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Child Marriage: How the childhood of girls is robbed in Balochistan

By: Yousaf Ajab Baloch

The month of March in Balochistan’s winter zones comes with some interests for school going children when their schools open after winter vacation. The new classes, new reading writing materials, new school backpacks increase curiosity of students for going school. However, for Sankina, 13, in the village of Iskalkoo, district Kalat , the school going month came with surprise when she was asked for not going to school as her marriage was scheduled on 15^th of March.

Rather than having school materials for new school year she was dressed bridal and remained unable to refuse. Shockingly, she was married to 50 years old Abdul Ghani, the man whose daughter had already married to Sakina’s elder brother and Sakina’s marriage was cause of exchange relationship.       

Though one of the brothers of Sakina resisted this wedding but he was asked to be silent for the sake of family honor. 

Sakina is not the first prey to early child marriage in Balochistan but there are hundreds of unreported stories which take place in far-flung areas of Balochistan.  Since Pakistan’s Child Marriage Restraint Act (CMRA) 1929 sets the legal age for marriage to 16 for women and 18 for men.

According to Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) survey 2014-15 by Pakistan Bureau of statistics, literacy rate of Balochistan is 43% out of that 55% males and 25% are females. The reasons behind this are obvious but early marriage is being considered one of the major causes of girl’s dropout from schools. In Balochistan more than 50% marriages are solemnized before the age of 18.

Early marriages, early and unintended pregnancies, lack of awareness dearth of basic facilities in area increase high Maternal mortality rate(MMR ratio) indicating MMR 785 per 100,000 live births in province; however, figure is very low 272 per 100,000 live births across Pakistan.

The Plan International’s report October 2017 indicates that 15 million girls are married before 18 years age annually across the world. It is on the record that major obstacle in girl’s education is the child marriage. The report further alarms that 130 million girls’ across the world are out of school.

Under the umbrella of Action Aid Pakistan, Blue Veins, Citizen Rights and Sustainable Development CRSD organizations in 2013 claimed that out of 60 million under 18 marriages of girls in world, Pakistan had share of 42% early marriages as 24% from rural and 18% from urban areas of the country. This is the main reason behind the low literacy among female population in Pakistan where the female literacy drops rather than growing up.

Human rights campaigners consider child marriage an alarming social issue in Balochistan. Unfortunately, no legislation related to the issue has increased early child marriage. Therefore, human rights activists, civil society members have launched a campaign to get tabled for enactment of Balochistan Child Marriage Prohibition laws.

Child Marriage Prohibition law in Balochistan has ever been required to control child marriage and its impacts in the province but the bill met challenges in past and existing times.   Dr. Shama Ishaq, a well-known women activist and member of Balochistan Assembly is enthusiastically working for enactment of the pending child marriage bill in Balochistan. She is leading the formed Steering Committee for the enactment of bill.

 Dr. Shama Ishaq says that some religious and tribal parliamentarians are rejecting the Child Marriage Prohibition law repeatedly from 2014 in Balochistan provincial assembly.

Talking to the Balochistan Point Dr. said: “Recently, in May 2018, we tabled bill for enactment in the assembly, however, that was again objected. The objection is stated that the bill is contrary to Islamic injunctions and it should be sent to Islamic Ideology for further review thus it went in pending.”

Health and Rural Development (HARD), a Balochistan based non-governmental organization in collaboration with Mundo Cooperante and some other local organizations have launched the advocacy and lobbying campaign in Balochistan for enactment of Child Marriage Prohibition laws in Balochistan. They have been conducting advocacy consultations with Policy Makers from Social Welfare Department, Ministry of Human rights, CSOs and other stake holders for approval of Child Marriage Prohibition Law. 

Talking to the Balochistan Point executive director HARD Faraz Mengal said that   In Balochistan, children mostly forced marriages of girls were on increased rates in rural and urban areas.

“Tribal leaders and community heads have power to disrupt peace and normalcy of indebted families, taking away young daughters and giving them to older men of rival families. This problem of child marriage is further exacerbated by the fact that 85% births in rural areas are also unregistered, making it hard to determine the age of a child at the time of marriage.” Faraz added. 

“Surprisingly, the people are blind followers of myths and adopt harmful practices justifying their tradition by practicing ‘before birth marriages’ of girl’s as excuse against any sin / illegal action occurred by any family member. The before birth engagement/marriage is extremely a harmful and an inhuman practice in Balochistan” Faraz told the Balochistan Point.

Mis Haleema Chairperson Health and Rural Development (HARD),  says that illiteracy and lack of awareness among people is a major cause of increased early marriages in Balochistan. “The less awareness has made them strong follower of religious, cultural, male-controlled norms and values where girls are married early at 12 to 16. The practice of early marriages is common everywhere in Balochistan due to strong tribal, religious and cultural influence.” Said Mis Haleema. 

Mis Haleema admired the role of civil society for advocating to protect girls and their rights in the province and would suggested that  such organizations should continue their advocacy to develop pressure for enactment of Child Marriage Prohibition Law so that children mainly girls get rid of this harmful practice.

Director ministry of Human Rights Balochistan, Jahanara Tabassum is also of the view for protection and promotion of human rights in collaboration with social organizations, particularly for children and women rights. Talking to the Balochistan Point she emphasized on rising awareness against child marriage in communities and termed Child Marriage Prohibition Law crucial for defending human rights.

Poverty is marked a chief factor contributing in child marriages and practice of bride price is still widespread in Balochistan. Furthermore, custom of before birth and compensation marriage is prevalent and girls continue to be offered in marriage in exchange of debts to resolve tribal or family disputes and rivalries.

Protection of girls and boys from child marriage is responsibility of the State.  So far the laws that have been passed on national or provincial level still look for remarkable implementation. Pakistan was the sixth country in the world to sign and ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1990 following its adoption by the UN General Assembly on November 20, 1989. 

Pakistan is also a member of the South Asia Initiative to End Violence against Children (SAIEVAC), an inter-governmental body which has adopted a regional action plan to target child marriage.

In discussions of the Open Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals, Pakistan was among the first countries to suggest a target to end child marriage by 2030. Now it is also feared that Pakistan may fail to contribute to  SDGs,  as the target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) commits all UN Member States to “Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage” by 2030.  Prior to SDGs Pakistan failed to achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDG); essentially, the Goals related to children rights.

There is great need of some committees on national level for follow-up on the above mentioned commitments to ensure their effective implementation. So there is dire need to effectively build pressure on the federal and provincial governments for implementation of international obligations but for the successful results the civil society, media, stakeholders, religious leadership and children should be involved. (The names have been changed to protect the innocent.)

#Pakistan - DEATH TO RULE OF LAW AS BANNED TERRORIST OUTFIT LEADER CLEARED TO CONTEST ELECTIONS

Aurangzeb Farooqi, notorious ringleader of ASWJ (Sipah-e-Sahaba), the outfit that was banned for involvement in terrorism, sectarian extremism and hatemongering by the Pakistan state authorities, has faced no restriction from the custodians of law as he is allowed to contest Elections for National Assembly and Sindh Assembly seats from Karachi. Petition seeking to prevent him from electoral contest has been dismissed today on Monday.

The civil society activist filed a petition drawing attention to the fact that banned ASWJ ringleader Farooqi was not eligible to contest Elections to legislatures because he has hidden some facts in his documents attached with nomination papers. He had visited Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and cases including cases under antiterrorism laws were registered against him.

But, Farooqi did not mention these facts. Farooqi has been nominated as prime accused of Khurram Zaki’s targeted murder. Khurram Zaki was a renowned Karachi-based rights activist. He visited Kingdom of Saudi Arabia may times and he should have informed the election officials through relevant documents about sources of his travel expenses also.

The main reason that is enough to disallow Aurangzeb Farooqi from contesting elections is the fact that he heads a banned militant organization that was outlawed due to its involvement in terrorism and violent extremism.

On the one hand, Election Commission of Pakistan, judiciary, caretaker government and security agencies have failed to take action on their own against Farooqi’s nomination for electoral contest, and on the other they are not taking action when a citizen of Pakistan has challenged the Farooqi’s nomination for elections on legal ground that is tantamount to death of rule of law in Pakistan.

http://www.shiitenews.org/index.php/pakistan/item/34822-death-to-rule-of-law-as-banned-terrorist-outfit-leader-cleared-to-contest-elections

#Pakistan - Bilawal to unveil PPP’s 10th manifesto this week

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will announce his party‘s manifesto for the general elections 2018 in Islamabad this week, his spokesman said.

This will be PPP’s 10th manifesto in the last five decades, Bilawal’s spokesman Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said, in a press statement on Monday.

The first manifesto for the General Elections – 1977 was unveiled by PPP founder Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Former Prime Minister and PPP Chairperson Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had presented six manifestos in her life.

"Bilawal is going to unveil his first and party’s 10th manifesto in which he has inked many revolutionary steps and programmes for the people of Pakistan," Khokhar said.

Senator Khokhar pointed out that PPP’s manifesto carries imminent programmes for the uplifting of the deprived and oppressed people of the country. As well, that manifesto would also address the problems of all the people across the board.

It merits mentioning that the PPP alone gives its manifesto for implementation on programmes after the elections.

The PPP vows that all the commitments made to the people through the manifesto would be honoured, the spokesman added.

Why Pakistan’s Pashtun minority won’t be easily crushed

Sadanand Dhume

In my most recent Wall Street Journal column (read it here), I write about the Pashtun Tahafuz (protection) Movement, a non-violent group that campaigns against human rights abuses by Pakistan’s army against the Pashtuns, Pakistan’s largest linguistic minority. Some 30 million Pashtuns account for 15% of Pakistan’s population. Over the past four months, PTM has attracted thousands of protestors to its rallies.

There’s a wider context to Pashtun discontent. For most of its seven decades of existence, Pakistan has struggled to accommodate grievances by ethnic minorities. In 1971, Bengali-speaking East Pakistan seceded to form the new nation of Bangladesh. The army—easily Pakistan’s most powerful institution—has fought (and largely crushed) a bloody insurgency in Balochistan. Last year, Pakistan effectively dismantled the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, a political party associated with Mohajirs, descendants of Muslim migrants from India.

In part, this discomfort with both minority protest movements and parties viewed as unsympathetic to the army has to do with Pakistan’s decision to define itself in ideological rather than territorial terms. As the Hudson Institute’s Husain Haqqani, a former Pakistani ambassador to the U.S., writes in his new book, Reimagining Pakistan: “Pakistan could have recognized its diversity and evolved as a multi-language federation with political and cultural autonomy for its constituting units. Instead, its leaders chose to base Pakistani identity on a national ideology.” That ideology, says Haqqani, has three cornerstones: Islam, hostility to India and the Urdu language.

In Bangladesh, Pakistan used force to quell Bengalis and failed. Its regular playbook, which relies on a combination of brute force and a well-oiled propaganda machine, may not work against the Pashtuns either.

For starters, Pakistan’s 30 million Pashtuns greatly outnumber other ethnic minority groups such as the Baloch (7 million) and the Mohajirs (16 million). Thanks to migration, Pakistan’s commercial capital, Karachi, also contains the largest concentration of Pashtuns in the world: about four million people.

Add to that 14 million Pashtuns in Afghanistan, where they form a 42% plurality of the population.(The PTM has no connection with Afghanistan, and works strictly within the boundaries of Pakistan’s constitution, but Afghan and Pakistani Pashtuns share close ties of kinship and culture.) In February, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani tweeted in support of the PTM.

The PTM’s embrace of non-violence also makes it harder to target harshly without international backlash. Though the group protests against excesses committed by the military during Pakistan’s crackdown on the terrorist group Tehreek-i-Taliban, or Pakistan Taliban, PTM leaders are focused on civilians inadvertently caught up in the conflict. They argue that any terrorists among the thousands of Pashtun disappeared must be tried in court. (Two weeks ago, a U.S. drone strike killed the brutal TTP leader Mullah Fazlullah in Afghanistan.)

In the face of a media blackout, the PTM has used Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to get its message across, including to the Pashtun diaspora in the West. This too makes it harder to curb than other Pakistani protest movements. According to Mohsin Dawar, a senior PTM leader, “had there been no social media there would be no PTM.”

And finally, in 26-year-old Manzoor Pashteen the PTM has a charismatic leader who has quickly attracted a devoted following among his people. Abubakar Siddique, an analyst with Radio Free Europe in Prague, believes Pashteen is akin to Nelson Mandela for the Pashtuns.

Perhaps keeping all of these factors in mind, the Pakistan army has approached the PTM with relative restraint. It has arrested PTM members, placed travel restrictions on the movement’s leaders, and used the domestic media to smear them. But it has not gone after them with the brutality it has used, for instance, on Baloch separatists.

Will the army’s relative restraint last? Mohammad Taqi, a regular U.S.-based commentator on Pashtun and Pakistani politics, worries that it may not. “If all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail,” he says.

https://www.aei.org/publication/why-pakistans-pashtun-minority-wont-be-easily-crushed/

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#TheRedHenLex - Restaurant owner who asked Sarah Sanders to leave speaks out

#TheRedHenLex - Why Sarah Sanders was asked to leave a restaurant

By Dean Obeidallah

This week we saw two different ways people sent messages that they passionately oppose the Trump administration's policies. And both involved prominent Trump officials and restaurants.

On Tuesday night, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, while dining at a Mexican restaurant in Washington D.C., was heckled by protesters over her defense of Donald Trump's immoral family separations at the border. And on Friday night, according to a tweet by White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, she was politely asked to leave a Lexington, Virginia, restaurant by its owner because of her work defending Trump and his policies.

Those shocked by these types of protests simply don't grasp the level of emotion that many who oppose Trump feel. I hear it nightly on my SiriusXM radio show and see it firsthand on social media. Even Trump, in a rare moment of honesty, told his supporters a few weeks ago that those who oppose him are not just angry, but "really, really angry." Many view Trump as a true threat to America.

So it should come as no surprise that some would also look to hold members of Team Trump responsible as well. After all, Trump administration officials who defend Trump's bigoted policies, his demonization of minority groups and his lies, are complicit. They freely choose to do the work for him and they shouldn't be shocked if some -- not all --Trump opponents lash out at them.

But let's make it clear, this is not about asking someone to leave or heckling them simply because they are Republicans or conservatives. That would be wrong. This is about targeting people who are very publicly involved in formulating and defending Trump's immoral policies.

In fact, the people who heckled Secretary Nielsen didn't yell: "Get out of here because you're a Republican." No, their chants were very specific to Trump's family separation immigration policy she had been publicly defending just days before, telling Nielsen: "Do you hear the babies crying?" and "If kids don't eat in peace, you don't eat in peace." That is literally speaking truth to power.

Stephanie Wilkinson, the owner of the Red Hen restaurant, who had asked press secretary Sanders to leave, told the media on Saturday that she is "not a huge fan of confrontation," adding, "I have a business, and I want the business to thrive." But as Wilkinson rightly noted, "This feels like the moment in our democracy when people have to make uncomfortable actions and decisions to uphold their morals."

Wilkinson further explained her approach to handling the situation. She first spoke with her employees, who disagreed with Sanders' defense of Trump's discriminatory ban on transgender Americans who want to serve in the military and her recent defense of Trump's un-American family separation policy.

In response, she then asked Sanders to step outside to the patio and "explained that the restaurant has certain standards that I feel it has to uphold, such as honesty, and compassion, and cooperation." Clearly, Sanders doesn't comply with that standard.

As a progressive, I feel that denying service to a person is instinctively troubling. For many, it may conjure up laws that banned blacks from being served at restaurants before the Civil Rights Act and the current campaign by some on the right to turn away same-sex couples who want professional services for their weddings. Or even a gun range owner who declared that no Muslims were allowed on the premises.

But the situations with Sanders and even Nielsen are not even in the same universe as these discriminatory examples. No one is targeting them for their race, religion or sexual orientation. The backlash is because they have freely chosen to be a part of the Trump administration and have personally defended Trump's policies. In fact, Nielsen has served up lies while championing Trump's family separation policies while Sanders even invoked the Bible, telling reporters, "it is very biblical to enforce the law."

I understand why some people targeted high-profile Trump administration officials, but I am concerned about what will we see in response. Newton's third law of motion -- "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction" -- applies not just to physics, but perfectly to our hyperpartisan nation. Given our politics today, that law should actually be updated to: "For every action, there's an overreaction."

How long until Trump's fans counter by hanging signs in their stores, restaurants and bars that read "No liberals allowed" or "Trump supporters only." I bet that would play well in certain red states. And would progressives in blue states respond in kind?

From a legal point of view, a person can be asked to leave a privately owned establishment because of their political views. For example, In April, a judge in New York City dismissed a lawsuit by a Trump supporter who wore a "Make American Great Again" hat to a bar and was asked to leave.

But applying this to the average American divides us even more as a nation and makes it less likely that we can ever return to being the United States of America.

Going forward, it's likely that we will see more people speak out against Trump officials who publicly defend his cruel policies. The reality is that for many, the stakes are simply too high to remain silent as Trump attempts to radically transform our nation from the United States into Trumpistan.

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#PPP Song - Her Gher Se Bhutto Nikley Ga

پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی نے ہمیشہ ہی صحافیوں کے حقوق کے تحفظ کے لیے جدوجہد کی ہے۔

#Pakistan - OP-ED The limits of electoral engineering

Raza Rumi

In a month’s time, Pakistanis will elect a new government. The political climate is acrimonious and the polity seems to be fractured, if not in a state of disarray. This is not unusual during the election cycle. However, the chaos this time is manifold, and has acquired a momentum of its own; spiraling out of control and becoming dangerous enough to interrupt democratic transition.

Three fault lines are casting a dark shadow over the political horizon. The first concerns the intensified battle between Nawaz-Maryam duo and the permanent establishment that includes the judicial arm of the state. This tug of war has influenced political events in the past five years. Nawaz lost his office and the ability to contest elections. But he remains relevant and the PML-N’s electoral machine survives despite the ignonimous ouster of its leader. The conflict has deepened and the mainstream media have come into the crossfire. Excessive controls over media have been reported, and it is an open secret that Nawaz is the ‘fallen’ politician and that is what the public needs to be told.

Yet, the pushback from Nawaz and his strong electoral base in central Punjab has resonated on social media. This is the second fault line that is only complicating things further. No longer can we view Pakistan from the lens of a single, undiluted power centre deciding or vetoing over political affairs. Gul Bukhari, a vocal supporter of Nawaz Sharif on social media (and critical of the military establishment), was picked up by unknown men. But she was released after four hours when the local and international media mounted pressure. A large media house known for keeping corporate interests above everything sided with Nawaz in the fallout of Panama case and did not relent until it was taught a lesson of forced closure. Dissenting judges and voices have challenged the singular narrative of corrupt-Nawaz-must-exit-the-system.

Khan’s pilgrimage to Makkah meant to be an auspicious start to his election campaign turned into a controversy involving a chartered plane and using undue influence to get a close friend off the blacklist of Ministry of Interior. Some of the commentary was unfair but it has, nonetheless, jolted Khan’s image as the ‘pure’, ‘untainted’ deliverer

Even in the mainstream media, many a journalist has been defiant. But it’s not about Nawaz sympathisers in the media. Most surveys and polls indicate that PML-N has an edge over Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI). This is gradually sinking in, as the plans to bolster PTI’s prospects are not delivering to the anticipated levels. For instance, TV anchor Mubasher Lucman, who has been supportive of PTI’s politics of change has been announcing in his show that PTI may not secure more than 50 or 55 seats. Another survey by a news outlet presents a more favourable position for PTI but it is nowhere close to the magic number of 100 that will enable the latter to form a government at the centre. Yes, with the help of PPP and other parties, PTI may form a coalition but the outcome remains tenuous and unclear.

The third fault line relates to the infighting within PTI ranks that has further dwindled the image of a ‘winning’ party. Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Jahangir Tareen, the two titans of Imran Khan, have made their tussle public. Old workers of PTI, in an eerie moment of reckoning, have been protesting outside Bani Gala against awarding tickets to turncoats aka electables. In fact such is the depravity of political discourse that Imran Khan is justifying the induction of electables to his hardcore supporters that have looked towards him as the messiah who will cleanse the traditional politics. Two media houses that were consistently critical of the Sharifs and softer on Imran Khan and PTI have turned against the latter. In fact, Khan’s pilgrimage to Makkah meant to be an auspicious start to his election campaign turned into a controversy involving a chartered plane paid through a party supporter; and using undue influence to get a close friend off the blacklist of Ministry of Interior. Some of the commentary was unfair but the episode has, nonetheless, jolted Khan’s image as the ‘pure’, ‘untainted’ deliverer.

Those familiar with the ‘inside’ dynamics of power-play have indicated that there may be doubts about the ability of PTI to form the government or Imran Khan to deliver the goods, i.e. getting rid of brand Nawaz Sharif from Punjab’s electoral landscape. The standard conspiracy theories aside, there seems to be a cul de sac ahead. And here is why.

With the accountability courts trying to deal with cases against the Sharif family in a ‘speedy’ manner, a conviction of elder Sharif may be on the cards. If Nawaz is convicted and is in jail, his daughter on the streets is a prospect not too attractive. With both father and daughter in jail and Kulsoom Nawaz in critical condition, this may even increase the sympathy wave among the PMLN voter base. Of course, all of these scenarios are conjectures at this stage. It may just be the case that the Punjab’s local, electoral players may switch to the winning ‘arrangement’ in the weeks to come.

What Pakistan needs is a fair poll that allows a level playing field to all political parties. The caretakers and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) must ensure that. Given the looming economic crisis and the chaotic state of play, the establishment must back the ECP in conducting fair elections. This should be the best way forward. As history tells us, delaying or postponing elections have resulted in grave implications for the country. It is time to reset the old trends.

#Pakistan - An open letter to the Chief Justice on disruptive impact of suo motu notices

Imtiaz Gul

Honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan! On June 22, we were on our way to Kabul for an important Track II meeting with Afghan counterparts and officials. Former Defence Secretary General (retd) Asif Yasin Malik was also part of the delegation. To his utter shock, Mr. Malik was told by the FIA staff at the airport that the he was on the Exit Control List (ECL). The ECL bar on him related to a PIA-related corruption case, and the instruction for putting all previous PIA top tier managers on the ECL had been issued several weeks ago. The general had never been informed in writing about the decision, so he agreed to accompany our peace delegation to Kabul, only to face the embarrassment of being denied the peace journey to Kabul in the presence of dozens of curious onlookers.

Honourable CJ,

It is indeed heartening to see you pursue cases of graft and mis-governance across Pakistan, even on Saturdays and Sundays. Only a patriot can devote so much time for such a noble national cause and dare the mighty ruling elites in an unprecedented way.

But the ripples your mission is generating at times go against the fundamentals of the division of authority and power within a state. At times, it also entails unwanted, unpleasant consequences , engulfing even innocent citizens, and that too, without informing them in writing or otherwise. It is the fundamental right of every citizen to be informed in writing, or otherwise, if a state organ is taking a legal action against that person. In our particular case, Gen.(r) Malik was never informed about the decision.

As you deploy the Article 184(3) and relentlessly issue suo moto notices, your support staff is probably not informing you of the disruptive impact these notices are having on governance-related issues. Officials are reluctant in taking decisions they must take in the public interest. Police are shy in performing their primary function i.e. preventing mobs or criminals from breaking the law for fear of being called out by the august court.

What has happened to the dozens of cases involving people like Sharjeel Memon, Dr.Asim Husein, Ishaq Dar, Fawad Hassan Fawad, Ahad Cheema or the property tycoons, or even the drivers of DHAs? Almost all are currently on your radar because of suo motu notices, but with little impact on the standing of these people. They are contesting and winning elections (Ishaq Dar, for example) or thriving in their businesses (real estate).

Do you really hope to pin them down with current criminal laws, particularly when even the ATC trials take years to conclude, instead of the mandatory three-month period?

Does the Supreme Court recognise that its own bar members flagrantly violate and exploit the laws that you, my lord, are a guardian of? Wouldn’t it be a great service to the public to first go for a reform of the Criminal Procedures Code (CrPC)?

Wouldn’t you want to go down in history as a CJ who instituted mechanisms for all lawyers so they cannot avoid and evade taxes after pocketing hefty fees? Given the long history of pendency, does the court or its affiliates such as NAB have the capacity to address and take to logical end all the suo motus you have taken?

One way of effectively taking care of issues under suo motu would be to avoid unnecessarily overburdening an already stretched law enforcement organ of the state. Instead of taking up newer cases, the judiciary would do a great service if it could logically conclude suo motu cases it is already seized with, and showcase a few case studies to underline its crusade against corruption.

The best service the honourable court can do to the people of Pakistan is to reform the sector, which the elites exploit through amenable lawyers to get off the hook i.e. CrPC, and the Code of Civil Procedures. By reforming the CrPC, CCP and the bar under its nose, the Supreme Court will probably eternally endear itself with the people of Pakistan.

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A nonviolent movement challenges Pakistan’s military

In countries where military figures still hold the reins of power through fear, such as Egypt or Thailand, public criticism of the regime comes mainly from abroad. In recent days, for example, the United Nations has accused Venezuela’s security forces of hundreds of arbitrary killings. It also demanded Myanmar’s Army be held accountable for mass violence against the minority Rohingya. In Pakistan, people are so afraid of speaking against the military or its intelligence services that they often use code, such as tapping one’s shoulder to indicate decorative brass or by referring to “the establishment.” While the country has a facade of democracy, the top generals keep a tight hold on politics, the media, and dissent.

Yet that fear may be starting to break.

Since January, Pakistan has seen the rapid rise of a group of young people who rely on peaceful tactics to protest military abuses against ethnic minorities, especially the second-largest group, Pashtuns. In the country’s 70-year history, no group has so openly challenged the military’s grip like the Pashtun Protection Movement, known by its Urdu initials, PTM. Its courage, nonviolence, and appeal to constitutional rights have begun to inspire millions of others far beyond Pakistan’s minorities to speak out.

“The impact of the PTM movement is reflected in how it has triggered a wider debate surrounding the role of the military in politics and citizen rights,” according to journalists Sarah Eleazar and Sher Ali Khan in a CNN report. The PTM’s main demand is for an accounting of thousands of missing persons either held or killed by the military during its 15-year campaign against the Taliban and other military groups in the country’s remote regions. At PTM rallies, mothers hold up pictures of their missing loved ones, a powerful image that may have helped prevent violent repression of the group.

Leading this civil rights movement is Manzoor Pashteen, a 24-year-old tribal leader and trained veterinarian who has witnessed many of the military’s atrocities. He has been likened to a 20th-century pacifist Muslim, Abdul Ghaffar Khan. Widely known as Bacha Khan, Abdul Ghaffar Khan was a close friend of Mohandas Gandhi in the nonviolent struggle for independence from the British Raj. Mr. Pashteen has been harassed by security forces to keep him from making public appearances or using social media. The suppression only serves to show how worried the top brass is about this movement’s purely peaceful struggle and its appeal to conscience.

As Gandhi himself said of the use of moral action against abusive power: “We should meet abuse by forbearance. Human nature is so constituted that if we take absolutely no notice of anger or abuse, the person indulging in it will soon weary of it and stop.”

Will the PTM succeed in freeing Pakistan’s stunted democracy? In a study of insurgencies from 1900 to 2006, scholars Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan found that campaigns of nonviolent resistance were more than twice as effective as their violent counterparts.

At the least, PTM provides a model of domestic dissent for other countries living under the thumb of a military. Nonviolent protest based on basic rights can expose and often defeat the violence that props up a regime. Peace has its own natural following.

Religion And Democracy In Pakistan – OpEd

By Farhad Wazir

Since 9/11, there has been a furious debate on the relationship between Islam and democracy. Many people have written on the issue. “To put it briefly, the significant democratic progress in countries such as Tunisia, Indonesia and others in Southeast Asia undermines the assertion that Islam and democracy are necessarily at odds with each other.” However, the case of Pakistan tells otherwise.

Since the beginning, religion has been entrenched into statecraft in Pakistan. The first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan passed the Objective Resolution on March 12, 1949. Since then, the Resolution has been the part of all the three constitutions of Pakistan namely the 1956, 1962 and 1973 Constitution. The Resolution weaved Islam into the polity and laid the foundations for future constitution-making in Pakistan. The original scheme of the relationship between the state and Islam under the Resolution was inclusive and egalitarian, and extended certain rights, liberties and safeguards to the minority in Pakistan. Furthermore, under the Resolution, Allah’s sovereignty has been accepted over the entire universe; and it was laid that Quran and Sunnah will guide the legislation and policy-making in Pakistan. Similarly, it recognized representative form of government and federal structure for Pakistan; it also recognized democracy to be introduced in Pakistan as enunciated by Islam.

Adoption of religion by state may lead to discrimination and persecution of religious minority and other sects within the same religion. For example, Zia’s Islamization programme was increasingly discriminatory against the religious minority and offended the Shia sect of Islam. In 1980, thousands of Shias gathered in front of the Parliament against several components of the Zia’s Islamization scheme. They ended their protest only when the government extended exemption to the Shias against such regulations as compulsory deduction of Zakat.

The genesis of the disruption of the democratic process and the consequent military rule in Pakistan could be traced to the religiosity of the Pakistani polity. In 1953, religiously motivated protests erupted against Ahmadis in Punjab. The protests went out of the control of the Punjab government and ultimately led to the imposition of martial law in Lahore. The martial law emboldened and opened the door for the military leadership to directly intervene in the civilian affairs. And since then, the military is intervening either directly or indirectly in the politics in Pakistan, which hinders the democratic development in Pakistan. Again in 1974, such protests erupted against Ahmadis throughout the country which ultimately led to the introduction of 2nd Amendment in the Constitution of 1973. Under the Amendment, Ahmadis were declared as a non-Muslim minority of Pakistan.

Similarly, Zial-Ul-Haq tried to legitimize his unconstitutional rule and elongate his stay in power through the introduction of his Islamization drive in Pakistan. In 2000s, under ‘Roshan Pakistan’ scheme General Pervaiz Musharraf tried to seek legitimacy for his military dictatorship by trying to reverse Zia’s Islamization program. However, he failed to reverse the process and instead generated an extremist response from the religious community. Even he failed to eradicate the religious and fundamentalist tendencies from his own institution. General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kiani, who was appointed by Musharraf as COAS, declared that Islam and Pakistan could not be separated; and that Pakistan Army is bound to protect both the territorial and ideological boundaries of the state.

Any endeavor to change the existing relationship between Islam and Pakistan may pose a serious challenge to a democratic government in Pakistan. Such endeavors may lead to the erosion of public support, which is must for democratic development, to an incumbent government. This is evident from the events that unfolded in the aftermath of the Electoral Reforms Act, 2017 which brought changes into the Khatm-E-Nabuwat related clauses in the oath for public representatives. The sitting government faced serious backlash from the people and other institutions.

Religious parties and interest groups were successful in invoking religious sentiments of the people against the government. Many MPs of the ruling party resigned from assemblies and joined the protesting religious groups. Even the military responded to it and declared that Army could not compromise on the finality of Prophet-hood of Muhammad (PBUH). The military was called by the federal government for aid to the civilian administration after the police failed to bring an end to the protest. However, the military showed increasing reluctance to disperse the protesters through crackdown and instead preferred a negotiated settlement to bring an end to the protest. To put in the words of Dr. Ishtiaq Husain, a prominent historian, the protest turned Pakistan into a mobocracy-rule of the mob.

Another example of how the religion and democracy interact in Pakistan could be Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification, which is considered by many as a blow to the democratic consolidation, from the office of Prime Minister. He was disqualified from the office by the Supreme Court of Pakistan under Article 62 f(1) which was introduced by General Zial-Ul-Haq under his Islamization drive. In 2010, under the 18th Amendment, the PPP suggested removal of all such conditions for qualification and disqualification of public representatives added by Zia-Ul-Haq to the Constitution of 1973. However, Nawaz Sharif allegedly opposed the initiative probably for a fear of losing the support of the religious constituency.

All these do not mean that Islam and democracy are necessarily incompatible with each other; rather it shows that how religion has been misused by the rulers and various interests groups for the promotion of their narrow political objectives without taking into consideration the harmful effects of their actions.

Spokesman to the PPP Chairman, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar response to reports about Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s asset details

Reacting to reports concerning Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s asset details, Spokesman to the Chairman, Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, has said that: “We have noticed that a lot is being said regarding Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s asset details. The PPP would like to clarify a few things.

“Chairman PPP submitted income tax returns for the last three years with all his nomination papers. All properties and businesses that have been declared by Mr Chairman were inherited from his family. As for those questioning how Bilawal House Karachi is worth Rs3 million, it should be mentioned that Section 116 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, says: ‘All assets [whether purchased or inherited] should be valued at cost’. PPP Chairman inherited Bilawal House Karachi in early nineties and at that time, it was valued at Rs 3 million”.

Senator Khokhar has also said that “around 70 candidates are contesting against Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in all three constituencies that he is contesting from. Copies of his nomination papers were taken by all other contesting candidates – including those from the PTI, JUI, MQM, PML-N, MMA, etc., and none of them raised any legal objections whatsoever. PPP Chairman has followed the law in letter and spirit while filing his nomination papers. We respect the law of the land and believe in transparency”.

https://mediacellppp.wordpress.com/2018/06/23/spokesman-to-the-ppp-chairman-mustafa-nawaz-khokhar-response-to-reports-about-bilawal-bhutto-zardaris-asset-details/

Sanam Bhutto says Bilawal can steer Pakistan in right direction

Former prime minister and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Benazir Bhutto's only surviving sibling Sanam Bhutto has thrown her weight behind her nephew, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

At an event held here at the Willesden Green Pakistan Community Centre to celebrate Benazir Bhutto’s birthday, Sanam Bhutto joined London-based leaders of the PPP and offered full support to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

Benazir Bhutto's younger sister Sanam Bhutto urged voters to vote for her nephew in the upcoming elections.

"You must vote for Bilawal if you want Pakistan to progress in the right direction," Sanam Bhutto said, adding that Bilawal offered hope and was the right choice to lead Pakistan and to put the country in the right direction.

Sanam Bhutto expressed her well-wishes for Begum Kulsoom Nawaz and prayed that she could get well soon.

The event was also attended by former federal minister Dr Asim Hussain, who is in London for the cancer treatment of his wife Zareen.

Separately, on the weekend, Sanam Bhutto’s daughter Azadeh Hussain tied the knot in a private ceremony here. The event was private but some pictures and videos were released by a few selected guests.

Bilawal and sisters Aseefa and Bakhtawar arrived especially from Pakistan to be at the wedding. Tariq Islam, Benazir’s cousin, six Sindhi families, Wajid Shamsul Hasan and Benazir’s close friend Victoria Schofield also attended the wedding.

A video of the wedding ceremony surfaced on social media featuring Asifa, Bakhtawar and Bilawal.

Bilawal had arrived in London on Friday, a day after Nawaz Sharif landed in London and learnt that Begum Kulsoom Nawaz had suffered a cardiac arrest.

The wedding took place on Saturday and it was hoped that Bilawal Bhutto will pay a visit to the hospital but he sent his best wishes on social media and didn’t attend the hospital.

“Bilawal Bhutto Zardari wanted to visit the hospital in person. He discussed the idea with Asif Ali Zardari but couldn’t get a go ahead,” said a trusted PPP source adding: “Bilawal couldn’t get the security clearance for the visit”.

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