Yesterday, when news of a landslide victory spread through India, the
Indian markets responded very positively- a vital indicator of what this
election actually meant. After a decade full of half-baked economic
policies and a hoard of corruption scandals by the Congress party, the
tenor of this election was uniquely focused on economics. And there was
very little for Congress to offer as a counterpunch.
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Last week, human rights lawyer, Rashid Rehman was killed for being the
legal counsel of a man accused of blasphemy. This week, around 70
people, including lawyers protesting against the police chief of Jhang,
Umar Daraz, for manhandling their colleague were booked in a blasphemy
case for disrespecting the name (Umar) of the second Caliph of Islam.
Does this sound alarming?
In a controversial move, Michelle Obama replaced her husband for the
first time in the weekly presidential address to express outrage at the
kidnapping of over 200 Nigerian schoolgirls by the terrorist group, Boko
Haram. Soon after, a photo of the first lady emerged on social media
holding a sign with the twitter hashtag “ #BringBackOurGirls.” Not long
after this, celebrities followed suit and joined the campaign first
started by a Nigerian lawyer Ibrahim M. Abdullahi, on April 23rd.
At the beginning of this week, almost two dozen police officials
including traffic wardens and constables were sacked in Lahore on
various charges of corruption and the misuse of power. Fifteen other
officers were penalized with demotions. In Kasur on the same day, a
young man was allegedly tortured by the police and dumped unconscious on
the roadside. Over the years, police brutality and complicity in crimes
as severe as rape and custody deaths, have become a serious state
issue.
In the last few years, Pakistanis have begun celebrating Mother’s day
with fervour. However, Pakistan remains one of the toughest countries in
the world to give birth and raise children in. Save the Children’s
State of World’s Mothers report was released at the start of this month.
The report confirmed that in the last 15 years, globally maternal
mortality has halved and infant mortality has decreased by a quarter.
Dr Shakil Afridi, who allegedly helped the American spy agency find
Osama bin Laden, has no legal counsel as of now. His legal counsel has
resigned, citing pressure from the US and militant counsels as a cause.
This is hardly a surprise.
Pakistan was the first Muslim country to have a female Prime Minister.
Top cabinet ministries, including finance and foreign, have gone to
women politicians. However, these landmarks achieved at the national
level have not translated into political empowerment for women on the
provincial level. Balochistan, for example, is heading for a local
government election next month without a single woman candidate.
Following the WHO recommendations to place travel restrictions on Pakistan owing to the country’s failure to stem the spread of polio, the Punjab government has announced that people travelling to the province from other provinces of the country must produce polio vaccination certificates or get vaccinated on the spot. Consequently, vaccination teams and the police will be deployed at entry and exits points in the Punjab.
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Violence broke out in the north-eastern province of Assam last week, leading to the deaths of thirty four people. India has witnessed several communal riots since partition. In August last year in fact, a Hindu-Muslim clash in the Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh broke out, where sixty two Muslims died in what was described as “the worst violence in Uttar Pradesh in recent history.” Still, the intensity and frequency of the violence has generally declined in the last ten years, after the Gujarat riots which killed about 2000 Muslims.
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Balochistan Student Organization-Azaad (BSO-Azaad) is an ethno-centric student organization fighting for the separation and freedom of Balochistan. Over 100 members of the organization have been reported missing, and the organization is still considered popular amongst Baloch students. On the 18th of March, Zahid Baloch, the chairperson of BSO-Azaad was abducted and is now reported missing, like thousands of other Baloch.
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Intermediate exams were recently organized for ten inmates held for murder at the Adiala jail. This should spark a much delayed debate in Pakistan about the balance the country’s prison system needs to strike between punishment and reform. It must be kept in view throughout this discussion, that a majority of prisoners are returnees. Why is this the case? Why, after undergoing the horrors of jail time in Pakistan, do criminals continue to remain criminals after release?
In D.I. Khan, ten people lost their lives after falling into a chemical
drain yesterday. This chemical drain carried waste from the Chashma
Sugar Mills and ends in the Indus River. Two things must be considered
when addressing this incident: safety and accountability, for human life
and the environment.
Had events not taken this deadly turn, the
Chashma Sugar Mills would still be releasing its deadly, untreated waste
into our water systems unnoticed. In turn these sugar mills are owned
by the influential political lobby that gets ministries and many
political perks. Is this why these influential conglomerates manage to
flout the environmental laws without much consequence?
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The Punjab Institute of Cardiology has been slowly degenerating, after
having been devolved to the provincial government. Presently, seven out
of nine operation theaters in PIC are closed for sterilization, and all
nine have been branded unsafe for use. This is alarming, considering the
hospital serves almost the entire province and there are few
alternatives. The bigger problem, outside of hospital administration, is the fragmentation of power and devolution gone wrong.
As the election race reaches the finish line in India, a harsh policy
towards Pakistan can come handy. Modi recently promised that he will
bring back the Indian fugitive, Dawood Ibrahim, from Pakistan. Our
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar called this statement “irresponsible
and shameful.” The foreign office denounced it as an attempt to win
elections by exploiting anti-Pakistan sentiments.
