Music Video - Billy Joel - Piano Man

Video Report - Can Libya move on? New plan to end ten years of fighting

Video Report - Gunmen kidnap dozens from school in central Nigeria

Video - Winter weather leaves millions without power in Texas

Video - Joe Biden Participates in a CNN Town Hall in Milwaukee - February 16, 2021

Video Report - Why Do Some Pakistanis Hate Malala So Much?

عورت کو تعلیم دیں یا جہیز؟

تحریم عظیم 

اصل جہیز وہ ہے جو آج زارا نعیم نے اپنی محنت اور قابلیت سے کمایا ہے، عورت کو اسی جہیز کی ضرورت ہے۔

پاکستان میں کل سے زارا نعیم کی کامیابی کا جشن منایا جا رہا ہے۔ پورا ملک ایک عورت کی تعلیمی کامیابی پر فخر کر رہا ہے۔ یہ وہی ملک ہے جہاں عورت کی تعلیم کو اتنا اہم نہیں سمجھا جاتا تھا۔

عام گھروں میں کہا جاتا تھا کہ لڑکیاں اتنا پڑھ لکھ کرکیا کریں گی، آخر میں انہوں نے چولہا ہی سنبھالنا ہے۔ ملالہ یوسفزئی کی مثال بھی ہمارے سامنے ہے۔ انہیں طالبان نے سکول جانے کی پاداش میں گولی مار کر زخمی کر دیا تھا۔ اگر آج اسی ملک میں ایک عورت کی تعلیمی کامیابی پر جشن منایا جا رہا ہے تو یہ بہت بڑی تبدیلی ہے۔

پچھلے دنوں شادی کے موقعے پر خواتین کو ملنے والے جہیز کی بھی بہت بات چلی۔ ہمیں جہیز سے ہمیشہ کی چڑ رہی ہے۔ ہمارا خیال ہے کہ اصل جہیز وہ ہے جو آج زارا نعیم نے اپنی محنت اور قابلیت سے کمایا ہے۔ عورت کو اسی جہیز کی ضرورت ہے۔ اس سے ہی معاشرے میں اس کے مقام کا تعین کرتا ہے نہ کہ وہ لوہے کی پیٹیاں جو بستر، برتن اور الیکٹرانکس کے سامان سے بھری ہوتی ہیں۔

ہمارے معاشرے میں عورت کی عزت اس کے ساتھ آنے والے جہیز سے کی جاتی ہے۔ جو عورت اپنے ساتھ جتنا زیادہ جہیز لے کر جاتی ہے، اس کے ساتھ سسرال میں اتنا ہی بہتر سلوک ہونے کی امید کی جاتی ہے۔ جن عورتوں کے ساتھ جہیز نہیں ہوتا یا کم ہوتا ہے انہیں سسرال میں جہیز نہ لانے کے طعنے بھی دیے جاتے ہیں، مارا پیٹا بھی جاتا ہے اور کچھ کیسز میں قتل بھی کر دیا جاتا ہے۔

دوسری طرف جو عورت اپنے ساتھ جہیز لے کر جاتی ہے، اس کے ساتھ سسرال والے کب تک اچھے رہیں گے اور اس کی کب تک عزت کریں گے اس کی کوئی ضمانت نہیں ہوتی۔ سسرال والے چاہیں تو اس کی قدر کر کے اس پر احسان کر دیں ورنہ اس کی لائی چیزوں کی حیثیت صفر کر کے روایتی سسرال بن جائیں۔ شادی عورت کے لیے اتنی ہی مشکل ہوتی ہے۔

ہم اکیسویں صدی میں جی رہے ہیں۔ ہمیں اب ان فرسودہ خیالات کو ترک کر دینا چاہیے۔ عورت کو جہیز سے زیادہ تعلیم اور گھر والے کے اعتماد اور بھروسے کی ضرورت ہوتی ہے۔ اس کے پاس یہ چیزیں ہوں تو وہ خود کو مضبوط تصور کرتی ہے اور اپنے بارے میں بہتر فیصلے کر سکتی ہے۔ جس طرح ہم زارا نعیم کی کامیابی پر خوش ہو رہے ہیں، اسی طرح ہمیں ہر عورت کی کامیابی پر خوش ہونا چاہیے۔ اس سے نہ صرف ان کا اپنے اوپر اعتماد بڑھتا ہے بلکہ ہمارے معاشرے کی اس فرسودہ سوچ پر بھی ضرب پڑتی ہے جو عورت کا محفوظ مستقبل جہیز میں ڈھونڈتی ہے۔

جب جہیز کی بات ہوتی ہے تو وہیں اکثر مردوں کی طرف سے شکوہ کیا جاتا ہے کہ جہیز لینا غلط ہے تو ہم سے سیٹل ہونے کی امید رکھنا بھی تو غلط ہے۔ ہمارے پاس اچھی نوکری ہو، گاڑی ہو، گھر ہو، تب ہی ہمارا رشتہ قبول کیا جاتا ہے ورنہ انکار کر دیا جاتا ہے۔ انہیں یہ بات سمجھنی چاہیے کہ وہ جس رشتے کی بات کر رہے ہیں، اس کی بنیاد پدرشاہی نے ڈالی ہے۔

عورت جب شادی کے رشتے میں بندھتی ہے تو وہ اپنے شوہر اور اس کے گھر والوں کے تابع ہو جاتی ہے۔ آپ اسے اس زنجیر سے آزاد کر دیں، اسے اس رشتے میں اپنی پوری ذات کے ساتھ آنے کی اجازت دے دیں تو اس کی اور اس کے گھر والوں کی طرف سے آپ سے منسوب توقعات بھی آہستہ آہستہ کم ہو جائیں گی۔

آپ عورت کے جسم، سوچ اور روح پر اپنی ملکیت جمانا چھوڑ دیں تو آپ سے بھی ’کتنا کماتے ہو‘ کا سوال نہیں کیا جائے گا۔ آپ چاہتے ہیں آپ سے نہ آپ کی کمائی پوچھی جائے، نہ اس گھر کے بارے میں پوچھا جائے جہاں آپ عورت کو لے کر جانے کا ارادہ رکھتے ہیں، نہ آپ کی گاڑی کا پوچھا جائے جبکہ آپ کو عورت سے ہر سوال کرنے کا حق بھی ہو اور اس کو اپنی مرضی سے چلانے کا اختیار بھی ہو۔

آپ ایک انسان کی زندگی کے مالک بننا چاہتے ہیں اور بدلے میں کوئی ضمانت بھی نہیں دینا چاہتے؟ یہ کہاں کا انصاف ہوا؟

چلیں آپ سے پوچھتے ہیں۔ کیا آپ وہ ڈگری جو آپ نے سالوں کی محنت کے بعد حاصل کی ہے اسے ایک بکسے میں بند کرنے کو تیار ہیں؟ کیا آپ اپنی وہ نوکری جو آپ نے سالوں کے تجربے کے بعد حاصل کی ہے اسے صرف اس لیے چھوڑنے کو تیار ہیں کہ جہاں آپ کی شادی ہو رہی ہے وہاں مردوں کا گھر سے باہر نکل کر کام کرنا پسند نہیں کیا جاتا؟ کیا آپ اپنے پاؤں کے نیچے زمین چھوڑ کر کسی کا ہاتھ پکڑنے کو تیار ہیں؟

نہیں؟ عورتیں یہ سب کرتی ہیں اور اپنے ساتھ لاکھوں روپے مالیت کا جہیز بھی لے کر جاتی ہیں، پھر بھی ہر گھر میں جھگڑے ہیں، نا قدری ہے اور ذلالت ہے۔ اس کا قصور وار کون ہے؟ وہ سوچ جو عورت کی سکیورٹی اس کی تعلیم کو نہیں بلکہ جہیز کو سمجھتی ہے۔

اس لیے آج زارا نعیم کی کامیابی کا جشن منائیں۔ ایک عورت کا اپنے پیروں کے نیچے اپنی زمین خود بنانا ہی اس کی اصل کامیابی ہے۔

https://www.independenturdu.com/node/60116 

Senate panel rejects bill to protect Pakistan's minorities

 Zahid Hussain Khan

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam member says minorities already enjoy unprecedented religious freedom

A Senate panel has rejected a bill seeking protection for Pakistan’s minorities against religiously motivated violence.

In a Feb. 2 meeting, the standing committee on religious affairs and interfaith harmony turned down the Protection of the Rights of Religious Minorities Bill, claiming that minorities enjoy complete religious freedom in the country.

The committee was chaired by Senator Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, a member of religious political party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F)

Existing laws already provide unprecedented religious freedom to minorities, Haideri was quoted by Express Tribune as saying.

“The government is even constructing temples for minorities. They are also at liberty to establish their religious educational institutions,” Haideri said.

Senator Sirajul Haq, head of Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, termed the bill a part of the agenda of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

There were heated exchanges between the committee members, according to the report.

Senator Javed Abbasi, who authored the bill, said minorities should have opportunities to go to their sacred religious places in a free environment. He pointed to incidents of forced conversion of minority girls in Sindh and other areas. “In many cases, young girls are forcibly converted. The state of Pakistan would not allow such acts. We do not treat minorities in Pakistan as [Indian Prime Minister Narendra] Modi is doing in India,” he said.

Senator Krishna Kumari Kolhi (Kishoo Bai), a Hindu member of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party, said minorities were seeking legislation on hate speech and incitement to violence.

Kishoo Bai later walked out of the meeting in protest after the bill failed to pass through the committee.

“You [should] reject it [the bill] to show that you do not want to protect minorities,” Bai said. “I can't sit on such a committee.”

Kapal Dev, a noted minority activist, lamented the rejection of the bill.

“Yes, they want protection of the Muslim minority in India, the West and elsewhere, but not their own minorities here. Why do these religious members create hindrances for protection of minorities?” Dev asked.

https://www.ucanews.com/news/senate-panel-rejects-bill-to-protect-pakistans-minorities/91271#

Pakistan: Terrorized Punjab Minorities – Analysis

 By Tushar Ranjan Mohanty

On January 11, 2021, a four-year-old Christian girl Eshal was abducted, raped and killed in Malkhanwala village in Waras Pura tehsil (revenue unit) of Faisalabad District.

On January 9, 2021, the dead bodies of two Christian girls were found in a sewer near Makhan Colony in the Kahna area of Lahore. They were abducted and killed by Muhammad Mumtaz and Naeem when the girls refused to convert to Islam.

According to partial data compiled by the Institute for Conflict Management (ICM), Punjab has already recorded three incidents of attacks on religious minorities resulting in three deaths in 2021, so far (data till February 14).

During 2020, there was a considerable increase in incidents of the persecution of minorities in comparison to previous year. At least 37 such incidents were recorded, resulting in six deaths and 12 persons injured in Punjab in 2020, as against seven incidents in 2019. No casualty was reported in 2019.

Scores of women from minorities were forcibly converted to Islam. During an online consultation on “Forced conversion complaints and religious freedom” organized on November 28, 2020, by the Center for Social Justice (CSJ), a Pakistan-based organisation, CSJ Director Peter Jacob noted that there had been a rise in incidents of forced conversion of women, and specifically of underage girls from the religious minority communities.

Moreover, minorities are also bearing the brunt of the ‘blasphemy law’. On February 4, 2021, CSJ released data for incidents between 1987 and December 2020, which showed that at least 1,855 people had been charged with offences related to religion, Section 295-B of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), (blasphemy against the Holy Quran) was introduced in 1982, and Section 295-C, PPC (desecration against Prophet Muhammad) in 1986. Punjab has had the most blasphemy complaints (76 per cent of all complaints), followed by Sindh (19 per cent).  As of December 2020, Punjab’s prisons were holding 337 prisoners for blasphemy, both those convicted and those awaiting trial. The largest number of inmates are in the Lahore district jail (60). Some of the prominent blasphemy-linked incidents in Punjab in 2020 include:

September 8, 2020: A Sessions Court in Lahore, Punjab, sentenced a Christian man, Asif Pervaiz, to death, after convicting him of sending text messages containing “blasphemous content.” The court order issued by Additional Sessions Judge Mansoor Ahmad Qureshi added that Pervaiz would first serve a three-year prison term for “misusing” his phone to send the derogatory text message, and then “he shall be hanged by his neck till his death.” He was also fined PKR 50,000. Asif Pervaiz has been in custody since 2013, fighting blasphemy charges that were levelled against him by the supervisor of the garment factory he once worked at. The supervisor had accused him of sending derogatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad to him in a text message. Following the sentence, Asif’s lawyer, Siaf-ul-Malook, however, stated, “He [Asif] denied the allegations and said that this man was trying to get him to convert to Islam.”August 23, 2020: Several individuals lodged separate complaints for “blasphemy” against journalist and human rights activist, Marvi Sirmed in different parts of the country, including Lahore (in Police Stations of Ravi Road, Faisal Town and Garden Town) and Jhang (Kotwali Police Station) in Punjab Province; Karachi, in Sindh Province; and Islamabad with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). According to the information received, on August 22, 2020, Sirmed allegedly posted a satirical Tweet from her personal account, referring to the many enforced disappearances of human rights defenders and government critics in Balochistan Province, Pakistan.August 13, 2020: Police filed a case under the blasphemy laws against actor Saba Qamar and singer Bilal Saeed, for shooting a music video inside Wazir Khan Mosque in Lahore, Punjab Province. The case was registered at the Akbari Police Station of Lahore on the complaint of advocate Farhat Manzoor. Manzoor filed the complaint following the release of a clip of the video on August 8. Both Qamar and Saeed have published statements apologizing on their respective social media accounts.

Adding more weaponry to the armoury of religious bigots, the Punjab Assembly passed the Punjab Tahaffuz-i-Bunyad-i-Islam Bill 2020 on July 22, 2020. The law makes the publication of objectionable material punishable by a maximum of five years in prison and up to PKR 500,000 fine. In its editorial of July 29, 2020, Dawn noted,

The new law can justifiably be criticised for being superfluous and capable of stoking more religious intolerance, which this country can well do without.

Earlier, on July 24, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in a release asserted that HRCP was

…appalled at recent developments that are set to further whittle down space for freedom of intellectual thought, enquiry and expression… There is also ample reason to expect that Section 3(f) of the new Act will be used to target religious minorities and sects… The Commission urges the Punjab government to heed its concerns and roll back such measures before they backfire.

Meanwhile, terrorism-linked fatalities continued to decline in Punjab, as in the rest of the country. Fatalities fell from 28 (12 civilians, nine Security Force, SF, personnel and seven terrorists) in 2019 to 16 in 2020 (three civilians and 13 terrorists). At peak, there 392 overall fatalities in Punjab in 2009.  A high of 296 civilian fatalities was recorded in 2010.

However, the growing presence of religious extremists/fundamentalists and the state’s encouragement of such elements, is worrisome. These elements have the potential to provide a breeding ground for more violent and terrorist formations.

Moreover, there are no signs of genuine efforts to tighten the grip against terrorist groups such as the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), the front organisation of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) – the ‘foreign oriented’ terrorist groupings that have strong bases in the Province. The leadership elements of these outfits continue to comfortable enjoy state hospitality, despite being convicted in several terrorism-related cases – the convictions primarily forced by international and particularly Financial Action Task Force (FATF) pressure. JuD chief Hafiz Saeed who was officially arrested in July 2019, and should have been servicing his sentence in jail, continues to live at his Johar Town house in Lahore, from where he continues to freely run his terrorist organisation. Most recently, on December 25, 2020, an Anti-Terrorism Court sentenced Hafiz Saeed to 15 years and six months imprisonment, without significant impact on his living conditions. Similarly, JeM chief Masood Azhar, who is facing several cases of terrorist funding, lives in a “safe place” in his native town – Bahawalpur. All proof enough to further establish that the arrests and sentences are superficial and only intended to bring Pakistan out of Financial Action Task Force’s ‘grey list’. 

Meanwhile, the global terrorist Islamic State (Daesh) remains a challenge. On May 17, 2020, Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) personnel killed four Daesh terrorists, while another three managed to escape during a security operation carried out near Azam Chowk in Bahawalpur city (Bahawalpur District). The CTD spokesperson confirmed that the terrorists were planning to carry out an attack at a religious minority’s place of worship.

Former Minister of Interior, Senator Rehman Malik, in his column in The Nation on September 24, 2020, wrote,

I have been watching the fast growth of Daesh in the region and I was the first one who pointed out the presence of ISIS [Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Islamic State], but successive governments have been refusing to accept its presence just as a policy. In fact, I have always been advocating that Daesh is very much in Pakistan. The Daesh handlers recruited over 80 thousand Pakistanis mostly from south Punjab.

Despite Prime Minister Imran Khan’s false claim of a safe Pakistan for all minorities in ‘Naya Pakistan’, persecution of religious minorities continues in Punjab and across Pakistan. The growing radicalization which is encouraged by the Government has undermined the achievements reflected in declining terrorism-linked fatalities and incidents. Rising extremism, moreover, threatens future the security in the province and the country. 

https://www.eurasiareview.com/16022021-pakistan-terrorized-punjab-minorities-analysis/

Is a US-Pakistan reset possible?

BY APARNA PANDE

As the Biden administration starts shaping its foreign policy, it has to deal with some complicated relationships. Few U.S. relationships are as complicated as the one with onetime ally and occasional frenemy, Pakistan, which is now closely aligned with China and is widely blamed for undermining the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan.

Voices sympathetic to Pakistan in Washington are advocating a reset of U.S.-Pakistan relations, setting aside the bitterness of the past. Their essential argument is that as a nuclear weapons power with a large army, which has been a friend of the United States in the past, Pakistan simply cannot be ignored.

The U.S. should, of course, not ignore Pakistan. But Americans should be wary of plans that draw the U.S. back into embracing Pakistan or depending on it. Pakistan is now China’s closest ally and its overtures to the U.S. are designed only to evade the consequences of its anti-American conduct.

The idea that there should be a new basis for U.S.-Pakistan relations is not new, but the latest calls for a ‘reset’ are based on that notion that it can somehow be achieved without a turnaround in Pakistan.Hudson Institute’s Husain Haqqani, a former Pakistani ambassador, had first called for abandoning the idea of a U.S.-Pakistan alliance, and a bilateral relationship based on “greater humility” and an awareness of for each side of “what it can and cannot get” in a 2013 Foreign Affairs article titled “Breaking up is not hard to do.”The recent proposals for revisiting relations with Pakistan have come from three former officials who served during the Obama administration at a time when the United States poured billions of dollars into Pakistan in an attempt to wean it off its own strategic priorities. That effort ended only after Americans located Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani garrison town and killed him without first informing the Pakistanis out of fear that they might tip off the arch-terrorist.

This time, Richard Olson (who served as U.S. Ambassador from 2012 to 2015 and as Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan from 2015 to 2016), advocates a “right-sized” relationship with Pakistan in a paper published by the United States Institute for Peace. Mr. Olson proposes moving away from emphasis on “military and intelligence aspects of cooperation” and a focus on “genuinely overlapping interests, especially economic and cultural ones.” He recognizes that “It is hard to imagine an Islamabad increasingly aligned with Beijing and still being close to Washington.”

The idea that the U.S. needs a new policy towards Pakistan has been repeated in an Atlantic Council paper co-authored by Shamila Chaudhary, former director for Pakistan and Afghanistan at the Obama National Security Council and S. Vali Nasr, former Senior Advisor to U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke (2009-2011).

Ms. Chaudhary and Mr. Nasr also emphasize economic and people-to-people relations, without acknowledging that these cannot be created by a U.S. administration. Businesses in Pakistan would have to buy more from the U.S. while finding enough American buyers for Pakistani products for trade volumes to expand.

The cultural and economic overlap between Pakistan and the United States is very limited. The right-sized U.S. relationship with Pakistan, shorn of military and intelligence ties, would be a rather minimalist one.

It is unlikely that — based on economics alone — Pakistan would deserve more attention from the U.S. than is given to, say, Morocco or Bangladesh. Even as an ally and major aid recipient, U.S. trade with Pakistan in goods and services never exceeded the current figure of $6.6 billion in a year. This level of bilateral trade is comparable to U.S.-Morocco trade in goods and services in 2020 and is hardly a trickle in the annual U.S. trade volume of $5 trillion.

Moreover, Morocco’s population is just 36 million compared to Pakistan’s population of 210 million. Bangladesh, which was once part of Pakistan, trades with the United States to the tune of $9 billion annually.

If the future Pakistan-relationship is to be determined by economic factors, Pakistan would have to up its game in being able to trade with the U.S. at levels much higher than what it has managed for 72 odd-years. As for cultural relations, the Pakistani diaspora in the United States is smaller than many other diaspora communities and would have to find its own place in America’s melting pot. The State Department cannot advance Pakistani-Americans’ role within the U.S. nor can it create a market for Pakistan’s cultural products — movies, television shows, music, or books. It is unlikely that most Americans will easily ignore Pakistan’s sponsorship of terrorism, without so much as an acknowledgement or apology from Islamabad of complicity in supporting the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and a slew of attacks in India. Some of these Pakistan-backed acts of terror, including the 2008 Mumbai attacks resulted in the death of Americans.

The realization that Pakistan is no longer a U.S. ally seems now to be accepted wisdom in Washington. But those advocating a “reset” in relations under President Biden seem to be suggesting that a reset is possible without dealing with Pakistan’s own dysfunction — or consequences for past Pakistani conduct.

That suggestion might be good for policy papers, but it will not make for good policy.

Instead, the U.S. needs to figure out how to deal with a nuclear-armed Pakistan closely aligned with China, providing safe haven to myriad Islamist terrorist groups, and bent on causing mischief for U.S. allies Afghanistan and India.

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/539175-is-a-us-pakistan-reset-possible