Megalomaniac

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has welcomed Iran’s initiative to hold a tripartite meeting between the foreign ministers of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The offer was made during a meeting in Tehran between Karzai and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. Pakistan and Afghanistan have of late been at loggerheads and Iran’s entry into the picture is the result of ongoing consultations between senior officials of the three countries. The volatile situation in Afghanistan is spiralling out of control, as violence is spreading beyond the traditional Taliban strongholds. Moreover, the resentment against the US is gradually on the rise, as is evident from yesterday’s accident in Kabul involving a US military convoy, which led to rioting and bloodshed in the capital. Afghanistan being a landlocked country is dependent on Pakistan for trade and overland communications. Now, however, Iran has offered Afghanistan road and rail links to its port of Bander Abbas on the Gulf. Improved comm...

“No nation can rise to the height of glory unless your women are side by side with you; we are victims of evil customs. It is a crime against humanity that our women are shut up within the four walls of the houses as prisoners. There is no sanction anywhere for the deplorable condition in which our women have to live” — Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Jinnah had a vision for Pakistan. He envisioned a country where the men and women would be on an equal footing, working side by side without any discrimination. His dream still remains a pipedream, since the parochial mindset reigns supreme in Pakistan. A substratum of inequality remains because society still believes that women are biologically made to raise a family and do the household chores and men are supposed to earn for the family. Society refuses to believe that these beliefs are just stereotypes that have been enforced upon us and can be done away with. Despite the changing trends, our society has not yet evolved to a point wh...

“The birds that live i’ th’ field On the wild benefit of nature, live Happier than we; for they may choose their mates, And carol their sweet pleasures to the spring” — The Duchess of Malfi (3.5.18-21). Last week I discussed how divorced females are looked down upon in our society due to an obvious expectation that they are supposed to remain in marriage till the end of their lives, whether or not that marriage is happy. It is generally believed that a divorced woman damages her own as well as her family’s prestige. This in turn lowers the prospects of marriage of her younger sisters into good families. Society tries to suppress women’s rights by giving such issues a ‘religious’ twist. Unfortunately, women themselves fall prey to this by playing right into society’s hands and becoming a party to their own subjugation. The roles of women as essentially mothers and guardians of tradition are aimed at keeping women in chains, away from the limelight and taking a solid part in the develop...

M J Akbar is a leading Indian journalist and author of several bestsellers. He is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Asian Age , India’s first multi-edition daily newspaper with a global perspective, and is also the Editor-in-Chief of the Deccan Chronicle , a Hyderabad-based news daily. He comes from Bihari Muslim ancestry. He was recently in Lahore for the book launching ceremony of his latest (seventh) book, Blood Brothers: A Family Saga . We found him sitting in the lobby of the hotel he is staying at, having coffee with some guests. After bidding them farewell, he greeted us with a warm and hearty ‘hello’. Dressed casually in a white summer shirt and trousers, M J exuded an aura of coolness mixed with exuberance. After the formalities, we sat down for a chitchat session. M J started to talk about his latest book with such passion that it was clearly visible how strongly he feels about it. He said that this book holds a special place in his heart, though this was not to say that...

A family friend gave birth to her fifth daughter (she does not have any sons), and the whole family — including her other four daughters — kept crying for days. This is the usual welcome a female child receives at her birth. The discrimination starts at birth and then it continues throughout her life. Forced marriages are a norm — a girl has to say yes to the man chosen by her parents or else suffer further humiliation at the hands of her family and society. If she has fallen in love with another man, lo and behold, she has committed one of the gravest crimes of all time! And the parents try to remedy it not by offering her hand in marriage to the man she loves, but forces another man on her. Such is the fate of most females in this country. In Islam, a female has the right to accept or reject marriage proposals. Her consent is a prerequisite to the validity of the marital contract, according to the Prophet’s (PBUH) teachings. Marriages without consent sometimes end up in divorce. Alth...

MJ Akbar, a leading Indian journalist and author of several bestsellers is in Lahore for the book launching ceremony of his latest (seventh) book, Blood Brothers: A Family Saga . The book launch ceremony will take place today (May 11, 2006) at Al-Hamra Arts Council, Lahore. The book has had tremendous success in India and was sold out even before its launch there. The second edition was at the printers even as the book was being released. MJ is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Asian Age , India’s first global and a multi-edition daily newspaper, and is also the Editor-in-Chief of the Deccan Chronicle . The secret of his success as a journalist is fearlessness and honesty. “The simplest way to deal with anything is to not want anything in return. I never try to embellish the truth, never put a spin on it. I write what I perceive to be right.” Talking about his book to The Post , MJ said that this is a very special book for him, though all his previous works are near and dear to hi...

President Musharraf has once again started using the ‘President’s Chamber’ in Parliament. Since his address to a joint session of Parliament in January 2004 where he had to face a resilient opposition, he had virtually cut himself off from the institution. Now after a long absence, he has decided to reacquaint himself with the parliamentarians. The question that comes to mind is: why now? Possibly this is an indicator that since the 2007 general elections are looming, the president has felt the need to begin campaigning for it in anticipation. Also, the recent meeting between Benazir and Nawaz may have disturbed the General. He appears to be trying to pre-empt the penchant of our political ‘seasonal birds’ that only languish till harvest time. Asserting that he has introduced the essence of democracy in Pakistan for the first time, Musharraf said that the tradition of dissolution of Assemblies has been put to rest. It is arguable, however, whether high principle or political convenienc...

“I was told that whistling wasn’t ladylike, but I knew even then that women were simply not supposed to be that happy” — from Kindling the Spirit by Lois P. Frankel. A gender role is a set of behavioural norms associated with males and females, respectively, in a given social group or system. Traditional gender roles are oppressive for women and many believe that the female gender role was constructed as an opposite to an ideal male role, and helps to perpetuate patriarchy. In a patriarchal society like ours, women are mostly considered subordinate to men. ‘Patriarchy’ (from Greek: patria meaning father and arché meaning rule) is the anthropological term used to define the sociological condition where male members of a society tend to predominate in positions of power, with the more powerful the position, the more likely it is that a male will hold that position. Such societies give men power and authority over women, which can be found at the individual, group or institutional leve...

Have you ever encountered roadside Romeos who passed obscene remarks at you, made indecent gestures and/or postures, vulgar proposals, or harassed you in a way that outraged your modesty? If so, you have just been a victim of ‘eve teasing’. “Eve teasing is a euphemistic expression that lives in post-colonial India and refers largely to sexual harassment of women in public spaces, thereby constituting women as ‘Eves’, temptresses who provoke men into states of sexual titillation. This popular perception of sexual harassment posits the phenomena as a joke where women are both a tease and deserve to be teased. Considered a growing problem throughout the subcontinent, eve teasing ranges in severity from sexually-coloured remarks to outright groping” ( Sexual Harassment , Pratiksha Baxi). Although the term ‘eve teasing’ originates from India, this vice is not limited to India alone. Pakistani women suffer the same fate at the hands of their male counterparts. It is an extremely serious prob...

"You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give" — Kahlil Gibran. Pick up a newspaper or turn on a news channel, nine out of ten times we are confronted with some terrible news — loss of life through murder, violence, war, crime, disaster. Anything and everything seems hopeless and out of control. News like this makes one feel like screaming at the top of one’s lungs. It seems as if taking the life of another human being has become a game, nothing more. At one point in my life, I had actually given up on reading newspapers or watching any news channel. It left me with less bitterness in my life. But despair is not the answer to these problems. Serving humanity through kindness, charity, good manners, good behaviour, honesty, integrity, tolerance, justice, etc., is the answer. The Dalai Lama hit the nail right on the head when he said: 1) Universal humanitarianism is essential to solve global problems; 2) Compassion ...

The April 11 Nishtar Park, Karachi suicide bombing has sinister connotations. It killed several leaders and members of the Sunni Tehrik (ST), an Islamic party that subscribes to the South Asian Barelvi tradition. Karachi has a history of violence between Sunni militant groups and Shias, but there is little friction between the Shias and Barelvis. One cannot ignore the fact that the Barelvis have been targeted before by militants from the more austere Deobandi Sunni sect, which disapproves of the Barelvis’ interpretation of Islam. 17 Ulema of the Ahle Sunnat met President Musharraf in Karachi in the backdrop of this carnage. At the meeting, President Musharraf said he was seeking the help of the Ulema to help curb religious terrorism and extremism. But the president did not spell out how exactly he envisaged the Ulema could help. It is all very well to make good suggestions in theory, but what are needed are practical steps to eradicate religious terrorism. No one is clear how to get ...

“Al-Quran, the Word of God, is inimitable and unsurpassable not only in the grandeur of its diction, the variety of its imagery and the splendour of its word painting, but also in its meaning, substance, message and profundity” — Athar Husain, The Message of the Quran . There are three distinct levels, in the order of increasing spiritual rewards and practical benefits, at which one can submit oneself in the appreciation of the Quran. The first and the lowest is mere recitation. The second and the intermediate level is the thorough understanding of the Quran, which can be furnished by reading the explanation and context of each verse ( tafseer ). The highest and supreme level is to mould one’s life according to the dictates of the Quran and pursue every action under the guidance and direction of its teachings. There lies much less ambiguity in various approaches established to aid the truthful attainment of Quranic insight and its proper manifestation in one’s actions as endorsed by on...

“So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men” — Voltaire. Have you ever been jolted out of your peaceful sleep by a roaring azan ? Then just as you come to your senses and realise what happened, a second muezzin’s voice, even louder (if possible), joins in and over the next few minutes, at least half a dozen other voices join in — distorting the sound of the azans . Due to this, the azan — a melodious expression of faith — has instead become a thunderous cacophony. This is a problem that few people have been willing to denounce publicly, due to a fear that they might be doing something religiously wrong if they complain about it. In a letter to the editor ( The Tribune , November 17, 2003), H. Kishie Singh from Chandigarh, India, complains about the misuse of loudspeakers, “...

“Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it with religious conviction” — Blaise Pascal. The recent case of the Afghan convert brought the issue of ‘apostasy’ back into the limelight. The act of apostasy in Islam is when one leaves Islam for another religion, or for a non-religious lifestyle. Ridda or Irtidãd literally means “turning back”. An apostate is called ‘ murtadd ’, meaning “one who turns the back”. All orthodox schools of Islamic jurisprudence ( madhhabs ) agree that a male apostate must be executed. A female apostate may be put to death according to some schools, or imprisoned, according to others. Such teachings have strengthened a misplaced perception that Islam is a symbol of obscurantism, a religion of intolerance that answers everything with the sword. Liberal scholars point out that the Quran itself does not mandate a death penalty for apostasy, but their voices are drowned by the more orthodox voices from within the Islamic community. A person ...

A Syrian poet Abul 'Ala al Ma'arri writes: ‘We mortals are composed of two great schools Enlightened knaves or else religious fools.’ It is the religiously ignorant ‘fools’ that have plagued Islam for a long time. They are the real enemies of Islam because it is always easier to crush an outsider, but to banish the enemy within is a different task altogether. There are many radical elements in the Islamic world, and they have only managed to alienate the faithful from the righteous path. It is the duty of a Muslim to speak out against such voices because otherwise the world would continue to point fingers at us. If we don’t stand up against these radicals and what they stand for, they will keep destroying the beauty of Islam. One rotten apple spoils the whole basket — and we are letting it happen. The primary impetus for change must come from Muslims themselves. So-called religious leaders, scholars and clerics continue to exploit the masses in the name of religion for their ow...

According to a report published in The Post on March 22, more than 71 percent of the female prisoners in 30 jails of Punjab are awaiting or undergoing trial. This clearly indicates the paucity of legal remedies in our system. The Pakistani justice system is legendary for its delays and diversions. A majority of these women have actually served their sentences and more, but are still rotting in jails as no verdict has been passed. There is a joke in law circles that the closest anyone will come to experiencing eternity is the country’s court system. The problem is a strange aversion to settling cases. Judges pass them along to somebody else, and rarely dismiss lawsuits, no matter how frivolous. The result is judicial gridlock: Pakistan’s lower courts have a backlog of thousands of cases. The government must streamline the legal system or else the poor masses will keep suffering. Nearly 80 percent of the more than 6,000 women on trial all over Pakistan are facing charges under the contr...