Progressive discourse

Source: The News International

LINK: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=205797

Friday, October 30, 2009

Harris Khalique

Now come off it, you Pakistani thinkers who seek pleasure in tracing the roots of all our present-day ills in the genesis of the state of Pakistan, the two-nation theory, the founding party being one man called Mohammad Ali Jinnah surrounded by pygmies vis-a-vis a robust political party with cadres of trained workers in the shape of Indian National Congress which held India together from day one. Nation-states cannot be created on the basis of religion alone. Agreed. There are as many Muslims in India or perhaps more than the population of Pakistan. Accepted. In 1971, the absurd geography Pakistan inherited and then the shabby treatment meted out to the Easterners by us culminated in putting the Muslim League's ideology of Pakistan to rest for good. Endorsed. It is important to have a sense of history, a sense of what went wrong when, a sense of failures and misdoings.

But there has to be a limit to historicising. It is like absolving ourselves of our responsibilities of today. Unfortunately, this is how many of our progressive thinkers and political workers continue to think. Ironically, they are the only ones who believe in the ideals of a socially just, prosperous, peaceful, educated and enlightened society, and understand that creating a modern and rational state is the only way for us to survive. If they do not play their due role, nobody will have to bomb us to the Stone Age. We are fast drifting backwards and our progressive thinkers have left the ground for the self-styled custodians of Pakistan – the stinking jingoists who are acting like the Pied Piper of Hamelin and luring our children and youth away to their wicked tunes.

The progressive thinkers and political workers of Pakistan have to come forward and act. They must not sit back, analyse in their drawing rooms or tea stalls and then leave it to the mood of those who are wide off the mark in their interpretation of history, who are narrow-minded and terribly prejudiced against all other faiths and peoples, those who are occupying our living rooms through televisions and our shop counters, office desks and dining tables with their news analysis and columns. They dominate the public discourse. Pakistan has to be saved from being ensnared by hate speech, conspiracy theories and myopia. The battle of ideas has to be won at any cost. It is more important in the long run than the battles to be fought to reclaim the institutions of the state or on the streets through ballot or direct political action. The people who have to be taken on are crystal-clear, articulate and eloquent in what they profess and preach. They misstate facts, misinterpret history, perpetuate feelings of hatred for others, whip up religious emotions and play upon baser instincts of the masses. They provide covert legitimacy to terrorism in the name of faith. Some of them do it visibly and for some, you just need to scratch the surface.

Pakistanis belonging to different national and linguistic groups, religions and sects, share a statehood at least if we haven't become a nation yet, a common political experience, a composite economy, a desire to be equal citizens in the eyes of the law and within the state of Pakistan. Pakistan is about these 170 million people. If the progressive thinkers do not give voice to the people and help them fight their battle, history will judge the progressives of today much more contemptuously than they are in the habit of judging others.

The writer is an Islamabad-based poet and rights campaigner. Email: harris@spopk.org

Pakistan’s Economy Grew by 2 percent in 2008-09: World Bank Economic Update‏

Source: http://go.worldbank.org/ZTVKU33FB0

 

Though Pakistan's economic activity slowed significantly due to reduced domestic and global demand, initial estimates suggest that the economy still grew by 2 percent in 2008-09, according to the World Bank's latest Pakistan Economic Update. The country's stabilization efforts since November 2008, together with a decline in international commodity prices, have succeeded in reducing external imbalances, rebuilding foreign exchange reserves, and lowering inflation. However, the macroeconomic situation remains fragile and the medium-term outlook uncertain. The report warns that failure to raise revenues going forward would further heighten Pakistan's vulnerability to shocks, and jeopardize country's development efforts by limiting resources available for planned investments in human and physical infrastructure.

Read Full Economic Update

Can Job Creation Help South Asia to Escape Global Economic Crisis?‏

Source: http://go.worldbank.org/7IMPF28550

In South Asia more than 150 million people are expected to enter the prime working age population over the next decade. According to a recent World Bank report, titled Accelerating Growth and Job Creation in South Asia, the key challenge is to create enough good jobs that will convert this large population into a productive asset.

Eliana A. Cardoso, the World Bank's Chief Economist for the South Asia Region, says the region's key asset is its people. "South Asia has a young population and the lowest female participation rate in the labor force. The demographic dividend will result in more workers entering the labor force in the future. Hence, the region must exploit the unparalleled advantage of demographic dividend that could structurally transform South Asia economically and socially."

Read more here

FW: Electronic Crimes Ordinance 2007 Requires Serious Revisions before it is passed by the Parliament

 

	Electronic Crimes Ordinance 2007 Requires Serious Revisions before it is passed by the Parliament: PILDAT Legislative Forum Islamabad, October 26: The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance 2007 requires serious revisions before it is passed by the Parliament. This was the consensus that emerged out of a PILDAT Legislative Forum on the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance 2007 that was held here today. The Forum included as its speakers Mr. Ejaz Khan, techno-legal expert and Partner Aqlaal Advocates, Mr. Tariq Khosa, Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Ms. Anusha Rehman Khan, MNA and Ms. Marvi Memon, MNA. Speaking at the occasion, Ms. Aasiya Riaz, PILDAT Joint Director, said that PILDAT organised the forum in order to generate public debate on this important piece of legislation before it is adopted by the National Assembly. Earlier, PILDAT had prepared and issued a legislative brief on the ordinance both in Urdu and English languages which was widely circulated to the Parliament, the news media and other stakeholders. The legislative brief has been part of PILDAT's Legislative Development Programme and its objective was to assist parliamentarians to understand the context, objective and issues relating to the ordinance and to enable them to participate in a more informed debate and take well-considered position on the subject. Presenting an overview of PILDAT's analysis, she said that despite the presentation of the report of ! the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology on the Ordinance, there remain serious concerns that the offences outlined in the ordinance are vaguely defined, despite involving complex technological issues and carrying severe penalties. The offence of "cyber-terrorism," is very broadly defined and carries a potential death sentence. Concern has also been expressed as to the potential overlap of offences within the Ordinance itself and existing provisions contained in the PPC. She said that the PILDAT Legislative Brief, also circulated to the participants of the forum, recommends that the jurisdictional definitions of offences be amended to require a significant link to Pakistan. The offence of unauthorized interception should be amended so as to include a requirement of malicious intent and the reversed burden of proof in relation to sensitive electronic systems must be removed, etc. She thanked active support from Ms. Anusha Rehman, MNA and members of ! the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology for her support for background information on the ordinance and for organising the forum. Mr. Ejaz Khan, the techno-legal expert and Partner Aqlaal Advocates, presented an overview of the existing ordinance, its provisions and their shortcomings. He said that in the context of ever increasing cyber crime, regulation was required, however, he expressed grave concerns over the existing law in terms of civil liberties, business continuity and the norms of international best practice. Essentially he proposed a careful amendment of the Pakistan Penal Code, to ensure coverage of electronic offences in terms of existing crimes, rather than a specialist law, whilst highlighting the need for safeguards for civil liberties and fundamental rights. His main concern related to the discretionary application of normal criminal processes in cyber crimes cases, which can be dispensed with by the Federal Government. He also drew att! ention to the lack of any third party protections, right to privacy or confidentiality or redress for economic damage arising from data loss or hardware damage. He proposed the use of the Budapest Convention as a model for future amendment, legislation and protection in relation to cyber crime, alongside robust capacity building of specialist knowledge in terms of the FIA's specialist cyber crime cell. Mr. Tariq Khosa, Director General of the FIA, spoke from an enforcement perspective. He explained the existing Special Cyber Crime Branch of the FIA and its work. He strongly defended the need for a specialist agency to investigate and prosecute this technical area of criminal law. He asserted the political independence of the FIA and gave the forum an assurance that the branch applied the Criminal Procedure Code in all cases and that there was "no chance of playing with rights" by the FIA.  Ms. Anusha Rehman, MNA, explained to the forum the role of the Standing Committee, its work in reviewing the Ordinance and the content of its report to the National Assembly that was presented in the last session.  Ms. Anusha Rehman and Ms. Marvi Memon added a detailed dissent note on the committee's report tabled in the House. She indicated that, in some respects, her views differed from other members of the Standing Committee. She highlighted a number of major concerns with the existing Ordinance, most notably the overlap of offences with both the Pakistan Penal Code and Electronic Transactions Ordinance, and the resulting risk of multiple liability and punishment. She drew particular attention to the copy of the FIR of the Khanani and Kalia case that the Interior Minister Rehman Malik provided to her on the floor of th! e House in response to her specific question noting that the FIR carried reference to prosecution under three separate legislative provisions. She raised particular concern regarding the vague definitions adopted for offences of cyber terrorism, which, in some cases, can attract the death penalty. She made clear that in her view the law must provide protection for basic human rights and freedoms and protect against possible abuse in the future, rather than placing reliance on good practice by law enforcement agencies. She also highlighted the need for specialist expert input to the Standing Committee and Parliament, in order to ensure that Parliamentarians can adequately understand and tackle technical areas of legislation.  Finally, she highlighted the critical need for public debate on such an important issue before the National Assembly passes the law in its current form during the upcoming session in November 2009. Ms. Marvi Memon, MNA and also a member of the Standing Committee on Information Technology, made a strong plea for a public debate on the issue and cautioned that approval of the Ordinance in its current form would lead Pakistan towards "a police state." She described the Ordinance as a law bulldozed through Parliament and the Standing Committee and her view that efforts at presenting alternatives had been blocked by Government. She called for the business community, whose interests could be irreparably damaged, to enter the debate and expressed her view that the issue was now time-critical as the National Assembly could pass the law in its current form at any point once the National Assembly session starts on November 2, 2009.  She expressed disappointment at the lack of debate on this critical issue to-date and said tha! t if the civil society, particularly the Overseas Investors Chambers and the FPCCI, did not protect its interests by intervening now, it will be too late. Parliamentarians are doing their job but the stakeholders must also come forward and present their reservations now, she urged. She highlighted that a revised law has been proposed by them the text of which is available at her website: at http://marvimemon.wordpress.com/category/legislation-bills-introduced/ In the ensuing discussion at the forum, that mainly included representatives from the IT business community, telecom industry, media and Parliamentarians, a number of provisions of the law and its practical use were discussed. It was highlighted by the business community, through the anecdotal evidence of their experience, that even though the FIA Director General maintained the agency will never stoop to abusing basic rights, the law was applied indiscriminately by corrupt officials. It was highlighted that a badly drafted law can not be left to be implemented on the integrity of the implementing agency but the job of the Parliament was to ensure that no unspecific, duplicate or badly-drafted law should be passed that is liable to misuse at the stage of implementation. The industry deplores this Ordinance, many participants s! aid, terming the ordinance as an "atrociously drafted law." Mr. Khurram Dastgir, MNA noted that if the law violates basic human rights which are enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan, these constitutional rights can not be left to be protected or abused on the discretion of implementers. The session ended with a call for further public debate and expressions of disappointment that the Interior and Information Technology Ministries and Standing Committees of both the Senate and the National Assembly which chose not to participate in the forum despite invitation. PILDAT Legislative Brief on The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance 2007 can be downloaded here.   _____________________________________ PILDAT will welcome feedback and comments at info@pildat.org  If you wish to unsubscribe, please e-mail at unsubscribe@pildat.org     Download Legislative Brief [PDF] Links: PILDAT Website PILDAT Events PILDAT Publications Feedback

 

Nobel prize 2009 for economics

FYI!

LINK: http://www.afp.com/afpcom/en/taglibrary/activity/enterprises

First woman win Nobel Economics Prize

Stockholm, Oct 13: Elinor Ostrom became the first woman to win the Nobel Economics Prize on Monday for research seen as highly topical in the wake of the economic crisis and amid efforts to tackle climate change. Fellow US economist Oliver Williamson shared the 10-million-kronor ($1.42-million) prize with Ms Ostrom, whose name has circulated for years as a possible winner.

Ms Ostrom told Swedish television her first reaction was "great surprise and appreciation" and said she was "in shock" at being the first woman to clinch the honour.Ms Ostrom describes herself as a political scientist instead of an economist and is a professor at Indiana University, where she researches the management of common property or property under common control, such as natural resources.

Her work challenged the notion that common property is poorly managed and should be either regulated by central authorities or privatized, the jury said.

"If we want to halt the degradation of our natural environment and prevent a repetition of the many collapses of natural-resource stocks experienced in the past, we should learn from the successes and failures of common-property regimes," it said.

Mr Williamson, a professor at the University of California Berkeley, was honoured with the other half of the prize "for his analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm."

He has studied the existence of large firms and argued that hierarchical organisations represent alternative governance structures which differ in their approaches to resolving conflicts of interest.

"According to Williamson's theory, large private corporations exist primarily because they are efficient.... When corporations fail to deliver efficiency gains, their existence will be called in question," the jury said.

Landis Gabel, a senior economics and management professor at top French business school INSEAD and who studied under Prof Williamson in the 1970s, said the choice of Prof Williamson and Ms Ostrom was 'timely'. -AFP

 

FW: The Unheard Truth - Poverty and Human Rights

FYI!

 

THE TRUTH At least 963 million people go to bed hungry every night 1 billion people live in slums One woman dies every minute in pregnancy and childbirth 2.5 billion people have no access to adequate sanitation services 20,000 children a day die as a result. 'The Unheard Truth: poverty and human rights' a new book by Amnesty International's Secretary General, Irene Khan, tells these truths and more. It shares with us the voices of those living in poverty and shows that human rights must be at the centre of our efforts to end poverty. As you’ve expressed an interest in the work of Amnesty International we wanted to share with you these insights from the book in advance of its launch on 15 October 2009. More human rights= less poverty Change the debate on poverty. Join the Demand Dignity Campaign. Speak out www.theunheardtruth.org www.demanddignity.amnesty.org

DESPITE ECONOMIC GROWTH BILLIONS LIVE IN POVERTY Irene Khan claims that economic analyses do not provide a full picture and economic solutions alone cannot end the problems of poverty. In a bracing argument enriched with her personal experiences and case studies from around the world, Khan sees poverty as the world’s worst human rights crisis because it traps people in a vicious cycle of deprivation, insecurity, exclusion and voicelessness. She argues that the foremost challenge is the empowerment, not the enrichment, of poor people, and makes a passionate and urgent plea for action to uphold human rights in the fight to end against poverty. THE EXPERTS AGREE "Irene makes a convincing case for putting human rights at the center of the effort to end poverty ..." Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General in the Foreword "The Unheard Truth is a passionate and urgent plea for action. Poverty is the world's worst human rights crisis and this book makes a powerful statement about not only why but how we can turn the tide." Mary Robinson, President, Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997-2002), President of Ireland (1990-1997) "The Unheard Truth-poverty and human rights is not just another book, but a manifesto for our time, a script that urgently needs to be heeded and performed by a growing critical mass ..." Professor Muhammad Yunus: Founder and Managing Director of Grameen Bank; Chairman of the Yunus Centre FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF Visit: www.theunheardtruth.org and buy the book (royalties come back to Amnesty to help our work). Keep an eye out for updates, videos and more information as the debate unfolds. This book is part of Amnesty International’s global campaign to Demand Dignity which calls for an end to the human rights violations that drive and deepen poverty. Currently too much talk focuses on the economic aspects of poverty. But economic growth alone is not a panacea. Human Rights violations both cause and consequence of poverty but you, as part of our global movement can help change this.

Join Our Online Communities Twitter Feeds

 

FW: http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/services/alumni-databases.html

Note: I am sending again for our new staff members.

Dear All,

This is to inform you that “SPO National Centre” has subscribed a website named “Monash University Alumni Database” is the largest online library of books and journals, and will prove very use full to those who are continuing their studies and also for conducting research.

If anyone (from the SPO family) is interested to know more about it or visit the website than I am available in this regard at SPO National Center. (The user name and password will be provided to check/visit the site).

Regards,

Roohi Bano

   

Asia: The law in whose hands?; Pakistan's Swat valley

Source: Monash Alumni Databases

Link: http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy-alumni.lib.monash.edu.au/pqdweb?index=1&did=1870373071&SrchMode=1&sid=11&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1255329957&clientId=16397

Dated: Oct 03, 2009

THE mayor of Swat, a pretty valley in north-west Pakistan that the army has just wrested back from the Taliban, has now returned to work. But instead of overseeing the rebuilding of the schools and roads, he has gathered his own lashkar, or traditional tribal militia, 2,500-men strong, to defend his village and nearby areas.

In late September Jamal Nasir, who used to feature near the top of a Taliban hit-list, returned to the Matta area of Swat two years after militants burned his house. He says that repairing infrastructure and damaged buildings can wait. Organising anti-Taliban forces comes first. "You have to involve the people in their own defence," he says. "The army won't stay here forever."

Armed lashkars, or "village-defence committees" to employ the less aggressive term now in vogue, are being set up across Swat as unpaid private armies to guard individual districts. Swat was a relatively developed area, so the lashkar tradition is having to be relearnt. Such militias did not exist when the Taliban staged a near-complete takeover of the huge valley with ease in the autumn of 2007.

Militia members bring their own firearms. The better-off have Kalashnikovs; others have old shotguns or rusty pistols. Some white-bearded old men turn up with an axe or just a stick. At the airport outside Swat's main town, Mingora, a lashkar about 10,000-strong rallied on September 24th (see picture), and was addressed by an army brigadier. This was a sign of the sanction the lashkars enjoy from the army and the government. Some see this as a dangerous abdication of authority that could spell trouble in the longer run.

More worrying for the time being is another development outside the law: extra-judicial killings. An estimated 300 to 400 corpses of suspected Taliban have turned up in Swat, dumped on street corners, bridges or outside homes. Last month Pakistani newspapers gave a figure of 251 bodies. Most show signs of severe torture. Some were killed with a single shot to the head, hands tied behind their backs. Often the dead were last seen alive being taken away by soldiers. The army claims they were killed in combat or by lashkars or others taking revenge on former tormentors.

Most of those who joined the Swat chapter of Pakistan's fearsome Taliban movement were locals, from a Pushtun society that sets great store by vengeance. Swatis believe that most of the dead were genuinely involved in the Taliban, and so deserved their punishment. "Speaking not as a lawyer but as a citizen, I'd say that human rights are for human beings," says Farid Ullah, a lawyer in Mingora. The Taliban he says, were not human. "Their acts were barbaric. They used to slit peoples' throats with a knife."

In early August the army dragged Ayub Khan away from his home in Mingora. Nine days later his body turned up on a nearby bridge. The 42-year-old newspaper hawker and father of five had been shot in the side of his head. He appeared to have been beaten all over including on the soles of his feet, with something like a belt. Several locals say that he had been a minor informer for the Taliban, spying on government offices on his paper rounds.

No official general investigation into the killings has been ordered and locals are terrified to speak about them. If the army is responsible, the purpose seems to be to show the people of Swat that the dreaded Taliban really have been eliminated. After several half-hearted operations in the past, Swatis were highly sceptical. This time however, the operation has been serious and remarkably successful. Some 2m people displaced in May were back in their homes by August, the Taliban routed.

Even locals tolerant of the torture and extra-judicial execution of Taliban members, however, are uneasy that some innocents have perished horribly. Akhtar Ali, for example, was picked up from the street at around 4pm on September 1st at a checkpoint in Mingora. Many passers-by saw the 28-year-old, who ran a popular electrical repair store, being taken away. His family were assured later that day that he would be released. But at 6am on September 5th his corpse was dumped on the doorstep of the family home, where many in the neighborhood saw it. Every inch of his body showed signs of abuse, including burns made with an iron and the marks of merciless beatings. He was not shot, but tortured to death. It seems that he may have been a case of mistaken identity.

Asma Jahangir, chair of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), an independent organisation, argues that even if the killings are being carried out by the militias, "these lashkars have been formed by the government." The military spokesman in Swat, Colonel Akhtar Abbas, insists that there have been no killings in custody by the army, which is a "disciplined organisation". However, in the one case of Akhtar Ali, an internal probe is under way, headed by a brigadier, the results of which may or may not be made public.

The HRCP says there is evidence of at least two mass graves in Swat. The army claims that retreating militants killed their own injured co-fighters, to prevent them passing any information to the authorities. Pakistan's Western allies, though glad at the evidence of new vigour in Pakistan's fight against the Taliban, are privately concerned about the killings, which risk sullying the army's recent gains.

 

Build back better?

Source: The News

Link: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=202232

Friday, October 09, 2009

Harris Khalique

The five grey, hollow and lifeless blocks of 12-storeyed Margalla Towers still stand on the outskirts of a busy neighbourhood in Islamabad. The sixth one fell with the attached staircase on October 8, 2005, killing 71 residents when a deadly earthquake struck northern Pakistan. In the last four years, these blocks have neither been razed nor is there a plan in sight to clear up the ground and put the land to some other use. The best use could be to build a monument, a park or a library in memory of those 80,000 innocent people who were killed in Balakot, Muzaffarabad, Islamabad and adjoining areas of Azad Kashmir and the Frontier province. Islamabad Public Library is yet to be built and the land allocated for the purpose is in the same sector. It is a small piece of land. A bigger, multi-storeyed, state-of-the-art public library can be built where Margalla Towers stand. But let's have a bet, my dear readers. The Capital Development Authority and other concerned government ministries will be contemplating a large commercial building on the land and perhaps that is the reason they are waiting for the memories to be razed from our minds before these blocks could be razed. Four years is a long time for public memory, particularly in Pakistan where it is shorter than anywhere else.

The architect engaged to conceive and design Margalla Towers has said on record that he objected to the corrupt and unscrupulous practices of the building company and its engineers when they were amending the design and choosing substandard material to maximise profit. He protested and left them. The builder went ahead and sold hundreds of apartments to middle-class Pakistanis. Now he is having a ball abroad. True to the tradition and spirit of the corrupt Pakistani elite, no international warrants were issued to arrest him and bring him to book. There is a rumour in the capital that he visited Pakistan some months after the incident, met some officials and then went abroad again.

It is also incumbent upon us today to remember more than 17,000 children who were killed while attending schools when the roofs collapsed and the walls fell upon them in affected areas. No FIR was ever lodged against the consultants, contractors and government officials responsible for using below par material and passing insecure building designs. It was interesting to note that in Muzaffarbad, the capital of Azad Kashmir, many private buildings still survived while no government building was saved from the tremors. Contractors in connivance with their counterpart government officials continue to do the same even today. No earthquake, no flood, no cyclone could change their resolve to fleece this nation and suck whatever is left in its shrinking veins. I am not sure how many small and large schools, health units, offices and other public buildings across Pakistan are being built which are earthquake-resistant, have adequate designs and follow the procedures so very well laid out in the documents of respective government authorities.
The only positive thing was the effective relief and early recovery work after the earthquake when the whole nation was galvanised and the international community came to support us. Soon the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) got established with its provincial chapters and their stated objective was 'Build back better'. The initial promise shown by ERRA has dwindled. Reconstruction is slow and marred by politicking in Azad Kashmir and inefficiencies on the part of those sitting in Islamabad. People are waiting.

The writer is an Islamabad-based poet and rights campaigner. Email: harris@spopk. org

New Arrivals!

This is to inform you that following publications related to Earthquake 2005 are available at Development Resource Centre (DRC).

Title	Author/ Publisher	DOP
National Disaster Risk Management Framework Pakistan	National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)	March 2007
Earthquake- 8/10	National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)	October 2007
Annual Report 2007-2008	National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)	2008

 

Side- effect (Zafar visits)

Source: The News International

LINK:  http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=201067

Friday, October 02, 2009

Harris Khalique

"No one smiles in Karachi any more. No one trusts anyone. There is apathy, bleak apathy. People are ready to pick a fight all the time. They feel helpless and exploited. But at the same time the same people spare no chance to swindle and cheat. Corruption is rampant. Education is worthless. I feel worried, depressed and very sad."

This is Zafar Ahmed, an engineer by training and now involved in a computer networking business in Canada. His sample may not be completely representative, but it largely holds true for middle- and lower-middle-class Pakistanis. Zafar, a friend of 24 years, is visiting Pakistan for the first time after nine long years in North America. One of the very few of my classmates who never wanted to leave Pakistan but were virtually thrown out by circumstance.

A dead-honest, principled and competent engineer, Zafar had a hard time surviving the initial years of his professional career in the country he always remained committed to. After graduating in mechanical engineering from NED University of Engineering and Technology, he was inducted into the Sindh Irrigation Department. During his on-the-job training, those at the helm of affairs in the department understood without much effort how useless Zafar will be in the company of inefficient and inherently corrupt engineers and irrigation managers of the province. Therefore, he never got an assignment or a posting for two years. His only task was to visit the head office of the department in Hyderabad once in a month and sign his payslip for a stipend of a salary. By the time he was totally frustrated, no one in the private-sector would take him that easily because potential employers would bracket him with incompetent and greedy irrigation engineers.

 Around 1994, Benazir Bhutto appointed Fahim-uz-Zaman as the administrator of Karachi. He got Zafar deputed to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and made him run one of the main maintenance workshops. The young engineer applied himself to the full and changed the character of that otherwise dysfunctional institution, much to the dismay of old employees. The stint was brief and he was sent back to his irrigation department in 1996. For another four-year-long period, he was without any assignment or significant responsibility. In the meanwhile, he tried to acquire further qualifications in computer systems and networking technology. Finally, Zafar left the country in 2000 to work in Canada and the US. His family circumstances were tough and he was almost broke when he left Pakistan, most unwillingly and feeling completely dejected.

Friends reminded Zafar of his situation when he was struggling to have a decent job or wanted a respectable treatment from his government employers. But he insisted that he finds things much worse now. "I am not that old to be nostalgic. I see a marked difference in people's attitudes and their values. Pakistan was never a paradise. But even people like me had hope, and while I thought of myself as unlucky, many of my friends and colleagues did get opportunities to work, contribute and build their careers. We all came from public education system. It is almost impossible now for a student coming out of a government school to get higher education and earn a decent living. Our society is far more class-based than before."

 Zafar is least impressed by the many overhead bridges we have built in the last decade. He says what happens underneath these bridges is more important for a country. I wish people like him could come back.

The writer is an Islamabad-based poet and rights campaigner. Email: harris@spopk.org

 

Millions of displaced Pakistanis missed out on aid because rich countries gave too little too late, says Oxfam

FYI!

 

Link: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/applications/blogs/pressoffice/?p=7261