Category Archives: Education

A people’s man

Children and Youth, Culture and the Arts, Development and Poverty, Education, Notable Personalities, Social Issues

By Zubeida Mustafa

asadAsad Husain Shah, 35, is Project Manager at the Ali Hasan Mangi Memorial Trust (AHMMT) in Khairo Dero (KD), which was set up in 2008 by the late Mr Mangi’s granddaughter Naween. Its goal is to create a model village.

What distinguishes Asad from numerous others in his village is his sensitivity to his environment and his immense capacity to think issues through  philosophically. In fact his colleagues have nicknamed him ‘The Philosopher.’ It is this quality that gave him courage to shun the ‘privileges’ that birth bestowed upon him and adopt a lifestyle that he believes has given him self-esteem.

Born to a Syed family in Balochistan, Asad remembers his childhood as an unsettled one. His father migrated to Sindh and was constantly on the move. Being the imam of a mosque, he enjoyed  a special status in society. By virtue of his ancestry that he traced to  the Holy Prophet (PBUH), he could claim the privileged position of a pir in Sindhi culture. Continue reading A people’s man →

Changing mindsets

Books, Children and Youth, Development and Poverty, Education, Human Rights, Justice, Labour, Law & Order, Mental health, Social Issues

By Zubeida Mustafa

TALKING about prisons, the chief justice of Sindh said last Saturday that more than retribution and deterrence the main purpose of imprisonment should be reform and rehabilitation. In Pakistan, where the prison system is by no means in ideal shape — Karachi jail has 6,000 prisoners when its capacity is for under 2,000 — the need to address the moral correction dimension is conspicuously inadequate.

To step into this unsavoury situation with the idea of bringing about reform is in itself an act of courage. Saleem Aziz Khan, the founder of the Society for Advancement of Health, Education and Environment (SAHEE), has nevertheless decided to meet the challenge. Along with Azhar Jamil, he launched the four-step Criminon Programme in the Karachi jail in 2007. The two now want to expand the project as they feel they are making an impact.

Having borrowed the concepts from internationally recognised and tried projects, Azhar defends the project as being “a secular programme that teaches common-sense values”. Continue reading Changing mindsets →

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 →

Justice for Perween

Development and Poverty, Economy, Education, Human Rights, Justice, Notable Personalities, Perween Rahman, Water, Women

By Zubeida Mustafa

THE  text message is still saved in my mobile phone. It was sent at 9.30 am on Wednesday March 13, 2013. It was signed “Thanks n Cheers PR”. That was the last time I heard from Perween Rahman, director of the OPP-RTI

For years she had made it a habit when in Karachi to read my column in the morning when it appeared in this paper and would send a comment by sms/email or call me up for a brief chat on her way to work. On that fateful day in 2013, less than 12 hours later, she was dead. The following week I wrote, ‘Rest in peace little sister’.

Continue reading Justice for Perween →