03.11.2013 Left to his devices By Mazhar Khan Jadoon

Though Abid Hassan Minto, an icon of the Left movement in Pakistan, looked frail and old, he became spirited as he talked about the struggle the Left is engaged with. While he is happy to list the intellectual and ideological achievements of the Left, he appears anxious about the current state of affairs.
“What is happening?” he asked me, leaning back in his chair in his office at Mozang Road, Lahore. I was taken off guard. “Are you talking about politics or the ongoing militancy and talks with Taliban?” Confused, I offered a counter question. “Everything in this country is going the wrong way, be it politics, governance, extremism or economy,” clarifies Minto, as we settle down for a two-hour long thought-provoking question answer session about virtually everything under the sun.
Abid Hassan Minto, the president of the Awami Workers Party, formed in November 2012 after a merger of three left-wing parties in Pakistan, speaks mostly in chaste Punjabi, switching occasionally to Urdu and English. Excerpts of the interview follow:

The News on Sunday: It seems the Left has been a marginal actor on Pakistan’s political scene. Even at its peak during the 1970s, it could not muster even a fraction of the street power of the Islamic or mainstream parties. What is the Left’s standing in the power politics of today?

Abid Hassan Minto: In 2012, the merger of three Left parties (Labour, Awami and Workers’ parties) in the Awami Workers’ Party has given new impetus to the struggle we have undertaken for the welfare of poor farmers, labourers and the working classes. This merger is meant to have a strong political entity with a combined platform for all liberal and secular forces to effectively raise a voice for the deprived masses of this country.

Though the 2013 election delivered a clear mandate for socially-conservative and economically-neo-liberal political parties, the Left is very much in the political arena to challenge the feudal mindset and give people the power to think, realise and challenge the prevalent exploitative system. Theoretically and ideologically, the party has been quite successful in empowering the working classes by educating them about their rights and the exploitation they are subjected to by the ruling elite.

Though the Left had been quite effective in keeping the glorious tradition of democratic struggle in the 1980s alive, it was affected by organised state pressure and internal conflicts that resulted in polarisation of progressive political forces. However, the new party will keep the struggle going to emancipate the exploited working class of the country.

TNS: There appears to be a disconnect between the Left and the masses. In the general election, the Awami Workers Party did field some 14 candidates, but lost to right wing parties. Why?

AHM: Yes, this is true because religious parties have huge platforms like pulpits, mosques and madaris to draw their strength from. These religious leaders exploit the Muslim majority by playing with their religious sentiments just to gain political strength and power. They have power of innocent and rudderless masses, but we have power of thought and ideology. They may be structurally organised with an exploitative agenda, but the Left is more organised in thought and clarity of objectives.

TNS: Are politicians and successive governments responsible for increasing intolerance and religious extremism in our society? What is the solution?

AHM: Of course, the present chaos in the society is due to vague and conformist policies of mainstream political parties. Relations with the US and dealings with the Pakistan army need clarity and proper regulation. Undue compromises with Western powers abroad and conformist approach with army at home need to be realigned for better governance and service delivery.

Our foreign and internal policies are largely dictated by the army that undermines the fundamentals of true democracy. The army should be cut to size and placed under civilian command and people’s representatives be allowed to formulate policies that best suit the people.

Mosques and madaris should also be regulated strictly by the state so that exploitation and manipulation by religious elements can be stemmed. Political exigencies and compromises with religious parties are having a negative impact on our broad mental attitude which is responsible for increasing extremism in the society. The army and the Americans also cynically manipulated religious fanaticism to create the Taliban when it suited them. Poor policies entail deadly results.

TNS: What has your party achieved on the much-touted land reforms. With 70 per cent of our parliamentarians having links with the landed aristocracy, is it possible that reforms can be legislated and executed?

AHM: The landed aristocracy is foiling every government attempt to streamline and reform the agricultural sector. Successive governments have failed to tax the rich and mighty landlords who are opposing redistribution of lands among the poor farmers.

Our party has moved the Supreme Court to implement land reforms introduced by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto through Martial Law Regulation 115 of 1972 and the Land Reforms Act, 1977. We have urged the court to nullify the 1990 judgement of the appellate bench of the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) declaring land reforms un-Islamic. In Qazalbash Waqf case judgement, the FSC had declared that no one can be deprived of lawfully acquired property.

Land reforms means re-distribution of land among small land owners by taking land from large land owners to break large holdings so as to prevent concentration of land in a select few hands.

Land reforms were first introduced in the then East Pakistan in 1950, then by Ayub Khan in 1959 in the West Pakistan and later in the modern day Pakistan by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

TNS: Has the politics of the centre and the right absorbed shades of the leftist thought? Left is not visible in the public space. Why?

AHM: Yes, these parties might have hijacked the ideology of the Left, but they have failed to realise the goals that we have set for a progressive society. The Pakistan People’s Party banked on populist politics to perpetuate its rule. In the process, the PPP destroyed viable and potential public sector entities like Steels Mills, Pakistan International Airlines and Pakistan Railways by employing thousands of its workers without any need and merit. Likewise, the PML-N government is playing to the gallery of industrialist and traders at the cost of working and poor classes.

These populist parties try to placate every segment of society without realising the damage these short-term policies can cause. The formula of populist politics is changed from time to time to suit and serve the interests of ruling elite. These exploitative politicians cash in on popular slogans like “death to America, down with India, implementation of Sharia and ending corruption, etcetera”. These populist politicians do not want fundamental changes in the system for the betterment of society; rather they just want to perpetuate their rule through these popular issues.

TNS: What is happening in Balochistan? What is your party’s take on the issue?

AHM: To better understand the Balochistan problem, one needs to understand the power dynamics there and differentiate between different stakeholders fighting for their control. Taliban militants and Baloch separatists are two different realities fighting for their own interests and within their own ambit. The disgruntled Baloch have taken up arms because they were thrown out of politics and were deliberately neglected by the Centre. The strategy to restore peace in Balochistan should be two-pronged — one for containing religious militancy and the other for dealing with the separatists.

Instead of chasing them in the mountains, the government should devise a strategy to talk to the separatists and bring them into the mainstream politics to end their grievances. This reconciliatory process should be coupled with massive development work in Balochistan to mitigate their sense of deprivation. The security forces should be reined in and the case of missing persons should be resolved immediately. It is now a judicial statement that armed forces are responsible for these missing persons that is one of the major causes of resentment there.

TNS: Do you agree with the ongoing operation in Karachi. Will it end lawlessness in our financial hub?

AHM: You cannot achieve peace in Karachi unless you go after the causative factors instead of just fighting the symptoms; very little will be achieved by killing a few thugs there. All the mafias operating in Karachi have links with political parities. They work on quid pro quo basis for their political, financial and territorial gains. All the political parties involved there need to sit down and acknowledge the reality and then find a solution. They will have to distance themselves from the elements which foment violence in the city for power and money. They will have to rethink their policies and strategies for enduring peace in Karchi.

TNS: What are the major impediments in normalising relations with India?

AHM: Friendly relations with India are absolutely necessary. The Left has always advocated for talks with India to resolve all the thorny issues that are keeping the peoples of both countries from the potential of socio-economic prosperity in the region. We were called Indo-Soviet lobby by obscurantists when we called for and worked for normal and friendly relations with India. We do not want war with our neighours. We need to resolve all the issues on the negotiating table.

The PML-N government draws its strength from strong industrial and business community of the country. Nawaz Sharif will have to normalise relations with India to tap the potential of trade and commerce. He will have to protect the commercial interests of his power-base, and for that he needs to have an understanding with the Indian government that could keep trade and commercial activities between the two countries going without falling prey to security adventurism and non-state actors.

Foreign investment and industrial growth will remain a dream unless we put our house in order and have peace with our neighbours.

TNS: Where do you see the Pakistani society after 20 years if the status quo continues?

AHM: Twenty years are too long a period; we cannot afford that kind of time to undo the mess. We can’t afford the luxury of wait and see. The government will have to act fast to turn the situation around. Extremism and violence pose a potential threat to the state which needs to be tackled at the earliest; better through talks with Taliban and worse through use of power to establish the writ of the state. Anarchy and chaos will be the fate of this country if the status quo stays.

03.11.2013

Expropriation of ‘our’ Urdu
By Tahir Kamran

Tabitha Spence is a young environmentalist from Texas and married to Ammar Jan from Pakistan, a graduate student at the faculty of History, University of Cambridge. Tabitha’s passion, apart from her profound interest and engagement in environment protection, is the Urdu language. Her prowess in Urdu is remarkable, lacking only the subtleties of the language, which comes after regular practice and reading. She was the part of a group coming to me for instruction in Urdu on a weekly basis.

Then I came to know that she had managed to wangle a scholarship from the USA to learn advanced-level Urdu and that she was, therefore, instructed to go to India. This was a non-negotiable precondition of her funding. Thus, Tabitha was asked to report to ‘Zaban’ (language or tongue), a language institute, which functions under the auspices of American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS). It not only runs courses in Hindi, Brij Bhasha etc. but also in Urdu, Persian, Pashto, Dari and even in Arabic. It is located in Kailash Colony, New Delhi, and has earned an extraordinary reputation for imparting instruction in more than twelve languages to international students, businessmen and, most importantly, State Department personnel.

US citizens make up the largest group at the institute, constituting 34 per cent of the total Urdu learners, followed by the British with 10 per cent. This left me flabbergasted because to me the home of Urdu is my country, Pakistan. I was really nonplussed due to the fact that India has now, besides her supremacy in the realms of politics and economy, started appropriating cultural means and modes, language being central among them.

Indian historians like Mushir-ul-Hasan and Syed Irfan Habib are quite emphatic in asserting that India is the central site for Islamic learning too. Mushir maintains that the belt starting from Mussoorie and going up to Delhi contains seminaries which provide the best education on Ilm-i-Hadith. Islamic education in India is a subject that requires a separate disquisition; therefore, we will confine ourselves to the question of language(s) in this particular piece. Interaction with these students, eager to learn Urdu, prompted me to reflect on the role of Urdu as the epitome of a pluralist socio-cultural ethos.

When I tried to impress upon Tabitha and a couple of others that they should go to Pakistan instead of India to improve their Urdu, the security situation in Pakistan was presented as the main impediment. A country created ostensibly to secure ‘Urdu’ and ‘Islam’ from possible ‘extinction’ seems precariously poised to represent either. Consequently India has attained, whether we like it or not, cultural hegemony not through its own efforts but by our wrong-doing and reckless policies.

Ironically, the way Urdu was appropriated by the state, which did all it could for its promotion as a national language, has in fact worked to the detriment of Urdu as a multi-ethnic and multi-communal vehicle of expression, particularly in North India. Culturally, Urdu was amenable to both Hindus and Sikhs for the expression of their finer sensibilities, at least until partition.

People like Raja Kalyan Singh Ashiq (1752-1821), Raja Raj Kishan Das (1781-1823), Daya Shankar Nasim (1811-1844), followed by luminaries like Ratan Nath Sarshar (1846-1903), Jvala Parshad Barq (1863-1911), Shankar Dayal Farhat (1843-1904), Lala Sri Ram (1875-1930), Master Ram Chandra (1821-1880) and Master Piyare Lal Ashoob are only a few of the many who give the lie to the impression that Urdu caters to the cultural needs of the Muslims only.

Even in Lahore, laureates like Arsh Malisiani, Pandit Hari Chand Akhter, Jamna Das Akhter, Lala Ram Parshad, Deondar Satyarthi, Gopal Mittal and Tilok Chand Mehroom prove that point even further. Krishan Chander and Rajender Singh Bedi’s contribution as prose laureates in Urdu can hardly be overemphasised. And yet, Urdu, after being fomented as a political tool, was divested of it diverse character.

Urdu’s deployment as an instrument of cultural exclusion persisted after Pakistan’s creation as it had fissiparous effect in East Pakistan and tangibly so in Sindh too. The state authorities’ ill-considered policy of forging unity among highly disparate cultural entities through Urdu has made it into an imperialist tool, used relentlessly to muzzle local languages and dialects.

In the current scenario, the divide between Urdu and English has become far too pronounced. Unfortunately, Urdu has been used with impunity to spawn a reactionary ideology. With the virtual demise of the progressive movement of Urdu writers, the language has become a hostage to extreme right-wing ideologues. It is also a great pity that it has not been developed enough to transmit the theories of science, technology or even social sciences. Poetry, journalism or religious literature, heavily punctuated with Arabic and Persian vocabulary, continue to be its salient feature.

Over the decades, it has been subjected to the deluge of words and phrases borrowed from Arabic and Persian, which has impaired its very own character. It would have been far better, had it interacted more with the local languages and dialects than being consigned to the slave-status to Arabic and Persian. One must not have any doubt about these two languages ever imbibing any influence from Urdu. After its international projection has been taken over by India, the new challenge for the fate of Urdu is that its further evolution will be out of bounds for Pakistanis, which will be highly regrettable.

The writer is a noted Pakistani historian, currently the Iqbal Fellow at the University of Cambridge as professor in the Centre of South Asian Studies

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"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

03.11.2013

Citizenship through education
By Irfan Muzaffar

If there is one thing that can bring our country out of the current social, economic, and cultural turmoil, it is a decent education for children from all households irrespective of the current social and economic status of their households. You do not need to look toward research-based evidence to support this contention. Just reflect on the role of education in your own life and in the development and progress of the people you know. Even after you factor in the contribution of social and familial backgrounds to people’s success you will still not be able to ignore the returns on the investments that parents made in good education of their children.

We have numerous personal stories of how education has changed the lives of individuals. Yet, on the societal level all we have is a saga of persistent failure in education. Why is it that our individual experiences of the importance of education are never translated into a national narrative of a whole-hearted support for universal education? In today’s article, I attempt to think through this failure in terms of state’s lack of reliance on citizenship, and a consequent deficit of its stake in education. In simple words, I am not sure if Pakistan, collectively speaking, relies on production of good citizenship values through education as a cornerstone of peace and security.

My basic premise in this brief argument is that citizenship is not a natural endowment and must be cultivated through education. Once cultivated, it plays a central role in establishing the writ and the jurisdiction of the state. While in the past the writ of the sovereign was established through the use of brute force, this is no longer the case. Education must play a role in developing a productive relationship between the individuals and the state.

But in Pakistan, where millions of children do not go to schools where they could be educated into citizenry, the use of the term citizen rings hollow. The process of nation building is but the process of development of citizens. In other words, it rests directly on citizenship education for all children. The education is not merely developing the ability to read and write [literacy] but about cultivation of some core shared values. How could our leaders fail to recognize this? I do not assume that they are stupid. In fact, we can understand this failure in terms of a lack of a reliance on cultivation of good citizenship and more use of force as a strategy of government. It mistakenly assumed that everyone born within the marked off boundaries of Pakistan was naturally endowed with the membership of an imagined community called Pakistani nation.

Briefly speaking, the concept of citizen in the modern discourse is independent of such entanglements as religion, ethnicity, and socio-economic status. A state that subscribes to such a notion of citizenship is simply blind to these categories and, therefore, cannot discriminate between its citizens on the basis of any of the above-mentioned characteristics. Now you do not ordinarily interact with people devoid of these characteristics. That is to say, the individuals usually have a religion, belong to one or the other ethnic group, and come with different levels of financial worth. Yet, when it comes to dispensing justice and other public goods, the citizens are regarded as similar beings, with same rights and responsibilities towards each other and the state.

Since these notions of the citizenship, the state, and the mutual relationship between the citizens and state are not a fact of nature, they are made available to children through the process of education. We all know that development of good citizenship is one of the central purposes of education. Since good citizenship is needed by the state for its own preservation, it has naturally developed a powerful stake in education and production of citizens has been offered as a central justification for the involvement of state in financing and provision of mass education systems.

One reason that education indicators for Pakistan remain dwindling has to do largely with lack of Pakistan reliance on the development of good citizenship for its preservation. This lack of commitment to citizenship is compounded by conflicts about the meaning of citizenship itself. The lack of consensus is evident in the heated debates about what it means to be a Pakistani citizen between zealots in both the liberal and the conservative camps. When the state does not value citizenship, and when the society is confused about its meaning, the value of education also recedes into the private sphere.

A robust public system of education would respond to the interests of the state in development of good citizenship as well as to the individuals’ goals of social mobility. But when state foregoes its stake, it sees no real reason for investing in education. The emergence of a huge private school market, therefore, is an indication of this critical state’s failure, or shall we say state’s choice.

Some of you will remind me that I am wrong and that Pakistan’s commitment to education is enshrined in its constitution under which the state must provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of 5-16 years. But this talk of constitutional right to education (RTE) when measured against actual policy suggests that most of this endorsement remains rhetorical in nature. On one hand Pakistan declares education free and compulsory and on the other it encourages development of a for profit private school market with impunity. How can education be declared free and compulsory by the state and yet be exchanged as a private good in a free market? There is thus a contradiction between the state’s constitutional commitments and its actual policy.

Let us for a moment buy into the argument that Pakistan does not have the resource to run a massive system of education and that private sector should play a larger role in sharing the burden. But then why indulge in a political rhetoric of inalienable right to education. The rights are not bought and sold in a market place.

I am surprised that this contradiction between the rights based language and market-oriented policies is not picked up even by the advocates of the RTE. The multilateral and bilateral supporters of Pakistan’s education sector are also encouraging the involvement of private sector in education by a variety of schemes including provision of easy loans to the private school entrepreneurs and limited education voucher schemes. All of this is happening regardless of the fact that Pakistan’s constitution guarantees free and compulsory education. Is this governmental and development partners’ support to private entrepreneurs not contrary to the constitutional promises?

Those who think there is nothing alarming about a virtual takeover of education by private entrepreneurs should appreciate that there must be a reason that even the flag carrier of the free market capitalism, the US, behaves as a socialist country when it comes to education. It continues to support a public school system financed and provided largely by the state and the district governments. Public financing and provision of education for all children has been an integral feature of most liberal democracies. Those societies recognized that unfettered markets could destroy the fabric of the very society in which they were grounded. The markets needed public education and other public services to save them from themselves.

But we have apparently left the bastions of capitalism far behind us when it comes to marketising the delivery of most basic of the public services. We want to universalise education at all costs but by undermining our own constitutional promise for free and compulsory education for all children. A highly inequitable marketplace of education where haves would remain at an advantage because of their capacity to buy a better education and where the have-nots will be consigned to the low quality schools that their parents can afford. The public education system will continue to dwindle due to apparent lack of resources and exit of students to private schools.

Where do we go from here? There is no easy way forward. But first and foremost the state must recognize the stake it must have in education. Second, it must be able to pay for education through taxation and public private partnerships and should not begin to rely on foreign donors on paying for the education of Pakistani children. Whether education is provided by the state or through a private entrepreneur, for the constitutional promise to be met, it must be free at the point of service. Otherwise, the rhetoric of free and compulsory education will continue to ring hollow.

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"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

03.11.2013

A lesson in corruption
With a corrupt education system in place, how can we expect the upcoming generation to be honest and honourable?
By Rasheed Ali

When Aarish Ali left home for examination hall that day, he was quite satisfied and happy. He was going to appear in matriculation ‘practical’ examination of Chemistry subject. Being a regular student of a reputed school system at Wahdat Road, Lahore, he had gone through the process for a number of times. Therefore, he was confident that he would successfully demonstrate to his invigilator his practical skills and would be able to secure A-plus marks. He was a brilliant student of his school and was quite hopeful of maintaining his above 90-percentage, he had secured in his 9th grade examination.

However, he received the first shock of the day when the invigilator asked one of his class fellows taking the practical examination on the next table to give him “mithaai” (a terminology used for seeking bribe), as merely good demonstration wouldn’t guarantee good marks. The guy was intelligent enough, as he immediately handed over the invigilator a 500-rupee note.

And then it became a precedent. Every student, after demonstration, would take out some currency notes from his pocket to grease the invigilator’s palm. The bigger the amount the higher the marks, almost all of them knew it well.

Aarish Ali had become really upset. However, he gave the best possible demonstration, as he knew it well he had nothing to offer to the invigilator as far as money was concerned. The invigilator casually looked at Aarish Ali trying his best to satisfy him. As soon as he finished demonstration, the invigilator extended his palm for the “good-marks guarantee card”, as usual. The young sensitive boy was voiceless for a moment. In the presence of all his class fellows, he was finding it really hard to “confess to his crime” of having no money at all to offer to the invigilator.

Swallowing hard and trying to wet his dry throat, Aarish told the “long arm of the practical examination at that moment” that he had only 15 rupees, given to him by his mother to return home by a Qingqi (motorcycle rickshaw) after the exam.

The reply infuriated the invigilator to the highest degree. “Don’t you worry, I’ll give you 15 more when you leave this hall,” the invigilator said, literally heaping scorn on the young boy. All other students present in the room were also looking at Aarish Ali, some sympathetically, and others contemptuously.

“Now sit in that corner and pray that God make me have mercy on you, so that I give you passing marks,” the invigilator ordered him ridiculously.

Confused young boy moved to the corner and sat there on a chair sheepishly for a while. The invigilator got busy with another student, making him heave a sigh of relief. He switched on his cell phone and informed her mother through two, three text messages that the invigilator was asking for bribe, and he may fail him in the practical examination.

Aarish was lucky that one of his maternal uncles was serving as a deputy secretary in the Education Department in those days. He came to the rescue of the young boy after coming to know about the situation from his sister. A telephone call from the officer to the head of the said institution not only saved Aarish Ali from the wrath of the invigilator but also helped him secure good marks in that exam.

However, all students are not lucky enough to have serving uncles at the Education Department. Therefore, in most of such cases either they have to grease the palms of invigilators to secure good grades or be deprived of them, no matter how much hard work they have put in for the purpose.

You ask any student about the use of unfair means in exams and the role of invigilators, especially in small cities and town of Punjab, interior Sindh, Balochistan and parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and you will come to know innumerable stories. At a number of examination centres, they would reveal, the invigilators would sit at doors and play the role of guards against any checking, after fleecing 500 to 1,000 rupees from each student.

Corruption is not limited only to the examination system. Like all other sections of society and sectors of the country, corruption and malpractices are prevalent in all departments of the education sector. During the past three years, thousands of ghost schools were detected, once again, by the government authorities.

An official report, published by various newspapers in July 2013, revealed that there are 6,721 non-functional government schools in the 27 districts of Sindh. Of them 4,540 are non-operational and 2,181 ghost schools. The report, got prepared by the Sindh High Court, was based on inspections carried out by the district and sessions judges across the province under the directives of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The apex court, in 2011, barred the government from closing down a community school after it heard of thousands of “education buildings left empty or used as stables, police stations or for anything but teaching. The same year, the Supreme Court heard the case of 66 billion rupees levied in a special education tax between 1985 to 1995, but never used for schools.

This is a pity that despite multiple federal government programmes and 1.97 billion dollars received from 18 foreign donors between 1997 and 2012, the literacy rate in Pakistan has barely improved. In 1998, the last time a census was conducted, 42.7 per cent of Pakistanis had received education. The rate has risen only slightly to an estimated 46 per cent today.

The major reason behind this failure has been corruption, found in the department from top to bottom. Candidates have to pay bribes to become teachers; they have to pay bribes for their postings and transfers, and even for promotions. And, in reaction, they don’t waste any opportunity of making money whenever and wherever they get a chance.

In 2013, the Transparency International found in its Global Corruption Barometer that 43 per cent of Pakistanis surveyed saw the education system as corrupt or highly corrupt. More than 15,000 government schools in Pakistan suffer from quality problems and rampant corruption, the report said. With a corrupt education system in place, how can we expect the upcoming generation to be honest and honourable? We will have to purge our education of all kinds of corruption first of all if we want to establish an honest and progressive society.

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"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

10.11.2013

Bracing for closure
For enduring peace between India and Pakistan, a Truth and
Reconciliation Commission should be set up to reconcile the Punjabis across the border
By Ali Usman Qasmi

Much has been written about the partition of India and the trauma of violence and displacement resulting from it. The worst affected region of British India in terms of human casualties was the Punjab. Not only was Punjab partitioned, it also suffered from mass exodus of Muslims from East Punjab and that of Hindus and Sikhs from West Punjab. This suddenly ruptured the link of the people with a thousand year shared history and composite culture.

Despite such catastrophic developments, the Punjabis from both sides of the border do not seem to come forward and confront the violence episodic change which took place in 1947. There have now been numerous accounts of partition stories. These are individual accounts and reminiscences of the days gone by, nostalgic recounting of life in pre-partition Punjab and the violence which changed these individual and family lives.

What I propose in this article is the idea of setting up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Punjab. This idea is not a novel one — especially in the South Asian context. It has been proposed by proponents of peace between India and Pakistan. It has been suggested that both the countries should admit of their failures and atrocities of the past and work towards a lasting peace which can be beneficial for the entire region. My focus is a narrower one. I only propose such a commission for the Punjab.

This particular commission should be an informal one and serve as a reconciliatory forum for the Punjabis of India and Pakistan. It should provide a platform where Punjabis must confess to atrocities committed in 1947. There will be those who actually committed those atrocities and those who may not have had any direct role in those crimes but feel a moral obligation to atone for the sins and wrongs of the past. The governments would have nothing to do with it. In fact the modalities of such a commission can be worked out later by those who are better qualified to talk about such issues and arranging of platforms which focus on people to people contact.

It is, however, more important to justify the necessity of such a commission.

Is the memory of partition and its violence still relevant?

Many people believe that the ‘refugee experience’ has now become irrelevant. The Punjabis affected by the partition have moved on. They have been absorbed within their host societies. They are no longer referred to as muhajir and sharnarthi. In the case of Punjab, the ‘absorption’ was easier because theirs was an internal migration from one part of Punjab to another. More importantly, it is believed that the bloodshed of partition and the trauma it caused does not reflect in the bitterness in interactions – limited as they may be – between Indian and Pakistani Punjabis. I would take a different position on this.

The Punjabis from the refugee families continue to be haunted by the memory of partition. I was once told by Dr Tahir Kamran – a noted historian – that on a visit to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad to submit visa application, he came across an old man who was pleading to the visa officials to grant him visa for Indian Punjab. He, instead, had been given a visa to visit Delhi and Agra. The old man lambasted that he did not have any desire to see Taj Mahal; he only wanted to visit his ancestral village one last time before his death. I am sure that there are thousands of such individuals living in India as well who have to suffer in a similar fashion because of the trust deficit between the two governments.

I am also one such ‘victim’. My family – both from my father and mother’s side – migrated from Amritsar. My father and mother were born in Amritsar and were infants at the time of partition and their migration from Amritsar to different parts of Western Punjab before settling down in Lahore. I was born and raised in Lahore. But being an Amritsari is still a very strong aspect of my family’s collective identity and memory.

I have grown up listening to my elders (includes my parents and my maternal and paternal aunts) talk about Amritsar. I have been told by my father that my grandmother (she died years before I was born) used to miss “the way it rained in Amritsar as it does not rain the same way here”. My maternal aunt told me about the marriage of my maternal grandparents which took place in Amritsar. At the time they were forced to leave, my maternal grandparents glanced one last time at the showcase with all the crockery and dinner set which had come as part of the dowry. Someone from the family suggested that this should be smashed into pieces so that the ‘Hindu and Sikh plunderers’ cannot use it. But my grandparents could not just do this!

Again, there must be plenty of even more heartrending stories from the other side of Punjab as well where Hindu and Sikh families would have passed on stories about how the fear of ‘Muslim plunderers’ deprived them of their cherished possessions and, may be, poignant memories associated with those possessions.

Apart from its relevance in individual lives, the experience of migration continues to be relevant in the political arena as well. Dr Elisabetta Iob’s doctoral dissertation on the rehabilitation of refugees looks at the continuity of partition experiences at different microcosmic social and political levels. The ‘refugee’ as a category ceased to exist in census figures from 1960 onwards. It was thought that General Azam Khan’s efforts at rehabilitating the refugees have been successful and that the ‘refugee problem’ has been solved.

While it is true that members of the erstwhile refugees no longer recognise or identify themselves as refugees anymore (or at least in the same way as it has become a loaded political term in the urban politics of Sindh), it does not mean that this term with its long history has slipped away completely. Part of Dr Iob’s work charts the relevance of ‘refugee identity’ in the contemporary politics of Punjab. It might come as a surprise for many that that the PML faction led by Nawaz Sharif – especially in central Punjab – largely comprises of leaders whose background is that of a refugee family. In this sense, he does not only represent and safeguard the interests of a Kashmiri Amritisari migrant community (in addition to trading interests) but migrants from East Punjab in general.

The emotional scars of the partition have not healed either. It can be argued that it is not just violence which begets violence but also the memory of violence. This needs to be modified by using Elisabetta Iob’s words that it is not the memory of violence which generates violence; it is the practice of international relations at grassroots level which does that. So, for example, it is no coincidence that some of the most militant organisations in India and Pakistan are led by members of refugee families. Arundhati Roy once gave the example of A. K. Advani and Hafiz Asad Saeed — the former from Karachi and later from Simla. Similarly, leading members of Sipah Sahaba — such as Azam Tariq and Zia-ur-Rehman Faruqi — were from migrant families. It can — at least partially — be attributed to their upbringing in families which had experienced violence during the partition and had passed on these experiences and memories to their later generations.

But then, on the other hand, leading proponents of peace are from migrant families as well. The major breakthrough in India Pakistan relations was achieved when Nawaz Sharif and Indar Kumar Gujral were prime ministers. Again, in this case too it can be argued that the impulse for peace is partially derived from the experience of partition and the suffering it caused. I am sure the Sharifs have grown up listening to stories about their ancestral village of Jati Umrah and the deep longing their father must have had to visit it and, hence, realised the need for taking people out of such misery and facilitating their visits.

Whether it is in its manifestation in the form of militancy or drive for peace, the experience of partition has not wholly become irrelevant.

I am not trying to argue for a generally applicable theory. There are a host of factors which have shaped the emergence of different kinds of violence in South Asia and it will be naïve to singularly point out one particular aspect. But at the same time it will be equally naïve to suppose that the ‘refugee problem’ has ceased to exist. The ‘refugee problem’ was caused by many factors and it was reflected (and continues to be reflected) in many different ways.

Without any doubt the whole experience of witnessing mass murder – especially those of loved ones – abduction of women, loot and plunder of properties and forced evacuation under fearful circumstances left the most painful scars on the minds of successive generations. But there was, I believe, a deeper sense of disappointment and disillusionment as well. The Punjabis shared the same land and neighbourhood for many centuries; they shared the same cultural habitat and spoke the same language; they even celebrated the same religio-cultural festivals. And yet this was not enough to ensure a peaceful, harmonious co-existence or to allow for transfer of population to take place without such massive human suffering.

In oral narratives so assiduously collected by Ishtiaq Ahmed in ‘Punjab Bloodied, Partitioned and Cleansed’, one can clearly see the deep emotional link which the victims still feel with their erstwhile neighbours and friends. They have such strong bonds with them that despite all that has happened, they do not want to recognise or blame these old friends as the ones responsible for violence. In most of these accounts, the victims have reported that the killers or looters came from the outside and that the immediate neighbours were not involved in such acts.

I wonder if this is some way for the victims to cope with the barbarous acts of those who shared their language, culture and customs.

These lingering memories of violence, bloodshed, trauma and disappointment have been responsible for manipulation by rival states to use it for furthering enmity between the people. In order to take this away from them, there needs to be a closure. The truth and reconciliation commission will provide such a closure.

How would the commission work?

I want the Punjabis living on both sides (leave the governments aside) to form a commission and set it as a platform where people confess to their violent and shameful acts at the time of partition and apologise for it. The number of people who witnessed partition may not be numerous. Even lesser would be the number of people who actually committed such acts and are willing to come forward and confess. Part of the job will be to convince those involved that what they did could not be justified under the garb of retaliation or revenge killings.

Thanks to Ilyas Chattha’s excellent work, it has been possible to identify locations where most violent killings took place in Western Punjab. Chattha uncovered First Investigation Reports (FIRs) from different police stations in Lahore and Gujranwala. Chattha has particularly focused on the Lohar community of Gujranwala.

He, in fact, interviewed dozens of offenders a couple of years back and recorded their accounts. They admitted to various acts of loot and plunder. But interestingly no one confessed to any crime relating to rape or abduction of women. As pointed out by Andrew Whitehead in a recent lecture, one finds people admitting even to mass murder but not to sexual crimes for some reason. This evidence can be collected from the Indian Punjab as well.

There cannot be any sanction of international law for such a commission to be setup. The idea is not to penalise anyone. Only the literati tried to atone for these sins by penning short stories and poetry about this human catastrophe. But the common folk who suffered and who also carried out such brutal acts have kept quiet. It is time to rectify this. This initiative has to come from the people.

Without this healing process, I do not think there can be any enduring peace between India and Pakistan.

The Author teaches at LUMS and tweets @AU_Qasmi

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"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

10.11.2013

Past Recast
Iqbal and the spirit of dynamism
By Tahir Kamran

Iqbal’s ubiquity in the intellectual milieu of contemporary Pakistan punctuates the collective thought process and finds articulation most prominently in public discourse, textbooks and media. Along with Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Iqbal is the person most commonly written about. Not only have some institutions been set up to foster research on various dimensions of his ‘multi-faceted personality and multi-layered thought’, but also a separate discipline by the name of Iqbaliat (Iqbal Studies) has been established in some of the country’s finest institutions.

Iqbal is indeed a towering figure and this hyper-real treatment has made him appear even bigger. The figures imbued with religious zeal as well as those privileging rationality over religion quote him with equal fervour and zest. Shaikh Muhammad Ikram, a renowned scholar of Muslim History in South Asia, underscores in his typical style: “Iqbal was a product of conflicting forces, and advanced Muslim socialists as well as reactionaries of the deepest dye can find verses in his works to support their conflicting ideologies”. This indeed reflects how divergent strands of thinking found confluence in Iqbal’s poetry and thought, making it incredibly rich and profound in its epistemic formulation.

Hence, Iqbal is relevant even today beyond the national border of Pakistan. Javed Majeed points to his popularity in Iran where the spiritual leader Khamenai has made Iqbal’s poem compulsory for young students. Similarly, Iqbal’s contributions as a Muslim thinker have made his thoughts and poetry a favoured subject of scholarly inquiry in France. All this attention is because in his thought, ideas from west and east are synthesised in such a way that one still feels in them a strong ring of originality.

Despite the many different phases in his evolution as a poet and a thinker, Iqbal spurned tassawwuf (mysticism) as he failed to find any solid historical foundation in original Islam. His long Persian poem ‘Israr-i-Khudi’ (Secrets of the Self), published in 1915, condemned tasawwuf as effete and enervating.

He, nevertheless, drew heavily on Fakharuddin Iraqi and Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi to build his own edifice of thought which featured quite prominently in his poetry as well as his prose.

One wonders, however, without tassawwuf, any worthwhile poetic expression is at all possible?

As a result of Lahore Mushairas (1874), organised by Muhammad Hussain Azad and Col. Holroyd, the era of Nazm (poem) was ushered in — in antagonism to the more traditional form of poetry epitomised by the genre of Ghazal. Nazm was subsequently perfected, particularly as a form of poetry deployed most effectively as a protest against political and social injustice. Thus Iqbal was amenable to the modernist trends in poetry and prose.

At the outset, he composed poems for the literary magazine Makhzan, which he occasionally read at the annual gatherings of Anjuman-i-Himayat-i-Islam — an influential Lahore-based organisation which aimed, among other things, to spread modern education among Muslims. In the first phase of his poetry, he composed such poems as ‘Taswir-i-Dard’ (Picture of Grief), ‘Naya Shiwala’ (The New Temple) and ‘Tarana-i-Hindi’ (The Indian Anthem), the titles of which are suggestive of Iqbal’s infatuation with nationalism and pantheism which lasted until 1905 when he left to study at Cambridge.

Iqbal’s life, thought and work was continually evolving and did not stagnate. Dynamism, therefore, is the central postulate of his thought — something that we need to practically adopt as a nation.

Evolution in thought is the only recipe for sustenance and growth in the contemporary world, which is fast changing. And that is exactly what Iqbal emphasised forcefully in ‘Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam’, in a chapter titled, ‘The Spirit of Muslim Culture’.

S.M. Ikram alludes to this aspect of Iqbal by stating that “his was a vigorous mind, untrammelled by convention, and facing forwards rather than backwards”. He refers to a “fundamental fact” that had not been taken into account by many of “his so-called admirers”, which was his conception of Islam as “dynamic rather than static.”

Iqbal claimed quite decisively: “it would not be Islam if the truths it enunciated were not ‘living’ enough to be capable of adjustment to varying circumstances”. That probably was the reason Maulvi Deedar Ali Alori, the Khatib of Masjid Wazir Khan, Lahore and the founder of Markazi Anjuman-i-Hizb-i-Ahnaf issued a fatwa whereby he was denunciated as kafir.

Iqbal, in his thoughts, had tried with scholarly zeal to strike a balance between the traditional Islam advocated by Deoband, Darul-uloom Nadwatul Ulama and suchlike, and the Modernist Islam epitomised and projected by the Aligarh Movement of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. The careful perusal of ‘The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam’ which, according to Iqbal’s son Dr Javed Iqbal, is a far more important source for the study on Iqbal’s thoughts than his poetry, reveals not only the very strong imprints of Pan-Islamism but also a rigorous rationalist streak.

In his analysis of Muslim decline, Iqbal invoked the thoughts of Al Iraqi, Rumi and other luminaries of medieval Perso-Arabic background to underpin his own scholastic thoughts and then weld them together with Western philosophical traditions.

Apart from the rationality that he employed to appraise the state of contemporary Muslims, Iqbal did not overlook Jamaluddin Afghani. On the one hand, he lamented the deplorable plight of the Indian Muslims, on the other the whole Muslim community (umma) was his reference point, thus partaking in the Pan-Islamism of Afghani.

With the aid of modernist analytical tools, he aimed to understand those values of ‘tradition’ that did not correspond with the reigning political and social dispensation, with the primary aim of rejuvenating them. That probably is the reason that Ali Abbas Jalalpuri, in his book ‘Iqbal ka Ilm-i-Kalam’, calls him a mutakallim (scholar) rather than a philosopher, which runs contrary to his presentation as a poet-philosopher by the Pakistani state.

Irrespective of how Iqbal is perceived, the fact is he stands out in solitary splendour vis-à-vis his predecessors and contemporaries alike because he employed a modern philosophical idiom and problematised the condition of Muslims in the light of Whitehead, Kant, Hegel and Nietzsche.

Thus Iqbal, with his unflinching belief in dynamism, was a progressive and forward-looking luminary. Remorsefully, he and his ideas, and particularly his poetry, have been taken hostage by the agents of regression, which is the most unfortunate thing that could ever happen to the legacy of Iqbal and his multi-faceted genius.

The writer is a noted Pakistani historian, currently the Iqbal Fellow at the University of Cambridge as professor in the Centre of South Asian Studies

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"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

10.11.2013

Energy mismanagement
Though blessed with plentiful of resources for obtaining
energy at affordable cost, Pakistan is still finding it hard to meet the ever-growing energy needs. Why?
By Alauddin Masod

Pakistan’s energy sector is in serious crisis, cautions the World Bank. Power shortages not only hurt the country’s industrial, commercial and human needs, these are also causing an estimated annual loss of Rs450 billion (around two per cent of GDP) to its economy.

Talking of power sector’s incompetence, in its October report, the World Bank said: Twelve per cent of electricity bills, involving nearly US$1 billion (Rs105 billion), is not collected. The haunting phenomenon of circular debt would re-emerge if the underlying cause of inefficient system is not resolved. Key challenges in the power sector include: large and growing energy shortages, high energy costs and inefficiencies that prevent it from financing all of its costs. Not only there is a growing mismatch between production and demand which causes huge loss to the economy, the cost of generating energy has also risen due to changes in the supply mix. In the 1990s, energy generation was a mix of two-thirds hydro and one-third thermal. Today, the mix is only 30 per cent hydro and 70 per cent thermal.”

There cannot be two opinions that energy deficit, in particular electricity and gas load-shedding, figures high amongst major challenges haunting Pakistan, bringing to the fore the dire need to tackle this issue on a war footing. When the issue of energy shortage cropped up in late 1990s, the State minions tried to resolve it by opting for furnace oil/gas fired thermal power units because these required less time for commissioning as compared to hydro, nuclear or other sources of cheap energy.

As electricity from furnace oil is costly, continuous reliance on this source has created a host of problems, negatively impacting the national economy due to heavy drain on foreign exchange, ever-swelling circular debt and constant increase in electricity tariff, making the country’s products uncompetitive in the global market. Thus, the need for producing power through affordable sources, like coal (whether imported or indigenous), hydro, solar, wind, nuclear, bio-fuels, etc.

The nature has blessed Pakistan with plentiful of resources for obtaining energy at affordable cost but, unfortunately, we have not been able to exploit them adequately for meeting our ever-growing energy needs. Though coal, gold, copper and stone deposits were discovered decades ago, Pakistan’s mining and quarrying sector continues to depict a dismal growth due to lack of dedicated and focused approach.

Furthermore, Pakistan figures amongst those energy deficit countries which have the potential to augment their indigenous production of oil and gas, but whose energy resources remain inadequately tapped for want of commitment, planning and resources to undertake this vital task. According to experts, Pakistan has gas reserves of 32 trillion cubic feet but, till recently, these were not being fully exploited due to ill-planning and muddle-headed approach of the concerned agencies.

Presently, Pakistan is producing 87,000 barrels of oil and 3,950 million cubic feet of gas per day against the country’s daily requirement of about 450,000 barrels of oil and 5,900 million cubic feet of gas. In other words, currently, the country is facing a daily shortfall of about 360,000 barrels of oil and 1,950 million cubic feet of gas. The shortfall of gas is projected to increase to four billion cubic feet per day by 2025, if new gas fields are not discovered and added to the national network.

The authorities have not been able to make any alternate arrangements for meeting the gas shortfall. Their apathy is causing tremendous losses to the nation and the country. According to Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Pakistan suffers a mammoth $2 billion loss every year due to its failure to import liquefied natural gas (LNG). Probably, the loss would be higher if it was calculated in terms of taxation and impact on the business due to the non-availability of gas, he added. The government is now reportedly planning to drill 110 wells, during the current fiscal year, to increase the indigenous production of gas.

With a total coal reserves at 195 billion tons, Pakistan is the sixth largest coal rich country in the world. The aggregate energy potential of Pakistan’s coal reserves is stated to be more than the combined energy potential of the resources that Saudi Arabia and Iran possess. And yet, we spend about US$ 16 billion on oil imports. The estimated value of Thar coal deposits, according to Engineering Development Board’s monthly magazine “Industrial Bulletin” (June 2008) is “$ 8 trillion and if converted into energy its value comes to $ 25 trillion. It has the potential to generate 100,000 MW of electricity for 300 years.” In addition to Thar, the country possesses some 20 billion tons of coal reserves in other regions of the country as well.

Globally, coal is providing 26 per cent primary energy and over 40 per cent electricity; while the share of gas, hydro, nuclear, oil and renewable sources is 21 per cent, 16 per cent, 13 per cent, five per cent and three per cent respectively. On the contrary, Pakistan produces 36 per cent of its electricity from oil (one of the most expensive sources), 29 per cent from gas and 29 per cent from hydro. Coal has gained special importance due to the growing concerns for energy security prompted by apprehensions about fast depletion of the known resources of energy.

Currently, South Africa is the world’s largest producer of electricity from coal, accounting for 93 per cent of its total energy requirement. Other top producers of electricity from coal include: Poland 87 per cent, China 79 per cent, Australia 78 per cent, Kazakhstan 75 per cent, India 68 per cent, USA 60 per cent, Israel 58 per cent, Greece 54 per cent, Czech Republic 51 per cent, Morocco 51 per cent and Germany 41 per cent.

Though already meeting most of its energy requirement from coal, China is now turning its vast coal reserves into barrels of oil at Erdos (Inner Mongolia) where it has set up the biggest coal-to-liquid (CTL) plant outside South Africa. This plant has the capacity to convert 3.5 million tons of coal into one million tons of oil products, like diesel, per year, for use in automobiles. The production of the plant, in other words, would be equivalent to about 20,000 barrels per day of oil. By 2020, China plans to raise its CTL capacity to 50 million tons or 286,000 barrels a day.

Developed about 100 years ago, the fuel produced through CTL technology has a shelf life of 15 years. But, it has been little used, except in Nazi Germany and the apartheid South Africa, which had difficulty in getting oil supplies. Now, apprehensions about depletion of known energy resources and rise in oil prices have revived interest of coal-rich countries in CTL technology. Realising the importance of coal in development, many countries are now switching over to coal to meet their energy requirements. Indonesia and UK are among those countries that have already set up coal-based power plants.

Though found in abundance in most parts of the world, the use of coal as an alternate source of energy in the developing countries has been downplayed by powerful lobbies who do not wish to see coal as a substitute of oil that their principals sell. Resultantly, the share of coal in the energy mix of many developing countries remains very low.

In view of the uncertainty surrounding the price of oil and the tremendous amounts of foreign exchange involved in the import of oil, the authorities need to engage in serious efforts to make optimum use of coal as an alternate source of fuel because it offers a great potential for producing electricity and diesel and thus turning the wheel of economy.

Jatropha plant, according to the Renewable and Alternative Energy Association of Pakistan (REAP), also provides a cheap solution to the energy challenges faced by the country. REAP’s Bio-Diesel Coordinator, Tauseef Iqbal, says that cultivation of Jatropha on one acre of land could produce over 2,000-2,500 litre bio-diesel besides value-added products like methane gas, glycerine and natural fertilizer. Over 100 countries, including USA, Brazil, Australia, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, India and China have been cultivating jatropha plant. Even some airlines, it is claimed, have conducted successful experiments of flying aeroplanes with the diesel produced from the jatropha seeds. Pakistan Agricultural Research Council and Pakistan Council for Scientific Research need to study the feasibility of adopting this plant for mass production of bio-diesel.

The writer is a freelance columnist based at Islamabad:alauddinmasood@gmail.com

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"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

10.11.2013

Forgotten promises
Only a political struggle having support of progressive forces, media and civil society can guarantee equitable distribution of wealth and resources as envisaged in the Constitution
By Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq

“The State shall ensure the elimination of all forms of exploitation and the gradual fulfilment of the fundamental principle, from each according to his ability to each according to his work”—Article 3, 1973 Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan

For the last three decades, the State has failed to fulfill a promise that is lying dormant — now almost deadwood — in the supreme law of the land. Tragically, all the economic policies, adopted by the military and civilian rules alike, since the insertion of this principle in the 1973 Constitution, have been diametrically opposite — promoting, protecting and cementing the interests of the exploitative classes.

This Land of the Pure has, undoubtedly, nurtured an extremely exploitative socio-economic system, which has gained strength with the passage of time. Adding insult to injury, the apex court in 1990 held that land reforms were “un-Islamic”. Various kinds of repressions, coupled with cruelest means of economic exploitation by the ruling elites, are in vogue in Pakistan, denying citizens their right to a decent life.

The motto ‘from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs,’ though has its roots in the New Testament [4:32-35: The Believers Share Their Possessions], was popularised by Karl Marx in his 1875 Critique of the Gotha Programme. The phrase enunciates the principles that, under an ideal system, every person should contribute to society to the best of his or her ability and consume from society in proportion to his or her needs. Fusing this Marxist ideology into ‘Islamic Socialism’, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the early part of his politics — later he became an instrument in the hands of ruling classes — promised in the Constitution, “from each according to his ability to each according to his work.” In fact, he followed the USSR (now erstwhile) where the ruling communist party claimed that at a lower stage of communism (socialism) in line with Marx’s arguments, it should be “From each according to his ability, to each according to his work (labour/investment).”

Obviously, Karl Marx had specific conditions in mind for such a creed to work —a society where technology and social organisation had substantially eliminated the need for physical labour in the production of things, where “labour has become not only a means of life but life’s prime want.” Marx explained his belief that, in such a society, each person would be motivated to work for the good of society despite the absence of a social mechanism compelling them to work, because work would have become a pleasurable and creative activity. Marx intended the initial part of his slogan, “from each according to his ability” to suggest not merely that each person should work as hard as they can, but that each person should best develop his particular talents.

Many students ask us: “Is the Constitutional command of gradual elimination of all forms of exploitation legally enforceable”? Many naively believe that a petition should be filed in Supreme Court asking the government to act upon it. Those who are realists remind them that the apex court has even failed to get its decisions on price-hikes implemented and that the independence of judiciary is just a myth. Pakistan is ruled by a trio — militro-judicial-civil complex, businessmen-turned-politicians and landed aristocracy.

The privileged classes protect and perpetuate exploitation of the poor. Judiciary in Pakistan has been playing in the hands of mighty classes. In the case of Qazalbash Waqf v. Chief Land Commissioner, Punjab and others (PLD 1990 SC 99), the Shariat Appellate Bench of Supreme Court confirmed the decision of Shariat Court, established by Ziaul Haq, quashing the progressive land reforms laws as repugnant to the Quran and Sunnah. Presently, a nine-member bench of the apex court is hearing a review petition, filed by Workers’ Party, National Party, Kissan Committee and others, against the said decision. As expected, the regressive ruling party (PML-N) through Advocate General of Punjab has opposed the review petition. From the side of landowners, head of their organisation Shah Mahmood Qureshi, leader of so-called party of change (sic) PTI, has hired an expensive lawyer, who claims to be amongst the framers of 1973 Constitution!

Progressive forces, many critics say, have a wishful thinking that in the review petition to be heard on November 12, 2013, the Supreme Court may undo its earlier judgement in Qazalbash Waqf case. If it happens, it would be a great victory for progressive forces and landless tillers — the outgoing Chief Justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, would then become a true hero of the downtrodden. But Marx observes that all State organs protect the interests of the ruling classes and judiciary is no exception.

The Anglo-Saxon law that our judiciary practices and protects guarantees private property and exploitation of the have-nots. Judiciary is not a revolutionary party; it is nothing but a product of the existing socio-economic system. Hence, it would be unfair to demand from this organ of the State, any revolutionary decision. They played the most undesirable role of undoing progressive lands reforms confirming that political struggle by a revolutionary mass-based party alone can implement Article 3 of the Constitution.

Pakistan needs a grand alliance of progressive parties and groups that wins the mandate of masses to change the present economic system, which is highly unjust and oppressive. It protects establishment and exploitative classes that have monopoly over economic resources. The present parties are not even sincere with democracy as they lack the will to tax privileged classes. The poor are paying exorbitant indirect taxes even on essential commodities of everyday use, but the mighty sections of society — big absentee landowners, industrialists, generals and bureaucrats — are paying no wealth tax/income tax on their colossal assets/incomes.

The gigantic and useless government apparatus — doing nothing for public welfare — is also busy in looting the wealth of the nation and wasting whatever taxes are collected. The army of ministers, state ministers, advisers, consultants, high-ranking government servants (sic) is not willing to give up unprecedented perquisites and privileges. They are not ready to live like common men by surrendering the luxury they are enjoying at the cost of taxpayers’ money.

The mighty sections of society defy Article 3 of the Constitution with impunity. An unholy anti-people alliance of trio of indomitable civil-military bureaucrats, corrupt and inefficient politicians and greedy businessmen, controlling and enjoying at least 90 per cent of the State resources is contributing less than 2 per cent in national revenue collection. It will be living in fool’s paradise to expect them to implement Article 3 of Constitution. Making Pakistan a State in consonance with the principle embodied in Article 3 requires political struggle under a mass-based front having support of progressive forces, media and civil society. Such campaign alone can guarantee equitable distribution of wealth and resources as envisaged in the Constitution.

The writers, lawyers, are Visiting Professors at Lahore University of Management Sciences

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"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

10.11.2013

Laws for lesser citizens
The recently promulgated ordinances to deal with terrorism may serve as a tool to steamroller movements of political and civil rights in the country
By Naseer Memon

The President of Pakistan has recently promulgated two Ordinances — Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Act, 2011” (ATA) and “Protection of Pakistan Ordinance 2013” (PPO). The official document purports the PPO as a law aimed “to provide for protection against waging of war against Pakistan and the prevention of acts threatening the security of Pakistan”.

Both these laws prescribe ruthless measures to prevent terrorism in the country. It vests almost unbridled powers in the law enforcement apparatus ostensibly to curb terrorism by all means. A cursory look at these laws reveals several common provisions rendering them redundant for either one of the two. Delving deeper in the contents of the two laws reflect the lack of altruism on part of the proponents of such draconian laws.

Some of the provisions are reminiscent of colonial era legal instruments of brinkmanship to subdue the subjects. These laws also transgress international commitments of the State e.g. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In a country boasting to be a democratic state, it is absolutely imperative to guarantee all possible safeguards for human rights.

Already owning a blemished record of disrespect for human rights, the country can ill afford such perverted legislative course. PPO provides that “it shall be lawful for any such officer after forming reasonable apprehension that death, grievous hurt or destruction of property may be caused by such act, to fire, or order the firing upon any person or persons against whom he is authorised to use force in terms hereof”. Similarly, law enforcement personnel are exempted from need of warrants to search any premises or arrest any person. PPO also bestows authority to police and civil and armed forces to arrest and purport persons whose identity is “unascertainable” as “enemy aliens” and presume that they are waging war or insurrection against Pakistan.

Section 14 of the PPO further presumes guilt of a scheduled offence and the burden is on the accused to establish non-involvement on war or insurrection against Pakistan. Preventive detention for up to ninety-day is also authorized for those within the purview of 5(5), including those whose identity is unascertainable.

Such provisions will legalise pervasive blatant violations of human rights being committed by law enforcement agencies. Supreme Court of Pakistan has also charged law enforcement agencies in unequivocal terms with forced disappearances and dumping of mutilated bodies. The apprehensions gather further legitimacy in absence of an independent watch guard authority to monitor human rights violations. A toothless Human Rights Ministry also lost its sheen after being subsumed into the Ministry of Law and Justice.

There is no dichotomy of views that the terrorism should be eradicated. However, such a gigantic task requires the State to demonstrate an all encompassing commitment and determination against all forms of terrorism. Terrorism cannot be compartmentalised as good and bad terrorism. The prevalent ambivalence for terrorist groups has confounded citizens and the international community.

The government is brimming with eagerness to talk to the forces who embraced terrorism in the cloak of Jihad. These groups have unleashed a spate of malevolent terror over the past decade that has rendered society and the state institutions paraplegic. They publically claim responsibility of grisly pogroms, abduction and execution of senior army officials, targeting religious and sectarian minorities and homicide of innocent citizens. These laws have been promulgated at the time when negotiations with such groups are being pronounced and passionately pursued. One wonders where this law will be actualized.

It is a serious misperception that the current spell of terrorism originated in the wake of 9/11 incident. In fact, the very incident was a bitter harvest of decades-long investment in promoting and nurturing terrorism in this region. Global powers promoted religiosity in this country to sedate their paranoia of communism. Pakistan’s flawed foreign policy bereft of political prescience never adopted a course to serve genuine interests of its citizens. Over the period, religious extremism was made a lynchpin of foreign policy without realising its grave repercussions.

Pakistan evolved as a security state right from its inception. Religious sentiment was dexterously exploited to emblazon foreign policy with faith-dictums. It subsequently compelled Ayub and Bhutto to succumb to pressure of religious elements and reinforce their supremacy in the state affairs. Afghan jihad of 80s institutionalised religiosity and it became an integral part of Pakistani society under the umbrella of official patronisation.

Indoctrination was so intense and ubiquitous that it has now become next to impossible to extricate religion from state affairs and social fabric of the country. Regrettably, this religious sentiment does not revolve around any spiritual or a value-based transformation of the society; it is rather an aggressive mania that aims at conquering rest of the world to spread Islam. Aggression and violence perpetrated over the past decades has always been condoned and relished as Jihad by the state and non-state actors.

Acts of violence and terrorism have thus been cloaked in the sacred garb of crusade. Although a section of state actors belatedly tried to rein the Frankenstein created by the state itself but it was too late by that time. This explains the reasons for an unfathomable confusion in the official ranks about the religious elements when infamous terrorists are canonized by highly responsible officials in public speeches.

Citizens and civil society, against this backdrop, have serious concerns over potential abuse of such laws. Civil rights campaigners, especially in Balochistan and Sindh, consider these ominous laws as a tool to steamroller movements of political and civil rights in these provinces. Forced disappearances, subjecting captives to torture and dumping their lacerated and mutilated corpses has became a routine in Balochistan. Sindh has also witnessed a surge in replication of same tactics in recent months.

Nationalist parties and civil society activists in these two provinces are rabidly opposing such legislation. Human rights activists express a concern that if government has already knelt before the terrorist groups then who will be the target of these laws? A country with a tainted profile and a trail of flagrant violations of human rights, would find it hard to justify such initiatives before the international community and civil society. Political prudence demands a firm commitment and evidence if the government and security agencies are genuinely committed to purge itself of terrorist outfits. This requires a paradigm shift in the approach of managing internal and external affairs.

Employing draconian laws will only exacerbate the complex situation. The State has to revisit its policies towards citizens and redefine its priorities. Without respecting historic rights of federating units and allowing unadulterated democratic dispensation to function and flourish in the country, dream of peace will never be realised. An all encompassing agenda of democratic reforms can bring sustained solution that may rid the country of terrorism. An empowered and accountable parliament, aware and informed citizenry and a vibrant civil society can address the issue of terrorism through larger public participation. Strengthening them will be more rewarding than manufacturing laws for lesser citizens.

The author is a civil society activist; nmemon2004@yahoo.com

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"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)

10.11.2013

Women at work
Despite being a significant part of rural agriculture, women are deprived of
economic autonomy
By Altaf Hussain

Women are a significant part of the rural agriculture in the agrarian societies like Pakistan, particularly of Sindh where their role is stretched from cleaning seed, to cultivating field crops, harvesting, livestock rearing, home gardening, managing household responsibilities and looking after children. They are prime victim of societal-cum-cultural and political customs and taboos affecting their very wellbeing and the existence. They are also deprived of their due rights including economic autonomy or control over livelihood resources.

According to some estimates, women produce between 60 and 80 per cent of the food in most developing countries and are responsible for half of the world’s food production. Yet their key role as food producers and providers, and their critical contribution to household food security and control over resources, is yet to be acknowledged.

In Sindh, though women have a major share in the agriculture and food production, they are the most vulnerable, marginalised, illiterate and politically excluded section of the society. Women’s limited access to resources and their insufficient purchasing power are products of a series of inter-related social, economic and cultural factors that force them into a subordinate role, to even their own development and that of society as a whole.

About 70 per cent population derives its livelihoods from agriculture as a sole source in Sindh; women constitute quite a significant proportion of that population but continue to be deprived of basic rights at societal as well as household level. According to Labour Force Survey of Pakistan 2010-11, “Rural women’s share in rural labour force of Sindh is 16.9 per cent.” However, it is important to note here that a large number of women, who are unpaid family workers, are not listed or counted in the labour force surveys or statistics.

According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), while women in agriculture-based countries are the mainstay of small-scale agriculture, the farm labour force and day-to-day family subsistence, they have more difficulties than men in gaining access to resources such as land, credit and productivity-enhancing inputs and services.

Looking at the predicament of rural women in Sindh, it is imperative that the reasons behind women’s social, political and economic exclusion be explained. Lack of control over livelihood resources steams out of significant void created between men and women where males dominate social, political, cultural and financial matters at household level. Such type of domination has given birth to restrictions on women’s mobility, right to utilise money both given and earned, and right to education. A woman has to seek husband’s permission in most of the cases, even if she has to seek treatment for health.

Even the persistent efforts by the planners, social welfare agencies and women’s organisations have failed to provide them their rightful place in the society. There are many interrelated factors including biological, socio-cultural, psycho-social, economic and the prevalent work preferences which have prevented women from attaining their due place in the society.

Likewise, the human development indicators vis-à-vis women in Sindh are not encouraging. Education is directly proportional to the access to skills and knowledge.

Lack of access to education has correlation with under-development, social and political exclusion of marginalised communities, particularly women. According to Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey (2010-11), only 22 per cent rural female in Sindh have ever attended schools, while only 16 per cent rural female have completed primary education. Net enrollment at primary level for the girls is considerably low at 39 per cent.

Suleman G. Abro, Head of Sindh Agriculture and Forestry Workers Coordinating Organisation (SAFWCO), laments over the precarious situation of women and their lack of control over resources, saying “it is extremely important that women are given the place they deserve as equal citizens.” He says that unfortunately women in rural areas have never been given social-political and economic autonomy.

However, Abro notes that feudal system in Sindh has been the main reason behind women’s marginalisation. For sustainable livelihood, it is important that women have equal access to livelihood assets. This notion includes women’s access to education, health, skills and opportunities so that they can be brought at par with the males as enshrined in the constitution.

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"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)