Friday, May 28, 2021
#EDITORIAL - #Pakistan - Another rape - A Country where Couple's kissing outrages Pakistanis more than a Rape of a Minor Girl
Given the many, many ugly layers that make up this abhorrent crime, the ruling PTI must bring the full might of law upon its investigation. We cannot afford to waste any time in ensuring a proper, fool-proof prosecution. Already, the privacy of the victim has been egregiously compromised after her graphic picture spearheaded a campaign by netizens. While Twitter hashtags called on PM Khan to take immediate action against the perpetrators, police officials in Faisalabad and Sukkur have jumped to denials of any such crime taking place in their respective cities.
There can be no denying of the dismal reality that with every such case, humanity takes a deeper plunge into a dark, dreary, loathsome pit. Child abuse is a heinous reality that continues to plague Pakistan. Last November, a co-accused murdered a suspect just a day after he was arrested for raping a woman as well as her five-year-old daughter. A month before, an eight-year-old was found hanging from a tree in Killa Abdullah. He had been strangled to death after the rapists were done with him. Who can forget the horrific details of the rape and murder of Kasur’s Zainab? The bone-chilling list continues. We are decades behind in putting the onus where it matters–the rapists–instead of indulging in the senseless details of what (the victim was wearing?), where (was she standing outside the “chaar diwari?) and when (because monsters are set loose upon us after sundown). However, this obsession with pushing the onus onto the victim sounds even more foolish when talking about children. For minors lack the agency to stop the unwanted harassment. Most of the times, they are not taken seriously when they confide their agony in someone. It is this nonchalance that makes them the perfect targets for the sick monsters moving within us. And this vulnerability is what Islamabad needs to consider before pulling its socks.
Already, the religious affiliation of the victim has rendered extra sensitivity to the abuse case. Going by the previous examples, hawks sitting on the other side of the border would not bat an eyelid before needlessly interfering in Pakistan’s internal matter using the minority card. It would be unwise to forget the scathing attacks by former Indian minister Sushma Swaraj when two young Hindu girls were allegedly abducted in Sindh. Since Pakistan’s reputation as a haven for the white in its flag is already on the rocks, we need a proactive nexus of government and security agencies. It is a matter of life and death. Quite literally speaking!
#Pakistan - Educating all children
THAT basic (10-odd years) education has been declared a fundamental right of children and the fact that it is also considered a basic right in many countries and jurisdictions is not enough to convince a number of people here that all children should be educated.
All children irrespective of their family income, gender, religion, geography, ability, etc have the right to education. Not only that, in most countries, education is considered mandatory. Even if a child or her family do not desire that the child be educated, she can be ‘forced’ to be educated. The public good element and positive externalities have made education in most jurisdictions obligatory. An educated child contributes more to society at large than an uneducated child. It is as simple as that.
In the case of Pakistan, here is how the ‘right’ to education is worded in our Constitution. “Article 25-A: Right to Education: The state shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law.” Article 25-A was inserted in the Constitution as part of the 18th Constitutional Amendment in 2010. It is in the fundamental rights section of the Constitution. It is important to highlight how the Article is worded, ie “free and compulsory”. The ‘compulsory’ part articulates that it is obligatory.
And yet there are people in Pakistan who feel that we should not or cannot afford to educate all our children. They clearly do not understand what the notion of a ‘right’ is. Fundamental rights are supposed to be trump cards: their provision has to trump all other considerations. If you are calling for 10 years of education to be a fundamental right for all children, this provision has to trump all other considerations that do not invoke other fundamental rights. This should be enough reason to provide education to all children. But, it seems, rights mean little in our country. So, let us look at further considerations.
Unemployment, amongst the educated youth, is high. It tends to be high in countries where the economic growth rate and job creation rate are not high enough. In these countries, the rate at which jobs are created, compared to the rate of entry of young people into the labour force, is lower and this creates a situation of excess supply. But, how can this be a reason for denying the right to education? Growth rates change a lot even over the short to medium run while the provision of education takes place over decades, that is, you cannot start/stop education systems on the basis of short- to medium-term considerations.
Educated people drive both innovation and growth; they come up with new ideas and new ways of organising and delivering services. Education has large positive externalities on the sociopolitical front as well — in terms of reduction in fertility and population growth, health and education benefits for families of educated mothers, female empowerment and labour force participation, age of marriage, and the working of democracy in a country. Even if the rights argument is not considered strong enough, how can all of these benefits be sacrificed at the altar of growth rate and unemployment rate fluctuations?
View this problem from the other side as well. Imagine we do not educate our young. Pakistan is a young country that is still going through a demographic transition. Can we afford to have millions of uneducated youth to look after? Education opens up avenues for people for individual and family transformations. Can we afford to not offer this opportunity to all of our children? What will Pakistan’s future be if we have millions of uneducated youth who we need to cater for? Daron Acemoglu, professor of economics at MIT, in a recent lecture pointed out that the way the labour markets are changing, due to technology change, countries with large populations of uneducated youth are going to face very difficult economic, and consequently social and political, circumstances. Does that look more promising than trying to educate all children and the challenge of unemployment for the educated?
Another major argument for denying the right to education to all is based on the idea of limited financial resources. It is argued that Pakistan does not have the financial resources to educate every child. We only raise 10-odd per cent of our GDP as taxes and given the needs in other areas, we cannot afford to spend 5pc to 6pc of GDP on education alone. Even the current 2pc of GDP that we spend on education is with great difficulty and hardship.
It is true that financial resources are tight. Do bear in mind, though, that they are and have been tight for all countries across time. But others have made different choices. When the developed countries of today decided to invest in the education of their citizens, they were not as rich as they are today. Look at the history of mass education in the UK or Europe, the US and even Japan. All of them decided to go for mass education, for a variety of reasons, at a time when they were also struggling financially. But education, for all, was considered important to a) produce better labour, b) not fall behind other nations, c) craft a notion of citizenship, etc.
Even over the last few decades we have seen developing countries make choices for education that have been different from the choices made by Pakistan. India, China, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka provide interesting examples even from our region. Are these not resource-constrained countries?
It is hard to believe that even today we are still debating whether or not the right to education should be extended to all children in Pakistan and there are still people who think that we should not and that we cannot afford to. I guess this reflects quite vividly the country’s political economy issues. The rights of all are trumped by the needs of the elites — a pattern that is also reflected in many other decisions of the state.
History shows that the country has seen some of the most progressive economic and agricultural policies under the PPP government – says Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
The Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has said that the disastrous economic policies of the selected Prime Minister Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi have deprived 16 percent of Pakistanis from even one square meal a day. Extreme poverty is robbing our people of their most basic needs, he added. Today, the people are demanding Roti (Bread), Kapra (Clothing), and Makaan (Shelter), but the corrupt PM and his incompetent government have deprived them of their most basic needs.In a statement issued from the Media Cell Bilawal House, the Chairman PPP said that the PPP was the only political platform that actively represented the will of the people, and even its critics would agree that its policies are aimed at empowering the most marginalized.
He added that the PPP has the potential and vision to create jobs, and that the PPP had a proven track record for providing employment to the people and youth of the country. Any honest reading of history would show that the country has seen some of the most progressive economic and agricultural policies under PPP governments.
The incompetent PM on the other hand has a revolving door policy for this country’s financial advisers. What more could underscore the absolute lack of vision than the fact that the Finance Minister has been changed thrice, the Board of Investment chairman has been changed thrice, the Chairman FBR being changed four times, and theSecretary Trade being changed four times as well in this governments two and half years of power.
“No matter who the selected PM changes, the results will be the same because the PM does not have the vision or the ambition to do anything but serve his crony capitalists and his benefactors.”
The situation in Pakistan will remain bleak as long as we are ruled by a PM and government that announces and trumpets a policy one night, only to change its mind overnight and rejects it in a cabinet meeting the next day, he added. The short rule of the PM has badly exposed his ineptitude and incapability of governing a country, and the masses know that all the talk of Tabdeeli (Change) was just an eye wash for Imran Khan to play out his megalomaniacal fantasies , the Chairman PPP said.
He said 33 months and 11 days into this governments term, the country was still waiting for the selected Prime Minister to fulfill his commitment of fixing Pakistans problems in 90 days. It is patently clear that the remaining 813 days will be marked by the same incompetency and misrule that is synonymous with the government.
#Pakistan #YoumeTakbeer #ShaheedZulfiqarAliBhutto - Bhutto’s obsession with Islamic bomb, the architect of Pakistan's nuclear deterrence program
Syed Ishrat Husain
Just before the beginning of the month of Ramzan this year, Pakistan’s prime minister Imran Khan advised country’s youth that they can learn Islamic ethics and values while watching Turkish tv serial Ertugrul. I want our children and youth to know what the difference is about our culture. The show was already a hit in many countries. Prime minister’s promotional speech made it more popular in Pakistan than in any other country.I believe in diversity because it reduces narrow mindedness. It is always good to know about the
cultures and history of different Islamic nations. But let me remind you, that even as on today June, 14, 2020 Pakistan still is the only nuclear state within Islamic world. How many of you out of 22 billion are aware of the struggle behind to become a nuclear state? I can assure you, you can count them on fingers. Unfortunately even PPP’s own governments didn’t do anything to raise awareness among the masses about the challenges and obstacles faced by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto writes from his death cell: My single most important achievement which I believe will dominate the portrait of my public life is an agreement which I arrived at after an assiduous and tenacious endeavour spanning over eleven years of negotiations. In the present context, the agreement of mine, concluded in June 1976, will perhaps be my greatest achievement and contribution to the survival of our nation. We were on the threshold of full nuclear capability when I left the government to come to this death cell. We know that Israel and South Africa have full nuclear capability. The Christian, Jewish and Hindu civilisations have capability. The Communist powers also possess it. Only the Islamic civilisation was without it, but that position was about to change. What difference does my life make now when I can imagine of my countrymen standing under the nuclear cloud of a defenceless sky. Bhutto’s eleven years of negotiation began around 1965. It was the year of Indo-Pakistan war. It was the year in which Pakistan had its US military aid suspended and Bhutto declared, if India builds the bomb, we will eat grass or leaves, even go hungry, but we will get one of our own. We have no alternative, atom bomb for atom bomb. Few weeks after the fall of Dhaka on 20 January 1972, Bhutto called together his eminent scientists at Nawab Sadiq Hussain Qureshi’s residence in Multan. Bhutto told them that fate had placed him in a position where he could make decisions that would lead the country to become Nuclear power. Can you give to me? He asked. There was a pin drop silence. According to most estimates Pakistan was at least twenty years behind India. Bhutto scowled, one of the young scientist recalled. He looked at the junior scientists before him for a positive response. Bhutto repeated his question: Can you give it to me? Some of the junior scientists replied, yes it would be possible, Sultan Bashir Uddin Mahmood shouted. Bhutto fired back: But how long will it take to build a bomb? When Bashir Uddin mumbled, maybe five years, Bhutto thrust three fingers into the air. I want in three years. It isn’t making firecrackers, you know, one of the scientist piped up. We don’t know how long it will take. But one of the younger scientist Sulfikar Ahmed Butt shouted it: It can be done in three years. Bhutto smiled. Well much as I admire your enthusiasm, this is a very serious political decision, which Pakistan must take. So can you do it? Everybody present agreed to agree that Pakistan could do it, given sufficient resources and facilities. In 1976 Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto ordered test tunnels to be constructed at two locations in Ras Koh range in the Chaghai District, and Kharan desert Balochistan. In the autumn of 1976 an army corps led by Brigadier Sajawal Khan Malik, was ordered to help A. Q. Khan raise a nuclear facility at the Kahuta site. Brigadier Sajawal would remain a key aide until Khan retired in 2001. US secretary of the state Henry Kissinger had tried to head Bhutto’s nuclear ambitions during a meeting in New York, offering him a deal. Bhutto was to terminate his reprocessing project in favour of US supplied facility that would be located in Iran and be made available to all countries in the region. Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld had devised the scheme arguing that Iran needed a nuclear programme to meet its future energy needs. But Bhutto rejected the offer. The US Senate proposed an amendment to the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act to block economic and military aid, threatening to cut off Pakistan’s annual $162 million aid package. The noise from the US Congress suited Bhutto, as he had no intention of going ahead with the costly reprocessing plant. Bhutto hoped that if Pakistan was seen to abandon its reprocessing plans under US pressure it would not have to compensate the French when it finally pulled out of the deal. In 1977 Bhutto was fighting a four sided battle. On one side he was provoking Carter to put pressure on France. On a second front he was trying to keep the Kahuta plant concealed from the West. On the third front he was fighting with the agitation in the country and on the fourth front he was keeping a check on the generals by meeting them every day. And during this period he was casting a net across the world for the purchase of necessary parts for the research laboratory. During an emotional address to the National Assembly, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto charged Washington with financing a vast colossal, huge international conspiracy to oust him. The bloodhounds are after my blood, foreign dollars were flooding into Pakistan to pay for the rising agitation. He claimed that Henry Kissinger had personally told him, that if he failed to fall in line over the nuclear issue, we will make a horrible example of you. Bhutto revealed how US diplomats had been intercepted plotting his downfall on the phone. Back in 1979, the Israelis had been shown a classified US memo by their counterparts in RAW. Intercepted on its way from the US embassy in New Delhi to the secretary of state, it confirmed that the US privately believed Pakistan would be able to explode a bomb within two or three years, most likely by 1981.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/626209/bhuttos-obsession-with-islamic-bomb/