Thursday, February 12, 2015
JI chief slams Obama for his silence over Chapel Hill murders
PESHAWAR: Addressing a press after submitting his senate nomination papers, Jamaat-e-Islami leader Sirajul Haq slamed US President Barack Obama for not condemning the Chapel Hill shooting up till now.
“Why is the American press so quiet against this act of terror? Why are there no protests? Is it because the victims wore scarves?” Haq questioned.
RELATED: Chapel Hill: Three Muslim students killed in US shooting
“The US need to fulfill its duty towards the three youth who became a target of terror,” he added.
Commenting on the Baldia factory fire, the Jamaat-e-Islami leader said that the nation is looking towards Islamabad for answers and for those accountable for the deaths to be brought to justice.
“The courts and the government have not handed justice to the 259 lives that were lost in the factory fire,” he said.
Further commenting on the incident, Haq said that the whole nation stands with the labourers who lost their lives and Jamat-e-Islami is with the labourers and the masses.
“I am shocked that after the joint investigation team (JIT) report was released, the Sindh government has taken no action whatsoever. Instead they are considering to invite them [Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)] to join the provincial government,” he informed.
RELATED: Baldia factory fire: JIT report not entirely based on the case, says lawyer
“Instead of addressing the issue at hand, they [government] have gone out into the markets, asking the cost of tomatoes and vegetables. But those who destroyed our steel mills, who have robbed our banks, ruined WAPDA and robbed the nation, they are not questioned,” he continued.
Concluding his address, Haq demanded a probe in response to the JIT report and said that those involved should be brought to justice.
Students get ‘Fifty Shades’ quiz
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Separatist: Too many women, children died for ceasefire
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My friend, the war correspondent
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White House ‘not doing enough’ to save hostages
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul expressed concerns on Thursday the White House isn't doing enough to save hostages abroad.
TransAsia pilots fail flight test after crash
As the search continues for the final victim of TransAsia Flight GE235, the Taiwanese airline has grounded 10 pilots for failing an oral flight test.
Suicide bomber kills shoppers
A female suicide bomber attacked a crowded market in northeastern Nigeria's Borno state on Thursday, killing seven people and seriously injuring 20 others, residents and a hospital source said.
Two more women accuse actor Bill Cosby of drugging them
LOS ANGELES: Two women accused actor Bill Cosby on Thursday of drugging them decades ago when they met him as young models, and one said he sexually assaulted her, as more of his performances were shelved amid an outcry from activists over similar allegations.
More than a dozen women have publicly accused Cosby of sexual misconduct in recent months, in a controversy that has tarnished the image of the actor and comedian best known as the lovable father figure on the 1980s sitcom “The Cosby Show.” Cosby denies the allegations of sexual assault, many of which are decades old and fall outside the statute of limitations for criminal or civil cases.
Linda Brown and Lise-Lotte Lublin came forward on Thursday as the latest women to bring public accusations against Cosby at the Los Angeles office of attorney Gloria Allred, who acknowledged it was too late for them to sue Cosby. Brown told reporters she met Cosby in 1969 in Canada and went to his hotel suite where he gave her a soft drink that caused her to black out. She said that when she woke up, she was naked next to him in bed. “I couldn’t move or speak. I felt paralyzed, he flipped me over and sexually assaulted me,” Brown said. “I felt like a rag doll and like a real-life blow-up doll for him.”
Lublin said she met Cosby in 1989 at a hotel in Las Vegas and that he asked her to perform an improvisation on the pretext of evaluating her acting. The comedian gave her two alcoholic drinks that caused her to feel disoriented, she said. Lublin said that a short time later, he embraced her. She said her memory of the incident was hazy and that she remembered waking up at her home in the area and not knowing how she got there. Allred said Brown and Lublin believed Cosby drugged them, which other women in media interviews have also said happened to them in encounters with the comedian.
Cosby’s lawyer has called those and similar claims ”discredited” and “defamatory.” His attorney did not immediately return emails on Thursday. Cosby, 77, had a show scheduled for Thursday in Bakersfield, California, but in a statement earlier this week, he postponed it. His Feb. 21 show at Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh was also canceled by what venue officials described as the result of a mutual agreement with Cosby.
Nigeria candidates scrap for voters
Huge campaign rallies, posters plastered across the country, and expensive advertising and social media strategies -- Nigeria's two main presidential candidates are fighting for voters across all mediums, except one: There will be no live presidential debates in this election.
NBP, PIA to clash in Quaid Cup decider
KARACHI: Familiar rivals NBP and PIA will be seen in action against each other in the final of the 5th Customs Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup Hockey Tournament as they defeated their respective opponents in the semi-finals on Thursday.
NBP defeated Railways 5-2, with man-of-the-match Muhammad Tousiq Arshad scoring two penalty-corner goals in the 18th and 23rd minutes.
Tariq Aziz scored the first goal for NBP in the 12th minute, while Arslan Qadir struck a field goal in the 48th and Kashif Shah converted a penalty corner in the 53rd. Railways’ Muhammad Owais was his side’s only scorer, with two goals.
Tousiq, who was injured during the match, is optimistic about performing well in the final. “I was hit on the knee but will play and give my hundred per cent in the final on Friday,” he said. “Although PIA are a good team, we have seven international players which will hopefully help us win the title.”
In the other match, PIA defeated Customs 5-1 as they scored five goals in the last 20 minutes of the game. PIA’s Azfar Yaqoob started off the scoring with a 41st-minute goal, after which Inayatullah found the back of the net in the 43rd minute, followed by Waseem Akram’s 45th-minute goal.
Nohaiz Malik and Yaqoob then struck in the 46th and 58th minute to complete PIA’s scoreline, while Muhammad Naveed had scored a lone goal for Customs in the 11th minute.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 13th, 2015.
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Young talent: Beaconhouse Model Town student wins live painting contest
LAHORE: Hundreds of students showed their artistic talent at an art exhibition and a live painting competition held at Beaconhouse Newland on Thursday.
The exhibition of pre-submitted artwork was titled: Young Canvas. The live art competition was titled: Musawwir.
The exhibition received 250 entries, out of which 127 were put on display. Students from class 7 to A level took part in the competition. The live competition had 135 students from class 6 to A level.
Both events were judged by artists RM Naeem, Sadaf Naeem and Ayesha Durrani.
“We will be giving out more prizes than we originally planned, as the work is very good. We are so impressed that we have even bought some of the work,” said RM Naeem.
“The spontaneity of the work is very good. The teachers have played an important role in this,” Sadaf Naeem said.
Ayesha Durrani was also very happy. “The work is very versatile. The range of the imagery and the quality are exceptional. The students have exceeded expectations. These students are being exposed to art at a very young age,” she said.
Arooj Awan, the Beaconhouse corporate communications assistant manager, said that they had organised a similar competition last year. “We invited schools from all over Pakistan to participate in the live competition,” she said.
Shireen Bano, the Beaconhouse regional coordinator for arts, said: “We had again contacted schools in these countries to take part in the exhibition. However, the entries from Bangladesh were all we received from abroad,” said Bano.
Sawera Shahid, a class 8 student from Beaconhouse Sialkot campus, said it was her first time at the competition. “I really enjoyed it. I drew a mother-and-child. The mother represents the sunset and her child the sun,” she said.
Ismara Zahid, an art teacher from The City School who accompanied the students, said: “I think that the work should have been judged grade-wise. The O level students might not be as technically strong as the A level students,” she said.
Fatima Hammad from the Beaconhouse 78 AI Model Town received the first prize in the live competition.
Aisam Haroon from Beaconhouse Faisalabad Canal Campus and Rida-i-Fatima from Beaconhouse Sheikhupura campus jointly received the first prize in the exhibition.
Winners received shields, certificates, art supplies and the opportunity to attend a three-month training workshop at RM Naeem’s studio.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 13th, 2015.
Pakistan’s future — fraught with perilous possibilities
Nearly two months after the Peshawar attack, it is unclear if Pakistan’s direction has changed. The unprecedented grief and anger over the tragedy has now given way to business as usual. Bureaucrats undertaking the routine round-up exercises, platitudes by the politicians and the ‘firm’ image by the military leadership. Sections of civil society that defied the taboos of entering Islamabad’s no-go area i.e., Lal Masjid, ignited some hope that there was going to be a mass-scale mobilisation of Pakistanis against extremism and its violent manifestations. But the last rounds of activism attracted lesser numbers and apathy – a cornerstone of Pakistan’s mainstream culture.
What could be the greatest example of this syndrome than the muted response of the state and society over the massacre of 61 worshippers in Shikarpur. The National Action Plan is under implementation and apparently, thousands have been rounded up without a plan in place as to how they will be prosecuted in a court of law. The end result will not be different from the past record. Courts will bail them out sooner than later. Military courts are being operationalised and many Pakistanis view them as a panacea for the long-term failures of the judicial system. But there are many stages before they will become effective and deliver the kind of results that are needed to combat terrorism.
The prime minister had announced that all violent militias would be banned and proceeded against. But there are many which are free to mobilise. One day, the Jamatud Dawa is banned, the other day it is not. The ASWJ rallied in Karachi and the seminaries that are the backbone of these organisations remain fully functional. Admittedly, it is not possible to tackle them immediately but is there a strategy to handle three decades of mess that is growing messier? The answer to this question is in the negative.
When the Senate questioned the Punjab Police about foreign funding to seminaries, the initial response was denial-as-usual. Senator Tahir Mashhadi reportedly said that substantive evidence confirmed the “involvement of foreign-funded seminaries which were involved in promoting militancy in Pakistan”. The Saudi Embassy clearly said that whatever support was extended to welfare seminaries, mosques and charity organisations materialised with the express consent of the government. This has exposed the hollowness of the government’s commitments to address this key issue. Pakistan simply cannot be a playground for imported ideologies and allow sectarian battles to further bleed society.
Evidently, the military is leading the counterterrorism efforts. The provincial apex committees that met earlier have been steered by the military leadership. While this is a welcome development to achieve coordination, the role of Nacta as the key agency is once again unclear. Shortly after coming to power, the Nawaz Administration reconstituted the Defence Committee of the Cabinet and renamed it the Cabinet Committee on National Security (CCNS). The CCNS was meant to formulate an umbrella national security policy that would guide the country’s internal and external security. The turbulence during much of 2014 meant that the civilian government lost its grip over power and therefore could not assert its mandate to re-fashion the security policy.
Had the political instability not been there, would the civilian government have taken the initiative? It seems unclear given the manner in which the federal government is being run. Even in areas where it has autonomy, the performance remains far from optimal.
Recognising how foreign policy impacts internal security, the army chief has been talking to Afghanistan, the UK, the US and China. Mending fences with the new Afghan government is a welcome step. However, the regional security calculus will not change until Pakistan decides to engage with India and not be driven by old demons. Nawaz Sharif was the ideal candidate for such a re-engagement but his wings have been clipped. The question is: how is Pakistan going to handle this? Alignment with China is not enough as Sino-Indian economic cooperation has grown over the years and China at best could help to only manage a potential conflict.
Pakistan simply cannot afford to turn a blind eye to private militias anymore. Their network has grown exponentially in the past two decades and is now getting embedded into societal networks. Crackdowns and police actions are not going to work unless there is a cohesive strategy to deal with the thousands of radicalised (and some armed) men, who comprise the ideologically integrated jihad industry. Sadly, the kind of thinking necessary to address this challenge is missing.
Even more alarming is the fact that provincial governments mandated to manage police forces have not launched much-needed reforms. Raising additional forces is a short-gap measure and without reforming the institutional culture and incentives, no results can be expected. Similarly, the prosecution services need an overhaul as judges cannot deliver verdicts when cases presented before them are weak. On their part, superior courts in the provinces have not fully sensed the public mood on their inability to deliver justice. The popular decision to set up military courts (currently under judicial review) is a clear show of no-confidence in their performance. The very least the high courts can do is to see how they can improve the adjudication of terrorism-related cases in light of their earlier judgments. This is why the military appears to be the only institution moving forward. And herein lies the paradox of Pakistan: the institution that has been at the helm of designing controversial security doctrines seems to be the only one that can deliver.
Finally, why have the federal or Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa governments not set up inquiry commissions? Yes, these commissions have been useless in the past but at least there needs to be some process of accountability. After all, someone must be responsible for the security lapses of December 16, 2014. The issue of accountability has been bypassed in public debates. Even good-hearted members of civil society are more concerned with getting this cleric arrested and that mosque shut down. That will be a good symbolic gesture but nothing beyond tokenism.
State accountability is fundamental to the crisis that has engulfed Pakistan. Until its powerful institutions are not checked and made answerable, they will continue to make mistakes thus making the citizenry more and more disengaged and apathetic. Such a breakdown of the citizen-state relationship is dangerous for Pakistan’s future. Whether the civil-military elite are cognisant of this stark reality remains an open question. This is why Pakistan’s future trajectory appears to be fraught with perilous possibilities.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 13th, 2015.
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More than 300 migrants missing
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Red, set, go
KARACHI:
It’s that time of the year again — when romantic songs are in the air, the roadside florist hikes up the price of roses, and the world snowballs into a pink and red ball of fluff. You may be a Valentine’s Day (V-Day) enthusiast or the sort of person who squirms as your Facebook newsfeed overloads with PDA as D-Day approaches. Either way, as the spring breeze begins to inch in, there’s no better time than now to begin planning out a new wardrobe. And it seems that the cardinal colour of love, red, will be a fashion favourite in the upcoming season. As red gets set to make a bright sartorial statement, we take a look at it, hot on the racks, at some of our favourite designer stores.
Love for workmanship
Nida Azwer’s characteristic love for workmanship reflects in her V-Day capsule. The collection, in red and soft pink, features pieces from short tunics to peshwaz, embellished with feminine filigrees, geometrics and animal motifs. Prices begin at about Rs5,000.
My funny Valentine
The ‘Dekh bhai…’ quips, having become all the rage on social media, now get cracking with Valentine’s Day jokes at Scentsation on t-shirts, mugs and badges. Diverging from the usual, the rollicking, tongue-in-cheek Valentine shairi, featured on the items, is bound to tickle your funny bone. This is, definitely, the best V-Day idea yet. Some of our favourite captions include, “Dekh bhai, jewellery toh diamond ki honi chahye, sone ki toh baby doll bhi hoti hai” and “Dekh bhai, shakal pe mat ja, dil dekh, dil!”
Young love a la Daaman
Drapes, pleats, collars, botanic prints and an all-out loud ‘LOVE’ print make up Daaman’s fun and wearable V-Day line. The fabric is lightweight and prices are mostly around Rs3,000. From a ‘Perfect Red’ to a navy blue ‘Modern Romance’, could there be a better way to wear your heart on your sleeve?
The bohemian red
FnkAsia atypically melds ethnicity with bohemia in a predominantly Western collection featuring dresses, tiered-long skirts and jumpsuits with jodhpuri lowers and tasselled belts. “My clientele generally prefers modern cuts,” explains designer Huma Adnan. We’ve seen some of these designs at FnkAsia’s last Fashion Pakistan Week outing, and they’re just right if you’re in the mood for crimson shades. Prices range between Rs20,000 and Rs30,000.
Going rogue on V-Day
Sublime’s Sara Shahid spins out monochromatic red with her ‘Pure Rogue’ line. Featuring a dash of embellishments, the clothes are minimalistic with a focus on cuts and texture. The silhouettes vary from basic tunics to gowns in satin, chiffon, crushed silk and organza. The hues match the L’Oreal ‘Pure Red’ campaign, which Shahid was recently a part of. “You can’t go wrong with classic monochromatic red,” says Sara. Prices range between Rs5,000 and Rs25,000.
The crimson ‘Museum’
Body Focus Museum’s Iman Ahmed twirls and tweak fabric, weaving it into a host of structures and drapes. The roseate offerings at Body Focus Museum include collared, ruffled safari-style tunics, sleeveless draped shirts, baggy pants with hints of ombre, and a fully-worked maroon long shirt and dupatta in cotton, embellished with bead-work. “I’ve used cottons and silks with little embellishments,” says Ahmed. Prices begin at Rs12,000 and go up to Rs30,000.
Who needs a ‘gulab’…
…When you can get the ever-stylish ‘Gulabo’? In a capsule line of summer jackets and mafia-sleeved tunics, Gulabo’s Valentine meets the military. That red-coloured print may look like a regular camouflage design, but look closely and you’ll see the tiny hearts clustered within. It doesn’t get sassier than this. Priced between Rs6,000 and Rs8,000, this is one fun statement for V-Day and beyond!
Elan’s French connection
With its ‘J’adore’ and ‘Amore’ collections, luxury-pret brand Elan seems fixated on the French language. The designs, however, are all cutting-edge Pakistani. ‘J’adore’ is Elan’s evening-wear for Valentine’s Day in deep red, black and gold, with baroque-inspired intricate embroideries on net, silk and chiffon. The silhouettes are structured and modern, and the price goes up to Rs35,000. Sister brand Elan Vital’s ‘Amore’ is available about the Rs10,000-range, with whimsical flora, fauna and quirky details on cotton-satin.
So pretty, Sapphire!
Designer Khadijah Shah is on a roll. Not only has she created two V-Day lines for her label Elan but has also released out a collection for Sapphire as the creative head of the fledgling brand. There are stripes, florals and wisps of damask in Sapphire’s tribute to the season of love. The 10 designs are priced at as low as Rs2,600 and up to Rs4,000.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 13th, 2015.
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A heart-rending story of Pakistani schools
ISLAMABAD: A country facing extensive learning crises, Pakistan continues to be crippled by the crumbling infrastructure of its schools. A large number of public schools are not even housed in a proper building whereas private schools have all the basic amenities available, for those who can afford them.
The state is far more deplorable in government-run schools located on the outskirts of the Pakistan’s urban areas.
Third grade students in a school on the outskirts of Peshawar sit on floor mats during an English Language lesson because there are no chairs or desks available for them.
These fourth grade students in a school on the outskirts of Rawalpindi have to sit on the cold floor as they copy off Math sums in a door-less classroom. Unlike the school in Peshawar (pictured above), they do not have the luxury of floor mats.
These schools reveal a stark contrast between public and tuition-charging private schools as they clearly lack basic furniture to facilitate its students in leading an average school life.
A twelve-year-old Hameeda, the only girl in her class, finishing her work in a makeshift school located on the outskirts of Islamabad.
Many girls in Pakistan fall are strongly discouraged by their families from getting an education.
A six-year-old Hina sitting on a clay floor in a makeshift school located on the outskirts of Islamabad. Unlike the other school (pictures earlier), this one seems to lack a floor altogether.
A group of girls taking a Math lesson in a school in Mohlanwal, located on the outskirts of Lahore. Public schools are often criticised for failing to impart quality education among its students.
Twelve-year-old Nadia scribbles on a whiteboard in a school in Golra Sharif, located on the outskirts of Islamabad.
Apart from schools facing acute shortage of teaching staff, the state of education has also been affected by low attendance of school teachers and the hiring of ‘ghost’ teachers.
Under Article 25-A of the Constitution of Pakistan, the government is obligated to provide free and compulsory education to children between the ages of 5 to 16 years.