II
By
Syed Qamar Afzal Rizvi
December
11, 2020
Precisely,
Saudi Arabia- crafted policy towards Pakistan largely revolves around three
important considerations in the given geo-economic/ geopolitical context: Firstly
is Pakistan’s military power and nuclear capabilities articulating the
strategic requirements for Saudi Arabia. Secondly, the economic limitations of
Pakistan. And thirdly, the core factor of the Islamic identity of Pakistan- the
idea of working in partnership for the larger welfare of Muslim ummah- must be
an important orientation of Saudi Arabia in the given regional dynamics.
The Saudis
must also realise our concern that we cannot ignore our brotherly relations
with Tehran, our close neighbor at the cost of our warm relations with Riyadh.
And yet, the Saudi dilemma is that while improving its economic ties with
India, Riyadh has lost its fervour to raise the Kashmir issue on the OIC
forum-an issue that has been creating tension between the two sides-India and
Pakistan. Pakistan ‘s logical expectation that the Saudi leadership must adopt
a bold stand on the Kashmir issue as it has adopted on Palestine as India
cleverly exploits the OIC forum to remain inactive on Kashmir.
Notwithstanding
the fact Pakistan has skillfully maintained a neutral position with respect to
the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the evidence still endorses that
Pakistan has leaned closer to the Kingdom. Some strong converging interests
notwithstanding, there emerged few reservations in the bilateral engagement.
Pakistan has expressed its concern over the observer status given to India at
the OIC summit in the backdrop of
Balakot strikes that India
conducted after the Pulwama attacks. Saudi Arabia actively remained engaged
with India in the recent past and both the states have extended the cooperation
to numerous sectors.
Truly, one
thing is clear that the two political powerhouses of the OIC—Saudi Arabia and
Pakistan can hardly afford to downplay with each other
The MBS vision
for 2030 gives a special place for India-Saudi Arabia relations because of
India’s economic potential. India is one of the leading customers of Saudi
Arabian oil and close cooperation with India in securing Riyadh’s interest in
the Indian Ocean Region remains vital. The statistics show that bilateral trade
between India and Saudi Arabia is $27 billion annually, while Pakistan-Saudi
trade is just $3.6 billion. The sweeping implication is that Saudi Arabia is
reluctant to displease India by asserting itself on Kashmir. But this Saudi
policy on Kashmir is not a good departure.
Notably,
the Malaysian summit-2019 had raised concerns in Riyadh (albeit unwarranted)
that the meeting of Muslim leaders could change the OIC leadership status quo.
Riyadh’s accentuated engagement with India caused discomfort to Islamabad.
Nevertheless, in the post, August 5, 2019 phase, the UAE-Saudi initiative of
honouring Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (the butcher of the Kashmiri and
Indian Muslims ) with a prestigious award while inviting him to a glittering
investment forum in Riyadh created a feeling of deep resentment among Muslims
around the globe. Both countries –KSA
and the UAE have developed their security ties to India while Mossad’s chief
has currently visited the UAE. Riyadh has to understand that the GCC -formed
alignment against Iran is not pragmatically sustainable.
As for the
Iranian- Saudi rivalry, since taking office, PM Imran Khan has repeatedly tried
to mediate between the two rivals. In 2019, after attacks on Gulf oil
facilities, the prime minister travelled to Riyadh and Tehran to soothe
tensions. After the US assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in January, Qureshi visited the two capitals.
It is further revealed that Saudi expectations from Pakistan are not based on
realism but on delusion. Pragmatically and realistically, Pakistan’s thinking
is correct on the issue of Palestine that any compromise on the issue of the
Palestinians will be sufficient enough to kill the fundamental core of
Kashmiris’ freedom. PM Khan’s current statement is a true reflection of our national
policy sentiment. “Our stance is very clear from day one and Quaid-i-Azam
Muhammad Ali Jinnah had said Pakistan can never accept the state of Israel
until the people of Palestine get rights and state,” he said in an interview
with a private news channel on last Tuesday.
And most
significantly, the military relations between the two countries keep a
milestone since, like Pakistan’s role in UN’s Peacekeeping Mission, our troops
have been protecting the two holy-sites in Jeddah and Medina. Pakistan’s military
has remained the mentor of Saudi military skills training and professional
enhancement. The PAF revitalised the status of the Royal Saudi Air Force in the
1960s and Pakistani pilots flew RSAF fighter jets during KSA’s Al-Wadiah
conflict with Yemen (1969). In Addition, the Pakistan Army played a pivotal
role in assisting the Saudi government in suppressing the Grand Mosque Seizure
in 1979. In the current scenario, General Raheel Sharif has been performing a
significant role as commander of the IMAFT.
Pakistan
Army Chief General Qamar Bajwa visited Riyadh on August 17 to settle the dust.
A brief Pakistani army statement via ISPR said Gen Bajwa met with Saudi
Arabia's Gen. Fayyad bin Hamid Al-Ruwaili, chairman of the General
Staff of the Armed Forces, and other top commanders to discuss military ties,
including training exchanges. The role of Pakistan’s military diplomacy has
been instrumental in mending the fences. Despite President Trump’s fool
expectation that KSA has to join the current UAE-Israel deal, the Saudi stand
is clear that they will not join the deal until the resolution of the
Palestinian freedom and territorial rights “The notion that Saudi Arabia will
be next to normalise relations with Israel was far-fetched," said Aziz
Alghashian, a lecturer at Essex University. Make no mistake for Riyadh, any
means of reconciliation with Israel will be tantamount to jettisoning the core
principles of its own foreign policy.
Truly, one
thing is clear that the two political powerhouses of the OIC—Saudi Arabia and
Pakistan can hardly afford to downplay with each other. The long-standing Pak-
Saudi alliance will continue on the basis of strong strategic, political and
economic convergences remain pivotal for Islamabad and Riyadh now more than
ever before as both countries keenly quest for securing the regional power
postures in the Middle East and South Asia respectively. Pakistan welcomes the
UAE-KSA entry into China’s BRI.
The Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia is an energy Islamic power–refashioning itself towards a
promising future under MBS’ dynamic leadership.. Pakistan is a nuclear power
with immense untapped potential being the fastest growing economies in Asia.
Pragmatically, it suggests that the KSA establishment will not follow the
precedent set by the UAE– as being the founder member of the OIC– Riyadh cannot
escape the role it has been bound to play for the betterment of Muslim Ummah,
and hence a foreign policy based on the dynamics of pragmatic revisionism– via
diplomatic magnanimity- seems imperative vis-à-vis Kingdom’s policy towards
Malaysia, Iran, and Turkey (the ideological arms of the OIC). Hence, the call
for the revitalization of the Pakistan-Saudi relations is the order of the day.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/700156/israeli-saudi-indian-engagement-impact-on-pak-saudi-ties-ii/
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The
Academic Rankings Racket
By
Pervez Hoodbhoy
12 Dec 2020
OVER half a
dozen international “well-reputed” university ranking organisations annually
publish their ratings. They tell you which university or department is better
than which other, both within a country as well as between countries. Feel free
to swallow their poisonous bait but do so at your own risk. These cunning ones
easily take simpletons for a ride. At best, you will get questionable stuff.
More likely, it will be meaningless nonsense or a fat bunch of lies.
An example:
from the website of Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities — which
ranks thousands of universities globally — the department of mechanical
engineering at Quaid-e-Azam University was rated 76-100 in 2017. This placed it
just below Tokyo University and just above Manchester University. Wow!
Thereafter every year QAU improved its score and in 2020 it jumped into the
51-75 range putting it under McGill University but higher than Oxford
University. The reader can google this and may discover other such gems too.
Better than
Oxford? Having taught at QAU for the greater part of my life, I could jump for
joy. But let the truth be told: QAU does not have a mechanical engineering
department! In fact, it does not offer engineering of any kind and none is
planned. A clerical mistake might explain a one-off report. But what software
generated the precise numbers charting QAU’s progress year after year?
Laugh if
you want but not too loudly. Save some breath for Times Higher Education which
declared Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan as Pakistan’s top university.
Unknown for research or teaching, AWKUM is top-most for violent intolerance. In
April 2017 a 23-year-old AWKUM student, Mashal Khan, was accused of blasphemy
then beaten with sticks and bricks before finally being shot to death. Hundreds
of students cheered as he was dragged naked across the campus. They
video-recorded the murder with smartphones, then posted it onto their FB pages.
By
rewarding professors with phony achievements Pakistan has damaged universities
beyond repair.
A week
later, yet another university ranking organisation called QS put Nust
(Islamabad) at Pakistan’s number one and drove AWKUM off the scene. Such
fatuous fabrications are galore. These commercial organisations never send
inspectors to the thousands of overseas universities they rank. Instead, they
simply email forms to university officials who fill them at will. The ranking
criteria are adjusted to benefit the client. Everyone (except the student)
makes a fast buck.
Across the
world, ranking organisations have been exposed as inconsistent, changing
metrics from year to year, and omitting critical pieces of information. Crooked
university professors have also learned to game the system. This speeds up
their promotions and brings in cash. In countries with strong academic ethics,
success is partial. But in Pakistan, where academic honesty has been in free
fall since 2002, it has worked better and better.
Consider:
three weeks ago, newspaper headlines across Pakistan blazed with soul-lifting
news. Eighty-one Pakistani scientists had been chosen from 159,683 scientists
in universities across the world, ranked by their number of research
publications and how often they were cited. Stanford University reportedly
declared these 81 luminaries in the world’s top two per cent of scientists.
That’s a
total lie! Stanford University has not sanctioned any such report. This
doctored news wrongly draws upon the enormous prestige of Stanford. Only one of
the four authors, John P.A. Ioannidis, has a Stanford affiliation. He is a
professor of medical statistics while the other three authors are from the
private sector. Their published work inputs numbers from an existing database into
a computer that crunches them into a list.
That list
is meaningless for Pakistan. It does not represent scientific acumen or
achievement. Here’s why: generating scientific research papers without knowing
any science or doing actual research has been honed into a fine art by academic
crooks at home and abroad. At the second stage, the stuff produced has to be
published, for which clever professors have developed 99 tricks. The third —
and most difficult stage — is to generate citations after the paper is
published.
At this
point, the crooked professor relies upon crooked friends to cite him and boost
his ratings. Those friends have their friends in India, China, South Africa, or
elsewhere. This international web of connections is known as a citation cartel.
Cartel members generate reams of scientific gibberish that the world of
mainstream science pays no heed to. But in Pakistan the rewards are handsome —
you soon become chairman, dean, vice-chancellor, or influence peddler. These
gatekeepers shunt out all genuine academics lest they be challenged from below.
Knowing a
few individuals who made it to the exalted ‘Stanford scientist list’, I would
be surprised if they could pass a tough high-school-level exam for entering
undergraduate studies in a decent university like Stanford. Others I cannot
judge: some could certainly be genuine. But for one scientist to judge across
fields has become harder in the age of super specialisation. So how to tell?
Given what
few genuine academics Pakistan has, no satisfactory answer exists. One can
expect nothing from the present gatekeepers of academia because fraud is a way
of life for most. To spot even 100 genuine academics from among thousands is
hard. Pakistan’s university system may well have crossed the point of no return
and be beyond repair. But suppose one refuses to accept this pessimistic
conclusion. How to separate the wheat from the chaff?
Simple:
every university and HEC must demand that any professor claiming credit for a
scientific paper must present that work before an informed audience and be
appropriately questioned. Credible foreign specialists should be included.
Technology allows this to be done remotely (Zoom, Skype, Webex, etc) and to
preserve videos for later viewing. Each presentation must explain what that
paper has contributed to knowledge production.
This has
many pitfalls. Transparency is not a magic wand. Still, it will whittle down
the so-called Stanford list by 80pc to 100pc. Self-congratulations, and
official policies that encourage academic dishonesty, have inflicted massive
damage upon Pakistan’s higher education system. Without extreme measures, the
rot will continue forever. We must begin now.
------
Pervez
Hoodbhoy taught physics and mathematics at Quaid-e-Azam University for 47
years.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1595282/the-academic-rankings-racket
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