Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer is often referred to as the butcher of Amritsar who opened indiscriminate firing on the crowd at Jallianwala Bagh in 1919, killing hundreds of peaceful protestors. Nearly a century later, when we have evolved into an independent country governed by Muslim leaders, his ghost lives on. In the recent barbaric incident of State brutality, the Punjab police opened fire on the workers of Dr Tahirul Qadri resulting in the death of eleven innocent civilians and over eighty others injured. The dead included two women as well, one of them pregnant. TV footages revealed how the government machinery was used to manhandle and torture unarmed protestors. Seasoned PML-N politicians like Khawaja Saad Rafique seemed borderline apologetic, trying to divert the blame from the government and reminding the nation how dozens are killed in Karachi allegedly under the supervision of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, too, had everything but remorse in his statements. Are we expected to be numb to this? Why not move on with life? After all, eleven is not a huge death toll in a country like Pakistan. We have witnessed many such atrocities over the years; the cruelty during Musharraf’s era as well as the tyranny during Zia’s time. But one wonders if there is any difference between the dictatorial regimes and the so-called champions of democracy. Right when people tend to forget the bond of love between Nawaz Sharif and Ziaul Haq, forgive PML-N for storming the Supreme Court in 1997, and believe that they have moved on from the politics of vengeance, they start showing us harsh glimpses of the past. The political motives of Dr Tahirul Qadri may be dubious; however, it does not give a green-signal to the government to slaughter its opponents. Shahbaz Sharif, who himself led multiple protests during the previous government, now seems to abhor his opponents when they do the same. While many die in Pakistan at the hands of non-state actors, this particular incident holds significance for a number of reasons. One, the government machinery was used to directly fire at unarmed civilians. Two, this happened under the nose of the vigilant Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, who claims to be the ‘Khadim-e-Aala’. Three, this was a clear violation of Article 9 of the constitution that makes it binding on the government to protect the life and liberty of people. Four, those who should have owned responsibility, were seen tossing around the blame. Five, PML-N leaders were the frontrunners in chanting slogans of justice and democracy before the elections. Six, this depicts the autocratic mindset of our rulers. As we stand in the midst of an ongoing military operation and threats to internal security loom over us, the political forces need to be united. However, the government has fuelled an already turbulent political environment, thereby giving a reason to its opponents to exploit. This incident also reiterates the menace of politicised bureaucracy especially the police department. It draws our attention to how the administrative machinery is unlawfully used by the ruling parties for their personal interests. One is left awestruck at the ironic state of our police, which often fails to protect those who are to be protected and supports those who are to be incarcerated, that too intentionally. The epitome of this attitude was seen during the recent Lahore tragedy when the now famous ‘Gullu Butt’ went on a rampage and vandalised public property under the tutelage of police. The same police failed to protect him from the torture of the public when he was brought to appear before a local court. This episode also highlights the rampant culture of vigilante justice in our society. The Lal Masjid saga, the street lynching of the two brothers in Sialkot, the frequent cases of honour killings, as well as the recent ‘Gullu Butt’ incident all have a common denominator. As every other civilised nation, should we not restrain from taking the law in our hands? Should we not have faith in our police and judicial system? But then are we a civilized nation at all? And who are we to trust when our law makers and law enforcers reveal their deceitful faces time and again? As much as we adore democracy, it is largely an intangible concept and cannot provide bliss to the people unless practiced in letter and spirit. Dyer’s mentality and democracy cannot go hand-in-hand. General Dyer remains a symbol of brutality, dictatorship, and intolerance. Sadly, his ghost thrives among us to this day. We have seen Dyer in the form of military dictators who played havoc with the civilians. We have seen him in our political leaders, dressed in a cloak of democracy, plundering our nation at will. We have seen him in the politicised bureaucrats who dance at the unlawful orders of their godfathers. And we have also seen him in the common man who kills in the name of religion. Will we ever learn from our past, bury this attitude, and progress on the path of democracy? To me, ‘Khadim-e-Aalaa’ was the last person to be possessed by the ghost of Dyer. I remember the verses of Habib Jalib that he zealously used to recite before elections.

“Tum ne loota hai sadiyon humara sukoon Ab na hum pe chale ga tumhara fusoon Chaaragar mai tumhein kis terhaan se kahoon Tum nahi chaaragar, koi mane magar, mai nahi maanta mai nahi jaanta”

‘Allama doctor Tahirul Qadri Canadian’ For many, the word ‘Canadian’ might seem unpleasant here, but I am sure no one will object to the word ‘Allama’. That is how Pakistanis are; they only see what they like. However, who am I to conceal that fact? Everyone knows that Qadri has a dual nationality. Therefore, the word Canadian does not sting as much. Two years ago, 50% of Pakistanis – nay, 80% of Pakistanis – were not familiar with the term ‘Revolution Baba’. But suddenly, on the bright and sunny morning of January 14, 2013, Qadri became famous; not only in Pakistan but across the world. Even though his claim, ‘come thunder or storm we will not leave Islamabad till revolution is achieved’, was new and appealing to the masses, he was right... well to a certain extent; there was no thunder but it rained and D-Chowk was ‘stormed’ by his supporters. For four days continuously, from January 14 to January 17, 2013, day in and day out, from every nook and corner, all we heard was the echo of ‘Revolution Baba’. There came a point at which I could hear the chants in my dreams! Finally, on January 17, 2013, after negotiating with a 10-member government team, Qadri finally came out from his bulletproof container and ended his protest. In my opinion, unless a politician actually sits amongst the people and feels the pain and torture, he cannot understand their feelings or sorrows. On D-Chowk, the way older people, men, women and even babies were being tortured day and night, any man with a heart would have felt their pain. People were shivering in the rain and sitting under the scorching sun, just to respond to the voice of their leader. This leader, on the other hand, was not only resting, day and night, in a comfortable container but was also preparing to turn D-Chowk into a war-zone through his provocative speeches. At this point, I would thank the government because, somehow, they managed to settle matters with him. Had the negotiation not taken place, this would have gone down in history as the ‘D-Chowk incident’, just like the ‘Lahore incident’ that took place a few days ago. I don’t think much is needed to be said about the Lahore incident; be it the dead or injured people, Gullu Butt, Shahbaz Sharif’s statements, Rana Sanaullah’s resignation, political analysis or the judicial commission; everything has been said and done. Everyone knows what happened, who said what and what the end result was. Even the verdict of the Minhajul Quran workers going against their leader – who never wanted them to fight (apparently) is known to and has been witnessed by all. Eventually, after much hue and cry, Dr Qadri finally made it to Pakistan. For the past three days, our media has been glorifying his name, day and night. It is quite evident that the ‘biggest’ problem our country faces at the moment is its infatuation with a ‘revolution’. I don’t know why people are complaining and crying over electricity, load shedding, gas, poverty, unemployment, education and health problems when that really isn’t the ‘biggest’ problem. I don’t even understand why our politicians create mountains of molehills when they talk about things like election rigging, corruption and fair distribution of resources. We have been listening to these problems for a few years now, but today I realised that the ‘dire need’ for a revolution is Pakistan’s biggest problem. During this media coverage that Qadri received, the one thing that was missing was the tag of paid content on the corner of the screen. The way he was being advertised, one would think that Qadri had bought slots on these media channels for coverage. For the majority part of the day, all that was being shown on TV was the situation from inside the plane, one which Qadri had refused to exit due to fear for his life, and frankly speaking, I am quite sick and tired of the entire façade. Our nation has never invested so much time and effort on the timing of flights as they have done so in the past few hours. Pervaiz Rashid was right when he said that the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) activists have hijacked the plane. It is the government’s responsibility to take Qadri home safely and explain to him that the plane was diverted because of Qadri’s security. He further said that Qadri is a civilian, just an ordinary man like Sheikh Rasheed and Imran Khan, and therefore, he is free to go anywhere. Instead, Dr Qadri turned this into a hostage situation and forced by circumstances, Emirates had no choice but to request the authorities to evacuate the plane and let it continue with its scheduled flight plan. Qadri, meanwhile had distastefully, and rather immaturely, demanded that he will not exit the aircraft until an Army office escorted him out. Really, Dr Qadri? Is this the importance you give to soldiers of our Army? This may come as a surprise to you, and I am sorry to burst your bubble, but our Army was not built to move around as security protocol for politicians! With an operation underway, you would think he would have been sensitive to the situation. Unfortunately, I think I expected too much of him. Sir, allow me to clarify, chanting ‘revolution, revolution’ a multiple amount of times will not bring about a revolution. To become a good leader, you have to put in years of honest work, live a life of hardships (in the country, might I add) to understand your people first. Read the original Urdu version of this blog here.

It’s a small village in Punjab. Two men begin fighting over a few thousand rupees and what seems to be an electricity wire. One of the men has a 10-year-old son who does the unthinkable – he goes to take a bath in the enemy’s tube well. The landlord/owner cannot stand this injustice. He beats the boy and pours hot water on him. The little boy runs and hides in the fields but the landlord seeks him out again. This time, he ties him up with a rope and cuts his arms off with a thresher. Did I just narrate to you the latest plotline of an upcoming novel? Did I just recall an impossible event taking place in the world where we talk about children being precious and protecting them at all costs? Did I just hear you scoff in disbelief, assuming something like this could never be real or take place? Well, I hate to break it to you but this story is as real as it gets. This is a village called Chak Bhawala in Gujrat, Pakistan. The abovementioned men are named Ghulam Mustafa and Nasir Iqbal. And the little boy, who now has no arms because he is surrounded by maniacs, is called Tabassum. [embed width="620"]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x223pcc_dunya-news-i-did-not-do-it-intentionally-and-it-was-mistake_news[/embed] The Punjab Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, has taken notice of the incident and has dismissed the area SHO, ASP, DSP and the medical superintendent of the hospital for failure to take notice. While his attention and action is commendable, one must ask him if he is aware of the countless other inhumane injustices being conducted against children throughout the province. One must also ask him if he has any idea what child welfare societies are supposed to be doing in this case. [embed width="620"]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x223a85_dunya-news-gujrat-incident-cm-punjab-slams-police-officials-on-negligence-in-action_news[/embed] Most importantly, one must also speculate if Mr Shahbaz has the answer to the inevitable question – what is going to happen to Tabassum and his future? He was the target of a mad man’s rage, at the receiving end of a stupid feud and now he has to spend the rest of his life as a handicapped individual. Will he be able to attend school, get a job, earn a livelihood or partake in any physical activity? What will happen to this little boy whose only fault was that he was a child trying to beat the summer heat and got caught in a mess that had nothing to do with him. Crimes against children are a serious issue and the government of Pakistan must take it as one before perpetrators keep getting off on technicalities such as in the case of Tabassum. There are over 15 NGOs in Pakistan that are working towards protecting the rights of children but none of them seem to have the outreach or resources to stop these crimes from happening. In a small village in Punjab, the only possible outreach that can make protection of children possible is the law itself. So far, the headways made in doing so are few and minimal. Children are defenceless and vulnerable targets, and therefore require protection all the time. Their futures are still far ahead of them. Civilised societies make it a point to establish a clear and thoroughly defined justice system when it comes to protecting its weakest and most susceptible part. Such heinous crimes deserve life imprisonment at the very least. Yet, I have a heart sinking feeling that this immoral delinquent will soon be enjoying freedom, despite his criminal and despicable offense.

First, a few observations on the new narrative being constructed about rigging; specifically the ‘election tribunals’ argument made famous by who appears to be Fakhruddin Ibrahim’s son. While many went gaga over it yesterday, this ‘view’ has been here for a month now. I first read it in a Dawn column at the start of last month, and in the Five Rupees blog the next day. Since then it has been furiously parroted by at least one PML-N guy on TV; the new Punjab law minister. The argument basically is that the election tribunals are working fine, with 78% of the petitions disposed off already. ‘Already’ and ‘fine’ here are obviously relative to which side of the political divide you belong to. The tribunals are supposed to conduct hearings day-to-day and under no circumstances grant an adjournment of more than seven days. They broke the law and granted adjournments of more than seven days on 2393 occasions. And ‘already’ it is almost a year after the stipulated time period for settling the petitions, with the new assemblies having served 25% of their term, and the process isn’t done yet. Next will be the appeals in the Supreme Court. More importantly, the disposal of these petitions doesn’t have as much bearing on settling the rigging issue as you would think. That has to do more with the manner of their disposal. Consider that 26 petitions never made it to tribunals, 28 were withdrawn and 22 dismissed due to non-prosecution. By far, the largest number was that 126 were dismissed on technical grounds (these include some of MQM’s wonders in Karachi), and 30 were dismissed due to ‘unknown reasons’ (Free and Fair Election Network - FAFEN tried and failed to obtain copy of orders). Moreover, petitions which went into full trial and couldn’t be proved stand at 62. Petitions accepted stands at 24, with the most number of de-seated MPs belonging to the PML-N at 10. 62 by 24 is a pretty serious ratio. Make that 62 by 25 after another MP; again from the PML-N, was de-seated on allegations of rigging in PP-97 Gujranwala. Additionally, even the petitions that went into full trial and couldn’t be proved include many where influential government figures held sway and recounts or vote verifications were never carried out. Which brings us to NA 110; Khuwaja Asif’s victory here was challenged by the PTI, as one of four constituencies where they demanded recount and vote verification. Video evidence of PML-N polling agents stuffing ballots is below: [embed width="620"]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xzy53q_massive-rigging-in-sialkot-na-110-by-khawaja-asif_shortfilms[/embed] Vote verification was never carried out. Instead, as Mr Ibrahim pointed, the tribunal found that the petitioner was non-serious. This example was also quoted in the initial Five Rupees blog, which sourced the two pages of the verdict from a defence.pk forum. Also available on the forum was the version of the petitioner, which has been ignored by both the initial blog and the recent article. The petitioner claimed that he had in fact attended all hearings but the court did not grant the request for vote verification. Later, when he travelled abroad with the consent of the tribunal; a hearing was set in his absence and he was declared absent and disinterested in the said hearing. So while vote verification, or even a recount, never took place, the official record for this petition will read:

“Not proved in trial”.

“Were taken over by PTI women.”

Those alluring eyes and that almost shy, sheepish smile; a self-assured gait of a true sportsman; a naive idealism that one can disagree with but is charming nonetheless. Add to it that tinge of genuine humanity and a good heart that the world has seen in his philanthropy and an overall drop-dead gorgeous personality despite the wrinkles that give away his age. Imran Khan Niazi, even at age 60 plus and a divorce later, is considered one of the most eligible bachelors alive. May be that is why the news that he is under pressure from his family to remarry made front page news. Across the border, Indian tabloids are also animatedly talking about whether ‘The Khan’ is ready to bite the dust yet again. The Twitterati, of course, are feverishly hash-tagging the guy once again who has bigger issues to worry about, particularly right now with August 14 days away. Yet, the obsession with the eternal hunk’s marital status and romantic liaisons (or their absence) seems related also to a dirty culture of mudslinging fuelled by political agendas. While Imran has paid a price for his ‘popularity’ since his cricket days, he is not the only politician who has come under attack of political opponents who believe in tabloid tactics. Back in the day, Benazir Bhutto’s pictures with friends, in modern attire, from her Oxford University days were plastered all over Karachi as a part of a campaign to smear her name. In true dynastic tradition, the young Bilawal Bhutto Zardari suffered the same fate. Imran’s first marriage to Jemima Khan, in fact, also suffered due to constant paparazzi attention, calling that woman of substance a ‘Yahoodi ki beti’ among other choicest titles. What I truly respected was how the couple parted ways. He never badmouthed his ex-wife and in fact took the blame on himself, if at all there was anyone to blame. But then, it is not just limited to character assassination. A photograph allegedly from Imran’s visit to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Bannu, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) in early Ramadan in July made rounds on social media. The picture showed him drinking a glass of water, with the glass circled in read, and fascinating cheesy captions implying him to be a bad Muslim, and thus a villain who could never do anything good. https://twitter.com/UmairSZaidi/status/489032259463172096 The picture from Bannu had credibility issues in any case. It was released many days before the date mentioned on the lower left side of the photograph. With fame of any kind, one’s private life does come under the spotlight. But a line has to be drawn. While we, the awam, don’t necessarily cook up these stories, masses have been known to let their opinions and votes sway as a result of rumours. But in all honesty, more than being an interesting bit of information about a politician, what difference does Imran getting married make to our lives? It didn’t make a difference what Pervez Musharraf or Asif Ali Zardari or Shahbaz Sharif did in their private lives or how many times they married or who they were seeing. All we knew about them were ‘unconfirmed reports’ which didn’t matter. What mattered was whether they made a difference to the country or not; whether they served the nation or not. If Imran marries, good for him. And I wish the national hero all the happiness in the world. If not, it’s his life. As a Pakistani, my concern and prayer is that he is able to contribute to the betterment and progress of a nation that needs hope and inspiration. The rest is not my business.

In the latest political upheaval to rock the country, all those involved may appear to be at complete odds but retain one salient feature that unites them all. The government, by the virtue of their status, espouse patriotism which is reflected in an unflinching dedication to democracy on the part of the Sharif brothers; the opposition under the tutelage of Imran Khan continues its elongated quest to reform the electoral process through a long march to the capital under the camouflage of patriotism; and the Canadian chameleon Tahirul Qadri (TuQ) invokes patriotism in his fiery rhetoric to establish the true force of democracy in Pakistan. They all claim to be patriots and beacons of democratic vision. They are all anything but. It is difficult to ascertain whether it is insecurity or ineptitude that has caused the PML-N hierarchy into bringing large swathes of Punjab to standstill with roads blocked with containers, restrictions on petrol distribution, heightened police presence and a general inability to understand a basic tenet of a democracy – the right to freedom of expression and speech. A sombre occasion in Lahore (Youm-e-Shuhada) and a politically charged concert (Azadi march) in Islamabad posed no real threat to a government that enjoys what it loves to remind us as ‘the mandate of the people’. This level of paranoia is surely not the way of the ‘lion’. PML-N has shed its coat and under the façade appears to be a scared little cat rather than a roaring beast. Giving his Aitchison College moto, ‘perseverance commands success’, a whole new meaning is the soon to be ratified by Guinness book of world records, Imran Khan for inducing the longest natural disaster ever recorded. Whilst the only tumultuous event the PTI tsunami has caused thus far is the captain’s untimely slip, there appear no plans to rebrand the tsunami into a regular monsoon shower. With the Pakistan Army currently embroiled in a war in North Waziristan, Imran can no longer tolerate the injustice of May 2013’s rigged elections. His patience wears thin as does his sense of timing and occasion. This champion of democracy now resorts to a revolution instead of presenting an elections reform bill in parliament. His supporters claim he has been following procedure for the last year or so, yet in the very next breath point out that there’s no point bringing about a reform bill as it will never get implemented like the magnetic ink scandal; so much for procedure and democratic principles. A congregation of a million people in the open during a time of war doesn’t come across as the smartest or most patriotic move. Finally, the self-proclaimed harbinger of democratic rule, a man vested with the burden of a grand total of zero seats in the parliament and a man who isn’t prepared to revoke his Canadian citizenship, will join hands with Imran in an attempt to forcibly remove the government – democratic principles be damned. Our esteemed Tahirul Qadri may not have the mandate of the people but has made sure his adherents are equipped with gas masks, bullet proof vests, laathis and even tear gas. How they acquired this equipment on such short notice is alarming. Exactly what sort of democratic principles can a person whose hypocrisy (vis-à-vis blasphemy laws) bring? This brand of patriotism isn’t interested in democracy, logic or reasoning; it is interested in free airtime to quench its thirst for attention. Qadri wants a revolution and has ordained that all those joining his march to the capital will receive the same blessings as those bestowed upon the pious during Lailat al-Qadr – if that isn’t blasphemy, what is? Last time this neck of the woods went down the revolution route, 1857 happened. Together, the three stooges inadvertently conspire to put on an unprecedented show of lunacy to turn the most patriotic of days into a farce. Perhaps they realise that Pakistan’s independence only really took place on August 15, 1947 and not on August 14 as we are led to believe. The Pakistani trait to not let facts come in the way of a good story as Hamid Mir demonstrated by declaring the 2013 elections as the most blatantly rigged elections in Pakistan’s history. Apparently, the bullet that lodged in his abdomen conveniently erased Mir’s memory of how the aftermath of the country’s first elections culminated in the loss of East Pakistan. It also erased the memory of Ziaul Haq and Pervez Musharraf’s comedic referendums. As Pakistan approaches its 68^th year of existence, cajoling 200 million in its motherly embrace, it continues to search for its missing patriot.

Dear Sir, I am writing this letter to request you to reconsider your role in the current political crisis and to be on the right side of history. I, being a member of the educated middle class of Pakistan, see you as a man who has always stood up against injustice. I see you as a man whose political life spanning half a century gives testimony that my country still has educated, brave and faithful fighters who would do whatever it takes to defend Pakistan. I know that you were a college student like me when you campaigned against the dictatorship of Ayub Khan. I know that you stood first in the Civil Service Examination and could have entered the ruling bureaucratic class but you rebelled against joining the martial law regime of General Yahya Khan. I know that you refused to join as a minister in the brutal dictatorship of General Ziaul Haq. We all know, and have seen, how you struggled against General Pervez Musharraf. It would not be wrong to say that you drilled the last nail in his political coffin. Whenever your name struck my mind, it flashbacked to a resolute man who, while standing in front of the Parliament House addressed the men in black, giving them ray of hope, with this poem:

“Riyaasat hogi maa kay jaisi, har shehri se pyaar karey gi.” (The republic will be like a mother, who’ll love all her citizens)

“Kia ye khula tazad nahin?” (Is this not an open contradiction?)

There was once a man who didn’t believe in empty rhetoric but followed through with his promises. He won Pakistan the World Cup, made Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust and established a university in Mianwali. The youth idealised him, the elderly praised him, and the people adored him. And while he showed that change is achieved by the tangible, he never followed through with that in his politics. I wish he had. He was selling a dream that many Pakistanis yearned for. A Pakistan free of corruption and nepotism, where the common man would have equal opportunities, where he would have freedom of movement, where the law enforcement agencies would protect citizens against those who try to snatch this freedom from them. So when Mr Khan was given the mandate of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), everyone hoped that he would turn it into a model of governance, a model for others to follow. Unfortunately that never happened. Imran came and defended the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP); he called them ‘our people’ who must be negotiated with. In fact, he was also a signatory to a document that claimed that the Taliban were legitimate stakeholders in Pakistan. He demanded that an office be made for their representation, he was the first that came to their defence after every attack they perpetrated and claimed responsibility for. He still insisted that it was not the Taliban but some other group who wanted to derail the peace talks with them. As for the peace talks, they were a non-starter. The Taliban never paid heed to Mr Khan’s call for peace talks. They never wanted peace. And so the empty rhetoric ensued. Imran promised that there would be no nepotism in his Naya Pakistan. That it would be a model of competence. Yet he never explained how Mr Parvez Khattak’s relatives were granted reserved seats to become members of the National Assembly. He never explained how he gave a ticket to Gul Badshah, a person who had 22 cases registered against him. He never explained why Khattak could not bother to wake up in the morning for the flag raising ceremony on August 14 last year. He could not explain why his people never bothered to show up to condole the citizens who lost their lives in terrorist attacks in his province. He never even bothered to condemn the terrorists. He never took action against his own minister who didn’t take responsibility for the DI Khan jail break but was quick to castigate the police. Such was the extent of ambiguity that people like Asad Umar had to come forward and explain that Imran’s demand for the Taliban’s office was his own wish and that it did not represent the views of the party. Without providing us with solutions, Imran wishes to be the prime minister of this country. Mr Khan, can you please shed some light on how you will bring about this change that you have failed to bring about in K-P? On June 29, 2013, Mr Khattak vowed to follow in Shahbaz Sharif’s footsteps to make Peshawar a model city, and then you claim that the incumbent government is incompetent. This article is not in defence of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) or any other party but a reality check for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who has claimed to be the flag bearers of change but have done little to prove that claim. Mr Khan, those that criticise you and your party are not traitors but rather just as much citizens of Pakistan. We have a right to question your efficacy in government, we have a right to demand that you condemn the Taliban and we have a right to demand that you fulfil all those promises that were part of your election manifesto. The people of Pakistan demand an accountability of all the leaders who have not followed through with promises made before the elections – and that unfortunately includes you. Lastly, can you please explain to us what your party achieved staying on the constitution avenue right when the Chinese premier was to visit Pakistan to sign accords worth $32 billion? Could the march not have been shifted to an alternate venue to give clear passage to the Chinese premier to visit Pakistan and sign these accords? You could have come back after the visit was over but you chose to ignore important bilateral relations over your own ego. Instead the Chinese head of state visited India, who embraced the opportunity with open arms and now threatens to lead Pakistan into international isolation. To top it off, your chief minister also refused to visit China for investment projects, just to stay in the Azadi march. Where are your priorities, Mr Khan and what are they? If you think that you can run this country on merely rhetoric then here is a reality check for you – no, you Khan’t.

Let’s face it; there may be legitimate complaints out there to lodge against Bilawal Bhutto as an emerging politician. An allegedly ‘girly’ voice does not qualify as a ‘legitimate’ political complaint, or even as a ‘harmless’ joke. The things that make us laugh make a statement about us and how we perceive the world. Consider the anatomy of an ‘insult’, and the part of it that actually causes the sting. Why is it insulting to Photoshop a detested politician’s face onto the body of a mule, but not the body of a lion? Because the mule, in our perspective, is a lowly being, while the lion obviously isn’t. What constitutes a ‘slam’ is a person’s comparison to something notably inferior. Following Bilawal’s speech at Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) grand rally, the internet’s been flooded with both professional and amateur analyses of its quality and content. I was deeply bothered, if not surprised, by social media’s reaction to a viral video featuring Bilawal speaking in an effeminate manner. This is not the first time Bilawal, or any male politician, has been mocked for exhibiting feminine behaviour. The internet has been ‘LOLing’ and ‘ROFLing’ for a long time over pictures of Shahbaz Sharif looking ‘womanly’ while inspecting flood damage, or photoshopped images of Nawaz Sharif dressed as a woman, or Imran Khan inadvertently looking feminine while mocking Mehmood Khan Achakzai during his speech. It is insulting to portray a male politician as feminine, because ‘femininity’ is an insult. It denotes weakness, cowardice and even incompetence. Why am I supposed to laugh at Bilawal “looking like a woman”? What is it about a “woman” that’s so rib-crackingly hilarious that makes it appropriate for me to point and laugh at a man resembling a female? It’s worth noting that misogyny isn’t a uniquely Pakistani quirk. Margaret Thatcher did not become the ‘Iron Lady’ without first undergoing extensive training to lower her vocal pitch. Ed Miliband of the Labour Party, it is said, went as far as to have his adenoids surgically removed, to make his voice less nasal and more ‘manly’. Studies show that people associate deeper voices with better leadership skills, and respond less positively to high-pitched voices. The reason that we are “all about the bass, no treble”, as the popular song goes, may well be because, in a patriarchal world, a low-pitched ‘masculine’ sound is more reassuring than a feminine one. Pakistan seems to be afflicted with a somewhat uglier strain of the same global malady. Bilawal Bhutto has quite a legacy to consider, and to effectively reap the benefits of that political legacy, he likely feels compelled to deliver robust speeches like his grandfather. Alas, his voice box seems optimised for a softer, more solemn tone that cracks when pushed too loud or too deep. Either way, the pitch of his voice should not be allowed to determine the fate of his, or any politician’s, career. We need more than just a better class of politicians; we need a better class of voters, who consciously wave aside irrelevant information about political candidates and leaders, and focus on things that truly matter.

With another showdown between the government and Imran Khan on the horizon, it is important to revisit the root of the current strife; rigging in the general elections of 2013. While much has been said about this subject, we still appear to have people who are not correctly informed as to what happened, or is alleged to have happened, and what are the evidences to support such allegations. The crux of the arguments from the disinterested, misinformed commentators boils down to what I came across in an op-ed around two months ago. Basically that the agitators have neither,

“ 1) A theory of how the (election) process could have been hijacked; and (2) evidence that the process was indeed hijacked in the manner suggested”.

It’s December, which means it is awards season. It has been a roller coaster year filled with action, romance, suspense and adventure. The Academy of Pakistani Politics has had a particularly tough time shortlisting the nominations this year. However, after much thought, we are finally ready to declare the following winners: Murad Saeed for Fight Club Also, Arsalan Iftikhar for Father of the Pride. Sheikh Rasheed. Sheikh Rasheed:

“Jab doodh ghar araha ho toh award lenay kee kya zaroorat hai?”

“Hor hor dabang dabang... I mean I apologise to the glass I broke.”

“Take me to court; I’ll take you to the cleaners.”

“Chaudhry Nisar, kaisa diya?”

“Once a butt, always a butt.”

“Just Because.”

“God willing I will sing the song for the PPP too next year.”

“Iskee bohri tayar karo.” (Prepare his body bag)

“Next year Bilawal will win everything! I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse.”

“Just because.”

“I do not look like Kareena Kapoor.”

“I got this award from the people and I would like to return it to them. “

“#Dhandlee”

The reports of Mark Twain’s death were greatly exaggerated. So were the reports of Imran Khan’s marriage. But as they say, there’s no smoke without at least some fire. Are the reports of the prodigal Bhutto son – yet to return fully – Bilawal Bhutto Zardari joining PML-N true? PML-F would be outrageous enough. But PML-N would be even more outrageous. Or would it? Not really. Reality remains that the present day PPP and PML-N may be different in terms of inherent ideology, but what they do to Pakistan remains essentially the same. One may be on the right and the other on the left, but they have a middle ground where they meet, join hands and work happily in unison. And that middle ground is plagued by words that we are today all too familiar with – nepotism, corruption, bad governance, lack of accountability, disconnection with people, the list goes on. While hard core and genuinely sincere PPP supporters are trying to hide inner fears by publicly laughing at the idea Arbab Ghulam Rahim has presented, they know that all there is definitely trouble in paradise. If ever this actually happens, nothing will change for Pakistan and its people. The faces change but the predicaments of this nation remain the same. It doesn’t really matter whether the battle is raged with the help of a teer (arrow) or a sher (lion), and it doesn’t matter whether it is Bilawal or Shahbaz Sharif in rubber boots in flood stricken parts of Pakistan. Children will continue to die in Tharparkar and Punjab police will continue to beat up blind persons and even children. The lifestyles of the rich and famous will not change. Pakistani mothers will risk their most precious children when they send them to school, while the children of the leaders of most Pakistani political parties will be in safe insulated havens of top notch universities abroad. However, if Bilawal were to join “them”, one thing would happen for sure. The many sincere ‘jiyalas’ who hope that one day, maybe, just maybe, Bilawal miraculously proves critics wrong, will be heartbroken. It is not that if Bilawal were to become the saviour they are hoping, he can do it only from the platform of PPP. Because if someone wants to work for the betterment of Pakistan sincerely, it doesn’t matter what the platform is. However, the problem with PPP is that dynastic inheritance supersedes everything else, sadly. If at all, the young Bhutto-Zardari were to change camps, a blow which the jiyalas will not be able to withstand, because sadly, a majority of them support the PPP less for its ideology, whatever is left of it, and more for the lure and romance of the Bhutto name. If PPP supporters had more sense, there would have been not one but many forward blocks within the party by now, and Bilawal’s dad would have been out of business. Those who actually look up to Bilawal, much as this idea amazes the rest of us who are more realistic, have a miniscule flicker of hope. That hope is actually increased with rumours and factual reports of disagreement between father and son. Many of those who are too loyal to the Bhutto name to openly declare PPP in-contextual, are secretly excited and happy when they hear that Bilawal strongly disagrees with the father regarding how the party is working. What we are seeing right now is just speculations and rumours. But in politics, there are no permanent friends, nor foes. Only time will tell which way Bilawal will steer himself. But if at all Bilawal decides to move away from the party of his papa, PML-N would be a sad choice – he will just end up being another brick in the wall called “the status quo”. I am sure Bilawal has read up on these “rumours”, and back door channels are in the process of convincing him to negate this as mere gossip through another emotional tweet. As a Pakistani, one can just hope that one day, the young man sees the light and does something substantial for his people; maybe from a newer forum, or no forum at all by serving the people in an individual capacity. That would be real news, the kind of news that lasts.

As a child growing up in Karachi, in PECHS, I just had one dream, one day I will go bridge kay us par (across the bridge, to the other side). The Kala pull was the Berlin wall of my world. Every rickety road I travelled on only strengthened my desire. Every night I slept with a pillow on my rear end, dreaming of the perfectly paved roads on the other side of the bridge. I even wrote a poem,

“I have a dream that one day we will live in a city where we will not be divided by the imperfections in our roads but the content of our character. I have a dream that one day the bikes of Gulshan and the BMWs of Defence will be able to drive on the same tarmac of brotherhood. I have a dream today!”

“Ye dhaag dhaag ujala, ye shab gazeeda sahar, Woh intezaar tha jiska, ye woh sahar toh nahee, Ye woh sahar toh nahee jiskee arzoo le kar, Chalay thay yaar kay mil jaye gi kaheen na kaheen, Falak kay dasht main taaron ki aakhri manzil, Kaheen toh hoga shab-e-sust mauj ka saahil, Kaheen toh ja kar rukay ga safina-e-gham-e-dil.” (This tattered raiment of darkness, This sputtering of dawn, This is not the dawn that we had hoped for. This is not the dawn we had set out for. Through the darkness, Towards the last station of the night stars; Hoping to find the end of our journey, Somewhere on the distant shore Of the languishing sea of night, Where our sorrow-laden ship Would at last come home to anchor.)

“Where are you Shahbaz Sharif?”

“I am here to see General Muhammad Ahmad Ali.”

“Shehzad, was that five minute ride on that perfect road in the middle of a desert worth spending 20 years of your life being forced fed by the CIA through a pipe?”

“How much wood can a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck can chuck wood?”

While serving on the Punjab Board of Investment and Trade, Moazzam Husain led a small team of experts, businessmen and stakeholders to develop a technical and commercial strategy to harness Punjab’s iron ore resources. The first draft of that road-map was published in April 2010. Then following further rigorous consultations in August 2010, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif approved the strategy for implementation. I caught up with Mr Moazzam Husain in Karachi to discuss the recent developments around Punjab iron ore. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="299"] Moazzam Husain[/caption] Erum Shaikh (ES): According to media reports, the Punjab iron ore resources were identified decades ago. Yet we are being told they have just been discovered. What is going on?

Moazzam Husain (MH): We have known about the existence of these iron ore deposits for a very long time. When dealing with underground natural and mineral resources we are dealing in degrees of certainty. So when we were preparing the high level iron ore development road-map, the question really was what do we do with these bits and fragments of geological data which are telling us about the presence of a resource in substantial quantities? And our first recommendation was that we need a full blown techno-economic study; one that follows an internationally accepted methodology and gets the resource classified to an internationally acceptable standard of proven reserves. The question is, why it took the government five years to complete it when such studies are done within 12 months elsewhere in the world? Anyways, so what has happened last week is that the study has been finally completed. It also means we know far more about the characteristics and structure of the ore seam than we did previously; how deep the seam lies, how thick is it, how much of the surface is rock and how much is soil, where the water tables are located. How big are they etcetera. So we can go about thinking about ways and means to extract it. We call this a “bankable study”.

MH: That remains to be seen. Now that the existence of the reserves has been authenticated, the economic viability of extracting it should be established. I had recommended for the TOR’s of the study to include mining strategy and costing. The study cost millions of dollars, I haven’t yet seen it but if the costing hasn’t been done, it can and should be done without wasting further time.

MH: Yes. Like I said, once the costing is done and if it is viable to extract, the reserve quantity is quite sizeable so it can make some impact on the economy. Let’s say we can start with producing one million tons a year, and say over a 10-year period, build up the mine production rate to 10 million tons a year. Supposing the price is $60 per ton then one million tons in Year 1 comes to $60 million. And 10 million tons in Year 10 translates to $600 million in revenue. Production costs will have to be subtracted from this to arrive at profit per ton. Then depending on what share the government keeps in this, the resulting government revenues can be quite sizeable in future years. In addition, the government will earn 30% corporate tax on the profits as well. Some months ago, the international prices were twice that, so with higher prices, it would have a greater positive impact on the economy.

MH: (Chuckles) Well, we should not get carried away by such spin that comes from politicians. But indeed gold and copper may be present in trace quantities and it remains to be seen whether their extraction is technically and financially feasible. Gold is also present in seawater. It doesn’t mean you start extracting it… (chuckles) unless you develop a nanotechnology solution. The mine business model has to be determined whether iron ore or copper or indeed gold should be optimised. This means that from each ton of ore would you rather extract one gram of gold or 600 kilograms of iron? Once again, the study should provide that answer. The prevailing international prices of these commodities will also have to be taken into account. Extraction costs would also play a role. The extraction processes are entirely different for iron, copper and gold. Choosing which one will depend on what is more profitable.

MH: Well, primarily we had this resource and everybody around the table knew about its existence, and that it had been around for years. We were now looking for a way in which Pakistan could harness this for national economic benefit. The questions in everybody’s mind were: What would it take to have this classified as a proven reserve? And afterwards, who would invest in this mega mining project? What should be the terms of the transaction between an international mining company and the Punjab government? What kind of mining methodology would be required? What kind of logistic and transport infrastructure would be needed to remove earth to the depth of a 30-storey building and then haul the millions of tons of excavated ore? How would we depopulate the hundreds of acres of farmland and villages — underneath which the ore was located? What would we do with the iron ore? Could we convert some of it to steel? If so, where would the energy come from in an already energy-starved country? Could we also sell some of the raw iron ore? And yes absolutely, these questions are still very much relevant today.

MH: 500 million tons are quite substantial for Pakistan, especially given that this is not the end and there is promise of further discovery around that region. On a world scale though, these are not that big. Australian mining giant BHP Billiton produces that much iron ore in little over two years. The three biggest iron ore production countries in the world are China, Australia and Brazil. There the deposits are in the tens of billions of tons. And then there are many other countries that have multiple mines the size of the one discovered in Punjab, including some in India. Afghanistan next door has 1.7 billion tons reserve at Hajigak, Bamyan province.

MH: For us, yes. This would require an operation on a scale we have not seen before in Pakistan. The biggest ones I reckon were the earthworks projects for building Mangla and Tarbela dams. And the earthworks involved here are larger by an order or two of magnitude. But having said that, I do not think this would be a large enough opportunity for any of the world’s three big mining companies - viz BHP, Vale and Rio Tinto. We may need to approach second or even third tier mining companies to get them interested in this opportunity.

MH: In which areas specifically? There are many areas here. Like I said, mining on this scale has not been seen in Pakistan. So we’d be hard pressed to find experts with any real experience other than theoretical knowledge of earth sciences subjects. And it’s not just expertise and know how – this requires an organised effort, a level and scale of effort that can only be governed under a corporatised structure. And preferably a structure that has worked before and has previous experience of similar undertakings. What we’re really beginning to define here is a large mining company with international operations and experience.  And of course lots of cash to invest.

MH: Well to start with, remember this is a deep deposit not a surface deposit. So one needs to rip open a few kilometres of the countryside to get to the ore seam. Secondly, we have the Chenab River, nearby. That may pose hydraulic challenges during excavation. My apprehension is that we could be looking at a relatively expensive mining solution. That would make the Punjab iron ore project marginal on a world scale. Any investor will look at a range of comparable mines in the world’s ore-producing regions and compare the extraction costs per ton. And in the presently oversupplied world market, many marginal mines have become dormant and are available for sale or lease. It’s just like with any other asset. Like any real estate. There’s always choice, there’s a market and there are buyers and sellers. Then getting the land cleared would pose a challenge for the Punjab government. The land acquisition for the Mangla reservoir expansion took years. Finally, structuring a mining concession, while the Reko Diq fiasco is still fresh in people’s minds will pose another challenge.

That is a major challenge. One option is you can make steel on site. That means establishing a large steel mill. But then the government will have to think about ways to provide energy — either coking coal or gas at the site. Small quantities of ore can also be provided to Punjab’s steel rerolling industry but they would need to retrofit their furnaces. The government would need to announce a special policy for that. Finally, to move ore (and even steel) through overland transport to our steel mills and ports requires a modern, heavy haul rail system. I would imagine that ought to constitute part of the mining concession agreement.

Steelmaking is a basic industry upon which depend other industries. So it is an industry of industries. If we had set our goals right, Pakistan could have greatly industrialised much earlier and trained its ample human resource while creating large scale employment in the manufacturing sector. By now, we would have been a middle income country with a smaller but more skilled population. Still, even today, I say we can get started. As they say “Der aye, durust aye” (a little late is better than never)!

 In my experience, our politicians and bureaucrats have little understanding of the global mining business. And there is an absence of clear thinking. We can’t organise things neither seem to be able to make them work. There is a major deficit of government capacity. There are bottlenecks at the policy level. My worst apprehension is that they will be unable to make this work; that they will bungle it up. End up with another Reko Dik, another Kalabagh Dam. And this is one apprehension I hope is proved wrong.

Funding for religious seminaries in Pakistan has always been a difficult topic to cover. For one, most seminaries are unregistered, making it difficult to deduce the exact source of their funding. Even when seminaries are registered, questioning the source of funding remains a no-go area because of the sensitive topic of religion. Being the country’s largest province by population, the presence of a large number of religious seminaries in Punjab, both registered and unregistered, is natural. Eyebrows have always been raised when it comes to the influence of religious seminaries based in the province, but the source of funding received by these seminaries has always been dragged under the carpet. With the recent disclosure by Punjab Police, that is no longer the case. The fact that seminaries in Punjab receive funding from foreign countries is now out in the open. Not surprisingly, the highest funding received is from the Middle East. Having ruled Punjab with an iron fist for what seems like an eternity, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) close relations with the gulf world, especially Saudi Arabia, are well documented. It is not hard to deduce therefore, why the PML-N government would prefer keeping quiet on the matter than coming out in the open about it. Relations with the gulf world are pivotal to the PML-N government, both at the federal and provincial level. But with the cancer of religious extremism eating up Pakistan inside out, fuelled in large parts by the hate speech and literature spread by the seminaries in question, it is time for PML-N to re-evaluate its strong links to the gulf. Saudi Arabia, for example, has funded religious extremism in various parts of the world, based in large parts on its paranoia of Shia Islam. While Saudi Arabia itself has not suffered from religious violence, even though it makes up for it with inhumane domestic policies, countries that have been on the receiving end of the funding  by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have suffered massive human loss. Pakistan has the tragic honour of being an old member of that very club. Even though as far as this particular piece of news is concerned, Saudi Arabia falls well behind the likes of Qatar and Kuwait as far as the amount of funding goes, its influence in the region and its muscle behind the spread of Wahabi Islam has been obvious to the world for a long time. While criticising the Gulf and other countries that have played an active part in the funding of these seminaries is normal, what also needs to be considered is the PML-N government’s lax attitude towards the whole matter. It would be naïve to suggest that a chief minister as active and agile as Shahbaz Sharif would not be aware of the source of funding for religious seminaries in Punjab. But the answer to why a blind-eye was turned to all of this is hardly complicated. The PML-N government has been extremely protective of Punjab as far as religious extremism goes. The fact that the province has suffered least as far as religion triggered violence is concerned is out there for everyone to see. The PML-N government was always hesitant to make a move against terror outfits because of the fear of backlash in Punjab. Add the fact that the PML-N government will do all it can to please its friends in the Gulf and it is easy to understand why putting a lid on matters, such as foreign funding, was such a convenient solution to it all. Foreign policies do not change overnight. It takes a gradual process. Foreign policies as historically strong as the one between Pakistan and the Gulf world will take an even longer time. But it is about time that process starts.

Dear Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, I hope this letter finds you well. I am sure you are busy; so let me cut to the chase. You know well that Pakistan’s Ahmadi community has long faced the wrath of extremist religious clerics. Despite succeeding in hijacking Jinnah’s vision, and pressurising the state into incorporating anti-Ahmadi bigotry into the Constitution and law, these clerics have continued to demonise, spread hate and incite violence against the Ahmadis. The group currently at the forefront of this witch-hunt is Pakistan’s Khatam-e-Nabuwat organisation. Whereas this organisation claims to uphold the honour of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), it does everything under the sky against his teachings of peace, tolerance and respectful difference of opinion. Ahmadis are already denied their freedom of speech, worship, assembly, and even identity in Pakistan. The Khatam-e-Nabuwat group, however, is not pleased with just this. It holds conferences on a regular basis, calling on governments and the public to banish and boycott Ahmadis even further. Through these forums, extremist Mullahs also call for increased violence against the Ahmadis, some even issuing death edicts against them. Sir, it is very disappointing to note that your party has consistently aided these radical clerics in their bigoted anti-Ahmadi agenda. When mullahs demanded that the name of my hometown – Rabwah – be forcibly changed to Chenab Nagar against the wishes of its residents, the then Punjab chief minister, Shahbaz Sharif, immediately appeased the Mullahs. In 2008, when all 23 Ahmadi students from Punjab Medical College were rusticated due to their faith, the Punjab government under Mr Sharif turned a blind eye again. Fearful of upsetting the radical right, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has always participated in, and even sponsored, anti-Ahmadi hate conferences across the country. In January of 2012, leaders of your political party attended an anti-Ahmadi rally demanding Ahmadis evict their place of worship in Rawalpindi.

“That time is near when Muslims will kick out all Qadianis from Pakistan”, was the popular call from clerics at this rally.

“Qadianiat is a cancer; there is no treatment except operation.”

“They must give up their faith and become Muslim or face consequences,” he threatened.

The Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif has announced that a first-ever labour policy for the province would be announced today, on the occasion of International Labour Day. This is welcome news from the incumbent chief minister, known to publicly recite from the popular poets and bard of the Pakistani working class, Habib Jalib in his more distracted moments. While the national government has yet to announce a more conciliatory policy for the hardworking workers of the country, the chief minister might also be interested in another progressive intervention on behalf of the workers from our not-too-distant past, the Indian progressive poet Majaz Lakhnawi’s Song for the Workers (Mazdooron ka Geet), written in 1938. Majaz, who died young 60 years ago this year, deserves to be remembered since according to many critics, despite his early death, he has entered the pantheon of our social history on account of just a few of his epochal poems. I am offering an original English translation of Majaz’s Urdu paean to the workers here below:

“Truly we are tired with hard labour Far away from comfort We are workers! We are workers!   Though we are struck by calamity and sadness We are not dust, rather the stars We are the shining princes of this world We are workers! We are workers!   We wish to be We have the heart to not be We are insurgent, our heads are high We are workers! We are workers!   Yes we are among (our) destiny We say this openly, without fear We are in the biggest macrocosm We are workers! We are workers!   Wherever we tread Royal flags bend We are Savant, we are Balvant We are workers! We are workers!   Though a million times we tried! But we did what our hearts decide! We are true of heart and worthy of (our) words! We are workers! We are workers!   What we are, some day we will show The decadent poem we will overthrow We will shake the earth and sky We are workers! We are workers!   Our bodies are strong And chests are warm We are determined to rebel We are workers! We are workers!   The day we rebel In this world Judgement Day will compel We will bring dreams to reality We are workers! We are workers!   We will seize the office Even the Caesar won’t suffice We will swarm upon the hordes We are workers! We are workers!”

The role of the First Lady in the US has continued to remain very prominent, active, and vocal over the years. It won’t be wrong to say that any national leader’s wife’s involvement with key social and cultural platforms helps to create positive vibes regarding his sincere commitment to the people who elected him. Recently, First Lady Michelle Obama further strengthened her already strong ties with the community at large by supporting the ‘Let Girls Learn’ initiative that champions for the global education of girls. Assuming a leading position in the educational campaign developed by the USAID, US Agency for International Development, Mrs Obama hopes to leverage US government investments for the education of 62 million uneducated girls around the world. In this position, her public speaking campaigns are targeted to encourage and support community sponsored solutions for girls’ education. Last week, Mrs Obama was on a visiting tour of Europe to speak for this long-term vision that she seeks to continue supporting even after her term as First Lady is over. So how far do mere words go when it comes to displaying resolute support for a global objective such as girls’ education? A long way, if they come from an in-office First Lady. But then, one would argue, this is an easy task for the wife of the President of the United States or any other country. However, if it is indeed easy, then why is it such a big deal for the wives of Pakistani leaders? In other words, why are the Pakistani First Ladies never seen or heard of within this important parameter? In comparison to a number of other countries, Pakistan has a myriad of worse issues than just education that could benefit astronomically from the support of its first ladies. But the country’s First Ladies are usually seen as mute, smiling, painted figures walking behind their husbands, the leaders of a country torn with cultural and social quandaries. Any argument that social and cultural norms create boundaries for Pakistani first ladies tends to fall lame since there are plenty of women very visible in the political arena in Pakistan. So what stops them from assuming key roles in supporting causes that will only help increase public confidence in the leadership? Although there have been such figures in the past, in recent years, the role of the Pakistani First Lady has only dwindled into anonymity. Sehba Musharraf, being the wife of an Army General, could have spearheaded such social and cultural initiatives but she didn’t quite fit the bill. When there was talk of her assuming a leadership role in any capacity at all, it was as a crutch to support Pervez Musharraf’s comeback to the country by leading the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML). In other words, it was for the benefit of politics rather than for any social cause. During Musharraf’s regime, Sehba’s role remained rudimentary and passive. A handful of other Pakistani First Ladies can be picked out from history as working alongside their husbands. But even their roles mostly circled around the political benefit they could render to their husband’s party. For instance, Nusrat Bhutto worked for the empowerment of women and for the cause of democracy in Pakistan. Another name that springs to mind here is Rana Liaquat Ali Khan, a prominent stateswoman and economist who also worked under Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The first sister, rather than the First Lady, Fatima Ali Jinnah tops the list in this respect. Though Jinnah was not married, his sister Fatima Jinnah remained a stalwart of both his domestic and political life. Although mostly in the context of providing structural political support to their husbands’ parties, these and many other examples still prove the dynamic role First Ladies can potentially play in increasing public confidence in the leadership. Much contrary to the inconspicuous role of Pakistan’s First Ladies in the general social/cultural national scene in recent times, the role of ‘first children’, though more politically than socially, has nevertheless been prominent. From Benazir Bhutto, groomed under her father, to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, and Asifa Bhutto Zardari, and the Shahbaz and Nawaz Sharif progeny etc., they have all been primarily spruced and tidied up to assume key political positions. However, this still fails to fill the vacuum created by the absence of a First Lady on the country’s social and cultural stage. Interestingly, Imran Khan seems to have put mind over matter in this regard. Assuming a possible future ascent to key leadership, he is already nudging Reham Khan into the position of his supportive right-hand. Although this start is more politically slanted at present, it may or may not turn into one of variant hues. Banking on winning the Haripur re-election, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has presented Reham as its candidate for that constituency. Since her marriage to Imran, Reham has discreetly increased speed in assuming a visible role in PTI. The Haripur move is well-planned since that is also the area of her maternal family, hence the strong vote-hold. But this move being political in nature will only help cement political groundwork for her husband. What the women of the country would instead like to see is a greater, sustained and sincere involvement of the in-office First Lady in the social and cultural problems of the country. Pakistani politicians have relentlessly and unceasingly displayed a tiresome tendency to only talk about improving the plight of the common man and woman. But palpable results of such talk are yet to be seen. By expanding the role of First Ladies as champions of social and cultural causes alongside her husband, perhaps the Pakistani politician can garner more public confidence than he has been able to in the past.

All words and no action is what can be best described for the old and incompetent Qaim Ali Shah. ‘Reshuffling’ of officers right before Eid holidays puts him in a category of his own, one which entails corrupt politicians and government officials the province has seen in the past 20 years. Words fall short to describe what this man has done to our province, Sindh. Dismissing qualified district commissioners will not resolve the issues Mr Shah is trying (but failing miserably almost every single time) to address. Just as offering holidays for government officials when the common people of Sindh are dying due to the heat wave will not save the homeless children in Thar dying of starvation while His Highness cannot survive without a grand feast which is laid out for him and his party members every day. His lunch and dinner comprise of never-ending trays of biryani, tikkas, koftas and malai boti’s and there is separate menu for dessert, which includes fruits from all over the province. This monarchy needs to end. On grounds of investigation provided to him, he conveniently dismissed 10 very qualified officers stating that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is probing the officers over alleged corruption cases. The burning question remains, when will Qaim Ali Shah be investigated for the incessant double-dealing, bribery, palm-greasing corruption he has been involved in over the years? If Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, and former president Asif Ali Zardari are on the investigation list, why are the incumbent ones not dismissed on the same grounds? Rather, why is Qaim Ali Shah’s name missing from the list? With little to no development in Sindh during his tenure as the chief minister, and that even his third tenure, it is cringe-worthy to think he is our chief minister. The only people who benefit from his tenure are his little cronies, while we, the citizens continue to suffer. Rightfully described as patriarchal and unfit to rule, inept Shah does not want to make any amends for the disgusting record he has set in the past five years and continues to make matters worse for the country. Bureaucracy wouldn’t be so corrupt if his boot-lickers weren’t the ones being posted all over Sindh. Sindh’s performance in all sectors is worse than ever before, with illiteracy, hunger, corruption and chaos on the rise as compared to the other provinces. If anyone should be dismissed over Eid holidays, it should be Mr Qaim Ali Shah. Let it be the Eid present to all the citizens of the province who have been waiting for the man to leave (possibly the planet). Let this unpleasant journey come to an end.  

On October 22^nd, the former US First Lady and current Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, survived an 11-hour long congressional hearing pushing her closer to the Oval Office. The same day, Justin Trudeau, the son of former Canadian Premier, Pierre Trudeau, began his takeover of power in Ottawa, Canada. On that very day, just shy of her 42^nd birthday, another political heir made her global debut standing next to Michelle Obama in the eastern wing of the White House.  This woman is Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of Pakistan’s incumbent third time Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, who has announced a commitment to educate more girls in her country. The fact that Maryam accompanied her father to his US trip seems to be a sign that she is being groomed as the second generation leader of the Sharif political dynasty, one of the two most powerful dynasties in the world’s sixth largest democracy alongside the Bhutto clan. The Twitter savvy Maryam had already been showing signs of influence in Pakistani politics, but her trip to the states is the most evident sign yet of her inevitable succession to the Sharif throne. https://twitter.com/MaryamNSharif/status/656563499703934976 https://twitter.com/MaryamNSharif/status/657041668517031936 https://twitter.com/FLOTUSnews/status/657282699225268224/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Akin to movie sequels, celebrities or major brands, political dynasties in Pakistan, like elsewhere in the world, enjoy recognition, wealth and connections essential to their survival and domination. In Pakistan, these families have substantial influence. Before Nawaz, Pakistan was in the hands of Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who herself was the daughter of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who ruled the country for much of the 70s. Nawaz, a wealthy businessman, governed Pakistan twice in the 90s before coming to power again in 2013. His younger brother, Shahbaz Sharif, has been in control of Pakistan’s largest province since 2008 while his nephew, Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, has a seat in the parliament. Bhutto’s and Sharif’s are not the only blue bloods in Pakistan. Out of Pakistan’s nine largest political parties, six have clear affiliation with a dynastic family. This means that unlike Hillary Clinton or Justin Trudeau, these political scions inherit their party leaderships, hence making these political fronts essentially an extension of the family’s personal wealth and prestige. It is a fact, which makes any sense of accountability of these families within these political parties improbable, if not out rightly impossible. Then there are the smaller families, usually which have influence in specific parliamentary constituencies. A 2013 research found that approximately 44 per cent of all outgoing legislators in Pakistan were related to individuals who had served in previous legislative tenures. This is usually due to a relationship between the larger and smaller political dynasties. This mutually beneficial relationship is based on mutual support aimed at a control of absolute political power. These smaller political dynasties often change their allegiance depending on the public opinion of their constituents – this political fluidity prevents any meaningful political change in the country. So is there any benefit of having these dynastic families? For one, in a conservative society like Pakistan, women belonging to these families may find it easier to achieve political power, in case of Benazir Bhutto – who if not for her father probably would not have become the prime minister. Perhaps Pakistan might get another female premier in the form of Maryam Nawaz in the future. But this creates an illusion of greater gender equality while the reality for the society at large remains bleak. If moving from one dynasty to another is considered democracy, then Pakistan is the most democratic nation in the world. With the grooming of a clear successor of Pakistan’s largest political party, the country can expect to remain under the influence of these dynasties. These dynastic families have become an inescapable part of Pakistan’s political culture. They are keeping up the facade of democracy while maintaining the privilege of a monarchy.