Indian Insecurities

“Jis khait se dehqaan ko muyassar nahin rozi.

Uss khait ke har khosha-i-gandum ko jalla do”

PAKISTAN routinely claims Allama Iqbal as a founding father and its national poet,
but he died nine years before independence, and his intellectual domain was pre-
Partition India.
The verse quoted above — translated by Victor Kiernan as: “Find the field whose
harvest is no peasant’s daily bread/ Garner in the furnace every ripening ear of
wheat!” — comes from the third poem in a trilogy inspired by Lenin and first
published in Bal-i-Jibril (1935).
It resonates more than 85 years later in the context of the farmers’ rebellion that
has rocked the Modi sarkar in recent months, and continues to pose a formidable
challenge.
As India, like so many other countries, struggled to cope with the Covid-19
pandemic last year, Narendra Modi’s government picked September as the ideal
month to capitalise on the crisis by rushing through parliament, without meaningful
debate, three transformative laws pertinent to the agricultural sector, drawn up
without any consultation with farmers.
Almost everyone agrees the sector is not in a happy place. It employs around half
of the national workforce but accounts for less than a sixth of national GDP.
Distressing reports of suicides among farmers unable to make ends meet have
regularly been cropping up for decades.
The farmers deserve our solidarity.
But exposing farmers, who are already despondently vulnerable to the vagaries of
the weather and gnawing consequences of climate change, to the vagaries of the
free market is hardly a commendable solution. The prospective loss of the

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minimum price guarantee for their produce understandably propelled them into
action right after the offending acts were legislated.
The scale of the vociferous response in Punjab and Haryana took the government
by surprise. It has since toyed with every trick in the book in an effort to quell the
rebellion, including by offering to suspend the implementation of the laws by 18
months. But the farmers saw through that ploy right away.
They also seem to be well aware of the fact that the possibility of higher returns in
the short run, while corporations race to outbid their competitors, is bound to be
followed, once monopolies or oligopolies have been established, by the Ambanis
and Adanis or their ilk dictating the price of produce.
That’s what ‘liberalisation’, a key word in the neoliberal jargon, invariably entails.
Then there’s ‘efficiency’. It cropped up — surprise, surprise — in a statement from
the Biden administration issued through the US embassy in New Delhi, which
“welcomed the steps that would improve the efficiency of India’s markets and
attract greater private sector investment”, while “encouraging” the idea of
differences being resolved “through dialogue”.
Similar condescending mealy-mouthedness is typical of institutions such as the IMF
and World Bank but has also been echoed by India’s mainstream media, with
leading newspapers extolling the deleterious laws while advising the government
to properly explain them to the farmers.
Events took an unfortunate turn on Republic Day, Jan 26, when Delhi’s Red Fort
was breached and there was violence on its outskirts, but there is plenty of
circumstantial evidence that agents provocateurs were involved. A 25-year-old
protesting farmer was killed on the day — according to his family and eyewitness
accounts, Navreet Singh was shot before he tumbled and was crushed under his
tractor.
Senior journalists who merely reported the account of the victim’s family have
been charged with sedition. And when pop star Rihanna, reacting to reports that
internet services had been cut off at the vast protest camps, posted a fairly
innocuous tweet saying “Why aren’t we talking about this?”, she attracted a
standing army of misogynist Sangh Parivar trolls.
When the Swedish environmentalist Greta Thunberg expressed her solidarity with
the farmers shortly afterwards and offered a toolkit for activists, she encountered

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a similarly hostile barrage of invective. True to form, she doubled down on her
resistance, and has since been burned in effigy on the streets of Delhi alongside the
US vice president’s niece, Meena Harris, who compared the assault on “the world’s
oldest democracy” with that on its “most populous democracy” and suggested:
“We ALL should be outraged by India’s internet shutdown and paramilitary violence
against farmer protesters.”
This isn’t ‘foreign interference’ but welcome expressions of solidarity. There’s no
scope here, mind you, for Pakistan to take the high moral ground, given the
intolerance of dissent that has abounded for decades. India has now co-opted and
finessed it to a nauseating degree.
Ultimately, though, India’s future course depends on the critics within. Last
weekend, the Associated Press quoted an 80-year-old farmer, Jhajjan Singh, as
saying Modi “should know that either he will remain or we will”. Should it come to
that, I know which side I’m on.

By: Mahir Ali

Source: Dawn

10-2-2021
Arab World needs a renaissance of the Sciences
Excitement was building as the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission — the
UAE’s Hope probe — successfully entered Mars’ orbit on Tuesday. Launched last
July, the UAE had originally planned for this marvelous feat to coincide with the
country’s golden jubilee on Dec. 2, 2021.

The UAE becomes the fifth nation that has sent a spacecraft to the Red Planet. Hope
is expected to answer a number of pivotal scientific enquiries regarding the red
planet’s atmosphere. The probe is aptly named as the UAE hopes it will inspire the
next generation of Arab scientists and prompt a renaissance of the sciences in the
region.

The Arabs are heirs to the extraordinary legacy of the Islamic Golden Age, which
lasted from the 8th century to the 14th century and sparked advances in the fields
of mathematics, medicine, chemistry, astronomy, and geography.

Its contributions were the catalysts for the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods
in Europe. Bernard Lewis, an eminent historian in Oriental studies, wrote in his
2002 book “What Went Wrong?” that, “for many centuries, the world of Islam was
in the forefront of human civilization and achievement.”

For example, in the field of mathematics, Arab scholars invented the Arab decimal
system, reformed the calendar, and revolutionized the use of the zero and algebra.
In the field of medicine, physicians and scholars paved the way for standard medical
practice in Europe. Ibn Sina, known as the “prince of physicians” in the West, wrote
the seminal book “The Canon of Medicine,” which was required reading
throughout Europe until the 17th century. Ibn Sina pioneered advances in
pharmacology, holistic medicine, and psychotherapy.

In the field of astronomy, the Arabs invented the modern astrolabe and compiled
astronomical charts and tables in observatories, where they were able to define
the length of a degree, determine longitude and latitude, and understand the
relative speeds of sound and light. Al-Biruni discussed the possibility of Earth’s
rotation in his “Exhaustive Book on Astrolabes” six centuries before the theory was
proven by Galileo Galilei.

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However, this scientific eminence has been lost to the sands of time. The world is
moving toward an interesting future, dominated by scientific and technological
advances that will determine countries’ competitiveness. Today’s world relies
heavily on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) leaders and
professionals to solve increasingly complex problems, such as the management of
the current coronavirus pandemic, climate change, sustainable energy, and food
and water security.

If the region is to prosper in the long-term, it is vital that countries invest in STEM
education

Sara Al-Mulla

Additionally, our economies rely on the inventions and innovations of STEM

professionals to increase quality of life and economic competitiveness. If the region
is to prosper in the long-term, it is vital that countries invest in STEM education to
capitalize on the new industries and new sources of wealth arising from these
sectors. According to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers, if Australia moved just
1 percent of its workforce into STEM roles, it could add $57.4 billion to its gross
domestic product (GDP). On the other hand, a lack of investment in STEM subjects
could force Australia to drop out of the list of the top 20 countries in this field by
2050.

It is imperative that governments uphold STEM education as a national priority.

This can be started through early childhood education centers. It is also useful to
inspire parents to create a home environment that nurtures STEM skills, such as
curiosity, creativity and problem-solving, in addition to fostering a love for the
sciences through books, documentaries and games.

Teachers have the opportunity to use STEM activities across multiple subjects,
enabling children to develop the knowledge and skills they need to pursue careers
in STEM fields. It is especially important to empower girls with confidence and
knowledge in order to shatter the misconceptions, stereotypes and social norms
that influence the subjects they choose to study. Parents and teachers can also
access many online resources to support children’s learning, such as the
Smithsonian Science Education Center, National Geographic Kids, NASA STEM @

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Home, and guides published by government agencies. Similar content should be
available in the Arabic language for students in the region.

Additionally, more investment needs to be channeled toward research and

development (R&D), especially to expedite our recovery from the ongoing
pandemic. Indeed, the public sector needs to come up with new administration
methods, such as delivering smart services and adopting artificial intelligence to
reduce costs and increase productivity. Furthermore, much work needs to be done
on upgrading the research infrastructure of universities in the region.

On the other hand, the private sector depends on R&D to bring to life new products
and offer new services to customers. Governments can partner with the private
sector to fund and conduct research and innovation projects. Many countries
dedicate full-fledged innovation parks to attract highly reputed companies and to
facilitate research in a number of fields, after which innovations can be transferred
to the manufacturing stage and then rolled out to market. Governments need a
suite of incentives to attract such research centers, including investing in
workforces and funding research projects.

South Korea is an exemplary case study on using STEM to boost the economy. It
spent 4.81 percent of its GDP on research and development in 2018. Between 1960
and 2019, it recorded an average GDP growth of 7.3 percent, allowing it to catch
up with many developed economies, with innovation playing a significant role in
this. The private sector accounts for 80 percent of total R&D spending, ahead of
many leading innovative countries.

By sparking a renaissance of the sciences, the Arab region can assure itself of a
future that promises job creation, economic growth and quality of life for its
residents.

By: Sara Al Mulla

Source: Arab News

10-2-2021
 Legal reforms deliver justice for all
Saudi Arabia is undergoing a rapid socioeconomic transformation. In order to make
this a success, sweeping reforms are needed in the country’s legal system to ensure
transparency and justice.

Fortunately, the Kingdom is not lagging in this regard, and in recent years we have
witnessed measures aimed at reforming the judicial system.

Several laws have been enacted and amended to ensure speedy justice and boost
transparency, enhancing the Kingdom’s global competitiveness and ensuring rights
for all.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday announced yet another round of
sweeping legal reforms to eliminate inconsistency, speed up verdicts and boost the
efficiency of the Saudi legal system.

The new laws — the Personal Status Law, Civil Transactions Law, Penal Code for
Discretionary Sanctions, and the Law of Evidence — represent a new wave of
judicial reforms.

These new laws aim to raise the level of integrity of the judiciary, remove
discrepancies, and provide a system of checks and balances.

The reforms will help close loopholes that led to wide discrepancies in rulings and
a lack of clarity in rules governing the circumstances of a particular case. All these
factors resulted in prolonged litigation and confusion. The new laws ensure clear
mechanisms for different types of cases, and offer proper guidelines and
procedures that will remove ambiguity and guarantee transparency.

These decisions were taken in view of discrepancies in some rulings that had painful
consequences, especially for women, and allowed some to evade their
responsibilities.

The Personal Status Law will deal with provisions related to family matters and
regulate provisions related to wills and inheritance. The Civil Transactions Law will

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regulate the relationship between individuals and reduce the litigation period in
disputes resulting from mutual transactions.

Of course, the Evidence Law will separate the evidentiary rules regarding civil and
commercial transactions between individuals, such as witness testimony, written
evidence, digital evidence and other various means of evidence.

The study of the Personal Status Law is currently being completed, one of four draft
regulations the authorities are working on. It will be referred to the Council of
Ministers and its bodies for study and review according to the legislative principles,
in preparation for referral to the Shoura Council.
Dimah Talal Alsharif is a Saudi legal consultant, head of the health law department at the law
firm of Majed Garoub and a member of the International Association of Lawyers.

By: Dimah Talal Alsharif

Source: Arab News

10-2-2021
 Saudi Arabia joins the global fight against
money launderers
Money laundering is becoming a disturbing issue for the world economy and the
global financial markets. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that $800
billion to $2 trillion is laundered each year, equal to around 2 to 5 percent of the
global GDP.
Governments around the world have stepped up their efforts to combat money
laundering in recent years by implementing regulations that require financial
institutions to put systems in place to detect and report suspicious activity.
Moreover, most governments have established international and regional
organizations and introduced legislative and supervisory bodies to enhance the
performance of financial and non-financial institutions to prevent money
laundering activities.
Put simply, money laundering is the illegal process of making large amounts of
money from criminal activity, such as drug and human trafficking, tax evasion,
illegal arms sales, smuggling and other organized crimes. This money is considered
“dirty” and by laundering it through legitimate business activities it is then made to
look “clean.”
Money laundering usually goes through three basic steps to make illegally gained
proceeds appear legal. The first step is placement (the movement of cash from its
dirty source into a financial institution), layering (converting cash into monetary
instruments) and integration (the movement of previously laundered money back
into the economy).
In response to the mounting concern over money laundering, the Financial Action
Task Force (FATF) was established in 1989 in Paris by the G7 to develop a
coordinated international response to the issue. One of the first tasks of the FATF
was to develop a list of recommendations — 40 in total — which national
governments should take to implement effective anti-money laundering programs.
Saudi Arabia has succeeded in introducing a range of anti-money laundering
initiatives and measures over the past few decades, which have helped to protect
the national economy.
Talat Zaki Hafiz
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In response, Saudi Arabia has been proactive in combating money laundering
activities and has set about improving its legal framework, introducing Anti-Money
Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism laws in 2017.
Authorities such as the Permanent Committee for Anti-Money Laundering and the
Saudi Arabia Financial Investigation Unit are continuing to work hard to enforce
these laws and ensure that the legal framework in place is effective.
In this regard, Saudi Arabia has consistently aimed for international best practices,
which has led to it achieving financial stability and the prevention of suspicious
operations.
In addition, the minister of commerce has also launched the National Program for
Combating Commercial Concealment to ensure that all commercial businesses
operating in the Kingdom are run legally and to encourage all outlets to transition
to electronic payment systems.
In recognition of Saudi Arabia’s efforts with regard to combating money laundering,
the Kingdom was granted permanent membership to FATF during its session in
Orlando in June 2019, the first Arab country to receive this distinction.
In my opinion, Saudi Arabia has succeeded in introducing a range of anti-money
laundering initiatives and measures over the past few decades, which have helped
to protect the national economy and promote it as one of the most proactive
countries when it comes to combating this issue.
Talat Zaki Hafiz is an economist, financial analyst and a board member of
the Saudi Financial Association.

By: Talat Zaki Hafiz

Source: Arab News

10-2-2021
 Why Trump’s defense team failed miserably
The second impeachment trial of Donald Trump got underway on Tuesday with
arguments about whether the US Senate has jurisdiction to try the former
president now that he has left office. Most legal scholars, regardless of political
ideology, believe it does. But impeachment is a political rather than a legal process,
so a debate and vote on the issue took up the first day of the trial.

Trump's lawyers, Bruce Castor and David Schoen, had two very different tacks to
make their case that the former president cannot be tried: Castor served up off-
the-cuff babbling — at one point reminiscing at length about listening to a record
of Sen. Everett Dirksen of Illinois, who served in the Senate in the 1950s and 1960s
— while Schoen went straight for the jugular, accusing Democrats of "weaponizing"
the process for their own partisan purposes. But though their approaches differed
wildly, their goal was the same: to undermine and discredit the impeachment
process itself. In doing so, they played into a tactic Republicans have been wielding
for decades.

Castor, no doubt knowing he had more than 40 Republican votes regardless of what
he said, took the opportunity to say nothing coherent at all. While that underscored
the weakness of Trump's case, it also underscored that no argument would change
the ultimate outcome: Whatever the lawyers say, Republicans are largely
uninterested in holding Trump to account. So, no argument is precisely what Castor
delivered.

Schoen, on the other hand, opened not by laying out a legal argument but
attacking "the insatiable lust for impeachment in the House for the past four
years." Acting as though he were Fox News's Sean Hannity delivering his opening
monologue, he then showed a video mashup of Democrats calling for Trump's
impeachment over the past four years. (Of course, the video did not reveal the
underlying offenses Democrats were accusing Trump of committing.)

"This is nothing less than the political weaponization of the impeachment process,"
Schoen snapped, "pure, raw sport, fueled by the misguided idea of party over

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country." The impeachment, he then suggested, was itself an attack on democracy,
an effort to overturn the votes of the 74 million Americans who had voted for
Trump in the 2020 election.

Such arguments are not new. Conservatives in the 1970s made the same sorts of
arguments about former President Richard Nixon and the Watergate hearings,
insisting that it was an effort by Democrats and the liberal media to overturn
Nixon's landslide election in 1972 and silence the "silent majority." They called it
the "criminalization of politics" and leaned hard on the idea that Nixon had done
nothing worse than any other politician — certainly nothing worse than his
Democratic predecessor, Lyndon Johnson, who they believed to be one of the most
corrupt politicians of his generation.

Since then, there has been a concerted effort on the right, led by former House
Speaker Newt Gingrich in the 1980s and 1990s, to weaponize and weaken the
processes meant to hold politicians responsible for their actions.
Gingrich leveraged ethics rules to unseat Democratic Speaker Jim Wright in 1989
(less than a decade later Gingrich himself would be ousted, in part, for ethics
charges, which he apologized for after an ethics subcommittee ruled against him).
As Speaker, Gingrich used all the mechanisms at his disposal to endlessly
investigate former President Bill Clinton, culminating in a partisan impeachment
with little public support.

The same process repeated itself when former President Barack Obama took
office: endless investigations that unearthed little wrongdoing, a contempt of
Congress charge against then-Attorney General Eric Holder (who was cleared by a
subsequent Inspector General's report), and a desire — ultimately unfulfilled — to
impeach Obama.

At the same time, Republicans have learned that if they refuse to censure their
own, they can make any accountability appear to be a partisan vendetta. That's
what happened in Trump's first impeachment, when Utah Sen. Mitt Romney
became the only Republican to vote for impeachment or conviction. It is a sign of
just how awful the insurrection at the Capitol was that 10 Republicans broke party
ranks and voted to impeach last month.
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But the right is preparing to weaponize all this against Democrats the first chance
they get. Hannity has already suggested that, if rules were equally applied,
President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Senate Majority Leader Chuck
Schumer, and California Rep. Maxine Waters should all be impeached for inciting
insurrection -- an argument that both attacks Democrats while diminishing the
severity of the insurrection at the Capitol.

And after seeing a mostly-Democratic US House of Representatives

majority strip Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a conspiracist who supported
calls for violence against members of Congress, of her committee assignments,
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy warned that Democrats were setting a
"dangerous precedent" -- insinuating that when Republicans controlled the House,
they could begin stripping committee assignments from any Democrat they
deemed problematic.

Yet even though they know such bad-faith attacks are coming, Democrats in
Congress must continue to make the case against Trump for his role in inciting the
insurrection at the Capitol. They may not be able to convince Republicans in
Congress, but they can make clear to the American people, and to posterity, that
they understand the danger Trump represents to democracy and are willing to do
what they can to hold him to account.
Nicole Hemmer is an associate research scholar at Columbia University with the Obama Presidency Oral
History Project and the author of "Messengers of the Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation
of American Politics."

By: Nicole Hemmer

Source: CNN

10-2-2021
 Lessons from the Myanmar coup
The recent military coup in Myanmar raised an international uproar, with the
United States and Western countries in the lead, rallying for the re-instatement
of the civilian government and demanding the immediate release of Aung San
Suu Kyi, the iconic leader who led the freedom movement, and all others
detained along with her. They have clamped strict sanctions and are trying to
make governance difficult for the Junta. As expected, China and Russia have
however issued mild statements implying that the country’s leadership finds a
peaceful way out of the present political crisis. The Security Council met
informally to assess what role it could play in dissuading the generals to revert
to civilian rule but issued no formal statement. It is understandable that there
would be serious differences with China and Russia again opposed to any
public condemnation or sanctions and the US and Western countries taking a
harder position.
There has been a strong reaction within the country and people have come out
on the streets in support for a return to democracy and freedom of political
leaders especially Aung San. What probably was not anticipated by the military
Junta was that there would be such a strong opposition within the country and
abroad.
It is somewhat premature to assess whether the Junta would be able to hold
out amidst this fierce opposition. It would largely depend on how long and with
what fervour the broad masses are able to sustain the opposition and on the
support Aung San and her party would receive from the international
community.
The Myanmar military is known for its ruthlessness that shows its ugly face fairly
frequently. The way it has handled the Rohingya community, denying them
citizenship and pushing nearly 800,000 into Bangladesh and out of the country
callously. Regrettably, in this shameful act, Aung San was an equal accomplice
and the world generally looked the other way. And more shameful was that the
nationalists rejoiced giving a boost to General Min Aung Hlaing’s popularity and
a strong hold on the party.

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This was not the first time that the army has seized power. Myanmar has been
under military rule for nearly 50 years and even while not directly ruling the
country, the army has been pulling strings from behind — a familiar pattern of
controlling fake democracies. But even that façade was not maintained for long
and the army is now directly in control with the entire cabinet filled with retired
and serving generals. The military has spread its tentacles in every major
sphere of national activity. They run schools, hospitals, industrial units, banks,
television and radio networks and keep expanding their areas of interest in the
civilian field.
In many ways, what is happening in Myanmar should be of no surprise to us or
to other similar faltering new democracies. But are there any lessons that we
could draw from here and take a hard look at the hybrid model of power sharing
that has been with us since 2012?
Although this model gives some semblance of democracy and there is a
continuity of civilian rule with limited freedom of action, it has serious
shortcomings. The major weakness lies in reconciling institutional and national
interest. If the military continues to exercise power beyond its constitutional
boundaries and receives a larger share of national budget on a long-term basis
due to internal and external security challenges, then its size and power keep
growing. For the political parties, moving away from the hybrid system becomes
difficult. But the irony is that a hybrid system is not sustainable for too long as
was recently witnessed in Myanmar and with us in the past when there were
frequent military coups.
Myanmar and other countries like Thailand where the military dominates, are
ethnically homogeneous. Whereas, Pakistan is not, and Punjab being much
larger than the other three provinces gives rise to insecurities among smaller
ones, especially in Balochistan and Sindh. Ensuring that power genuinely
devolves to these provinces is essential for national solidarity and countering
separatists’ tendencies
One of the important factors for Pakistan being unable to attract foreign and
local investment is the uncertainty about its political future and lack of
consistency in economic policies. Moreover, doubts on the legitimacy of the
elected governments, whether justified or not, has become a routine and part
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of our political culture. The entire Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) has
been based on this assumption. These misgivings are undermining democracy
and can be removed by holding elections under supervision of an independent
body as is the norm in many countries including India.
Dynastic politics, and absence of democratic values and culture within
Pakistan’s political parties will have to change if democracy has to be
strengthened. Mere slogans and demonising opponents without a better
alternative would be a repeat of the inglorious past.
Bringing about this transformation would not be easy as past history reminds
us. Looking at the experiences of other countries would, however, be
instructive. In Turkey the change from years of military domination to civilian
rule was, unfortunately, very traumatic. Its after effects still continue to
reverberate. Tunisia, the only country that opted for democracy after the Arab
Spring, is facing serious economic and security challenges. Indonesia has
made a relatively smooth transition after having suffered years of dictatorship.
Japan became a democracy in 1947 and is the third leading economic power
and has enjoyed for the last six years political stability and moderate economic
expansion. And South Korea has gradually stabilised into a liberal democracy
with a strong economy. This demonstrates that countries with a greater literacy
rate, higher education standards and strong institutions are in a better position
to assimilate the essence and spirit of democracy.
Pakistani leadership should draw lessons from the experience of other
countries to strengthen democratic institutions and to place the economy on a
sound footing. This would require a fundamental change in the power structure
of the political parties and adherence to the Constitution by state institutions.
Whether this happens through an evolutionary process or the nation would have
to go through many jolts for that transformation to occur remains to be seen.

By: Talat Masood

Source: Express Tribune

10-2-2021
 Child rights, myths and realities

“In 1789 the French population switched almost overnight from believing in the
myth of the divine right of kings to believing in the myth of the sovereignty of the
people”, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind.
Humans love to believe in myths They are essential to adopting a collective pattern
of behaviour. There is however a growing call for replacing myths with a new global
ethic that could meet contemporary challenges like environmental degradation
and extreme gaps between the rich and poor. Child rights are one such popular
myth. We are made to believe that borrowed ideas from international conventions
and instruments, force-fitted into ceremonial and obfuscated child rights laws, acts,
commissions, authorities and bureaus will deliver the much-needed child
protection in Pakistan. Nothing could be further from the truth.
With each passing year, this ‘more of the same’ approach has only worsened our
standing in every index of child rights — be it out-of-school children, child labour
or child abuse. Thus, there is a need for more sober and ab initio rethinking on child
rights, their myths and realities.
Children are like birds in a society. Birds fly, not because they have any inherent
right or monopoly legislated by an act of parliament. They do so because they have
wings that evolved over centuries to help escape predation. Also, they do so only
when they get enough space to climb, dive, hover and glide. The ‘rights of a bird’
are thus protected by its biological capacity and the physical environments it lives
in. Not a thousand laws, commissions and conventions can make a bird fly if its
wings are clipped or when the bird is shut in a cage. Birds are therefore least
interested in any mythological ‘rights’ granted by a United Nations body. We, on
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the contrary, continue to seek refuge in myths instead of focusing on improving the
capacity and environments needed for the protection and growth of our children.
Let us begin with the basics. Parents sell their eight-year-old daughters to become
domestic workers and be abused and killed, not because they wish to do so. They
let their children become sanitary or kiln workers to suffer indignity, abuse and a
joyless childhood, not because they hate their children but because they are sunk
in poverty. They are poor because it suits the state and rich elite to keep them
submerged in poverty. They are poor because they are deprived of the measliest
of minimum legal wage entitled to them by law. They are poor because the state
and the society ensures they are neither registered in the old-age benefits (EOBI)
nor in the social security schemes. Thus, we patronise a system that promotes
poverty and clips the wings (capacity) of parents to provide a decent protected life
to their children.
The environment in the schools, hospitals, communities and homes determines the

level of protection a child will receive. Our burgeoning population has created

conditions and environments that force millions of children to cramp up in one-

room homes, stay out of school, be engaged in child labour or simply live and beg

on the streets. Adding 12,000 children each day, Pakistan, whose population was

less than Bangladesh by six million in 1971, is now ahead of Bangladesh by 58

million individuals. Such a massive growth in population has restrained Pakistan

from meeting any development goals relating to poverty or child protection.

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Child rights cannot be ensured on the basis of myths. They can only be provided by

managing realities, i.e., an unsustainable fertility rate and a population drenched

in poverty. Worsened by an obscene gap between rich and poor, Pakistani children

continue to remain vulnerable, unless their parents are paid well enough and the

state is able to check a runaway population.

The writer is a health, safety and environment consultant

By: Naeem Sadiq

Source: Express Tribune

10-2-2021
 Downgraded Climate change ministry
With the Covid-19 vaccines coming in, the pandemic will soon lose its disruptive
momentum and leave behind many learning lessons. However, a new crisis is
already on its way and will soon be the world’s next calamity. Ecological disruption
is a challenge we are clearly not ready for.
If recovery from the Covid-19 crisis is to be sustainable, we must do everything to
fight the climate crisis. Countries are quadrupling their climate change budgets to
tackle its disastrous effects but sadly in Pakistan, the story is different.
Pakistan is now the fifth most vulnerable country to climate change in the world,
two places up from last year. Logically speaking, the budget for its ministry should
go up. However, in the federal budget 2020-21, not only did the climate change
ministry funding get cut by over 34%, it also did not receive a single penny for new
projects. Budgetary allocations for the ministry came down from Rs7.5 billion in
2019-20 to Rs5 billion in 2020-21. What is more appalling is that the Minister for
Climate Change Zartaj Gul had no clue about it when this was raised in parliament.
Instead, the honourable minister continously blamed the previous governments for
their corruption and stagnancy with the climate crisis.
The PTI government has been banking on the 10 Billion Tree Tsunami Project since
it started the initiative in K-P. However, in a recent Supreme Court report, it was
found that the project is marred by corruption. The top court ordered a
comprehensive inquiry on how many trees have been planted and in which areas
of the country. The Climate Change Secretary Naheed Durrani made a claim that
around 430 million trees have been planted. To this, the Chief Justice replied, “had
such a huge number of trees been planted, the entire climate and fate of the
country would have been changed.”
Let’s not forget, even after the initiation and implementation of the Billion Tree
Tsunami Project, our forest cover is still at an abysmal 5.7%. On top of this — it has
also been revealed that 98% of the climate change ministry’s budget will only go to
the PTI’s politicised Billion Tree Tsunami Project. The federal government must also
understand that accelerated climate change exacerbates other key focal areas such
as food insecurity, livelihood crisis, and water woes.

10-2-2021
In September 2020, during a Senate’s Standing Committee meeting on climate
change, Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) failed to explain the rise
in air pollution in Islamabad. In 2017, the EPA had no mechanism to monitor air
pollution levels in the country. The same year, the EPA failed to publish its annual
report, “State of the Environment (SoE)”. The question that arises here is: what is
the update now? With all eyes on the Billion Tree Tsunami Project, important issues
are being neglected at a very hefty cost. The SoE report highlights key areas that
are affected by ecological disruption including air pollution, issues of biodiversity
and urbanisation, solid waste management, chemical and hospital waste, and
desertification.
The Global Climate Risk Index published by Germanwatch in 2020, highlights that
Pakistan suffered economic losses worth $3.8 billion from 1999 to 2018. With
climate stress gaining momentum, these statistics are expected to worsen in the
coming years and we will have deprived budgets for disaster risk management.
The climate change ministry has been downgraded to a whole new level.
Policymakers must understand that ecological disruption is already building a
destructive potential and will cause damage at an unprecedented scale. Investing
in climate security is indeed essential to ensure the safety of the planet and to
assuage the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

By: Eric Shahzar

Source: Express Tribune

10-2-2021
 B’Tselem’s ‘bombshell’ apartheid report:
Stating the obvious
Israel is an apartheid state. This obvious fact, of which millions of Palestinians living
under Israeli rule have been painfully aware for decades, finally made headlines in
the West last month thanks to a report by Israel’s leading human rights
organisation, B’Tselem.

The report, titled “A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the
Mediterranean Sea: This is apartheid”, got the Western world talking about the real
nature of the so-called “Israeli democracy” and paved the way for the many
parallels between modern-day Israel and apartheid South Africa to be discussed in
the mainstream.

Neither Edward Said nor Archbishop Desmond Tutu was able to do that. The UN
special rapporteurs on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian
territories, such as Richard Falk and John Dugard, were not able to do that either.
To be taken seriously, and find itself a place in the pages of Western newspapers,
the statement that “Israel is an apartheid state” had to come from Israeli Jews
themselves.

Israel’s apartheid has always been an open secret

The International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crimes of

Apartheid (ICSPCA), Article 2, Part 3, defines apartheid as:

“Any legislative measures and other measures calculated to prevent a racial group
or groups from participation in the political, social, economic and cultural life of the
country and the deliberate creation of conditions preventing the full development

10-2-2021
of such a group or groups, in particular by denying to members of a racial group or
groups basic human rights and freedoms, including the right to work, the right to
form recognized trade unions, the right to education, the right to leave and to
return to their country, the right to a nationality, the right to freedom of movement
and residence, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and the right to
freedom of peaceful assembly and association.”

This definition, in its entirety, clearly applies not only to the situation of Palestinian
people residing in the West Bank and Gaza Strip – who are fully and permanently
subject to Israel’s authority but do not hold any citizenship rights – but also that of
those living in so-called “Israeli proper”.

Israel defines itself as a “Jewish state”. All Jews, regardless of where they were
born, can assume Israeli citizenship and participate fully in Israel’s democracy. The
land’s Indigenous inhabitants, the Palestinians, however, are openly denied most
basic rights and freedoms in Israel. While some Palestinians do hold Israeli
citizenship, even they are not considered equal to their Jewish compatriots in the
eyes of the state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself accepted this fact a few years
ago, stating “Israel is not a state of all its citizens … [it] is the nation state of the
Jewish people – and only it”.

ICSPCA, Article 2, Part 4, meanwhile, makes it crystal clear that the term “crime of
apartheid” includes “[a]ny measures including legislative measures, designed to
divide the population along racial lines by the creation of separate reserves and
ghettos for the members of a racial group or groups … [and] the expropriation of
landed property belonging to a racial group or groups or to members thereof”.
10-2-2021
It is, of course, impossible to deny that the Israeli regime is forcing Palestinians to
live in “separate reserves and ghettos”. The Israeli state not only took Palestinian
lands and gave them to Israeli Jews, but it also banned us from freely moving within
our own homeland.

Despite all this, until recently, comparisons between Israel and apartheid South
Africa were completely taboo – anyone who dared to talk about “the Israeli
apartheid” was swiftly accused of being an anti-Semite and silenced. The guilt white
Europeans felt about the Holocaust, during which nearly six million innocent Jews
were slaughtered by white, European racists, kept the Israeli regime safe from any
criticism coming from the Palestinians and their allies.

Now that some Israeli Jews themselves appear to openly accept that their state has
enacted a regime of Jewish supremacy over all the territories it controls, there is
hope that the Israeli apartheid can one day be fully exposed and demolished.

I am a naturalised South African citizen of Palestinian origin. I was born and raised
in Palestine, but spent more than five years in Johannesburg studying towards a
PhD.

As a result, I experienced life under two different apartheids. While one of these
apartheid regimes is now lying at the bottom of the dustbin of history, sadly, the
other is still thriving.

These two apartheid regimes had different fates not because they were materially
different, but because the international community chose to denounce one and
support the other.

Apartheid South Africa considered itself a democracy. Its institutions were indeed
somewhat democratic, but only for the white citizens of the country. The
international community eventually denounced this “white democracy” as

10-2-2021
illegitimate, and put its support behind Black South Africans working to build a state
under which all of the country’s citizens enjoy equal rights and freedoms.

Palestinians gather near Anata village of Jerusalem to stage a protest against the
wall built on a road to separate the vehicles with Israeli licence plates and
Palestinian licence plates in West Bank on January 23, 2019 [File: Issam
Rimawi/Anadolu Agency]

Israel is an apartheid state. This obvious fact, of which millions of Palestinians living
under Israeli rule have been painfully aware for decades, finally made headlines in
the West last month thanks to a report by Israel’s leading human rights
organisation, B’Tselem.

The report, titled “A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the
Mediterranean Sea: This is apartheid”, got the Western world talking about the real
nature of the so-called “Israeli democracy” and paved the way for the many
parallels between modern-day Israel and apartheid South Africa to be discussed in
the mainstream.

Neither Edward Said nor Archbishop Desmond Tutu was able to do that. The UN
special rapporteurs on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian
territories, such as Richard Falk and John Dugard, were not able to do that either.
To be taken seriously, and find itself a place in the pages of Western newspapers,
the statement that “Israel is an apartheid state” had to come from Israeli Jews
themselves.

Israel’s apartheid has always been an open secret

The International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crimes of

Apartheid (ICSPCA), Article 2, Part 3, defines apartheid as:

“Any legislative measures and other measures calculated to prevent a racial group
or groups from participation in the political, social, economic and cultural life of the
country and the deliberate creation of conditions preventing the full development
of such a group or groups, in particular by denying to members of a racial group or
groups basic human rights and freedoms, including the right to work, the right to

10-2-2021
form recognized trade unions, the right to education, the right to leave and to
return to their country, the right to a nationality, the right to freedom of movement
and residence, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and the right to
freedom of peaceful assembly and association.”

This definition, in its entirety, clearly applies not only to the situation of Palestinian
people residing in the West Bank and Gaza Strip – who are fully and permanently
subject to Israel’s authority but do not hold any citizenship rights – but also that of
those living in so-called “Israeli proper”.

Israel defines itself as a “Jewish state”. All Jews, regardless of where they were
born, can assume Israeli citizenship and participate fully in Israel’s democracy. The
land’s Indigenous inhabitants, the Palestinians, however, are openly denied most
basic rights and freedoms in Israel. While some Palestinians do hold Israeli
citizenship, even they are not considered equal to their Jewish compatriots in the
eyes of the state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself accepted this fact a few years
ago, stating “Israel is not a state of all its citizens … [it] is the nation state of the
Jewish people – and only it”.

ICSPCA, Article 2, Part 4, meanwhile, makes it crystal clear that the term “crime of
apartheid” includes “[a]ny measures including legislative measures, designed to
divide the population along racial lines by the creation of separate reserves and
ghettos for the members of a racial group or groups … [and] the expropriation of
landed property belonging to a racial group or groups or to members thereof”.

It is, of course, impossible to deny that the Israeli regime is forcing Palestinians to
live in “separate reserves and ghettos”. The Israeli state not only took Palestinian
lands and gave them to Israeli Jews, but it also banned us from freely moving within
our own homeland.

Despite all this, until recently, comparisons between Israel and apartheid South
Africa were completely taboo – anyone who dared to talk about “the Israeli
apartheid” was swiftly accused of being an anti-Semite and silenced. The guilt white
Europeans felt about the Holocaust, during which nearly six million innocent Jews
10-2-2021
were slaughtered by white, European racists, kept the Israeli regime safe from any
criticism coming from the Palestinians and their allies.

Now that some Israeli Jews themselves appear to openly accept that their state has
enacted a regime of Jewish supremacy over all the territories it controls, there is
hope that the Israeli apartheid can one day be fully exposed and demolished.

An ‘apartheid’ framed as a ‘conflict’

I am a naturalised South African citizen of Palestinian origin. I was born and raised
in Palestine, but spent more than five years in Johannesburg studying towards a
PhD.

As a result, I experienced life under two different apartheids. While one of these
apartheid regimes is now lying at the bottom of the dustbin of history, sadly, the
other is still thriving.

These two apartheid regimes had different fates not because they were materially
different, but because the international community chose to denounce one and
support the other.

Apartheid South Africa considered itself a democracy. Its institutions were indeed
somewhat democratic, but only for the white citizens of the country. The
international community eventually denounced this “white democracy” as
illegitimate, and put its support behind Black South Africans working to build a state
under which all of the country’s citizens enjoy equal rights and freedoms.

Just like apartheid South Africa, Israel considers itself a democracy. Its institutions
are democratic, but only for the Jewish citizens of the country.

Unlike apartheid South Africa, however, Israel’s so-called “democracy” is still

accepted as legitimate by an overwhelming majority in the international
community thanks to the efforts of the Israeli state and its powerful allies in the
West.

The same forces that are trying to convince the world that Israel is indeed a
“democracy” are also working to whitewash Israel’s apartheid regime in Palestine

10-2-2021
by framing it as a “conflict” between two equal sides. Instead of calling a spade a
spade, and Israel an apartheid regime, they talk about the “Israeli-Palestinian
conflict”.

Can anyone argue that in apartheid South Africa there were two equal parties,
namely white and Black, with equal claims to the land and equal responsibility for
the then-status quo?

No doubt, this would be a very bizarre and inaccurate interpretation of South

African history. This is why we find it unacceptable, and infuriating, when our reality
under Israeli apartheid is interpreted and framed in this way.

Israel and its supporters also try to whitewash the Israeli apartheid by focusing on
the promise of a “two-state solution”. The two-state solution, as presented by the
Israeli state and its Western allies, however, is nothing but an attempt to create
“Bantustans” for the Palestinian people.

The South African Apartheid regime created several “Bantustans” to allegedly give
Black citizens of the country a homeland of their own. In practice, however,
Bantustans were regions that lack any real legitimacy or sovereignty, consisting of
several unconnected enclaves. The “Palestinian state” imagined by Israel, which
would similarly consist of several unconnected enclaves lacking any real
sovereignty, therefore, would have no more legitimacy than South Africa’s racist
and meaningless Bantustans.

The South Africans fighting against apartheid, and their allies across the world, had
one goal: ending the racist system of apartheid for good. They made it clear that
they would not accept any apartheid practices, including Bantustans, to survive.
The system had to be dismantled in its entirety.

Today, us Palestinians are fighting against a similar apartheid regime. Like South
African anti-apartheid activists, we are not willing to accept anything less than the
complete dismantling of the racist system imposed on us.B’tselem’s
acknowledgement that Israel is indeed an apartheid state is a welcome
development – we cannot defeat Israel’s regime of Jewish supremacy if the world
continues to ignore its very existence.
10-2-2021
However, merely accepting the true nature of Israel is not enough. It is time to hold
the Israeli regime to account for its crime of apartheid, just like its ideological twin
in South Africa was held to account many years ago.The Palestinian civil society has
long been calling for Israel to be sanctioned until it complies with international law
and starts treating all human beings living under its rule equally. If B’tselem really
wants to expose Israel’s crimes and hold it to account for its unacceptable and racist
treatment of the Palestinians, its next step should be endorsing that call.
Haidar Eid is an associate Professor at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza.

By: Haider Eid

Source: Al Jazeera

10-2-2021
 Dark alleys of inclusion
In the third week of January 2021, a team of young girls from Karachi, born and
raised in an urban slum, brought home a rare accolade. The team of five won the
first prize in an international gymnastics competition held in Russia defeating teams
from around the world. Their performance was fluid and artistic, their athletic
ability shining at every step. This year, due to Covid-19, the competition and judging
was all online. Winning the competition was a proud moment for the girls and their
coaches, who despite the odds of poverty and minimal resources, did something
quite remarkable. The girls were proud of their achievement and rightfully
delighted to bring home the honour for their country.

There was however a problem.

The country that the girls thought they were representing did not recognise them
as its own daughters. Their long hours of practice and impeccable performance did
not matter. There was not going to be any recognition by any mayor, minister or a
bureaucrat. The girls belonged to the marginalised and stateless Bengali
community of Machar Colony in Karachi. In their minds and hearts, they
represented Pakistan. The state however does not think so. They may have been
born and raised in Karachi, they may have seen no other country, but for the state
they do not exist. They never have.

The only reason these girls could participate in the competition was because it was
online. Had the competition been held in person, they would not have been able
to get a visa or travel. One needs identification documents, passports and ID cards
to book flights and apply for visas. That privilege is not available to those who do
not exist. These girls and their entire community are not in any database except of
a few organisations that work in their community. The schooling of these girls will
end soon because to appear for matriculation (9th and 10th grade) exams they need
identification. They may be good in what they do but are not lucky enough to have
any identification. They are not allowed to dream.

10-2-2021
Imagine for a moment having extraordinary athletic ability, intellectual gifts or
creative capacity that distinguishes you from your peers. Imagine then, having no
channel to express that because you do not matter. Not proverbially but quite
literally. If this is the state of those who are endowed with gifts, imagine the
situation of those who need extra care due to physical, mental or emotional
disabilities. Imagine if this trauma of non-existence is passed from one generation
to the next.

There is a lot of talk about justice, equity and inclusion by federal and provincial
governments. None of that, unfortunately, is true. The Bengalis, Burmese and other
stateless (who are entitled citizenship by law) are outside the purview of any such
inclusion. They are — for all practical purposes — outside the scope of a dignified
existence. Everyone, even the state, knows that they are there, struggling in the far
corners of our cities, surviving barely in the dark alleys of our consciousness. They
exist in places we do not go lest we be faced by uncomfortable realities about who
we are as a people. We choose not to look them in the eye as those eyes hold
mirrors to us where we can see our xenophobia, racism and exclusion.

The global pandemic should have taught us the value of empathy, support and
dignity. It should have also taught us the value of kindness in our conduct. But
perhaps the biggest lesson is about our common bonds. We have survived because
of selflessness of others. Maybe we can also help others survive the pandemic of
exclusion.

The absolute best time to do something about the stateless in the country was
decades ago. The next best time is today.

By: Rustam Shah Mehmood

Source: Express Tribune

10-2-2021
 Taliban’s diplomatic offensive
The picture is dismal. Attacks on government forces are assuming ominous
proportions. Violence has peaked across the country. Kabul, the capital, has
seen a series of deadly attacks causing huge casualties, of mostly civilians —
the attacks being largely attributed to Daesh. Fearing an unstoppable escalation
in violence, many people are considering or trying to leave the country. By all
accounts, Ghani’s government has failed to deliver peace to the war-weary
population. There is no light at the end of the tunnel.
The Doha peace talks have been stalled. A member of the Afghan government
delegation warned the other day that his group would depart from Doha if
substantial or “meaningful” talks do not get underway soon.
In this bleak scenario all eyes are on Washington where the new administration
is currently reappraising its policy. The Biden administration has signaled its
intention to review the Doha peace agreement in the context of “whether the
Taliban have fulfilled the commitments they made” in the deal that was struck
in Qatar in February 2020. This American intent to review the deal has caused
understandable concern in the ranks of the Taliban leadership. There is a belief
in certain quarters in the State Department and Pentagon that the Taliban have
not reduced violence and have not severed links with militant groups like Al
Qaeda. This powerful anti-Doha peace deal is now out to create an environment
to rewrite the deal in a way that would put more pressure on the Taliban.
On their part, the Taliban claim they have abided by the provisions of the deal.
The group maintains that the exchange of prisoners has taken place as laid
down in the deal; that they have not launched any attack on international forces
since the signing of the agreement; and that they have no contacts with Al
Qaeda at all. Al Qaeda, the group claims, has no place in Afghanistan. On the
other hand they argue that some remnants of Al Qaeda, just a few, are being
supported by Daesh because of an ideological convergence.
In a statement the Taliban have warned that any repudiation of the agreement
would have potentially devastating consequences for the country. The group

10-2-2021
has reiterated that the deal which took months of painstaking negotiations to
finalise is the best hope for a durable peace in the country.
But there is anxiety amongst Taliban leaders that the new administration may
choose to review the deal unilaterally and thus practically make the agreement
futile. The Taliban also believe the United States government would pressure
Islamabad to use its leverage to make the Taliban agree to accepting the
presence of foreign forces on Afghan soil for the forseeable future and also to
agree to a ceasefire. The argument that is advanced is that in a climate that is
free of violence, purposeful negotiations can be held by the government with
the Taliban on ways to ending the conflict.
The Taliban have realised the gravity of the situation. The Biden administration
is apparently not happy with the current approach to the conflict and wants to
bring the Taliban under more pressure to secure a deal that is more acceptable.
Having sensed this new initiative in Washington, the Taliban have embarked
upon a diplomatic offensive. The idea is to seek support of regional countries
and take them into confidence on their stance on vital issues linked to the peace
talks.
A Taliban delegation recently visited Iran and Moscow. The delegation
explained their role in peacemaking in the context of the ongoing Doha
negotiations. The delegation also visited Pakistan some time ago and is
presumably in contact with China, Saudi Arabia and other relevant countries.
The motive behind these contacts is not only to explain the Taliban position and
their role but also to try to counter US pressure. By aligning themselves with
such regional countries the Taliban want to convey a message to Washington
that they are not alone politically and that they would pursue their mission in the
framework of the Doha agreement. Such contacts would also be meant to
convey a message to Islamabad so that Pakistan does not yield to US pressure
just as it has done on many occasions in the past.
The Biden administration should pause and consider the awful implications of
any unilateral review of the agreement. If Washington reviews the deal and the
Taliban walk away from the agreement as a consequence, the stage would be
set for a civil war that would engulf Afghanistan. Such a civil war would be very
difficult to stop. The result would be wholescale destruction with no winners.
10-2-2021
The Doha agreement, if executed with sincerity and determination, can create
conditions for reconciliation and peace. Washington must also consider who
has been obstructing the progress of talks in Doha. The government in Kabul
would try to prolong the status quo, being its biggest beneficiaries. They, i.e.
the Kabul government, would lose their positions of authority if a multi-ethnic,
broad-based government that includes the Taliban is created. And that seems
to be the only viable option for ending the long conflict.

By: Rustam Shah Mehmood

Source: Express Tribune

10-2-2021