All posts by Zubeida Mustafa

Where are the readers?

Books, Library

By Zubeida Mustafa

I met Moinuddin Khan, the author of In Search of Readers, in 1962 when I joined the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs (PIIA), Moin Sahib, as we have always called him, was the librarian at PIIA. He is mainly responsible for kindling in me an interest in libraries. Books have been my passion all my life but previously I did not see the library as anything more than a room to stock the books in. The librarian was the person who manned this room, rubberstamped dates on the inside of the back cover, and arranged the books in their places on the shelves when readers scattered them thoughtlessly on the table. He also supposedly kept an eye on visitors to ensure they didn’t pinch any volume! Continue reading Where are the readers? →

Insecure rights

Balochistan, Children and Youth, Constitution, Culture and the Arts, Development and Poverty, Education, Environment, Health, Housing, Human Rights, Justice, Labour, Law & Order, Notable Personalities, Perween Rahman, Politics, Social Issues, Women

By Zubeida Mustafa

A WEEK before Sabeen Mahmud, the ever-smiling ‘active’ human rights activist was gunned down in Karachi, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan launched its annual State of Human Rights report for 2014.

It is widely believed that Sabeen’s decision to host a seminar on Balochistan invited a terrible retribution from the powers-that-be. It is indeed saddening that this staunch defender of all the rights covered by the HRCP report is no more amongst us to act as society’s conscience to remind us that each of us becomes an abettor when the state violates any right the citizen is entitled to and we remain silent onlookers. Continue reading Insecure rights →

Education disaster

Children and Youth, Constitution, Development and Poverty, Human Rights, Social Issues, Women

By Zubeida Mustafa

THE story goes back to the year 2000 when 1,100 participants from 164 countries assembled in Dakar (Senegal) for the World Education Forum.

The Dakar moot set for itself the goal of ‘Education for All’ and underpinned it with six specific targets to be achieved by 2015. Unesco stepped forward to monitor progress on these goals annually.

Thus an independent team was constituted and the Global Monitoring Report was born. GMR 2015 was launched last week and summed up the achievements of countries in the education sector. Continue reading Education disaster →

Mind-Boggling Conundrums in the Middle East

Defence and Disarmament, Foreign Policy of Pakistan, History, Human Rights, International Politics, Islamisation, Law & Order, Minorities, Terrorism and Violence

By Zubeida Mustafa

The Obama administration has decided to go slow on its troop withdrawal program in Afghanistan. A substantial American military presence is expected to remain in this strife-stricken country until the end of 2015. President Obama said that this was necessary to make Afghanistan more secure.

However, geopolitics in this region is more complex than the American media make it out to be. Now is the time to set the record straight before a new conflict erupts in the Afghanistan-Pakistan (AfPak) area and ill-conceived explanations are offered to confuse public perceptions. To begin with, Americans should know that many of the wars in Asia have their roots in American geostrategic shenanigans. Continue reading Mind-Boggling Conundrums in the Middle East →

NA-246: bye-‘by?

Children and Youth, Guest Contributor, Politics, Social Issues, Women

By Rifaat Hamid Ghani

geust-contWILL the bye-election in Karachi’s NA-246 yield a significantly different result from the one last obtained? Already there are signs of using any changes further to impugn the conduct of the national elections of 2013 and psychologically underwrite Imran’s allegations. And what does Imran Khan have to say when he stops ranting about electoral fraud and corruption and intimidation? Well the party is having a try at talking about liberating the ladies and caring for the street-child. If PTI is thinking of reaching hearts and minds in Karachi NA-264 the new tack needs a different pitch.

The ladies in Karachi’s constituencies (even when Burqa clad) are formidably liberated or else entirely articulate about the need thereof. Street-children – ah yes – that is a good note – they should be state-children the party powerful were saying in Peshawar. Ought Karachi’s voters to assume the state just arrived in the PTI-governed KP hasn’t had a chance to get cracking? But street children PTI went on to elaborate Continue reading NA-246: bye-‘by? →