Curse the parliamentarians, not parliament!

Sicks are those who curse Parliament, which is the custodian of people’s rights. More sickening it is when the abuser himself is a parliamentarian. Period.

What would you, however, say of such Parliament, that passes the 12^th Amendment that grants immunity to a dictator’s actions and awards him with constitutional legitimacy? One would not stop short of cursing the moment when that Parliament was elected to do such a shameful act.

Parliament represents public’s aspirations. What is to say of one such parliament where its leader, yes, I am talking about the prime minister, has turned up not more than 10 times in his four-year tenure? What is the level of that parliament where the leader of the third largest party - Imran Khan - does not like to come to?  Parliament is not just the name of a building, chairs, desks, and microphones. Its members, its business and its performance make it a supreme institution in the eye of the public and the constitution. One would be glad to hear to know about the number of times when this parliament’s proceedings went smoothly with a full quorum. When Parliament has always been struggling to maintain its quorum, it speaks volume of its performance.

We are never tired of calling – Parliament is supreme.

Parliament’s supremacy and honour are not granted. Parliamentarians need to earn it for the house if they want to condemn those who call parliament a jinxed place. The person who shamed a female parliamentarian colleague in the house because of her physical appearance now sits as the foreign minister. Yes, the very “soft-spoken” Khawaja Asif is being mentioned here. The remarks of another treasury parliamentarian about his opposition colleague that his sister is often seen in someone bedroom will not fade anytime soon. You are right, the spat between Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Murad Saeed and Pakistan Muslim League’s Khurram Latif will not add to shining examples of Parliament.

Still, spats, brawls, and rowdy sessions are part of Parliament the world over. Those parliaments, however, also have glaring examples of following stricter accountability rules, and showing no compromise on the rule of law. In those Parliaments, a scandal involving the distant relative of a sitting Parliamentarian forces the parliamentarian in question to quit the house and prove their innocence. Let us learn something from the South Korean parliament, which impeached Park Geun-hye, the former president, who has been jailed over a high profile corruption scandal that has already seen her ousted from office and prompted early elections. She has been jailed for on charges of bribery, abuse of authority, coercion and leaking government secrets. Here, our Parliament never questioned its on-leave finance minister Ishaq Dar, who is wanted for billion rupees scams. Previous prime minister Nawaz Sharif faced zero resistance from Parliament when he and his family were named in the Panama case. Moreover, this Parliament will never feel pride in hosting members like Jamshed Dasti, Abid Sher Ali, MQM’s members now facing charges of murder, extortion and what not, retired Captain Safdar, Imran Khan, Sheikh Rasheed and so on.

On Thursday, the National Assembly condemned Imran Khan and Sheikh Rasheed for cursing Parliament at a public rally in Lahore.

A good step indeed, but a better step would be to go further from condemning their colleagues and reflecting Parliament's past and present actions for a better future.

The Mall rally

It was heartening to see a political activity in Lahore, once the hub of such activities, after so many years where the opposition assembled for a political cause. Such things are becoming a rarity in the newly democratic Pakistan. Political rallies, often by students, used to be an almost everyday scene in big cities during the 60s to 90s, and then traders-turned-politicians took the centre stage, making the real political activities an unusual thing. To see a united, but fragmented, opposition hold a political rally on The Mall is a welcome scene, and it is hoped such more rallies will be brought out by the united opposition against the governments in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan.

The Punjab government met the show gracefully and without creating any hindrance let it go. Some traders, who would throw eggs on protesting nurses and shower rose petals on pro-Mumtaz Qadri lawyers’ had moved the Lahore High Court against the political show, but the honorable judges accepted people’s right to assembly and protest and allowed the Pakistan Awami Tehreek-led political show to be held with certain conditions. The Mall traders demand special privilege that rallies be banned on the road for they affect their business. Most of the time, they are given favor by banning the rallies, which is against the spirit of the people’s right to rally and protest. Very rarely, political rallies go violent. Hopefully, the coming months will see more and more political gatherings.

The last political gathering showed how a fragmented opposition leaves no political impact behind. The rally, which was convened by PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri, against the government’s failure to bring the killers of the Model Town tragedy to the task. He had invited Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Q and a few other parties to the show. It would have been the beginning of an era like the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy, or Nawabzada Nasarullah Khan-led political alliances, but the spanner, thrown by PTI Chairman Imran Khan spoiled the spirit when he said he would not share the stage with Asif Zardari. Though Dr Tahirul Qadri went ahead with the plan, vowing to bring both Imran and Zardari to the stage, the damage was already done, and the activists of either party were not ready to listen to each other. Imran Khan is introducing a new culture where an opposition party berates another opposition party benefitting the government.

The rally, though well attended by a very charged crowd, concluded without giving any solid programme. Asif Zardari aimed at Nawaz Sharif; Imran Khan spent his vocal energies on government and Sharif’s corruption, whereas Dr Qadri and Chaudhry Pervez Elahi only targeted the Shahbaz Sharif government. Sheikh Rasheed announced his resignation from the National Assembly. He also invited Imran Khan to follow him.

Once the rally was over, the workers had no plan ahead for the coming days.

A well-organized show went in vain.    

Chaudhry Nisar vs Pervez Rasheed

Our political world is never devoid of foul play, and the most recent addition to the list is a spat of exchange of words between Pakistan Muslim League-N’s two bigwigs – former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and former information minister Senator Pervez Rasheed. Both once sat on the cabinet of once (no, thrice) prime minister Nawaz Sharif. 

Of the three, Pervez Rasheed was the first o go; Nawaz Sharif followed him, while Chaudhry Nisar opted not to be part of the ensuing cabinet. 

The press and electronic media are abuzz with their statements directed at each other. That is so absurd. It all started with Pervez Rasheed’s interview with Nasim Zehra’s programme on a TV channel talk show where the former information minister pointed finger at his former colleague for his disgraceful exit from the cabinet of then prime minister, and now disqualified in the Panama Gate case, Nawaz Sharif, for his alleged role in the Dawn Leaks. The saga, which started after the publication of a news story by Cyril Almeida in Dawn that the civilians had mounted pressure on the military establishment to curtail militants for avoiding international isolation. The establishment pressured the government to a hold a probe into the publication of, what the establishment dubbed a fabricated and unfounded story, but even before the start of the probe, Pervez Rasheed was sacked from the ministry. The wounds might keep him sleepless.

Once the Dawn Leaks saga was over, the Panama Leaks struck the PML-N government and claimed the head of Nawaz Sharif. In the ensuing developments, Chaudhry Nisar Ali showed his dissenting note and refused to join the cabinet of Prime Minister Shahid Kahqan Abbasi and has been keeping his dissenting face since then. His criticism stretches from Nawaz Shari’s anti-judiciary postures to Maryam Nawaz’s bids to outshine Shahbaz Sharif’s as the likely successor to Nawaz Sharif. Chaudhry Nisar is of the opinion that Shahbaz Sharif should be a candidate to the prime minister’s office after the general election. Nawaz Sharif and his daughter have serious reservations about Shahbaz Sharif, and have frustrated the Nisar-Shahbaz camp to aim at the prime minister’s prized chair.

In this context, now Pervez Rasheed has been unleashed on Chaudhry Nisar to oust him from the PML-N even before the general election, conveying a harsh message to Shahbaz Sharif too to “know your place”. Pervez Rasheed is very close to Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz, and without their consent, he cannot foment against Chaudhry Nisar. He has been dared to contest elections without the symbol of tiger. Omens show that Chaudhry Nisar’s days in the PML-N have been numbered.

If Chaudhry Nisar is shown the door, bad days for Shahbaz Sharif will begin too. It will lead to chaos and polarization in the PML-N, benefitting the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and the Pakistan People’s Party in the 2018 elections. But the fact is that the PML-N is better off without Chaudhry Nisar Ali and Shahbaz Sharif, who both have been supporters of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan; Pervez Rasheed is not an angel as being information minister, he would devout his mouth work to degrade the political opponents, instead of fighting the case of Pakistani government. If one looks with clear vision, they will realise that the whole PML-N has been the carrier of a plagued, bleak ideology.

May God bring better times for Pakistan! 

Winning over Pakistani consumers’ confidence

A report by the Nelson Global Survey of Consumer Confidence and Spending Intentions gives an all-time high to Pakistan mounting its points by nine points in July-September 2017. What factors in the positive outlook is the positive perception of job outlook, increasing from 47 per cent in the second quarter to 57pc in the third quarter. When compared to other regions, it is seen that North American consumer confidence remained on solid footing in the second quarter of 2017 with a score of 117, despite a decline of four points from the fourth quarter of 2016. Confidence in the Asia-Pacific region strengthened modestly, rising three points to 114. Confidence in Europe increased five points, and confidence held steady in Latin America with a score of 85, according to Nelson Pakistan website. 

The survey found that the respondents have positive views about the state of their personal finances had mounted by two percentage points from the second quarter to 66pc, resultantly immediate-spending intentions have reached 49pc, compared to 46pc in the second quarter 2017. It is obvious that political uncertainties, turmoil in the region because of the rise of militant outfits, such as Daesh, have not affected the people’s pockets. The main factor behind this positive outlook could be low POL prices the world over. An occasional increase in the prices because of OPEC intention to cut down the supplies has so far did not impact the market overall.   

The one bleak area in the survey report is a slight dip in job security. Yes, workplaces are a bit insecure in the country given polarization and ever-changing corporate world’s priorities. The survey found a one percentage point dip in job security that has been the biggest concern over the next six months, and it still remains the top concern amongst 21pc of Pakistani consumers. Several sectors, such as services and media, have seen job uncertainties. In media, there is the worst recession going on. Several media outlets have been delaying the salaries of their employers or have underpaid them because of rising costs and shortened revenues. The services sector, especially hospitality and medical, have also seen shrinking revenues resulting in job cuts.  

Domestic tourism, however, saw a sharp upward trend as people are more and more spending on vacations despite the Northern Areas hotspots have yet to be fully developed. Similarly, more recreational spots in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan have not been developed and many worthy spots remain undiscovered. Technology, especially the telecom, also attracted more cash spending. But it only increased the import bills. “The nine-point upsurge in Pakistan’s consumer confidence score depicts an improving outlook for the country,” noted Quratulain Ibrahim, managing director, Nielsen Pakistan.

 “Since Nielsen launched the survey, this has been the highest number reached to date. We can attribute the score to many different reasons, such as the growth of our agricultural sector, controlled inflation, strengthened power supply and most importantly the uplift in our job market. There has been an increase in large-scale manufacturing —notably the automotive industry. Pakistan is flourishing and is rated as one of the top growth markets in the Middle East and Africa region.”

Give justice to transgender

In 2009, the Supreme Court of Pakistan granted equal human rights to the transgender community and ordered authorities to recognize transgender people as a separate legal identity on their national identity cards. Now, is the need for understanding the current living situation of the transgender community, how it transformed in the past seven years since the Supreme Court judgment. No work has been done to analyze how successful the implementation of the judgment was, and what policies need to be constructed in order to promote equity and equality for all despite whatever gender differences an individual may have. This can only be done through an in-depth examination of the situation of transgender people.

It is said “the lack of a single common framework for deciding what is ethical and what is not thus ultimately influences the outcome of public policymaking and the reputation of public relations”. The second area of focus is to understand the loopholes that may exist in the Supreme Court judgment and that may have contributed to the failure of its successful implementation. The judgment was prompted by the identity factor. Identity can be referred to as a term which may be social and personal. Social category implies to a group of individuals noticed or recognized by labels and differentiated by policies or laws that decide association and characteristic qualities. As for the second term personal identity can be looked upon as an understanding of unchangeable characteristics due to which an individual feels self-importance since it distinguishes the individual from others. However, there are various definitions and arguments that have been presented for identity throughout history. Identity plays a crucial role in Identity Politics which is a phrase that is widely used to imply numerous political activities and the speculation that is formed due to certain social groups who share their experiences of injustice. The main aim of the development of Identity politics is to protect the political liberty of those individuals who are marginalized in the population and suffer on the basis of their identity in a superior environment so equality can prevail in the society.

The term ‘transgender’ refers to those individuals whose gender identity, behavior and expression differ from the assigned one given at birth. This also includes those individuals who may have had gender reassignment surgery, hormonal treatment or no treatment at all. However, the term ‘transgender’ is often viewed in two ways; the first one being the original definition represents the individuals who cross gender, without having any gender reassignment surgery. The second way is more assorted or taken as an umbrella term which includes all identities and practices that cross or move outside the ideology that has been built regarding gender restrictions. In other words, it includes and is not restricted to heterosexuals, intersex individuals, transvestites, transsexuals, and eunuchs.

It is critical to state here that sexual orientation and gender identity is not the same thing. Gender identity is one’s own perception of ‘self’, despite their physical or emotional appeal towards another person which is sexual orientation.

To be clear, gender nonconformity is not considered as a mental disorder; ‘gender dysphoria’ is in fact described as major mental agony that affects the communal and occupational functioning of a person.

In Pakistan, getting diagnosed and going through sex reassignment surgeries is not as common as it is in developed countries. The reason is the majority of transgender folks residing in Pakistan face issues of poverty and illiteracy.

A welcome thaw in US-Pakistan ties

The US Centcom seems closer to the Afghan realities than their US State Department counterparts and instead of hurling ‘notices’ and slur on Pakistan, they are speaking with mind and sanity. Though they cannot do anything with aid suspension decisions, they have conveyed to their Pakistani counterparts that no unilateral action on their territory is on their list of options as the impression was being conveyed by the hostile statements of President Donald Trump and State Department officials. The telephone call to Army Chief Gen Qamar Bajwa from Centcom Commander Gen Joseph Votel, whose details were shared by the Inter-Services Public Relation (ISPR) on Friday, is a welcome step, and it will shed misunderstanding lurking on either side after the tweet by Donald Trump on Jan 1, calling Pakistan liar and deceitful.

According to the ISPR, besides Gen Votel, a senator, whose name was not disclosed, also called the army chief, to boil down the tensions and to maintain a level security cooperation. Right after the tweet, Defence Minister Khurram Dastigir, in a tit-for-tat tweet, had announced suspending all intelligence and logistical ties with the US, and its heat might have been felt by the State Department and Pentagon. The senator might have spoken on behalf of the diplomatic circles of the US, who are most of the time at unease because of the impulsive, out-of-blue tweets by President Donald Trump. His recent tweets calling African nations as shitholes have put the American administration at the centre of embarrassment.     

The conversation between the two sides focused on three things: the ups and downs in the ties are soon going to be over; the US plans no unilateral action against Pakistan on its soil, and that both sides should continue cooperating with each other. The three areas must offer a sigh of relief to the General Headquarters and the Pakistan Foreign Office, especially the comment by US Central Command Spokesperson Colonel John Thomas that ‘we value mutual understanding of interests and concerns that we need to consider and might lead to a positive path forward”.

Gen Bajwa has mastered the art of military diplomacy well, and during the conversation, he also conveyed the true sentiments of the nation that Pakistan did not want the aid anymore at the cost of losing self-respect but it would continue cooperation with the US in its war against terrorism for it was in the benefit of its own people. Pakistan through its action has also proven its commitment. The Operation Raddul Fassad is one such effort to defeat terrorists. Its several measures to secure the border controls unilaterally also speak volume, whereas Afghanistan has been opposed to the border management because of its reservations over accepting the Durand Line as the international border.

The communication is a welcome thaw in relations between the two countries. Pakistan, however, must address some of the growing concerns of the US, Afghanistan and other allies regarding the sanctuaries of militants on its soil. Though border controls are working, still there are gaps where from the militants can infiltrate easily because of their sympathizers in border areas.

More cooperation between the US and Pakistan could easily chase and kill the militants.  

If your nose is stuffy or is running

If one is coughing, feeling fever with a sore throat and a stuffy or a runny nose, having body aches with a severe headache, and developing chills and fatigue, the symptoms tell that they have contracted H1NI flu, or seasonal influenza, which has gripped Punjab and Islamabad in these winter months. Unlike the regular flu, which often fades in a matter of days or weeks, swine flu can lead to lung infection, pneumonia, and breathing problems. So far, the viral strain has claimed four lives in Bahawalpur and 18 in Multan, totaling 28 in the country, whereas, according to the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, more than 400 suspected cases of the fatal flu have been reported in the country. Of them, the bloodwork of 120 tested positive while others’ lab work is the working. In the Nishtar Hospital of Multan, six fresh cases of seasonal influenza were admitted while the Bahawal Victoria Hospital has also four patients admitted for treatment. The number is growing, which should be a matter of great concern for the health authorities.

An awareness campaign should be launched in the media to educate the public about the effects of the seasonal flu.  Specialists on infectious diseases say the first thing the people should do is: do not panic if they have caught flu. This is a hard task given 28 deaths in the country in a matter of three weeks. Doctors explain that the virus is less harmful to adult and healthy people and they need not visit a doctor in case of catching the flu as their immunity will put them on the recovery path in days. Flu, however, is dangerous for those suffering from diabetes, lung cancer, asthma and heart ailments. Children and elderly people are susceptible to the harms of influenza that can even lead to death.

As hospitals have been put on alert, patients can buy influenza vaccine, which is available in the market. One shot remains effective for a year. Patients should keep their medical history updated, and should go to well-equipped hospitals. In several deaths, the main cause was the late confirmation of the disease; the timely detection of the disease would have saved their lives. According to an advisory by the NIH last month, “the people who are elderly or very young, pregnant, obese, immune-compromised or face chronic health problems such as asthma, diabetes, cardiac and lung diseases are at high-risk of developing complications from the H1N1 virus. Avoid touching your nose, mouth or eyes as the virus survives on common surfaces, etc. Take rest, avoid crowds and take other social distancing measures. Young children having flu should stay home, rather than going to school, to avoid chances of transferring the virus to other children. Cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze or cough. Avoid contaminating your hands, cough or sneeze into a tissue or the inner crook of your elbow. Vaccination is the most effective way to prevent infection and severe outcomes caused by influenza viruses particularly in high-risk groups”.

The government and the public should take seasonal influenza seriously. The government should launch awareness campaigns and prepare hospitals to treat the patients in timely manners by providing them with several test kits and anti-flu vaccines and antibacterial drugs. The public should also do its part: follow the advisory by the NIH.