By Zubeida Mustafa
MARCH 8 was International Women’s Day and as is now customary the event allows social activists and feminists to focus on ‘gender equality’, the theme for this year. Given the candour of the youth, the discourse now allows for a true debate, which is the essence of democracy and crucial to the empowerment of women.
Continue reading Where are they?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.
Continue reading Child marriagesBy 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.
Continue reading Culture of corruptionزبیدہ 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۔
Continue reading بدعنوانی کا کلچرBy 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.
Continue reading Oh, so brazen