Martyred Queen of Sindhis!

She was not a traditional queen, but still, she is called “Queen of Sindh”, even after her assassination, Sindhi people still call Benazir Bhutto as “Shaheed Rani” or martyred queen in love and respect. They have not forgotten her even after the passage of 12 years and people still remember her with wet eyes.

Another popular slogan famous in Sindh was: “ Zindah hai Bhutto Zindah Hai” (Bhutto is still alive), which started after the execution of former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. This is the main reason that despite high-level pre- and post-election engineering by the notorious “establishment” in every election, Sindhis always give vote for Pakistan People’s Party.

The PPP has been making governments in Sindh province after three consecutive elections since 2008. Even though many major political parties including Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tahrik-e-Insaf (PTI) (the current ruling party) have been contesting from Sindh, Sindhis have always preferred PPP in the love of its past leaders. It is the main reason that Asif Ali Zardari, the spouse of Benazir Bhutto has publicly announced the name change of his only son Bilawal as Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

It is also a matter of the fact that there is no alternative political party in Sindh province, which can appeal to Sindhi voters, despite a record corruption and non-spending of budgets on the development of the backward areas of the province. Many PPP leaders are facing corruption charges in NAB and other anti-graft courts.

A Bloody Year

The 2007 year was full of events, which are still very clear in my mind. There was a lot of political upheaval in Pakistan, after a long military dictatorship of General Pervaiz Musharraf since the 12^th October 1999 military coup d’état. Military dictatorship was first challenged by then Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry when the dictator and his other Generals asked Chaudhry to resign and he refused. The lawyers of the country announced support for Justice Chaudhry and launched the famous lawyers’ movement, which ultimately resulted in the restoration of the judiciary in 2008 and overall democracy in the country.

In the meantime, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto announced to return to the country despite a reported deal under the so-called National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) pact with the dictator General Pervaiz Musharraf, as she had said to be promised not to come back to contest the General Elections announced by the government in early 2008.

On her return to Karachi on 18^th October 2007, a deadly bomb blast occurred near Karsaz at her procession caravan heading towards Mazar of Quaid-e- Azam resulted in the deaths of over 170 workers of the Pakistan People’s Party, however, Benazir remained unhurt. After the incident, Benazir Bhutto blamed the government for the attack and named three close aides of General Pervaiz Musharraf including his cabinet minister Brig (Retd.) Aijaz Shah, a former head of the spy agency ISI Major General (Retd.) Hameed Gul and Chaudhry Pervaiz Ellah, a former Chief Minister of Punjab province and central leader of the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam).

The following events in 2007 were more tragic and deadly as Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a shooting and bomb blast incident in Rawalpindi just after she was coming back from an election rally at Liaqat Bagh on the 27^th of December. Elections were to be held on 8th January 2008 but were postponed till 18^th February after her assassination.

The entire country was engulfed in fire as protesting people set ablaze vehicles on roads in the cities and highways and burnt railway bogies at the main tracks. Pakistan railway reportedly suffered a loss of over Rs. 6 billion as 35 locomotives, 139 coaches and 65 stations were burnt, 36 bridges and 27 manned level crossings were damaged, signal and communication systems and tracks besides six tracks machines and cranes in the Karachi and Sukkur divisions of the railways were uprooted, suspending all kinds of rail traffic to and from the Sindh capital for five days. (Reference: daily Dawn, 28 Dec 2008)

Although Benazir Bhutto’s murder case in an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) has been decided in which all five arrested accused belonging to Tahrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have been exonerated by the trial court and only a couple of police officers have been sentenced to jail terms, who are restored to their jobs after getting bail. The main petition against the Military dictator is still pending at Islamabad High Court and there is no hope for any punishment for the main killers.

After the 2008 elections, PPP succeeds to form a coalition government with support from PML-N, MQM and JUI-F. PPP and PML-N led government forced the dictator General (Retd.) Pervaiz Musharraf to resign from the office of President on a threat of impeachment. PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari was elected President.

The PML-N withdrew its support to the PPP government on insistence to restore the judges as the PPP-led government of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani refused to succumb to their demands. PML-N remained in the opposition for the remaining tenure, even though the PPP government had restored the judiciary.

Unfortunately, 5-year government at the PPP was not able to arrest the killers of Benazir Bhutto even though the government got an investigation done by the UN investigators. Even the Sindh government has not succeeded in nabbing the responsible for the October 18, 2007 bomb blast at Karsaz, despite the fact it is in the power since 2008.

Aftermath riots in Karachi

I still recall that saddest eventful evening when I saw a ticker on the TV screen that Benazir Bhutto was seriously injured in a bomb blast in Rawalpindi. I was about to leave my office in the Clifton area at 5.30 pm on 27^th December 2007 and within a few minutes, another ticker flashed on the screen which stated Benazir is dead. It was really a great shock for everyone in Pakistan.

At that time I used do a part-time job in Daily Times as a sub-editor at its Business desk in the evening. The newspaper’s office was located at I. I. Chundrigar road near MCB’stallest building and my routine route were to go from Clifton via Mai Kolachithen Keamari flyover and Tower.

But on that day I could not reach the Keamari flyover as the entire traffic from the Tower side was coming back on both tracks of the Molvi Tamizuddin Khan (Queen’s) road and a car driver told me that people from Lyari have come out on the roads and closed down the bridge.

I took a U-turn and tried to take the route via PIDC and Shaheen Complex. The roads were full of traffic and eventually, I reached Dawn’s office, but it was almost impossible to enter into I. I. Chundrigar road as the entire thoroughfare was full of cars coming from the tower area, and even a single lane was not available to enter Chundrigar road.

After a wait the traffic started slowly as one track of the road was opened. It was just for passing a car, but even that was disturbed by the motorcycles that were trying to use that single lane with intervals. That one and half kilometre distance were covered in almost half an hour. But entering the building was a gigantic task. I succeeded in taking a U-turn from New Chali and fortunately found a space for a car inside the building. Earlier, it was almost impossible to find a space for a car inside the building, but I was lucky to find one on that day.

I came home at 1.00 am at night but there were horrible scenes on the road. At least two cars and a bank were burnt in my area in Khadda Market (DHA phase-5 Stadium Commercial). For the next three days, the entire market area was closed down and there was a curfew-like situation. There was a shortage of food items in many areas and at last, Rangers were deployed in the markets and the shopkeepers opened their markets.

Street Library: A novel idea?

It seemed a novel idea that a street library is established at a footpath along the eastern wall of Hotel Metropol (outer wall of the parking area) facing the main artery of the city Sharae Faisal, but without any vision or intention to facilitate the general public. People wonder why it was there?

Marked as Commissioner’s Corner the “STREET LIBRARY” houses two sets of wall-mounted three-door wooden bookshelves (double door almaries)and sitting benches at the other side of the footpath, which is fenced with a beautiful railing. The wall is also beautifully decorated with inscribed pictures made with yellow-stone plaster of the leaders of the independence movement and some famous buildings of the city.

The Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Ali Shallwani has taken the credit for establishing the street library from the platform of the Council of Karachi Libraries. He inaugurated this library on 25^th December the birthday of the Father of the Nation Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. A number of new and old booksellers were also invited to set up their bookstalls alongside the road, which is a portion for the traffic turning alongside the Metropol. That lane was closed to traffic.

The street library is reported to offer the exchange of books, but on the first day, there were no arrangements for availing that facility as there was no attendant from the office of the Commissioner to guide visitors. After the formal inauguration in the morning, I visited the place in the afternoon and found the doors of the library were open. All were filled with books. I peeped into the shelves and founds books in English, Urdu and Sindhi languages. English books were mostly on the course subjects but Urdu and Sindhi books were on literature and novels.

A person, who said he was a representative of a private company, which had arranged the inaugural function, told me that no staff from the Commissioner or any other government office was available to reply to my questions. He himself was not aware much.

A middle-aged Sindhi-speaking couple was also desperately looking for a concerned staff. They want to take a couple of books from the shelves. The male fellow told me that he was there at the time of the inauguration and the Commissioner had said that books can be exchanged (which means you bring your books and take books from the shelves as replacements). But the guard and the private guy did not allow them to take the books even in exchange. The guard, which belongs to a private security company, later locked all the books almaries with keys in fear of stealing.

Some other people were also looking for any concerned people but they were disappointed like me. The Sindhi couple, with whom I spoke later said they were happy to learn about this library but it seems it was similar to other government projects just to spend the budget. Maybe Commissioner Sahib had visited some European countries and the idea inspired him so he brought this street idea from there and implemented it here. According to him, this may be part of the World Bank Project, which is being implemented in the Saddar town area. But how the Commissioner's office will manage and maintain it, he was also blank.

Unabated Forced Conversion of Hindu Girls in Sindh

Another forced conversion case has emerged in Sindh as a Hindu girl, Ms Mehak Keswani was reportedly kidnapped from Karachi’s Defence (DHA) area and after five days her 20-second video was released on social media in which she confessed that she has been converted to Islam on the hand of Mian Javed, a Khalifa (disciple) a notorious character and a so-called religious Pir Abdul Haq alias Mian Mithoo who was once MNA of PPP and currently a leader of the ruling Pakistan Tahrik-e-Insaf of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Belonging to the Ghotki district Ms Keswani’s relatives staged a protest demonstration outside Karachi Press Club on Wednesday (December 18) along with other human rights activists and civil society members, demanding to stop forced conversion in Sindh.

An uncle of the girl told reporters that when a girl is kidnapped and kept in captivity, she might have been given the statement under duress and after alleged mental or physical torture or intimidation.

A family member girl also spoke to journalists and narrated the ordeal of the family since Mehak disappeared. She appealed to the Prime Minister, Chief Justice of Pakistan and Sindh Chief Minister to stop the kidnapping and forced conversion of Hindu girls and get her sister united with the family.

She demanded that the girl be allowed to meet with relatives as in such cases of forced conversion, the converted girls are not allowed to meet their relatives. She regretted that the police were not cooperating with the family after their complaint about the kidnapping of the girl.

It has been a practice that Hindu girls are first kidnapped and when parents get the case of kidnapping registered or approach the courts, the same girls appear suddenly in courts or on social media saying they have got married on the will after conversion to Islam. Rinkle Kumari case got the attention of the media and former Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chowdhry had taken suo moto of the case. However, he had accepted the conversion and marriage at-will story and since then the girl has never met with her family.

The forced conversion is solemnized by two notorious Pirs in Sindh province — Mian Mithoo in upper Sindh (Daharki in Ghotki district) and Pir Ayoub Jan Sarhendi in lower Sindh (Samaro in Umerkot district).

The Sindh Assembly passed a law against forced conversion in November 2016 after amending the Sindh Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities) Bill, 2015, but after pressure from religious parties especially Jamiat Ulema Islam (Fazlur Rehman), the Sindh government had to withdraw the bill and the Governor of Sindh did not sign on it. This badly disappointed the rights activists and Hindu communities.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, at a function organised by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) to mark International Human Rights Day on 10th December 2019 stated that the provincial government would soon bring a new law after removing lacuna from the previous law.

Raj Kumar a human rights activist told me that Hindus are the real owners of this land and through these measures like forced conversion of their girls, they are forced to leave this land. “We are sons of soil and will not leave our motherland Sindh,” he stated in a live video on my Face Book page.

Uber, Careem exploit their drivers

App-based cab companies Uber and Careem are allegedly exploiting their drivers who are, in fact, the manpower asset for these transportation networks operating in major cities in Pakistan.

It is pity that the drivers, who are called “Captains” by Careem, are hired on attractive terms and the companies often show them green pastures in the advertisements to attract them, but when they enter into the real business, they face a number of issues including meeting fixed targets of trips to earn commission and imposition of unnecessary fines, invisible deductions and taxes.

A video was viral on social media recently showing a Captain of Careem ransacking the Gulistan-e-Jauhar office of the company in protest against a reduction in his payments. He was using foul language (that is why it cannot be shared here) and can be seen trying to sprinkle petrol on his clothes to set him ablaze in the protest. Although there were no further details in the video as it was filmed by an armature user of a mobile phone camera, certainly he was suffering extreme mental stress due to the company’s policies. He was seen saying the company is exploiting the driver and frequently reducing their rates.

A group of drivers of both companies (Uber and Careem) staged a protest demonstration outside Karachi Press Club early this month and they had similar complaints. A news item published in daily Dawn on 3rd December quoted representatives of the driver saying that their management was reducing their share, exploiting their working hours and deducting a certain percentage in the name of tax.

APS massacre: Have we forgotten?

It was a tragic day for the entire humanity when innocent students of Army Public School (APS) in the fully-guarded military area in Peshawar were massacred by the heavily armed and dreadful 7 Taliban terrorists on 16^th December 2014. It was actually more than a tragedy as the helpless students and their teachers (a total of 150 including 132 children) were hit with bullets in their heads and chests by animal-like terrorists of Tahrik Taliban Pakistan and there was no one who can save them. A military operation later killed all seven terrorists and saved the remaining students and teachers present in the school.

The TTP spokesman accepted responsibility for the attack terming is as revenge for the Army Operation “Zarb-e-Azb” in North Waziristan. The TTP spokesman released the names and photos of the terrorists, all of them foreigners.

1. Abu Shamil (also went by Abdur Rehman)— a Chechen fighter and thought to be the ringleader of the group
2. Nouman Shah Helmand — an Afghan citizen from Helmand Province; the U.S. had placed a $500,000 bounty upon Nouman
3. Wazir Alam Herat — an Afghan citizen from Herat
4. Khatib al-Zubaidi — an Egyptian citizen
5. Mohammad Zahedi — a Moroccan citizen
6. Jibran al-Saeedi — a Saudi citizen

The entire Pakistani nation was in deep shock and even other nations were mourning the deaths of the APS students. The Indian government announced national mourning to show solidarity with the Pakistani children. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani condemned the attack and sent condolences to the families of victims and Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang both sent separate messages of condolences to the Pakistani leaders. Later Chinese Ambassador Sun presented a cheque for $50,000 to the victims of the attack.

Protests erupted across the country against this gruesome incident. I remember we were holding protests every week in Karachi and then every month on the 16th to mourn the death and arrest of the responsible. Once we held a protest demonstration at Guru Mandar chowk near the Binoria Mosque in New Town. A huge protest demonstration was held in Clifton against Molana Abdul Aziz of Lal Mosque, Islamabad who, in a statement, had supported the Taliban.

Pakistan's government took swift actions including intensifying the military operation against the Taliban in tribal areas, lifting the moratorium on capital punishment and establishment military courts for speedy trial of the terrorists. A 20-point National Action Plan was made with the support of all political parties which contained commitments and measures to curb terrorism, extremism in the society and protection of minorities.

The 21^st Constitutional Amendment was passed by the Parliament unanimously on 6^th January 2015 allowing the trial of terrorists through military courts for the next two years. This period was further extended for the next 2 years in 2017. But the opposition parties in January 2019 refused to give further extension to the Military courts as the ruling party did not have a two-thirds majority to amend Constitution.

Despite the passage of 5 years, there is no progress on the National Action Plan and the government seems to have no intention to even talk about it, leave alone take measures to implement it.

Following were the 20-points of NAP:
1. Implementation of the death sentence for those convicted in cases of terrorism.
2. Special trial courts under the supervision of the Army. The duration of these courts would be two years.
3. Militant outfits and armed gangs will not be allowed to operate in the country.
4. NACTA, the anti-terrorism institution will be strengthened.
5. Strict action against the literature, newspapers and magazines promoting hatred, extremism, sectarianism and intolerance.
6. Choking financing for terrorist and terrorist organizations.
7. Ensuring against re-emergence of proscribed organizations.
8. Establishing and deploying a dedicated counter-terrorism force.
9. Taking effective steps against religious persecution.
10. Registration and regulation of religious seminaries.
11. Ban the glorification of terrorists and terrorist organizations through print and electronic media.
12. Administrative and development reforms in FATA with an immediate focus on the repatriation of IDPs.
13. Communication network of terrorists will be dismantled completely.
14. Measures against abuse of the internet and social media for terrorism.
15. Zero tolerance for militancy in Punjab.
16. Ongoing operations in Karachi will be taken to its logical end.
17. Balochistan government to be fully empowered for political reconciliation with complete ownership by all stakeholders.
18. Dealing firmly with sectarian terrorists.
19. Formulation of a comprehensive policy to deal with the issue of Afghan refugees, beginning with the registration of all refugees.
20. Revamping and reforming the criminal justice system.

Dalit Baghri Woman in Sindh raped on charges of stealing tomatoes

A video is viral on social media today, which shows a number of Baghri (Dalit) community women protesting in Wahi Pandi town in Johi taluka (Dadu district) in Sindh against kidnapping and then torture and rape of a young Dalit girl on charges of stealing tomatoes from an agricultural farm of an influential person.

The Sindhi channel KTN reported the incident in which the victim girl along with other women was narrating the ordeal with the girl. They said unknown miscreants attacked their homes and tortured the male members on alleged stealing of tomatoes from their fields. They later kidnapped the girl and tore apart her shirt as well.

These poor Dalits minority communities are experts in agriculture work and in Sindh, most of their women work on the forms for daily wages.

In Pakistan, tomatoes were becoming costlier in recent months due to short of crop production in Sindh and Balochistan due to heavy rains. After imports from Iran, the prices of tomatoes have come down substantially.

Police were not providing any support or security to the victim's family.

Uncontrollable price hike

Prime Minister Imran Khan at his party’s meeting in Islamabad on November 15 termed the current spell of the price- hike in the country as “artificial” and a “conspiracy” against his government. The economists, however, believe that it is not a conspiracy against any government but , in fact, a mismanagement and bad governance on part of the government machinery especially at the provincial and local governments’ levels that have miserably failed to maintain control over prices.

They have also argued that the present price hike is mainly because of rise in inflation rate because of a number of economic factors: substantial increase in the prices of the utilities like gas and electricity, petroleum products, reduction in agriculture production and devaluation of Pakistan rupee, which caused increase in rates of imported products. Government’s increased borrowings from banks and international lenders because of the low tax recovery and increase in interest rates are other some economic reasons for rising inflation, said a senior economist Dr. Shahid Hasan Siddiqui, Chairman of Research Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance.

He said the hoarders and mafias also play their role in increase in prices of commodities and products. They have official machinery’s support. Increase in sugar and wheat prices are some examples, he added. Indirect taxes have also increased, which has affected the middle and poor classes negatively, said Dr. Siddiqui.

The provincial food departments in both Sindh and Punjab have failed to control smooth supply and demand of the essential commodities like wheat and flour. Flour millers in Sindh have been complaining that the commodity traders are hoarding the wheat to manipulate the prices. Moreover the provincial government’s food department did not procure wheat in Sindh this year on the pretext that the government godowns were full due to last year’s storage. This has resulted in exponentially increase in price of a 100 kg bag of wheat in November against in April, when new wheat crop arrived in the market.

Flour millers say this year wheat crop was not short but due to corruption, mismanagement and inefficiency in the provincial governments the prices have increased and are still rising. This year the government had also allowed export of wheat, which was later banned in September but a lot of the new crop’s products were already sold out abroad. According to the statistics of Department of Plant Protection under the Ministry of National Food Security and Research Pakistan exporters send around 17655 tons of wheat between the period from August 1, 2018 to August 25, 2019.

The millers said when the government had realized that earlier estimates of the supply were not correct it should have allowed wheat imports to fill the gap. But it was not done.

It is a matter of the fact that Sindh’s wheat crop comes early in the market and this year due to provincial food department’s failure in official procurement of the commodity the profiteer traders found an opportunity to make profits, so they purchased the crop at cheaper rates from Sindhi growers and sold the commodity in Punjab markets at higher margins. It is a matter of the fact that increase in wheat price has not benefit ted the growers in any case. Only traders have minted the money.

Interestingly, in Punjab there was an official ban on the movement of wheat from the province so with arrival of new crop this was locally consumed. But earlier supplies from Sindh to Punjab resulted in artificial shortage of wheat in Sindh, thus the price of 100 kg bag of wheat was increased to Rs. 4,400. The federal cabinet’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on hue and cry had to ask the Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO) to release 650,000 tonnes of wheat to the three provinces — Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Sindh and Balochistan. Sindh has reportedly received 100,000 tonnes from PASSCO so far.

The expert term the price hike because of full control of mafias on supply of essential food items like sugar, wheat flour, milk. The district administrations which are responsible for price control have, in practical terms, miserably failed to control the prices. For example, the Commissioner of Karachi has fixed price of a liter of milk at Rs. 94 but nowhere in the city it is available at the official rate. But it is being openly sold at the rate of Rs. 110 to 120/ liter.

“We have been raising our voice at the meetings on price control at Karachi Commissioner office on regular basis, but the administration seems helpless before these profiteers,” said Shakeel Baig, Chairman of Consumers Rights Protection Council of Pakistan.

Similar is the situation of prices of roti or naan. The government has asked the Tandoor owners to sell a 150 gram roti at the rate of Rs. 10, but it is not being sold at official rate anywhere in the city. “We have conducted our own research in the market and we have found that normally Tandoors sell a naan which is of weight of only 110 or 120 grams, which cost them around Rs. 8 after calculating all expenses, but they are not ready to reduce the prices,” he said. Tandoor owners however have their own complaints of increase in flour and gas prices.

In August the Prime Minister after public complaints had asked the gas companies to reduce gas rates for naan/roti makers so they are able to sell roti at reduced prices. But reports from different cities indicated that prices were not reduced anywhere.

Electricity, gas and petroleum prices have increased in Pakistan since early 2018, which has affected every section of the society. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate has shrunk this year to 3.1 percent and the growth in large scale manufacturing was reported negative due to financial crisis.

The recent sky-rocketing prices of fruits and vegetables especially tomatoes due to failure of local crops has also made the lives of consumers miserable. Once the prices of a kilogram of tomato crossed Rs. 400, the government found no other solution but to allow imports of tomatoes from neighbouring Iran, which took some time to reach Pakistani markets.

Tomato import from eastern neighbor India is already banned due to technical reasons. Some three years back Pakistani quality managers found infectious germs in Indian tomatoes, so they put a ban, which is continued. However, local production of tomato is quite sufficient to suffice the country’s demand. Sindh is the first province, where crop ripens first followed by Southern Punjab and Balochistan. But this year tomotta tomato crop in Sindh was badly affected due to climate change effects. It was destroyed at its sowing stage due to heavy monsoon rains followed by untimely rains in September and October, which resulted in heavy losses to growers. The local farmers had to re-sow the tomato seeds after end of wet spell, but the crop was 40 percent less, a local farmer said. The local tomato crop from southern Sindh especially from Badin district has started arriving in Karachi’s vegetable market, however it is still insufficient to fulfill local demands.

With the arrival of Iranian supply the prices of tomatoes have substantially dropped to Rs. 200 a kilogram.