Friday, November 16, 2012

4Pakistani.com

4Pakistani.com

Egyptian president calls Pervaiz Ashraf to discuss attacks on Gaza

Posted: 16 Nov 2012 12:19 PM PST



ISLAMABAD: Egyptian president Muhamed Morsi telephoned Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Friday evening to discuss the worsening situation in the Gaza Strip following continued aerial bombardment by Israel, a handout read.

The bombing has already killed as many as 16 of Palestinians, injured over a hundred people and reduced several buildings to rubble. Morsi Ashraf for Pakistan's support when the Palestine issue is raised at international forums specially the United Nations Security Council.

The Prime Minister said that Pakistan strongly condemns Israeli air attacks in Gaza which have targeted not only the Hamas leadership but also innocent civilians. He said that Pakistan considers the Israeli action a grave violation of international law and all humanitarian norms. Additionally, Ashraf expressed his apprehension that Israeli threats of a ground offensive against Gaza are even more disturbing.

The Prime Minister also took the opportunity to say that unless the Palestinian problem is resolved, peace in the Middle East will remain elusive.

The Prime Minister expressed concern that the escalation in violence could lead to a spreading of conflict which may engulf the region.

Ashraf said that Pakistan supports the quest of the state of Palestine for membership in the United Nations and believes that Palestine cannot be denied this right anymore. The Prime Minister also assured the President of Egypt of Pakistan's support in the UN Security Council.

Pakistan is non-permanent member of the Security Council.

Punjab to use special software for ensuring Muharram security

Posted: 16 Nov 2012 11:18 AM PST



LAHORE: While Karachi and Quetta saw the sun of first Muharram set without any significant incident of violence, in part due to the extreme security measures adopted by the Federal government, however, the Punjab government has decided to opt for a different, more high-tech approach to ensuring security during the Islamic month.

A press release by the DGPR announced that the Punjab government will be employing the use of CCTV cameras in addition to a specially designed software which will be implemented by the Punjab Information Technology Board as part of a comprehensive security plan to keep a vigilant eye on the movement of mourning processions during Muharram.

The Punjab Information Technology Board in a briefing said that the software would operate side by side conventional security techniques. In all the nine divisions of the province and especially the provincial metropolis, security cameras would be installed along routes of mourning processions which will be connected to a central control room through the internet. This way, movements of all the mourning processions will be monitored in a central control room. The movements of these processions could also be controlled if such a need were to arise.

Giving details of the technological systems, the release said 'Ggoogle' will be used in facilitating the control room to track and monitor the position and presence of mourning processions.

Keeping in view the security threats, the state-of-the-art security plan would ensure that no impediment whatsoever takes place along procession routes and plans of saboteurs are foiled.

In addition to the use of technology, law enforcement personnel will also have available the use of sniffer dogs.

Conspiracy to sabotage peace in Karachi: Sharjeel Memon

Posted: 16 Nov 2012 10:16 AM PST



KARACHI: The recent wave of violence, target killing and bombing were part of a well thought out conspiracy, Sindh Information Minsiter Sharjeel Memon told media persons at a press conference on Friday, Express News reported.

Pointing towards security measures adopted on Friday to avoid any untoward incidents and to clamp down on terrorists, Memon said that strict security measures will be adopted for Muharram. He added that security measures implemented on the ground on Friday are similar to those that will be implemented for Muharram 9 and 10.

"Will not allow the plans of those people want to see the city burn," Memon said.

The information minister added that they had been given a confidential briefing on security measures adopted for ensuring mourning processions were held peacefully and without incident. He added that in addition to the city government's control room, the police has its own control room and processions will be monitored through these control rooms.

Computerisation of arms licences

Sindh government will soon start the process of computerising arms licences, information minister Sharjeel Memon said.

Memon said that the process of computerisation will begin after Muharram. He said that they will announce a stipulated time period for people to submit their old licences to be re-scrutinised before being computerised.

The information minister warned that any person who fails to submit his license to be scrutinised and computerised within the allotted period, their licence will be cancelled.

He added that as many as 30 people are arrested with illegal weapons every day.

No bricks in the wall: 64% of schools in AJK are still heaps of rubble

Posted: 16 Nov 2012 09:15 AM PST



BAGH: 

Sixty-four per cent of schools destroyed by the 2005 tremor in Bagh district of AJK are yet to be reconstructed.

In all, 770 state-run schools were damaged or destroyed by the earthquake in Bagh. Of them, only 273 have been reconstructed since, according to Raja Roshan Johar, the district education officer. Interestingly, most of these schools have been reconstructed with funding from foreign and local donors.

"Now, there is a feeling of discrimination. While some pupils study in schools reconstructed by NGOs, others are made to sit on the rubble of their schools. This might cause an inferiority complex among them," Johar told a ceremony held in connection with the 7th anniversary of the 2005 earthquake at a state-run school reconstructed by USAID in Dhal Qazian.

Another speaker, Gul Zaman, who led a community-based team to support USAID's reconstruction of the Dhal Qazian boys high school, appealed to the AJK government to provide relief to the students and teachers working under difficult conditions at the quake-affected schools.

According to residents, some of the schools in Bagh still don't have roofs. These schools will be exposed to snow in winter for the 7th year in a row. Most of the damaged furniture was sold as junk while some schools have yet to receive new furniture.

People in Bagh wonder who is responsible for the reconstruction of schools and how much time it might take. The name of the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) comes up regularly, often followed by accusations and complaints.

Brigadier (retd) Pervez Niazi, who is the director general of ERRA's Planning Wing II, defended the authority's performance when contacted by The Express Tribune.

"ERRA is not to be blamed," he said. The planning wing deals with education issues in the quake-hit areas.

Niazi said international aid that came Pakistan's way since the 2005 catastrophe – around $ 2.5 billion after foreign donors deducted their own relief expenditures – was never received by ERRA directly.

"The Pakistani government received the money and there was no separate fund for it. ERRA requests the government for funds on an annual basis according to its requirements."

The funds have, however, dried up over the last couple of years.

"We need a lot of money," Niazi said. "In 2011, we requested Rs50 billion but received only Rs8 billion under the annual budget."

Niazi said part of the money might have been spent on other relief and rehabilitation activities, following the 2010 floods. "Due to lack of funding, we spend money on projects which show physical progress of 50% or more," he added.

This means that the schools where reconstruction has not even begun might not see any work for a long time.

A visit to Balakot in Mansehra district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa reveals a similar state of public schools and health facilities.

"Only 40% of the schools and other community infrastructure have been partially reconstructed during the last 6 years," said a local teacher, Sardar Khursheed, adding that pupils are studying in worn-out tents that were donated back in 2005.

He said the tents are so debilitated that teachers are compelled to take classes under the open sky and send the children home during rainy weather. Edited by Ali Haider Habib

Published in The Express Tribune, October 8th, 2012.

Let there be light: In Sindh, a business works to improve villagers’ lives

Posted: 16 Nov 2012 08:15 AM PST



KARACHI: 

Beyond the urban and suburban areas vying for scarce electricity in Pakistan, lie thousands of villages where, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), 65 million Pakistanis live disconnected from the national electricity grid.

Although the average income level is lower in rural areas compared with urban areas, a typical household in rural Pakistan spends on average a significant sum of Rs1,354 a month solely to meet fuel and lighting needs, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) 2010-11 conducted by the PBS says that more than 58% of Pakistan's rural population in Pakistan depends on means other than electricity to light their homes. These include firewood, kerosene oil, charcoal, coal, dung cakes, gas, candles and agricultural waste.

While these people constitute well over a third of Pakistan's total population, seldom do we hear about businesses that aim to bring their living standards close to what their fellow citizens in urban areas enjoy.

It is clear that conventional companies are unlikely to find this window of business opportunity lucrative enough to expand their operations to low-income rural areas, and the charity-based model of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is also unsustainable. So, what is the solution?

In such cases, some believe the way forward is what economists describe as 'social entrepreneurship': businesses that seek opportunities to improve society by using sustainable, practical and innovative approaches.

"What we're doing is social entrepreneurship. We do business, not charity: but our business model is such that it leaves a social impact on the community," EcoEnergyFinance Director of Operations Jeremy Higgs recently told The Express Tribune.

EcoEnergyFinance is a social enterprise active in several districts of Sindh, offering a portfolio of solar energy products that are comparable in cost to what rural villagers currently pay for their energy needs.

For the time being, EcoEnergyFinance is focusing on selling solar lanterns in seven different locations in Sindh, including villages in and around Umerkot, Khairpur, Sujawal, Tharparkar and Tando Ilahyar.

The retail prices of the two products that the company sells are Rs3,000 and Rs4,500 each, which include sales commissions and transportation costs.

After being charged for eight hours, solar-powered lanterns can light up a room for at least six hours. The life of the solar panels used in these lanterns is 10 years, while the battery generally lasts anywhere from 18 months to two years. Once expired, it can be replaced for less than Rs200.

"Although nobody we spoke to revealed their actual income, but based on our surveys, we suspect that the average household income of the communities where we work should range between Rs4,000 and Rs5,000," Higgs said.

Assuming that the average household income is indeed Rs5,000 in such communities, the HIES figure of Rs1,354 spent on fuel and lighting per family every month in rural areas of Pakistan is quite revealing: it indicates that over 27% of a household's net monthly income is spent on meeting energy needs alone.

"They need alternative arrangements, such as solar products that are cost-effective," Higgs says; while pointing out the considerable difference in the costs of solar and traditional sources of energy.

"People sometimes tell us that we should sell our products for, let's say, Rs1,500 a unit. But we disagree. It's not charity. If people value it, they'll pay for it," he says.

He relates that in some communities, people go to provision stores in nearby villages just to charge their mobile phones. "It costs them Rs10 a day," he noted, adding that the lanterns sold by EcoEnergyFinance were also capable of charging mobile phones.  "That can potentially save people another Rs300 a month."

The business model is yet to become self-sustainable, as EcoEnergyFinance has run its operations in Sindh on a pilot basis for the last 10 months. Higgs expects that it will become self-sustainable by the first half of 2015 with an annual sale of 4,000 units.

"Cost-effective solar-powered lanterns enable people to have more productive hours every night in communities without electricity. It makes a huge difference in their lives" he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16th, 2012.

Police arrest 2 Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Mehsud group members

Posted: 16 Nov 2012 07:13 AM PST



LAHORE: The Punjab Police claimed to have foiled a large-scale terror bid during Muharramul Haram, arresting two active members of Hakimullah Mehsud group, chief of banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The suspects were allegedly involved in various incidents of terrorism including attacks on Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Kamra base, camps of armed forces, police picket in Gujrat, revealed Inspector General of Police Punjab Haji Habibur Rehman on Friday.

While addressing a press conference at the Police Club, the IG Police said that a huge quantity of arms, ammunition and explosive material have been recovered from the possession of the arrested terror suspects including:

Five suicide vests, two IEDs, two AK-47 assault rifles, one official used rifle MP5, 75 kilogramme explosive material sufficient for preparation of 60 more suicide jackets, 25 hand grenades, 58 manual detonators manual, 25 electronic detonators, three detonating cards, seven timers, 11 remote control devices, 12 batteries, two mobile chips, a huge quantity of magazines, bullets and other bomb-making gear.

The arrested suspects, Shafiq and his son Abdul Rehman, had earlier killed four police officers, seized an official rifle and escaped.

This incident took place in March this year.

The IG Police further informed the media that these suspects had also attacked a temporary Army camp set up near the Chenab River bank and killed seven soldiers and injured five.

IG Police Rehman also revealed that the said group was involved in Kamra base attack and one accomplice of the arrested suspects was killed during the assault.

"The group has gathered arms, ammunition and explosive material in Gujrat, to carry out massive terrorist attacks in the area and other parts of Punjab during Muharram," the IG Police said. The militants hid this material at their residence situated in Mauza Sagr, he added.

IG Police stated that the first active member – Shafiq – was arrested by a team of Gujrat Police and Elite Force officer, led by District Police Officer (DPO) Gujrat Raja Basharat Mehmood. He said the son was later arrested in the jurisdiction of Police Station Civil Line Gujrat.

Two separate cases have been registered against the terrorist group and the IG police said he is hopeful about arresting five other active members identified during the course of initial interrogation.

More operations in violence-torn Karachi

Posted: 16 Nov 2012 06:13 AM PST



KARACHI: Several suspects were arrested by security agencies during targeted operations in Karachi, media reports stated on Friday. The operation is still underway to round up suspects from across the city.

Police conducted a search operation in Darpan Bazaar and Ghausia Colony areas in Jamshed Quarters and arrested 20 suspects and seized weapons from their possession. Rangers raided the Gulberg area and arrested eight suspects.

A report published today in Daily Express revealed that the government was planning on launching an operation on a large-scale, keeping in view the current situation of the metropolis.

The report further stated that the operation will have complete support from the army.

Daily Express quoted sources as saying that the step was taken to curb the increasing number of incidents of violence including targeted killings, abductions and abandoning of bodies in gunny bags.

However, it was not yet decided if the operation will be launched before or after Ashura, the 10th day of Muharram.

During the first phase, the operation will be mapped out according to the information gathered by the Army's intelligence wing. However, the government wishes and is trying to not let the operation be labeled as a military offensive.

The police and Rangers platoons tasked to carry out the operation will be equipped with latest weapon and cars in order to face any crucial situation during the operation.

The operation will be indiscriminate and free of any political pressures.

All big and small areas of the city are reported to be covered in the operation.

Humor: Riding a donkey to a bright future

Posted: 16 Nov 2012 05:10 AM PST



I recently read an article by Amina Jilani titled The dead horse syndrome (published in The Express Tribune on September 7) and I completely agree with the author's graphic statement that "it could be said that the nation has been astride a dead horse for decades of its life, the majority of its citizens being fully aware of the fact but seemingly willing to not only to continue to remain astride but to ignore the horse's steady decomposition and stench of decaying flesh".

I don't like the stench of decaying flesh and I really want to get somewhere in life. Therefore, I have decided to establish a new political party that will be perfectly aligned with the psyche and genius of the people of the great Islamic Republic of Pakistan. If my party wins the forthcoming elections, we may not get to ride a horse but we will definitely get a hardy and reliable donkey. In line with the spirit of "slow and steady wins the race", I have named my party the "Pakistan Ride-a-Donkey Party (PRDP)".

Following are the salient features of the party's manifesto:

1. The constitution of Pakistan will be immediately abrogated. It is a voluminous document far beyond the understanding of the simple people of Pakistan, more than half of whom cannot read or write. Copies of the constitution will be sold by the kilogramme and will thus be put to the more useful purpose of wrapping kebabs, parathas, samosas, paan and other such delicacies.

2. A parrot (tota) will take all decisions regarding matters of state. Five hundred totas, trained in a civil service seminary, will be released on January 1 every year and the first one to land in the president's house will be declared the head of the state. Policy choices will be written on chits and selected by the tota in a nationally televised show. For example, for foreign policy the choices could be: "USA is our friend", "USA is our enemy", "Taliban are good folks", "Taliban are horrible", "Love India" or "Crush India". Since there will be no constitution, the sole function of the Supreme Court will be to ensure the fairness of "Chit Process". Given that the tenure of the president will only be one year, no policy will ever be implemented and "Tota Chashmi" will be the cornerstone of our policy making. This will ensure that Pakistan will remain non-aligned and milk all the countries of the world!

3. All educational institutions will be closed down. It is abundantly clear that the education system is not working in Pakistan. The more we try to push education, the more ignorant our people become. This is evident from recent events, where the Chairman of PCSIR, Pakistan's largest scientific research organisation, and various other so-called top scientists publicly endorsed that cars can use water as fuel. However, since degrees are far more important than education, they will be printed and sold through all government utility stores. The price of the degree will depend on the level of education required. We suggest Rs1,000 for Matriculation and Rs50,000 for PhD.  To ensure that more resourceful persons do not abuse the system, the maximum number of degrees per person will be limited to three. For the sake of fairness, anyone with a real degree from abroad will be promptly deported. This innovative approach will ensure that Pakistan will soon join the ranks of developed nations.

4. The Pakistani economy is in shambles. The begging bowl has become the centrepiece of our economic planning. We have all kinds of debts: linear debt, circular debt, special debt, peculiar debt and a lot of some just plain old debt. The types of debts read like a kebab restaurant menu. The solution, dear countrymen, is not only staring us in our faces but is also right up our noses! Look around you, what is our greatest natural resource? No, it is not oil, gas, copper, coal or iron. It's garbage! All we need to do is to advertise our land as the world's largest garbage dumping ground. This will be a unique economic solution since it will be based purely on imports! Garbage producers of the world will fill up ships and send them out to the Karachi port. Nuclear and chemical waste will attract higher rates than regular filth and will be stored in the abandoned National Assembly, Supreme Court and president, prime minister and governor houses. A major advantage in this programme is that the garbage will be a magnet for the animal world and soon we will have national parks the size of the Serengeti and Jasper, thus attracting international eco-tourism. Remember, we are Pakistan, the land of the pure, and no amount of garbage can make us impure!

5. Every year a huge part of our annual budget is spent on defence. We are even ready to build nuclear devices to defend our nuclear devices and build even more devices to defend these other nuclear devices. We are ready to go bankrupt to defend our sacred land and we are the only nuclear power with no electrical power. We are even ready to sacrifice our neighbour's best friend's roommate's last child to defend our homeland. Noble as this great patriotism is, we have to wonder: if we sacrifice our last child what is left there to defend? PRDP has given some deep thought to this very sensitive issue.

The best way to make Pakistan unconquerable is to make it not worth conquering. With the economic policy of importing garbage the whole country will become one big garbage dump. What country will want to occupy a land covered in filth? We can thus dismantle our army and loan it out for "professional services" to friendly nations like Saudi Arabia, Libya, Syria, Congo, Liberia etc. This will bring both prestige and money to Pakistan. All nuclear assets will be sold on eBay to the highest bidder.

6. In spite of repeating ad-nauseam, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah's vision that all minorities will be treated equally in the newly formed Pakistan, all minorities have been treated equally badly. To correct this situation all religious sects will be declared minorities. This will level the playing field and the killing field. Once all the religious bigots have killed each other, the remaining will live in peace and harmony.

7. Sports have been long neglected in Pakistan. The squash players have been squashed like insects on the international circuit, hockey players are only useful as hired hands in beating up political opponents with their curved sticks, and our cricketers have become gamblers. The only difference left between organised sports and organised crime in Pakistan is that organised crime is a bit more profitable. In order to revitalise sports in Pakistan, only traditional sports like Kabbadi, Pithu Garam and Gili Danda will be allowed. However, Kabbadi will not be shown on television as it involves men wearing skimpy outfits that sometimes 'accidentally' come off. This is obviously not good for the morals of decent ladies. Ladies will play more homely sports like Ludo and Snakes and Ladders.

8. We are not a healthy nation. We lead the world in diarrhoea, dysentery, piles (khooni and otherwise), half a dozen horrible varieties of coughs, some that are dry and others that are accompanied by large dollops of phlegm laced with blood, deathly fevers resulting from mosquito bites and other diseases of the body and mind not found anywhere else in the world. PRDP believes that the nation's immune system has become weak. We believe in the survival of the fittest and once the garbage starts coming in, those people whose immune systems are not up to the mark will perish from the rampant disease, leaving only the strong ones with iron constitutions. The beauty of this approach is that it would control our rampant population growth while fostering a nation of supermen ready for any post nuclear holocaust scenario.

Friends, Pakistanis, Countrymen … if you want a bright, albeit a bit smelly, future for Pakistan please join PRDP in droves and herds. Donkey carts will be provided to transport you to the polling station. Remember to place an X against our election symbol "The Dump" as pictured below.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, November 4th, 2012.

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In a man’s world: The women politicians of Afghanistan

Posted: 16 Nov 2012 04:09 AM PST



It was a sight rarely seen in traditional Afghan society. Last month, Fawzia Koofi, a presidential candidate for the 2014 elections and one of the 69 female Afghan parliamentarians, arrived to meet a delegation of Pakistani journalists. In the times of the Taliban, this face-to-face encounter between a woman and a group mostly comprising men, would have been inconceivable.

Watching her interact so freely and with such obvious confidence, one can see why she's been named among the world's "150 Fearless Women" by The Daily Beast news website for her bold account of the hardships that women face in Afghanistan in her book The Favoured Daughter. Wearing a solitaire ring and a chunky gold wristwatch on one hand, and carrying a designer bag on her arm, she reminded me a bit of Pakistan's own foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar.

There's a great deal of substance to go with the style as well, and Koofi talks eloquently and with passion. She talks openly about women's empowerment through education and access to better healthcare, saying that great strides have been made in the 11 years after the fall of the Taliban regime. She may not quite be the modern Malalai of Maiwand, the celebrated 19th century folk hero who rallied the Pashtun army against the British in the 1880 Battle of Maiwand, but her struggle is equally heroic.

In a deeply patriarchal society that is yet to fully accept women's rights and participation in public life, Koofi and her fellow women parliamentarians have refused to bow down to rigid ideals and often suffocating customs.

Talking to us, a group of journalists who were part of an Af-Pak fellowship, she describes how women had to physically grab the microphone to make a speech in parliament because the male MPs would ignore their turn and would oppose resolutions put forward by them, just because they were women.

Being a shrinking violet in Afghanistan's often rowdy parliament just isn't an option. In June this year, women MPs caused an uproar when Justice Minister Habibullah Ghaleb suggested, during a conference organised by the Women's Affairs Committee, that more than 250 women living in 12 foreign-funded shelters were prostitutes. He had said the shelters were encouraging girls to disobey their parents if they were stopped from going outside their homes.

While the women MPs were unable to get Afghan President Hamid Karzai to sack Ghaleb, it was nevertheless an achievement to be able to challenge the opinions of a man on the floor of the parliament.

Likewise, the dismissal of former politician Malala Joya from parliament in May 2007 for publicly denouncing the presence of those she called warlords and criminals in parliament was followed by condemnation from female politicians and local women. Three years later, Joya's name appeared in the list of 100 Most Influential Women prepared annually by Time Magazine.

For Koofi, these are signs of hope. As her achievements would suggest, female parliamentarians have not settled for just being able to lambast society and state over the treatment of women. They have managed to wriggle out substantial — though still few — policy changes from the government.

After years of activism by Koofi and her fellow women parliamentarians, the government has fixed a quota for women in higher education institutions without which, she says, there is no point in allotting quotas for women in parliament. Egged on by this development, Koofi, who is also the chairperson of women rights in parliament — the only woman to have the post of a chairperson — has now proposed to President Karzai that at least one woman member be appointed in the Supreme Court.

"We need to increase women's capacity for them to be able to effectively function on the political front," she says. "This is the first time such a programme [like the new higher education policy] has been introduced for women. Trust me, this was not easy as months of work and campaigning are involved before a policy is approved."

No matter how difficult it may be to overcome age-old Afghan traditions, women seem to be slowly making their presence felt in the political domain.

One indication of this is the Taliban's absence of dissent to the presence of women in the High Peace Council's governing body that is assigned with carrying out peace negotiations with them. Najia Zewari is one of two women who serve on the 15-member body, and it seems the Taliban have accepted her presence.

"The governing body directly negotiates with the Taliban, and that is not an easy thing to do," she says. "But I am glad that us women have not once been criticised for being a part of the council."

Overall, the HPC has 70 members, nine of which are women.

As Afghan women prepare themselves for a post-US withdrawal scenario, many of them are eager to take on new-found opportunities in Afghan politics. There has been a surge in admissions of female students in the Institute of Diplomacy (ID) in Kabul, and 21-year-old Hadeia Amiry, head of NGOs at the economics department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul, is one of them.

She hopes to become a politician one day, and says that she "would be more of a people's representative than a conventional politician". She is happy that the present government is supporting female political participation which, she says, cannot be increased until women receive higher education.

The ID's one-year mandatory course for future diplomats includes subjects like politics, global political economy, conflict resolution, policy making, international relations, foreign languages, culture, ethics, organisational behaviour and entrepreneurship.

Other than the course, Amiry is also in the process of self-training: she wears suits and light makeup, and walks with obvious confidence. She crosses her hands at her back and broadens her shoulders while she stands to talk to her colleagues and guests at the office.

Yet at the same office, her colleague Samira (not her real name) is worried about getting permission from her husband for a one-week business-related foreign trip. She is a new bride and is not allowed to attend conferences abroad, even though her husband knew her from before and was aware that she worked at the foreign office.

This is what critics point to when they downplay the importance of Koofi and other likeminded women politicians and activists. To think that allowing women a few displays of opposition and giving them token political representation amounts to any substantial change in the way people think and act around them is naive at best, these critics contend.

"It will take another three decades before Afghanistan is ready for a female president," says Faheem Dashti, editor-in-chief of Kabul Weekly. "I doubt even five men can handle the country after all that it has been through."

Women parliamentarians are, in fact, aware of their limitations. A prominent feminist, journalist-turned-politician Shukriya Barakzai, agrees that even if an Afghan woman is successful, she still remains a victim of tradition.

For traditions to change in a patriarchal society, men need to change their mindset. But the country director of the Open Society Foundation, Najla Ayubi, a judge-turned-human rights activist, says there is still a long way to go before education starts changing the minds of men in Afghanistan. She believes that the government is trying to appease the Taliban, and hence would not want women in decision-making political offices.

But no matter how painstakingly slow the progress on women's political representation is, for a country like Afghanistan, where war has ravaged lives for decades and the patriarchal mindset has reigned supreme, it is at least a starting point. It may take many years, even generations, before Afghan women can measure up to their counterparts in other countries, but the first steps on the road to emancipation have been taken by women like Koofi and Barakzai.

(This report was written during the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Af-Pak fellowship 2012 in collaboration with The Express Tribune).

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, November 4th, 2012.

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Junior Hockey: Pakistan finally win in Malaysia

Posted: 16 Nov 2012 03:08 AM PST



KARACHI: Pakistan registered their first win at the Sultan Johor Cup junior hockey tournament when they outplayed defending champions  Malaysia 2-0 in their fourth match of the event yesterday.

The colts, who had earlier drawn against New Zealand and India and lost to Australia, kept their chances of reaching the final alive following the win over their hosts. On the other hand, Malaysia were forced to relinquish their hopes of retaining the title after the loss.

Pakistan relied on counter attacks and the approach paid dividends. They focused on ball possession and Mohammad Dilber struck the first goal in the 21st minute. Pakistan exploited the attacking strategy of their opponents by scoring on a counter-attack through Mohammad Irfan in the 39th minute to seal the 2-0 win.

The victory propelled Pakistan from bottom to fourth with five points. However, they need to win against Germany in their last pool match to avoid an exit.

Unbeaten India have sealed their final place with a 3-1 win against New Zealand with 10 points while Germany and Australia (six points each) are also contenders. The last round of pool matches will be played tomorrow.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16th, 2012.
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