Author: Saima Baig

I write on science, history, nature, environment, climate change, feminism, politics and religion.

Pakistan: The land of bigotry, misogyny and violence with blasphemy allegations as its raison d’etre

Here is what has happened this week in the land of the pure. A politician (from PTI) punched another one (from PML-N) for calling his leader a traitor. In response, the first politician stood in front of the media and made allegations against his harasser’s sisters. That’s violence and misogyny taken care of, within a space of 24 hours.

Let’s move on to a few days before that. It seems that our judiciary is in need of special hugs because one of its members, a judge in the Islamabad High Court, professed to weeping inconsolably when he reads anything against his religion on social media. He wants the government to ensure that “blasphemers” are put on Pakistan’s pride and joy: the Exit Control List. One wonders why you would want anyone who you think has made fun of your religion to remain in the country. The answer is pretty simple. You don’t want them to leave because you want to punish them. And punish them how? Blasphemers get the death penalty. It’s not that these people just want others to leave their religion alone, they want to ensure that they get killed for criticizing it. After following the due process of the law, of course. As an aside, please note that I always hear the word “blasphemers” in John Cleese’s voice from the movie Life of Brian.

The Honorable Judge has had the support of various factions of the media and other parts of society, who are ever ready to lay down other people’s lives in the name of religion. The issue for them is very clear: no one gets to criticize Islam. That is how things are and should remain. On the other hand, nary a protest is made when Christians are called by derogatory names and Hindus are called “baniyas”, as was done by another politician to criticize his opponent.

Now let’s come to the last two days. Our Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar has also been triggered. He has professed to being very upset that social media sites like Facebook are not providing him with information regarding some people running a campaign against the Islamabad High Court judiciary. In his campaign to support only those elements that want to suppress others through religion, he has threatened to block social media sites in Pakistan, in an attempt to protect the very sensitive citenzry from reading blasphemous content. On the other hand, the statement by a blogger that he was kidnapped and tortured by state institutions has had no impact on our esteemed leaders.

These events of the past week or so show that violence, misogyny and bigotry define Pakistan and recourse to blasphemy is the cornerstone of its society.

If you are upset with an opponent, hit him. If you want to flex your muscles against bloggers, kidnap and torture them. When you have nothing in response to your rival, use the time-honoured practice of abusing the women in his family. And always ensure that the blasphemy law is kept as a precious resource, to be used whenever you require.

This is what we have reduced ourselves to: cultishly following leaders without allowing any criticism of them. It is interesting to note that not even the women leaders of PML-N called out their colleague on abusing women for point scoring. Because misogyny is so entrenched in our minds that even women do not think anything is wrong with it.

As for PTI, they also indulged in misogyny, while criticizing it. Their social media teams made allegations of blasphemy and threats against a reporter for recording a video of their esteemed leader.

These are the important aspects that define Pakistan. Our violent, bigoted, misogynistic reactions to even the smallest of infractions.

These are the things that outrage us. Not our low scores in human rights and education. Not the fact that while we wax eloquent about the Islamic golden age, the country is below every other one for any scientific achievements (other than the nuclear bomb and the water kit car of course), but the fact that our messiahs are criticized and our ideologies are not given due deference.

Freedom of speech is an important characteristic of civilized society. Censoring content and threatening people just ensures that the only kind of progress you make is in oppressing people. Using misogyny as a counter argument does not make you macho; it just shows your pathetic mindset. And using religion as a tool of the state has only ever meant clinging to backward notions of morality. Notions, which have never resulted in progress.

The enlightenment ensured that the west moved on from being bogged down by the same issues of violence, misogyny, bigotry and dependence on blasphemy. They were in the same boat till they realized that antediluvian methods of living one’s life did not work anymore. That religion and state needed to be separate. That life, liberty and freedom were important facets of civilized society. We need to do the same.

(Published in The Nation)

Mohen Jo Daro – Story of a city

(Published in The Nation Pakistan)

The young woman looked out of the narrow slit in wall that served as a window in her house. She saw the sun rising over the brick city and the far off fields of wheat and barley, signaling to her to start her day. She stepped out of her brick house and used her favourite earthenware jar to get some water out of the well. The jar had been made by her sister, who had painted pictures of animals and geometrical designs on it. She washed her face and hands, not paying attention to the dirty water flowing into the drain outside the living area. Later, she will go down to the Great Bath before heading towards the temple for the evening prayers.

 

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PAKISTAN: WHITHER FREEDOMS AND WHITHER RIGHTS?

On October 7, 2016, an article appeared in Pakistan’s Dawn Newspaper, alleging that in a civil military leadership meeting, the Government (prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his brother and other senior officials were present) had told the military representatives that if they did not make more efforts to go after terrorists, Pakistan will be isolated.

Journalist Cyril Almeida, one of the newspaper’s senior writers, had reported that an argument had taken place between members of the Pakistani government and the army over lack of action against militant groups, and that the director of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) General Lt. General Rizwan Akhtar, was asked by government officials to increase actions against terror groups, or face isolation.

Now, in a free, democratic country, where the military serves the people, one would have assumed that this would not be big news. One would also have assumed that the Government would be proud to admit that it, in fact, had told the military to clean up its act. But this is Pakistan and here things do not work the way they do elsewhere.

The Government of Pakistan denied this news three times and criticized the article for being misleading and spreading “half truths”. This is also fine. Governments are also known to backtrack and deny things, even if they seem to be in their favour.

A few days later, the PM Nawaz Sharif had a meeting with the Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif and, soon after, Almeida was put on the Exit Control List. He found this out as he was leaving for a long-planned vacation with his mother. The reason for doing so was given to be “National Security” and that the article did not follow “universally acknowledged principles of reporting”. Almeida had quoted anonymous sources but that is not new either.

How is reporting that the army was ordered to do its job by the Government — which the army says it is already doing — against National Security? People are now also frantically looking for the “universally acknowledged principles of reporting” because they seem to be something that only the Government of Pakistan seems to know about.

In any case, even if the article was a complete fabrication, (which Dawn says it was not and due diligence had been done), how can it be so easy for the Government to bar a journalist from travelling abroad? This is a blatant disregard of his rights and a direct attack on freedom of speech.

Thankfully, most of the journalist community and sane people have sided with Almeida and demanded that his name be removed from the list.

Meanwhile, a Christian woman, Aasia Bibi has been in prison for six years and on death row on blasphemy charges. On January 4, 2011, the Governor of the Pakistani Province of Punjab was shot and killed by one of his own security guards, Mumtaz Qadri. The reason for this was Taseer’s defense of the proposed amendments in the country’s blasphemy laws, as well as his support for the release of Asia Bibi. The murderer Qadri was subsequently hanged for his crime.

Now here is the interesting bit. Aasia Bibi’s final appeal * was to be heard by a Supreme Court Bench on October 13. A couple of days ago however, the denizens of Lal Masjid — a mosque known for its allegiance to ISIS and promoting terrorism — threatened that there would be dire circumstances if Aasia Bibi was not hanged. A #HangAasia hashtag has been floating around on Twitter since yesterday.

Today, the Supreme Court Bench assembled and one of the judges excused himself from the proceedings, after which the hearing was adjourned for an indefinite period. It is very clear to people with common sense that the problem was the fear of Islamic militants, such as the chief mullah of Lal Masjid and nothing else.

Ironically, the threats from Lal Masjid, its allegiance to ISIS etc are not seen as against National Security by the Government or the military. Neither are rallies conducted by various banned organizations. What bothers our fearless leaders is the movement of a journalist.

People in Pakistan and around the world have been thinking (read: hoping), that there has been a paradigm shift in the military’s policy and that now we would see more democratic decisions, extermination of Islamic extremists and more freedoms. This is clearly not the case.

Some of the worst terrorists in the world are roaming free on our streets but a journalist’s freedom is curtailed and a woman cannot get justice because the same terrorists threaten the judiciary.

Pakistan is a fascist country ruled by a fascist army. If it is not the army-supported terrorists killing us, it is the army itself complicit with the politicians in stealing from us, and it is the army that is at the forefront of suppressing our freedoms.

Nationalism and patriotism to me come when a country and all its citizens do good things and head towards a good, progressive future, respecting everyone’s rights, not just because your parents gave birth to you within a certain boundary. There is nothing to be proud of here.

* A Pakistani court has now overturned Asia Bibi’s death sentence.

(Published in Sedaa – Our Voices)

Pakistan and its terrorists

Keeping with the tradition in Pakistan, whereby each time after a terrorist attack, fingers are pointed at someone else, this time again blame was laid squarely at the door of others.

The establishment’s favourite boogeyman is India and sure enough the news that the terrorists that shot to death almost 30 people at Bacha Khan University, were affiliated with the Indian intelligence agency RAW, started making the rounds soon afterwards. The government machinery was quick to respond after the attack by blaming each other as well.

The question that the citizenry however was asking was simple. What happened to Zarb e Azab, the military action started a year and a half ago to wipe out militants from the country’s north? While the strikes against the militants may have seen some success, questions still arise as to why then the militants are able to carry out attacks, such as the one on Bacha Khan University.

Subsequent to the vile and horrific shooting by the taliban, of school children of the Army Public School in Peshawar in December 2014, the ruling machinery seemed to gather pace and came up with the National Action Plan, which included enforcing executions for terrorists sentenced to death; setting up of special anti-terrorist courts under the military to speed up the trial process; banning armed organizations; and taking action against those spreading hate, extremism and sectarianism, among other actions.

While we saw the speeding up of executions, most of those executed were not terrorists but criminals on death row. While some organizations were banned on paper, they are still free to hold rallies and conferences. In fact, one even won 9 seats under a different name in the Local Bodies Elections in Sindh.

Meanwhile, last week all schools in Punjab and many in Sindh were closed down due to terror threats. This is where we have come. Instead of curbing terrorism, we have contributed to the already pathetic state of education in this country, by closing down schools. Which, by the way, is what the taliban and ISIS types want.

One provincial government has decided to provide arms training to teachers and to provide them with guns. An idea so stupid that I do not have words to even show my utmost disgust with it.

And while all of these shenanigans are going on, as mentioned before, organizations and seminaries with terrorist affiliations are still going about their business. One prime example of this is the notorious Red Mosque in the capital Islamabad, whose female wing has issued a video pledging allegiance to ISIS and whose main Mullah constantly threatens the state and government. He and his seminary continue to do this, as well as spreading sectarian hatred. The government has been unable to take him into custody even after a number of criminal complaints lodged against him. A civil society movement against him has been organized and this has resulted in the movement’s members being maligned by him. And still the government seems paralyzed to stop other such parasites from spreading their extremist and hateful agenda.

Such is the power of Islamic terrorism here, that a even after numerous attacks and deaths of its people a nuclear nation is not able to bring down the perpetrators. This is because there exists a general mindset: Muslims could never do such horrible acts. This is what the majority of Pakistani populace believes, whether they are conservative Muslims, Islamists or even moderates. The madrassa (seminary) is the main site of such ignorance, but they are not alone. Our whole education system also promotes this.

Added to this, the military has supported (and continues to support) factions of the taliban as strategic assets for insurgency into Afghanistan and other extremist organizations for insurgency into India and it becomes quite clear why terrorist activities are still going on . It is, after all, very difficult to give up on your assets.

And this is what Pakistan needs to understand. No amount of executions and military strikes are going to stop this monster that we ourselves have created, unless we get to the root of this. We need to say that it is Islamism that is the problem. We need to stop blaming India or Afghanistan and change the mindset of our populace by expunging the superiority of Islamism from our text books. Pakistan needs to look towards secularism if it wants to survive as a country and stop giving Islam precedence over everything else. And it most certainly cannot continue to provide support to the Islamists, use them as assets and then cry victim when those same Islamists come after its people.

Adapting to climate change

(Published in The Nation Pakistan)

Over the past two decades it has become increasingly clear that climate is changing across the globe. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its first assessment report in 1990, highlighting this aspect. Since then, its subsequent reports have continued to provide further and increasingly stronger evidence that human induced climate change has immense effects on societies and ecosystems, especially forests and coastal areas, both of which are crucial for human societies. Extreme events are also expected to increase in magnitude and frequency, putting human lives in danger.

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Ecosystem Services and Poverty Alleviation Study in South Asia

The ESPASSA Regional Situation Analysis is the
product of a collective effort of the ESPASSA Consortium consisting of five
organizations from the South Asia region and two UK-based organizations.
The regional organizations include The Energy and Resources Institute
(TERI) and TERI University in New Delhi, India; the Sustainable Development
Policy Institute (SDPI) in Islamabad, Pakistan; BRAC in Dhaka, Bangladesh;
and IUCN-Asia in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The UK-based organizations are the
Institute for Sustainable Water Integrated Management and Ecosystem
Research (SWIMMER) from the University of Liverpool and the University of
Reading. TERI is the lead institute for the consortium.

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