Kahkashan Khan Yousafzai

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Independence that needs to be Protected

During the decisive moments of the struggle of independence for all the Muslim community of the subcontinent from the hands of ruling elite of Britain and the overwhelming Hindus majority, founder Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah very rightly pointed “I have no illusions in the matter and let me say again that India is not a country nor a nation. It is a subcontinent made out of nationalities with Hindus and Muslims being the significant countries”.

Upon freedom from the British, the great pioneer set his objectives by saying, “I shall be guided by the standards of equity and reasonable play, with no preference or hostility, at the end of the day a nation free of prejudice or partiality. My leading guideline will be equity and complete absence of prejudice and I am certain that with your backing and collaboration, I can anticipate Pakistan getting to be one of the best Nations of the World”.

Pakistan became the first ideological Muslim state of the world created through high thought processes and devoted administration at its driving seat by the August 14, 1947. Unfortunately, the forefathers of the nation couldn’t proceed for a long and met the destiny sooner than expected. Quaid-e-Azam passed away in September 1948 following Liaquat Ali Khan in 1951. From that point, Pakistan, considered a gift from God by many, is helpless in the hands of non-serious and inept administration/leadership.

At present, the nation is confronting a frightful level of militancy from large groups hostile to state of Pakistan. In reality the assortment of these dangers has put the autonomy and independence of Pakistan state at stake. Attaining independence and the continuation of protecting that independence along the lines of freedom has turned into a challenge for the nation.

Keeping in mind the end goal to meet these difficulties, the nation would be required to work harder than what our progenitors did in accomplishing the sovereignty and independence for us in 1947. While breaking down the difficulties being confronted, and to ensure and defend the freedom, two striking parallels can be recognized: firstly; looking at the historical perspective, there was no framework and institutional setup in the recently autonomous state of Pakistan to start with, as everything was in the zones those turned out to be a piece of India.

What’s more, besides the present breakdown of the majority of institutions and organizations of Pakistan, the nations needs to re-orient these institutions , establish new frameworks for the organizations to work which are not the repetition of old frameworks but having essence of history with the capability of modern globalized world.

In the first place let us begin from the two obvious issues confronting the general public one next to the other. There is; the absence of equity at all level and exceptionally low proportion and low level standard of education. As very rightly, highlighted by the Quaid in his aforementioned passage of the discourse, dissent or delayed justice makes the greater part of the ills in the general public.

As indicated by a review, more than 80% violations in the general public are the consequence of immediate or indirect denial or postponement of justice. Without equity, the justice grieved individuals take the law in own their hands, along these lines advance savagery and “viciousness conceives brutality”. The component of savagery has a noteworthy commitment in the progressing militancy in Pakistan, which can be licensed to the non-accessibility of equity. At the political level, Pakistan is a nation where all its provinces have grievances against the Center/ administration or contrasts among each other, chiefly against the bigger one. This variable is significant obstacle in the national integration.

There is a prompt need to understand the slip-ups of past with the thought processes to amend them at three levels; attaining of the basic equity/justice at the level of social setup, attainment of justice through fair and legal way to each native and giving an equivalent treatment including honors and common shares to the provinces by the government. Such steps, would diminish the grievances of masses along with the provinces alike, therefore improving the national cohesion; an entryway for the preservation of the independence.

Asking for justice before education does not lessen its priority. While on the other hand, both are meant to be dealt simultaneously, per say, educations is the way out thus takes a leading role. Education is the essential media for mindfulness among the masses, without which every other part of a general public and a state would stop to exist. Indeed, even procurement of justice owes a ton to the quality education.

An informed lot of masses would better comprehend the cost of independence, in its actual viewpoint rather an uneducated bunch of people. For this reason, there is a need that legislature ought to guarantee steps like: one; a uniform arrangement of education through the nation with no separation. Two; educational framework must have components of patriotism, national interest and national coordination inbuilt in syllabus at all level.

Three; among the educated people, the best one ought to be chosen as instructors/ teachers, keeping merit with no political or bureaucratic impact. Four; strict implementation of obligatory education until matric by each youngster in the nation on down to earth terms as opposed to being written on a paper only. The educated youth would get inspiration by perusing the past history of Pakistan and penances made by our senior citizens for accomplishing the freedom, in this manner would attempt hard and fast endeavors to protect it for their own future.

On the short terms basis , there is a need that administration , the chosen delegates at federal and province level or more every one of the media ought to dispatch a gigantic battle for making education compulsory among the general masses, highlighting the noteworthiness of the independence. The young students which are receiving higher education can be assembled in the campaign for quick and durable results. The masses are instructed of the conspiracies being sprung up against the uprightness of Pakistan both inside and also over the fringes.

Independence is a gift, accordingly should be regarded. Today Pakistan is at the cross roads of its history. The country has dependably remained firm in-front of the circumstances dated as far back as the first ideological Islamic state appeared in August 1947. The present difficulties confronting the nation as militancy and danger to its essential philosophy are to be managed on different fronts by each Pakistani. We need to recognize the main drivers and afterward address them completely. Great administration, mindfulness through education, fair-minded equity and tending to the fundamental needs have denied masses would pay rich a profit in such manner.

Pakistan: A People’s Republic or An Islamic Republic?

Yesterday, on Saturday, July 30th 2016, I got an opportunity to become part of a thought-provoking conference in Hyderabad, the second largest city in Sindh. The conference was titled as Interfaith Youth Dialogue and Festival, arranged by a young social activist and past Pak-US exchange alumni, Dr. Rajesh Kumar. The session was led by some of the prominent personalities in the Sindh covering intellectuals, mystic poets, human right activists and academia.

The conference put lights on many important issues of religious intolerance and religious supremacy prevailing in the Sindh and Pakistan, in general.

During the conference, by listening to the panelists and with my own thought pattern, I summarized some of my thoughts on the issues and what I think we can do to curb them.

Here is a conflict now. If you pick a currency coin or any bill in Pakistan, it says the name of our country as “Islamic Republic of Pakistan”. This causes an inherent flaw in our so called democratic form of the government. The constitution of Pakistan which regards Islam as an official religion of the state portrays an inherent religious supremacy of one religion over all affairs of the state and other religions. The truth is that, a state has no religion. If I say it more clearly then I would say, the state is not run by any belief system.

It must be neutral from any particular belief system. The state can’t even be an atheist because that would still be treated as a belief system in where actually you don’t believe, actually. So a true democratic state would keep religion and the state affairs as two separate things. The problem in Pakistan and the reason why we are lacking behind in our collective social and moral uplift is that we have often seen state affairs with the lens of religious affairs. How can a country where people from other faiths are living and contributing their part since centuries can make sure that they own the state and buy into the decisions it imposes on them?

In Pakistan, a Hindu, a Christian, a Buddhist or any other faith in minority can’t run for the high level public offices like Presidency, Prime Ministership or Chief of Army Staff. How can we regard Pakistan as a democratic state where one faith is regarded as only doctrine by which everything will be measured? The same constitution also proclaims to provide equal rights to the every citizen of Pakistan. This shows the double standards or ignorance of the public policy makers. Some of the people take pride while quoting that Pakistan is the only country in the world which was created on the name of Islam.

Are you trying to say, that all other religious groups are like unattended sheep in a jungle. Let it be clear that I am not against any religion of the world. I respect and in fact I follow every religion. Because, I see every religion as a teaching guide to live a prosperous and successful life. What I don’t like is narrow-mindedness of people in power who fail to understand that other faiths who are in minorities also regard themselves as Pakistanis. I am a Pakistani. FULL STOP. That should suffice for the state to get me qualified for the basic rights.

Every successful society has always been an interdependent society where people from different faiths are interdependent on each others’ skills and talents. I am dependent on a superstore to buy my groceries and the store is dependent on me to earn its business. So in the same way, every citizen of a society carries different identities with him/her self. Some are businessmen, doctors or engineers and some are artists or musicians.

The idea is to channelize these various identities and talents each participant of society has to offer to do collective good for the society and not to materialize the differences of individual religions or backgrounds and create an environment of a jungle where might is always right and everybody else is just there to exist on its own.

The term “minority” itself gives a fall sense of state. Where there is a minority, there also has to exist a majority. Like I said earlier, in a true democratic form of government, there is not such a term of minority or majority as everybody has equal rights and equally accountable before rule of law. In a state’s dictionary, these both terms should be deleted permanently as it will always create a division of rights and responsibilities.

The term “Secularism” is often misinterpreted in Pakistan as something which creates a perception of a religion-less society where people don’t follow their faiths. It is a very wrong interpretation. Secularism is the concept of the same principle I have been saying in upper part of this write-up which is simply to keep the government and its institutions separate from any religion and religious institutions. In my view, religion is a very personal dogma. It should always be between me and my Creator. Let it not become a public affair and let it always be a private thing.

So where are we heading now? It has been almost 70 years since we got free from British colonialism. 70 years was so enough and too much time for us to make Pakistan a prosperous and a true democratic society. But due to many political and religious conflicts we have been put into by various political leaders in the past, this is very unfortunate that we are still talking about the issues of education, health, poverty, infrastructure and religious intolerance. There are many examples of countries in front of us who took the different path and turned around their economies and social fabric of their societies in a few decades.

In summary, what I learned from my observations in yesterday’s conference and especially after spending a wonderful time in the United States and seeing the level of religious intolerance there, I can say that as a society we have to fight with our own moral corruption first before fighting with the corruption in the government institutions. Our collective level of morality has become so low that we can’t tolerate people from other faiths and still we are fine with the economic corruption. It is a need of the hour that we start becoming responsible for our own blunders.

I can tell you that this is much harder to fight with than any other type of corruption. It is like, we who have to change before changing our politics. The crime and corruption is inside us. Don’t find them inside political dorms. It is the time we revive the beautiful history of Sindh which was famous for its high caliber of hospitality and religious tolerance.

Let’s imagine and work towards for a Pakistan where we all live together with peace and harmony, where people don’t take religion as a point of fight but a point to think, understand and respect. Where our children are not educated to fight with other religions or to make them feel like all other religions are wrong and have no right to live. Instead, we should teach them to respect and understand every religion and to capitalize on the points which are similar to their own religion while still respecting the differences.

Pakistan Zindabad!

Women Continue to Suffer in a Women-Dominated World

Despite being half the population, women are still underrepresented in politics. They lag substantially behind men when it comes to their representation in leadership positions throughout the world. However, the situation has improved to some extent in the recent past. Last month, Theresa May became the leader of the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom and the country’s second female prime minister in history; both elected during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, the longest serving monarch in modern history. At the same time in the United States of America, Hillary Clinton is leading over Donald Trump in national polls, according to different surveys. While Germany is currently led by a strong female leader, Angela Merkel, since 2005.

Women are serving as Presidents or Prime Ministers in several others developed and developing countries like Croatia, Chile, Malta, Mauritius, Nepal, Taiwan, Austria (where Doris Bures is acting Co-president), Bangladesh, the Bahamas, Grenada, Namibia, and New Zealand. Moreover, some of the prominent positions in International organizations are occupied by women, such as the current CEO of the International Monetary Fund (Christine Lagarde).

From the last 15 years, 33% of the parliamentarians in Pakistan have been women. It is clear from the aforementioned facts that the number of women in influential positions has substantially increased in the recent years and it would be logical to expect that these influential women would make it a priority to ease the lives of the other women in their countries. It is unfortunately not what has happened.

Pay equality is still a problem in every developed country, education is still not an option for many and violent crimes against women have increased. The question must be asked, “Are these influential women not doing enough to make a positive impact or despite being influential, they are helpless in the face of male chauvinism?”

The United Nations General Assembly Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, written in 1993, provided a comprehensive framework for action on the pandemic of violence but even after 23 years, 1 in 3 women still experience a physical or sexual attack. In majority of these cases, the aggressor is an intimate partner or acquaintance of the victim. Violence against women is often considered as a developing country problem.

The statistics from most of the developed countries show a more disturbing picture. A European Union survey conducted by United Nations in 2014 showed that 43% of women living in the 28 European Union Member States have experienced some form of psychological violence in their lifetime. This number has risen substantially in recent years.

Germany’s ‘Iron Lady’ Angela Merkel, has often been reluctant to support women’s rights until last year’s G7 summit in Germany when she called finally called for gender equality at work. During her decade long rule, German Chancellor had not made any solid efforts for women’s rights.

It seems instead she has followed in the footsteps of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in this regard. Thatcher had no time for the feminist movement and has negated the argument that she had any responsibility to promote women within Government. This is quite obvious when in 11 years of serving the country, she has promoted only one woman to her cabinet.

What we see of the conditions in developing countries is not very different. Bangladesh has been ruled by two female prime ministers for more than two decades. Sheikh Hasina, is currently ruling the country for the last 7 years. Despite this, violation of women’s rights and violence against women is shockingly common across the country. Dowry killings, rape, sexual harassment and stalking, acid attacks, physical and mental abuse and sex trafficking are the major issues faced by the mothers, daughters and sisters of every class on a regular basis.

Despite being ruled by a strong woman, gender based violence is on the rise in the country to the point that of every 3 women, 2 will be victims. In 2004, there were 2,981 cases of dowry related violence; women were beaten or killed because their parents failed to pay the dowry that had been requested. This number rose to 4,563 cases in 2012. In India and Pakistan, it is the same story.

Sexual violence against women is on the rise in India, where rape is officially reported every 15 minutes and several thousands are unreported every year because 98% of the rapist’ are known to the woman and her family. Every year there are thousands of murders, “honor killings”, simply because someone decided murder is a response to being offended. All while 33% of the members of parliament in Pakistan, since 2002, are themselves women. That means, by Pakistan’s own data and numbers, 22% of parliament has been beaten or raped and still will not try to protect others.

These examples clearly show the fact that electing women to high positions will not guarantee equal rights for all women. Margaret Thatcher cannot be seen as a warrior in the fight for women’s right, nor can Angela Merkel be seen as the ultimate women’s libber. History tells us that women have not always been good for other women due to the simple fact that the gender of a person matters a lot less than that person’s beliefs. So the question is, will women continue to suffer even in a women dominated world? Apparently yes.

One obvious reason for the state of affairs is that women leaders do not want to focus too much on women’s issues because they fear that they will be seen as weak and emotional feminist by their male counterparts. As a result they do less than a man in the same position. Many who have been victims are reluctant to mention the issues because of social stigmas and not wanting to draw attention to that part of their own lives. There is also an attitude of complacency, that when a woman reaches a higher position; it is easy for people to say the problems have been solved. We get a woman leader and quit there.

Women are 51% of the world’s total population which means they are not a statistical minority. They are instead considered a minority because they do not share the same privileges, rights, opportunities and legal protection as men. Although some women have reached a high enough position where they could make a significant impact, they have not lived up to the expectations.

There is still hope for the future as the world is becoming more connected than ever before, awareness among the people regarding women’s rights is on the rise and rapid political change is happening around the world. Prime Minister Theresa May has already appointed six women in her cabinet which is a good omen for women’s prospects at least in Britain.

Hopefully all the influential women will strive to change the history of females in politics and use their roles effectively in the efforts to eliminate violence against women. Every human being, man or woman deserves to live the peaceful and safe life we would want for our own family.

The Tharparker of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

After reading the title you might be wondering, what could be the rationale behind placing Tharparkar at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. You will be stuck the same way as I got while reading article written by G.M Arif, Joint director at Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, titled “Poverty Profile of Pakistan”. Shockingly, Mr. Arif ranked Lakki Marwat below Tharparker in poverty ranking. His analysis placed Lakki Marwat in the category of EXTREMELY POOR District.

My reason for worry is not the poverty ranking of Lakki Marwat but the consistant reluctance of government, donor agencies and NGO’s for acknowledging what the top notch academic institute on Economic development has concluded. Lakki Marwat is never acknowledged as deprived district. My question is whether the government and other stakeholders are waiting for the time when deprivation will be converted into hostility?

After reading the article, I started thinking like an economist and looked for ways out to steer the area out of this grave situation. My creative sense identified four of them which were growth in agriculture, education, entrepreneurship and most importantly, the external assistance.

Lets start with possibilities of growth in agriculture. Due to shortage of water, majority of the area in Lakki Marwat is dry and arid. The only source of irrigation was Baraan Dam and after the closure of the dam, desertification of the area is on the rise. After downfall of agriculture, cutting down trees and selling them for livelihood became a hobby of poor people in the area for a long time.

Thousands of trees were cut down, leaving the district at risk of natural calamities. Poor people of area have started migrating to other areas of the country for earning livelihood. Mostly well off families have migrated permanently to big cities with no intention of coming back. This has led to shortage of skilled worker, good doctors, educated teachers in area, pushing district into vicious circle of poverty.

My second hope of breaking this vicious circle of poverty is Education in Lakki Marwat. My hope started fading out when I saw the literacy rate at mere 29.7 % in the district. It clearly reflects that Lakki Marwat lies in the category of third world in education sector of Pakistan. It will take three times extra efforts to bring the district to the same level as other districts of KP and Pakistan.

While searching for some statistics, I found some very shocking figures. There is only one higher secondary school for girls in the district compared to 11 schools in each of the neighboring district of D.I.Khan and Bannu.The number of high schools for girls are almost half the number in the neighboring districts of Bannu and D.I.Khan. The reason behind such stark difference in the existence of female educational facilities is beyond my understanding.

I remember many position holders of my class at primary school dropped out of school after matriculation due to lack of resources to finance their higher education. Acquiring higher education is a challenge for poor people of Lakki Marwat. The only hope in the shape of establishing University at Lakki Marwat has become a political card in hands of political parties, used only to just get votes from people.

The situation of health sector is also alarming. According to Southern Area Development Project’s assessment report, the population per doctor in Lakki Marwat is 19,211 compared to 6,217 in D.I.Khan and 7, 696 in Tank. Deprivation under this indicator is almost three times as high as compared to neighboring districts.

Being an economist, I consider this as an acute deprivation. Number of dispensaries in Lakki Marwat is four compared to 26 in D.I.Khan and 22 in Bannu. This indicator on health facilities reflects that Lakki Marwat is deprived more than five times compared to other districts of the area. Due to lack of these facilities maternal deaths are on the rise in the district.

In the context of poor geographical conditions, improvement in human capital which seemed to be the only hope of breaking vicious circle of poverty, shattered to see the statistics of health and education.

As far as entrepreneurship and employment opportunities within the district are concerned, there are very limited opportunities in the district. The economy of the area is pastoral where agricultural activities in the area are no more than a gambling. With no irrigation facilities agricultural output is only rain dependent. The only source of employment for poor people of the areas is to work as non-skilled laborer in construction industry.

About 24 percent labor force is employed as migrant workers in Gulf countries while other 30 percent are employed in other provinces with in Pakistan. According SADP report there exist 20 industrial units out of which only 14 are running. Lucky Cement factory is a largest industrial unit with 25000 tons per day of dry cements. But these units failed to attract sizable quantity of local labor force. According to local employees of the factory, majority of the managerial and other position are held by labor force of other provinces.

Another alarming fact is that general public has no knowledge of royalty fund from annual production of 7.75 million tons of cement and 8697 metric tons of limestone from Sheikh Badeen. This fund can be used to boost entrepreneurial activities in the area.

In the absence all the above mentioned economic factors, foreign economic assistance in shape of foreign funded projects or development activities of Non Government Organizations (NGO’s) holds critical importance. But the reality is that except DFID funded Aawaz program and World Bank funded SADP program I see no big donor working in the district.

Working in development sector I have seen many of the development programs implemented in surrounding areas of Tank, D.I.Khan and Bannu are ignoring Lakki Marwat. The recent new updates in this area is that government of KP is establishing economic zones at all the surrounding district of Bannu, Karak, Kohat , D.I.Khan, except Lakki Marwat. “Now it’s the time to throw out Lakki Marwat from Pakistan’s map” this is what the professional marwats reacted on social media to the advertisement of economics zones.

The time has come to realize and acknowledge that the district has been ignored since very long. The sense of deprivation is reflected in the posts of various associations on social media. If proper attention is not given to address the deprivation, the district will become a hub for drug smuggling and crimes. There is a need to focus on already approved projects of Kuram Tangi Dam and University for Lakki Marwat.

A serious attention is needed to improve entrepreneurial eco system, as the locals of the area holds entrepreneurial spirit. Expansion of markets and business activity at Gambila and Ghazni khel without support from government is reflection of the spirit. Information regarding utilization of royalty fund, need to be published for better social accountability and proper utilization. With proper attention and management Lakki Marwat can be saved from absolute and relative poverty both.