No Country for Old Men
The old men are scattering like dust in the wind, the political landscape of Pakistan is changing. Pakistan’s political future will now be shaped by Imran, Bilawal and Maryam. All three have to think about the narratives they must build in order to survive.
I Dissent
The concept of dissent helps in the creation of what legal historian Melvin Urofsky calls ‘constitutional dialogue’ – a healthy debate regarding matters fundamental to our Constitution. And this is important. Because we barely debate the constitution. We view it through binary lenses. Dissents can help us cast away our tunnel vision and see the nuance that it holds, benefiting not just our present but our future too.
Modi’s India
Yet, in handing power over to Modi to tackle the elite, the dynastic heirs, the scary Muslim threat, India is losing its decency. By re-electing Modi, the once secular, vibrant, India is transforming into an unrecognisable bastion of Hindu superiority. Where government-sanctioned committees sit down to try and prove that Hindu scripture is fact, and that India was a nation solely for Hindus. Indian Muslims know where things are heading. As Asaduddin Owaisi, the leader of the All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, told Reuters, “The government wants Muslims to live in India as second-class citizens.”
Bolton’s War
History has a strange way of repeating itself. Perhaps that is why people should be more careful about learning from it. Not so long ago, we had another inept president of the United States and a warmonger pulling his strings from behind the scenes. The Bush-Cheney team that tore down Iraq over fictional weapons of mass destruction. Cheney, like Bolton, thought the only way forward for Iraq was through regime change. He, too, didn’t mind bending the rules (or firebombing them) to achieve his goals.
Regulatory Capture
No meaningful legal reform can come from a system so poisoned from the roots. A system that has discarded legal ethics for greed and power. To a great extent we have only ourselves to blame, for we do not raise our voice when lawyers turn into thugs in suits. We watch videos of lawyers assaulting police, judges and civilians but do nothing to hold the bar associations and councils responsible for taking no action.
Reshuffle
If Imran Khan wants to retain the trust of his supporters, he must be open about why this reshuffle was deemed necessary. That doesn’t mean tweeting out cricketing analogies regarding batting orders. He owes the people better. People voted for Asad Umar; they deserve to hear from the Prime Minister himself why unelected individuals are now calling the shots over their daily lives. Imran Khan promised us a more transparent decision-making process on his part, we need to see it. The PTI’s supporters deserve to know why loyalists from the PPP and the PML-Q are being awarded key positions in government.
Cycles of Violence
Denial, though, is a close competitor with cricket as Pakistan’s national pastime. Anyone living in Balochistan would know. Violence in the name of religion and ethnicity in that once proud province rarely gets any attention. But the Hazara seem to face a special brand of denial. After the blast that took place last week, Balochistan’s Home Minister did an ostrich routine worthy of an Oscar and said no specific community was the target of the attack. This is being said while sectarian groups rejoice at yet another strike on members of the Shia community.
Of Rights and Resources
If anything, the Supreme Court’s foray into dam building should show us that it is silly to think that we can guarantee economic and social rights by handing over their enforcement to the judiciary. Not because of a lack of good intentions on the part of the judiciary, but rather because the judicial process is inadequate to address these issues. As human rights activist Aryeh Neier put it: it would simply be intruding into an area where the democratic process ought to prevail.
Algorithms for Hate
Never before have terrorists had such an easy way to share their manifestos. The original video of the Christchurch terror spree was taken down within an hour of it being uploaded, but copies of it multiplied faster than Facebook could take them down. A hydra of violent content swept through different social media platforms as the world grappled with the new reality of viral terrorism. To get an idea of the scale of it all, consider this: Facebook announced that it had removed 1.5 million copies of the video. While at one point, a copy of the video was being posted on YouTube every second.
The World According to Islamophobes
In a world where Islamophobia is the prevailing mindset of some of the most powerful people that exist, the Christchurch incident does not surprise us. Muslims have been living under an ominous cloud of fear ever since the far-right grew powerful enough to gain control of the United States and some parts of Europe.
The Lies of Narendra Modi
It is strange that many people in India have fallen for what Modi is doing. A brief look at his past shows he used the same strategy of fear and hate to win a second term as Gujarat’s chief minister. Back then, Modi used the death of Hindu pilgrims to fuel anti-Muslim riots that would result in the death of thousands. All the while stoking the flames of Hindu-Muslim animosity. It worked then, Modi wants it to work again. The same strategy that got him a second term as a chief minister is being used to get him a second term as the prime minister.
War Games
You do not need to be from Pakistan or India to come to the conclusion that what is happening in India-occupied Kashmir is cruel and inhumane. Modi perhaps realises that it is the BJP’s relentless brute force policy that is the root cause behind the Pulwama attack, but it is easier to blame Pakistan.
Beware the Predator
A worker’s freedom from unfair termination is the essence of his right. Right up there with the freedom to be paid a decent living wage. That simple freedom doesn’t exist in Pakistan apart from a few limited instances. It is completely up to the person you work for to treat you fairly. In an ideal world that would be great, if only living in such a world was an option for us.
A Dream of Peace
Without resolving the hostility between the Taliban and the Afghan government, the US may be leaving behind a land ripe for civil war. Consider the statement of the Taliban’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, who has said that he expects the Afghan army to be disbanded after a peace deal.
Murder Reigns
This is a point that needs to be understood. Due process is important. Its value as a constitutional right in a democratic system cannot be understated. But no amount of veneration for due process will convince people to trust the court system until it is actually seen to work. If the killing of innocent people like Naqeebullah Mesud and the family in Sahiwal does not galvanise us to think seriously about reforming our criminal justice system, then, I am pessimistic that it will ever happen.
Change We Can Believe In
We have yet to come around as a country to the mindset that change comes slow. By polishing and tweaking things one at a time. When things go wrong, we still scream for new legislation and new institutions, but only a few hushed voices talk about slowly fine-tuning the existing system to achieve big goals.
A Conundrum Called Gilgit - Baltistan
It is full provincial autonomy and full citizenship status that the people of Gilgit-Baltistan deserve. Anything less would be an insult to the people of a region that was one of the first to join Pakistan.