Category Archives: Social Issues

Be warned

By Zubeida Mustafa

RECENTLY, we had bad and good news in quick succession. It was first announced that Punjab’s interim government had issued a notification stating that it had signed an agreement with the army to hand over to the latter more than 45,000 acres of land in the province’s Bhakkar, Sahiwal and Khushab districts for corporate farming. A few weeks later, to my great relief, I learnt that Rafay Alam, the lawyer fighting cases to save Pakistan’s agriculture from the treachery of our rulers, petitioned the Lahore High Court to have the notification withdrawn. The court stopped the transfer.

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Voicing concerns

By Zubeida Mustafa

THE preamble to Unesco’s constitution reads, “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be built.” That holds true not just for war and peace but practically everything that needs to be changed in life. If one agrees with this dictum, one should not be cynical about the concerns of the founders of the Concerned Citizens’ Alliance (CCA) over the economic crisis we face today.

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Home thoughts

By Zubeida Mustafa

IN South Asia’s patriarchal societies, writings by women giving their perspective on sociopolitical issues in the early 20th century are not easily available. Diaries are even rarer. Happily, we now have a valuable addition to this genre. It is a diary introducing us to the views of a 24-year-old woman from Hyderabad Deccan, who went to England for further studies. It was my privilege to have a trained preforming artist, Shama Askari, read it out to me.

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‘Maraka’ truths

By Zubeida Mustafa

SUICIDES by young men and women have been periodically reported from Gilgit-Baltistan (GB). Authentic figures are not available in the absence of scientific surveys and forensic facilities, which allows ‘honour’ killings to be masked as suicide. Neverthe­less, the suicide rate in this region is, arguably, higher than the average in Pakistan (8.9 per 100,000).

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Gender rights

By Zubeida Mustafa

IT goes to the credit of gender rights leader Bindiya Rana that Pakistan is counted among the 20-odd states to have given legal recognition to the ‘third sex’ — non-binary people. They were counted in Pakistan’s 2017 census and are entitled to ID cards. Conservative Pakistan can now be regarded as enlightened in the matter of gender legalities — but not in terms of transgender people’s acceptance and inclusiveness in society.

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The unheeded

I LISTEN to a transgender woman speak and my mind starts to churn.             

 I keep wondering what I would do if I had a transgender child? Keep her hidden from prying eyes? Hidden from my in-laws, or my own parents for that matter who might insist I send her away? Let my own inhibitions translate into something that my child would see as shame, which would make her hate herself? What would I do if I had to take her to the doctor?

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Money mania

By Zubeida Mustafa

WE live in a bizarre country. That is the most appropriate term I find to describe Pakistan. It has some laws and official practices that are not only irrational, but actually absurd when seen in the context of their implementation. They cannot be explained and no sane-minded person would justify them. The elites are the beneficiaries and so they are pro-status quo.

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