LINKING SCRIPT FOR THE LIVE SHOW ON THE EVE OF CHINA’S TROUPE’S PERFORMANCE AT THE PRESIDENT HOUSE ISLAMABAD. PAKISTAN (October 2009)
By
AMER RIZWAN (Copyrights reserved @ Amer Rizwan)
Honourable Chief Guest His Excellency the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, respectable foreign dignitaries and noble ladies and gentlemen; I warmly welcome you to this august gala gathering.
The irresistible spirit of love and sympathy that signify Pakistan-China friendship is proverbially mightier and loftier than the colossal mountains that separate the two nations. This friendship is based on complete trust, mutual understanding and shared aspirations for peace and progress.
Keeping with this bond of sincerity and good-neighbourliness, the two peoples are observing the “China Cultural Week” as a part of high-profile events to mark and celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. This cultural show by the Chinese artists and acrobats is one of the essential components of this grand fête.
Pakistan greatly cherishes its unique and multidimensional friendship with People’s Republic of China which spans a vast spectrum of political, strategic, defence, economic and trade, culture and people-to-people contacts. The Government of Pakistan People’s Party has a special sense of attachment to this bond of all-weather and time-tested friendship. The founding chairman of Pakistan People’s Party has been the pioneer of this exemplary friendship. Chairman Mao Zedong and Zhou En Lai together with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto laid the foundation of this camaraderie which was further consolidated during the two stints of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto. In recognition to this time-tested and durable engagement, Benazir Bhutto visited China on Feb. 11-14 on her first official trip abroad. The principal architect of this association, Late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had the vision to build a strategic relationship with China at a time when the latter was isolated. Later this great leader in his various capacities tended these relations to their new strategic heights. Even before formally cultivating any warm relationship with the People’s Republic of China, this political genius differed with many western countries by not voting against China’s membership in the UN in 1960.
“Islam is our faith; Democracy is our policy; Socialism is our economy; all power to the people” was his motto. There was a great deal of identity and commonality of purpose in the ideals and goals of the founder of Pakistan People’s Party and those of the Communist Party China.
Although their approach to realizing these ideals differed a good deal yet the spirit and commitment to their realization was the same. Despite different social systems, ideologies and political beliefs, both countries have gone beyond these differences and continued their all-weather cooperation in all fields by practicing Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. History has proven that China-Pakistan friendship conforms to the strategic interests of the two countries, represents the common aspirations of the two peoples and contributes to regional and world peace. In continuation with this great tradition, the latest visit to China by His Excellency President Zardari would go a long way in further consolidating these ties.
Pakistan and China would continue common endeavours for building a new future for its people and for promotion of international peace, stability and prosperity; peace and stability that is one of the basic sine qua non for the growth of art, architecture, culture and music.
Let me acknowledge here that Chinese civilization has contributed enormously to the global culture through its ingenuity, richness and diversity.
I would now invite my fellow guest compere to hold on the charge of the show and to call upon the Chinese team to mesmerize this very attentive and appreciative audience. Let me whet your eagerness by sharing with you that the performances would include Chinese acrobats, folk tune, songs and a magic show.
Please hold your excitement to have a magnificent melody princess with you…..I would now call upon the modern music maestro Hadiqa Kiyani to enthrall the audience with her pleasing voice.
Invitation to the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
NAM: Before and Beyond
NAM: Before and Beyond
By Amer Rizwan
The two-thirds of the human race still living in poverty and ignorance were, by virtue of ignorance and poverty, quite incapable of arriving at any common formula or programme for knowledge and plenty. Some embraced or acquiesced in communism as the road toward the goal - in North Korea, North Vietnam and many millioned China. Others e.g. Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Thailand, The Philippines and the Latin American republics allied themselves with the West against the East in the hope of military protection and economic aid. Still others remained passive, watching, waiting and hoping. But the overwhelming majority of the world's states were at least of one mind in common opposition to racialism and colonialism and in a quest for solidarity and collaboration among the states of Asia and Africa. And many among them were hostile to all military coalitions and were committed to non-alignment in a strange new world.
Non-Alignment is a conception that sees formal association with any alliance as reducing the freedom of a third world nation. President Kenneth Kuanda of Zambia elaborated this conception in the following words:
¡°Non-Alignment is a determination to preserve independence, sovereignty and to respect that sovereignty and independence in other states and to decline to take sides in the major ideological struggles that rend the world¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦. We will not hitch our carriage to any nation's engine and be drawn along their railway line.¡±
The Non-alignment concept preceded the birth of the movement by at least fifteen years. It was enunciated more than 40 years ago by Jawaharlal Nehru as a basic tenet of Indian foreign policy. The essence of Nehru Doctrine was steering clear of the two big power blocs. Judging each issue on its own merits and maximizing one's options by maintaining good relations with both superpowers.
Nehru's lead was soon followed by almost all other countries emerging from the slough of colonialism into the sunshine of freedom. During the era when thanks to the dynamics of decolonization, non-alignment was winning many Asian and African adherents there was a certain inevitable intertwining between non-alignment and the movement of Afro-Asian solidarity.
The major first attempt to promote joint action toward common goals among the Asian and African nations was made between April 18 and April 24, 1955, when the political leaders of 29 Asian and African nations met in the Indonesian mountain city of Bandung, 75 miles southeast of Jakarta, in an effort to formulate common aspirations. The meeting did not eventuate, nor was it intended to, in any new bloc, alliance or coalition. Nevertheless it did furnish an occasion for important contacts and new departures in world affairs and for an enhanced sense of solidarity among people recently liberated from colonial rule.
The non-aligned movement was formally launched in 1961 in Cairo with P.M Jawaharlal Nehru of India, President Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt and President Tito of Yugoslavia as its co-founders. NAM owes its origin to three main factors: The end of the colonial system of Imperialism after WW II which gave rise to a large number of new states. These new states became the charter-members of NAM. The onset of cold war between the USSR and the West and the consequent setting up of two power blocs. NAM was a forceful response to this bipolarity. The emergence of charismatic leaders in the new states who firmly believed in pursuing an independent policy in world politics.
NAM has been defined in terms of four ¡°Ds¡± that is Decolonization, Disarmament, Development and Détente. NAM is a struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, apartheid and against all kinds of aggression, occupation, domination, interference in internal affairs and against the policy of the big powers to consolidate the division of the world into blocs.
Ironically, non-alignment in the early years at least was not popular in the Soviet Union or China. Stalin thought it to be a ploy to side with the West, while Mao Zedong thundered that a
¡°Third road simply does not exist¡±.
The Soviet Union was the first to change its view and recognize non-alignment's popularity and potential. China ultimately came to the same conclusion but through a much longer and tortuous path.
US feelings towards the non-aligned states have alternated from bitter hostility to benign indifference and then back to disdain. Underlying US and Western antipathy to the movement is the complaint that it tended to be soft on the Soviet Union and hard on the West. The grouse, though often exaggerated cannot be dismissed out of hand. The cautious wording of the movement's criticism of the Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan for example does contrast with the stridency of the movement's condemnation of the comparable US actions.
Next only to the UN, the non-aligned movement is the largest international forum with a character and modalities of its own. Though predominantly an Afro-Asian force during more than decades of its activity, the movement has been constantly expanding, maturing and gaining strength. Today it can claim to be the largest single force with a membership of 118. It represents more than half of the human race and two thirds of the world's sovereign states.
In the first decade (from Belgrade 1961 to Lusaka 1970) NAM was mainly preoccupied by issues of political independence and East-West tension. The non-aligned countries extended positive support to Nationalist movements throughout the third world. They acted as mediators and arbitrators in specific inter state disputes and as bridges between blocs. They acted as the spokesmen of the subject people and criticized their exploitation by imperialist powers. The examples of Congo and Indo-China are the cases in hand. The NAM received a severe blow with the Sino-Indian war in 1962 and death of Nehru 1964. With the near completion of the process of decolonization in 1970 and the phasing out of East-West Confrontation, NAM had to shift the focus of its attention to issues economic development. By the 1970s, it had become apparent that economic dependence affected political development and that place in global economy meant place in the world system as a whole. The third world demand for international development and democratization produced the new international order (NIEO) debate. The NAM advocated NIEO as it saw it as a goal for its own unity and effectiveness and as a mean to put pressure on the rich. The non-aligned countries pledged themselves to cooperate more actively among themselves and with other developing countries to improve their economic status and increase their bargaining power. and thus to enhance the political effectiveness of the third world.
The decades of 1980s had been marked by the twin crises of intervention and economic depression, besides the issues of underdevelopment. Of the 25 wars that raged in the 1980s at least 13 directly involved members of NAM. Two saddest examples of these conflicts had been the Iran-Iraq war and the Kampuchean-Vietnam war. The failure of NAM to halt those conflicts, not only underscored the rampant paralysis in the movement but also its ineffectiveness to ensure international peace. The Belgrade Summit 1989 focused more on the economic issues of third world debt, trade and technology. Its final declaration emphasized that a détente devoid of economic content is unlikely to endure. It also decided to create G.15 after G-7 and emphasized south-south cooperation.
Today, the movement is caught between contradictory pulls, the lofty ideals of peace and justice and the imperatives of the national interests of its leading members. One of the pioneer of the movement i.e. India voted against one of the NAM member i.e. Iran in the IAEA Board of Governors meeting, ostensibly to preserve its deal on the transfer of nuclear technology by a super power to whom NAM showed aversion during the Cold War era.
The problem of unity in the movement has been further compounded by the absence of strong charismatic leadership. It is a measure of the dilution of the movement that more than half of its members were directly or indirectly tied with either of the two super powers in the cold war rivalry. Its sermons on disarmament match poorly with the fact that some of the biggest arms importers are among its prominent members. Its image has greatly been damaged by the violation of international law by its own members. While the organization was intended to be as close an alliance as NATO or the Warsaw Pact, it has little cohesion and many of its members were aligned with one or another of the great powers. For example, Cuba was closely aligned with the former Soviet Union during the Cold War era. India was effectively aligned with the Soviet Union against China for many years. The movement fractured from its own internal contradictions when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979. While the client states of the Soviet Union fully supported the invasion, other members (particularly the Muslim states) of the movement found it impossible to do so. The Non-Aligned Movement has struggled to find relevance since the end of the Cold
War. The successor states of Yugoslavia, a founding member, have expressed little interest in the NAM since the country's break-up, and in 2004, Malta and Cyprus ceased to be members of the NAM when they joined the European Union. Malta and Cyprus now have the status of observer.
One other problem of the NAM is that it has become too large and unwieldy, and since it has no institutional mechanism like UN, it is a poor second as a force in world politics.
In view of these conditions, the onset of new millennium could well mark the acceleration of the process of political decay that had already beset the movement. The need of the hour is to resolve political and economic strife, to stop the use of coercion among the members and not to acquiesce the use of force against the NAM members.
The post-cold war era, particularly the period after 9/11 is important for NAM for it has to justify its existence. Now when the world is no longer bipolar, NAM is looked upon many as an anachronism. The same problem was a matter for concern for the leaders of NAM when they met at Nicosia in 1993. Besides, third world debt, economic issues and the changed geo-strategic environment were discussed. They clamoured for NIEO more vociferously than ever. The Durbin Summit Meeting 1998 was important for many reasons. Firstly, South Africa once the epicenter of apartheid policy got the honor of hosting the meeting, secondly the legendary Nelsen Mandela was the belle Donna of the entire proceedings and thirdly the meeting was being held after the nuclear explosions of the two South Asian neighbours. It was against this backdrop that Mandela served a diplomatic blow to India by acknowledging the gravity of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan, and by expressing willingness on behalf of the international community to extend every possible help in order to help resolve this issue.
It was at Durban that the idea of Bandung II was conceived. It is true that NAM played a key strategic role in galvanizing the third world countries to pursue on an independent course during cold war but now they faced the prospect of becoming irrelevant in the post-cold war ear in the new uni-polar world of the 21st century. Thirteenth NAM Summit that was held at Kualalampur (Feb 20-25, 2003 was to deal with this big question and to justify its existence. Malaysia was the chair. Foreign Minster of Malaysia Hamidal Bar expressed concern at the obtaining situation in the Middle East and called for the deployment of an international situation to grapple with the situation. The big challenge before the member countries during the Bandung II Conference 2005 was to revitalize NAM so that it can perform the role of new rallying point for the developing countries to protect their interests against the tide of globalization and seek structural reforms in the UN to allow the third world a voice in all political and economic negotiations. It must be countervailing force to the monopoly on power now exercised by G 8, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, each with a veto power, the Britton Woods institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank and the vastly enlarged NATO and the European Union.
The 14th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement Summit meeting in held at Havana in 2006 ended in consensus on all issues discussed in what is seen as a renewal of this group of nations of the South, with Cuba as its president for the next three years. The defense of international law was to be its main task over the next three years. According to statements made by Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque in a press conference held at the closing ceremony of the Summit, ¡°Havana Summit has revived the organization¡±. The 14th NAM Summit brought together 56 heads of state and government of member nations, along with 90 foreign ministers, 8 representatives from observer nations - including the president of Croatia for a total of 118 nations. Of these, 84 took the podium during the summit.
The 15th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement will be held in Egypt on 11 to 16 of July, 2009. 118 country members of the Movement, that comprises the majority of the countries of the world, will discuss what have been accomplished since the 14th Summit Meeting in Havana, Cuba, and what they intent to achieve in the next three years under the Presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt. It is time for NAM to reclaim itself. Its voice would be heard if it represents the united strength of its members. However to make its voice heard and intervention effective NAM needs to be institutionalized. It has no Secretariat, no HQs, no Secretary General and so no institutional mechanism
Non-Alignment is a conception that sees formal association with any alliance as reducing the freedom of a third world nation. President Kenneth Kuanda of Zambia elaborated this conception in the following words:
¡°Non-Alignment is a determination to preserve independence, sovereignty and to respect that sovereignty and independence in other states and to decline to take sides in the major ideological struggles that rend the world¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦. We will not hitch our carriage to any nation's engine and be drawn along their railway line.¡±
The Non-alignment concept preceded the birth of the movement by at least fifteen years. It was enunciated more than 40 years ago by Jawaharlal Nehru as a basic tenet of Indian foreign policy. The essence of Nehru Doctrine was steering clear of the two big power blocs. Judging each issue on its own merits and maximizing one's options by maintaining good relations with both superpowers.
Nehru's lead was soon followed by almost all other countries emerging from the slough of colonialism into the sunshine of freedom. During the era when thanks to the dynamics of decolonization, non-alignment was winning many Asian and African adherents there was a certain inevitable intertwining between non-alignment and the movement of Afro-Asian solidarity.
The major first attempt to promote joint action toward common goals among the Asian and African nations was made between April 18 and April 24, 1955, when the political leaders of 29 Asian and African nations met in the Indonesian mountain city of Bandung, 75 miles southeast of Jakarta, in an effort to formulate common aspirations. The meeting did not eventuate, nor was it intended to, in any new bloc, alliance or coalition. Nevertheless it did furnish an occasion for important contacts and new departures in world affairs and for an enhanced sense of solidarity among people recently liberated from colonial rule.
The non-aligned movement was formally launched in 1961 in Cairo with P.M Jawaharlal Nehru of India, President Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt and President Tito of Yugoslavia as its co-founders. NAM owes its origin to three main factors: The end of the colonial system of Imperialism after WW II which gave rise to a large number of new states. These new states became the charter-members of NAM. The onset of cold war between the USSR and the West and the consequent setting up of two power blocs. NAM was a forceful response to this bipolarity. The emergence of charismatic leaders in the new states who firmly believed in pursuing an independent policy in world politics.
NAM has been defined in terms of four ¡°Ds¡± that is Decolonization, Disarmament, Development and Détente. NAM is a struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, apartheid and against all kinds of aggression, occupation, domination, interference in internal affairs and against the policy of the big powers to consolidate the division of the world into blocs.
Ironically, non-alignment in the early years at least was not popular in the Soviet Union or China. Stalin thought it to be a ploy to side with the West, while Mao Zedong thundered that a
¡°Third road simply does not exist¡±.
The Soviet Union was the first to change its view and recognize non-alignment's popularity and potential. China ultimately came to the same conclusion but through a much longer and tortuous path.
US feelings towards the non-aligned states have alternated from bitter hostility to benign indifference and then back to disdain. Underlying US and Western antipathy to the movement is the complaint that it tended to be soft on the Soviet Union and hard on the West. The grouse, though often exaggerated cannot be dismissed out of hand. The cautious wording of the movement's criticism of the Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan for example does contrast with the stridency of the movement's condemnation of the comparable US actions.
Next only to the UN, the non-aligned movement is the largest international forum with a character and modalities of its own. Though predominantly an Afro-Asian force during more than decades of its activity, the movement has been constantly expanding, maturing and gaining strength. Today it can claim to be the largest single force with a membership of 118. It represents more than half of the human race and two thirds of the world's sovereign states.
In the first decade (from Belgrade 1961 to Lusaka 1970) NAM was mainly preoccupied by issues of political independence and East-West tension. The non-aligned countries extended positive support to Nationalist movements throughout the third world. They acted as mediators and arbitrators in specific inter state disputes and as bridges between blocs. They acted as the spokesmen of the subject people and criticized their exploitation by imperialist powers. The examples of Congo and Indo-China are the cases in hand. The NAM received a severe blow with the Sino-Indian war in 1962 and death of Nehru 1964. With the near completion of the process of decolonization in 1970 and the phasing out of East-West Confrontation, NAM had to shift the focus of its attention to issues economic development. By the 1970s, it had become apparent that economic dependence affected political development and that place in global economy meant place in the world system as a whole. The third world demand for international development and democratization produced the new international order (NIEO) debate. The NAM advocated NIEO as it saw it as a goal for its own unity and effectiveness and as a mean to put pressure on the rich. The non-aligned countries pledged themselves to cooperate more actively among themselves and with other developing countries to improve their economic status and increase their bargaining power. and thus to enhance the political effectiveness of the third world.
The decades of 1980s had been marked by the twin crises of intervention and economic depression, besides the issues of underdevelopment. Of the 25 wars that raged in the 1980s at least 13 directly involved members of NAM. Two saddest examples of these conflicts had been the Iran-Iraq war and the Kampuchean-Vietnam war. The failure of NAM to halt those conflicts, not only underscored the rampant paralysis in the movement but also its ineffectiveness to ensure international peace. The Belgrade Summit 1989 focused more on the economic issues of third world debt, trade and technology. Its final declaration emphasized that a détente devoid of economic content is unlikely to endure. It also decided to create G.15 after G-7 and emphasized south-south cooperation.
Today, the movement is caught between contradictory pulls, the lofty ideals of peace and justice and the imperatives of the national interests of its leading members. One of the pioneer of the movement i.e. India voted against one of the NAM member i.e. Iran in the IAEA Board of Governors meeting, ostensibly to preserve its deal on the transfer of nuclear technology by a super power to whom NAM showed aversion during the Cold War era.
The problem of unity in the movement has been further compounded by the absence of strong charismatic leadership. It is a measure of the dilution of the movement that more than half of its members were directly or indirectly tied with either of the two super powers in the cold war rivalry. Its sermons on disarmament match poorly with the fact that some of the biggest arms importers are among its prominent members. Its image has greatly been damaged by the violation of international law by its own members. While the organization was intended to be as close an alliance as NATO or the Warsaw Pact, it has little cohesion and many of its members were aligned with one or another of the great powers. For example, Cuba was closely aligned with the former Soviet Union during the Cold War era. India was effectively aligned with the Soviet Union against China for many years. The movement fractured from its own internal contradictions when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979. While the client states of the Soviet Union fully supported the invasion, other members (particularly the Muslim states) of the movement found it impossible to do so. The Non-Aligned Movement has struggled to find relevance since the end of the Cold
War. The successor states of Yugoslavia, a founding member, have expressed little interest in the NAM since the country's break-up, and in 2004, Malta and Cyprus ceased to be members of the NAM when they joined the European Union. Malta and Cyprus now have the status of observer.
One other problem of the NAM is that it has become too large and unwieldy, and since it has no institutional mechanism like UN, it is a poor second as a force in world politics.
In view of these conditions, the onset of new millennium could well mark the acceleration of the process of political decay that had already beset the movement. The need of the hour is to resolve political and economic strife, to stop the use of coercion among the members and not to acquiesce the use of force against the NAM members.
The post-cold war era, particularly the period after 9/11 is important for NAM for it has to justify its existence. Now when the world is no longer bipolar, NAM is looked upon many as an anachronism. The same problem was a matter for concern for the leaders of NAM when they met at Nicosia in 1993. Besides, third world debt, economic issues and the changed geo-strategic environment were discussed. They clamoured for NIEO more vociferously than ever. The Durbin Summit Meeting 1998 was important for many reasons. Firstly, South Africa once the epicenter of apartheid policy got the honor of hosting the meeting, secondly the legendary Nelsen Mandela was the belle Donna of the entire proceedings and thirdly the meeting was being held after the nuclear explosions of the two South Asian neighbours. It was against this backdrop that Mandela served a diplomatic blow to India by acknowledging the gravity of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan, and by expressing willingness on behalf of the international community to extend every possible help in order to help resolve this issue.
It was at Durban that the idea of Bandung II was conceived. It is true that NAM played a key strategic role in galvanizing the third world countries to pursue on an independent course during cold war but now they faced the prospect of becoming irrelevant in the post-cold war ear in the new uni-polar world of the 21st century. Thirteenth NAM Summit that was held at Kualalampur (Feb 20-25, 2003 was to deal with this big question and to justify its existence. Malaysia was the chair. Foreign Minster of Malaysia Hamidal Bar expressed concern at the obtaining situation in the Middle East and called for the deployment of an international situation to grapple with the situation. The big challenge before the member countries during the Bandung II Conference 2005 was to revitalize NAM so that it can perform the role of new rallying point for the developing countries to protect their interests against the tide of globalization and seek structural reforms in the UN to allow the third world a voice in all political and economic negotiations. It must be countervailing force to the monopoly on power now exercised by G 8, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, each with a veto power, the Britton Woods institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank and the vastly enlarged NATO and the European Union.
The 14th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement Summit meeting in held at Havana in 2006 ended in consensus on all issues discussed in what is seen as a renewal of this group of nations of the South, with Cuba as its president for the next three years. The defense of international law was to be its main task over the next three years. According to statements made by Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque in a press conference held at the closing ceremony of the Summit, ¡°Havana Summit has revived the organization¡±. The 14th NAM Summit brought together 56 heads of state and government of member nations, along with 90 foreign ministers, 8 representatives from observer nations - including the president of Croatia for a total of 118 nations. Of these, 84 took the podium during the summit.
The 15th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement will be held in Egypt on 11 to 16 of July, 2009. 118 country members of the Movement, that comprises the majority of the countries of the world, will discuss what have been accomplished since the 14th Summit Meeting in Havana, Cuba, and what they intent to achieve in the next three years under the Presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt. It is time for NAM to reclaim itself. Its voice would be heard if it represents the united strength of its members. However to make its voice heard and intervention effective NAM needs to be institutionalized. It has no Secretariat, no HQs, no Secretary General and so no institutional mechanism
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Economic Freedom for Women copyrights@amerrizwan
A Sine QuanonEconomic
Freedom for Women
By Amer Rizwan
Fetters of all kinds and degrees have always been the source of disgust for men and women. Human history is replete with sagas of violent efforts made for clinching freedom from the tyrants and despotic rulers. Together with the national freedom, individuals have also been striving to define and safeguard their personal freedom as well. But to define the nature and circumference of individual freedom has always been difficult for the simple reason that the definition of freedom varies from time to time and from place to place. Anyhow the social, religious and moral standard of a given society sets the limits of freedom for its individuals. In each age and every society, no matter how much modern, the limits of freedom differ for men and women; nay in some respects the nature and degree of these limits are just antithetical to each other. Again, traditionally speaking, economy has been regarded as the exclusive domain of men, but women have also played a vital role in economic affairs.
Modern is the age of Democracy and market economy, which entails liberty and equality for each and every citizen irrespective of colour, caste, religion or gender. Hence, freedom and equality are regarded as the corollaries of Democracy. However, I would condescend to add that they are the prerequisites of Democracy. Women¡¯s enfranchisement is crucial to socio-economic development – indeed a sine qua non. All the other forms of progress for which the reformers worked at messianic proportions, such as higher education and entrance into the professions, would have been meaningless had the women continued to be second-class citizens. True Democratic set up cannot be established without guaranteeing the freedom of individuals. And here lies the importance of economic freedom for women, as in Democracy a woman is considered as important as a man, and all kinds of freedom including economic freedom is guaranteed to her, so true spirit of Democracy is nonexistent without this freedom. The issue does not end here, when state treats her at par with men, then it automatically becomes obligatory on her part, to assertively exercise her right, so to become the effective part and parcel of the machinery of state and social structure.
Women constitute half of humanity. The successful utilization of their potential, skills and talents constitutes an important religious, social and development imperative. We must create the enabling environment for women to play a constructive role in our societies. In the modern age of competition and ever growing needs, more than ever the necessity and importance of economic freedom of women is being felt on the family level. Man and woman are but the two wheels of the carriage of life and as such both should be provided an equal opportunity to work for the betterment of their family as well as of their society.
Economic freedom for woman would also lessen the ratio of failed marriages and divorces, because most of the beautiful and talented women are married to goofy men because of economic compulsions. Further economically well off women, if unfortunately widowed earlier, can rear up their children with full care and concentration and more importantly with honour and dignity. The resultant sense of inferiority can thus be stopped from being developed in both these vulnerable groups of our society. It has its bearing on the society as well. Alongside the economic benefits which it would automatically accrue, the society would also reap its social fruits. Economically well off women are more inclined towards undertaking the social welfare projects. They may take upon themselves certain philanthropic activities i.e. setting up centers for homeless women and children, eradicating social evils, organizing walks against drugs, arranging Mina Bazaar or charity shows for poor and destitute people. Certainly this social awareness on the part of women is the fruit of economic freedom enjoyed by them in certain societies. Human history is replete with instances where women have excelled in the philanthropic activities. For instance the Nobel prizes in 2003 and 2004 were awarded to two women; Shirin Ebadi of Iran ¡°for her efforts for democracy and human rights especially the rights of women and children¡± and Wangari Maathai of Kenya for ¡°her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace¡± The purpose here is to highlight how economic freedom and self-sufficiency go a long way in inciting the softer emotions of the softer gender for the welfare of the fellow beings. Even otherwise the annals of history speak volumes with women legends that happen to be the icons on the firmament of humanity, nay their stature have defied the bounds of time and space. Mother Teresa, Florence Nightingale, Maria Montessori, the 1991 Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi are but just a few names in this regard.
The successive Pakistani Governments claims to have transformed the participation of women in nation building over the recent years. According to Government sources,
¡®Today women make up 22 per cent of our Parliament, including seven ministers in the Federal Government. At the grassroots level, the country has elected 40,000 women Councilors, also as Mayors and Deputy Mayors. Some 27,000 of them have been promoted through a women¡¯s political participation project. National Commission on the status of women has been mandated to review all discriminatory laws. A major focus has been placed on economic and social empowerment of women through schemes like Micro Credit Programmes to fund income generation for women. Women in Pakistan are playing a major role in national development¡¯.
However, without effecting a systematic overhauling of our old social institutions, statements and claims of this nature seem baseless, hollow and unlikely to produce the desired results. The more daunting challenge is to make inroads into the centuries-old mindset, in the mostly feudalistic rural set-ups, where male is more powerful and socially resourceful, where the absurd paganic traditions have been clothed with the attire of religion, and where the fair-sex is subjected to the ugliest of rigours.
Economic freedom for woman is usually opposed by some of the circles of our society on religious and moral grounds. I do not understand this logic, because Prophet (Peace be Upon Him) never discouraged economic freedom for women. As a matter of fact, he always encouraged his wives to do something during their leisure for their economic well-being. In fact, Prophet (Peace be Upon Him) implicitly gave his approval to women¡¯s economic freedom by marrying Hazrat Khadija, a well-known businesswomen of her time. It has been very aptly pointed out in the Final Recommendations of the OIC Commission of Eminent Persons (CEP) held in Islamabad on 28-29 May 2005
¡°That Muslim females have equal rights as Muslim males and that both are required to pursue knowledge, be given equal opportunities to excel in their respective fields of specialization¡±
In short, we cannot imagine progress and prosperity without the full participation of the woman-folk and the same is impossible until and unless economic freedom is granted to them.
In order to be able to see the clearer picture of the prosperity of the human beings, we are to extricate ourselves of the web of taboos and dogmas. It is unadvisable to confine our Fifty percent of the population inside the four walls of the house for fear of moral degradation and social evils. It is, however, the lesson of experience that nearly everywhere in the world, moral degradation is caused by economic imbalance, and economic imbalance is created when half of the population is disallowed to be economically free for their well being. The future of living beings cannot be put at stake simply due to the whims of certain fanatics and religious bigots. Economic freedom for women is a sine qua non for the progress and prosperity, not only of our country, but also of the entire globe, and barring the fair sex from economic affairs would mean that progress would limp along on one leg, if at all it can. Only after giving economic freedom to women can we achieve progress and march forward in the comity of nations with pride and dignity. copyrights@amerrizwancopyrights@amerrizwan
Education, Development & Enlightenment: With Special Reference to Pakistan
Education helps an individual to improve his own individual and social life, and ultimately the overall social values and living standards of a society. Education, however, is not merely a social necessity; it is a religious obligation as well. Our Holy Prophet enjoined us to seek knowledge from cradle to grave. No nation can tread the way of progress until and unless its citizens are truly educated. It is a well-known fact that literacy and education are the essential prerequisites for acquisition and spread of knowledge. This helps a nation to improve its human resource development that is a vital factor in attaining growth and stability. Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that seeking education is one of the basic rights of every man and woman. Education, being enlightenment, is the to development. "No education, no development" is, therefore, the correct formula to describe the importance of education.
There is no denying the fact that western hemisphere of our universe has reached the near climax of human civilization just because its inhabitants have equipped themselves with the true wealth of quality education. They continued "to strive, to seek and never to yield," with the result that they excelled in almost every walk of life. However, their quest for knowing more and more, and their urge for moving forward have yet to see a pause.
As a matter of fact, there are many facets of our national and social life here in Pakistan that needs to be looked at with greater degree of skepticism in this modern era of "Brave New World." Needless to say that illiteracy has taken a toll not only on the physical development of Pakistan but has also overshadowed every nook and corner of our socio-economic nay political life. The result is that Pakistan, today, has more illiterates than its total population at the time of independence. Despite this entire gloomy scenario, we used to spend lower even than the target recommended by UNESCO for education in developing countries. New education policy envisages spending about 4% of our GNP on education, which somehow conforms to that target.
Poverty, illiteracy, mismanagement of our scarce resources, and the male-dominated social structure that is hell bent upon maintaining the status quo have been mainly responsible for depriving most of the children of school going age, particularly girls, of this blessing that tends to turn one's eyes to light. Again, most of those who are enrolled leave the school before even going through this elementary phase, mainly, owing to negligence of parents, stereo-typed teaching, lack of funds and incentives on the part of the government etc. Now, the situation, as it stands, is, no doubt, disappointing, but is it depressing and intractable as well? Is there no light at the end of the tunnel?
Of course, nothing is intractable in this world. We are already moving in the positive direction, and as long as this onward movement continues, we have every reason to believe that the target of Universal Primary Education will see the dawn of life sooner than later. As a matter fact, literacy and education prove incremental in alleviating poverty, and in attaining development goals. Nay, it can help shatter our so-called taboos. For instance, the society can be made enlightened, healthier and progressive if it has an awareness regarding diseases such as Aids.
Establishment of Adult schools and Non-formal Basic Education Centres, giving incentives like providing free text books and implementing school nutrition TAWANA programmes, and extending stipends to girl students are but some of the steps that would go a long way in attracting people to schools. One may disagree with government spending tens of thousands of rupees on advertisements, yet the practice is not indefensible. After all this advertisement campaign in itself can be considered to be the inseparable part of this motivation drive.
However, we cannot afford to be content with just being philomaths. Not at all; we are to be proactive in our approach; we are to come forward and play an expeditious role in this regard. After all, we are part and parcel of this system, so getting education on our part, and, in fact, by our scions is not enough. We are to shoulder the responsibility of disseminating education. We must be committed to help coordinate the endeavours of the Government, N.G.Os, philanthropic organizations and media. We might be embers, but can we not kindle a fire? Let we follow the paradigm of "each one, teach one." We are to apprise the children that getting education is one of their basic right under UN Convention on the Rights of Child 1989; we are to motivate them and their elders to contribute and make "National Plan of Action" for "Education for All" a resounding success; we are to contribute in attaining "Universal Primary Education" goals.
For all this, we are to reach the disadvantaged population groups in rural and urban areas with emphasis on girl children. The people belonging to urban slums behind the façade of magnificence find themselves with one of the bitterest realities of the modern life. Although they are socially marginalized and, even ostracized, yet this yawning gap, both in material, as well as in psychological terms, can be minimized by providing them access to the centers of knowledge. It is so, because the urban life is a poly-tone that promises a myriad of opportunities to an individual for his material and intellectual growth. No doubt, it is by no means an easy problem to cope with, yet the more daunting challenge is to make inroads into the centuries-old mindset, in the mostly feudalistic rural set-ups, where male is more powerful and socially resourceful, where the absurd paganic traditions have been clothed with the attire of religion, and where the fair-sex is subjected to the ugliest of rigours.
Nothing, save education and awareness, can bring about change in this mode of life. Circumspection is the key word to describe the process of effecting a change here; it should be both tangible, as well as intangible, and should target both the genders, particularly men who hold the rein of the destinies of their respective families. No doubt, the worm of change has already started galling the forces of conservativism, yet the pace of all this is far from being satisfactory. It is to be realized that we are to work doubly hard on war footing to accelerate the process of change, nay to effect a virtual volte-face.
Imparting true religious education to both the genders can be one of the ways of doing that. For instance, it can be instilled in the minds, particularly, of the rural folk that getting education is a religious obligation, and that Prophet (PBUH) had called upon both his male and female followers to get education. Awareness has to be created among parents that a daughter has an equal right to the love and affection of her elders, and that sending her to centers of learning is our foremost moral, social and religious duty, because after all,
"My son is my son till he gets a wife, my daughter is my daughter all her life." — Robert Burns (1759- 796), Scottish poet
Only after creating, a sense of gender parity among the drivers of our social vehicle i.e. men, that women can be educated and thereby empowered. And unless that is done, the very concept of development would be lopsided.
The only panacea for inspiring the vision of "enlightened moderation" as has been enunciated by President Parvez Musharraf, is to educate the nation as a whole irrespective of the gender, origin and material status of the citizens of Pakistan. It is commendable that the present Government is spending unprecdentally more on education. While there can be no two opinions on this ground, yet I would condescend to expostulate that the bulk of the resources should be spent upon spreading education at the grassroots level, because it is there that the shoe pinches. Nonetheless, I would reiterate that major chunk of the responsibility rests on the members of the civil society; they have to "to shake shoulders of their lulled lot." They can no longer afford to be somnolent; they are to rise right now.
"Defer not till tomorrow to be wise, tomorrow's sun to thee may never rise" — William Congreve (1670-1729), English dramatist
There is no denying the fact that western hemisphere of our universe has reached the near climax of human civilization just because its inhabitants have equipped themselves with the true wealth of quality education. They continued "to strive, to seek and never to yield," with the result that they excelled in almost every walk of life. However, their quest for knowing more and more, and their urge for moving forward have yet to see a pause.
As a matter of fact, there are many facets of our national and social life here in Pakistan that needs to be looked at with greater degree of skepticism in this modern era of "Brave New World." Needless to say that illiteracy has taken a toll not only on the physical development of Pakistan but has also overshadowed every nook and corner of our socio-economic nay political life. The result is that Pakistan, today, has more illiterates than its total population at the time of independence. Despite this entire gloomy scenario, we used to spend lower even than the target recommended by UNESCO for education in developing countries. New education policy envisages spending about 4% of our GNP on education, which somehow conforms to that target.
Poverty, illiteracy, mismanagement of our scarce resources, and the male-dominated social structure that is hell bent upon maintaining the status quo have been mainly responsible for depriving most of the children of school going age, particularly girls, of this blessing that tends to turn one's eyes to light. Again, most of those who are enrolled leave the school before even going through this elementary phase, mainly, owing to negligence of parents, stereo-typed teaching, lack of funds and incentives on the part of the government etc. Now, the situation, as it stands, is, no doubt, disappointing, but is it depressing and intractable as well? Is there no light at the end of the tunnel?
Of course, nothing is intractable in this world. We are already moving in the positive direction, and as long as this onward movement continues, we have every reason to believe that the target of Universal Primary Education will see the dawn of life sooner than later. As a matter fact, literacy and education prove incremental in alleviating poverty, and in attaining development goals. Nay, it can help shatter our so-called taboos. For instance, the society can be made enlightened, healthier and progressive if it has an awareness regarding diseases such as Aids.
Establishment of Adult schools and Non-formal Basic Education Centres, giving incentives like providing free text books and implementing school nutrition TAWANA programmes, and extending stipends to girl students are but some of the steps that would go a long way in attracting people to schools. One may disagree with government spending tens of thousands of rupees on advertisements, yet the practice is not indefensible. After all this advertisement campaign in itself can be considered to be the inseparable part of this motivation drive.
However, we cannot afford to be content with just being philomaths. Not at all; we are to be proactive in our approach; we are to come forward and play an expeditious role in this regard. After all, we are part and parcel of this system, so getting education on our part, and, in fact, by our scions is not enough. We are to shoulder the responsibility of disseminating education. We must be committed to help coordinate the endeavours of the Government, N.G.Os, philanthropic organizations and media. We might be embers, but can we not kindle a fire? Let we follow the paradigm of "each one, teach one." We are to apprise the children that getting education is one of their basic right under UN Convention on the Rights of Child 1989; we are to motivate them and their elders to contribute and make "National Plan of Action" for "Education for All" a resounding success; we are to contribute in attaining "Universal Primary Education" goals.
For all this, we are to reach the disadvantaged population groups in rural and urban areas with emphasis on girl children. The people belonging to urban slums behind the façade of magnificence find themselves with one of the bitterest realities of the modern life. Although they are socially marginalized and, even ostracized, yet this yawning gap, both in material, as well as in psychological terms, can be minimized by providing them access to the centers of knowledge. It is so, because the urban life is a poly-tone that promises a myriad of opportunities to an individual for his material and intellectual growth. No doubt, it is by no means an easy problem to cope with, yet the more daunting challenge is to make inroads into the centuries-old mindset, in the mostly feudalistic rural set-ups, where male is more powerful and socially resourceful, where the absurd paganic traditions have been clothed with the attire of religion, and where the fair-sex is subjected to the ugliest of rigours.
Nothing, save education and awareness, can bring about change in this mode of life. Circumspection is the key word to describe the process of effecting a change here; it should be both tangible, as well as intangible, and should target both the genders, particularly men who hold the rein of the destinies of their respective families. No doubt, the worm of change has already started galling the forces of conservativism, yet the pace of all this is far from being satisfactory. It is to be realized that we are to work doubly hard on war footing to accelerate the process of change, nay to effect a virtual volte-face.
Imparting true religious education to both the genders can be one of the ways of doing that. For instance, it can be instilled in the minds, particularly, of the rural folk that getting education is a religious obligation, and that Prophet (PBUH) had called upon both his male and female followers to get education. Awareness has to be created among parents that a daughter has an equal right to the love and affection of her elders, and that sending her to centers of learning is our foremost moral, social and religious duty, because after all,
"My son is my son till he gets a wife, my daughter is my daughter all her life." — Robert Burns (1759- 796), Scottish poet
Only after creating, a sense of gender parity among the drivers of our social vehicle i.e. men, that women can be educated and thereby empowered. And unless that is done, the very concept of development would be lopsided.
The only panacea for inspiring the vision of "enlightened moderation" as has been enunciated by President Parvez Musharraf, is to educate the nation as a whole irrespective of the gender, origin and material status of the citizens of Pakistan. It is commendable that the present Government is spending unprecdentally more on education. While there can be no two opinions on this ground, yet I would condescend to expostulate that the bulk of the resources should be spent upon spreading education at the grassroots level, because it is there that the shoe pinches. Nonetheless, I would reiterate that major chunk of the responsibility rests on the members of the civil society; they have to "to shake shoulders of their lulled lot." They can no longer afford to be somnolent; they are to rise right now.
"Defer not till tomorrow to be wise, tomorrow's sun to thee may never rise" — William Congreve (1670-1729), English dramatist
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