The 18th Amendment & The Supreme Court
The judiciary continues to prefer, regardless of parliamentary intent, an old centralised model. The model that the 18th Amendment wanted to expunge from the Constitution. In doing so, it is creating a jurisprudence at odds with the document they are tasked with protecting. Either the judiciary must correct its course or parliament must step in before there is nothing left of the 18th Amendment to save.
The Annual 18th Amendment Debate
Critics of the 18th Amendment should understand that the PTI did not win the Sindh government. As per our Constitution, that means the province has autonomy no matter how much this may frustrate the Centre. To tear down the 18th Amendment on this basis is ludicrous. It would put individual rule on a higher pedestal than institutional development.
Ink of the Scholar
An apology is the least Maulana Tariq Jameel can do to prevent further harm to women from his statement. If he is a scholar, then he must discard the intellectual laziness of blaming Covid-19 on the actions of women and immodesty. The golden age of Islam that so many crave for happened because people weren’t afraid to answer complex problems with complex answers. People like Maulana Tariq Jameel talk of that golden age often but refuse to do anything to reclaim it.
Blind Faith
Once upon a time, Islam was known for the use of reason over blind faith. Practical reason was the hallmark of early Islamic jurisprudence, demanding that we weigh the situation in front of us to come to the best decision. When weighing the risk of exposing our community to a deadly pathogen against communal prayer, the outcome should not be difficult. Prayer can happen at home, and if congregational prayer is seen as mandatory then people can pray in groups with their families. If a khutbah (sermon) before prayer is necessary, then any member of the family can deliver it.
Prisoners in Pandemics
The saga of the rights of prisoners during a pandemic ended with the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan deciding that only a limited category of prisoners awaiting trial deserved temporary freedom. In doing so, the SC refused to go as far as the more expansive judgment authored by the Islamabad High Court (IHC). This unfortunate result stems from the SC not considering vital legal principles that bore crucial relevance to the issue before them.
Flatten the Curve
The actions taken during this extraordinary moment in history will be scrutinised from every angle in the years to come. Public figures that downplayed the threat before it gorged on their healthcare systems will be cited as examples of inept leadership. Inaction will be the cardinal sin in the story of the coronavirus.
Fear in the time of Covid-19
Apathy is a deadly vice when dealing with pandemics. Even more so when you are given a rather generous three-month headstart to get on top of things. If you still aren’t ready for what’s coming after that you have no one to blame but yourself.
Peace with the Taliban?
Unfortunately, the graveyard of empires will almost surely enter into another phase of a war after this agreement. There may be sporadic US involvement initially, but eventually, the instability that triggered the civil war after the Soviet invasion will lead to a continued state of war. After 18 years of war, the people of Afghanistan cannot be abandoned this way. A true peace plan would have had representatives of the people of Afghanistan.
We Need the Aurat March
Women are marching on the 8th because the numbers don’t lie. Pakistan ranks 164 out of 167 countries in the 2019 Women, Peace and Security Index; it ranks 113 out of 129 in the Sustainable Development Goals Index; it is 6th on the list of countries found most dangerous for women; it has an estimated 12.2 million girls out of school; approximately 1,000 women are murdered every year in the name of “honour”; around 1,000 girls belonging to religious minorities are forcibly converted and forced to marry every year in Sindh; 21% of girls in Pakistan are married before the age of 18.
After Acquittal
While it is true that our problems are different from the problems in the US and it is impossible to make an apple to apple comparison, it is also true that the scourge of unchecked, unaccountable power has been a bigger problem for our country than theirs. It has now risen in India and in other countries around the world. We cannot allow it to return here. We need to learn to prevent it by seeing the signs of its rise early and nipping it in the bud.
Did the JUI-F Commit Treason?
An allegation of treason should not be made lightly. Especially not by the prime minister of a country against a political opponent. It takes away from the gravity of the only criminal offence proscribed in the Constitution of Pakistan. It also equates a political opponent with this country’s rogues’ gallery of past authoritarian rulers.
Dissent is Patriotism
To jail and label as terrorists our citizens who are peacefully asking for their constitutional rights is a shameful display of our lack of commitment to freedom. As this injustice grows, the silence of our Prime Minister is the most deafening. There is no justification for this silence. He must support the cause of justice. He must stand against intolerance and bigotry. He must implement a constitutional system where rights are more powerful than their restrictions.
A Monopoly Problem
Today the world recognises that economic power wielded by monopolistic corporations must be resisted through state intervention. A monopoly by itself may not be evil, but the abuse of monopoly power often is. The necessity for control gave birth to what we call competition or antitrust law.
The Trial of Donald J. Trump
From an objective lens, it is clear that Trump should be removed from office. However, we cannot lose sight of the fact that the Senate is controlled by Republicans led by Mitch McConnell. McConnel did not mince words in indicating his intent to protect Trump, whatever the cost. This would of course mean violating his oath as a Senator, but that hardly seems to matter in a polarised Congress
A Matter of Principle
In Pakistan, it is hard to say what principles guide the big three political parties of our country. Their core manifestos seem to change rapidly according to what needs to be done to stay in power a bit longer, often sacrificing the greater good of the country for a larger share in the political pie.
Making Politics Work
To make our politics work, to make sure that our people come to trust this process rather than the dictatorship model, we must implement the Constitution’s guarantee of local governments. To be sure, in order to implement these steps our elected parliamentarians would have to give up their own power. They would have to put the interests of the people before their own. Yet, our politicians should note that if they fail to make these changes then we will be left with a broken political system in which people will lose trust day by day.