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case The
right not to vote Yeh Woh education Wrong debate Volcano
in the Arab world
case The contempt of court case against 11 ‘PCO judges’ has initiated a debate both within and outside the legal fraternity By Reema Omer On February 2, 2011, a four-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) issued a short order deciding an important question of law in the ongoing contempt of court case against 11 “PCO judges” on whether sitting judges were immune from contempt of court proceedings. The Court held that the constitution and other relevant
laws of Pakistan do not prohibit contempt of court proceedings against This is the first time in Pakistan’s history, and perhaps the history of modern democracy, that sitting judges are being prosecuted for contempt of court. While it appears that under Pakistani law judges are not immune from such proceedings, there is much debate both within and outside the legal fraternity over the propriety of prosecuting sitting judges for violating the November 3 Order of the SC. The relevant laws for contempt are Article 204 of the constitution and the Contempt of Court Ordinance (2003). The Contempt of Court Ordinance 2003 states: “Whoever disobeys…any order…of a court, which he is legally bound to obey…is said to commit ‘contempt of court’.” The Ordinance goes on to define “civil contempt” as “willful flouting or disregard of an order, whether interim or final…” The penalties for contempt may be up to 6 months imprisonment, Rs100, 000 fine or both. However, a separate mechanism to deal with misconduct by judges also exists in Pakistan in the form of proceedings in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC). Article 209 of the Constitution empowers the SJC to be the only body that can remove superior court judges from office. Contempt of court convictions on their own, therefore, may lead to an anomalous situation in which sitting judges of the Supreme and High Courts of Pakistan have to spend up to 6 months in prison for flouting the SC’s order but return to court once their sentences come to an end. Many view this as a mockery of notions of judicial independence and feel that this is an attempt by the SC to humiliate and embarrass those judges who have so far not resigned and apologised to the Court for taking oath under the PCO. Military coups are a recurrent feature in Pakistani politics, as are judgments of the SC validating these unconstitutional acts. In the eyes of people, therefore, the SC has historically been seen to lack integrity and independence, and there is a growing urgency in the legal profession to redeem the judiciary from mistakes of the past. This is the justification given by those who wish to see the most recent “PCO judges” punished severely. Others, however, feel that prosecuting these judges for contempt is going too far: “PCO judges” have already become a term of abuse in the country. Many have been removed from office or demoted by the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Sindh High Court Bar Association case, and at most they should be referred to the Supreme Judicial Council. Interestingly, the “PCO judges” are not being prosecuted for taking oath under the PCO -- they are being prosecuted for disobeying the SC Order that specifically restrained them from doing so. This is how supporters of the contempt proceedings are primarily differentiating those who took oath under Oath of Office (Judges) Order 2000 (Justice Jawwad S Khwaja and Justice Tariq Parvez, two of the judges hearing the contempt case, were amongst them) from those who took oath under Oath of Office (Judges) Order 2007. It is agued that while the earlier judges may have legitimised Musharraf’s first coup, they did not do that in defiance of a court order restraining them. However, the same Supreme Court Order was also directed at the Government of Pakistan and high-level army officials, restraining them from undermining the judiciary, but none of them so far have been issued contempt of court notices. This leads to concerns that “PCO judges” are being particularly targeted even though they were not the main perpetrators of the emergency rule. The November 3 Order itself is also controversial: firstly, it was passed the day emergency was declared at 7pm on a Saturday when courts in Pakistan are closed and the respondents argue that it never reached them; secondly, it is arguable whether 7 members of the SC can pass an order directing their colleagues to refrain from acting in a particular way; and lastly, some even argue that seven judges were not present in the Supreme Court that day and the said Order does not exist to begin with. Because of the highly politicised nature of the case, it is also unlikely that an uncontroversial bench can be constituted to hear the contempt proceedings. Justice Jawwad S Khwaja and Justice Shahid Siddiqui are accused of being part of the lawyers’ movement and making critical remarks about the “PCO judges”, while Justice Arif Hassan and Tariq Parvez, it is argued, were themselves appointed by ex-CJ Dogar, who is one of the respondents in the case. The composition of the bench hearing the case has been challenged three times already and given that justice must not only be done but be seen to be done, it seems questionable whether the current bench’s decision will be accepted as being unbiased. Judicial independence and a democratic government are ideals all Pakistanis stand for; however, there is great debate over how those ideals can be best achieved in the context of the current case. Are the lawyers’ movement, Musharraf’s resignation, and the SC’s Sindh High Court Bar Association judgment enough? Or do we still need to prosecute those judges who took oath under the PCO and so far have not apologised or resigned for contempt of court and punish them with perhaps imprisonment to ensure military coups are never legitimised again? Is the initiation of these proceedings illustration of judicial accountability, or are we once again experiencing judicial activism fuelled by personal vendettas? How this case proceeds will give great insight into these matters. The writer is a lawyer holding an LLM from the University of Cambridge and is currently working with the International Commission of Jurists. Email: reema.omer@gmail.com The right not to vote More than 59,000 female voters were kept from voting as per a verbal accord amongst all contesting political parties in Shangla by-polls By Zia Ur Rehman Rights activists are
appalled that women have yet again been barred from exercising their voting
rights in the recent by-elections in There were 59,177 female voters among the 145,854 total registered votes in the constituency PK-87 of district Shangla. Only around 100 women were allowed to caste their votes in the by-election held on January 29, reported local media quoting a study of Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Women voters were disenfranchised at 14 female polling stations and 69 combined polling stations as per a verbal accord amongst all the contesting political parties including the so-called progressive parties Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q). PML-Q-backed candidate Muhammad Rashad won the seat by defeating Muhammad Yar Khan, a joint candidate of ANP and PPP. “All the arrangements were complete at 14 female polling stations and the polling staff was waiting for voters, but not a single woman turned up to cast her vote,” says an officer at Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) when contacted by TNS. He added that the ECP officials held talks with the local elders and representatives of political parties to convince them to allow the women to vote, but to no avail. “It is a tragedy and mockery of an election when female voters are not allowed to cast their votes,” Saleem Shah, advocacy manager at FAFEN, tells TNS. FAFEN called upon the ECP to look into the widespread disfranchisement of women in the by-election, Shah said, adding “election law mandates a re-vote in polling stations that exclude female voters.” The Shangla polls indicate the government’s failure to create a favourable environment for women’s participation in the polls, human rights activists say. The practice of barring women to exercise their voting rights has been going on for years in several parts of KP and Fata, and conservative tribal customs support this ban. Shangla, Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Bannu, Battagram, Kohistan and Tor Ghar (Kala Dhaka) are the districts of KP where women are traditionally kept from voting. Normally in every election, workers of political parties take the ID cards from female voters and cast their votes according to a formula agreed upon by all contesting candidates. In the past elections, especially in local bodies’ elections, media reported that all religious and so-called progressive political parties reached agreements at district level through jirgas. Even in one case, Mufti Gohar Ali, a pro-Taliban leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) of Mardan, had warned that violators of such accord would be fined Rs500,000. Threatening pamphlets issued by militants and religious extremists were plastered on walls in some parts of KP and Fata in previous elections, warning women of suicide attacks if they came out to vote. “People in most areas of the province, including Shangla, still believe it is humiliating to send their women to polling stations. It is only because of illiteracy and lack of political and social awareness,” Ziauddin Yousafzai, a renowned educationist hailing from Shangla, tells TNS. “The main hurdle which stops women from taking part in political activities is the socio-political prejudice prevailing in the Pashtun society.” Shangla is amongst the five districts in the country which has the lowest Human Development Index (HDI) along with Kohistan, Dera Bugti, Tharparkar and Jhal Magsi districts. Shangla is the most backward district of KP province. “There is only one school for more than 600,000 female students in district Shangla where the inhuman custom of Swara (using women to end disputes) still continues to be practiced,” says Yousafzai, who is also spokesperson for Swat Qaumi Jirga. No NGO or a political party bothered to sensitise and educate men and women of Shangla about politics and voting rights, Yousafzai laments. “Women themselves are not willing to caste their votes because they are not aware of importance of their voting rights.” “We don’t want to send our women to cast their votes because it is dishonour for us to let other men see our mothers, sisters and wives,” says Fayyaz Ali, a supporter of ANP’s candidate in by-polls. National Commission of the Status of Women (NCSW) also condemned this blatant flouting of the law and demanded that Shangla by-polls be declared null and void. “It is extremely regrettable that though women have 17 percent representation in assemblies, women in Shangla were not allowed to participate in the election,” says Tahira Noor, an office-bearer of NSCW. Similarly, in the by-polls of NA-21 Mansehra held last year in January, women voters were stopped from exercising their voting rights by male members of their families in Kala Dhaka. “Gender equity, emancipation of women and female participation in social and political development are part of the manifestos of all those political parties which kept women from voting,” says Idrees Kamal, convenor of Aman Tehreek, an alliance of civil society organisation at KP level. “It is a denial of fundamental and basic right of women voters in a democratic setup.” Interestingly, women are running indoor campaign for contesting candidates for the by-elections to be held on Feb 28 in Tank KP-69, a constituency bordering South Waziristan Agency, TNS has learnt. In Tank, women voters traditionally play a main role in every election and, in some cases, also sell their votes at polling stations, Malik Arshad Kundi, a political activist, tells TNS. The
writer is an independent journalist and researcher. Email: zia_red@hotmail.com Yeh Woh The Clifton common By Masud Alam I’m calling to let you know that whatever plans you had for the evening stand cancelled. I’m coming to pick you up in five minutes. If you need to see people, invite them over to my place. And your time starts now. Click. Chodri is a friend since
adolescence when friendship was an absolute rather than an abstraction, and
was meant to be forever. He’s been a yoga instructor, a furniture salesman, a TV producer, a schoolteacher, a pilot … and shows the same restlessness with his spiritual beliefs, and masters. At any given time, his line of work and the current belief he cherishes, decide who he is. I am in Karachi for a work-related meeting. I’m still saying my good byes when he calls again: ‘Your time is up. I’m at the corner of the parking area and you are not here. You want me to come over and pick you from there? What floor is it?’ I rush down on the double. He’s not the kind of friend you want to present to your business associates, especially when the friend intends to literally pick you up and carry you on his shoulders down the stairs. He has the build, the energy and an innate disposition to do exactly that. I find him standing next to a beat up Hyundai. He’s in jeans and a striped shirt tucked in to show his flat stomach. That’s how he’s always dressed. Except, he’s barefoot now. “You didn’t have to be in such a hurry,” I smile appreciatively at his sense of humour. “I haven’t worn footwear in ages,” he replies. An involuntary ‘oh …’ escapes my lips. “Any particular reason?” I ask tentatively. “You’ll find out.” He drives like a maniac and brakes violently hard. I recover from the jolt and look up. We are at the entrance of a public park in Clifton. “This is my place,” he proudly announces. It’s early evening but the park is empty, save a group of people sitting on the grass in a circle around a bonfire. Ignoring them he takes me to the better-lit part of the park and I can’t help notice the place is immaculately clean. Too neat for a public park. A pair of drummers is waiting on the footpath outside the steel-grilled fence. “Start,” Chodri orders, and they start beating their dhols with a lot of enthusiasm but limited talent. Satisfied with the execution of his welcome agenda for me but disgusted at the drummers’ lack of finesse, he barks ‘stop’ and they freeze mid-beat. “Let’s sit in the office for a while,” he casually motions towards a bench facing a lush green expanse hemmed with flower beds along its length. “The view is excellent, got to be conducive for work”, I comment by way of saying something. He explains he gets here in the morning, conduct some business, which is merely taking and making phone calls. Then he attends to community work, which largely consists of persuading park-goers to pick out trash. As a result, there have been no visitors at all lately, so he does the cleaning himself. And in the evening, he socialises with friends and … well who else is here on this planet! “Come, join my friends here. They’ve been waiting for you,” he takes me back to the people enjoying a bonfire despite it being a fairly pleasant Karachi evening. But not before making me take off my shoes and socks: “Walk on the grass, walk on dirt, on stones and twigs, and let them talk to you. They always talk, but we cover our feet to avoid listening to them”. I listen carefully with the soles of my feet, but don’t hear anything. Probably shy of strangers, these grass blades. The group respectfully makes room for the two of us, but other than that there is no immediate interaction. No introductions, no formalities. A bearded old man whom no one addresses by name, continues his address to the assembly after a brief pause in deference to Chodri’s arrival. There is cheap local whiskey being passed around, and a young man is religiously rolling hashish joints for all, but not smoking himself. I’m feeling right at home . . . until I see a policeman in uniform, entering the park. I panic, but the group doesn’t seem to notice anything untoward. I want to alert Chodri, but it’s too late. The policeman is already standing over us. And I haven’t even taken a sip from my glass. (to be concluded) Homework incomplete The proposed devolution of education to the provinces has triggered a debate and caused worries for the academic community By Shahzada Irfan Ahmed The 18th Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan
provides for handing over all the 47 subjects in the Concurrent Legislative
List The subjects in question include laws governing marriage, firearms possession, educational planning and development of curriculum, environmental pollution, divorce, adoption of children, arbitration, special education and so on. Soon after the passage of the amendment, dissenting voices about the impracticability of the decision rose from different quarters. Though the support has always been there for the provinces’ demand to strengthen them, critics believe the transition is going to be abrupt and without much homework. The lack of capacity on part of the provinces to take up new assignments and shortage of required funds are termed the main causes of concern in this case. Of all the subjects, the proposed devolution of education to the provinces has triggered a debate and caused worries for the academic community. Even the former Federal Education Minister, Sardar Aseff Ahmed Ali, objected to the devolution of the ministry of provinces. He went to the extent of saying that the 18th amendment would create circumstances that led to the Fall of Dhaka, where the syllabus was not in line with the national curriculum and self-serving people used it for their vested interests. In a December 2010 meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Education he had said: “Curriculum is a sensitive subject whose devolution would mean that we are giving free hand to provinces to teach the syllabus of their desire without any check of the federation.” In the same meeting he expressed his fears saying: “What I am looking forward to is the situation where we could produce Sindhis, Balochis, Punjabis and Pakhtuns but not Pakistanis.” However, the non-compromising stance of the Implementation Commission on the 18th Amendment, headed by Senator Raza Rabbani prevailed and Sardar Aseff is no more criticising the issue. Sources in the PPPP believe it was following his decision not to further criticise the move that he was inducted as a minister in the new cabinet and awarded a new portfolio. Dr Shahid Siddiqui, an educationist and professor at the Lahore School of Economic (LSE), tells TNS that the provinces’ mandate to look after curriculum, syllabus, planning, policy, centres of excellence and standards of education has worried many. However, he says the provinces should have the autonomy to design the curricula according to contextual needs and learners’ requirement. He says if the federation is concerned about the curriculum issue, it can keep Islamic Studies and Pakistan Studies under its control. Dr Siddiqui, who is also the author of the book Rethinking Education, says the education standards can be monitored through provincial quality assurance departments and the inter-provincial coordination committee. Similarly, he says, the provinces may introduce regional languages as a subject in their respective provinces as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is attempting to do. He believes most of these concerns seem to emanate primarily from a lack of trust in the capacity and ability of the provinces. In reality, he says, things are different. “The provinces are already providing for school and college education and they do have the capacity to handle the job. These provinces are also funding education from their budgets and only partial grants are coming from the universities.” Siddiqui’s comments are quite similar to the Implementation Commission which had said that the development of the curriculum and syllabi had always been with the provinces and the federal government was only vetting and providing ‘No-Objection Certificates (NOCs)’ to the curriculum developed by the provinces. Irfan Ahmed, a development professional working in the field of education, says one of the major concerns of the development sector was how the commitments of international donors with the federal education ministry (now defunct) will be fulfilled. He says after deliberations it has been decided that the Economic Affairs Division will implement all the international and bilateral agreements made by the ministries being devolved to the provinces. Ahmed says once these commitments are fulfilled the newer ones will be between the provinces and the donors. This will also dispel the provinces’ fears that they will lack funds to run the affairs of the ministries passed on to them, he adds. Dr Sohail Naqvi, Executive Director, Higher Education Commission (HEC) tells TNS that the perceptions that the role of HEC under the new arrangement will be undermined are not correct. He says a lot of universities are working under the charters issued by the provinces and the commission will keep on extending support of all types to them. The latest is that the provinces are ready to take control of assets, funds, fixtures etc but have shown reservations over accommodating the employees of the federal ministries devolved to them. The Implementation Commission is in talks with the provinces to sort out the issue, amid escalating protests by the uncertain employees of these ministries. PML-N MNA and National Assembly Standing Committee on Education Chairman Abid Sher Ali, who had strongly condemned the plan to devolve education ministry, seems to have resigned to fate. He says they could only raise the issue and point out the ensuing problems and were not in a position to roll back any decision. Wrong debateOn the occasion of the International Mother Language Day on Feb 21, a critique of discourse attachment” to languages in Pakistan By Dr Ahsan Wagha In the 14th century, people
of England demanded education in mother tongue for their children against
prevalence of French and As a matter of fact our institutional elite has, over the decades, preferred to encourage a discourse on languages over the procedures followed in other countries -- legislation, national status, research and development. The loose discourse prevailed for want of something called ‘Discourse Attachment’, a term used in explaining a problem within a rules-based discourse devised for it. Language deserves proper understanding under the guiding principles of the relevant discipline before it is made subject of popular debate. Popular discourse tends to oppose the burdensome learning of coded knowledge. Whereas demands to impart even high-tech knowledge in people’s own language are gaining legitimacy the world over, the proponents of coded knowledge have their own logic to offer. To them, for instance, retention of the terminology drawn from the now obsolete versions of Latin and Greek languages since the days of Hypocrites in medical science is not due to orthodoxy but is obligatory under the principle of ‘economy of language’. Paradoxical enough, the principle claims that codification of knowledge and going through the pains of memorising heavy sets of terminology, acronyms and abbreviations etc. is essential to save a bigger effort. The principle of ‘economy of language’ projects a dichotomy in communication as justification. Our languages require language economy in terms of systematic development. Instead, we had ‘less specific and more frequently occurring’ discourse which blocked the way of research and development of languages. The discourse turned the general confusion about languages into fatal ambiguities some of which are explained in the following ways. First, it was aimed at some advocacy for promotion of all languages. Second, instead of turning to basics, this discourse relied overly on the so called ‘modernist’ theories of the 20th century which were known for reduction of the phenomena of linguistic identities and ethnic consciousness world over to being mere outcome of emergence of modern nation states. It portrayed languages and the language movements as being instrumental to power and politics. By doing so, the discourse served the objective of protecting political control of the institutional elite from the challenge of peoples’ struggles for rights, lest they made way through powerful means of language movements. By locating the motive of political power into it with the help of selected theories, the discourse invaded the perceived sacredness and purity of the cause of languages in the minds of the groups of intelligentsia and language activists depriving them of their devotional zeal. Third, the discourse singularly promoted the modernist theory even after it had failed to stand the fact that identity and ethnic consciousness existed within human beings long before the emergence of modern nation state, for example, in Persia against domination of Arabs. It remained a favourite part of discourse in Pakistan as some alternate views like the ‘Perennialist’ interpretation identities remained abandoned. Fourth, the discourse selectively focused on popular propositions such as unification of languages which meant disappearance of linguistic multiplicity, and on pessimistic themes like ‘death of languages’ skipping some closely related facts like urgency of understanding the potential of various languages to govern all spheres of everyday life. As far as ‘death of language’ is concerned, it is yet to be seen how an organic continuity like language meets death and requires separate elaboration. The concept was advanced by the language conservationists to sensitize people about languages. A combination of will and expertise, on the other hand, has succeeded in retrieving and reviving some of so called dead languages like Hebrew. But in a helpless situation like ours, where the general sense is to let the dying die quicker, propagation of death of languages misleads many; it conveys a sense that one must get rid of so many soon-to-disappear languages and become a part of the mainstream language(s). The hypothesis has cultivated a strong assumption among authorities that the linguistic phenomena could be predicted and steered through laboratories like the National Language Authority. It was with this assumption -- about quicker disappearance of all regional languages -- that the Musharraf-era educationists advanced their plan of almost total domination of English in education from class one onwards; the sole objective being learning to be good in English. Lastly, there has been a sustained gap between the dominant discourse and the widespread popular perception about languages. Where the first borrowed its hypotheses like ‘ultimate end of linguistic diversity’ from the English-speaking zone of the developed world and abstracted them into education and media in Pakistan, the second comprised topics like love for languages and appreciation of benefits of the riches of their content. Sadly, not even a sizable chip out of the huge body of knowledge recorded by the local scholarship could reach the desks of the professionals. This reduced many of the proclaimed language researchers of our times to the status of a proverbial ‘magisterial viewer of the wood on the basis of careful inspection of few trees’. Volcano in the Arab world The change in Egypt will act as a catalyst to bring about revolutions in the other Arab countries Ultimately the Egyptians
have clawed down their ‘Last Pharaoh’. After 18 days, the young
demonstrators successfully brought History’s most grandiose accomplishments can sometimes have the most banal origins. And verily the self-immolation of Mohammed Bouaziz, the young student of Tunisia, sparked the very flames of the Jasmine Revolution. Its ripple effects were ubiquitous on the streets of various Arab capitals from Cairo to Sana’a. The ouster of President Mubarak is being hailed as a momentous event in the modern Arab world affairs. The Egyptian revolution may usher in a new era in the Arab world. But this revolution will have certain indispensable repercussions not only for Egypt, but also for the Arab world, and even for the Palestine problem. As far as Egypt is concerned, firstly, this is the end of an era fraught with political dictatorship, social injustice, police surveillance, economic inequity and untoward goal. It is pertinent to discuss here the prospects of democratisation in Egypt. Farid Zakariya in his book Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad asserts that the value of the Gini Coefficient in Egypt was 0.25 as compared to 0.27 in France before 2004 (the Gini Coefficient is the measure of income inequality. Its value varies from 0 to 1: 0 means perfect equality and 1 means perfect inequality). Lower the value of the coefficient, higher the probability of democracy. Egypt has a broader prospect of democracy as compared to France. Historically, Egypt boasted the democratic setups after the World War I. But King Fuad and King Farouk set aside many Wafdist governments under the tutelage of the British Protectorate. So there are strong reasons for democracy to flourish in Egypt. Secondly, if change is allowed to take the people-desired course, Egypt may actively assume the leadership not only of the Arab world but also of Middle East (including Iran and Turkey) and even of the Islamic world -- if post-election scenario results in the majority of Muslim Brotherhood. Thirdly, Egypt may feel déjà vu and try to reassert its lost role that it played during the heydays of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the ‘Last Arab’. The rabid hostility towards anti-imperialism and Jewish state, unflinching support for Palestinian cause, the propagation of pan-Arab unity and support for various movements in a row against pro-American rulers of the Arab world, the preponderant say in the Third World affairs in the garb of NAM were the defining hallmarks of Nasser’s era. The euphoria over Mubarak’s resignation is totally opposite to the grief over Nasser’s resignation that he tendered after the fatal blow of 1967 war and that the ‘Last Arab’ was obliged to withdraw from resignation. Even today Nasser is loved very much among the Arab laity. Tremors of the Egyptian ‘revolution’ are being felt in the whole Arab world indicating a seismic shift due to the eruption of a volcano that had since long been fermenting beneath the surface. Egypt is a natural leader of the Arab world since the July 23 Revolution of 1952 in the political realm. Nasser was the greatest of the Arab nationalists of the 20th century. His death shocked the whole Arab world. His funeral was the largest in the history of mankind. Nearly 7 million people attended the death ceremony of Gamal Abdel Nasser. Egypt is considered the cultural heart of the Arabs. The change in Egypt will act as a catalyst to bring about revolutions in the other Arab countries. As Mubarak himself said to Ben-Elizer, the former Israeli Foreign Minister, a day before his stepping down in a phone call that the snowball of this civil unrest won’t stop in Egypt and it wouldn’t skip any Arab country in the Middle East and in the Gulf. The euphoria over Mubarak’s resignation can be seen throughout the Arab streets. Algeria, Yemen, Jordan, Sudan and Bahrain are already in the grip of unprecedented civil unrest. And the intensity of this storm is increasing more and more with every passing day. Egypt’s position was best epitomised by the late King Abdul Aziz bin Saud, the founding father of Saudi Arabia who said: “The health of the Arabs in general could be judged by the health of Egypt; if Egypt is sick the whole Arab world is sick”. The Palestine problem will also be affected by the developments in its neighbouring Egypt. In the four Arab-Israel wars of 1948, 1956, 1967and 1973, Egypt had been the bitterest of its Arab enemies. President Nasser paid particular attention to the Palestinian cause. His death orphaned Palestinians. Sadat concluded the Camp David Accords making Egypt the first Arab country to recognise the Jewish state. Mubarak treaded on the course charted by Sadat not by Nasser. Egyptian people always hated pro-Israel policy. A democratic Egypt will care more for the Egyptian aspirations than for Israeli or American dictations. And this is the point where many Westerns and Israelis have apprehensions for a democratic Egypt. To conclude it can be said that the Egyptian revolution is the most unprecedented event in the Middle East since the Iranian Revolution of 1979. The armed forces in the country should follow the advice of Nasser that he gave at the critical juncture of 1967 war that “the need for unity of civilians and soldiers has come” to get the country out of chaos and lead towards liberal democracy. The world should let the Egyptians draw their own course and help them enjoy their freedom, attain their dignity and avail this fortune opportunity to accomplish their desired goals. |
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judges of the SC and High Courts and, in the circumstances of the case,
propriety requires that contempt proceedings should be initiated against the
respondents. Also, since Justice Khurshid Anwar Bhindar and Justice Zafar
Iqbal Chaudhry were not members of the Supreme or High Courts at the time of
taking oath on December 14, 2007, they were not to face trial for contempt of
court even though they violated the said Order in spirit (and hence their
conduct was deprecated). The remaining 9 judges have been summoned in Court
tomorrow (February 21) when charges will be framed against them.
district Shangla of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP). More than 59,000 female voters
were kept from voting as per a verbal accord amongst all the contesting
political parties.
Then adult life threw distances, ideologies and women in our way, and both of
us changed. He more than I. Every time I see him, which is years apart, I get
to know a new Chodri, who, I am grateful, is always more tolerable than the
last version I encountered.
to the provinces. Earlier, it was in the domain of both the provincial and
federal governments to legislate in these areas and in case of any ambiguity
the federal law would prevail. From now onwards, only the provinces will
legislate on these subjects and for this very reason the federal ministries
looking after these matters have been abolished.
other languages. Seven hundred years later, Pakistan remains a state which is
coping with the issue without a language policy. The National Languages Bill
tabled in the National Assembly recently faces general apathy on the part of
politicians not because they do not like their language, but because they are
unaware of the significance of the issue.
about what may be dubbed as ‘youthquake’. The street power expressed in
sober way not only demolished the ‘wall of fear’ carved out by the
authoritarian rulers of the region in particular, but also proved the falsity
of docile nature of the Arab people in general.