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Meet the First African-Pakistani Lawmaker

By Jeremy Luedi

Tanzeela Qambrani’s election has deep ramifications for the Sheedi minority and Pakistani society.

At just 39, mother-of-three Tanzeela Qambrani has made history. Qambrani secured a seat in the legislature of Sindh province in Pakistan, making her the first member of the Sheedi minority to become a lawmaker in Pakistan. Unlike other minorities in the country, the Sheedis can trace their roots far beyond Sindh — they are the descendants of the African slaves, sailors, and soldiers who made South Asia their home in centuries past.

Pakistan’s African minority is one that few outsiders are aware of, and the group continues to be largely marginalized in their home country, battling both prejudice and wider socioeconomic ills. Qambrani’s election itself was not without detractors: One party member was so incensed by her nomination that he left the party and ran against her.

“As a tiny minority lost in the midst of local populations, we have struggled to preserve our African roots and cultural expression,” Qambrani noted, “but I look forward to the day when the name [Sheedi] will evoke respect, not contempt.”

Estimates of the size of the Sheedi community vary wildly, with their population said to range between 50,000 to as many as 250,000 according to K. Kwekudu in Blacks in Pakistan. What is certain is that the group maintains a foothold in Sindh and Makran, as well as in Karnataka, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh in India.

Despite having lived in these regions for centuries, the Sheedis (or Sidis as they are known in India) have faced discrimination due their appearance. This in turn has led increasing numbers to seek marriages outside their group to dilute the African appearance of their children. Luke Dugglely, a photographer who works in South Asia and creator of the Sidi Project, has noticed this trend during his time in Pakistan: “For some [marriages to non-Sheedis] is how they can avoid this discrimination, but for many this is seen as the very disappearance of the Sidi people themselves.”

Concerns about being lost within the greater population are mirrored by the Sheedis’ patchy connections to their African past. Whereas Qambrani can point to her Tanzanian great-grandparents, many no longer recall where in Africa their ancestors originated from. Consequently, a host of theories abound, with some pointing to the importation of Ethiopian soldiers by various rulers on the Indian subcontinent, as well as the arrival of both slaves and sailors from East Africa and Madagascar. There is even mention of the Sheedi people originally stemming from North Africa.

The traditions that have survived to the present day do little to clarify this debate. The Sheedi Mela is a prime example of this blurry past. Celebrated by the Sheedi inhabitants of Karachi, the festival sees the community come together in celebration and worship of some 150 crocodiles that inhabit a sanctuary in the metropolis. Many Sheedis have become devotees of the 12th century Sufi saint, Pir Mangu, whose shrine plays host to a range of folktales involving the nearby hot spring and its attendant crocodiles. Whether the crocodiles were brought to the site by the Sheedis or predate them remains unknown, but the reptiles have become associated with the saint and are revered as a result.

Every year the community bedecks the crocodiles (who are fed on charitable donations of meat) in colorful powders and flowers. This is accompanied by dances that bear a striking resemblance to similar dances in Africa, as well as singing in Swahili. Many participants unabashedly admit that they no longer understand the words being sung, but they maintain it is important to worship in the same manner as their ancestors in order to keep their traditions from dying out. Indeed, Sir Richard Burton recalls witnessing boisterous festivals by the “black people of Karachi” during his travels to the area in the 19th century. The use of Swahili points to the influence of persons from the eastern coast of Africa; however, for centuries the peoples of Madagascar have believed that crocodiles possess supernatural abilities, hinting at another potential origin for the celebrations in Karachi.

The Sheedis’ murky past and history of discrimination are perfectly embodied in the term “Sheedi” itself. “The usage of the word from honorific to insult is a journey almost as telling as the journey the original Sheedis are believed to have taken to reach Asia from their homes in Africa,” writes Khaled Ahmed, director of the South Asian Media School in Lahore, in Newsweek Pakistan.

Seen by some as a pejorative denoting hoodlumism, the word has its roots in the Arabic syed, which in turn has various honorific connotations, ranging from saint in Tunisian Arabic to master or liege lord in Magrebi and Egyptian Arabic. In its wider use syed is often shortened to sidi or sid. It appears strange that a term of respect has morphed into an insult; one reason for this linguistic evolution could be that the term’s meaning was inverted through the use of sarcasm, and pointedly used to juxtapose the disparity between the term’s connotations and the Sheedis’ actual circumstances.

All this makes Tanzeela Qambrani’s ascendancy to the Sindh parliament all the more important, as it represents a chance for the minority to be viewed as more than just “Sheedi” — a word with mixed connotations. It seems only fitting then that Qambrani’s election itself has sent mixed messages. Qambrani’s appointment to the Sindh parliament by Bilawal Bhutto — leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and son and grandson of former prime ministers — is certainly worth celebrating. However, there is a danger that both she and the Sheedis will be caught up in Pakistan’s often tumultuous politics.

Both Bhutto and the PPP tow a progressive line, with the party having long courted the country’s minorities. Alongside Qambrani, the PPP also boasts the only Christian Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) in the Sindh parliament, and counts the country’s first Hindu Dalit — or untouchable — woman among its recently elected members. Bhutto’s role in nominating these individuals has won him plaudits from Sindh’s minorities, with Qambrani herself proclaiming that “just as Columbus discovered America, Bilawal discovered the Sheedi.”

Minority support in Sindh is vital for Bhutto and the PPP in what has been a traditional stronghold for the party. Despite coming in third nationally in the recent election, the PPP won the most seats in Sindh, thus securing control of the provincial legislature.

Ironically, despite their historical lack of political representation and only recent “discovery,” the Sheedis have had an outsized impact on Pakistani politics. One famous Sheedi stands at the nexus of history, politics, and ethnicity: Hosh Mohammed Sheedi, the 19th century general who died in battle against the British and who has since become a Sindhi national hero.

After moldering in obscurity for almost a century, Sheedi’s legacy was resurrected in the 1960s in the wake of growing Sindhi nationalism. Sheedi’s ill-fated command of anti-British forces during the 1843 Battle of Dubba, and his now-famous rallying cry “Marvesoon, par sindh na desoon” — or “We will die but not give up Sindh” — has turned him into a dashing romantic hero, one with all necessary backstory to become a national icon. In the 1960s, when his gravestone was found in the Pakka Qila fort in Hyderabad, Sindhi nationalists called for the site to be cleared and made a historic site. The problem was that the area around the tomb was serving as housing for muhajirs — Muslims migrants from India who arrived in waves both during and after Partition in 1947. In 1962, efforts began to clear the muhajirs from the area which, unsurprisingly, raised tensions that had been simmering between native Sindhis and the recent arrivals.

That a famous member of the Sheedi community has become a rallying cry for Sindhi nationalists is rather odd, given the Sheedis’ otherwise marginalized existence within the wider Sindh community. The important of, and mythos surrounding, Hosh Sheedi has not been lost on the PPP. Bilawal Bhutto in particular is acutely aware of the need to court both the Sheedi community and Sindhi nationalists, as his mother, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto faced intercommunal violence, with the tomb of Hosh Sheedi at the epicenter of the disturbances. The killing of muhajirs in Sindh in the 1980s combined with existing concerns about discrimination saw the foundation of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in 1984, as a vehicle to protect muhajir interests in Pakistani politics.

Another facet to consider is the past disenchantment with the PPP among the Sheedi community in Sindh. Despite traditionally voting for the party, many Sheedis began gravitating to evangelical Islamic parties, as the PPP government failed to tackle rising gang violence in Iyari, Karachi (home to one of the largest Sheedi communities) in the early 2000s. Security concerns and violence in Hyderabad also led to the Sheedi Mela being cancelled between 2010 and 2017.

By attaching his name to that of Hosh Sheedi, Bilawal Bhutto is hinting at both his connections to Sindh as well as the PPP’s reputation as the party of martyred political leaders. In 2014, Bhutto even visited the tomb of Hosh Sheedi (the first national leader to do so) the day before a major PPP rally in Karachi. Speaking during his visit, Bilawal explained that “today I have come to the resting place of this great leader, Hosh Mohammed Sheedi. He was the one who threw down the gauntlet to Sindh’s enemies. I want to tell [the] people of Sindh about General Sheedi.” Just as Qambrani maintains that Bilawal has discovered the Sheedi community, he also appears to have “rediscovered” Hosh Sheedi.

Invoking Sheedi’s defense of Sindh unity, Bilawal has uttered Sheedi’s famous slogan as a rallying cry against the PPP’s other rivals. Allusions to Hosh Sheedi stoke Sindhi nationalism, something especially useful in the face of the new Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government led by Imran Khan. Writing in The Express Tribune, columnist Dastgir Bhatti argues that, by referencing Sheedi:

[Bilawal] has strongly reiterated his stance against Sindh’s division to the MQM. He also tried to steal the nationalist leaders’ thunder, obstruct the PTI’s popularity and told the establishment that the PPP can take recourse to Sindhi nationalism if it’s cornered in its bastion of Sindh.

With these lessons top of mind, Bhutto needs to outmaneuver the MQM in Sindh, as the latter’s support base is mainly in urban centers, compared to the PPP’s rural support base. The concentration of traditionally PPP-voting Sheedis in Sindh’s urban centers makes them a key target demographic for the PPP to undermine the MQM’s urban support base. Another key voter bloc for the PPP are female voters, a group Bhutto has paid particular attention to. Drawing on the fact that his mother enjoyed high levels of support among female voters, particularly women from minority groups, Bhutto (as the new PPP leader) has worked hard to transfer that popularity to himself. His efforts appear to have paid off; according to analysis in The Daily Times, the PPP garnered 85 percent of the female vote in Sindh during the recent 2018 election.

Enter Tanzeela Qambrani. Her nomination by Bhutto checks multiple boxes as a means to consolidate support among the urban Sheedis, minority voters in general, and as a symbol to the PPP’s female voter base. In tapping Qambrani, Bhutto is looking to further cement his progressive credentials, but his decision was not without resistance within the PPP and among the wider Sindhi community.

Overall, Qambrani’s entry into politics is something that should be lauded as a step in increasing both female and minority participation. That being said, as the Sheedi community is increasingly courted by Pakistani politicians, there is a danger that their political circumstances may now swing too far in the other direction. In other words, the Sheedis risk going from one extreme (i.e. being politically marginalized) to becoming co-opted by politicians looking to score points in Sindh. Going forward it will be important to see whether Sindh’s leaders can deliver more than homages to long-dead warriors; namely meaningful quality of life improvements as well as greater socioeconomic participation for Sheedis across the region.

Arrest warrant against Cyril Almeida shows why journalism in #Pakistan is dangerous

By GUL BUKHARI

Charges of treason against journalist Cyril Almeida in Pakistan is a classic act of shooting the messenger.

Pakistan has long been considered one of the most dangerous countries to do journalism in, but matters have now attained ludicrous proportions with the arrest warrant against journalist Cyril Almeida. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) recently issued its report on the dangers Pakistani journalists face. Added now to the always-looming threat of physical harm is the spurious use of the treason charge in Pakistan. And that carries a death penalty.

“Spoke to the lawyer, there is a warrant, am back on the ECL and will have to appear before the court on Oct 8…. how was your Monday” tweeted Dawn’s Cyril Almeida after news broke of his non-bailable arrest warrant. It was issued by the Lahore High Court while hearing a case of treason against former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

cyril almeida@cyalm

Spoke to the lawyer, there is a warrant, am back on the ECL and will have to appear before the court on Oct 8... how's your Monday been?

9:14 AM - Sep 24, 2018

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Cyril Almeida has been accused of treason and put on the Exit Control List (ECL) twice in two years. In the recent episode, the Lahore High Court reportedly summoned him thrice in the case against the prime ministers and he did not appear and hence the warrant was issued. However, Zafar Abbas, the editor of Dawn newspaper clarified, “The notice served on Cyril Almeida was delivered at Dawn’s Islamabad bureau in the middle of last week, and journalists and officials at the bureau say the earlier two notices were never delivered,” adding, “Mr Almeida, like all Dawn staffers, is a law abiding citizen, and sincerely believes in the rule of law. He is a seasoned journalist and has never shied away from such matters.”

While the case of treason is not against Almeida, the nature of the case itself showcases how treason charges are flying about willy-nilly to suppress dissent, and how the law is being made into a joke. A private citizen filed the case of treason against the two former prime ministers and the court is hearing it.

The contents of the interview Nawaz Sharif gave to Almeida in May 2018 have been deemed treasonous. Sharif had outlined the reasons for Pakistan’s isolation and asked why the trial of Hafiz Saeed, accused in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, is not going anywhere. “We have isolated ourselves. Despite giving sacrifices, our narrative is not being accepted. Afghanistan’s narrative is being accepted, but ours is not. We must look into it,” Sharif had said. He continued: “Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can’t we complete the trial?”

The two realities that make this charge a farce are: First, only the federal government can bring treason charges against any individual and courts have no jurisdiction to hear such petitions from anyone other than the federal government. According to the High Treason (Punishment) Act, 1973, ‘No court shall take cognizance of an offence punishable under this Act except upon a complaint in writing made by a person authorised by the Federal Government in this behalf’. Recently a similar petition was thrown out on the same grounds by the Islamabad High Court. The court had stated, “The High Treason (Punishment) Act, 1973, prescribes a procedure for the initiation of proceedings for high treason. This court is bereft of the jurisdiction to direct the federal government to initiate proceedings for high treason”.

The second reality is that according to the Pakistani constitution, treason only pertains to abrogating, suspending or holding in abeyance the constitution itself, or colluding with its abrogation, or for a judge to validate such abrogation. No other act can be termed treason. And while every child and their aunt knows these two realities, some judges sitting in courts are either not aware of these or think that the law should not get in the way of their zeal.

The case against Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is even more laughable. He is charged with treason for telling Nawaz Sharif the concerns of the security establishment with regard to his Dawn interview. I am at a loss to understand who else he would have discussed this with if not with the subject of the national security council meeting that followed theinterview of Nawaz Sharif. The petitioner in the treason case claimed that it was “a clear violation of his (Abbasi’s) oath”. Needless to say, Abbasi had not revealed any state secrets to Sharif.

The earlier witch hunt against Cyril Almeida was in 2016 when he did an exclusive storyrevealing the discussions in a meeting of top officials of the civil government at the time with the top brass of the military. The story struck the government like an earthquake. It spoke of the government wanting to control militancy and terrorism and directing the military to not hinder its efforts as Pakistan was facing increasing isolation from the world. Ironically, Almeida was then accused of treason for “leaking national secrets” in a “fabricated news story” in a classic act of shooting the messenger.

To this day it is not clear as to who gave that story to Dawn, since the inquiry was never made public. Cyril Almeida had merely done his job, which was no act of ‘treason’.

Despite the worldwide furore over Almeida’s arrest warrant, another FIR was lodged against three other journalists— Najam Sethi, Muneeb Farooq and Absar Alam— together with Mir Shakeel ur Rehman, the owner of Jang-Geo newsgroup. This was for a news show conducted in January 2017. The language of the FIR clearly indicates that this could turn into another case of treason against journalists if it lands into the hands of a zealous judge.

Absar Alam, referring to the FIR against him, told me, “This is nothing new, we have faced all these before, faced and survived even under martial laws. We remain determined to survive this one as well. But this kind of labelling someone as a traitor or filing sedition cases against journalists is unprecedented. If it is aimed to silence dissent, it will fail.”

These threats of cases against journalists have the community feeling jittery and claustrophobic— no one knows what will be construed as treason or contempt. The petitioners in these cases are widely seen as front men and women of the establishment since all these cases cite ‘defamation of institutions’.

Speaking to me, Ahmad Noorani the journalist who was viciously attacked with knives and iron rods in October 2017 said, “The press is completely controlled at the moment with threats, direct or indirect, to us and our families. No mention of the military’s involvement in politics can be written or talked about now, although in past eras it was commonplace, even by retired military men.”

Several journalists and human rights organisations have condemned these cases and FIRs. 

What is frighteningly conspicuous is the absence of any government statement on these developments, which could point to, at best, Imran Khan’s quiesence, and at worst, his probable complicity. An important thing to note is that all those journalists who have been targeted thus far are professionals and have taken public stances in favour of democracy and transparency.

Lawyer Reema Omer very aptly tweeted, “Treason, blasphemy and contempt – three allegations continue to hold critical thinking, rational debate and free expression hostage in Pakistan”. It is high time for this to stop and for the focus to turn to the real issues Pakistan is facing.

ضیاء،مشرف کی جیلیں دیکھیں،عمران کی جیل جانے کیلئے بھی تیار ہیں،بلاول بھٹو

چیئرمین پیپلز پارٹی بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا ہے کہ یہ سلیکٹڈ حکومت سلیکٹڈ

وزیراعظم اور سلیکٹڈ وزیر ہیں، ہم نے ضیاء اور مشرف کی جیلیں دیکھیں، عمران خان کی جیل بھی جانے کو تیار ہیں، منی بجٹ سے غریب کی بجائے بلیک مارکیٹیر اور عمران کی اے ٹی ایمز کو فائدہ ہوا، بھینسوں کی نیلامی سے ملک کا مذاق اڑا۔ پارلیمنٹ ہاؤس کے باہر میڈیا سے بات کرتے ہوئے بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے حکمراں جماعت کو تنقید کا نشانہ بنایا اور کہا کہ حکومت کے منی بجٹ سے غریب کے بجائے بلیک مارکیٹنگ اور عمران خان کی اے ٹی ایم مشینوں کو فائدہ ہوا ہے۔بلاول بھٹو نے کہا کہ بجٹ میں کوئی نئی چیز یا انقلابی کام نظر نہیں آیا، روزگار کے بڑے وعدے کیے گئے لیکن حکومتی پالیسی سے بے روزگاری بڑھے گی۔چیئرمین پیپلز پارٹی نے کہا کہ سوچ رہا تھا وزیر خزانہ اسد عمر عوام دوست بجٹ لائیں گے لیکن بجٹ میں نان ٹیکس فائلر کو فائدہ ہوا اور نان فائلر کو ریلیف دینا کسی اسکینڈل سے کم نہیں جب کہ بجلی اور گیس کی قیمت میں اضافے

سے غریب بہت متاثر ہوگا۔

https://jang.com.pk/news/556582#_

#Pakistan - World Heart Day: Healthcare for all is the most salient agenda of #PPP’s Sindh government, says Chairman Bilawal Bhutto

Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that the healthcare for all is the most salient agenda of PPP’s Sindh government, especially the treatment of heart diseases completely free of cost. Sindh government has proudly opened a number National Institutes of cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) and NICVD Satellite Centres in many districts of the province, which are catering to the need of the indigent and all people alike.
This he said in his message on the occasion of World heart Day. This falls every 29th of September.

He said that PPP has laid a detailed programme for the healthcare, health facilities in the province and the programme is being implemented across the province.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that since the cost of treatment of heart ailments is expensive and hence not only the poor but also the rich can’t, too, afford it. Sindh government has established state of the art heart care facilities, which are not only catering to the people of Sindh but the ailing fraternity from other provinces is also availing standard heart care at NICVDs free of cost.
PPP Chairman said that at NICVDs, patients get angioplasty, stunt fixing and placement of pacemakers absolutely free and even the patients are served with complete care that includes free meal and other necessities during period of treatment.

He said that Sindh government has gracefully established these free heart centrs and allocated a huge sum in this regard.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari further said that the Sindh government has so far opened eight satellite centres of NICVD in Larkana, Tando Muhammad Khan, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Sehwan, Mithi, Khairpur and Nawabshah. Bedsides, the NICVD under People’s government of Sindh has made available Chest Pain Units at seven different locations of Karachi to facilitate the citizens. This service is one of its kinds and is available for 24/7 throughput the year.
It may may recalled that NICVD takes care of 400,000 patients in OPD, 37000 inpatients and about 200,000 emergency patients annually.

https://mediacellppp.wordpress.com/2018/09/28/world-heart-day-healthcare-for-all-is-the-most-salient-agenda-of-ppps-sindh-government-says-chairman-bilawal-bhutto-zardari/