No Place For Minorities In ‘Naya’ Pakistan – OpEd

By Nilesh Kunwar

Two years ago, while speaking on the occasion to mark 100 days of his government being in office, Prime Minister Imran Khan made many a boast and promises. Besides waxing eloquent on turning Pakistan into a “model Islamic welfare state,” he also hit out at his Indian counterpart by saying, “We will show the Modi government how to treat minorities.”  Unfortunately, despite this bold assurance, instances of atrocities against minorities in Pakistan have increased manyfold under Khan’s watch. 

US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Samuel Brownback has made things embarrassing for Khan by making it clear that as far as Pakistan was concerned, “a lot of their actions [against religious freedom] are done by the government.” So, it’s not at all surprising that Washington has designated Pakistan a ‘country of serious concern’ for engaging in or tolerating “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom.”  To make matters even more humiliating, Khan’s “how to treat minorities” barb directed at Modi boomeranged when US State Department summarily rejected US Commission for International Religious Freedom’s recommendation to designate India a ‘country of serious concern’. 

Khan wants everyone to believe that his “Naya [new] Pakistan is Quaid’s [Jinnah’s] Pakistan” in which “minorities are treated as equal citizens, unlike what is happening in India” but this claim has hardly any takers. Au contraire, in its ‘World Report 2020’, Human Right Watch [HRW] has noted that along with women and transgender people, religious minorities in Pakistan “continued to face violence, discrimination, and persecution, with authorities often failing to provide adequate protection or hold perpetrators accountable.” Even Human Right Commission of Pakistan [HRCP] has been extremely critical about the PTI led government’s abysmal failure in protecting minorities, which it rightly feels are “doubly vulnerable”.

Islamabad dismisses widespread international criticism for failing to institute adequate safeguards to prevent religious persecution of its minorities by terming it an ‘opinion based on disinformation’.  However, in its annual ‘State of Human Rights in 2019’ report [released in 2020], HRCP has noted that “Religious minorities remained unable to enjoy the freedom of religion or belief guaranteed to them under the constitution” adding that “Both the Hindu and Christian communities in Sindh and Punjab continued to report cases of forced conversion.” It also confirms that:

• “In Punjab, girls as young as 14 were forcibly converted and coerced into marriage.”
• “In Sindh, the case of two Hindu girls whose families claimed they had been kidnapped for marriage and converted forcibly, drew widespread attention when the Islamabad High Court ruled that the girls were not minors at the time of marriage and allowed them to return to their spouses.” 
• “For the Ahmadiyya community in Punjab, this [religious persecution] included the desecration of several sites of worship.”

Contrary to Khan’s promise to ensure “that our minorities are treated as equal citizens,” the year 2020 saw an alarming swell in incidents of persecution of minority communities-the most common being the repugnant practice of Hindu, Christian and Sikh girls [some as young as 12 to 13 years] being abducted and after being converted, being forced into marriage.  Even Pakistani NGOs estimate that about 1,000 such incidents occur every year and this is why no one takes Khan’s assurance of minorities in Pakistan being “treated as equal citizens” seriously.

Another issue of concern is brazen desecration of holy sites of worship sites belonging to minority communities. On Jan 03, 2020, a mob attempted to vandalise the historic Nankana Sahib Gurdwara and the entire incident was captured on video. However, Pakistan’s Foreign Office [FO] played down this incident by calling it a “scuffle” between two Muslim groups over a “minor incident” at a tea stall. In reference to New Delhi’s complaint against desecration of this holy Sikh shrine, the FO stated that “Attempts to paint this incident as a communal issue are patently motivated.”Whereas one would have really loved to believe that this incident had no communal angle, but following facts belie the FO’s assertion:

• If the incident was merely a minor scuffle between two Muslim groups, then how come the Gurudwara became the target of their ire? 
• In the video, a mob can be heard cheering lustily as a speaker tells them that “We will ensure that there is not a single Sikh left in Nankana. And the name of this place will soon be changed from Nankana to Ghulam-e-Mustafa”.So, if this incident was just a row between two Muslim groups, then what explains the rabid anti-Sikh tirade of the speaker and its frenzied endorsement by the crowd? 
• Lastly, if it was genuinely a minor and inconsequential incident as the FO claims, then why did Khan term this incident as “condemnable’ and take all the trouble of downplaying its distinctly communal character by saying that there’s a “major difference between the condemnable Nankana incident and the ongoing attacks across India on Muslims and other minorities”?  

Besides Nankana Sahib Gurudwara, places of worship belonging to other minority communities in Pakistan were also subjected to vandalism last year. On May 9, 2020, a mob damaged the main gate and boundary wall of a church in Hakeempura area of Shekhupura district in Pakistan’s Punjab district and desecrated the Church’s Holy Cross. Once again, the authorities tried to brush this patently communal act under the carpet by terming it a property related dispute. In February, three Pakistani Christians who were constructing a church in Punjab’s Sahiwal district were assaulted and just two months later, a Pastor, his wife and son were attacked for building a wall on their own land. Once again, these incidents of intimidation of minority community members were passed off as instances of personal rivalry!

2020 also saw multiple incidents of Hindu religious shrines being either destroyed or desecrated. On Jan 26, idols of deities in Mata Deval Bhittani temple in Tharkarkar district of Pakistan’s Sindh province were desecrated and burnt holy texts kept inside. The police claimed that the perpetrators were minors and had broken into the temple just to steal money. What the police didn’t explain is that if their motive was only robbery, then why did the juveniles waste their time and energy in defacing idols and burning holy books? 

On October 10, idols of deities inside Shri Ramdev Temple in Kario Ghanwar area of Badin district, Sindh, were destroyed, and the police once again ruled out communal angle by saying that the culprit was of unsound mind and a drug addict! Just two weeks later, a mob vandalised Nagarparkar Temple in Sindh province, damaging the idol of Goddess Durga during the holy ‘Navratri’ period. No one has been arrested. On November 2, a huge mob descended on Sheetal Temple in Karachi’s Lee Market area and destroyed idols of deities and other holy relics. This time the police sought to justify this highly communal act by terming it public reaction to blasphemous statements made by a Hindu boy.

On December 27, a mob not only vandalised and set ablaze a 100-year-old shrine housing samadhi [memorial] of a revered Hindu saint in the Karak district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Dawn News TV quoted an eyewitness saying that the incident of desecration and arson occurred after “More than a thousand people led by some local elders of a religious party held a protest and demanded the removal of the Hindu place.” Two developments make official apathy [or tacit complicity?] obvious. One, according to news reports, “The locals also revealed that residents of the nearby villages had announced a protest demonstration with demands of removal of the Hindu shrine, adding that the police totally ignored it” and two, it was Chief Justice of Pakistan and not Prime Minister Khan who was first to take official cognisance of this sacrilegious incident. 

Once again, the police tried to obfuscate reality. The District Police Officer [DPO] refused to acknowledge that the shrine had been vandalised and instead told media that a mob “attacked and demolished the under-construction building [within temple premises].”  But Federal Minister for Human Rights Ms Shireen Mazari graciously acknowledged reality by tweeting- “Strongly condemn the burning of a Hindu temple by a mob in Karak, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa” – which is clearly visible in videos of this incident.

But desecration of religious shrines and abduction of girls followed by their forced conversion and marriages aren’t the only problem minorities face in Khan’s ‘Naya’ Pakistan. Even their settlements are being illegally demolished, often with official patronage. In May, a HRCP tweet mentioned that “HRCP is gravely concerned at reports that houses belonging to the Hindu and Christian communities of Yazman in Bahawalpur have been demolished, allegedly by local authorities with political influence.” It also stated that “evictions, the demolition of people’s houses, and land grabbing, esp. [especially] when such communities are doubly vulnerable, are highly condemnable.” 

But if the administration is to be believed, then all’s well in Pakistan as far as minorities are concerned. Girls from minority communities aren’t being abducted but are of their own accord, eloping with their beaus [who at times are almost double their age]. Vandalism of holy shrines belonging to minorities isn’t due to the prevailing communal frenzy but the handiwork of petty thieves, drug addicts, mentally deranged persons, or consequences of some land dispute and occasionally, ‘justified’ collective punishment of a minority community for some alleged blasphemous utterance by one of its members. Coupled with this, since Khan keeps harping on how “minorities are treated as equal citizens,” in his “Naya Pakistan,” why worry or lose sleep over this issue?

https://www.eurasiareview.com/01042021-no-place-for-minorities-in-naya-pakistan-oped/

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#Pakistan - Women during the pandemic

Rafia Zakaria

ONE year ago, the world ran on different rules. The rhythm of day was different, the management of time was different, people behaved differently and were scared of different things. One custom of that bygone pre-pandemic world was the division of male and female work and space.

In Pakistan, where the number of females in the workforce is below 30 per cent, women mostly stayed at home and men went to work. When the men left in the morning, the women turned to the repetitive tasks of washing and cooking that make a household run efficiently.

All of this changed when the pandemic hit. Men began to stay at home either because they lost their job or because their employer wanted them to work from home. The small respite that their wives and mothers and sisters had during the day when men did not dominate and demand this or that was taken away from the women. As men stayed home day after day, they required waiting on, a cup of tea now, a meal prepared fresh not just for dinner but also for lunch. They dirtied dishes and created a mess.

Schools also closed and the children too made their own demands, their own messes, trapped as they were in the home. Pakistani women thus were caught in a 24/7 cycle of work, trying to sate appetites, calm tempers and maintain harmony in an uncertain and constrained world.

The constant presence of men and the absence of any external outlet for women have created a pressure-cooker situation.

Women everywhere are the primary casualties of the coronavirus pandemic, having had to pay the price whether or not they were infected with the virus. Data from around the world substantiates this truth. In China, peer-reviewed studies reveal a 300pc increase in violence against women. In Lebanon, there has been a 45pc increase in violence against women. In the United Kingdom, violence against women has doubled from the 10-year average. Similar increases in violence have also been reported in Germany and Tunisia. Next door in India, the onset of the pandemic has led to at least a 21pc increase in violence against women.

The statistics quoted here are all from peer-reviewed studies in journals. It is very likely that the situation is far worse than what is being reported. In Pakistan, social workers and those who work in shelters and in other facilities that attend to abused women, report an exponential increase. The constant presence of men and the absence of any external outlet for women have created a pressure-cooker situation.

In much of the country, women have to ask male permission to leave the home even for essential tasks; now going out and getting any kind of respite from violence has become completely impossible. Visits from family members and meeting others at family occasions (which used to function as a means to ensure that women were not being maltreated) have ceased, giving abusive men carte blanche to do whatever they want to the women at home.

The situation of working women is just as bad. Those who have been told to work from home find that no one in the household seems to understand that they have to attend to work duties during work hours. These women find themselves forced to watch children and also be available for Zoom calls or other work interactions. Many others, like the 250,000 American women who were let go of by their employers in January 2021, have just lost their jobs and their income. The pandemic has set them years behind their male counterparts in career advancement.

The meaning of all these statistics is that in the post-pandemic world women will be at an even greater disadvantage than they were before it started. Those Pakistani working women who have either been fired or have had to quit their jobs because of the pandemic may not be able to return to work after it is over. The ability to bring in an income plays a huge role in the power women wield in their households; the lost earning potential, therefore will reduce their ability to make decisions in the household and to protect their own rights. This resection of women from the workforce is likely to have society-wide effects where cultural mores that keep women out of the workplace will be strengthened.

None of these realities are being talked about in Pakistan. This past International Women’s Day, a television channel hosted a conservative female social worker who could not stop talking about how the pandemic was a blessing in disguise because it permitted families to spend quality time with each other. Some in government have also propagated this kind of fantasy because very few, if any, efforts have been made to collect statistics about exactly how many women are being abused. Nor has there been any work done to provide additional resources to shelters and legal aid cells who are trying to help these women. Instead, the ludicrous fantasy that imagines families living together without any conflict and without women waiting on everyone else all the time, has been nursed and propagated.

Pakistan needs to wake up. The women of the country cannot be expected to shoulder all the burden of housekeeping, childcare, studies and work from home. Vaccinations are now available for the Covid-19 virus but no pre-emptive solution is present for a society and a world that has just been heaping the entire burden of a terrible and catastrophic event on its women. Men must be held answerable for the cruelty and selfishness they have exhibited this past year, attitudes that they have never questioned or considered. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and indeed that is what has happened to many Pakistani males who stand and watch and live their lives, oblivious to the burdens and abuse they heap on Pakistani women.

#Pakistan - The Punjab debacle

Another day and another conundrum for Usman Buzdar, Punjab’s Chief Minister. If not for speculations erupting within his party ranks about his status, he is under fire as a part of the so-called establishment’s mega plan to bring change in Punjab. As PM Imran Khan continues to find grounds to maintain the Rajanpur Sardar, the poor man spends most days fighting the target on his back.

On Saturday, PML-N had blasted away at Zardari’s under-the-table manipulation. Had there remained any hope for even a faint vestige of the grand alliance, the PPP could have rebuffed extending any such offer in the clearest of words. But notorious for his political stunts, Mr Zardari is taking the current events as an excellent opportunity to unravel his Machiavellian talent. Spilling out to his homeboys that he had finally secured an in with the establishment has been the unkindest cut of all. Now, his top brass is busy defending their plans for going forward with a no-confidence motion. From PPP’s Punjab General Secretary to prominent senator, Sherry Rehman, everyone is now pointing guns at PML-N for preferring to retain the Buzdar government. Though a minor player in Punjab, the PPP is counting on support from parties like the PML-N and PML-Q. While it only has seven members in the house, a joint resolution (by denting the treasury coalition) would have the required teeth to show Buzdar the door. However, the much-touted plan to install the Chaudhrys of Gujrat on the Lahore throne is not likely to sit well with the PML-N. Only time will tell whether Noonians would muster enough might to impress the behind-the-scenes custodians. Yet, the ongoing war of words would only get uglier in the coming days. No qualms about that!

Already, Jiyalas are castigating Maryam for “washing PDM’s dirty line in public.” There has been a great tumult over the “regrettable” use of the word “selected” to describe PPP’s rise to power. Mariyam, in turn, should have been more mindful of her tone in her press conference. Surely, she cannot be naive enough to forget what had gone down in Punjab in the 80s. The outright manner in which PML-N was used to usurp the Bhutto legacy in Punjab during the dictatorship of General Zia is deeply-embedded in the annals of history. No matter how sweet the bonhomie may have seemed between arch-rivals, the brief stint has, surely, run its miserable course. Sindhi nationalism now appears determined to lead the Punjabi lions out of politics altogether. The ball is in Sharifs’ court. Whether they are ready to burn all boats for survival or will continue sitting like lame ducks would spell the new chapter in Pakistani politics!

It is quite unfortunate that all quarters have decided to spring to action at a time when the entire world is buckling under the merciless third wave of coronavirus. When Pakistan needed a coherent fighting strategy for some miraculous way out of the pandemic, our single-point agenda seems to be pulling the chair back for our own gains. Quite sad, but nothing out-of-the-ordinary for a class of politicians obsessed with power games!

https://dailytimes.com.pk/739921/the-punjab-debacle/

Pakistan’s National Education Policy Discriminates Against Religious Minorities

 According to Asia News, The Working Group for Inclusive Education (WGIE) and the Center for Social Justice (CSJ) held a meeting on March 20 to discuss solutions for Pakistan’s low education standards and religious discrimination before the launch of the new National Education Policy (NEP).

Pakistan will implement the NEP in the near future. It is a new policy that “provides for compulsory Islamiat (Islamic studies) for all students of all faiths. This will drive many non-Muslim primary school pupils to drop out,” says Abdul Hameed Nayyar, an experienced educator in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s NEP pushes for a religious-based society, where Muslim-focused materials are mandatory starting in first grade. Non-Muslim students will not be allowed to study from the Quaran, and teachers will separate them from Muslim students. Religious discrimination will further set back non-Muslim students from an already low national literacy standard. 

https://www.persecution.org/2021/03/23/pakistans-national-education-policy-discriminates-religious-minorities/

Should Pakistan apologize to Bangladesh for the 1971 war?

Islamabad and Dhaka have signaled hopes to improve bilateral relations. But experts warn Pakistan must issue an apology for atrocities committed during Bangladesh's war of independence for there to be any real progress.

Relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh have been strained since the 1971 independence war in which Bangladeshi nationalists broke away from what was then West Pakistan. Around 3 million people lost their lives during Bangladesh's fight for independence.

But this month, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis witnessed an unprecedented move between the leaders of the two countries.

Last Friday, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan congratulated Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on her country's 50th anniversary of independence, inviting her to Pakistan for a visit.

"On my own behalf, and on behalf of the government and people of Pakistan, I have the great pleasure in extending our felicitations on the 50th anniversary of the People's Republic of Bangladesh," Khan wrote in a letter, which has been hailed as an attempt to bring Islamabad and Dhaka closer together.

Also last week, Sheikh Hasina sent a letter of congratulations to Khan on Pakistan Republic Day, which marks the Lahore Resolution. The resolution, also known as the Pakistan Resolution, was passed on March 23, 1940 and celebrates a major milestone in Pakistan's struggle to become an independent state.

Calls to Pakistan to issue apology

The legacy of Bangladesh's independence war has tainted relations between the two Muslim-majority South Asian countries for years.

Author Anam Zakaria commended the recent reconciliation efforts by both the Pakistani and Bangladeshi governments, but stressed that if either country wants to make any "meaningful strides," Pakistan must "acknowledge the violence of 1971 as well as the political, economic and cultural discrimination prior to Bangladesh's birth."

According to Zakaria, "owning up to the past" and issuing a formal apology for war crimes committed in 1971 will allow the two countries to "deepen" diplomatic and economic relations.

"Half a century later, Pakistan has not owned its past. Textbooks, museum exhibits and mainstream narratives continue to distort and erase history and a selective remembering and forgetting of the past has been institutionalized by the state," she told DW.

"The denial and minimizing of violence 50 years on is deeply painful for Bangladeshi survivors and their families. Pakistan's acknowledgement is critical…Nations cannot simply erase their history and move on. Our past will continue to haunt our present unless we engage deeply and learn from it," she added.

For Ali Riaz, a political science professor at Illinois State University, recent engagements between Dhaka and Islamabad may be described as "ice-breaking" but that real progress also "hinges on Pakistan's unconditional apology for the 1971 war."

"A better relationship requires Pakistan's initiative to address the 1971 war, especially the genocide perpetrated by the army," he said. "Unconditional public apology from Pakistan is long overdue … No nation can move forward without confronting its dark past." However, Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, doesn't feels optimistic about the current state of political affairs between the two countries. "This is a very complex and sensitive issue …I suspect that bilateral relations would have to be in a far better place than they are now in order for Islamabad to believe it has the political space to take such a major step," he said.

The relationship between Dhaka and Islamabad seemed bleak in recent years. In 2016, a row over the execution of an Islamist leader in Bangladesh led to an all-out diplomatic spat between the two countries, with both sides summoning each other's ambassadors.

Pakistan said the country was "deeply saddened" by the execution of top Islamist party leader Mir Quasem Ali for suspected war crimes, prompting Dhaka to accuse Islamabad of interfering in its internal affairs. Small steps toward strengthening ties, economic cooperation But Riaz thinks Khan's decision to congratulate Bangladesh on its golden jubilee of independence last week indicates a willingness to restrengthen ties.

"In recent months, overtures from both countries indicate that they are trying to set aside their differences of the past decade. A telephone call from the Pakistani prime minister to his Bangladeshi counterpart last summer, for example, indicated that Pakistan is interested in turning the page," Riaz told DW.

"The Bangladesh government has appropriately reciprocated in recent months … these are positive signs," Riaz said.

Bangladesh and Pakistan both indicate "a willingness to strengthen relations," Kugelman told DW, adding that Pakistan has been turning to its neighbors in the hopes of increased regional interconnectivity and economic activity.

"For Islamabad, there is a motivation to increase ties with more of its neighbors to promote greater commercial cooperation — part of an intended broader Pakistani foreign policy reset meant to focus more on economic relations," he said.

Looking to the future, Kugelman said there is scope to increase trade.

"Economic cooperation is a logical space for stepped-up collaboration. It's a relatively safe space that can help build trust and goodwill for deeper cooperation in other areas," he said.

Kugelman said that although Bangladesh-India relations having grown considerably under Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there have been some setbacks over New Delhi's policies that some in Bangladesh consider to be discriminatory against Muslims. "This gives Pakistan another opening, to try to capitalize on these tensions and strengthen its relations with Bangladesh," he added.

https://www.dw.com/en/should-pakistan-apologize-to-bangladesh-for-the-1971-war/a-57051549

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#China - Xi stresses role of revolutionary cultural relics in inspiring people

 Chinese President Xi Jinping has stressed the importance of better protecting, managing and utilizing revolutionary cultural relics to inspire people to build a modern socialist China and achieve national rejuvenation.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks during his recent instruction on work related to the country's revolutionary cultural relics.

Revolutionary cultural relics hold the glorious history of the heroic struggles of the CPC and the people, and are records of the great course and touching actions of the Chinese revolution, Xi noted during his instruction, calling them valuable assets of the CPC and the country.

They can serve as vivid teaching materials for the promotion of revolutionary traditions and culture, and socialist cultural-ethical progress, and for inspiring a strong sense of patriotism and invigorating the Chinese ethos, said Xi.

Improving the protection, management and utilization of revolutionary cultural relics, he said, is the common responsibility of the Party and the whole Chinese society.

It is a job that should be put high on the agenda of Party committees and governments at various levels and entails greater efforts, said Xi, highlighting the importance of giving full play to the role of revolutionary cultural relics in education related to Party history, revolutionary traditions and patriotism.

A national conference on revolutionary cultural relics was held in Beijing on Tuesday, during which Xi's instruction was delivered by Sun Chunlan, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and China's vice premier.

Huang Kunming, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, said at the event that Xi's instruction provides a fundamental guideline for work on revolutionary cultural relics in the new era, and called for its full implementation to break new ground in the work.

http://en.people.cn/n3/2021/0330/c90000-9834096.html

I love my boyfriend – but I really don't want to have sex with him

By Pamela Stephenson Connolly 

I can see a future for us together, but I no longer want to be intimate. It would be preferable to just curl up all day and hug.

I’m 20 years old and I have been going out with my boyfriend for nearly two years. I love him so much, and have missed him constantly when we haven’t been able to see each other during the pandemic. However, when I do get the chance to see him, I no longer want to be intimate. I just want to curl up all day and hug. I hate it when he starts to kiss me too much, because I know that means he wants to have sex. I don’t enjoy the lead-up and I feel bad as I never instigate it. Ultimately, I will just do it to get it done with. I just don’t see the point. I have never had an orgasm and now I don’t enjoy being naked or being touched. Despite this, we get on so well and I see a future for us together.

It is a mistake to go ahead and put up with sex when you really don’t want it. Your feelings – including the lack of them – are valid. In just going through the motions, you can set up an emotionally costly habit of bypassing your true feelings in order to please others. Your needs for comforting touch are just as important as his sexual needs, so do your best to negotiate a more balanced give-and-take between you.

It is also important to discover the reason for your general lack of sexual interest. Many people are experiencing low sexual drive at the moment, due to Covid-related fear, anxiety and depression. But if you have never felt attracted to him, and if your lack of interest in sex with him continues over time, that may be a sign that he is simply not for you, or that you might benefit from a sexual wellness check-up.

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#Pakistan - Inventing cultural nostalgia

 By Pervez Hoodbhoy

I HAVE just finished watching a short smartphone video of seven- to 10-year-old kids playing in some dusty, Seraiki-speaking village of south Punjab. Each boy has fashioned for himself a crude wood and tin sword, ensconced in a scabbard tied to his shalwar’s narra. What’s it for, asks the off-camera interviewer, who seems to be enjoying himself. I’m a Muslim, says one proudly, pulling out his sword and waving it in the air. It’s for cutting off the heads of kafirs. Your name? Ertugrul, he replies.

These children are thoroughly excited. Dozens of amateur videos — some with drama and mock sword fights leading to fallen cross-marked Christian soldiers — are circulating on the internet. Until two years ago, Ertugrul was a name unknown in Pakistan but the Turkish documentary series, Dirilis: Ertugrul, has taken the country by storm. Statues of the new horse-mounted, sword-wielding hero abound in public places.

The rise to fame owes to full official backing and promotion at the highest level. So much so that, in spite of being beseeched by the survivors and families of a dozen impoverished Hazara coal miners murdered by IS militants, Prime Minister Imran Khan chose to meet with the visiting Dirilis production team in Islamabad instead of flying to Balochistan.

Glorifying violence & conquest through fictionalized history will have devastating consequences for Pakistan.

Ertugrul bears comparison with another massively fictionalised character, King Richard I, who led the third crusade against the Muslim defenders of Jerusalem. One thousand years ago, every boy and man in England had dreamed of following their valiant king into battle and cutting off a Muslim’s head. Although Richard I ultimately failed in his crusade, he too was mythologised and earned the title Richard the Lionheart. Like Ertugrul, he was the perfect heroic leader — brave, wise, and just.

Such fabrications of history are by no means limited to Pakistan. Wave after wave of collective narcissism is crashing across the globe, helped along by the machinery of nation states with populists at their helms. Across our borders, Indian nationalism is dying. Resurgent saffronised Hindu nationalism claiming a mythical past is replacing it. Shivaji sword replicas are now popular in India. Hindutva’s founders, Golwalkar and Savarkar, have new mass followings. These admirers of Adolf Hitler were 20th-century ideologues who promoted the Hindu-first philosophy. As Indian historian Ramachandra Guha recently remarked, “the Hindutva agenda wants to put forth the notion that Hindus are the best, the Hindi language is the best, and the hatred of Pakistan is a must to be a true Indian citizen and a patriot”. In America — at least for now — revivalism and revanchism are on the back foot with Trump’s defeat. But this may not last long. His black-hating, Muslim-hating, foreigner-hating Republican base is already rallying alongside him, urging him to fight the presidential election in 2024 and win back a ‘rigged election’. Like Trump, they want to make white America great again.

What in the human condition makes possible the conjoining of space-age science with stone-age politics? We can attribute the lionisation of Richard I to the general stupidity of Englishmen from a primitive age. But as country after country places its spacecraft on or around Mars, the question of why political cultures are regressing comes to every thinking person’s mind.

To me it seems that the core of the problem is cultural nostalgia. The word ‘nostalgia’ originated from the medical literature and was first seen in the 17th century as a psychological condition found among certain Swiss soldiers who had become inordinately attached to past memories because of long absences from home. In modern times, psychologists have observed that individuals suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease suddenly burst into tears, applause, or expressions of pleasure upon encountering some blast from the past — a picture, song, or even a smell. I would define cultural nostalgia as collective, societal nostalgia and, in excess, also a disease. In her book, The Future of Nostalgia, Svetlana Boym lays out two main plots — the return to origins, and conspiracy. So, on the one hand, there is deep longing for a pure unsullied past which lies in the twilight zone between history and memory. On the other, there are schemers and plotters who conspire to spoil the utopia for their own selfish motives.

Progress hasn’t cured nostalgia, it has exacerbated it. Boym says that nostalgia “inevitably reappears as a defence mechanism in a time of accelerated rhythms and historical upheavals”. So, even though it was initially understood as a longing for a lost place, she proposes that nostalgia should instead be seen as “a longing for a different time” that results from being unable to cope with progress.

Pakistan’s preoccupation with Ertugrul shares some similarities with what Boym has examined but has additional complexities. For one, its society is being actively goaded into inventing nostalgia for a culture that it never knew and which has never been its own. The language and manners of Arabs and Turks are alien to Pakistanis. So, is the present infatuation with Turkish culture temporary? Will the shift away from Arabism towards Turkism be long lasting or deep? Will we ever realise that Pakistan’s real cultures belong to our own soil?

More worrying is the evident desire of our culture managers to form a self-image of Pakistan as a warrior nation besieged by hostile forces. Only war is admired — not music, art or science. So, even though Arab or Turkish cultures are considered superior and worthy of emulation, nothing is being copied from their scholarly and intellectual traditions. This points to the poverty of thought in Pakistan. Some days ago, the current HEC chairman asked a gathering of university students and professors if they could name a single Pakistani philosopher. There was silence.

Creating a make-believe world can have beneficial consequences. We tell stories to children so that their imaginations may soar. But taking the creations of one’s own mind too seriously can be devastating, especially if they idolise violence and conquest. What will the little boys with little swords that I saw grow up to be? I don’t even want to think about it.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1610983/inventing-cultural-nostalgia

#COVID: #Pakistan comes under fire for holding Republic Day military parade

 Pakistan held a pompous ceremony to show off its military strength at a time when the government lacks funds to procure COVID-19 vaccines and as the Sputnik V doses go on sale at a steep price in the country.

Pakistan held its Republic Day parade on Thursday — two days later than initially planned — exhibiting its military might in a grand official ceremony.

The colorful event saw troops parading in Islamabad, the army showcasing long-range missiles, and the air force flying fighter jets over the capital.Every year, Pakistan commemorates Republic Day (also called Pakistan Day) on March 23, but this year the authorities postponed it for two days due to bad weather.The focus of the official Republic Day ceremonies is the exhibition of the South Asian country's military strength. President Arif Alvi and army chief Qamar Bajwa received a guard of honor from military troops.

"We will defend our independence at all costs," Alvi said, adding that Pakistan desired peace, security and development in the whole region.

"Pakistan wants to move forward with good intent and peace, but our desire for peace should not be construed as our weakness," he added.

Prime Minister Imran Khan did not participate in the main ceremony as he is currently in quarantine after contracting the coronavirus.

Economic downturn

The military parade on Thursday was dubbed "unnecessary" by many people in the country, as Pakistan is currently facing a dire economic situation due to the pandemic. Coronavirus cases are once again on the rise in the country, and the government says it does not have enough funds to purchase COVID vaccines.

Pakistan is also one of the few countries in the world that have approved the commercial sale of COVID vaccines.

According to unconfirmed estimates, the Republic Day military parade cost billions of rupees (millions of euros). DW contacted Kamran Ali Afzal, a spokesman for the Ministry of Finance, to find out the exact figure but did not receive any response.

The military parade proves that the government's priorities are flawed, experts say.

"Military strength without economic stability is hollow. Wars are fought with tanks, fighter planes and warships, which need fuel that is bought with money. For this we need a strong economy," Kaiser Bengali, an economist, told DW.

COVID concerns

Health experts are also wary of a "third coronavirus wave" in the country and question the government's decision to hold a public gathering to commemorate Republic Day.

"The Republic Day public gathering can spread the virus even more. At least the government should not have held a public ceremony. All such events should be avoided until 75% of the population is vaccinated," Qaiser Sajjad, secretary-general of the Pakistan Medical Association, told DW.Burzine Waghmar, from the Center for the Study of Pakistan at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, says that "responsive, responsible and truly representative governments take cognizance of their citizen's sentiments when convening national events during the pandemic.""A year since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, nothing remotely encouraging has been undertaken by PM Imran Khan, whose leadership has been, in a word, underwhelming," Waghmar told DW.

The Muslim-majority country has so far recorded around 641,000 COVID cases and around 14,000 related deaths. From less than 900 cases a day in mid-February, Pakistan is currently seeing close to 4,000 cases on a daily basis. Experts say the actual number could be much higher as many cases go unreported in the country.

Indian 'threat'

But the government insists that the show of military strength is necessary in the face of security threats posed by regional rival India.

"These events show our military capabilities in response to India's aggression. We want to show that we are ready to deal with it," Amjad Shoaib, a retired army general and defense analyst, told DW.

Waghmar said Pakistanis are "long inured to pyrrhic successes being paraded for public consumption."

Shoaib disagrees: "The parade boosts public morale. At the same time, we want to give a message that Pakistan wants peace through dialogue in the region."

https://www.dw.com/en/covid-pakistan-comes-under-fire-for-holding-republic-day-military-parade/a-56987646

#Pakistan - Coronavirus surge: Government needs to start acting

With the number of cases of covid-19 infections approaching the peak of the first wave last year, one would have expected the government, any government, not just one which would has to face an election, to take action, instead of its coronavirus-positive head who should be quarantining, holding a meeting of spokespersons to plan for a hearing that was postponed. The SAPM for Health Services, Dr Faisal Sultan, blamed the surge in cases on people failing to observe SOPs. He did not say what was the result of people who had tested positive ignoring the SOPs for quarantine, perhaps because that would have led to criticism of his boss, Prime Minister Imran Khan, whose own quarantine has not exactly been exemplary.

Instead of blaming people for the situation for not following SOPs, the government should accept that its own failure to impose strict lockdowns has led to people becoming relaxed and casual about those SOPs.

It should not be forgotten that people judge the seriousness of the situation from the seriousness with which the government enforces lockdowns. 

The policy of ‘smart lockdowns’ does not really seem to have worked, and with the more infectious UK variant spreading in the Subcontinent, the government needs to work even harder.

Another dimension the government seems to be neglecting is that of getting people vaccinated. Pakistan is facing a spiraling positivity rate, combined with a low rate of vaccinations. Even within the region, where the comparison is with countries with similar poverty, deficiencies in healthcare systems and problems, the country is lagging behind. A more vigorous vaccination programme is needed, and the government should realize that much of the boost it got from Mr Khan’s very public vaccination was washed out when he got infected later. Still, this only proved that vaccination was not a cure, but a preventative only if the person was not already infected. However, to vaccinate more people, there have to be vaccines. The government should import them and distribute them, rather than have Dr Sultan announce that vaccines were being imported and would be available soon. The government should realise that its response to the covid-19 crisis is not adequate, and that it will not be enough to say that people need to be more careful observing the SOPs. There is much more that must be done. https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2021/03/28/coronavirus-surge/

Germany: Free #Baluchistan Movement protest against the occupation of Baluchistan

The Free Balochistan Movement organised a rally and held a protest demonstration in Germany’s Bremen city on Saturday 27 March to inform the German people about the illegal occupation of Balochistan by Pakistan and Iran.

March 27 is one of the darkest days in the history of Balochistan because on this day in 1948 Pakistan army forcibly occupied the Eastern Part of Balochistan (Pakistan Occupied Balochistan).

The Baloch nation has been resisting the illegal occupation of their country and to regain their independence. In the past 73 years of resistance, the Baloch nation has sacrificed thousands of their precious lives for their national liberation.

The rally set off at 1 pm from the Central Station in Bremen and passed through various busy streets before reaching Bremer Marktplatz where the FBM activists held a demonstration. On the occasion speakers Mahgonag Baloch, Sadiq Baloch, and Abdul Wajid Baloch, Abu Bakar, Beebagr Baloch, Shakeel Abdul Sattar, Naveed Baloch and others shed light on Iranian and Pakistani state atrocities against Baloch people, the history of Balochistan’s illegal occupation and the Baloch struggle for freedom.

The speakers said that despite Pakistani state atrocities, the Baloch struggle for national freedom continues with the support of the Baloch masses.

Protesters also raised slogans against China for its loot and plunder of Balochistan’s resources, especially Gwadar port, and supporting Pakistan in its crimes against Baloch people in the name of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The activists of the Free Balochistan Movement also ran a Twitter campaign using the hashtag #PakistanQuitBalochistan and demanded the immediate withdrawal of occupying forces of Iran and Pakistan from Balochistan.

Pro-freedom political activists including women and children also participated in rally and demonstration to record their protest against ongoing Pakistan and Iranian state crimes in Balochistan.

https://balochwarna.com/2021/03/30/germany-free-balochistan-movement-protest-against-the-occupation-of-balochistan/

#Pakistan - Sacking of Finance Minister is victory of PDM: Bilawal Bhutto

 Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that Dr Abdul hafeez Shaikh being sacked as the Finance Minister is a victory for the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).

The PPP leader, in a tweet on Monday, termed the Finance Minister’s ouster as a victory of PDM as the government needed Hafeez Shaikh to be elected as a senator to continue on his post. His senate defeat at the hands of Yousaf Raza Gillani made that impossible, he added.

Bilawal said that now, the government admits that inflation is skyrocketing because of its failed policies.

“Parliamentary opposition proven most effective vs this regime”, he said.

Earlier, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz confirmed that Hammad Azhar would replace Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh as the country’s Finance Minister. 

https://dunyanews.tv/en/Pakistan/594751-Sacking-Finance-Minister-victory-PDM-Bilawal-Bhutto

#PPP gears up for in-house change in Punjab

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) will approach Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly for bringing in-house change in the biggest federating unit of the country, said PPP Parliamentary leader Syed Hassan Murtaza while talking to mediamen here on Monday.  “We have begun our activities for an in-house change in Punjab. People will hear a good news after Eidul Fitr as more than two dozen legislators of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) are in contact with us,” he said, adding, PPP has already offered PML-N to bring forward its candidate for the slot of chief minister. 

Murtaza said PPP had decided to approach Hamza Shehbaz with proposal to nominate candidate for the CM keeping in view its numerical strength. He said the PPP would support PML-N in this regard. “The PML-N has 165 members against 181 of the PTI in the 371-strong house.  The PPP enjoys the support of only seven MPAs,” he said, adding, the PML-N has the right to the slot of Chief Minister as around 30 members of the ruling party are contacting to express their concerns at the deteriorating economic, political and law and order situation in Punjab and asking why the Opposition is not grabbing the opportunity to rid the province of what he says incompetent Buzdar government. 

The PPP leader asserted that the Opposition will be held responsible for destruction of Punjab if it doesn’t act against the incumbent rulers now.

https://nation.com.pk/30-Mar-2021/ppp-gears-up-for-in-house-change-in-punjab

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The Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are very effective in real-world conditions at preventing infections, the C.D.C. reported.

By Gina Kolata

The coronavirus vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech are proving highly effective at preventing symptomatic and asymptomatic infections under real-world conditions, federal health researchers reported on Monday.

Consistent with clinical trial data, a two-dose regimen prevented 90 percent of infections by two weeks after the second shot. One dose prevented 80 percent of infections by two weeks after vaccination.The news arrives even as the nation rapidly broadens eligibility for vaccines, and the average number of daily shots continues to rise. The seven-day average of vaccines administered hit 2.7 million on Sunday, a slight increase over the pace the previous week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But the virus may be gaining renewed momentum. According to a New York Times database, the seven-day average of new virus cases as of Sunday was 63,000, an increase of more than 16 percent over the past two weeks.

Similar upticks over the summer and winter led to major surges in the spread of disease, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a news briefing on Monday.

The nation has “so much reason for hope,” she said. “But right now I’m scared.” Dr. Walensky added that she felt a sense of “impending doom.”

Scientists have debated whether vaccinated people may still get asymptomatic infections and transmit the virus to others. The new study, by researchers at the C.D.C., suggested that since infections were so rare, transmission is likely rare, too. There also has been concern that variants may render the vaccines less effective. The study’s results do not confirm that fear. Troubling variants were circulating during the time of the study — from December 14, 2020 to March 13, 2021 — yet the vaccines still provided powerful protection. The C.D.C. enrolled 3,950 people at high risk of being exposed to the virus because they were health care workers, first responders, or others on the front lines. None had previously been infected with the coronavirus.

Most — 62.8 percent — received both shots of the vaccine during the study period, and 12.1 percent had one shot. The participants had no previous infections with the coronavirus.

Participants collected their own nasal swabs each week, which were sent to a central location for P.C.R. testing, the most accurate type of test. The weekly swabs allowed the researchers to detect asymptomatic infections as well as symptomatic ones. The investigators also asked participants about symptoms associated with infection, including fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, diarrhea, muscle aches, or loss of smell or taste. The researchers also analyzed patients’ medical records to detect illnesses. Fifty-eight percent of the infections were detected before people had symptoms. Just 10.2 percent of infected people never developed symptoms. Among those who were fully vaccinated, there were .04 infections per 1,000 person-days, meaning that among 1,000 persons there would be .04 infections in a day.

There were 0.19 infections per 1,000 person-days among those who had had one dose of the vaccine. In contrast, there were 1.38 infections per 1,000 person-days in unvaccinated people.

Dr. Walensky urged Americans to continue taking precautions and to waste no time getting the shots as soon as they are eligible.

“I am asking you to just hold on a little longer, to get vaccinated when you can, so that all of those people that we all love will still be here when this pandemic ends,” she said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/29/world/pfizer-moderna-covid-vaccines-infection.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

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##PashtunLongMarch2Islamabad - #PTM leaders released from prison

 After the arrest of Pashtun Tahafuzz Movement (PTM) leaders, Manzoor Ahmad Pashteen and Mohsin Dawar were released on Monday.

Pashteen and Dawar were due to attend a rally but were detained by the Pakistani police the day before.

Mohsin Dawar is also a member of Pakistan’s national Assembly.

According to reports many demonstrators from the Jani Khel area have marched toward Islamabad on Sunday to protest against the brutal murder of four Pashtun youth from Bannu district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Mohsin Dawar announced their release from the prison in a tweet, he said we have been released “earlier”  this morning.

Dawar also appreciated the resilience of participants of Pashtun long march to Islamabad.

 

#Pakistan - #PPP condemns state violence against Jani Khel protestors

The Pakistan People’s Party has condemned the crack down on the peaceful protestors of Jani Khel in Bannu, the arrest of political workers and the foiling by using force of their bid to travel to Islamabad to register their protest against the kidnap and kill of four youth over a week ago.

In a statement the Secretary General of PPP Nayyer Bukhari demanded the release of MNA Mohsin Dawar and PTM leader Manzoor Pashteen and other activists who were merely exercising the right to protest against a monstrous incident that remains unaddressed by the authorities for over a week.

The Party deplores that instead of listening to the aggrieved citizens and holding inquiries in the gruesome incident those responsible for the security of citizens have resorted to use of force against them, he said.

Nayyer Bukhari asked the authorities to stop using violence against the marchers, release those arrested and bring to justice the culprits of the kidnap and kill of the four youths.

The fascist acts of the selected regime are most condemnable, he said.

https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/24545/

#Pakistan - Chairman #PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari condemns the arrest of MNA Mohsin Dawar

Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has condemned the arrest of MNA Mohsin Dawar and expressed grave concern over the detention of arrest of a member of the Standing Committee on Human Rights.

In a statement issued here, the PPP Chairman also condemned the arrest of Pashtun Tehreek Movement chief Manzoor Pashtun and others demanding justice for the victims of Jani Khel tragedy.

He said that noth Federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments have not yet met the demands of Jani Khel tragedy victims or financial assistance to the victims of Jani Khel tragedy.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also demanded that the killers of teenagers in Jani Khel be brought to justice adding that it was unfortunate that voices of protesters were being crushed instead of showing sympathy to the victims.

https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/24548/

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