Tyranny of Jirga System: Kohistan Girls' Case

The veracity of the report about the murder of five girls in Kohistan is still in doubt. They were purportedly killed by a local jirga just for singing and clapping at a wedding ceremony with two male companions.

We are still living in a patriarchal society where women sometimes can’t even breathe out of their own will due to the cultural suffocation and limited choices they face. Even after working hard all day long like machines, their poor lives remain at the stake of jirga which can accuse them of any immorality.

It was encouraging to see various women-friendly bills, including the ‘Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill and the Anti-Women Practices Bill’, being passed by the government which gave a hope to these suppressed women to live with dignity and enjoy their fundamental rights.

However, this incident has deepened their wounds and has challenged the current laws, showing that the local jirga system is superior to the laws made through legislation.

It is our humble request to the people sitting in the powerful corridors of parliament to take serious action against this barbaric act and to present a bill in parliament against these local jirga systems.

I request the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take these brutal tyrants behind bars otherwise a day will soon come when these jirgas will be ruling over us. Besides, they will be openly slaughtering our mothers, sisters, wives and daughters in the streets. 

http://dawn.com/2012/06/07/kohistan-girls-case/ 

By: Abdullah Dayo

Howling Crisis in Pakistan and Role of Media

Pakistan is at the cross roads in its geopolitical history. It is perceived as the source of current terrorism and the centre of attention in the global war against terror. The country is faced with a vicious, prolonged internal conflict (Like; Judicial crisis). But most importantly, after having held elections in February 2008, Pakistan today finds itself in the third year of a challenging transition towards democracy. The present development marks a historic nexus with an opportunity to establish a sustainable democracy. Pakistan is a delicate state, threatened by economic crisis and the effects of a continued mutiny. The civilian government has been facing difficult tasks including the problem of NFC Awards, Provincial autonomy, abortion of 17^th amendment, war on terror and so on.  

Moreover, The Constitution of Pakistan, domestic laws and international instruments prohibit torture, yet torture continues to be practiced and intensified due to Pakistan’s proactive role in the war against terror. Security operations resulted in internal displacement of over 200,000 people, one of the largest displacements in historical time. People are often being tortured having links with the Taliban or extremist groups. Extrajudicial killings, disappearances, mass arrest of suspects by police after any incidence of terror have emerged in the security threatened era. The pre existed culture of impunity augmented by crisis of judiciary and priority shift of state towards day to day emergency response create a vacuum where the issue of torture remained unaddressed.  

Furthermore, Pakistan has a vibrant and free media landscape; among the most dynamic in South Asia. To a large extent the media enjoys freedom of expression in spite of political pressure and direct bans sometimes administered by political stakeholders. More than 40 television channels beam soaps, satire, music programs, films, religious speeches, political talk shows, and news of the hour. Although sometimes criticized for being unprofessional and politically biased, the television channels have made a great contribution to the media landscape and to Pakistani society. Though Pakistani media enjoys relative freedom compared to some of its South Asian neighbors, the industry is subjected to many undemocratic and regressive laws and regulations. During terrorists attacks killings, physical attacks and coercion are constant concerns for many Pakistani journalists. Pakistan is currently ranked number one in the world in the statistics of journalists killed in 2009.  

However, Pakistan is faced with a huge task ahead as it has to establish internal peace and prosperity for its citizens. Aware of the important role the media needs to play in this process, and alarmed by reports of the deteriorating security situation journalists face in large parts of the country but unfortunately the media is currently selling out its products sometime in the shape of Shoaib-Sania’s wedding case and some other unnecessary issues which are beyond the ethics. Being the mouth-piece of common people, media has to highlight the issues of peace, price hike, high inflation, load shading, unemployment and poverty because people having nothing to do with the issues of Shoaib-Sania and Asif-Veena.

(From the old diary as this article was written a year ago.)

By: Abdullah Dayo

Burning of Living Souls

Incidents of fire broke are very much common in the industrial areas of our country but the incident of fire in a garment factory of Karachi where the horrific and deadly jaws of fire engulfed the lives of almost 300 working men, women and children. It is worst incident in the history of Pakistan which has unpacked the mismanagement and corruption of the regulatory authorities who allow the investors to set up any industry illegally in densely populated cities without taking any safety and security measures which results the death of many innocent people.

In this garment industry when the fire broke, workers tried to rush out through the windows because there were no safety measures taken in the building design. There was no emergency exit. All the people got trapped due to which a big number of workers died from suffocation.

Elected representatives of people were found on media in expressing their deep sorrows; some of the officials were seen and heard for lodging FIR, making investigation and compensating the bereaved families. We as a nation think that taking these actions is not the remedial solution to these issues.

Every terrible incident has a lesson in the end and this incident has uncovered the areas which need to be improved. Not only the owner of this factory but those authority holders who allowed him to set up the factory should be brought behind the bars. All existing industries should be re-visited properly by the relevant authorities and all the security and safety measures should be ensured. Pro-people legislation should be done for the welfare of working people in which life insurance of all the workers should be made mandatory for all the industries and workers should be allowed to form the trade unions where they can raise their concerns and get their work recognized.

If it is not done and this incident gets buried, Pakistani nation will again get the news of same nature in which many mothers will lose their sons, sisters will lose their brothers, wives will lose their husbands and children will lose their parents.

By: Abdullah Dayo

Globalization and Pakistan’s Economy

Pakistan’s economic position in world’s economy is that Pakistan is the 47^th largest in the world in nominal terms and 27^th largest in the world in terms of purchasing power parity. Pakistan’s economy is semi-industrialized which mainly includes textiles, chemicals, food processing, agriculture and other industries but the various socio-economic and political problems are being faced by Pakistan including economic loss due to both the Soviet-Afghan war and ongoing war on terror, energy crisis, low foreign direct investment (FDI) and huge dept trap, poorly managed tax system, low export and high import, inflation, natural disasters, a fast growing population and unemployment, mixed levels of foreign investment and a costly ongoing confrontation with neighboring India which has kept Pakistan in isolation from the rest of the world.

For last few decades, fair globalization has been one of the biggest challenges. The fair custom of how to shape the growing combination of economies and societies in a social and democratic way are widely discussed. In the context of global economy and global governance, Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are mostly confronted with the effects of globalization and ­without having enough opportunities to take a deeper look at the underlying issues and to analyze political options for dealing with the global challenges.

The word “globalization” is having multi dimensions which imply different meaning for different people worldwide. Some focus on the economic dimension and hence emphasize on the global economy, whereas others focus on the trade which includes Intra-industrial trade, emerging market economies multilateral governance and services. Besides this, few others focus on the cultural dimensions of this phenomenon and how globalization has affected different aspects of their culture, still some focus on the political aspects of the structure of globalization.

In a compelling scenario of the sensation of alluring globalization, Pakistan has entered the 21^st century with unsure intuition of hope and gloom in the context of realizing globalization-based economic development. Globalization is indeed the trendiest dynamic in the whole world. Pakistan’s ever-continuing status as a low income country, along with its serious problems of unsustainable economic growth performance and perpetual debt crises which have culminated into growing stagflation and increasing incidence of poverty even in the contemporary regime of globalization, has become a prime cause of the widespread disillusionment and skepticism of Pakistani masses about globalization.

There is difference of opinion regarding the desirability of globalization that simply implies openness and integration of the domestic economy with rest of the world in order to keep pace with dynamics of the international economy. The impact of globalization varies from country to country and from region to region depending on the level of social, economic and political developments as well as macroeconomic policies. Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have gained as well as suffered from globalization. Globalization is the need of the hour and no country can afford living in isolation. LDCs can counter the negative effects of globalization if they unite and adopt policies that adequately serve their genuine cause.

Like other LDCs, Pakistan’s economy requires abrupt reforms to triumph over the challenges because any more delay in initiating much-needed sector-specific reforms would further aggravate the situation. 

In order to sustain the economy, Pakistan has to improve its taxation system because less than three million of Pakistan’s 175 million citizens pay any income tax and its tax-GDP ratio is just 9 percent. In this regard, Pakistani legislators must build a consensus to tax the elite to overcome the economic crisis. In Pakistan, it has also become the need of hour to put focus on the maintenance of law and order and economic stability because it is the only way to sustain the economic growth and creating spaces for developed countries to invest in Pakistan. If the authorities do not focus on prevailing peace in current times of unrest and violence, the investors will take their money elsewhere in other countries where the safety and security is guaranteed.

Last not least, Pakistan also has to revise its economic strategies and should start thinking on ending the restrictions on trade and investment. If there is no quick progress made to overcome the shortage of resources and to solve the economic constraints, it will put huge burden on GDP growth which can lead Pakistan to the further socio-economic and political crisis. 

By: Abdullah Dayo