Pakistan Press On Neoliberal Feminism, Kashmir Settlement and Rape: New Age Islam's Selection, 26 September 2020
By New Age Islam Edit
Bureau
26
September 2020
• The Problem with Neoliberal Feminism
By Syed Mohammad Ali
• Six-Track Kashmir Settlement
By Ashraf Jehangir Qazi
• The Missing Shemzas
By Irfan Husain
• The Motorway Tragedy Any Lessons Learnt?
By Huzaima Bukhari
• Afghan Peace Process
By Iftikhar Ahmad
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The Problem With Neoliberal Feminism
By Syed Mohammad Ali
September
25, 2020
Feminists
around the world have long been struggling with multiple forms of gender
discrimination. They have good reason to do so, as we still live in a world
which exhibits varied forms of discrimination against women and girls. However,
it is also important to note that so-called ‘feminists’ around the world are
not necessarily on the same page in terms of causes they espouse, and how they
go about working on them.
Categorising
feminists based on geography alone (those in the global south as opposed to the
global north) does not adequately encapsulate major differences in how
feminists see the world or try to change it. Consider, for instance, how many
feminists and other advocates of gender rights around the world (in rich and
poor countries alike) are suspicious of multinational corporations trying to
champion the causes of empowering women and girls. On the other hand, other
feminists (in both rich and poor countries) have been seduced by neoliberal
ideals.
In the
past, corporations and big businesses used to show their benevolence by
contributing to social causes by making donations to varied causes. Now they
are increasingly trying to integrate social responsibility into their core
business operations, and to use a share of their corporate profits to directly
support goals such as gender empowerment.
Seemingly
motivated by the desire to fulfil their corporate social responsibility, there
is a plethora of corporate marketing campaigns which now explicitly aim to
improve the lives of women and girls. Brand-conscious consumer product
companies such as Unilever and Kraft, or garment-industry giants like Gap, aim
to promote gender empowerment. Many projects have been formulated to connect
multinationals with NGOs in poorer countries to deliver social benefits
alongside pursuing goals of profit maximisation.
In India,
for example, Unilever’s Shakti Project is trying to help women generate income
while also advancing public hygiene and helping the company conquer
difficult-to-access markets. It has established a network of close to 100,000
“Shakti Amma”, women who sell Unilever products to rural consumers in India’s
villages. This initiative is described as a win-win situation that provides
rural women an income while they help the company enter a growing market, while
promoting public health and hygiene in rural areas.
Critics,
however, rightly point out how such a project is blind to the racist messages
conveyed via problematic products and the impact it has on the livelihoods of
other people. Besides poor women have been recruited to sell Unilever’s
skin-whitening products, these recruits are also creating a larger market for
Unilever’s product, which directly displaces traditional soap makers.
Despite
seemingly altruistic goals, many corporate efforts to focus on women’s
empowerment tend to myopically foster entrepreneurship development and approach
women individually. Big business has no interest in promoting collective action
whereby poor women could become organised and formulate their own demands about
wages and working conditions. Conversely, voluntary codes of conduct to change
the way big businesses operate so that they benefit rather than harm women
remain unable to go beyond tokenistic measures, and they cannot assure decent
working conditions and wages for all the exploited women ensnared within their
convoluted supply chains.
The
movement for gender equality becoming entangled with neoliberalism is thus seen
to undermine oppositional politics and instead advance market penetration via
seemingly ‘win-win’ solutions. Some women become beneficiaries of corporate
beneficence. Others may even make it to the top of corporate hierarchies. Yet
then these women must serve profit maximising policies which continue to
exploit labour, the lowest rungs of which are occupied by over-worked and
under-paid women struggling to ensure household survival.
Pakistan
too has its share of women entrepreneurs, who rely on corporate benevolence,
and speak the language of women’s socio-economic empowerment, yet the means they
advocate to achieve gender empowerment provide little more than opportunities
for self-advancement.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2265478/the-problem-with-neoliberal-feminism
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Six-Track Kashmir Settlement
By Ashraf Jehangir
Qazi
26 Sep 2020
WHAT is a
Kashmir settlement? It should mean the implementation of UN resolutions on
Kashmir, including the exercise of the right of self-determination. Or, given
current realities, something as close to it as possible.
What would
this take? It would take a sea change in India’s Kashmir policy and in
international attitudes towards the fatal prospect of genocide in India-held
Kashmir and conflict between the two nuclear armed parties to the Kashmir
dispute.
It would
also entail recognising that for Pakistan’s diplomacy to be effective against
India’s greater strategic and economic weight, and overcome the status quo
inertia of the international community, it is not enough just to have a
superior diplomatic and legal narrative on Kashmir.
Pakistan
would need to project a political, economic, human rights, and national
development image that reinforces its democratic credentials and its narrative
on Jammu and Kashmir.
This is
especially important in light of India’s attempts to undermine Pakistan’s
arguments and image through allegations of support for terrorism in Kashmir,
India and Afghanistan. India’s attempt to have Pakistan blacklisted by the
Financial Action Task Force is just one example.
There are
no risk-free or cost-free policy options for Pakistan on Kashmir.
India’s
attempt is reinforced by international perceptions of structurally
undemocratic, corrupt, and dysfunctional governance in Pakistan. Accordingly,
Pakistan’s Kashmir policy needs to be embedded in a national transformation
imperative. The entrenched status quo structure in Pakistan, however, is a
major obstacle.
So, what
are the current prospects for peace in Kashmir? Exceedingly dim! But they can
brighten very considerably if Pakistan can seriously begin to tackle its vast
range of mutually reinforcing domestic challenges and implement a multi-track
Kashmir policy.
What is the
situation in IHK a year after Aug 5, 2019? India is getting away with murder!
The forever disgraced Kashmiri Quislings, Mir Jafars and Mir Sadiqs who ruled
IHK for decades on behalf of India, but publicly repented their actions after
Aug 5, 2019, are now crawling back to their Indian masters with pleas for the
restoration of Articles 370 and 35A. They are seeking to deceive the Kashmiri
people again that they are “champions of Kashmiri autonomy”.
Modi,
however, is committed to eliminating Kashmir’s political identity altogether
through administrative, demographic, economic, political and security policies
or, if all else fails, through genocide.
India is
certainly internationally isolated over its Kashmir policy. It is angry and
embarrassed over the international condemnation of its Kashmir policy,
especially since Aug 5, 2019.
But India
will pursue its Kashmir policy to the bitter end because (a) it would be
suicidal for any Indian government not to; (b) there is no country willing to
compel it to reverse its policy; and (c) even if that happened it would only
restore the status quo ante, along with massive pressure on Pakistan to accept
the LoC as the international border.
India and
Pakistan would then be expected to quell any Kashmiri dissent on their
respective sides of the LoC! India would happily do so. Pakistan would commit
national suicide if it did so.
What is to
be done? It is necessary to avoid both genocide in IHK and war with India. But
limiting Pakistan’s Kashmir policy to ultimately unavailing diplomacy and
‘lawfare’, is equivalent to a progressive surrender to India-created facts in
IHK.
There are
no risk-free or cost-free policy options for Pakistan on Kashmir. A de facto
surrender would entail an existential cost for Pakistan. This situation has
been brought about by India’s blind arrogance and obduracy, and Pakistan’s
accumulated short-term and short-sighted policies.
It is
tempting to say that Pakistan is in no position to take up such a challenge
given its parlous state today. However, an integrated and mutually reinforcing
six-track Kashmir policy could render the seemingly impossible possible.
The first
track would, within the framework of UN resolutions, seek to restore dialogue
with India in pursuance of a negotiated and principled Kashmir settlement in
regular consultation with the Kashmiri resistance leadership. A likely Indian
refusal to respond would contrast with Pakistan’s constructive and peaceful
approach.
The second
track would seek to deter India from its current policies in IHK which include
gross human rights violations, torture, and likely genocide according to the
Genocide Convention of 1948 and the Genocide Alert issued by Genocide Watch on
Aug 11, 2019, only six days after Aug 5.
The third
track would be to ensure the survival of legitimate Kashmiri resistance,
including armed resistance, to Indian annexation, black laws, atrocities and
genocide. This is entirely legitimate according to international law, including
UN resolutions. However, to remain legitimate such resistance must forbid all
acts of terror against unarmed civilians.
A fourth
track would need to address any division of Kashmiri opinion between the
Pakistan and azadi options on the basis of a proper understanding of Article
257 of the Pakistan Constitution. This reconciles the two options within the
Pakistan option and denies India an opportunity to divide Kashmiri opinion. But
it would require Kashmiri trust in Pakistan’s fidelity to its own
constitutional obligation to the Kashmiri people.
A fifth
track would involve an intensification of Pakistan’s diplomacy on behalf of (i)
a principled and negotiated Kashmir settlement verifiably acceptable to
Kashmiri opinion, especially in the Valley; (ii) Kashmiri political and human
rights protections in order to avoid unthinkable outcomes which the current
situation is rapidly sliding towards; and (iii) making the international
community aware of its existential stake in restraining India.
The sixth
track would integrate the five tracks into a comprehensive national
transformation policy. This would transform Pakistan’s image, maximise its
policy options, and render its voice far more resonant in the capitals of the
world.
This is
indeed a humongous task. But Kashmir has become an existential challenge for
Pakistan along with climate change, nuclear conflict, dysfunctional governance,
food and water insecurity, pandemics, etc. This task can never be cost and
risk-free. But avoiding it risks Pakistan’s existence.
Such a
policy recommendation will have to be fleshed out in detail to build an
informed and rational consensus on the way forward. Existential challenges can
be unique opportunities.
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Ashraf Jehangir Qazi is a former ambassador to
the US, India and China and head of UN missions in Iraq and Sudan.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1581701/six-track-kashmir-settlement
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The Missing Shemzas
By Irfan Husain
26 Sep 2020
AT a time
when Pakistan is convulsed with political and economic crises (when isn’t it?),
the region in turmoil; and the world order on the verge of collapse, should a
columnist be writing about art and our cultural heritage?
Absolutely.
If we are to hold on to our sense of humanity and civilisation, it is more
important than ever to remind ourselves of what has been created, and what we
have lost. In the latter category falls the mystery of the missing Shemza
paintings from the permanent collection of the Pakistan National Council of the
Arts.
Details of
this loss were given by Ijaz ul Hassan in his capacity of chairman, National
Artists Association of Pakistan, in a letter addressed to Shafqat Mahmood,
federal minister for education, national heritage and the arts. Mr Hassan, one
of the finest painters of my generation, points out that in 2016, artworks
worth crores went missing from the permanent collection, and no member of the
staff has been held responsible.
More
relevant to the present case is this allegation:
“Recently,
it has come to our notice that ill-intentioned efforts are being made to remove
10 paintings of our famous Pakistani artist, the late A.J. Shemza, from the
permanent collection (under the guise of his wife demanding their return)
despite the fact that these paintings have been part of the permanent collection
… since 1985.
These
paintings aren’t the only artworks to have left the country.
“… I, along
with some other prominent artists, have personal knowledge that 10 paintings
were selected by Mr Shemza’s wife (Mrs Mary Katrina Shemza) and gifted to the
National Art Gallery in order that her late husband be on permanent display as
a prominent Pakistani artist who had moved to the UK in the sixties…”
Although
the minister’s “urgent intervention” has been sought to block any attempt to
remove the paintings, nearly a month has passed without a reply from Mr
Mahmood. From a letter written by Mrs Shemza, it is apparent that the paintings
are now with her.
In the
1980s, I bought a delicate but eye-catching Shemza done in his subtle,
semi-abstract style. I paid less than a thousand rupees for it, and the image
has stayed with me, even though the painting hasn’t.
However, at
a London exhibition several years ago, Shemza’s works displayed by his widow
fetched much higher prices. I don’t want to speculate, but according to Jamal
Shah, ex-DG of the Pakistan National Council of Arts, the current prices may
have motivated Mrs Shemza to demand the return of the paintings she had
presented to the PNCA some 35 years ago. The question here is whether this was
a loan or a gift.
These
paintings aren’t the only artworks to have left the country. In the 1980s, a
painting by Amrita Sher-Gil, the iconic Lahore artist who migrated to India
after Partition, used to hang in the office of the DG, PNCA. One morning, he
arrived at work and announced that it was missing. It has remained missing
since then, although rumours persist that it hangs in the collection of a
wealthy Indian. Needless to say, it is worth many millions.
The
Gandhara carvings and sculptures that we have been lucky enough to inherit have
met a similar fate. Relics of our unacknowledged Buddhist past, with their
striking imagery and skilful execution, are far more admired abroad than in our
ethos that bulldozes all cultures and faiths, dead or alive.
Gangs
operate freely to dig up ancient Gandhara works. And even if there are guards
on duty, they are hopelessly outgunned. In any case, why would they risk their
lives for the pittance they are paid?
When I was
joint secretary at the Ministry of Culture — the best job I ever had in my
civil service career — I asked the DG, Archaeology, why he couldn’t have these
vulnerable sites enclosed with electric fencing. I’m sure his reply still holds
good today: “With my budget, I can barely pay for salaries, utilities and
rents. When we make new finds, we leave them covered so thieves won’t be able
to plunder them.”
Many of the
Gandhara pieces stolen and moved abroad have found homes in Japan, a Buddhist
nation, and in the collections of rich Westerners. While Pakistanis can own and
display these works within the country, they aren’t allowed to export them.
Nevertheless, many have made a lot of money from this trade. Occasionally,
special police units have raided art galleries abroad, and have confiscated and
returned these works to Pakistan.
However,
the lack of interest from our government and public makes this whole racket
pretty much a non-issue. With the government’s miserly budget allocation for
the arts and archaeology, we won’t be leaving much for the next generation to
admire and enjoy.
When it
came to power, Imran Khan’s government had promised to convert some official
buildings into art galleries.
Can anybody
point to some action to meet this promise?
https://www.dawn.com/news/1581704/the-missing-shemzas
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The Motorway Tragedy Any Lessons Learnt?
By Huzaima Bukhari
September
26, 2020
“Strength doesn’t lie in carrying heavy loads.
Camels can do that. Strength lies in controlling your temper”- Hazrat Ali (AS)
There is a
general belief that a person who boasts of great physical strength is stronger
compared to the one who has a frail body. This might be true if one is watching
a wrestling bout or weight lifting event in a sports arena but when it comes to
the real world or the real world of humanity, astonishingly, concepts change drastically.
It is during adversity that true strength can be gauged. This may come in many
forms-poverty, disease, emotional trauma, anger, failure, bankruptcy, broken
hearts, shattered expectations-all these determine the real test of strength of
a person. Under such challenging circumstances, the ones most composed are
naturally the strongest compared to those whose physical reactions betray their
inner weaknesses. In simpler terms, the ability to withstand an onslaught, to
resist temptations and to suppress extreme anger proves the level of strength,
not the competence to lift tons of weight or to overpower an opponent. This is
exactly the lesson we must teach to our people.
The need of
the hour is to spread on a war-footing, education through all media channels
calling upon men and women to understand the ferocity and repercussions of
committing such heinous crime
Words fall
short in expressing emotions of shock and disgust at the horrific incident that
occurred in the early hours of September 9, 2020 on the new M11 route that
connects Lahore Ring road with Sialkot. A young mother with three children,
while driving to Gujranwala got stranded on this highway due to some technical
fault in her vehicle. She called 130 the number for National Highways & Motorway
Police who point blankly refused any assistance on the claim that the route did
not fall under its jurisdiction telling her to contact local police on 15. Her
ordeal during that one hour has been narrated repeatedly on the media and
suffice it to say that she was assaulted, gang raped before her children and
robbed of her possessions before any help could reach her. Undoubtedly, the
lives of the four victims involved in this tragedy will never be the same ever
again.
This is
just one of the innumerable heinous and gruesome incidents that occur on almost
daily basis in this country. These include not only females but even boys. Some
are reported but a large number remain confined within the secrecy of homes.
Consequently, the statistics to measure the precise magnitude of this problem
in Pakistan become undependable. As per the Human Rights Report 2019: “There
were no reliable national, provincial, or local statistics on rape due to
underreporting and no centralized law enforcement data collection system.” The
victim of rape or sexual assault is usually advised to stay mum, this being a
stigma on his/her character as if he/she asked for it and the perpetrator was
merely fulfilling the desire of the injured party. As for convictions, again
that is another dark area shared by both the police and the judiciary.
According
to our incumbent prime minister, sexual crimes are most prevalent in societies
where obscenity is common and family system is tattered. He was probably
referring to the West as that is the image in the minds of people living in the
‘holy lands’ built in the name of religion. We are under a delusion that since
our way of life includes modest dressing style, abstinence from alcohol and
drugs, non-existence of night clubs together with strong family bonding, our
blessed country is free from such aberrations yet, Thomson Reuters Foundation
expert poll has placed Pakistan at the third position after Afghanistan and
Congo among countries most unsafe for women while Norway has been declared the
safest and the next 19 countries in line are the ones where obscenity and
broken homes are rampant. Samina Chamma Rashid’s book “It Takes a Village to
Rape a Child” tears apart the hypocritical veil of our so-called traditional
society. It is about time that we change our attitude towards women in general
and sexual violence in particular.
Many social
theorists look at rape as not only an ugly crime but a symptom of an unhealthy
society in which men fear and disrespect women. In 1975 the feminist writer
Susan Brownmiller asserted that rape is motivated not just by lust but by the
urge to control and dominate. According to her theory all men feel sexual
desire, but not all men rape. Rape is considered as an unnatural behavior that
has nothing to do with sex alone. Rape, an ancient part of human nature is one
of the leading war crimes but this in no way excuses a rapist.
Where a
woman is seen as an object and not a human being who has feelings, desires,
emotions and an obvious physical existence, it would be assumed that she is
merely a man’s trinket to be toyed with and because of this vulnerability she
should be layered with yards of cloth and confined within the four walls of a
home. Her stepping out of this haven, claiming equality with men, daring to act
boldly, raising her voice in public, asserting her independence and moving
around at odd hours are indications that she is deliberately inviting trouble
because men are men, the so-called stronger specie yet so easily susceptible to
their cravings. As observed by anthropologist Donald Symons of the University
of California, Santa Barbara that people everywhere understand sex as
“something females have that males want.”
What
motivated the M11 gang rape is probably reflected in a write-up dated 14
December 2019 by Tara Kaushal: “But public rape now includes another
dimension-lower-class men targeting upper-class women. For them, the rape
experience is one of “conscious anger and rage, and he expresses his fury both
physically and verbally. His aim is to hurt and debase his victim, and he
expresses his contempt for her through abusive and profane language…. Sex
becomes his weapon, and rape constitutes the ultimate expression of his anger’.
And we seem to be breeding mobs of them.”
She goes
onto discuss the mentality (very similar to that of our infamous Lahore CCPO)
of these men. “‘A decent girl would not roam around at 9 o’clock at night….
Housework and housekeeping is for girls, not roaming in discos and bars at
night,’ said Mukesh Singh, a perpetrator in the Delhi gang-rape. These
rural-urban migrants bring ideas and norms of what is acceptable in the
villages to the urbanised, modern world-where patriarchy and misogyny in
thought, word and deed collide with women’s empowerment. They experience a
clash of cultures and clothes, not to mention the porn they are watching and
the accompanying urges-all the while being in extreme close proximity to women
as tailors, guards and drivers.”
The need of
the hour is to spread on a war-footing, education through all media channels calling
upon men and women to understand the ferocity and repercussions of committing
such heinous crime. We must break the taboo of silence about sexual violence
and introduce programmes to highlight the importance of respect for females of
all ages. Children’s voices should not be muffled when they complain about
someone’s behaviour. If sexual instinct is not fathomed and harnessed by
raising awareness then there cannot be a stoppage to related crimes.
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Huzaima Bukhari, lawyer and author, is an Adjunct
Faculty at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)
https://dailytimes.com.pk/670891/the-motorway-tragedy-any-lessons-learnt/
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Afghan Peace Process
By Iftikhar Ahmad
September
26, 2020
Conflict,
extremism, and resistance to modernity forms the central theme when we focus on
the circumstances of two neighbours Afghanistan and Pakistan. We come across
the same theme on play in context of internal and external relations of
Aghanistan. (Refer to Riaz M. Khan’s book “Afghanistan and Pakistan”.
Finally,
the Afghans government and Taliban leadership have begun peace talks in Qatar’s
capital Doha and end of the long and ugly war is for once within grasp . But
for now the two sides have to make sure that all efforts are made to cooperate
with sense of accommodation and resolution of issues and not to let the
opportunity for peace go lost and wasted. Compromises are essential where
needed.
Afghan
forces, Taliban continue to clash even as peace talks started last week. This
is rather unfortunate. Both sides to the negotiation must avoid anything like
another 9/11 Pakistan should drive home sanity and let wisdom prevail .Peace is
not easy to buy even after great sacrifices. No amount of compensation can
match the human and economic losses and socio-moral panic and pain inflicted on
Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Historic
peace talks between Afghan government’s representatives and Taliban have begun
in Doha. Qatar to seek an end to two decades of war that has killed tens of
thousands people. Before the warring sides sit down for face to face
negotiations, they were urged by various countries to reach an immediate
ceasefire and to forge an agreement. While addressing the opening ceremony,
Secretary of state Mike Pompeo urged the two sides to seize the opportunity to
strike a comprehensive peace deal, while acknowledging many challenges lay
ahead.
The head of
Afghanistan’s peace council, Abdullah Abdullah, said that even if the two sides
could not agree on all points, they should compromise.
Taliban
leader, Mullah Baradar Akhund said that Afghanistan should have that an Islamic
system in which all tribes and ethnicities of the country find themselves
without any discrimination. He said negotiations may have problems but should
move forward with patience.
Speaking on
the occasion, UN secretary General Antonio Guterres hopes progress towards
peace can lead to return of millions of Afghans to homes.
On this
Twitter handle, the British envoy thanked Prime Minister Imran khan , Foreign
Minister Qureshi and Ambassador Sadiq as Pakistan had constantly been playing a
reconciliatory role for Afghan peace. “Now to work together for peace and
against spoilers”, the high commissioner said while endorsing foreign minister
Qureshi words at the opening session who had cautioned against the spoilers
besides advising the international community not to repeat at the past
mistakes.
While
calling for the fullest role of international community to take the matter to
its logical end, the foreign minister also advised not to repeat the mistakes
made in the past to achieve the dream of peaceful Afghanistan
Talks in
Doha on Saturday thanked the Taliban for their “willingness to negotiate ” as
the opening ceremony begun .”I can tell you with confidence that the history of
our country will remember today as the end of the war and suffering of our
people ” said Abdullah Abdullah ,an Afghan former minister.
The
Taliban’s political leader reiterated his group’s demand for Afghanistan to
adopt an “an Islamic system “as peace talks with the Afghan government began in
Doha .”I want all to consider Islam in their negotiations and agreements and
not to sacrifice Islam to personal interests “, said Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar
,the Taliban co- founder who spent eight years in Pakistani custody ,adding
that he wanted an “Islamic system” in Afghanistan.
As the
historic the opening session of Afghan peace talks through video link, the
foreign minister termed the commencement of peace talks a global recognition of
Pakistan’s stance of no military solution of afghan dispute rather a political
solution being only a way forward.
Prime
minister’s special envoy on Afghanistan Ambassador Muhammad Sadiq is
representing Pakistan at the ceremony while the foreign minister participated
virtually at the special invitation of Qatari counterpart Sheikh Muhammad bin
Abdulrahman Al-Thani .Among others, the key speakers at the event included
Abdullah Abdullah, chairperson of Afghanistan ‘s High council for National
Reconciliation , Taliban deputy leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Us
secretary State Mike Pompeo.
The Foreign
minister said that the forthcoming negotiations were for the Afghans to decide
about their future. “The Afghans alone must be the maters of their destiny without
outside influence or interference. The spoilers from within and from without
will pose formidable challenges. Constant vigilance will be required to guard
against their machinations”, Qureshi said, He hoped that all the sides would
fulfil their commitments and remain committed to achieve a positive outcome.
The Foreign
minister said the Intra-Afghan negotiations were a milestone towards
establishment of peace in Afghanistan. The Afghan lead-opportunity to pave war
for a durable peace through the negotiations.
He
reiterated that considering it a collective responsibility. Pakistan always
played re-conciliatory role in Afghan peace process and would keep it up. He
said besides Afghanistan, Pakistan was the country that had suffered the most
due to Afghan conflict bearing attacks , death and displacement of citizens
besides huge economic loss. While calling for the fullest role of international
community to take the matter to its logical end, the foreign minister also
advised not to repeat the mistakes made in the past to achieve the dream of
peaceful Afghanistan. He urged the international community to continue
supporting Afghan-led and Afghan owned peace process while respecting the
consensus to emerge from intra Afghan Negotiations. Later on Twitter the Foreign
Minister termed it a “Historic day for afghan peace process”. He said Pakistan
had long maintained that peace not war the answer. “We are proud to champion a
partnership for peace and move forward with faith and resolve that will not be
deterred. Pakistan will continue to be a force for a stable and prosperous
region”, he remarked.
------
Iftikhar Ahmad is former Director National
Institute of Public Administration (NIPA) Government of Pakistan, a political
analyst, a public policy expert, and a published author.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/670889/afghan-peace-process-3/
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