INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY: Legislations Passed – The Silver Lining

Read My Article: http://tribune.com.pk/story/680052/international-womens-day-legislations-passed-the-silver-lining/

Today is a day to highlight the most pertinent issues confronting women, to celebrate our achievements, to identify the  gaps and, most of all, stand in solidarity for change. Today is not a Hallmark day to merely say, “Happy Women’s Day!”

The most prominent achievement for women in the past few years has been the passage of new progressive legislation for women. Perhaps this is the time to reflect on well we have utilized those advances. How many steps forward have we taken and how far back have we slipped. On the whole, we can say that regardless of the passage of good legislation, we cannot move forward unless we all are willing to make it work.

Taking a quick look at the progress made on the implementation of the seven laws passed over the last four years, it seems that the highest marks can be given to the Benazir Income Support Program, the anti-sexual harassment legislation and empowering the NCSW. Although quite different in nature these are the only ones that have an organised mechanism for implementation.

The Benazir Income Support Program Act culminated in a project that made its mark by directly assisting thousands of women to develop themselves. Although there were concerns that the new Government might allow it to lapse, a wise decision last year will allow the program to continue and build upon its achievements.

On the sexual harassment front, within the first year after passage, over 1000 cases were filed and the figure has steadily risen.  However, many complainants are facing increased pressure to drop their cases and several accused have been able to save themselves through high level connections. Nevertheless, the banking sector, including the State Bank, several federal government agencies, such as NADRA, as well as HEC and many universities have shown outstanding results, setting a precedent for the future. At a ceremony in December last year, awards were given to eight organisations and individuals that had built exceptionally supportive work environments. While these achievements might appear limited, the change in people’s attitudes has been revolutionary. Although the private and government sectors are steadily improving, the offices of the Anti-Sexual Harassment Ombudsmen in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, established to support the victims of this crime, have been working below expectation. Collectively, they have employed an insensitive working model that has failed to support victims by making unnecessary delays and failing to understand either the legislation or the issue.

The National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) was re-established early last year under a revised Act. The revised legislation provided a stronger legal basis for the Commission, which is the national watch dog body on women’s issues. However, while the legislation provided autonomy for the Commission, the bureaucracy got its revenge by making the the passage of the implementing rules an unnecessarily long and drawn out affair. As a result, the impact this institutional reform is yet to be seen.

As the devolution aspects of the18^th Amendment gather momentum, the provinces have been gearing up their new legislative agenda. Although women’s issues have not been seen as a major priority, there have been some commendable efforts. Sindh started off by passing its domestic violence bill.  Passage of this bill by a province was a bittersweet victory as civil society had failed for nine year to get it passed by the federal parliament. Balochistan followed suit, but with a weaker version. Nevertheless, we give them high marks for their intention and action as an amendment has been promised to fix some critical gaps in the text.

Despite world-wide attention on Pakistan, the amendment to the PPC that criminalized acid burning has not made much difference on the number of cases registered or convictions obtained during the last year. The reason is that this was supposed to be a set of two pieces of legislation, an amendment in the PPC, plus a comprehensive law that fully tackles the full challenge faced when filing a complaint, collecting evidence, and conducting a judicial inquiry. That comprehensive bill was never passed and now must approved by each province individually. Although one feels that In the face of the gravity of this crime, you might wonder who would oppose such a badly needed law, nevertheless the provincial governments have not yet considered it important enough to be taken up for a vote.

The implementation on the PPC amendment on anti-women practices, covering such crimes as forced marriage, exchanging women to resolve local conflicts and preventing women from inheriting their rightful share, has only seen limited results since being signed in December 2011.  Such issues, deeply rooted in the patriarchal nature of our society, have strong backing from the local social elite. Faced with such powerful resistance, the resolve of our state machinery quickly withers.  As with acid burning, domestic violence and rape, these are crimes are committed as an expression of power over women. These will not disappear merely because they are now illegal.  Their impact will be diminished only when our society condemns their perpetrators.

While reviewing the progress in recent years, one point stands out clearly: Implementation of pro-women laws, where it is done at all, results from the efforts of committed groups or individuals that push the process.  In many cases, these committed individuals are themselves complainants who have felt empowered by the new statutes, no matter how painful their journey might be.  These activists know they are cutting against the grain of our society, but they continue to struggle in order to reduce the pain our society inflicts on its own women. These activists are resolute in their efforts because the people in power, who should take it upon themselves to implement these laws, fail to do so because they are too busy resisting or covering their own tracks.

CHANGE THE NARRATIVE: TEN STRATEGIES TO COUNTER MILITANCY

The discussion on countering militants was earlier framed as either ‘peace talks’ or ‘military operation’. Now that the talks have failed or have gone no where, the discussion has been framed around military operations and their consequences. I think there is a dire need to look at this scenario in a broader, and more realistic, framework. Only attacking the militant bases without a solid policy shift will not bring any change. Baitullah Mahsud was replaced by Hakeemullah Mehsud, who was replaced by Fazlullah. Continued focus on eliminating militant leaders without any thoughtful and sincere policy shift will not get us anywhere. What will bring peace back to our country? An impression has been created by the taliban apologists that the answer is with the taliban and that the talks would reveal the magic steps. The nation looked to them for an answer, but only found continued trickery and violence. The real question is what are WE willing to do to bring back peace. The onus is on us. To start off the discussion I am giving ten strategic points for consideration: 

1) Target Military Operations in places where militants are concentrated.

2) Issue official orders (for real) to break the friendly ties between law enforcing agencies (including intelligence agencies) and the militants and authorize them to apprehend the militants in the other parts of the country also, through investigation and inditement.

3) Expedite the inditement and conviction of the militants already captured. 

4) A clear policy by our leaders (political, military, religious or bureaucrats) to prevent any one from supporting, quietly protecting, or making backdoor deals with any banned groups of terrorists

5)  Change the narrative: separate Islam from militancy. Stop overplaying the sharia smoke screen, stop helping taliban reinforce their fake religious front. (This one especially is for the media) 

6) Change the narrative from taliban, jihadis to MILITANTS, so that the attention is not only focused on TTP, but on all the militants in the country.  

7) Put those using a religious front or pushing an ideology of hate under the garb of religion on the defensive. Strict action should be taken against all illegitimate militant hideouts in the form of “madrases” and “humanitarian organizations” and anyone who uses fatwa or incites people using Islam. 

8) This is OUR WAR and our mess and we have to clean up our house. We can sit together and blame USA or others later, but lets focus on protecting and cleaning our own house right now.  

9) Citizens must stick together through this roller coaster regardless of whichever party they support. This is not a time to divide ourselves and play politics. This is a time to focus on reclaiming our country. 

10) The national political leadership, and not the ISPR, should give briefings to media and to the nation. 

 

ANTI-SEXUAL HARASSMENT LAWS ARE APPLICABLE TO UNIVERSITIES IN PAKISTAN

Although everyone would be more concerned about the attacks in Waziristan, I do want to share this article which  clarifies some of the misconception created by the print media. It is disheartening that one has to work so hard to get a positive impact from a law, but everyone picks up something negative so fast. I don’t know if the amendment will pass or not but the way he has talked to the press has thrown our work back about two years. We have been trying to control the damage for the last five days  Anyway here is my clarification. If you know people in the universities kindly help me circulate this article widely. Now that we had the universities adopting this law we don’t want to have any sliding back.

Anti-harassment laws for universities

http://tribune.com.pk/story/673829/anti-harassment-laws-for-universities/

The anti-sexual harassment law is applicable to all institutions, government, private, civil society and as the text of the law regarding this clearly states, “to the educational institutions” as well (Section 2 Paragraph 1). A recently proposed amendment in the Senate created an impression that the law is not currently applicable in the educational institutions. This is totally incorrect. I will explain the challenges this law is facing because of some elitist elements, which are persistent in harassing others and pull all strings to get away with it.

The amendment moved recently in the Senate has a positive intention. We have given our inputs. If approved, it should expand the definition of sexual harassment which will help cover, in a better way, all complainants who are not employees of an institution but are harassed by an employee. These include students as well. We hope the government will look at such changes in a positive manner.

The law, Protection Against Harassment of Women at Workplace Act of 2010, was signed on March 9, 2010. In January 2011, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) dispatched a detailed guideline for all universities to comply with the new law.

The law has a provision for an appeal process. If you approach the Inquiry Committee of the institution, either party can go in appeal to the ombudsman. You can also go to the ombudsman, under section eight which states that, “Any employee shall have the option to prefer a complaint either to the ombudsman or the inquiry committee.” In such a case, either party can take the decision for a representation to the president. But no one gets to appeal twice. Perhaps a future amendment can also make this more explicit.

The university controller of examinations of the Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) was forcefully retired by the university for physically harassing a young female student. The story was corroborated by many witnesses. A frenzy was created within the syndicate. Most respected Supreme Court Justice Nasirul Mulk, who happens to be on the syndicate of the QAU, ruled that the law is applicable to universities. The controller took the case in appeal to the ombudsman where the university’s decision was upheld. He tried his luck in the high court but did not get anywhere. He then took the case to another appeal — to the president. The second appeal is not allowed under the law. The president sent the case to the law ministry where, we are told the ministry said the law doesn’t cover student grievances. We disagree with this opinion as the definition clearly states: “Harassment means any unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favours or other verbal or written communication or physical conduct of a sexual nature or sexually demeaning attitudes … or the attempt to punish the complainant for refusal to comply to such a request …”. This was a classic case where a senior controller examination abused his position to create fear of reprimand and physically harassed a young female student in his office and was fully covered under the law and fully within the HEC policy which the university officially adopted.

More than 40 complaints of sexual harassment, mostly by students against professors, have been resolved so far. Five major cases have been tackled in QAU itself. Thus, I would like to make it clear to the senators to kindly not frame their discussion in terms of whether this law should include universities or not. This is damaging for our implementation process. The universities are already included. They will be going against the law if they do not establish the complaint mechanisms. Any help in further strengthening the act by them will be welcomed.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th, 2014.

 

Don’t Negotiate Women

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-9-231831-Don’t-negotiate-women

While we women welcome the initiative of talks taken by the Government and stand in full solidarity with them, we would like to clearly state that women will not be a negotiating chip this time. We have over a decade of experience in dealing with the Taliban and centuries of experience in dealing with the traditional feudal mindset and patriarchal system. Whether it is in the name of Islam or in the name of tradition, it all falls on our heads. Either in the pretext of sharia or under the garb of making peace, we will not let the women of Pakistan be used as badl-e sulah. 

It should be clear to the leaders of our country and the negotiating team that this time if they try to make a deal like Nizam-e-Adal in Swat or Shariah, as demanded by Maulana Abdul Aziz in Islamabad, women will not agree to be the sacrificial goats.

TTP and other militant groups have a history of being obsessed by women. TTP after its takeover of Swat ruled that all families should marry off their daughters as soon as they reach 16 or else the taliban will take care of it for them. When the proposals of taliban were rejected of young girls, they turned it into a morality issue. The case of Chand bibi, who was flogged in public, is said to be a similar scenario. They burned over 600 girls schools and announced severe punishments for women who would appear in public. Kishwar Naheed’s poem comes to mind, woh jo bachion se bhi dar gaey…   Is it obsession or fear? Whatever it is, the horror stories go on.

When the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 1996 they stripped women from all their rights. They banned them from working or getting education. Women could not leave home without being accompanied by a male relative. They were beaten and punished severely on any minor violation of these rules. Pakistani Taliban have been quite inspired by these standards. They were able to introduce a code of morality under the garb of Nizam-e-Adal where the so called Qazi decided whatever he felt was in the ambit of Islam. Immediately after our Parliament gave them a green light, they started shaving young men’s heads and flogging women on the streets without even a facade of a legal system. Only the MQM abstained from the vote, with all the other parties approving the imposition of sharia under the name of Nizam e Adal in Swat. Those wounds are still raw for us.

There are many militant groups other than TTP all over Pakistan.  Each has a varying degree of control in the areas they operate in. They clearly have used their influence to curb women’s mobility and visibility without any checks from the administration. They are equally violent and dangerous. Will there be a strategy to root them out also?

The last time Pakistani Taliban came for peace talks (2009), their delegation came to Peshawar to discuss the pact with the cabinet members of KP. The first thing they objected to was the presence of a woman. Sitara Ayaz who was a well-respected Minister was asked to leave.  This time at least we won’t have that problem as there is no woman in the delegation. The only assurance we want from our Government is that they will not let women of Pakistan down and they will not compromise the rights of Pakistani citizens in the name of peace negotiations. We want to feel confident that they won’t. We are in solidarity with our Government, we would want our Government to be in solidarity with us!

The writer is a women’s rights activist who has worked on women’s issues for over 25 years.

HOW PAKISTANI LEADERSHIP CAN AVOID A POSSIBLE CIVIL WAR

 Decades of indecisiveness about taking an action against the militants in Pakistan in a comprehensive manner has led people to be mistrustful of the main institutions of the country: the military, the government, the parliament and the judiciary. While all make big statements against the Taliban, all have had instances where they looked the other way or showed a soft corner for them. People are puzzled by a half-baked strategy where partially our institutions supported the enemy, partially looked away and partially acted against them to keep a pretext of fighting the war.  Last week’s strikes on Waziristan by our military were a sudden change from the peace talk mantras going on for a while. People waited in vain for a comprehensive explanation from the government announcing this change of policy, outline of a future strategy and instructions for people to position themselves in the context of what is about to happen.  Meanwhile, many people evacuated from Waziristan to Bannu in anticipation of more attacks.

A vacuum of decision making at the highest level, gaps in communication with the people, no joint stance of political forces and seemingly erratic attempts of retaliation can give wrong signals to the powerful and deeply entrenched militant enemy at this point. Such conditions can lead to a civil war if not handled properly. Recent announcement by the PM to form a four member committee is a good step forward. Here are some critical points to consider if Pakistan wants to avoid going into a civil war.

Bringing political leadership together: 

The current attacks in Waziristan seem to be led by military decision makers, with elected leadership giving it a civilian cover. These might have played the role of a catalyst in pushing the Government in making announcements of their next steps, but it should not be seen as the basis for future long term strategy. The government should actively seek consensus on the strategy of all political parties and bring them on one page. Merely announcing a negotiating committee or the beginning of a process is not enough. The consensus building should take place within the Parliament and not outside so that this institution gets stronger. The stronger the ownership of the political leadership the better they will be prepared when the negative consequences come. Later they will not be blaming each other and playing political games by saying this was not a good decision. The religious political factions who are sympathizers or pro-militants might not come together fully, but at least the main popular parties should join hands and build solidarity.

Get Experts in the team:

Pakistan is not the first country to face such a problem. Insurgency, militancy and such guerrilla warfare is something many countries have dealt with over decades. There is a whole field of study around conflicts.  Security experts around the world are available for their opinions and insights to contribute to the strategy for countering militants & negotiating with them. Many of these are Pakistani also. There are also local experts within Pakistan with good knowledge of the militant groups, their members, even knowing which members can be approached and who are the hard liners in these gangs. Pakistan has its local experts, among civil society, academia and journalists, who should be included in the closer circles and teams. Civilian government should not only count on military intelligence but should have its own civilian base of expertise who know and understand these groups and can guess their reactions. Sharing secret information from other countries involved in this war might be useful for the civilian government rather than restricting themselves to a few traditional sources of information.  In addition, the members of the negotiating team should not be all conservatives or taliban sympathizers. Pakistan has made this mistake many times, for example, Ijazul Haq,  son of dictator Zia ul Haq, was sent by the last Government to negotiate with the management of Lal Masjid and he came back after giving them a personal donation of one lakh rupees for the illegitimate madrassa built upon land that was not even theirs.

 Military Operation and citizens: 

It is important to have a buy-in from the people of Pakistan. The state has created high levels of confusion over the authenticity of the insurgency so have people romanticize Mujahidin and protect Taliban. The Kashmir affairs cell in PTV never stops working and the propaganda of showing Mujahidin martyrs and Taliban as anti USA and therefore ‘heroes’, is never ending on our media. The coverage of Hakimullah Mehsood is the most recent example where he was shown as a hero by the newspapers and many leaders. If there has to be a direct confrontation with Taliban we need to have Pakistani people join hands also. A clear message from the government and the State is necessary to clearly define the enemy and get the backing of the people, as was done in Swat. This will help the masses face the negative consequences if any in the form of internally displaced people, killing of innocent civilians, in case the negotiations fail.

The enemy is difficult to define:

It is easiest to fight an enemy outside. An enemy within the boundary of a country is difficult to fight. But it is most difficult when the enemy is not definable. As in some countries, this is not a fight between different ethnic or religious groups. Some may think that our enemy could be identifiable by big turbans and big beards holding guns and bombs but that is not so. The ‘taliban phenomenon’ is complicated. There are those who undermine the government through violence. There are those that pave the ground through propagation of a pro-taliban ideology and develop a volatile religious wicket to play on and gain power. There are those that have infiltrated into every sector, media, civil service, judiciary, police, political parties, civil society, business community and the military. These people continuously undermine the State and the Government and propagate the narrative of the militants. It is very difficult when the supporters of the enemy are deep into every institution of ours. In addition criminal elements have also joined the militancy in many cases who have different objectives to be in the fight. It could get difficult to separate out the militants and the purely criminal elements who are using the situation to gain their own benefits.

The present Government has come with a strong mandate. People are looking towards them for the required leadership. With the other political players they do need to take a lead, develop a strategy, not piece meal but a long term strategy with back up actions ready. They should have teams of experts dedicated to different parts of that strategy. The Prime Minister should talk to the people and build the motivation needed to take this enemy on. It is the elected Government that has to move ahead and the people should back them up regardless of which party they belong to.

OUR LOSS!! Farewell my dear friend MUSADIQ!!

 

In current times every sane person is very precious as somehow one doesn’t see much multiplication of such people. Loosing Musadiq Sanwal was a BIG LOSS!!!. A person not only sane, intelligent, with depths of an ocean on every issue but also a janooni in a sufi sense, a compassionate being and a lover of people. Where many of us at times would loose our patience at our youth, he fully believed in grooming  them into professions like journalism. I guess that is why one saw him surrounded by young people even at his dhabha DAWN.COM  Always looking at new ideas and new angles to deepen the analysis on our socio political problems. Topped by his love of music, made him a friendly boss who hires young people, grooms them and also sings for them in the evenings.

I first was introduced to him in 1988 as a friend of all my progressive friends and later got to know this sufi of our times . A journalist, a writer, a poet, an artist, a singer, a composer, a film maker, a theatre actor and an activist. The younger people know him more as the editor of DAWN.com. He was passionate about sufi poetry and music. Sometimes I would call him a singing journalist. His compassion was the most precious aspect which will make him live forever in our hearts. Not only within his family but in many large circles of his friends. Always giving! always caring! He was our creative mlangish friend, who never got attracted to the material world and maintained a sophisticated, simple, genuine and sufistic presence in this world throughout his life.

I am very proud of you Musadiq for the way you put the fight against this sartaan /cancer. I remember the day you were going back to Pakistan after a burdensome treatment. I talked to you on the phone and the joy in your voice was incredible. “I will start my work again! my family is now here with me! we will all are going back! what else do I want!” The medical treatments or these cancers cannot come in the way. You will live for ever in the contributions you have made to my beloved community and in all our hearts. We will hear your sirayki kafis you used to sing in the air around us.

You will never die Musadiq!

(an article by Dawn.com http://www.dawn.com/news/1080909/dawncom-editor-musadiq-sanwal-passes-away)

 

OUR POLITICIANS SHOULD LEARN FROM A 15 YRS OLD BOY IN HUNGU

Aitizaz Hasan, 15, standing outside his school in Hangu, one of the most underdeveloped area of Pakistan, saw a militant with a bomb and recognised that he meant destruction for his fellow students. He did everything in his power to stop him. Aitizaz was successful in saving lives and stoping the bomber at the price of his own life. How can a 15 year old from Hungu  be smarter than our politicians to recognise what is bad for his people. These politicians  have gotten good education, some even went abroad for it. They have decades of experience of dealing with all kinds of people and have been exposed to all sorts of challenges. Why then they cannot see that militants, bombs, guns… are bad for their people and these militants should be stopped otherwise there will be many dead bodies. Even seeing dead bodies over the last so many years has not made them realise that militants need to be stopped. Can this be any more simpler!!! What we have seen is any attempt of someone else killing militants is strongly objected to by dharnas. We see nothing but protecting and apologising for militants. Finding excuses for them and at times even calling them shaheed. Yes countering militants might not be that easy but there are many countries in the world that have dealt with insurgencies. We are at a stage where even the intention has not been there to stop them. Short term gains are far more important for our leaders than joining hands against this menace. The responsibility has been claimed by Lashker e Jhangvi. What will our leaders do about it?

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/09/pakistani-boy-suicide-bomber-hero

http://en.shiapost.com/2014/01/06/shia-student-embraced-martyrdom-foiling-suicidal-attack-on-school-in-hangu/

http://tribune.com.pk/story/657330/aitizaz-hasan-to-be-honoured-with-sitara-e-shujaat/

Five-year quick analysis of Pakistan’s Situation & Happy 2014

TEN THINGS PAKISTANIS SHOULD BE PROUD OF OVER THE LAST FIVE YEARS

1. Devolution of powers and legislative authority given to the Provinces. Re-distribution of finances, NFC award and strengthening of a Federal structure.
2. Taking off 58 2B and retuning powers of the Prime Minister from the President
3. Completion of five year govt & a smooth and respectful transition to the next civilian government, without any intervention of the armed forces.
4. Passage of pro-women legislation (7 laws between 2010 to 2013 after a gap of 50 years). Teaming up of civil society with the Parliament and a clear political active role  of women parliamentarians.
5. Pakistani nation never voted more than 10% for the religious right.
6. Active engagement of Pakistani public in elections in the face of violence and death.
7. Willingness and initiation of peace talks with neighbours  (India).
8. The beginning of a transition from a Military to Civilian Rule
9. (eg. military budget-lines discussed in the parliament, court cases on ex ISI head and Chief of Army Staff, no overt interference by military since 2008).
10. Strengthening of Election Commission and Council of Common Interests
11. Continous progressive and democratic movement with brave people who would sacrifice anything for the country and the wellbeing of their people.

TEN THINGS PAKISTANIS SHOULD BE CONCERNED ABOUT 

1. Our pattern of self bashing and disrespecting ourselves as a nation.
2. Bashing the politicians only- increasing risk of instability and not standing behind our democratically elected governments.
3. Lack of joint strategy of all stakeholders on militancy – including citizens themselves
4. Lack of recognizing and unintentionally participating in the narrative of pro-militancy that is seeping into every sector. (trying to delegitimize Malala, organizations that work for progressive change shift focus on drones vs Taliban attacks, increasing moral bashing, who is a good Muslim and who is not. giving every debate a colour of religion.
5. Continuous isolation in the international scenario which leads to suicidal tendency. very egocentric view of issues. not understanding the vulnerability of our country
6. Lack of accountability for bureaucracy
7. Lack of joint front of Pakistanis internally and diaspora, with a joint strategy of putting Pakistan-first and influencing the international dynamics.
8. People get swayed by ‘selective justice’ which doesn’t always build the institution of justice. Lack of accountability of justice system, especially at the lower and mid level, which should be the backbone of the system
9. People have learnt to criticize more and active participation less. Capacity of a country is collective. Lack of teaming up of citizens with the government or within themselves to come up with solutions and lobby for them. We need a shift from complaining to engagement mode.
10. People become gullible to little information & propaganda by media or agencies. Transparency of how much money is coming from countries like USA for the military, government budget support, NGOs etc. (‘amriki agent’, or ‘anti islamic’ have become the most common beating sticks for whoever tries to talk sense).

HAPPY 2014!

Unending woes: The naked truth about fishing

World Fisheries Day is celebrated across the planet on the 21st of November, and is marked by celebration and solidarity of all fisherfolk.

In most countries, the key issues revolve around over-harvesting, marking international water boundaries and sanctioning countries that refuse to follow international conservation norms.

However, our Pakistani fisherfolk are still struggling for basic personal dignity. Extortion by the coast guards is a daily routine for those going out to fish every morning. Villagers are forced to comply to extortion demands or face serious harm and humiliation.

About one week ago, a few fishermen grew tired of this daily extortion and refused to pay. In return, they were forced to strip naked in public, saying they needed to check if they were Muslims or Hindus. When they again resisted, they were beaten until they stripped.

On November 19, the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum organised a huge rally near the coastal village of Ibrahim Haideri to protest the illegal actions, but no action has been taken against the offending Guardsmen. Unfortunately, the norm in Pakistan is for the victim to be punished for complaining of abuse. So, instead of being worried about this open protest, the Coast Guardsmen have increased their harassment of the fishing community.

The Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum is headed by Mohammad Ali Shah with members from all over the coast of Sindh and Balochistan. In the past, the Forum struggled against abuse by Rangers who had been given monopoly over fish trading contracts by the Government. The fishing communities were not allowed to sell their catch to anyone but the Rangers at whatever price demanded. After nineteen years of struggle the PFF was finally able to end the exploitative arrangement with this official mafia, only to find that the Sindh government had given similar contracts to landlords in Manchar, Shahdadkot, Badin and Sanghar.

Why is it that powerful people who violate rights live a great life in our country with full confidence that no one can touch them, while those without political power are humiliated and struggle each day just to survive? We continue to reinforce this system by supporting similar abusers in the name of party loyalty, patriotism, hero worship or, often, just for petty personal gain. The poor, who have little access to the corridors of power, hesitate to complain for fear of retaliation because they know that wrongdoers are rarely punished by our courts without political backing.

Perhaps our next Chief Justice can use his influence in the Law and Justice Commission to focus on reforms in the lower judiciary rather than pursuing selected flamboyant cases. For today, would it be too much to ask the Government to stop the constant abuse of the fishing communities and take the offending Coast Guardsmen to task?

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2013.

 

Obituary: Zubeda died not on Saturday but decades ago

http://tribune.com.pk/story/620729/obituary-zubeda-died-not-on-saturday-but-decades-ago/ By Fouzia Saeed

Published in Express Tribune: October 22, 2013

Many think that Zubeda Khanum died on Saturday, but considering the enormous talent she possessed, she died the day she was asked not to sing anymore. She was told to live like a ‘good woman’ and a ‘good wife’. She was gradually pressured into staying at home and caring for her children.Zubeda Khanum.

This came from a husband who was Syed by ‘ethnicity’ and explained to her in many ways that women of Syed families do not perform. Not to mention that he himself got his name and livelihood by being a photographer in Lollywood and his brother, of course also Syed, earned his name, his status and his income from being a director in the film industry. The same film industry was an institution of opportunity and creative expression for both brothers, while it was a stigma for Zubeda. Perhaps I forgot to mention that Zubeda was a star on her way to the top when she was chosen by this Syed family for marriage. It was a big thing to marry the most popular singer of the time, with a promise that she would not be stopped from singing. She and her mother also saw comfort and security in a family much established in the industry and thought it would give her singing career some protection. The lucrative world of cinema was harsh to single, young and beautiful women. Little did she know that this protection would come at a very high price. She would have to eventually kill the artiste in her. This was not a death of her talent within her, but a murder – on the part of her family, the film industry and the society at large. The famous singer Zubeda Khanum died decades ago and no one shed a tear.

Zubeida Khanum was as famous as Madam Noor Jehan at one point. Her top hits included Teri ulfat me sanam dil ne bohat dard sahey; ae chand un se ja ker mera salaam (film: Sarfarosh); Kia hua dil pe situm (film: Raat ke Raahi); Aaey musam rangeeley suhaney; ghungat uthaun ke ghungat nikalun (film: Saat Lakh); and rotey hen chum chum nain (film: Sola Aney). Her Punjabi hits also acclaimed popularity across the country like Desan da raja mera babal da piara (film: Kartar Singh); Reshum da lacha (film: Yakey Wali); Bundey chandi de soney di nath (film: Chun Mahi); Sayio ni mera dil dharkey (film: Shiekh Chilli); and meri chuni dian reshmi tandan (film: Shehri Babu). The rising star caught everyone’s attention in the 1950s and took over the business of playback singing. Noor Jehan at the time was only singing for her own roles in films.

I described my meeting with Zubeda in detail in the last chapter of my book, “Forgotten Faces” (published by Lok Virsa) where I was trying to convince her to appear in a PTV show I was hosting. This was about women artistes who were very famous at one point but then vanished away from the lime light. I was a big fan of hers but with all my persuasive skills I was not able to get her in my program. Her family strictly forbade her.

She was not only stopped from singing but her past was weighed upon her as a stigma, especially when it was time to marry off her daughters. She was even forbidden to sing her songs in private gatherings. I will never forget the helplessness and yearning to sing in her eyes I saw that day. She told me she could not stand other young singers re-singing her songs. She said she still had enough in her to sing them herself if she could. Her eyes got wet when she made this claim. She had a hard time opening her heart to me but spoke in half sentences with a lot of hesitation. She only satisfies herself by singing religious songs during muharram at private majalis. Even permission for this was considered a big favour.

Ironically, her Syed son also chose the showbiz as his forte. Upon pressure from some senior television personalities he was convinced to get his mother on television a couple of times for an interview in her later life.

How many Zubedas will be murdered for the hypocrisy of our society and the fake and lopsided concept of ‘honour’. I am sorry for the person who died a few days ago but my hero who was a star and one of the best singers in South Asia was murdered a long time ago and everyone remained silent.

(The writer is a women’s rights activist and an authority on folk music and culture. She blogs on fouziasaeed.wordpress.com and tweets @fouziasaeed)

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22^nd, 2013.