Category Archives: Defence and Disarmament

Crushing the working class

Defence and Disarmament, Economy, Labour,

By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn

THE power crisis in Karachi has now begun to paralyse life in this metropolis. The immediate factor responsible is the KESC management’s failure — or is it unwillingness? — to negotiate an agreement with its workers.

I will not go into the details — 4,500 workers were recently put in the surplus pool while 6,000 untrained men were reportedly recruited on contract. KESC’s troubles are symptomatic of the bleak state of the labour sector in the country. With the national economy in the doldrums (having recorded a growth of less than three per cent this year) expectations are not high. We know who is being hit by this economic catastrophe.
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Whither foreign policy?

Defence and Disarmament, Foreign Policy of Pakistan

By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn

THE Pakistan Institute of International Affairs, Karachi, has a remarkable history. Its founder-secretary, Khwaja Sarwar Hasan, brought the institution from Delhi to Karachi in 1947. Since then, it has had an uninterrupted existence, albeit with many ups and downs, a rocky period being when it was taken over by the Zia government.
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What about HR abuses?

Constitution, Defence and Disarmament, Human Rights

By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn

THIS paper reported last Saturday that during the in camera briefing to legislators, the DG ISI offered to resign if parliament so wished. He should simply have submitted his resignation when he reportedly admitted that an intelligence failure had taken place. Prima facie, this was inefficiency at its worst.
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Who sets the agenda?

Defence and Disarmament, Foreign Policy of Pakistan, War and Peace

By Zubeida Mustafa

SO much has happened between the United States and Pakistan in recent months that it is time for a review of their relationship. It would require the two countries to step back and make a dispassionate and objective assessment of their equations.

Analysts believe that the bond between the two countries “is driven by Pakistan’s utility [for the US] in fighting terrorism”. It is about the bare minimum — terrorism and insurgency-led violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan — that is needed to keep bilateral ties going. Ironically, according to this line of reasoning this predicates “the longevity of the interest on terrorism” on failure to improve relationships. This also implies that the two sides find it in their interest to keep the pot boiling, that is keep the region destabilised.

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After Davis, what?

Defence and Disarmament, Economy, Foreign Policy of Pakistan, Media

By Zubeida Mustafa

One TV anchor asked rhetorically, “If our diplomat had killed two men in cold blood in Washington, would the Americans have allowed him to go home under cover of diplomatic immunity?” Obviously not, because the United States is a superpower and Pakistan is not. In short, we have an unequal relationship, notwithstanding the hype about state sovereignty. We have trapped ourselves in an unsavoury situation by tying ourselves too closely to the American apron strings with the incumbent indignity.

The time has come for serious rethinking of our foreign policy and this cannot be done in the glare of publicity. We need to realise that ‘the burden of US aid’ that our leading intellectual, Hamza Alavi, had written about in 1962 is growing heavier by the day. It has implications for our politics, economy, and foreign policy. It is also demeaning.

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