Category Archives: Law & Order

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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‘Baji, let it be’

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.

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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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Child marriages

By Zubeida Mustafa

OUR society seems to have been obsessed for long with the idea of matrimony. Mercifully, the growing trend towards female education has to an extent weakened this obsession — but not in communities still deprived of the benefits of education and enlightenment.

In these underprivileged classes, which constitute the majority, it is a common practice for mothers to start planning their child’s marriage soon after birth. They informally decide who will be whose life partner. Termed ‘baat pukki karna’, the arrangement is irrevocable. The girl’s mother even starts collecting her daughter’s jahez. Obscurantist parents even consider it a sin if the child is not married before puberty.

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Culture of corruption

By Zubeida Mustafa

THE ongoing school and college examinations across the country mark the advent of the cheating season. As expected, the national discourse is now focused on the malpractices of both candidates and examiners. Also under discussion are the incompetency and corruption of the examination boards which not only tolerate this ugly feature of our education system but actually facilitate it.

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بدعنوانی کا کلچر

 زبیدہ مصطفیٰ

ملک بھر میں اسکول اور کالج کے جاری امتحانات نقل کے موسم کا آغاز ہیں۔ توقع کے مطابق اب قومی سطح پر ہونے والی بحث امیدواروں اور ممتحنوں کی بدعنوانیوں پر مرکوز ہے۔ امتحانی بورڈز اور ممتحنوں کی نااہلی اور کرپشن بھی زیر ِبحث ہے جو ہمارے تعلیمی نظام کے اس بدنما پہلو کو نہ صرف برداشت کرتے ہیں بلکہ درحقیقت اس میں مدد دیتے ہیں۔

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Oh, so brazen

By Zubeida Mustafa

ON Dec 9, which is designated as International Anti-Corruption Day by the United Nations, newspapers carried a prominent Sindh government advertisement titled ‘Let’s Eradicate Corruption’. It would have convinced few but it did amuse many. The ad claimed that action was being taken against corruption.

The ad admitted that corruption was against the interest of the nation and that bribery was punishable under the law. However, it made a tall demand by stating, “If you have encountered corruption, report immediately.”

Would one want to do that? I still think of my friend Perween Rahman, the head of the OPP, who was shot dead in March 2013, and how she was facilitating the regularisation of goths on the fringe of the city. In normal times too, ordinary citizens feel unprotected. Till today, we do not know who ordered the killers to pull the trigger to eliminate this dedicated social worker.

It is seemingly a brilliant idea to ask the public to report a crime even if it is as minor as a clerk demanding a bribe to move a file. Will the file actually inch forward when the accused is taken to task? As for big crimes, only a fool would hope for state protection if he dares to report it.

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