Catalysts for Change

Human Rights, Women

By Zubeida Mustafa

When it comes to laws governing women’s rights, it is easy to get caught up in a chicken first or egg first debate. Should laws precede social change or should it be the other way around? Can laws change ground realities? Or do changes in society force the pace of legislation?

These questions are nothing new in Pakistan’s context. This month the International Women’s Day will, once again, bring into focus this debate because the gap between the laws and their implementation has been widening. If one were to see the state of oppression of women in the country today – the incidence of violence against them is growing horrendously – it is quite difficult to believe that such pro-women laws are there on our statute books. But conversely, laws that promise justice and equality – even though they are merely symbolic – do serve as catalysts for change if there are activists around to take up the women’s cause.
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Take away the guns, please

Defence and Disarmament, Human Rights, Politics

By Zubeida Mustafa

KARACHI is burning again. Almost 40 people were killed in the last week or so of March. Three strike calls disrupted life in the city and the loss to production is estimated by industrialists and traders to be Rs20bn.

Those believed to be provoking violence are not outlaws operating outside the political system. They are parties that were elected by the people whose life and property they are expected to safeguard.
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School with a heart

Education

By Zubeida Mustafa

IN March 1862, five nuns from the Daughters of the Cross — a Belgium-based congregation — travelled to India and set up a school in Karachi with 10 students on its rolls.

This is how the St Joseph’s Convent School (SJC), one of the finest educational institutions in the city, was founded. Today, 150 years on, the number of its students has grown to over 2,000. Hundreds of thousands have passed through its portals over the years. Continue reading School with a heart →

Remembering Naveed Anwar

Health, Organ Trade and Donation

By Zubeida Mustafa

NOT many may recall Naveed Anwar today because when he slipped into the valley of death 14 years ago he went silently without making a splash in the media.

At a time when the Transplant Society of Pakistan is launching its deceased organ donation campaign we should be paying homage to Naveed and the four others* who followed his pioneering trail. They conclusively established that our society is capable of unbelievable generosity and care, even in the bad times we live in. Continue reading Remembering Naveed Anwar →

A teacher on death row

Education, Human Rights, Social Issues

By Zubeida Mustafa

WHEN someone claims to have been denied a fair hearing before the courts due to systemic flaws, I think of the golden “chain of justice” that has earned the Mughal emperor Jahangir a place in history. Outside his castle in Agra a bell had been installed for those who wanted a personal hearing from the emperor. They just had to pull the chain.

There are many prisoners locked up in our prisons today who need such golden chains. In other words, their point of view needs to be heard. One of them is Dr Zulfiqar Ali, an inmate of Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore. I came to know of Zulfiqar’s case way back in 2009, when Justice Project Pakistan , in conjunction with the London-based Reprieve, two legal aid organisations, had filed a mercy petition to the president on his behalf. I had written about him pleading for his life in view of the good work he was doing to educate fellow-prisoners (May 20, 2009).
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