By Zubeida Mustafa
THE Human Rights Commission of Pakistan is the conscience of the nation. If a human rights transgression occurs, the HRCP reacts promptly. Every year, it publishes a report on the human rights situation in Pakistan, pointing out to both the authorities and the people where they are failing. It has been doing this for 35 years.
By Zubeida Mustafa
MORE than 91 years ago a child was born to an enlightened and highly literary family. He himself grew up to make a worthy contribution to society as a public intellectual. Apart from his inherited love for Urdu literature, he also loved the profession he had chosen to enter, namely, law.
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.
By Zubeida Mustafa
PAKISTAN is regressing; the extent of its decline can be measured by the treatment meted out to its women. What happened at Mujahid Colony in Karachi not too long ago has set new standards of ‘beastliness’ on the part of state functionaries in subduing women. The confrontation between women and the police took place when the authorities, having decided to widen a road in North Nazimabad, sent demolition teams to clear so-called encroachments. I will not go into the legalities of the issue as controversy surrounds it.
Continue reading ‘Baji, let it be’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.
Continue reading Gender rights