Why Payoneer is best alternative of Paypal for Pakistani freelancers

The biggest hurdle that Pakistani freelancers have faced over the year is that of non-availability of Paypal’s services for Pakistanis. This impediment has caused huge losses to our freelancers. Huge potential clients could not be signed because they could only pay via paypal and paypal didn’t offer its service in Pakistan. The irony continue for years.

All that has changed with Payoneer though. This service has truly been a godsend for Pakistani freelancers, especially in recent couple of years when it started its instant with withdrawal service for Pakistan.

The best thing about Paypal is that it offers a variety of services to freelancers that makes life much easier. A freelancer can create a bank account in various countries and continents thought its Global Payment Service.

If a freelancer is dealing with foreign company, then s/he can easily give out his/her bank account detail of that specific region to that company and get paid easily.

Currently the Global Payment Services allows a freelancer to create accounts in USA, UK, EU, Australia, Canada, and Japan. That is about 95% of the countries where a freelancer can do business.

After receiving money into your account, comes the withdrawal part. A freelancer has the choice to get a Mastercard based debit card which can be used anywhere online or at ATMs in the world where Mastercard is accepted.

The second option is withdrawal directly to one’s bank account. This too is a straight forward option and usually takes a few minutes to an hour for your funds to be deposited into your local bank account.

Payoneer has truly been a life saver of Pakistani freelancers because it came at a time when they needed it the most.

Papering Over the Fissures Inherent in the Afghan Reconciliation Process

Photo: Evgenia Novozhenina (Reuters)

In the wake of last month’s highly publicized peace agreement between the US and the Taliban, as well as the recently concluded Presidential elections, political turmoil in Afghanistan has once again taken center stage. While both these developments represent much welcomed progress of sorts in helping stabilize a fragile and war-torn country on the surface, there still however remain a whole host of underlying issues that have cast even greater uncertainty over the prospects of achieving lasting peace and stability. The kind of peace that would benefit not only the Afghan Nation, but the wider South Asian, Central Asian and Persian Gulf regions.

These issues include the finer points of the US’s agreements with the Taliban particularly regarding prisoner exchanges, as well as the highly public rifts within the Afghan state apparatus that have brought serious challenges to the legitimacy of its newly re-elected President and his accompanying cabinet. The kind of legitimacy which otherwise holds the key to presenting a united and credible negotiating team to represent the Afghan government in its dealings with the Taliban. Thus, taken together, these issues present dangerous obstacles which need to be overcome if the country’s nascent peace process is to stop from being derailed even before having properly begun.

 

For instance, the spectacle of two rival presidential inaugurations that were aired in split screen throughout Afghan news channels earlier this week represented the clear schism that exists within the country’s more mainstream politics. Fueled by yet another controversial presidential election result, this tussle for power between former president Ashraf Ghani and his long-time rival Abdullah Abdullah manifests the deep-rooted differences that have existed amongst Kabul’s ruling elites for almost two decades since the US toppled the Taliban. Hence, it is no surprise that both Mr. Ghani and Mr. Abdullah, despite their diverse support bases within the war-torn country, have repeatedly relied on the US as a key mediator and power broker within the Afghan political system.

These difficulties are in turn further indicative of the immense complexity associated with the many tasks assigned to the US Special Representative for Afghan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad. Not only has Mr. Khalilzad been made responsible for bringing about an equitable peace deal between the US and the Taliban from a position of relative weakness, but also to reconcile the deep seeded political differences that have permeated through the Afghan democratic system, most of which are of the US’s own making. In fact, the very advent of a democratic Afghanistan since the creation of its 2004 constitution is of the US’s own making with all its so-called victo

The Afghanistan Papers that were released just a few months back have presented ample reasons for these outcomes. They have provided key insights into the unrealistic expectations and lack of appreciation on the US’s part for the extremely difficult task it had set out for itself in its ‘nation-building’ experiment. Attributed to a clear lack of goals and strategy, the US is estimated to have spent $133 billion just to have built up Afghanistan, with only rampant political instability and insecurity to show for it. What’s worse, the US (ironically along with Russia) has had to now condemn and downplay recent statements from boisterous Taliban representatives that they would soon be restoring the Islamic government that had existed before the US invasion in 2001. Hence, nullifying whatever achievements the US had to show for in terms of bringing an inclusive democracy backed by a capably enforced rule of law.

The initial catchphrases of ‘empowering’, ‘bringing freedom’ to, and ‘enabling political representation’ for the Afghan people were touted globally as huge successes. Built on the back of championing women’s rights and amidst promises of unfettered development and investment these presented as one of the many goals the US had achieved over the course of its campaign in Afghanistan . However, the succeeding lawlessness, rampant nepotism and corruption that has since plagued the Afghanistan has marred whatever political gains the US had to show for on the international stage over the last decade and half.

Rather, one of the very reasons why the Taliban have gained so much traction politically, and why they still enjoy a considerable support base amongst the local population, is primarily because of the rampant corruption and bureaucratic in-fighting that has since characterized the US backed Afghan government. It also stands as one of the primary reasons why the Taliban beyond its power as a militant force has still come to politically represent considerable swathes of the Afghan population. Thus, representing a reality which even Pakistan had been trying to get the US to realize ever since the US embarked on its hunt for Al-Qaeda in the Af-Pak theatre.

However, considering the haste and forced manner in which the US is going through with its current exit in Afghanistan, it seems there are still key lessons the US has once again ignored. Despite its attempts at fostering political reconciliation, empowering the Afghan military and police, as well as bringing about some semblance of modernity in what by US standards was an archaic country, the US is nowhere near achieving these ambitions for all its military and economic might. Instead what appear to be the primary factors driving Afghan reconciliation at the moment are the much-needed headlines and photo-ops required for an embattled president to win re-election. Not to mention the mounting domestic pressure to bring US troops back home from an unending quagmire that has seen the US sink limitless amounts of blood and treasure in. A glaring truth which no optics or spin doctoring has been able to convince the American public let alone the rest of the world.

Reconciling Public Safety and National Security Via A Renewed Focus on Bio-Security

As the broad ranging consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic wreak havoc across the global political economy, there have also simultaneously come up several issues pertaining to policy and governance particularly related to International Security. These include for instance the growing emphasis now being laid on biosecurity which under the current context of an unprecedented global pandemic has greatly exposed the failings and lack of preparedness of even some of the world’s most developed
countries.

One has to merely glance at the fast-rising death tolls in the US, UK, Italy and Spain to gauge how some of the world’s foremost economies and health services have been left devastated owing to a severe lack of preparedness. Countries which boast some of the world’s most robust military industrial and technological complexes, have been unable to otherwise safeguard not only the health and safety of their own populations, but also to preserve what can be only described as their entire way of life. Something for which they have been more than ready to go to war in the past.



Its hence no surprise that the US for instance, in its incessant need to scapegoat (or to just simply bomb)and divert mounting public outrage has been consistently directing blame towards China. This has ranged from alleging China to have deliberately engineered the virus, to holding the Chinese government accountable for having initially covered up the severity of the outbreak in a bid to safeguard
its own economic and diplomatic standing. While it is unlikely that the US would go to war with China solely over this, the dramatic deterioration in relations that has been witnessed in the kind of rhetoric and proposals that have been coming out from both countries stands as cause for grave concern for the world at large.

Yet, what’s lost amidst this blame game that has dominated headlines for over a month, has been perhaps the more important and timely discussion that had arisen on the importance of incorporating  more robust bio-security measures. This is understandable considering how the term biosecurity has itself over the last two decades come to be associated more in relation to enacting safeguards against bio-terrorism and bio-chemical weapons. Aspects that were directly based for instance on the anthrax


and smallpox scares that had dominated US policy discourse shortly after the September 11 attacks. Or for instance from the more recent threats issued by ISIS regarding the use of such weapons against Western targets. The above linked report from the Hudson institute for instance evaluates the US’s need to enact such biodefense (or biosecurity) measures within exactly such contexts.
However, it is this very context related to terrorism and homeland/national security which in dominating US policymaking circles is more attuned towards focusing on the perpetrators of such threats; be they state or non-state actors. Consequently, the whole aim of the US – and also arguably its closest allies – has been to justify its more interventionist and hands-on approach to mitigating such threats before they reach US shores. Hence, the emphasis being more on preventing such biological ‘attacks’ from occurring in the first place as opposed to dealing with them once they’ve ‘hit’.

While justifiable in its own right, what this approach however misses in its overarching focus on national security, is perhaps the more pressing need to address public health and safety domestically. Which in essence is what national security is premised on defending in the first place – an effective Civil Defense of sorts.

For instance, a widely cited comparison of the ‘Western’ response to the Coronavirus with that of certain East Asian countries such as Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and Japan shows how these latter countries’ more recent experiences in dealing with the SARS and MERS outbreaks had contributed immensely to their relatively better responses to this pandemic. By already having in place certain
contingency and policy directives grounded more in a domestic public health and safety perspective – as opposed to an outward looking national security one – each of these states was able to mount a more coordinated, timely and socially aware response to this crisis.

Most importantly their responses had public support and sympathy directly built in to their policies which saw the overall public perception of their governments’ measures as wholly necessary and compulsory; as opposed to being forced and reactionary. This latter aspect for instance is manifest in how several countries have witnessed severe public and political backlash towards the social distancing and lockdown policies that were enacted the world over. This includes backlash witnessed in countries ranging from the US to Pakistan, where the economic costs of such policies – which once again are tied directly to externally inspired national security concerns – were given unassailing primacy over domestic public health and safety.

Talking specifically of Pakistan and its long history of being portrayed as a security state, such threats to national security from a potential bio-chem attack, are already prioritized along the lines of a potential WMD attack considering the primacy such threats hold for a Nuclear Weapon State. However, even within such military dominated approaches to bio-security, there is a still a public safety and awareness component from a Civil Defense perspective, that even in the case of any WMD attack remains already lacking. Thus, belying the prioritization afforded to deterring external threats, rather than on eliminating such shortcomings within, just like the US.

The current global pandemic has provided a rare chance to have this conversation regarding the very premises and priority this concept of Bio-security has been accorded within government policy circles. It has afforded a previously unfound impetus and political capital to enact and fund such measures. Instead of being squandered however, such impetus should be used to mitigate such lapses that have now been brought to the forefront of governance and policy discourse the world over. Unless these realities are adapted to, life is likely to become even harder in a world that has changed dramatically in just the last few months.

This Indian wants five Pakistani judges in exchange for all judges of the Indian Supreme Court

An Indian on twitter has requested Pakistanis if they will take all the 22 judges of the Indian Supreme Court in exchange for five Pakistan Supreme Court judges, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khoosa. He was referring to the same bench that disqualified former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the panama papers corruption case.

Dear Pakistani Friends, Can we have exchange offer please ? You take our 22 Corrupt #SupremeCourt Judges including our CJI Dipak Mishra and give us 5 Judges of your SC bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa 🙂 #NawazSharif Verdict.

— Madhusudan Thakkar (@madhusudan41) April 13, 2018

Pakistani’s had some witty replies to Mr. Madhusudan Thakkar’s tweet.

Atif Murtaza went far ahead in generosity and offered Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz Sharif and Bilawal Zardari for free with the judges.

Aapke 5 Upright SC Judges pe 5 Politicians free ? We already have Grandfathers like them in India ☺

— Madhusudan Thakkar (@madhusudan41) April 14, 2018



Mr. Thakar respectfully declined the counter offer saying India already had grandfathers of such politicians and that he was only interested in the upright judges who gave the historic verdict against Nawaz Sharif.

Urooj Fatima however, wasn’t ready to permanently exchange her favourite judges and instead offered if India would be willing to take them for a short period of time and have them returned “after justice is served”.

Qubool Hai ,Qubool Hai, Qubool Hai 🙂

— Madhusudan Thakkar (@madhusudan41) April 15, 2018

Mr. Madhusudan gladly accepted this offer.

Pakistani superior judiciary has taken an activist role as of late and have disqualified a serving prime minister over corruption charges. The judges routinely take suo motto notice on all issues that are of public importance.

The activist role of the judiciary has its critics though. A section of society is against this activist role of the judiciary. The deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif is at the forefront in criticizing the judges contending that the judiciary is encroaching on the executive powers.

A huge segment of the society however is in favour of the active role of the Pakistani judiciary. The proponents argue that the executive isn’t doing its job which is why the judiciary has to take action under article 184 (3) of the constitution to protect the rights of the citizens of Pakistan.

Does Inzi harbor any bias against Fawad Alam?

The exclusion of Fawad Alam from the squad for the test series against England has raised many questions. Former test players, including former captain Wasim Akram, have questioned this decision saying it was ‘beyond comprehension’.

Many fans have slammed the decision as yet another example of nepotism reigning the corridors of Pakistan Cricket Board. They especially point fingers at the inclusion of Imam-ul-Haq who is the nephew of the Chief Selector Inzamam-ul-Haq.

Fawad Alam, 32, seems to be in good form and has been scoring runs in domestic cricket. His batting average stands at 55.37 in first-class cricket. Imam-ul-Haq on the other hand, though quite talented, is only 22 years old, and has an average of 43.57.

On top of having a good form, and batting average, critics argue that Fawad Alam brings experience to the team which will be needed on such a crucial tour.  Imam-ul-Haq lacks such experience.

So does the exclusion of Fawad Alam really means Inzi is harboring some sort of bias against him? Why did he prefer Imam-ul-Haq over Fawad Alam, is a question that merits a convincing answer


Inzamam has kept mum over the issue and has not released any statement in this regard.

The decision has its supporters though. After PSL, the dynamics of Pakistan cricket have changed, they contend. Talented youngsters have overshadowed the role of senior players.

“If someone is talented, s/he should not be negatively impacted just because s/he is relative of a PCB official”, they argue.

In order to step into the world of modern cricket, Pakistan will have to bank on its young talent a lot more. Imam-ul-Haq proved himself when he was given a chance in ODI. It is yet to be seen how he conducts himself in the pressure games against England.

As far as Fawad Alam is concerned, his inclusion or exclusion from the team should be viewed independently from that of Imam-ul-Haq or any other youngster. The exclusion of Fawad Alam, though unfortunate for him personally, is not a bad omen for Pakistan cricket.

Sexual harassment: a misused concept

Inspired by the global Me Too movement, a lot of women in Pakistan have since come forward and accused various men of sexual harassment. It all started when a few girls took screenshots of their DM and posted them on Twitter to expose the harassers. Not surprisingly though, the victims received tremendous support from many as they should have.

However, doubts regarding the veracity of such claims were raised when one of the accused posted screenshots of the original conversation he had had with the ‘alleged’ victim. It turned out she was completely OK with him sending those inappropriate texts and seemed to have enjoyed the conversation. Later after developing personal issues with the person, she deleted her responses from the conversation which portrayed the accused as if he was continuously sending inappropriate texts without her consent.

The question is, can we call it harassment if it involves ones consent at the time? Also, can one retrospectively go back in time and call an act or a conversation as sexual harassment even though he/she was totally fine with it at the time?


Another prime example of fake sexual harassment allegations is that of Ayesha Gulalai’s. She created a storm in the country by her startling revelations against Imran Khan and received massive support from feminists. She blamed Mr. Khan of sending her inappropriate messages. However, she’s yet to show those lewd messages to the public or any court of law despite her numerous promises.

Recently the case of Meesha’s allegations against Ali Zafar has taken everyone’s attention. However, it is different in a sense that it doesn’t involve texts or anything that could be used as an evidence. Although one can’t really expect Meesha to have recorded Ali’s alleged sexual advancements when she was being harassed but that doesn’t mean we should accept Ali Zafar as a harasser and boycott him just because Meesha said so. Given the absence of any evidence, it’s essentially Meesha’s word against Ali’s.

Who do you trust is just a matter of one’s personal opinion. Legally though, Ali is innocent unless proven guilty. We must not draw conclusions based on mere allegations of someone.

Having said this, the best way for a woman to fight sexual harassment is to stop it right there at the beginning. Say NO if you are not comfortable with it. A decisive NO will suffice for more than 99 percent of men. For the remaining one percent, if it’s online conversation, there is a reason almost all of the social media platforms have a “block” option available. Use it.

However, if you really want to choose social media to shame a harasser, then you must be prepared to share some proof otherwise  you can’t blame people for asking you proof.

Why Democracy is Always under Threat in Pakistan?

Since the Independence of our country, we have heard our political leaders or the “Torch Bearers of Democracy” consistently use a few well known sentences: “Our country is going through a critical phase”, “We are facing numerous challenges”, and “Democracy is under threat”. It is a fact that political process has not moved smoothly in Pakistan. It faces crisis after crisis. We hear different reasons for the fragile state of our democratic system. Some politicians regard military interventions as the main cause while others blame their political opponents for doing leg-pulling than doing constructive opposition.

It is true that Pakistan has been ruled by military rulers for about three decades but if we go through our political history, we find several other reasons in addition to the aforementioned one. Some of the reasons mentioned in the history textbooks include delay in constitution making, feudalism, pervasive illiteracy, dynastic politics and so on.

Although, some of these reasons initially made sense but now we are living in a different era. Our literacy rate has improved. Print and electronic media is playing a vital role in educating masses about political system. Slowly and gradually feudalism is vanishing from our politics. The constitutional amendments have almost closed the doors for a military intervention but still democracy seems to be under threat which may lead us to the conclusion that the biggest threat to democracy is the politicians themselves. Our political leaders lack the ability to learn from their mistakes which gives an opportunity to their opponents to create an atmosphere of political restlessness in the country.

Panama leaks emerged as the latest threat to democracy in Pakistan.

PML-N government is under siege for the second time in its three-year tenure after a massive leak of 11.5 million tax documents which exposed the secret offshore dealings of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his children along with several other world leaders. Prime Minister’s media team tried to diffuse the intensity of situation by their silver tongued spokespersons on media and regarded the allegations as a conspiracy against democratic government.

Initially the government was hesitant in forming an inquiry commission under Chief Justice of Pakistan. However, when some PPP leaders joined hands with PTI, the prime minister had no option but to write to Chief Justice for an inquiry commission. Since the opposition parties were not consulted in formulating the terms of reference (TORs) they rejected those terms and demanded an independent investigation into the revelations made by Panama leaks. The political leaders are repeating the mantra of democracy is under threat.

Previously in 2014 the “Tsunami” march by PTI against alleged electoral rigging and 126 days sit-in in the federal capital kept the government on its heels for a long time. Some political Pundits declared 2014 as new elections’ year. Fortunately the rest of the opposition parties stood by the government which helped them to survive that Tsunami.

PPP and its allies completed its five years term under similar circumstances. After the 2008 general elections, every year was predicted to be new elections’ year. Events like movement of restoration of judiciary and PML-N led million march to Islamabad put the then government under immense pressure. The country was on the verge of a political chaos when Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani announced restoration of Chief Justice.

Later, the same chief justice sent him home after finding him guilty of contempt of court for refusing to reopen corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari. Supreme Court’s verdict came amid a sit-in led by Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri against government in Islamabad which led to a period of restlessness for the government. Democracy was again under threat.

These incidents were not new for our country. In Pakistan, democracy and political uncertainty goes side by side ever since its inception.

It all started when Pakistan’s 3rd Governor General Ghulam Muhammad dismissed the then elected Prime Minister Khawaja Nazim-ud-Din in April 1953 and appointed Muhammad Ali Bogra, a rather less popular person as Prime Minister. Later, Bogra attempted to lessen the Governor General’s powers but before doing so, Ghulam Muhammad dissolved the constituent assembly.  Ghulam Muhammad devalued the nascent democratic norms using these acts and set a precedent for later rulers. Later Sikander Mirza, the first president of Pakistan, facilitated the country’s first martial law.

Later on, a faction of Pakistan Muslim League named Convention Muslim League, supported Gen. Ayub Khan in 1965 presidential elections. Similarly, the political conflict between the ruling leftist Pakistan Peoples Party and right wing opposition Pakistan National Alliance over alleged electoral rigging took a violent turn and more than 200 people were killed in the clashes between security forces and demonstrators.

Democracy was again under threat. Those violent protests and chaos paved way for the military to intervene and take control of the situation. In a democratic country the military coup cannot be justified in any way but it is a bitter truth that in both of the aforementioned instances the political forces created such an environment in which a military takeover seemed justified.

Decent politicians and transparent political parties are the cornerstones to a workable political system. Apart from a few names, all of the politicians in our country are controversial in one way or another. Power politics has remained the hallmark of our political system throughout the history. Over the years, political system has evolved in such a way that a common man cannot even think of making his way to the parliament or Prime Minister house. Even if a common man becomes member of a political party he never gets a party ticket to contest elections for national or provincial assembly.

Moreover, our political parties lack internal democracy. Some of the parties conduct intra-party elections as a formality but nobody dares to contest elections against the party leader. Consequently, leaders of our political parties can be termed as autocrats in a way. Political parties are famous in the name of their leaders. Personification has harmed the true essence of democracy in Pakistan. People do not take into consideration political parties’ election manifestos. They vote for candidates on the basis of ethnicities, “biradri” and other such factors.

In order to strengthen democracy, we need to reform the whole system as everything is interrelated. We need to look at all the components, be they politicians themselves, political parties, the electoral system and the election regulator, which is the Election Commission. Strengthening the election commission is of vital importance. Free and fair elections are not possible without a strong and independent election commission.

We need to come up with a new management structure to make sure that political parties belong to and work for the people. Their budgets and books must be transparent and, if any executives or politicians violate the laws, penalties must be severe with no statutes of limitations to the point where some of them may not be able to enter politics again and their parties are dissolved.

Much of this depends on the people’s participation; in other words, relations between the people and the political parties as well as the politicians. This can be achieved through educating public about the democratic norms and the importance of democratic system. We need to put in place some measures to screen bad politicians and this should come with harsh penalties when they break the laws.

The biggest threat to democratic system is the flaws in its elements. After eliminating these flaws, the democratic system will be able to take care of itself and will not be dependent on politicians or political parties.

Reforms in FATA and a Provincial Status for Hazara

The present government is to present a new bill aiming at alleviating the black law called the Frontier Crimes Regulations-1901 imposed by the former colonial power from the Federally Administrative Tribal Areas (FATA). The FCR does not grant full rights to the people of FATA as citizens of Pakistan. The new law will bring them at par with other citizens of Pakistan through constitutional reforms. This will provide more democratic and constitutional provisions and rights to the people of FATA. It will extend the jurisdiction of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) to the tribal areas. Its presentation in the National Assembly meant granting equal rights to the tribal peoples which will ultimately replace the FCR.

The new bill has been prepared after the opposition to the previously proposed Rewaj Act 2017 in the National Assembly in May this year by Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI) of Fazal ur Rehman and Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party of Mahmood Khan Achakzai. The former bill envisaged the merger of FATA with Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP) after five years of its imposition.

The political parties demanding a separate Hazara province for the people of Hazara also opposed the former bill. They demanded the formation of Hazara province before the merging of FATA with KP. The Tehreek Sooba Hazara’s chief, Haider Zaman, opposed the FATA’s merger with KP and announced a countrywide campaign for creating Hazara province. He stressed the government to hold a referendum in FATA before taking any decision. He added that presently the tribal people were slaves of the federal government and now new efforts were being made to make them slaves of the KP government.

The legislators from other regions of the country as well as those from FATA opposed the former bill. The MNA Dawar Khan Kundi stressed the need for more administrative units. Former Senator Hameedullah Jan Afridi stressed the government to hold referendum whether the 15 million people of FATA wanted to merge with KP or wanted a separate province of their own. MNA Jamshed Dasti said that the people of Hazara, FATA, Seraiki and Gilgit should have their own provinces.

In lieu of these observations from the political parties within the parliament and outside the parliament, the government of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi prepared a new bill to grant rights to the tribal people. The new bill will ensure the implementation of the Article 247 (5) to the tribal agencies through which the federal government will make regulations to bring peace and good governance in FATA. In this way, the security will be provided to the tribal people through reforms in police and other administrative departments.

The people of the FATA have long been demanding for constitutional and democratic rights for them. The present FCR has been criticized by all the political parties and international organization like Amnesty International for its flaws and biasedness to the ordinary people in FATA. The tribal areas should have been brought into the national arena under the laws from the very beginning of the formation of Pakistan. Had it been brought then, there would have been no problems like drugs trafficking, smuggling of goods, terrorism and lawlessness in the region. The introduction of Pakistani civil laws like the ones in Gilgit-Baltistan should have been promulgated in FATA.

The new bill will be a good step towards the process of democratizing and constitutionalizing the departments and people of the tribal areas which will keep FATA under the direct control of the Federal Government. The resolution of the problems and the miseries of the people of FATA lie in its own complete and independent political set-up. The Army will play its role in ensuring peace and a stable border security system in the region.

The recent call of the All Political Parties Conference on merging of FATA with the KP was convened by the Awami National Party on the 14th September, 2017. The major political parties attended the conference. However, the political parties stood divided as Jamiat Ulema Islam and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party disagreed with the idea of merging of FATA into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. These two political parties have already opposed the proposed Rewaj Act 2017 which envisioned the FATA’s merger with KP after five years of its implementation. The Jamiat of Fazal ur Rehman have already supported the need of a separate Hazara province.

The appointment of a Chief Operating Officer (COO) by the federal government will bring FATA under rapid development which is not the capacity of the provincial government. In this way, FATA will get its own share in the national revenue which will be spent on its own development. It is also needed to have a well-defined border with Afghanistan. The same language speaking countries are living amicably and peacefully with each other in the world. For example, Germans and Austrians speak the same language, but live in different countries with well-defined borders. Pakistan should have a defined border with Afghanistan. The current Durand line should be immediately declared the permanent and defined border between two countries.

A few political parties are favoring the FATA’s merging with KP. In this way, they want to materialize their long-cherished dream of a greater Pukhtunistan. However, their dream seems not to be materialized as the Pukhtuns of the KP and the FATA have been contributing enormously to the economy an development of Pakistan. Their strength lies in a stronger Pakistan. The smaller federating units will make Pakistan stronger and its people prosperous as smaller units eliminate corruption, bring good governance and equal distribution of resources among them.

KP is home to multi-linguistic communities. Even the Pashtuns of FATA and those in the settled area of KP have enormous differences in their livings and culture. The KP is already a linguistically-imbalance province. The Hindko speaking communities in Hazara and Seraiki speaking communities in Dera are already suffering, and there is a linguistic-gap between them and the Pushto speaking communities. Hindko and Seraiki are intelligible languages with each other whereas the Pashto is not intelligible with these two languages. The merging of FATA will further increase the gap between the two communities.

It is also a fact that all the subsequent provincial governments in the KP have not truly served the people of the whole province; rather they being led by the chief ministers from different cities of the province did selected work for their own cities. The civic problems of all cities of Hazara, lack of interest of the provincial governments to improve and broaden the major GT from Hassan Abdal to Babu Sar Top are a few witnesses to the fact that these governments did not do anything for the development and uplift of the people and region of Hazara.

The sacrifices of the people of Hazara in the Pakistan movement and afterwards for its development are not hidden from anybody. However, in return they were given nothing; they have to visit to Peshawar for ordinary tasks in their routine life. The government servants of Hazara who are already kept at the mercy of the administration in Peshawar will suffer a lot. In case of FATA’s merger with KP, they will not be pleased to work in the environment which is totally different and new for them.

Their displacement from their region to areas close to Afghanistan will be against their basic rights. Their miseries and problems will multiply many folds. People in the government and non-governmental jobs are an important segment of the society. They will not be pleased for their transfers and postings in far flung areas of FATA. The worst affected region by the merging of FATA will be Hazara which is geographically detached from the rest of the KP.

The resolution of Hazara province in the KP assembly is already passed on 21 March, 2014, in which the representation from both Hazara and non-Hazara regions of KP were present. Whereas the resolution for the merging of FATA with KP was passed much later on 14 December, 2016. The legal position of this resolution may be questioned as the representation from the FATA is not present in the KP Assembly. The movement for Hazara as a separate province is much older and it is inherent in its nature.

The federal government should hold a referendum in FATA to ask the people whether they want to join KP or a separate province, or at least, a separate legislative body should be elected under the supervision of COO from the FATA through election which should decide whether they want to join KP or live in an independent province.

It is thus best time for the people, the provincial and federal parliamentarians and the political parties from Hazara working for the cause of a separate province to speed up their efforts for a separate province. The political parties should hold an All Parties Conference on the need of Hazara as a separate province. The present government of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will definitely reply to their demands as he himself belongs to a region that has closest proximity to Hazara, and he is more aware of the problems of Hazara than any other prime minister.

A rare and deadly plague sweeps through Madagascar

Relatives dancing with the corpses of their loved ones contract and then spread the plague. IMAGE: AFP OR LICENSORS

After a span of almost 50 years, a rare and deadly plague broke out in Madagascar affecting major cities and surrounding areas. The plague has caused 143 deaths while around 2,000 more were affected. Due to the severity of the deadly plague, WHO raised alert level and issued warnings have been issued for nine other countries, including South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya.

According to reports, the plague is said to be spreading because of the hundreds-year-old tradition of Madagascaran people which includes digging out the graves of their loved ones and dancing with it.

This tradition is held once a year and it involves the family touching the coffin of the dead and thus getting in contact with the infected dead bodies. The tradition is known as Famadihana or the body turning. The tradition is under scrutiny as the plague is known to have started spreading in the time of its celebration.

Different types of plague cases have been reported including Pneumonic plague, the most deadliest type that can spread from human to human. There have also been cases of other types of plagues such as Bubonic and Septicemic, plagues caused by bacterium. The death toll has increased up to 8% in just a week while scientists are working to make sure the infection doesn’t spread to mainland Africa.

Free medication to treat the plague available but the locals refuse to seek help or go to the doctor out of fear of being diagnosed with the plague. Some families are refusing to give up on the infected corpses of their family members which are seized by the police.

The neighboring country of Malawi prompted officials to put the country on high alert due to fears that the disease could spread across international borders. Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr Dan Namarika, said Malawi has a special team that is involved with the Mozambique counterpart of report on the plague in case any outbreak occurs.

Venus and Jupiter to cross paths this Monday

John Magliacane/Space Weather Gallery

Jupiter and Venus, two of the brightest planets in our solar system, will be coming close together for some time before dawn on Monday, November 13. Both of the planets will be visible to the naked eye only during the civil twilight before dawn as Jupiter will not be visible once the sun comes up.

A conjunction between two or more planets or star clusters happens when they share the same right ascension in the sky and thus look near each other when they are actually not.

This phenomena is not very rare as it appears ever 13th month; however it owns a special place in the astrological world. The conjunction of these two planets can be seen towards the south east with telescopes as well as naked eye in the sky dome in the eastern horizon.

At their closest, Venus and Jupiter will be 0.3o apart which is less than the apparent diameter of the moon (0.5o).

Venus is known as the brightest planet and it always follows up as the second one and will be “snuggling “with Jupiter. It will be a spectacular event as the two bright objects are seen floating close to each other. Some also call it “the kiss “between the two planets.

The conjunction was spotted on 27th august 2016 and in July on 2015. The next one is expected on 22 January 2019.

Venus will be 152 million miles (246 million kilometers) from us, while Jupiter is nearly four times farther away, at 594 million miles (956 million km).

A conjunction between Jupiter and Mars is also expected after a few weeks when Venus and Jupiter drift apart from each other.

Though telescope users are strictly warned to be careful with the binoculars and telescope as the sun will be rising from the same side and if caught in telescope it can cause serious damage to the eyes because of no proper use of a sun filter.

US stands isolated on declaring Jerusalem as capital of Israel

United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, addresses the General Assembly prior to the vote on Jerusalem. Credit: EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ/AFP

A UN general assembly resolution condemning US decision of declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has been passed with an overwhelming majority. A total of 128 states voted in favor of the resolution, 9 voted against it, while 35 abstained.

Before the vote on the resolution, Nikki Haley the U.S. Permanent Representative at UN, warned nations of consequences if they voted against US. “The vote will not have any affect on the US decision but we will remember those who voted against us”, she said.

Representatives of various nations derided US President Trump’s decision of declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. They said such a decision is against the resolutions of United Nations and it would harm the peace process in the Middle East.

Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Maleeha Lodhi also criticized US decision in strong terms saying, “The US should know that the world community is not for sale.”

The mystery of the killer “Blue Whale” game

In today’s world almost everyone has a phone. Hundreds of different phone models are available and as many games are developed each day. With so many choices available, almost everyone seems to be addicted to playing some kind of game on their mobile phone. Some are addicted to Candy Crush and Ludo Star, while others are hooked on FIFA and games like Pokémon Go. If there is nothing else to do, we always have a game to play on our phones no matter where we are.

While most of the games are available to public all around the world, there are games that are not publicly available. Such games, in fact, choose you as its victim. Yes you can only be part of a game by being CHOSEN by the administrator.

Recently a game has taken the world by storm after it was disclosed by a journalist in Russia. The game “blue whale’’ is known to have killed many teenagers by making them commit suicide. The ‘curators’ or the ‘taskmasters’ would look for hashtags like #i_am_whale #bluewhalechallenge #curatorfindme on social media and then decide which one to choose as its victims.

So how can a game make a person commit suicide? That’s a very important question.

The blue whale is a game where the administrator gives you various challenges on daily basis for 50 days which you have to complete. Although initially, the game involves some simple tasks like listening to music or taking a walk but most of the tasks are very dangerous.

The challenges include self mutilation, waking up earlier, climbing buildings and cranes, craving on the person own arm or hand, poking needles into one’s body, standing in dangerous places, use a knife or razor to make the shape of a whale on their wrist or leg, killing animals and filming it, watching psychedelic horror videos in the middle of the night sent by the administrator, and ending on the last task of committing suicide.

The game was first unearthed in 2013 in Russia after a few teenagers took their own lives to fulfill the last challenge. Panic over the online challenge was prompted by the death of two teenagers. The girls, aged 15 to 16, took their lives by jumping off of buildings and roofs.

A victim named Yulia, 15, uploaded a blue whale picture on social media with the caption “end” on which a fellow player Veronika, 16, who also took her life by jumping off a roof, commented “sense is lost…end”.

This game is not just taking lives in Russia, in fact, there have been cases reported from India, Brazil, USA, Argentina, Bulgaria, China, Chile, and many other countries.

Russian officials arrested the creator of this game, Philipp Budeikin, in May this year; however, the game hasn’t stopped spreading. The game has reportedly taken 130 lives who were all teenagers. During investigation, the curator admitted to have personally encouraged at least 16 teenagers to commit suicide. He denies having any role in other suicides.

Budeikin, a former psychology student who was expelled from his university, said during an interview that he gave those people the understanding and contact they needed and thus made them commit suicide. He claimed his victims died very happily.

Budeikin told a Russian newspaper that “there are people and there is a biological waste. those who do not represent any value for society. Such people will only cause harm to society.”

“I was cleaning our society of such people”, he explained.

When asked if he was deliberately trying to make the young victims commit suicide, he replied that he “truly” was doing that and also added “don’t worry, you’ll understand everything. Everyone will understand.”

Budeikin has been sentenced to three years in jail which according to many is a very soft sentence for murder. There had been two other arrests related to the game with one being a female from Kamchatka, Russia.

Budeikin was just the creator of the game. He has many administrators in his “death group” and even after his sentence, the game is spreading like wild fire among teenagers. It’s high time we keep a close eye on our youngsters so they do not get trapped in the vicious circle of such psycho games.

Mother kills her son to protect daughter-in-law

A 45-year-old woman from Mankhurd, Mumbai, strangled her own son to death on Tuesday evening to protect her daughter-in-law from his violence. Nadeem Naim, her 25-year-old son, was a drug-addict and routinely used to subject his wife to domestic violence. The mother, named Anwari idrisi, was arrested the next morning for the murder of her son.

Nadeem married a woman from Allahabad two years ago who at the time did not know about his addiction. Soon after their marriage, he started subjecting her to severe domestic violence.  Five months ago, she left his place after being fed up of his daily violent behavior and drug abuse.

Nadeem’s mother reportedly did not want her to leave so she brought her back promising her that she wouldn’t let her son do drugs or beat her again and that she will save her if it happened again. Eventually the wife gave in to her mother-in-law’s requests and came back to Mankhurd.

On Tuesday night Nadeem came home under the influence of drugs. Realizing that he will get violent Anwari sent her whole family to spend the night at neighbors which infuriated Nadeem even further and he started beating Anwari.

When he got tired of beating her, Anwari pushed him towards the steel ladder and strangled him to death with her dupatta.

Anwari spent the whole night crying beside his body and confessed to his wife about the murder when she came back home in the morning at five, reported the police of Mankhurd.

She confessed to the police that she killed her son because he was going to harm her daughter-in-law again. Anwari was immediately arrested and booked under section 302 of the Indian penal code.

The event bears an uncanny resemblance to the Bollywood cult movie “Mother India” in which the main protagonist, Radha, also kills her son, Birju, over a girl.

Domestic violence is a common problem in Pakistan and India and also the reason of destruction of many homes and mothers like Anwari idrisi.

MOU signed between KPOGCL and Eriell Oilfield Services

An MOU was signed between KPOGCL, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Oil and Gas Company Limited, and Eriell Oilfield Services, regarding joint partnership in projects relating to oil and gas on 28th September 2017 at Marriot hotel, Islamabad.

The ceremony was attended by CEO KPOGCL, Mr Raziuddin Razi, Chief (C&ES) KPOGCL, Mr. Fawad Haider and delegates from the Eriell Oilfield Services B.V, headed by its Managing Director Mr. Dilshod Akhmedov.

Eriell Oilfield Services is world’s renowned company from Russia which specializes in drilling and construction and providing services related to oil and gas. The company will provide KPOGCL with their expertise related to the field work which will also include training of local manpower from KP Province on latest softwares and on-job training to bring them at par with international standards.

Eriell delegate, Mr. Dilshod Akhmedov, Managing Director Eriell Oilfield services, showed interest towards seepages in KP province saying, “KP has potential of hydrocarbons and in order to completely tap these resources we should reach an agreement soon as possible”.

He also mentioned his company’s vision of bringing developing and under developed nations at par with other advanced countries by training their new generation with all the latest techniques and efficient planning models Etc with good spirit.

Raziuddin Razi also said that this MOU will help bring more efficient services and technology to the province that will help in exploration and production field of KP province.

“The vast experience of Eriel oilfield services in oil & gas services will help KPOGCL achieve its goal and thus the province will prosper and help the economy of Pakistan”, he said.

The CEO also said that the MOU signing with Eriell Oilfield Services showed the confidence of international companies to work in Pakistan which gives a positive image to other potential investors in the world.

Since 2013, due to KP robust participation towards hydrocarbons production, Pakistan has achieved foreign exchange savings in billions of rupees.

We need trees in our cities more than ever

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) reported in 2014 that over 54 percent of the global population lives in cities and it is expected to increase to 66 percent by 2050. It means more cars, more factories and more power plants in the cities. As cities grow, leaders are funding creative and often expensive solutions to curb the air pollution problem.

Like in London the local administration spent over a million pounds, spraying cities with an adhesive that was supposed to glue pollutants to the roads. Similarly in the Netherlands, designers have created a giant air purifier which is called “the smog free tower”. These are effective but quite expensive ways to curb air pollution. There is a simpler solution that is often overlooked. That is, planting trees.

Cities are centers of industry. The resulting pollution is adversely affecting the urban population. One major reason is particulate matter. Air borne particles of dust and smoke released when we burn fossil fuels. When we inhale these particles they may cause asthma, heart diseases, stroke and even death. Experts estimate that outdoor pollution kills about three million people annually.

A new report from The Nature Conservancy show that planting trees could be a cost effective way to improve public health which they do two ways. First, a tree removes particulate matter when polluted air blows through its branches. The particulate matter settle on the leaves and when it rains the dust is washed down the drainage so the humans don’t inhale it. Second, trees cool temperatures by providing shade and release water through photosynthesis which cools summer temperature by about 2-4 F. But tree plantation need to be properly planned. Trees can only clean and cool the air within a close radius of about 100 feet so cities officials need to consider it where they plant the trees.

Officials can maximize pollution reduction by planting trees according to the population density and air pollution spots. Government departments and NGOs use data from developed cities to create maps showing where planting trees will have the highest return on investment. Moreover, type of trees also matters in this regard. Some trees might work better than others like trees with larger and stickier leaves are more effective.

Many cities around the world are considering minimizing air pollution by planting trees. It can be more cost effective than other ways like converting public transportation to use less diesel fuel. However, cities in majority of the developing countries don’t think of trees as a public health resource which is unfortunate.

Trees are actually giant air filters. The sooner we start thinking of them that way the sooner the air we breathe might be cooler and cleaner in cities around the world.

Pakistan Engineering Council in Shambles

A visit to the PEC’s regional office in Peshawar presents a picture of an organization that is in complete disarray. Dozens of people surround an officer inquiring him about the status of their license. On the right side of the table, a phone in slow volume is continuously ringing. The officer, looking visibly irritated, tries to answer the queries of the equally irritated applicants of PEC licence.

“Tell him to call himself, I can’t tell you his license details”, the officer tells a person who says he has come all the way from Bannu just to know the status of their company’s PEC license.

“He called many times but no one picks up the phone”, says the person while looking at the phone which is still ringing incessantly.

There is no response from the officer. He can hardly handle the angry crowd of applicants in front of him. To answer the phone too, he would have to have super human powers.

At the same time, another person angrily says he is going to lose millions of rupees if PEC didnt speed up their process.

There is severe shortage of human resources in the Peshawar office. Out of the 28 sanctioned posts for the provincial office, 17 lie vacant. The entire office is run by five officers who are actually relevant for the job. The remaining five to six are class 4 employees.

“The head office in Islamabad has about 50 people who do not have much to do. We have requested them many times to at least temporarily transfer some of them here [Peshawar office] to offload this burden from us but no action has been taken”, said one officer on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk on this subject.

“They tell us they will hire people on the vacant posts but no one knows when that process will come to fruition”, he said.

“Even with five working staff, we have been able to process about 3000 licenses in the last three months against only 1500 that the Islamabad head office could issue in the same duration with their 50 staff”, further said the same source.

There is a big backlog due to the unavailability of staff. “Even Naib Qasids are used for data entry purposes at times”, said another officer who too requested not to be named.

However, shortage of staff is not the only problem. People from far flung areas of KP have to come all the way to Peshawar to find out the status of their license. A visit that could easily be avoided by maintaining a web based database  containing details about all applications and giving each applicant access to it.

“Creating a web-based system that can automate the whole registration and renewal process of PEC license for both engineers and firms will not take more than three months for an expert group of software developers”, said Waqas Shehzad, an IT specialist from Peshawar.

Though the current PEC chairman, Engr Javed Salim Qureshi, since taking his charge in 2015 has taken some steps in this regard, but the progress has been slow.

“The chairman faces a lot of obstacles from various groups in making the whole process online because then it will take away all the money they can make from the manual application process”, said a source in PEC’s islamabad head office who like the rest requested not to be named because he feared reprisal.

PTI vs PMLN vs PPP: Who would Pakistanis vote for in 2018 elections?

It’s an election year in Pakistan. In every democratic country, an election year tends to be the most busy year for political parties to gain public attention and increase their vote bank.

However, the upcoming 2018 election is expected to be the most hotly contested election in Pakistan’s history. The election result will determine whether Supreme Court’s decision against the ruling PMLN has any effect on voter’s mind.

PMLN insists any decision against them will have no effect on their loyal voters, and they’ll still win the 2018 election. PTI on the other hand believes a decision against PMLN will go in their favor and they’ll form the next government. Peoples Party is also hopeful to get a slice of the pie as a result of the unfavorable decision against PMLN.

Will people still vote for PMLN or will they choose the alternative Imran Khan led PTI instead? Will the PPP have any stack in government after 2018 elections?

We only chose these three parties because they’re the main parties having presence in all four provinces.

So what’s your decision going to be? Take part in VOJ’s poll.

Imran Khan gets 80% votes on a twitter poll by Naz Baloch

File photo of Naz Baloch.

A poll from a fake twitter profile of Naz Baloch recently asked followers to vote for their favorite leader. The poll had the names of PTI Chief Imran Khan, Maryam Nawaz Shareef, and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhuttto, whose party she recently joined.

The poll had some interesting results, Imran Khan received 81 percent votes from twitter users whereas Bilawal Bhutto 10 percent and Maryam Nawaz with 9 percent votes respectively. The result as of writing this article was based close to 13,000 twitter users opinion.

Khurram Sher Zaman, her former colleague from PTI, replied to her poll saying “check out the difference yourself”.

Naz Baloch quickly informed Khurram that the poll was posted from a fake ID. “Khurrum this is a fake twitter i.d. misusing my name”.

Khurrum this is a fake twitter i.d. misusing my name i.e. @NazBaioch_ (using capital ” i “), I have already reported @Twitter, Plz refrain! https://t.co/3mcdx9SNsi

— Naz Baloch (@NazBaloch_) July 22, 2017

To this a number of twitteratis snubbed her saying even if the account was fake, the poll results were undoubtedly real.

White House Website: Reason Why Pages Like LGBT were Removed

Recent Screenshot of the WhiteHouse.Gov Website
Recently, various media networks reported that soon after Trump’s inauguration, his administration took down pages related to Civil Rights, LGBT, Abortion, Climate Change and Spanish language content from the White House website. The news sent shockwaves among many who were already wary of President Trump’s various controversial pledges during his campaign.

However, contrary to the misleading reports, in fact every new administration is handed over a fresh version of White House website where they showcases their own policies. The old website is wiped clean with every new presidency.

The content of the old website are archived. For example all Obama-era material of the White House website have been archived and are available at Obama whitehouse.gov.

Similarly, the official twitter handle of the United State President @POTUS was also wiped clean and handed over to the new incoming president. At the time of this writing, there were only 19 tweets from President Trump.

All tweets of Barack Obama were archived at @POTUS44. The same was done to the twitter handle of the former first lady Michele Obama.

The aftermath Mosul liberation and confirmation of al-Baghdadi’s death

Since the day Daesh [Arabic acronym for ISIS] captured Mosul in June 2014, the group has defended the city by putting civilians as human shield and hiding in places like hospitals, schools and busy neighborhoods. Thousands of the Iraq’s displaced from Mosul have lost their loved ones or were injured on their way out as a result.

The liberation of Mosul comes at a time when Daesh has to deal with the death of their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed caliph of the Muslim world. According to latest reports, Daesh has confirmed the death of their leader.

What does the liberation of Mosul and the death of al-Baghdadi mean for the people of Iraq, Syria and more importantly ISIS itself?

Nothing much is left for the living in Mosul after the year-long heavy fighting between Iraqi forces and ISIS. The city has been destroyed into rubble. According to UN estimates, building the bare-minimum and most important infrastructure of the city will cost almost $1 billion.

While the defeat of ISIS is a good news, for many people of Mosul who bore the collateral damage of the war, reality presents a different picture.

They had to leave their homes and lose their loved ones while walking away from, what many termed as “a literal hell on earth”. Being ruled by ISIS, Mosul civilians have described a life of terror, with children killed for minor misdemeanors, public floggings and regular disappearances of people.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi arrived in Mosul on Sunday and congratulated Iraqi Army for taking the city from the Islamic State. The coalition celebrated with the ISF for retaking the city. However, security officials have warned that there still might be fighters hiding under the rubble and explosive devices left behind.

Now, they have to return to their home, a home of rubble. The biggest challenge to the Iraqi government and its partners will be rebuilding the city back from the ground up.

On the other hand, Islamic State is on the back foot on all fronts. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has also confirmed to Reuters that it has undeniable proof that the group’s leader al-Baghdadi is dead.

The confirmation of the death of ISIS leader is a major blow to the group that was already losing ground both in Iraq and Syria. With their leader now dead and losing Mosul, Daesh is now fighting for its last stronghold Raqqa, their de facto capital in Syria.

However, Raqqa too has been been surrounded by US-backed fighters and all routes in and out of the city have been blocked. The group is essentially now fighting for its survival.

While Iraq’s Army and its people celebrate the win over Mosul, the question remains as to how long will it take for the city to be livable again. More importantly, whether the al-Abadi’s government has any strategy to counter the resurgence of ISIS in future?