Civil Society – Page 11 – Aboard The Democracy Train

March 25, 2015

Tahira Shah ‘The martyr of the Indus’

Tahira & Mohammed Ali Shah (Credit: dawn.com)

Tahira Ali Shah, long time social activist and rights campaigner for Pakistan’s fisherfolk community, passed away this month in a car accident in Sindh.

I remember when I first met her, at my first official meeting after joining the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) in January 2010, at the PFF’s Secretariat, Ibrahim Hydri – the largest village of fishing community in Pakistan.

I noticed a simple yet graceful lady in her mid-40s, taking notes of the discussion, and humbly raising her hand when she wanted clarification on some points.

She seemed to be very serious about the issues of fisherwomen; their education and health; their role at the unit (village), district and central governing body of the PFF. One of the senior colleagues told me that she was elected Senior Vice Chairperson of the PFF.

That was the first occasion where I observed the leader in her.
Born in a middle class Syed family, it was hard for Tahira to even get an education. But even harder for her was to get married – against social norms and her family’s wishes – to Muhammad Ali Shah, who belonged to a comparatively lower class of the fishing community.

Ultimately, Tahira took the bold, rebellious step to get married to him in court. She was confident that she knew what to do with her life.
Together, the couple started working for the rights of the fishing community at a very local level, under the platform of their first, small organisation, ‘Anjum-e Samaji Behbood’.

Later, Tahira realised that the issues of women were not being addressed appropriately and neither did the women have any effective say in the decision-making of the organisation.

That’s when she founded a separate organisation only for women, named ‘Saheriyen Sath’ (group of womenfolk).

She visited women door-to-door, organised and mobilised them, made them understand the roots of their problems and showed them a way to resolve their problems.

In 1998, the couple, along with other companions, founded a countrywide organisation of the fisherfolk community and named it the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF).

Not only did she speak up, she made other women speak up too against the discrimination based on gender, caste and religion.

This one time, the PFF had organised a caravan journey under their ‘Keep Rivers Free’ movement. Of the hundreds of participants in this caravan, a few happened to belong to the Hindu scheduled castes. Tahira learned that some of the other women participants were discriminating against the Hindus.

She intervened at once. She mingled with the women like they were old friends, shared meals with them, did away with all the discrimination and ensured that their feelings of inferiority were washed away.
She was indeed a genuine leader.

A brave, tenacious woman
Tahira’s real struggle started with the Pakistan Rangers – the paramilitary force occupied the lakes in the coastal areas of the Badin district.
She pulled the fisherwomen out of their homes and onto the streets, organised demonstrations, observed hunger strikes and sit-ins in front of the Press Club. To lead a struggle against the illegal occupation by the Rangers like this required some bravery.

When her husband Muhammad Ali Shah was in jail, Tahira fought on to strengthen the fisherfolk community’s cause and continued to face the hardships she had willingly chosen.

Soon, everyone saw Tahira meet with success as the powerful Rangers bowed down to her even in a semi-martial law era.

In Sanghar, the journalist community was suppressed under the influence of feudal landlords. Many of my friends say it was Tahira who gave voice to the Press Club of Sanghar district, after the PFF launched a campaign against the illegal occupation of the landlords on the Chotiyarion Reservoir.

Tahira worked her magic again and led thousands in protest on the streets of Sanghar city. She made fiery speeches in front of the Press Club and openly challenged the feudals. Soon, Sanghar’s journalists were emboldened enough to cover her speeches and struggle.

Tahira was a multi-dimensional personality. Where she led with courage and organised with discipline, she also worked as hard as an ordinary worker of the organisation. She could always be seen meticulously taking notes during discussions and preparing reports of community meetings.
In the community events of the fisherfolk, she sang folk songs and danced. In workshops and seminars, she was a great listener and always polite, though those who have heard her speeches in processions and rallies know very well that she was a great, fiery orator too. Most of all, she was a rock; an upright leader who would never leave her companions alone, no matter how dangerous the situation.

Tahira was generous enough to support a number of poor families. Every person she met has their own story with her. Everybody in the fishing community across Pakistan calls her Jeeji (mother).

Jeeji was simple. She never wore jewelry or make up, even at ceremonies and festivals, where other women would insist that she put on some make up. But Tahira always preferred to wear her natural smile instead.

During the PFF’s struggle for the protection of mangroves, two of our comrades had been martyred by notorious land grabbers. Tahira never hesitated to openly call out the names of the murderers every time she spoke at a forum.

I considered that to be extremely risky. I approached her and requested, “Jeeji! Please avoid becoming overbold; it can be dangerous at this time.”
She replied, “I would never want to die a death of suppression. I would be proud to rather sacrifice my life for the truth and for this struggle.”

That was not the first time she did so. I recall a number of occasions when we asked her to take time out for some rest, or to visit the doctor when we she was unwell. Her reply was the same: “I want to die in the fight for the rights of my community, not on the bed in illness.”

Even the day before her demise, our senior colleague Dr Ely Ercelan noticed that her blood pressure was high and suggested that she avoid continuous travelling. She responded the same way:
“I shall go in a glimpse, not in inches.”

And she did.

She went in a blink and right in the center of the path of the struggle, for she was travelling to Badin with her husband to lead a rally there, celebrating the International Rivers Day. They had an accident and their car plunged into a deep pond, proving fatal for Tahira. Considering her sacrifices and struggle for the restoration of environmental flow in the Indus river, she has been titled by the civil society as ‘The Martyr of the Indus’.

She may not be with us physically, but her vision, dedication and courage are always be. She lived as she wanted and she died as she wished.
Live long Jeeji Tahira, Live long the PFF.

March 9, 2015

Outcry and fear as Pakistan builds new nuclear reactors in dangerous Karachi

China joined the Nuclear Suppliers Group — whose members agree not to transfer to treaty non-signers any technology that could be used to develop a nuclear weapon — in 2004. But it claims that it had already promised to help Pakistan, allowing it to continue developing the reactors.

Beijing is helping Pakistan build reactors at the same time that the Obama administration is trying to implement a 2008 deal that would smooth the way for U.S. companies to invest in new nuclear power plants in India. India, which first tested a nuclear weapon in 1974 and remains Pakistan’s chief rival, has also balked at signing the nonproliferation treaty. Both President Obama and former president George W. Bush have sought an exception for India.

“China’s expanding civilian nuclear cooperation with Pakistan raises concerns and we urge China to be transparent regarding this cooperation,” the U.S. Embassy said in a statement Thursday.

Until now, Pakistani leaders have faced little public discontent over the country’s nuclear advances. After all, Pakistan celebrates a national holiday each May marking the anniversary of its first atomic weapons test in 1998. But the country’s progressive movement is evolving, sparking novel protests over environmental and public safety issues. And the prospect of 20-story reactors rising next to a public beach used for swimming, camel rides and picnics is a vivid illustration of what’s at stake.

Though international monitors generally give Pakistan satisfactory reviews for safeguarding nuclear materials, industrial accidents causing hundreds of fatalities remain common here. There are concerns that Pakistani technicians won’t be able to operate or maintain the Chinese nuclear technology.

Karamat Ali, chairman of the Pakistan Institute of Labor Education and Research, noted that the world has already experienced three major nuclear accidents — at Three Mile Island in the United States in 1979 and Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union in 1986, in addition to the Fukushima disaster.

“Those are three highly advanced countries,” Ali said. “This is Pakistan. We don’t live on technology and science. In fact, we are quite allergic to that.”

Of particular concern is the threat of terrorism, especially considering Karachi’s long history of head-scratching security lapses.

Terrorists overran a Pakistani naval base in Karachi in 2011, killing five people and setting several aircraft on fire. A similar attack occurred in June, but this time Pakistan Taliban militants stormed a section of Karachi International Airport, killing about two dozen people. And in September, al-Qaeda militants, perhaps with help from renegade sailors, attempted to hijack a heavily armed Pakistan navy frigate docked in Karachi’s port. It took hours for security forces to repel the assault.

If a major attack or accident were to occur at a nuclear power plant, activists say there would be unimaginable chaos.

Karachi, whose population has doubled in just the past two decades, includes vast, packed slums, as well as districts under the thumb of criminal gangs and Islamic militants. And with more than 2.7 million registered cars, buses, rickshaws and motorcycles, it can take hours to cross the city.

“You couldn’t even dream of evacuating Karachi,” said Hoodbhoy, the physicist. “The minute an alarm was sounded, everything would be choked up. There would be murder and mayhem because people would be trying to flee. Others would be trying to take over their homes and cars.”

But Azfar Minhaj, general manager of Karachi’s reactor project, said Pakistan sought the ACP-1000 reactor because it makes a radiation leak far less likely. Each reactor will have a double containment structure capable of withstanding the impact of a commercial airliner, he said, adding that there is also an elaborate filtration system and that the reactor will be able to cool itself for 72 hours without power.

“If a new car comes with an air bag, would you start thinking, ‘This is a new feature, it’s never been tested in Pakistan, never built in Pakistan. Should we use it or not?’ ” Minhaj asked.

Because of the enhanced safety features, Minhaj said, authorities are planning for an impact zone no greater than three miles in the event of a worst-case accident. Most of the affected residents would be asked to shelter in place, not evacuate, he said. Hoodbhoy points out that even today, the no-go zones around the Chernobyl and Fukushima plants are 18 and 12 miles, respectively.

Minhaj said concerns about the effect of a tsunami are also overblown because the new reactors are being built on a rock ledge about 39 feet above sea level. Pakistan’s meteorological office recently concluded that Karachi could face a tsunami of up to 23 feet in the event of a 9.0-magnitude earthquake in the region.

Mark Hibbs, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said he suspects that the new Chinese design is indeed less prone to accidents. But he noted that most poorer countries have shied from developing a nuclear energy footprint since Fukushima.

“If there was a lesson we learned from the Fukushima accident, it’s that, if you are going to get into the nuclear business, and if you don’t have world-class technology, good logistics, enough personnel, a lot of money and experience managing crisis situations, then you are not going to be able to manage a severe accident,” Hibbs said.

Zia Mian, a Pakistani physicist at the Program on Science and Global Security at Princeton University who is also fighting the project, notes that the existing Canadian reactor was designed in the 1960s to generate just 100 megawatts of electricity. The new reactors will produce 22 times that amount and use a combined 40 to 60 tons of enriched-uranium fuel each, he said. And each year, one-third of that spent fuel will also be removed from the core and stored in large containment pools at the plant, Mian said.

“You put all of that together, and the hazards are unimaginably larger,” he said.

After Sharif showed up in Karachi in December 2013 to break ground on the new reactors, Pirzada and other activists began organizing against it on Facebook. Last summer, they filed a lawsuit against the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission and the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority alleging that construction began without a proper environmental impact study.

In December, a court halted vertical construction — but allowed excavation work to continue — until a new environmental assessment is completed, about a month from now. If major construction is then allowed to resume, the reactors will have an expected life span of at least 60 years.

“Of course, we need electricity, but we don’t need electricity to commit suicide,” Ali said.

Musadaq Malik, a Sharif adviser on energy issues, counters that a country that trusts its military to possess nuclear weapons can also trust its government to maintain a Chinese nuclear power plant.

“We may look irresponsible, but we are not that irresponsible,” Malik said. “We have engineers, we have scientists, we have our security apparatus. . . . Like other nations, we have done all of this before, reasonably well.”

February 9, 2015February 9, 2015

Karachi Literature Festival brings subcontinent’s writers on same page

“Writing is a horribly lonely profession. You’ll never know where you stand, whether you will be compensated; it’s not like other professions which have an infrastructure,” said author of ‘Home Boy’, H.M. Naqvi, during the Iowa Silk Route Residency Program session at the Karachi Literature Festival 2015 (KLF).

The session, which saw local and international writers, was engaging, informative and whimsical as the speakers drew on their individual experiences as residents of Iowa University’s three-month residency program at different periods in time and also shared a number of anecdotes.

Formed in 1997, the program hosts 1400 writers from more than 140 countries — writers not only work on their own projects but also hold book readings, discussions among other things.

Narrating her experience, popular Karachi-based writer and columnist Bina Shah said that living in Iowa city was the most American and un-American experience.

“American because it is the heartland of the United States and un-American because the city almost feels like an international society as hosting writers has made Iowa so rich.”
Indian writer Sridala Swami’s wit was at her best when she exclaimed how doing the residency programme was like being married to several people – an allusion to the global nature of the programme.

She also drew chuckles from the audiences when she relayed how she and Shandana Minhas, author of ‘Tunnel Vision’, met at the programme in 2013, discovered that they were from India and Pakistan, respectively, and also found themselves in rooms facing off each other.

Perhaps it was this very question that prompted two members in the audience to later ask why there was so much of love ruining hate at the national level between the two neighbouring countries and why couldn’t they resolve their differences.

Indian writer Kavery Nambisan responded saying that ‘politicians are generally hardbrained people’ and also added that it was not completely fair to put the onus on the government and that citizens were equally responsible.

“We need more events like KLF – I have got to know so much about Pakistan through it.” Her reply ensured that the session did not go dangerously askew, politically.
As most of the speakers are established writers to their credit, an interesting question asked from one of the members in the audience was the impact of the residency programme on their writing.

Minhas said she had heightened confidence in her capabilities and embraced her craft anew, following completion of the program.

Earlier, she also divulged how her father always told everyone that she was a journalist, despite the fact that she was a writer, as the latter is not so well-received and respected which bore testament to the fact that writing still has a long way to go before it cements its place as a mainstream, lucrative profession in Pakistan.

February 5, 2015

Can Sufism Save Sindh

Gorakh hill station, Dadu Sindh (Credit: pak101.com)

The land of Shah Latif bleeds again.
The seven queens of Shah Latif’s Shah Jo Risalo – Marui, Sassui, Noori, Sorath, Lilan, Sohni, and Momal – have put on black cloaks and they mourn. The troubles and tribulations are not new for the queens.
After the sack of Delhi, Nadir Shah (Shah of Iran), invaded Sindh and imprisoned the then Sindhi ruler Noor Mohammad Kalhoro in Umarkot fort. Shah Latif captured it in the yearning of Marui for her beloved land when she was locked up in the same Umarkot fort.

If looking to my native land
with longing I expire;
My body carry home, that I
may rest in desert-stand;
My bones if Malir reach, at end,
though dead, I’ll live again.
(Sur Marui, XXVIII, Shah Jo Risalo)

The attack on the central Imambargah in Shikarpur is as ominous in many ways as it is horrendous and tragic.

The Sufi ethos of Sindh has long been cherished as the panacea for burgeoning extremism in Pakistan. Sufism has been projected lately as an effective alternative to rising fundamentalism in Muslim societies not only by the Pakistani liberal intelligentsia but also by some Western think-tanks and NGOs.

But the question is, how effective as an ideology can Sufism be in its role in contemporary societies?

To begin with, Sufism is not a monolithic ideology.

There are several strains within Sufism that are in total opposition to each other, thus culminating into totally opposite worldviews. The most important of them is chasm between Wahdat al-Wajud (unity of existence) and Wahdat al-Shahud (unity of phenomenon).
The former professes that there is only One real being not separated from His creation, and thus God runs through everything. While Wahdat al-Shahud holds that God is separated from His creation.

Take a look: Shikarpur blast: SHO suspended, investigation underway
While the distinction between the two might seem purely polemical, it actually leads to two entirely opposite logical conclusions.
Wahdat al-Wajud sees God running through everything. Thus apparent differences between different religions and school of thoughts vanish at once. In diversity, there lies a unity thus paving way to acceptance of any creed, irrespective of its religious foundations.

Ibn al-Arbi was the first to lay the theoretical foundations of Wahdat al-Wajud and introduce it to the Muslim world.

On the other hand, the Wahdat al-Shahud school of thought was developed and propagated by Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi, who rose to counter the secular excesses of Akbar. He pronounced Ibn al-Arbi as Kafir and went on deconstructing what he deemed as heresies.

Wahdat al-Shahud in its sociopolitical context leads to separation and confrontation. The staunch anti-Hindu and anti-Shia views of Ahmed Sirhindi are just a logical consequence of this school of thought. Ahmed Sirhindi is one of the few Sufis mentioned in Pakistani textbooks.

Historically, Sufis in today’s Pakistan have belonged to four Sufi orders: Qadriah, Chishtiah, Suharwardiah, and Naqshbandiah.
It is also interesting to note that not all of these Sufi orders have been historically anti-establishment.

While Sufis who belonged to the Chishtiah and Qadriah orders always kept a distance from emperors in Delhi and kept voicing for the people, the Suharwardia order has always been close to the power centres. Bahauddin Zikria of the Suharwardiah order enjoyed close relations with the Darbar and after that leaders of this order have always sided with the ruler (either Mughals or British) against the will of the people.

Sufism in the subcontinent in general and Sindh in particular, emerged and evolved as a formidable opposition to the King and Mullah/Pundit nexus. Not only did it give voice to the voiceless victims of religious fanaticism, but also challenged the established political order.
To quote Marx it was ‘the soul of soulless conditions’.

A case-in-point is Shah Inayat of Jhok Sharif, who led a popular peasant revolt in Sindh and was executed afterwards. Shah Latif wrote a nameless eulogy of Shah Inayat in Shah Jo Risalo.

However, the socio-political conditions that gave rise to Sufism in the subcontinent are not present anymore. The resurrection of Sufism as a potent resistance ideology is difficult if not impossible. Sufis emerged from ashes of civilizational mysticism, independent of organised religion and political powers.

Today, however, the so-called centres of Sufism known as Khanqahs are an integral part of both the contemporary political elite and the all-powerful clergy. On intellectual front self-proclaimed proponents of contemporary Sufism – Qudratullah Shahab, Ashfaq Ahmad, Mumtaz Mufti, et al – have been a part of state apparatus and ideology in one form or another.

Sufism is necessarily a humanist and universal ideology. It is next to impossible to confine it to the boundaries of modern nation states and ideological states in particular, which thrive on an exclusivist ideology.
Mansoor al-Hallaj travelled extensively throughout Sindh. His famous proclamation Ana ‘al Haq (I am the truth) is an echo of Aham Brahmasmi (I am the infinite reality) of the Upanishads. There are striking similarities between the Hindu Advaita and Muslim Wahdat al-Wajud.

These ideologies complement each other and lose their essence in isolation.

Punjab has been a centre of The Bhakti Movement – one of the most humanist spiritual movements that ever happened on this side of Suez – but all the humanist teachings of the movement could not avert the genocide of millions of Punjabis during the tragic events of the Partition.
The most time-tested peace ideology of Buddhism could not keep the Buddhists from killing Muslims in Burma.

Such are the cruel realities of modern times that can overshadow the viability of any spiritual movement.

Sufism in Sindh exists today as a way of life and not an ideology.
It is an inseparable part of how people live their daily lives. In Pakistan, however, to live a daily life has come to be an act of resistance itself.

Sindh bleeds today and mourns for its people and culture that are under attack. Bhit Shah reverberates with an aggrieved but helpless voice:
O brother dyer! Dye my clothes black,
I mourn for those who never did return.
(Sur Kedaro, III, Shah Jo Risalo)

January 11, 2015

Muslim, Jewish & Christian heads of state join mass Paris march to honor victims

Million march in Paris (Credit: arabnews.com)

PARIS, Jan 11: Dozens of world leaders including Muslim and Jewish statesmen linked arms leading hundreds of thousands of French citizens on Sunday in an unprecedented march under high security to pay tribute to victims of militant attacks.

President Francois Hollande and leaders from Germany, Italy, Israel, Turkey, Britain and the Palestinian territories among others, moved off from the central Place de la Republique ahead of a sea of French and other flags.

Giant letters attached to a statue in the square spelt out the word Pourquoi?” (Why?) and small groups sang the “La Marseillaise” national anthem.

Some 2,200 police and soldiers patrolled Paris streets to protect marchers from would-be attackers, with police snipers on rooftops and plain-clothes detectives mingling with the crowd.

City sewers were searched ahead of the vigil and underground train stations around the march route are due to be closed down.

The silent march – which may prove the largest seen in modern times through Paris – reflected shock over the worst militant assault on a European city in nine years.

For France, it raised questions of free speech, religion and security, and beyond French frontiers it exposed the vulnerability of states to urban attacks.

Two of the gunmen had declared allegiance to al Qaeda in Yemen and a third to the militant Islamic State.

“Paris is today the capital of the world. Our entire country will rise up and show its best side,” said Hollande in a statement.

Seventeen people, including journalists and police, were killed in three days of violence that began with a shooting attack on the weekly Charlie Hebdo known for its satirical attacks on Islam and other religions as well as politicians.

It ended on Friday with a hostage-taking at a Jewish deli in which four hostages and the gunman were killed. Overnight, an illuminated sign on the Arc de Triomphe read: “Paris est Charlie” ( “Paris is Charlie”).

Several London landmarks including Tower Bridge were due to be lit up in the red white and blue colours of the French national flag in a show of support for the event in Paris. Fifty-seven people were killed in an militant attack on London’s transport system in 2005.

Hours before the march, a video emerged featuring a man resembling the gunman killed in the kosher deli. He pledged allegiance to the Islamic State insurgent group and urged French Muslims to follow his example.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Italy Prime Minister Matteo Renzi were among 44 foreign leaders marching with Hollande.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu – who earlier encouraged French Jews to emigrate to Israel – and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were also present.

Immediately to Hollande’s left, walked Merkel and to his right Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. France has provided troops to help fight Islamist rebels there.

In a rare public display of emotion by two major-power leaders, cameras showed Hollande embracing Merkel, her eyes shut and forehead resting on his cheek, on the steps of the Elysee before they headed off to march.

After world leaders left the march, Hollande stayed to greet survivors of the Charlie Hebdo attack and their families. While there has been widespread solidarity with the victims, there have been dissenting voices.

French social media have carried comments from those uneasy with the “Je suis Charlie” slogan interpreted as freedom of expression at all cost.

Others suggest there was hypocrisy in world leaders whose countries have repressive media laws attending the march.

The official estimate on attendance is due to be announced later. A 1995 protest against planned welfare cuts brought some 500,000-800,000 people onto the streets of the capital, while a 2002 rally against the far-right National Front’s then leader Jean-Marie Le Pen afer he got into the run-off of that year’s presidential election drew 400,000-600,000.

Twelve people were killed in Wednesday’s initial attack on Charlie Hebdo, a journal know for satirising religions and politicians. The attackers, two French-born brothers of Algerian origin, singled out the weekly for its publication of cartoons depicting and ridiculing the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

All three gunmen were killed in what local commentators have called “France’s 9/11”, a reference to the September 2001 attacks on U.S. targets by al Qaeda.

The head of France’s 550,000-strong Jewish community, Roger Cukierman, the largest in Europe, said Hollande had promised that Jewish schools and synagogues would have extra protection, by the army if necessary, after the killings.

France’s Agence Juive, which tracks Jewish emigration, estimates more than 5,000 Jews left France for Israel in 2014, up from 3,300 in 2013, itself a 73 per cent increase on 2012.
Far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen, whom analysts see receiving a boost in the polls due to the attacks, said her anti-immigrant party had been excluded from the Paris demonstration and would instead take part in regional marches.

In Germany, a rally against racism and xenophobia on Saturday drew tens of thousands of people in the eastern German city of Dresden, which has become the centre of anti-immigration protests organised by a new grassroots movement called PEGIDA.

A building of the newspaper Hamburger Morgenpost, which like many other publications has reprinted Charlie Hebdo cartoons, was the target of an arson attack and two suspects were arrested, police said on Sunday.

Turkish and French sources said a woman hunted by French police as a suspect in the attacks had left France several days before the killings and is believed to be in Syria.

French police had launched in an intensive search for Hayat Boumeddiene, the 26-year-old partner of one of the attackers, describing her as “armed and dangerous”.

January 11, 2015

Europe’s Muslims Replace ‘JeSuis Charlie’ with ‘I am Ahmed’

Paris policeman Ahmed Merabet (Credit: arabnews.com)

Ahmed Merabet, the police officer gunned down in the Charlie Hebdo attack, was killed in an act of barbarity by “false Muslims” his brother said in a moving tribute on Saturday, where he also appealed for unity and tolerance.

Speaking for a group of relatives gathered in Paris, Malek Merabet said the terrorists who ignored his brother’s plea for mercy as he lay wounded on the street may have shared his Algerian roots, but had nothing else in common.

“My brother was Muslim and he was killed by two terrorists, by two false Muslims,” he said. “Islam is a religion of peace and love. As far as my brother’s death is concerned it was a waste. He was very proud of the name Ahmed Merabet, proud to represent the police and of defending the values of the Republic – liberty, equality, fraternity.”

Malek reminded France that the country faced a battle against extremism, not against its Muslim citizens. “I address myself now to all the racists, Islamophobes and antisemites. One must not confuse extremists with Muslims. Mad people have neither colour or religion,” he said.

“I want to make another point: don’t tar everybody with the same brush, don’t burn mosques – or synagogues. You are attacking people. It won’t bring our dead back and it won’t appease the families.”

His brief speech was a moving tribute to the slain officer, loved as a son, brother, companion and uncle, but also a powerful call for harmony.

Ahmed Merabet’s death was captured in a graphic video, as he was wounded by one of the two attackers and then shot in cold blood. Photograph: Twitter

There has been a rising tide of Islamophobia in France following the Paris killings, including a grenade attack on one mosque, an explosion in a kebab shop beside a mosque and gunfire at a Muslim family in a car, although there have been no casualties.

Merabet’s death was captured in a graphic video, as he was wounded by one of the two attackers and then shot in the head in cold blood. He is shot in the groin, then falls to the pavement groaning in pain and holding up an arm as though to protect himself.

The second gunman moves forward and asks the policeman: “Do you want to kill us?” Merabet replies: “No, it’s OK mate,” but the terrorist then shoots him in the head.

The images were widely shared online and one was published on the front page of a national newspaper.

Malek berated media outlets and websites that showed the graphic content, which he said was extremely painful for the family. “How dare you take this video and broadcast it? I heard his voice, I recognised him, I saw him being killed and I continue to hear him every day.”

Ahmed’s partner, Morgane Ahmad, who said she had watched footage of the shooting without realising it was him, also appealed for calm.

“What the family and I want is for everyone to be united, we want everyone to be able to demonstrate in peace, we want to show respect for all the victims and that the demonstration should be peaceful,” she said.

Ahmed had been a pillar of the family since his father died 20 years earlier, Malek said. The 42-year-old grew up in Livry-Gargan, in the north-eastern suburbs of Paris, and graduated from the local lycée in 1995. He ran a cleaning company before joining the police force eight years ago, and worked hard for a promotion.

“Through his determination, he had just got his judicial police officer [detective] diploma and was shortly due to leave fieldwork. His colleagues describe him as a man of action who was passionate about his job,” Malek said.

Merabet was called to the scene of the attack while on a bicycle patrol and arrived just as the killers were making their escape. They stopped to add him to the long list of victims.

“He was on foot, and came nose to nose with the terrorists. He pulled out his weapon. It was his job, it was his duty,” said Rocco Contento, a colleague who was a union representative at the central police station for Paris’s 11th arrondissement, where Merabet was based. He described him as a quiet and conscientious officer who was always smiling and widely liked.

As news spread that the gunned down policeman was a Muslim, the hashtag #JeSuisAhmed began spreading on Twitter in solidarity. One user, identified as @Aboujahjah, said: “I am not Charlie, I am Ahmed the dead cop. Charlie ridiculed my faith and culture and I died defending his right to do so.”

January 11, 2015

Jailed Saudi is Publicly Flogged for running Liberal Website

Saudi Arabia, which has described itself as the “guardian of Islam,” released a statement on Wednesday through its official news agency condemning the attack on Charlie Hebdo as a “cowardly terrorist act” that is “incompatible with Islam.” But on Friday, the government pulled a blogger named Raif Badawi from his jail cell in Jeddah, brought him to a square in front of a mosque, and administered the first phase—fifty lashes—of a public flogging. As with Charlie Hebdo, Badawi’s offense involved the exercise of freedom of expression, often with a touch of sarcasm. He is scheduled to get another fifty lashes every Friday for the next nineteen weeks. He also faces ten years in prison and a fine that exceeds a quarter of a million dollars.

Badawi, who is thirty, ran a Web site called Saudi Liberal Network, which dared to discuss the country’s rigid Islamic restrictions on culture. One post mocked the prohibition against observing Valentine’s Day, which, like all non-Muslim holidays, is banned in Saudi Arabia. (Even foreigners aren’t allowed to buy trees for Christmas.) Religious police, known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, have reportedly patrolled flower shops and chocolate shops to warn against selling items that commemorate an infidel celebration. The Web site scoffed, “Congratulations to us for the Commission on the Promotion of Virtue for teaching us virtue and for its eagerness to insure that all members of the Saudi public are among the people of paradise.”

The site was also known to criticize conservative Muslim preachers. Saudi Arabia’s brand of Wahhabi Islam is extremely fundamentalist; Osama bin Laden was an adherent, as are many members of Al Qaeda and one of its franchises, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (A.Q.A.P.). The two shooters in Paris, Chérif and Saïd Kouachi, are said to have invoked A.Q.A.P. during their rampage. United States officials say that one of them trained in Yemen, where A.Q.A.P. has been based since it was forced out of Saudi Arabia.

Badawi’s site, which the government ordered taken down, often pressed the Saudi monarchy to show the same degree of religious tolerance that is customary in the West. In one article, which has been translated and reposted elsewhere, Badawi wrote:

We have not asked ourselves how it is that America allows Islamic missionaries on its territory, and how it is that we reject under all circumstances the freedom to proselytize within our Kingdom’s land. We can no longer hide our heads like an ostrich and say that no one can see us or that no one cares. Whether we like it or not, we, being a part of humanity, have the same duties that others have as well as the same rights.

When Badawi, a father of three, was arrested, in 2012, the charges against him included undermining Saudi security. A judge initially recommended that he be charged with apostasy, which carries an automatic death sentence. A noted Saudi cleric, Sheikh Abdul-Rahman al-Barrak, issued a religious ruling that Badawi was an “unbeliever,” because his site declared that Muslims, Jews, Christians, and atheists were equal, according to Human Rights Watch.

In 2013, when Badawi’s sentence was handed down, Nadim Houry, of Human Rights Watch, said, “This incredibly harsh sentence for a peaceful blogger makes a mockery of Saudi Arabia’s claims that it supports reform and religious dialogue.” The punishment also included an additional three months in prison for uquq, or parental disobedience, because Badawi had argued publicly with his father over the years.

After the sentencing, the French foreign ministry issued a statement expressing concern about “freedom of opinion and expression” in Saudi Arabia. On Thursday, in a rare intervention in the Saudi judiciary system, the State Department called on the Kingdom to “cancel this brutal punishment” and review both the case and the “inhumane punishment.” Jen Psaki, speaking for the State Department, said, “The United States strongly opposes laws, including apostasy laws, that restrict the exercise of these freedoms, and urges all countries to uphold these rights in practice.”

Saudi Arabia has also sentenced Badawi’s lawyer, Waleed Abu al-Khair, to fifteen years in prison—with an additional fifteen-year ban on leaving the country—for insulting the judiciary, inciting public opinion, and undermining the regime and its officials. In October, three other lawyers were sentenced to between five and eight years for criticizing the Justice Ministry. Over the past four months, the government has also detained women for driving automobiles and f0r using social media to publicly challenge the driving ban.

“These prosecutions show just how sensitive the Saudi authorities have become to the ability of ordinary citizens to voice opinions online that the government considers controversial or taboo,” Sarah Leah Whitson, of Human Rights Watch, said. “Instead of pursuing their peaceful online critics, Saudi officials would be better employed in carrying out much-needed reforms.”

January 5, 2015

Salman Taseer anniversary vigil attacked in Lahore

Taseer commemoration (Credit: pakistantoday.com.pk)

ISLAMABAD, Jan 4: Some enraged people attacked the participants of a candle light vigil organized here to mark the death anniversary of former governor Salman Taseer.

People had gathered at Liberty Chowk to mark the death anniversary of ex-governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, who was shot and killed by his own guard, Mumtaz Qadri, in broad day light in December 2010 in Islamabad.

A group of four-five people showed up at the scene, snatched and tore up placards and photos of Salman Taseer before beating up the participants of the vigil.

The attackers indiscriminately kicked women and other participants. They also subjected the reporters covering the event to torture and hit threw their cameras on the road and also damaged their DSNG vans.

A TV footage captured this event and in it a reporter can be heard saying: “What is our crime?”

Geo News cameraman Badar Munir also received some blows from the attackers while window panes of the DSNG van were also smashed.

Panicked participants ran in all directions to look for cover.

January 2, 2015

Lahore High Court Bar Opposes Military Courts

Human Rights lawyer, Asma Jehangir (Credit: dawn.com)

LAHORE, Jan. 1: The parliament mustn’t give legal cover to military courts, the Lahore High Court Bar Association said at its general house meeting on Thursday. The LHCBA passed a resolution condemning the plan to set up military courts to hear terrorism cases.

A general house meeting was called to deliberate on the issue. The LHCBA announced that it would call an All Pakistan Lawyers’ Convention to devise a strategy to resist the move.

Former Supreme Court Bar Association president Asma Jahangir said there was a need to cooperate with the armed forces in fighting the menace of terrorism. The people of the country gave a massive portion of the national budget to the armed forces each year to help them fight terrorism. “But they couldn’t even protect a school in their own cantonment.”

Jehangir said the judiciary and the democratic setup had its faults but they were still better than martial law or military courts. “These courts cannot resolve conflict.” Under the military, there could be no separation of powers, she said. “The whole system would collapse.”

Jehangir said that the parliament should not wait for the judiciary to declare the amendment illegal. It shouldn’t pass the bill at all.

The first step the government needs to take is to take note of all sympathisers of terrorists from among politicians and within the armed forces. “Everyone knows that the FC is protecting Lashkar-i-Jhangvi in Balochistan. The only solution to the problem of terrorism is the supremacy of civil rule.”

There is no doubt that Pakistan is faced with a severe terrorism problem, but setting up military courts will not change a thing, former SCBA president Advocate Hamid Khan said.

Pakistan had tried and tested military courts since 1958 and nothing good had come of it, he said. “Setting up military courts gives the impression that the attack in Peshawar was the judiciary’s fault.” It was clear that the military and intelligence agencies had failed in gathering intelligence about the attack and pre-empting it, said Khan. The armed forces hadn’t been able to kill any terrorists involved in the attack, the culprits blew themselves up.

Khan said the prosecution was to blame for not collecting enough evidence to bring the culprits to book. Whatever reforms the country needed in light of the war on terror must be taken within the Constitution, he said. “The security and protection the government plans to provide military courts should be extended to judges.” The state has created the impression that protection and security extends to the armed forces and not the civilians. “This is a failure of the state,” he said.

Small militia groups under the banners of Lashkar and Sippah needed to be disbanded immediately, said Khan. “Regardless of their reputation, every organisation that preached a version of militant Islam needs to be disarmed,” he said.

Advocate Tanveer Chaudhry was critical of judges. Today courts act like dictators, he said. “One of the judges took a traffic warden into custody after he asked him to queue up to get a driving licence; another judge ordered four robbers to be shot dead for robbing the house of a civil court judge in Sheikhupura,” Chaudhry said. “An MS was put in handcuffs for not treating an LHC judge’s daughter on priority… Is this a civilian judiciary?” He said the country’s judiciary were acting like core commanders. Advocate Raja Zulqarnain said lawyers would not accept a move to set up military courts. He said politicians and military men provided weapons to the Jamatud Dawa and the Sippah-i-Sahaba. “Why are they protecting hardliners?”

LHCBA’s acting president Amir Jalil Siddiqi said the bar should have announced its view point right after political parties made an announcement in this regard. He said Nawaz Sharif became prime minister because of the Lawyers’ Movement. “We will not let him commit an illegal act.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 2^nd, 2015.

January 2, 2015

Why is Sindh being Sinned Against?

While we all got used to missing persons and tortured bodies in Balochistan, it’s odd to find Sindh becoming part of the same tragic cycle.

Death and dead bodies are not new to Sindh. Every decade since the 1980s, the province has bled for one reason or the other. But this current spate of killings seems to be a new pattern. It is almost as if Sindhi nationalism is being woken up. Interestingly, the six dead bodies found recently did not belong to violent nationalists. In fact, five out of the six were men who had moved on in life. Notwithstanding old associations with the JSMM, these people were not actively involved in any ‘anti-state’ activity or even in party politics.

In any case, one thought that from the state’s perspective, Sindh was not Balochistan. The province had been through this phase during the 1980s when people challenged the military regime and were killed for it. Like Balochistan, Sindh was politically vibrant. The Sindhi media and intelligentsia was politically active and educated people about issues in its own language. Fast-forward to the 2000s, things were manipulated and changed. Despite the media still being active, it has begun to behave and sound more like the media in the rest of the country. What the state couldn’t purchase or silence was bought over by influential dons.

One also thought that the state was using two other tools to repair relations with Sindh. First, approximately 80,000 men were inducted into the army during the Musharraf period that naturally increased effectiveness of old and new cantonments and cadet colleges in different places in the province. In fact, one came across Sindhi expatriates and intellectuals, who would argue in favour of their people joining the civil and military bureaucracy. Many scions of influential families joined the security establishment in different positions to enhance their power and influence. Second, the province was gradually but systematically infested with militant organisations, madrassas and other infrastructure. In any case, the JUI-F and the JUI-S were expanding their influence, which was obvious from the votes that the late Khalid Soomro got in Larkana contesting the 1990 elections against Benazir Bhutto. Given the absence of a forceful narrative to counter the gradually melting feudalism (that turned into neo-feudalism), the new middle class in Sindh was getting attracted to religious discourse. Certain religious organisations got lots of opportunities to bring back traditional support for them in Sindh back to life in a newer form.

So, one really wonders why it was felt that there was a need to light a fire in Sindh. Such killings can only provoke anger and resentment, especially amongst the youth who are abandoned both by the state and the political governments. The stories of poor governance, corruption and neglect of the people are far too gory for anyone to claim that the PPP and its leadership are not to blame. As a political party, the PPP is both a perpetrator and victim of the wave of violence. It is responsible for not crying out loud against what is happening in the province it claims to control. The collusion between its key leaders and the security apparatus denoted by joint exploitation of resources makes its behaviour questionable. Yet, it is a party that will find itself in a deeper mess if the violence doesn’t stop. It would be even more tragic if it has to become party to the greater intrusion of the security apparatus that will step in under the pretext of securing the place against ‘violent nationalism’.

Recently, the chairman of the Sindhi Taraqi Pasand Party, Qadir Magsi, rightly warned the JSMM against an armed struggle as it could result in greater losses and deaths of Sindhi youth. Moreover, violence will eventually open doors even wider for both the military and religious militants to expand their existing influence. Then, things will get so muddled that no one will seem to have a recipe other than perhaps, the Chinese. But in the process, the tranquility and serenity of the place will disappear forever. The Sufi tradition, multiculturalism and tolerance, which are already drifting away, will become things of the past. Even nationalists wouldn’t realise when they start seeking help of militants because there is no other help available. It is quite likely that, like in Balochistan where al Qaeda seems to have taken up the cause of Baloch nationalism, forces of extremism will determine Sindh’s politics.

While we try to solve the mystery of why Sindh is being sinned against, it is important to note that all moderate political forces are disappearing. This is also a reference to the recent killing of the JUI-F’s Dr Soomro. Although the partnership between the PPP and the JUI-F during the last six years played a critical role in strengthening the latter and bringing in militant elements into Sindh, which mostly came under the religious party’s umbrella, Dr Soomro was a political man who cared for Sindhi nationalism as well. Even if he hadn’t died, he would find himself less effective in the face of the evolving politics of Sindh. Some people even argue that his death may be linked with his nationalistic perspective rather than anything else. Not to forget that the JUI-F has an interesting legacy and historically had a leadership that opposed the official nationalist narrative. This was also a party where the politics of the left and right merged together. The death of leaders like Dr Soomro indicate a transition towards a different kind of leadership or the rising influence of new militant groups in Sindh, which are more aligned with Islamabad’s nationalist perspective. A new hybrid-theocratic society is in the process of being born.

Sindh has had a legacy of great history and traditions. While we can all think of demons that can be held responsible for the current mayhem, there is no time to waste if we want to stop the bleeding. The state must be held accountable and made to stop this bloodshed.