Child protection law on the cards

The government is contemplating a law for protection of children and safeguarding them against abuse by creating an environment to help their upbringing in a healthy and pleasant atmosphere.The law proposes setting up courts to solve custody disputes and checking violations of children’s rights.“The idea to frame such law and set up institutions to provide protection to children came after a recent incident in Karachi in which three women had abandoned their eight children at the Edhi Foundation,” Law Minister Farooq H. Naek was quoted by Local Newspaper.

A meeting to discuss possibilities of framing the law to protect the rights of children was called by the law minister in which Minister for Social Welfare Samina Khalid Ghurki was specially invited to help devise the Child’s Protection Bill as early as possible.

A sub-committee, comprising secretaries of the two ministries and the relevant provincial governments, has also been formed and tasked to come up with suggestions for setting up institutions for protecting children from all kinds of discrimination and abuse.

Despite the fact that Pakistan ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990 that calls upon governments to take all appropriate measures to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination and punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, and beliefs of the child’s parents, but no law has yet been made.

The proposals that were discussed during the meeting suggested the setting up of a national commission on child’s right at the federal level and child protection bureaus at the provincial level.The idea also includes creating posts to appoint protection officers to check violation of rights of children.The proposal suggests setting up courts at the provincial level in consultation with the high courts where the cases of children in need of care would be heard and decided, especially disputes relating to custody.

International Childrens Day in Pakistan - Part III

Boys play in the debris of a government school after it was attacked by militants with explosives in the troubled area of Swat valley. A large number of schools have been destroyed due to militancy and violence in Pakistan's northern regions.

School papers lie on the ground after a government school was attacked by militants with explosives during the early morning on Wednesday 26th December, 2008 in the troubled area of Swat valley.

Children wash themselves along Lyari Lake in Karachi due to unavailability of water in their area in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. As the world observes International Children's Day, children in Pakistan still struggle for basic necessities such as food and water.

Children walk past a pile of garbage in a street of Twin Cities.

International Children's Day in Pakistan - Part II

Two boys carry garbage sacks as they search for recyclable goods in a street. Majority of the nation's children cannot afford to go to school and instead start working at an early age to earn money for themselves and their families.

A young girl along with her father beg for their livelihood at a roadside.

As the world observes International Children's Day, a young boy works as a mechanic and repairs a motorcycle.

Young girl sells stickers for her livelihood at a main intersection in Islamabad. Although the government says it is fully aware of its responsibilities in protecting the rights of children and providing them better facilities of life, majority of Pakistan's children don't even have basic education.

International Children's Day in Pakistan - Part I

A young boy busy in giving final touches to wooden furniture in Lahore instead of attending classes at a school.

Local children display broken pieces of a US missile in the rubble of a house hit by the missiles in Indi Khel village near Bannu, Pakistan on Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008. Children in the troubled regions of Pakistan are being constantly exposed to violence and attacks.

A schoolboy watches a cobbler repair his school bag at a roadside shop. More than 25 per cent of Pakistan's 150 million people live below the poverty line, despite the country's economy growing by 6.6 per cent last year, and 8.4 per cent in 2004-5, its highest in two decades

A boy carries wood on a bicycle too big for him to ride on in Islamabad.

Over 5 Million say ‘NO’ to Violence against Women

More than five million people around the world have sent a clear and unequivocal message to their governments to take decisive action in stopping the relentless cycle of violence against women, at the conclusion of an Internet-based United Nations campaign on Tuesday.

The UN Development Fund for Women launched its ‘Say no to violence against women’ awareness-raising campaign last year, calling upon governments to make the ending of violence against women a top priority.

The initiative amassed more than five million names on its website petition, easily surpassing its original target of one million signatures.Academy-award winning actress and Unifem Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman presented the signatures to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at a ceremony at the UN Headquarters.“Women are abused at home, trafficked across borders or [become] victim to widespread and systematic sexual violence in conflict,” Ms Kidman told reporters before the ceremony. “As long as one in three women and girls may be abused in their lifetimes, violence against women must be everybody’s business.”She added that the document containing the campaign signatures was “a start” in the push to force “decision-makers” to implement laws, educate both men and women, and provide the protection, health and legal services needed in the fight to eliminate violence against women.“Through Say NO, people in the farthest corners of the world have become engaged. This is a large new constituency that we will continue to evolve and mobilise in the years to come,” said Unifem executive director Inés Alberdi.Heads of State and ministers representing 60 governments joined more than 600 parliamentarians from over 70 countries in adding their names as a public expression of commitment to tackling the problem.“This high-level support for the issue is crucial,” said Ms. Alberdi. “Without strong political will, there will be no decisive action.”

Quake affectees struggle through cold!

The temperature is dropping every passing day in the quake-hit areas of Ziarat threatening the lives of thousands of earthquake survivors who were spending nights in the tents provided to them.
'Whole nights our children cry due to the cold weather,' a 40-year-old survivor Manzoor Ahmed told Dawn in the Ahmedon area which was badly affected in the recent earthquake. He said the tents so far provided to the affected people cannot protect them from the freezing temperature.
'We need winterised tents immediately to protect our families from further misery,' another survivor Akhtar Mohammad said, adding that there was no shortage of food and other items but people were not getting winterised tents as needed.
Children are falling ill due to the severely chilly weather and the number of such children is increasing with every passing day.
'Countless children suffering from throat infection and chest congestion are arriving in the field hospitals every day for treatment,' a lady doctor visiting the earthquake-hit areas said. She said the freezing weather is threatening the health of children and women in the affected areas. However, the heath department denied that an epidemic was spreading in the affected areas and said that four lady doctors and physiologists were visiting those areas on a daily basis and providing medical treatment to the women and children.
However, official sources said that the provincial government and aid agencies were sending winterised tents and other relief goods for the earthquake survivors. They said the provincial government and the International Committee for the Red Cross have so far sent 2800 winterised tents in the worst-affected earthquake areas of Ziarat district while Muslim Hands dispatched some 800 shelter houses for the survivors. ICRC was also sending 2000 more winterised tents for the affected areas.
'We are making all out efforts to arrange winterised tents and shelter homes for the quake-hit areas to save the lives of quake survivors,' a senior official of the provincial government told, adding that Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani has appealed to the federal and provincial governments, aid agencies and other organisations to send maximum number of winterised tents to protect earthquake survivors from the severe cold weather.
Fourteen teams comprising the Army, FC, officials of Revenue department and the local administration have completed the losses's survey in almost half of the quake-struck areas of Ziarat and Pishin districts.
According to official sources 75 per cent survey of 120 villages of the five union councils of Pishin and 49 villages out of 92 villages of four union councils of Ziarat districts had been completed.
They said the public heath engineering department has installed water filtration plants at five places in the affected areas to provide clean water to the people.

Karachi an Atmospheric Brown Cloud hotspot

A view of the main commercial district of Karachi is seen engulfed in smog February 22, 2008

Karachi and twelve other mega-cities of Asia has been declared as Atmospheric Brown Cloud (ABC) ‘hotspots’ by the UN environment agency as soot levels in these cities comprise ten per cent of the total mass of all man-made particles.
A three-kilometer-thick ‘brown cloud’ of man-made pollution, which stretches from the Arabian Peninsula to China to the western Pacific Ocean, is making Asian cities darker, speeding up the melting of Himalayan glaciers and impacting human health, says the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in a regional assessment report with focus on Asia.
The report on ‘Atmospheric Brown Clouds’ released on Thursday states over the Asian hotspots, the annual natural plus anthropogenic (AOD) exceeds 0.3 and the absorption optical depth is about 10 per cent of the AOD, indicative of the presence of strong absorbing soot accounting for about 10 per cent of the amount of aerosols.
The annual mean surface dimming and atmospheric solar heating by ABCs over some of the hotspots range from 10 to 25 per cent, such as in Karachi, Beijing, Shanghai and New Delhi, says the report.
In addition to Karachi, the UNEP’s new publication points out Bangkok, Beijing, Cairo, Dhaka, Kolkata, Lagos, Mumbai, New Delhi, Seoul, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Tehran as being ABC ‘hotspots’.
Atmospheric Brown Clouds (ABCs), resulting from the burning of fossil fuels and biomass, has resulted in the formation of particles such as black carbon and soot which absorb sunlight and heat the air, experts write in the study released today in Beijing.
The clouds also ‘mask’ the actual warming impact of climate change by anywhere between 20 and 80 per cent because they include sulfates and other chemicals which reflect sunlight and cool the surface.
The artificial lowering of temperature by ABCs is leading to sharp shifts in weather patterns, causing significant drying in northern China while increasing the risk of flooding in the Asian nation’s south. Monsoon precipitation over India and South-East Asia has dropped up to 7 per cent since the 1950s, with the summer monsoon both weakening and shrinking.
Meanwhile, the health and food security of 3 billion people in Asia are threatened by ABCs, which impacts air quality and agriculture.
The solar heating of the atmosphere by ABCs is ‘suggested to be as important as greenhouse gas warming in accounting for the anomalously large warming trend observed in the elevated regions’ such as the Himalayan-Tibetan region, the study says, leading to the retreat of glaciers.
The acceleration of the retreat of the Hindu Kush-Himalayan-Tibetan (HKHT) glaciers since the 1970s, in conjunction with the decrease in the summer monsoon rainfall in the Indo-Gangetic Plain region, is a major environmental problem facing Asia, threatening both the water and the food security of South and East Asia. Glaciers and snow packs provide the head-waters for Asia’s major river systems, including the Indus, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, the Mekong and the Yangtze.
If the current rate of retreat continues unabated, these glaciers and snow packs are expected to shrink by as much as 75 per cent before the year 2050, posing grave danger to the region’s water security. This potential threat should be viewed in the context of the low per-capita water availability in South and East Asia, around 2000 - 3000 m3/cap/year, far less than the world average of 8549 m3/cap/year, the report says. The most serious health impacts of particles associated with the ABC include cardiovascular and pulmonary effects leading to chronic respiratory problems, hospital admissions and deaths. The clouds contain toxic aerosols, carcinogens and other harmful particles. Review of the available evidence indicates that there are likely to be very significant public health impacts from the ABC.
While the effects of the clouds on food production and farmers’ livelihood could be immense, more research must be done to determine their precise role, it acknowledges, adding that the possible impact of ABCs could include elevated levels of ground-level ozone, which could result in massive crop losses of up to 40 per cent in Asia.
Concern for a worsening situation in the future is highlighted by projections which suggest that the annual surface mean ozone concentrations in parts of South Asia will grow faster than anywhere else in the world and exceed 50 ppb by 2030.
Another important characteristic of ABC forcing in Asia is that it introduces large north-south asymmetries in the forcing and large land-sea contrasts. Since these are the driving forces for the monsoonal climate, ABCs have become major forcing terms for regional temperatures, circulation and precipitation.
There currently exist only a few unevenly distributed ozone monitoring sites across the whole of Asia, making it difficult to obtain a true picture of the current Asian ozone climate and how this varies by geographical characteristics
Global ozone projections suggest that some of the largest increases in ozone concentration will occur in South and Southeast Asia from now until 2030. Such projections would see South Asia becoming the most ozone polluted region in the world, with annual surface mean concentrations reaching 52.2 ppb (parts per billion).

Pakistan's Cost of War on Terror reaches new heights

Pakistan’s estimated cost of war on terror has edged up to Rs678 billion in 2008-09 up 40 per cent from Rs484 billion spent over last year immensely impacting the socio-economic costs of the country.
As a result of being a partner in the international counter terrorism campaign, Pakistan is currently facing major challenges including growing fiscal and current account deficits; rising inflation; growth deterioration; and depleting foreign exchange reserves, revealed the draft Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) – II of the finance ministry.
The estimated costs include both direct (actually spent) and indirect-- on account of loss of exports, foreign investment, privatization, industrial output, tax collection, etc being a frontline state in the war on terror.
Statistics released by finance ministry showed that the expected direct cost due to war on terror would reach Rs114.03 billion in the year 2008-09 from Rs108.527 billion last year. While the indirect cost would edge up to Rs563.760 during the year under review against Rs484.367 billion last year.
According to the report, the anti-terrorist campaign, which began as a result of the unfortunate 9/11 event in the United States in 2001, over-strained Pakistan’s budget as allocation for law enforcement agencies had to be increased significantly, which meant erosion of resources for development projects all over Pakistan, particularly in FATA and nearby NWFP areas in addition to human sufferings and resettlement costs.
Several development projects, started earlier in the affected areas are afflicted with delays, which may ultimately result in large cost over-runs. Since the start of the anti-terrorism campaign, an overall sense of uncertainty has prevailed in the country, which has contributed to capital flight, as well as, slowed down domestic economic activity making foreign investors jittery.
It is apprehended that Foreign Direct Investment, which witnessed a steep rise over the past several years may be adversely affected by the on-going anti-terrorism campaign in FATA and other areas of NWFP.
Pakistan’s participation in the international campaign has led to an excessive increase in the country’s credit risk, which has in turn made borrowing from the market extremely expensive. Pakistan’s sovereign bonds have under-performed due to increased law and order concerns amongst other reasons including domestic political and economic instability. Besides this, the report said Pakistan’s participation in the anti-terrorism campaign has also led to massive unemployment in the affected regions. Frequent bombings, worsening law and order situation and displacement of the local population have taken a toll on the socio-economic fabric of the country.

UNFPA Reveals that......

UNITED NATIONS, New York, 12 November 2008—Development strategies that are sensitive to cultural values can reduce harmful practices against women and promote human rights, including gender equality and women’s empowerment, affirms The State of World Population 2008 report from UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. Reaching Common Ground: Culture, Gender and Human Rights, launched 12 November 2008, reports that culture is a central component of successful development of poor countries, and must be integrated into development policy and programming. The report, which coincides with this year’s 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is based on the concept that the international human rights framework has universal validity. Human rights express values common to all cultures and protect groups as well as individuals. The report endorses culturally sensitive approaches to development and to the promotion of human rights, in general, and women’s rights, in particular. “Human rights are everybody’s work, and being culturally sensitive and understanding the context is everybody’s business,” said Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of UNFPA. Culturally sensitive approaches call for cultural fluency—familiarity with how cultures work, and how to work with them. The report suggests that partnerships—between UNFPA and community-based institutions and leaders, for example—can create effective strategies to promote human rights and end their abuses, such as female genital mutilation or cutting. Culturally sensitive approaches seek out creative solutions produced within cultures, and work with them. “Communities have to look at their cultural values and practices and determine whether they impede or promote the realization of human rights. Then, they can build on the positive and change the negative,” said Ms. Obaid. The State of World Population cautions that cultural sensitivity and engagement do not mean acceptance of harmful traditional practices, or a free pass for human rights abuses – far from it. Values and practices that infringe human rights can be found in all cultures. Understanding cultural realities can reveal the most effective ways to challenge these harmful cultural practices and strengthen beneficial ones. Despite many declarations and affirmations in support of women’s rights, the report argues, gender inequality is widespread and deep-rooted in many cultures. Coercive power relations underlie practices such as child marriage—a leading cause of obstetric fistula and maternal death—and female genital mutilation or cutting. These and other harmful practices continue in many countries despite laws against them. Women may even support them, believing that they protect their children and themselves. The UNFPA approach encourages change from within, says the report. The Fund works with governments and a variety of local organizations and individuals through a “culture lens”. “There are people within every culture who oppose harmful cultural practices. Our experience shows that we can work closely with them for cultural change to protect human rights,” said Ms. Obaid. The report emphasises the importance of a culturally sensitive approach not only to development, but also to humanitarian response. It stresses that humanitarian assistance in conflicts must protect whatever progress women have made towards gender equality, including reproductive health and rights. Describing women as victims and men as aggressors ignores cultural realities and the variety of responsibilities that women take in wartime as heads of household, breadwinners, caregivers and combatants. Culturally sensitive approaches are essential for reaching the Millennium Development Goals, says the report, including Goal 5: to improve maternal health. “To be healthy throughout the life cycle – before pregnancy, during pregnancy and after pregnancy – is a human right,” said Ms. Obaid. The report concludes that analysing people’s choices in their local conditions and cultural contexts is a precondition for better development policies. “Cultures change, for better or worse, in good times and bad. The report is about promoting human rights in all circumstances,” said Ms. Obaid. “Culture is not a wall to tear down. It is a window to see through, a door to open to make greater progress for human rights.”

UN Regional Information Centre for Western Europe Press release

Pakistan ranks 127 out of 130 countries in gender gap

Pakistan has ranked abysmally on the global gender report, showing huge socio-economic gaps

According to Global Gender Gap report 2008 released by the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, Pakistan ranked 127 out of 130 countries in this year's Global Gender Gap rankings.
The Global Gap Report 2008 (GGGR), published each year by the World Economic Forum, said that the social and economic empowerment of women was still very low and they were still struggling for their livelihood and survival.
The report provides a comprehensive framework for assessing and comparing global gender gaps since the 1992 report. It ranks countries according to gender equality rather than women empowerment.
The report has fourteen gender gap indices. These include economic participation and opportunity available to women, educational attainment, health and survival as well as political empowerment. Pakistan has ranked poorly in almost all categories. However it has fared well in empowering women politically as it ranks 50th out of 130 countries.
Norway leads the world in closing the gender gap followed by Finland, Sweden and Iceland. Germany (11), United Kingdom (13) and Spain (17) slipped down the ranking, but remained in the top 20 slot. Many countries like Netherlands (9), Latvia (10), Sri Lanka (12) and France made significant gains.
The report identifies gaps in most socio-economic areas of the country. Pakistan ranks 117th in both women's literacy rate and workforce population. In life expectancy it ranked 115th. In enrollment for primary education the country ranked 110th. In wage equality for similar work Pakistan ranked 60th, while in years for a female head of state it ranked at number 5.

Counting the poor

A NEW World Bank report makes grim reading for Pakistan: the pre-existing high levels of malnutrition have combined with high inflation to drive up the number of the poor. Unsurprising for anyone following the news recently, the real problem is what lies ahead.
The first step to improve the plight of Pakistan’s poor is to produce accurate, up-to-date and credible data on the country’s poor — a failure of all previous administrations. Even today the battle over the number of poor continues. A local newspaper has reported that a tussle between the Planning Commission (which has put the incidence of poverty at 35 per cent) and the finance ministry (which claims an incidence of poverty of 22.3 per cent) has jeopardised $500m of World Bank funding. Without consistent data on poverty there is little chance that any anti-poverty policy will succeed.
The second step is politically even more difficult: acknowledging that Pakistan is a poor country and has limited resources to help its poor. Given this reality the government must be extra vigilant in ensuring that the quantum of resources set aside for the poor are used as efficiently as possible. As blanket subsidies have fallen out of favour and targeted subsidies (such as the Benazir Income Support Programme) are ramped up the government must work to ensure the new programmes deliver transparent, politically blind aid to the poor. Under the old system, general subsidies came under fire for being over-inclusive: whether rich or poor you could purchase wheat flour, petroleum products, electricity and fertiliser at the same price as anyone else. Under the new system of targeted subsidies, the purchasing power of only those deemed to be poor will be increased. While the new system is theoretically preferable it is only good for those inside the net of such social protection schemes — the poor outside the net will inarguably be worse off. So the government must be vigilant to not create a new class division among the poor: the politically ‘correct’ poor and the politically ‘incorrect’ poor as decided by the government of the day.
Finally, poverty will remain a problem in Pakistan as long as the long-term macroeconomic policies continue to produce poverty. Against the near-unanimous opinion of local economists, the previous government embarked on a consumption-led growth spurt financed by inflows of money from abroad — an approach that left the country perilously exposed. Agriculture, which employs more than 40 per cent of the labour force, and manufacturing sectors that could take advantage of Pakistan’s low-skilled labour force were left to stagnate as the services sector was fawned over. A more cautious, thoughtful process of development is needed. In every crisis is an opportunity: the present government could build a lasting legacy if it opts for major economic surgery rather than the oft-used band-aids of the past.

Poverty increases to new heights in the year 2008-09

Poor people reach to get free food in Karachi, Pakistan on Monday, Oct. 27, 2008. Pakistan's political and security problems are deterring foreign investment and exacerbating the country's economic problems

The economic stabilization programme of the government is expected to send approximately 8 to 10 million more households below the poverty line with addition of 1 million to the number of unemployed in 2008-09.
A panel of Pakistan’s top economists in a report entitled ‘Economic Stabilisation with a Human Face’, said that poverty incidence increases, mainly due to high inflation and higher food prices in past years.
‘If we add the inflation and unemployment effects together, the preliminary estimate indicates an addition of 6 percentage points to poverty incidence since 2004-05’, the economists said.
Using either 2004-05 or 2005-06 poverty figures based on the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM), preliminary estimates are that roughly 15 million additional individual fell below the poverty line up to 2008-09.
This means approximately 8 to 10 million additional households below the poverty line in 2008-09. Increase in poverty headcount as a result of high inflation is expected to have increased faster since January 2008.
The economists said poverty incidence is expected to increase by 2.7 percent points in 2008-09 and by 2.0 per cent points in 2009-10. It is estimated from Integrated Social Policy and Macroeconomic Model (ISPMM) that poverty increased by 3.5 per cent points in 2007-08, due particularly to the explosion in food prices.
Therefore, by the end of the two-year stabilization programme the incidence of poverty in the country may have risen significantly, they added.
Unemployment increases to 6.5 percent in 2008-09 (from 5.3 percent in 2006-07) adding 1 million to the number of unemployed. However, employment is expected to grow cumulatively by about 3 percent over the two year period.
The labor force will expand by almost 3.3 per cent per annum. Consequently, the number of unemployed is projected to increase by about 1.8 million by 2009-10. This will imply an increase in the unemployment rate by over one-thirds.
The impact of the stabilization programme has been simulated with the help of an abridged version of the large, econometric ISPMM developed by the Social Policy and Development Centre (SPDC), Karachi.
The economists are of the opinion, the process of adjustment in the face of very large and unsustainable macroeconomic imbalances do impose high social costs, especially in terms of rising poverty and unemployment. But, as emphasized in the counter-factual scenario, when no significant attempt is made to stabilize the economy, the outcome could be much worse. Additionally, the stabilization programme will have to include a strong component of social safety nets to mitigate against the rise in unemployment and poverty.
The economists said it is essential that the highest priority for protection be afforded to the most vulnerable segments of the household economy where uncertainty can lead to irreversible damage – in the shape of high morbidity and mortality, decline in the nutritional status of children and women, and withdrawal from school.
The program announced by the government-Benazir Income Support and the Punjab Food Support program- cover about 5 million households. The programme will have to increase from Rs56 billion to about Rs84 billion to mitigate the impact of the stabilization programme and reduce the number of people below the poverty line.
In addition there is an urgent need to tackle the rise in unemployment. The proposal is to start employment intensive public work programs initially in districts with high poverty levels. Given resource constraints these need to be made part of the existing People Works Program in an operational way on which Rs28 billion have already been allocated.
The government may need to allocate initially around Rs10 billion from the PSDP for a national employment guarantee programs in poor districts at a wage below the market wage so as to target the poor.
Pilot school nutritional support programs can be initiated in districts/regions identified as being vulnerable to nutritional shock. This will require an adding Rs500 million, up from Rs100 million already allocated in the budget.
Incentives of microfinance and housing finance credit line, by commercial banks through a special tax credit on the quantum of annual lending. There is need on an urgent basis to build-up a National Social Policy Platform that must be used to implement targeted social protection measures.

Every sixth child in IDP camps is malnourished

More than 15 per cent of the children, living in the camps set up by the government for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) of Bajaur tribal region, are suffering from malnutrition.
According to a preliminary report of a survey by the United Nations (UN), prevalence of the global acute malnutrition in children was up to 15 per cent in the Kacha Garhi camp.
This was revealed during a meeting of the donor organisations held at the provincial directorate of health. It discussed the health situation of the IDPs in 10 camps in different districts of the NWFP with special focus on the nutritional status of children and women.
According to initial screenings, the situation in other camps might be worst than the Kacha Garhi camp. The situation in others areas including camps in Lower Dir, Mardan, Charsadda and Nowshera might be worst as they were transitional camps and lacked basic facilities, they added.
Nutrition training on the Community Based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) had already been completed in the Kacha Garhi camp and 10 persons, including lady health visitors, social organisers, field monitors, health management information system coordinators, data entry operators besides trained birth attendants had started screening of children between 6 to 9 months of age.
Besides screening of pregnant and lactating women for assessment of malnutrition prevalence was also being carried out.To make the exercise result-oriented, the Health Department staff had undertaken registration of moderate and severely malnourished children as part of supplementary feeding programme and therapeutic feeding programme respectively.
Apart from this, nutritional education regarding preparation and administration of the supplementary and therapeutic foods would be provided to the dwellers of the camps.
After completion of the survey, breast-feeding corners would be established to promote exclusive breast-feeding up to six months of age in order to encourage mothers for breast-feeding of their children. The meeting, which took exception to non-participation of the representatives of the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UNHCR, requested the department of health and health cluster members to coordinate with nutrition programme in the camps.
There were 4,504 families or 31,154 persons residing in the IDPs camps while 6,441 families consisting of 67,766 IDPs lived with friends and relatives. So far, only one child had born in the Kacha Garhi camp, whereas three deaths had occurred: one in Kacha Garhi and two in other camps.
The already established tents would be covered with sheets to protect the IDPs. It was informed that the establishment of new camps at the Jallozai had been delayed due to refusal by the University of Engineering and Technology to spare their land and currently it had been planned over 1,600 kanals of land there. The land would be levelled to house an estimated 3,000 families there with water and sanitation facilities.
In the wake of the law and order situation, specially in the Kacha Garhi and the proposed Jallozai camps, the provincial police officer, had been asked by the governor to provide security to the people.

Indian police summon 110 youth in Occupied Kashmir

Indian police have summoned 110 youth to police stations in Islamabad township for their participation in pro-liberation marches in occupied Kashmir according to the APP.
A top police officer said that police have prepared list of 110 youth of different localities of the township and have summoned them and their fathers to police stations, KMS reported.
A youth, who participated in demonstrations at Islamabad on last Friday, told newsmen that some policemen visited his residence on Sunday morning and asked him to come to Sadder Police Station along with his father. He said policemen told him that he was being summoned for participating in demonstrations.
A youth of Mehman Mohalla, said that two policemen visited his house few days back and directed him to be present in the police station along with his father. He said when he visited the police station he was subjected to severe questioning there, adding, 'It is not for the first time that police have been harassing the youth for participating in freedom marches.'
The parents of some of the youth said that police officials had warned them that in case their wards participated in the demonstration again, they would be booked under the infamous Public Safety Act (PSA).
Terming the act of police as an attempt to muzzle the voice, Mirwaiz of South Kashmir, Qazi Yasir said, 'After failing to stop the youth from participating pro-freedom protests, they have resorted to harassing and torturing them and their family members.' These acts won't deter them from participating in freedom marches, he said.

Captive Humanity

Some say we live in liberated times. But Pakistan’s hinterland harbours myriad tales of captivity. However, a recent step in the right direction promises changing fortunes for beleaguered hundreds: a sessions and an additional district judge in Hyderabad released a total of 124 brick kiln workers on Saturday 8th November 2008. These were produced by the police under court orders and were some of many claims registered against kiln owners, accusing them of keeping workers in bondage. This occurred shortly after the Supreme Court issued a last opportunity to the federal government and other respondents to contest appeals against a Sindh High Court order that dismissed 94 petitions of detention of bonded farm workers in Sindh. The appeals date as far back as 2002 and were moved by two petitioners, Dongar Bheel and Kanji Bheel and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
Despite the promulgation of laws and attempts by successive governments to initiate labour reforms, it is tragic that lives continue to reek of the brutality that plagued a scheduled caste labourer — the famous case of Mannu Bheel that evoked international ire. Mannu had taken an advance sum of money from Rind, a zamindar, who not only refused to pay his wages but also sold a number of Mannu’s family members to another landlord. Regrettably, the vicious cycle spins on: Dongar also alleges that 18 of his kin were held in bondage and 12 relatives in Kanji’s case were held as bonded workers.
This scourge of slavery persists despite the fact that the Constitution of Pakistan ordains ‘…the state shall ensure the elimination of all forms of exploitation and the gradual fulfilment of the fundamental principle, from each according to his ability, to each according to his work’. Pakistan is also a signatory to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, and the ILO Declaration of Fundamental Principals and Rights at Work; both treaties pledge freedom to choose employment and an amenable work environment. Captive labourers are also a direct violation of the country’s indigenous Bonded Labour System Abolition Act, 1992, adopted following an ILO warning of censure. Sadly, ideals often collide with reality. Doctrines of ethics may shine on paper but have a long journey before they can make inroads into feudal-run, impoverished backwaters of Pakistan. This is a collective human tragedy spun by poverty and illiteracy and these areas can only be tackled if easy loans are available to haris to ward off the curse of debt bondage. There has been repeated emphasis by NGOs on the monitoring of kilns and other work units, where a majority of these excesses take place and police patronage to influentials must also be eliminated. However, the abolishment of the feudal system and land reforms remain the ultimate lights at the end of a long, dark tunnel.

Extreme Poverty has increased....

Phenomenal rise in food prices between 2005 and 2007 has increased “extreme poverty” in South Asia, East Asia and the Middle East by one percentage point, a setback equivalent to the progress made by countries in regions over the past seven years in meeting the poverty-related Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of the United Nations.

The impact on the urban poor was particularly acute, increasing the incidence of poverty by more than 1.5 percentage points in these regions and also in Sub-Saharan Africa, this was reported by a report published by World Bank titled “global financial crisis and challenge for the developing countries”.

It says that despite recent declines in global food and fuel prices, countries with high pre-existing levels of malnutrition and “double-digit” food inflation are the worst victims. Pakistan is in the list of countries with double-digit food inflation and high level of malnutrition.

For the very poor, reducing consumption from already very low levels, even for a short period, can have important long-term consequences. The poorest households may have had to reduce the quantity and/or quality of food, schooling, and basic services they consumed, leading to irreparable damage to health and education of millions of children.

Poor households forced to switch over to cheaper and less nutritional foodstuff, or cut back on total caloric intake, face weight loss and severe malnutrition. “Already during 2008, higher food prices may have increased the number of children suffering permanent cognitive and physical injury due to malnutrition by 44 million in developing countries,” the report observes.

As a result of the food and fuel crises, the number of extremely poor was estimated to have increased by at least 100 million in developing countries.

The poverty deficit (the annual cost of lifting the incomes of all of the poor to the poverty line) rose by $38 billion or 0.5 per cent of developing country Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the report says.

The increase in the number of poor because of the food crisis, it says, is only part of the story. Equally worrisome is the fact that many of those already poor are slipping even more deeply into poverty.

Recent estimates of poverty depth (i.e., the gap in consumption between the average poor household and the poverty line) show that poverty is deepening, with the extreme poor being hit the hardest.

Eighty-eight per cent of the increase in urban poverty depth from rising food prices is from poor households becoming poorer and only 12 per cent from households falling into poverty.

The report says that financial conditions have become much tighter, capital flows to developing countries have dried up, and huge amounts of capital have been withdrawn, leading to sharp falls in equity valuations and increases in bond spreads. As of mid-October, developing country equity markets had given up almost all of their gains since the beginning of 2008 and initial public offerings had disappeared. Spreads on sovereign bonds and commercial debt, which until recently was the most important source of developing-country finance, have risen sharply.

Bank lending is also down and foreign direct investment inflows are expected to decline in the final quarter of the year.

The report notes that investment was the main driving force for developing-country growth over the past five years, contributing almost half of the increase in domestic demand.

Nation Vs Politician - The Real Story....

Pakistan is one of the leading country of the world in terms of Number of Cabinet Members, currently we have 55 Ministers for different government portfolis, but intrestingly we are moving downwards in poverty list. The Nation will pay 60 Million per minister for them to run their office for one year.............amazing, hard to believe........
But the Nation is suffering................not easy to disscuss........The picture will tell you something to believe................as poverty, extremism, security lapses, injustice.........are the order of the Day....

Street Justice: People gather near a burnt passenger bus which was set on fire by a mob after a traffic accident at Khyber Bazaar Chowk in Peshawar

A Girl is counting his money at the end of the day in Federal Capital for selling plastic bag.

Another day, another attack: Paramilitary soldiers and local people look at a crater caused by last night's suicide attack near a police compound building in Mingora in troubled district of Swat on Friday

As they lost their home......

Leftovers? People from the Bajaur tribal region wait to buy bread next to the Katcha Garhi camp in Peshawar, Pakistan
Searching eyes: A girl from the Bajaur tribal region waits to buy bread next to the Katcha Garhi camp in Peshawar, Pakistan


Surreal Reality: People from the Bajaur tribal region are seen at the Katcha Garhi camp in Peshawar, Pakistan

Abandoned? A boy from the Bajaur tribal region sits at the Katcha Garhi camp in Peshawar on Thursday.

Nearly 200,000 people have fled the fighting in Bajaur regency to camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan. A bomb exploded amid a gathering of anti-militant Pakistani tribesmen Thursday, killing eight and wounding 45 in a northwest region where the military has clashed with insurgents for months.

Relief work at IDP Camps lagging

Refugees affected by military operations in Bajaur trying to get back to a normal life still live with limited facilities and in harsh conditions despite promises by officials of their situation improving soon.

Lack of coordination between the government and donor agencies was hampering relief activities at the camps set up for the internally displaced persons of Bajaur tribal region. The inside story compiled from personal obervation and news items of different Newspapers are as follwoing;

The Relief Coordination Committee for the internally displaced persons (IDPs), notified by the chief secretary NWFP, includes secretaries of education, health, local government and other departments but most of them either don’t attend its meetings or send their subordinates to represent them, which clearly indicate their level of interest in the issue.
The ninth meeting of the committee last Monday, with provincial relief commissioner in the chair, was no exception as administrative secretaries didn’t attend it. Lack of interest by top officials in the deliberations of the committee has been delaying the urgent tasks about providing relief to IDPs.
The committee could not get land near Jalozai camp where all IDPs from all the camps except Kacha Garhi would be shifted. They desperately needed the land for the camp at Jallozai because camps in Mardan, Dir, Charsadda and Risalpur were temporary arrangements and didn’t have the facilities.
‘This needs prompt action by the government. We cannot take lead role. We can provide only technical and financial support. The government departments are required to sign an agreement with the land owner in Jalozai to pave the way for the establishment of the camp,’ said a representative of an international relief body while interview with me. According to him, the health department was also not willing to assume its leadership role in provision of healthcare facilities to the camps’ inmates.
The apathy of health department could be judged from the story of a pregnant woman, who was taken to Hayatabad Medical Complex last week. During her labour pain, the doctors told her that she didn’t need hospitalisation because she was still to wait for a few days to deliver a baby.
‘She was sent back to Kacha Garhi camp where she delivered a baby at midnight. Luckily, there was no complication,’ said another official of a relief organisation.
A few weeks ago, an elderly woman from the same camp died when she was refused admission in the same hospital, he said and added that provincial government remained unmoved despite verbal complaints.
According to the structure of the committee, Wapda and police officials were also required to attend the meeting regularly and pursue problems of IDPs. Most of the junior officers who attended the meetings pretended to be not in the know of the proceedings or not authorised to take this or that action.
The relief commissioner had asked all the departments to send authorised officers to the meetings who could make decisions on the spot and avoid unnecessary delays but the situation was yet to show any signs of improvement.
A few days ago, the Governor NWFP also asked the members of coordination committee to expedite work and provide more facilities to the camps’ dwellers but his directives also fell on deaf ears.

Quake victims yet to receive winterised tents

Beating the cold with inadequate blankets

Children warm themselvs with fire at the foothills of Ziarat

The Earthquake affectees in Balochistan are freezing with cold as no facility has been provided by the Government to the survivals, the news items appears in different leading newspapers reveals that;

Thousands of quake-affected people in Balochistan are still waiting for winterised tents with temperatures dropping below freezing point at nights and threat of snowstorms looming large.
Talking to Dawn Newspaper, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Gen Farooq Ahmad Khan conceded that no winterised tents had so far been sent to the affected areas.
‘We have tried to compensate it by sending a huge quantity of blankets and getting the gas connections restored on a war footing,’ he said. He said 143 gas connections were yet to be restored. Gen Farooq said some friendly countries had been asked to send winterised tents.
Meanwhile the government has decided to provide an amount of Rs25,000 and 15 CGI sheets to each family in Balochistan’s quake-hit areas for reconstruction of mud-houses because tents would not protect people from the snowstorm likely to hit the area in a few weeks.
Taking notice of reports about delay in providing relief goods to the quake-hit people, the prime minister directed the authorities concerned to gear up relief and rehabilitation efforts.
He said there should be no shortage of foodstuff in the areas.
Turkey has agreed to provide pre-fabricated houses and the first consignment of 10 containers with 120 units will arrive soon.
According to latest estimates, he said the quake had left 166 people dead and 347 injured. The number of people displaced by the calamity is around 7,000.
He said under a compensation package for the survivors corrugated sheets and cash grants would be given for rebuilding houses.
Facing complaints from the affected people, the local army commander has also stressed the need for providing winterised tents on an emergency basis.

Harassment at work Place

The announcement by the minister for women's development that the government is preparing to legislate to protect women at work through the 'Protection for Women from Harassment Act' is excellent news. The law will include a code of conduct regarding unacceptable practices at the workplace. While the code has already been adopted by some 300 private organizations, it is still not widely known and degrees of success in enforcing it have varied. A key reason for this is the attitudes that lie behind harassment. While the problem is encountered everywhere in the world, the fact that few employers in Pakistan are willing to act on complaints and few supervisors ready to treat women making them with sympathy, compounds the situation for many victims. This is despite the fact that the problem is immensely widespread, according to research by organizations campaigning against harassment. Women factory labourers are among the most vulnerable, but abuse takes place almost everywhere and at all levels, in forms that are both subtle and overt. The fact that few are ready to condemn it is one reason why it is so often unchecked. In the average workplace, the problem is often dismissed as trivial or unworthy of attention. Indeed it is only recently that victims have started speaking out about their experiences. The perception that women make complaints of harassment as a means to target colleagues or bosses is also widespread, although in reality it has been found by those investigating the problem that there are very few cases of this nature. Despite this evidence, the previous government had failed to pass legislation against sexual harassment on the basis that it could be 'misused' by women.The efforts of the current government in this respect are noteworthy. The legislation, backed by necessary changes in the penal code, will initially be enforced within formal organizations. There are plans to then extend it further, into informal sectors, including domestic employment, where it is frighteningly frequent. The law will be significant not only because it will offer a mechanism to tackle harassment and provide legal cover to women confronting it, but also because it will focus attention on the crime that has remained shrouded in shadows in our society, bringing it out into the open and helping to expose those guilty of such offences against women working for or with them. The law, as such, is one that is urgently needed. We must hope it can be introduced quickly and implemented efficiently.

Tackling the Quake Aftermath

THE scale of the Oct 29 earthquake in Balochistan is at once vast and limited. The affected areas are miles apart and, mercifully, very sparsely populated. But sheer facts are uncanny given the tragedy and of no consolation to those who have lost everything, including the irreplaceable nearest and dearest.The worst affected are a number of remote union councils in the neighbouring districts of Ziarat and Pishin which lie on the east and west respectively of the mountain range which was the epicentre; the two towns thankfully avoided damage. The government is still in the process of conducting a survey to determine the actual number of people affected, houses destroyed, casualties suffered, and estimating the funds needed for the rehabilitation of those affected.This will take more than its sweet time. Meanwhile, the victims of the quake desperately need the basic wherewithal to survive the aftermath, especially the fast-approaching winter. Night-time temperatures fall below freezing point already; daytime highs, combined with the wind-chill factor, barely cross 10 degrees Celsius under a clear sky. Tents provided to the survivors will not do for long. What the people need are concrete shelters, which can withstand the still-shaking earth under their feet. There have been over a thousand aftershocks of varying intensity since the big tremor.Another barely noted but perhaps more important aspect is the lingering trauma being suffered by the survivors. Many are at a loss to detail coherently what and who they have lost and how. For the men, who are occupied by the daily rigmarole of survival, a media obsessed with breaking news and getting views is making demands on their time and is adding to the survivors’ emotional toll.Women, many of them having sustained injuries, are also physically restrained and even less equipped to deal with the trying situation. The women have little to say even under normal circumstances and are arguably more burdened with both grief and the increased responsibility of caring for the many orphans they are now surrounded by.While the men have an outlet for their trauma — at least they can talk about their grief and losses to the many male volunteers who have swarmed the affected villages — there are no women volunteers, nor even paramedics on the spot to respond to the women’s medical or emotional concerns. Children too are equally neglected.The provincial government’s involvement in the practical relief effort is negligible as seen and ascertained by those visiting the worst-affected areas. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that the provincial government is conspicuous by its absence from the scene of the disaster. Ironic as it may sound, the Balochistan government spends hundreds of thousands of rupees per month on the upkeep of the largest-ever provincial cabinet, yet Ms Rubina Irfan, the provincial law minister who took the trouble of visiting some of the affected villages in Ziarat district last week, said that her government could not cope with the challenge at hand. She demanded that the federal government and aid agencies must come to the rescue of those so badly affected. This even before the provincial government has ordered an assessment of the damage done or documented the actual number of people who need rehabilitation.For now, there is no telling who is queuing up for relief goods at the many camps set up by donors and whether those queuing up are actually victims of the earthquake. However, those asking for help are largely impoverished people and genuinely need basics such as expensive wheat flour. Even if they haven’t lost their homes to the deadly quake, their daily sustenance and ability to provide a meal for their families in the approaching winter are genuine concerns.There are ample rations and tents to be given away which are being given to whoever comes asking for them. Some of the relief goods thus dispensed will invariably make their way back to the market. Tents are in high demand in Quetta. They are now selling for Rs2,000-6,500 a piece, up from Rs500-1,500.As for the victims of the tragedy, there seems to be unanimity of opinion that they should either be given enough cash to rebuild their lost homes or provision should be made on a war footing to get weather-proof concrete shelters in place for them before the fast-approaching winter sets in.Failing this, the aftermath of the quake could claim more lives than the original tragedy through the onset of disease.

Kings of Shreds and Patches

When beggars go out begging, they have the basic common sense to cake themselves in dirt and put on filthy, shredded clothes to assume a wretched look. A photograph on the front page of almost any newspaper on Oct 21 shows Zardari and Gilani meeting a delegation of the "Friends of Pakistan" consortium at Aiwan-e-Sadr in Islamabad. The table at which they are seated, in plush leather chairs, is lacquered walnut wood. The awe-striking Aiwan-e-Sadr, with its massive crystal chandeliers, exquisite marble floors, expensive rugs, silk covered walls, fine paintings, no doubt provided a breath-taking backdrop to this meeting. Is this any way to beg? Who in their right minds would want to offer handouts to beggars who live in such lavish, over-the-top luxury? From this brazen display of opulence, how could the donors possibly feel the sense of financial desperation in which the nation finds itself?Ah, but therein lies rub; it is the nation that is bearing the brunt of the financial crisis. Not the rulers, who live like kings. Do you think President Zardari even knows how many hours of load-shedding there is every day in some of the country's major urban centres? How can he be aware of such things unless the electricity goes off in Aiwan-e-Sadr too? At a time when people are committing suicide out of desperation or have to sell their children to make ends meet, the first step he reportedly took after taking oath was to order the refurbishment of the private living quarters in the Aiwan-e-Sadr, which he found to be "unliveable." One has to really stretch one's imagination to comprehend how any part of that palace can be unliveable. Useless foreign junkets that cost the nation millions of dollars succeeded only in making our prime minister a laughingstock in Washington and revealed the president's infatuation with Sarah Palin. As soon as they took over, many of the ministers and advisors went about refurbishing their official homes and offices, acquiring new official vehicles and patronising their cronies, costing the public exchequer billions of rupees. On the one hand the country is on the verge of default, and on the other, the new ministers are being inducted by the dozens in the already useless federal cabinet, to become a further burden on the exchequer. Because of their elegant simplicity, no wasteful expenditure and wise economic policies, China saves nearly one-third of its GDP, as a result of which the Chinese repeatedly have surplus budgets and their foreign exchange reserves have soared to several trillions dollars. They are now even talking about bailing out the world from the current economic crisis. On the other hand, when beggars try to pretend to be kings, it is no wonder that this People's Party government has achieved the mindboggling feat of more than doubling the national debt while depleting foreign exchange reserves from eight billion dollars to three billion within a span of seven months.Our rulers have been all over the world with their begging bowl, only to return empty-handed, which is not just a personal failure on their part but a national disgrace. In 1996 we had less than 350 million dollars remaining in our foreign exchange reserves. Yet the Chinese came to our rescue back then. The difference is that in 1996 Benazir Bhutto was prime minister, whom the Chinese felt they could trust, but in 2008 Zardari is president, whom they can not. The Zardari government has received the same cold shoulder from every country it has approached, including Saudi Arabia, which first declined to give us oil on deferred payment and then refused us fertilizer as well. It may be one thing to sneak into power, on a tidal wave of sympathy and emotions rather than on the basis of any personal achievement, but quite another to operate on the international plane without a modicum of credibility and stature. Mr Zardari can only hide behind Benazir's photograph so much. Sooner or later he has to stop pontificating about his assassinated wife's sacrifices and produce results on his own merit. Having failed to earn the confidence of world leaders in this hour of need, he has delivered the nation to the IMF which, like Shylock, will want its pound of flesh, plunging the country into further crisis.The fact is that the task of governance has proved to be well beyond the administrative and political skill of this People's Party government. They have already lost control and there is no one in their ranks with the ability to tackle the mountain of crises that looms over us. In his inaugural press conference, Zardari promised the nation that it would hear good news about Kashmir within a month. The promised "good news" came when he labelled the freedom fighters as terrorists. The in-camera joint session of Parliament was a futile joke, with only fifty or sixty members, mostly from the opposition benches, attending the sessions regularly, out of the about four hundred and fifty. But with that world renowned "expert" on strategic and security affairs, Sherry Rehman, conducting the briefing, who can blame them for not turning up? The National Assembly passed a unanimous resolution on Oct 22 recommending a phased withdrawal of the armed forces from the northern regions and the initiation of dialogue. This comes just a day after American assistant secretary of state Richard Boucher warned against any dialogue with the militants. We will have to wait and see whether parliamentary supremacy can stand in the face of Realpolitik. Already, in the wake of this resolution, we have seen the military operation and American bombing of the northern regions continue unabated. This is perhaps a continuation Zardari's declared policy of violating commitments because they are not ayats of the Holy Quran. So, then, what was the point of passing such a resolution? Jiyalas have wasted no time in setting up shop, even in Aiwan-e-Sadr, and the few jobs that are being given are being sold to the highest bidder. The Benazir Income Support Scheme is already a flop with all funds finding their way into the pockets of a handful of jiyalas in each district, as expected, rather than the public.Perhaps the crowning glory of this People's Party government came on Oct 22 when Sindh home minister Zulfikar Mirza held a press conference in the middle of the night. Seated beside him was one of the most notorious criminals in Sindh, Sultan Shah, who is wanted in numerous cases of murder, abduction and dacoity. It was revealed by Sindhi newspapers that Sultan Shah's "surrender" to the police was orchestrated by some high-ups within the People's Party with whom he has close affiliations. The home minister announced at the press conference that the Sindh government would pay all legal fees for Sultan Shah's defence and would also pay all other costs incurred by him and his family. Having withdrawn subsidies on oil and electricity, and thus make life miserable for everyone, this government seems to have taken it upon itself to protect, assist and rehabilitate notorious bandits and unleash them once again on the public after wiping their criminal slates clean.It never ceases to amaze me what appetite for punishment our nation has. Even in far less painful conditions than these, enlightened nations rise up and force change. The people of Georgia and Nepal sent their rulers packing in a heroic display of the irresistible power of the public's will. But the worse conditions get here, the more our people bow down. Our rulers find encouragement in this sad fact and see no reason not to continue in their crooked ways. Hordes of people clutching applications throng at the gates of the offices and residences of our rulers as a daily ritual, even though they are beaten, shoved and humiliated every day. One sees burqa-clad women sitting in the dirt under a blazing sun outside these gates with infants in their laps, hoping to receive government patronage. Imagine what might be achieved if these people were to throw away their useless applications which get them nowhere and get angry and decide to make a stand for what is rightfully theirs? The roar of a 170 million people would cause an earthquake. But the problem is that we have forgotten how to roar. The IMF may temporarily drag us, kicking and screaming, out of our current economic mess, but unless the people can learn to seize the day and be masters of their own destiny, the future holds no hope.

Syffering under our Proxy Imperialists

We are certainly overdosing on the US these days. As if their increased drone attacks against Pakistani civilians were not bad enough, we have had to suffer the excess of the Pakistani media's coverage of the US elections – which in the end will really not alter our fate vis a vis US policies and may make it worse. Now, in a most nauseating fashion, we have had to suffer Boucher once again and this time he has been accompanied by the new US Centcom commander, General Petreaus. We already know that the Zardari regime is in no mood to respect the parliamentary resolution demanding action against US attacks against our sovereignty, so what more can this hapless nation do for imperial US? Kill all our citizens who may have a resemblance to Taliban or may simply be guilty of living in the FATA region? This American duo's latest visit just before the US elections looks suspiciously like a visit aimed at providing a boost to McCain by some large scale attack which will unearth a big Al Qaeda or Taliban fish! Be that as it may, when will it become clear to our ruling elite that the US is a hostile, if not an enemy state? And simple issuing verbal warnings which continue to be ignored only undermine our ability to actually act on these warnings. So what can be done against the mighty US? Very simply, there is a small window of opportunity and the following actions can be taken: Suspending logistics supply route for NATO/US forces; leaving the trilateral commission, at least temporarily, given that our requests are never respected; reclaiming our bases from the US and removing US undercover and military personnel from Pakistan. In a worst case scenario, we could also think of some non-lethal military responses. And what more the US can do against us if we stand our ground? Well, politically they have already pushed our leaders into an IMF option that was certainly not the only option despite the surfeit of histrionic articles by retired IMF Gurkhas some of whom are also desperately seeking to re-access the Pakistani economic bureaucracy? At worse, the US can also send in ground troops accompanied by air attacks but given that they are presently in a state of transition such an expansion of their military operations in the region does not seem possible,. But if it did come to that, given how they are stretched, they would be entering a suicidal minefield because then the Pakistani military would have to be drawn in. We may fear such scenarios, but at the end of the day the US at present is not in a position to expand its military commitments especially against a state without whose support NATO would be suffocated in terms of logistics support. In fact, it is the incremental US destruction being waged on us that is more lethal for Pakistan. Given how Pakistanis are being killed to assuage US anger at 9/11, it is insufferable to have former US Secretary of State, Albright, refer to Pakistan as an "international migraine". Even if this was so, and we were to ignore the rogue state the US is fast becoming, what is the source of the migraine? The US itself. So, Ms Albright, when we rid ourselves of the cause for our "migraine", the healing will take place. Amid all this killing of our citizens by the US, I was sent an email by Saud Khan, which should distress all those who still believe in the goodness of the US people. He sent me a copy of a news release by Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas, some of which is blasphemous against the Prophet (PBUH) and cannot be cited here, but what can be cited is the following:"God Hates Pakistan. Thank God for killer earthquakes that visit Pakistan often: Last Wed.-160 dead;1935 – 30,000 dead; 2005 – 86,000 dead. WBC prays for many more dead. Yes. Pakistan is an evil and dangerous country and is a huge part of the World of Islam." Such is the humanity of the US Baptist Church! Interestingly the news release talks of Pakistan's killing of Christians but the Baptists seem to have turned a blind eye to the mass killings of Christians still going on in India!However, in the final analysis, we must take the blame for where we are – especially our elite and the rulers that come from within them. There is a total indifference to the plight of the state and the nation since simply leaving the country with their wealth is such a viable option for this class. They have enjoyed the privileges this country has offered them and then left with the wealth they made as a result of these privileges. When the country is in financial straits, none of them think of bringing back their foreign stashed wealth back for the salvation of this country. And when they rule, they rule through guile and hypocrisy with generous promises that come cheap and remain unfulfilled. The present set of rulers is no different. Cronyism is rife – from the Abraaj scam (and it is not just Zardari family connections that are involved; according to the Abraaj response given to The News there are names that link up to Shaukat Tareen also) at KESC, to all over the country in the form of advisers, assistants and so on. Special titles, special deals – with scant regard for even the most basic of qualifications! Perhaps the biggest slap in the face of the nation has been the 55-member cabinet – which will require a plethora of more assistants, staff and so on, all from the public exchequer – at a time of dire financial straits. To the further shame of the present government, the man who sought to justify the killing of Baloch women has also been given a ministerial slot. But then why not, given how there is no system or law that functions here. Look what happened to the doctors at the poly clinic only recently. And this is just one such story doing the rounds these days – just as other stories abounded in the previous regimes also.As for respecting the bounds of the law, look at the scandal of the Gilani offspring wedding at the presidency. Even if one were to forget the morality at stake in such an event, surely the brazen violation of the laws of the land cannot be so easily cast aside? I am referring to the use of official state property, but, most important, to the use of the president and the country's flags/emblems right behind the married couple's seating. Even according to the Blue Book of Protocol this is not permissible – but is anyone bothered? Of course, us ordinary citizens cannot fly the national flag on our residences or anywhere else – except on August 14 ( a rather silly restriction that needs to be done away with) – but how can the prime minister and the president allow private citizens to use official protocol and official flags for a private wedding function?With all these shenanigans of the ruling elite, it is no wonder we are continuing to cling to the hope the lawyers' movement still brings for justice to eventually reign strong and supreme in this land of ours. When we greeted the lawyers' rally at the Islamabad parade ground on Monday evening, we felt compelled to rejuvenate our hope even though the fervour of this summer's long march was not all there. But then I saw the determination of the missing persons' protestors still continuing to fight an uphill battle for justice. The group followed the lawyers' leaders, a little distance away, looking weary and, in contrast to the lawyers and other members of civil society, surrounded by a heavy silence. A small band of mothers, wives and relatives, they are still battling against all odds, especially since the democratic government has chosen to adopt a telling silence now that they are in power. I realised then that we, the citizens, have no choice but to keep our faith and hope in movements such as the lawyers' movement because in the end it is a strong and independent judiciary that will bring peace and resolution to these distressed Pakistanis as well as security to the nation as a whole. Otherwise we may as well resign ourselves to a life of subjugation and fear under our own breed of proxy imperialists. (Oh Gramsci, if you were only alive today!)

Upsized Cabinet

Pakistan is under serious threats from too many sides including War on Terrorism, Financial Crisis, Security Concerns at FATA......and much more to count but present Colation government of Pakistan Peoples Party are playing with the nation future by upsizing the cabinet without any solid reasons.......

The federal cabinet has now swollen to 55 members, following the induction of 40 new members. These include 22 federal ministers and 18 members of state. The demand for cabinet posts can be imagined by the fact that the MQM and the JUI-F stayed out of even this mammoth new body, apparently disgruntled by the failure to apportion them their portfolios of choice. Bitter wrangling for these spots is said to have repeatedly delayed the announcement of the new cabinet. Several PPP veterans have been included, alongside a large number of relatively younger party members. The key appointment in this regard is that of Makhdoom Amin Fahim as senior minister, with charge of commerce. With his acceptance of this post – the rift within the party seems to have been quite amicably patched over, even if the cabinet expansion has created potential new fault-lines with allies. The MQM and JUI-F leadership were conspicuous in their absence from the oath-taking of the new ministers and it is as yet unclear how this will impact on coalition politics in the future. Unexpectedly, the PML-Q 'forward bloc' also failed to gain a place, though the ANP, the PML-F, the BNP (Awami) and members from FATA have all been accommodated.

As the saying goes, bigger is not always better. We have yet to see how the new cabinet performs and whether it can prove itself as the streamlined central decision-making body that a cabinet is intended to be. While there are already question marks about talent within the body, at least one of the appointments is downright disquieting. Senator Israrullah Zehri, of the BNP (Awami), has been granted a slot as federal minister. He is the same man who vociferously defended as 'tradition' the live burial of women in his home province of Balochistan, when the issue was raised a few weeks ago in the Upper House. By rewarding him with a place in the cabinet, the PPP leadership has proven that its rhetoric about defending the rights of women is nothing more than a cosmetic stance. The appointment of Mr Zehri in fact suggests his views are condoned by the government leaders and that is an undiluted shame. The best thing of course would have been not to appoint such an individual to cabinet post, but now that the deed is done, one can only hope the move will meet with the opposition it deserves from both within and outside the party.

The upsizing of the cabinet, which had been expected for months, takes away from the prime minister and his team the excuse that they have been working with a skeleton set of ministers. The new inductees mean portfolios can be distributed evenly across the board. We must hope that this division in labour and the induction of a massive new force to perform the duties of government will lead to an improvement in performance. So far, there have been few real achievements. It is true the establishment of committees to look into issues such as reconciliation in Balochistan and a change in laws governing FATA are positive steps. So too is the stepped up assault on militancy with a full-fledged military operation underway in the tribal areas. But as far as issues closest to the heart of people go, there has been no sign of a new order. These issues include inflation, unemployment and the energy crisis. The financial crisis we face aggravates each of these issues. As we confront this turmoil, a sense of leadership and of direction is difficult to find. The primary task of the new cabinet must be to put its head together and plan for the future of the country and its hapless people, so that they can regain the trust and faith in government that is rather sadly lacking at the moment.

Legalised Corruption

Legalised corruption is economically and politically the most destructive trend that has developed in Pakistan over the years. This trend has led people in authority to rob the state of its valuable assets without fear of retribution. The modus operandi is to arm the head of government with discretionary powers. Armed with "discretionary powers," the head of government can override any rule and regulation to make the robbery legal. No question is ever asked, even when he is out of power. Pakistan would not have been begging from door to door if its assets had not been used by the leaders to oblige friends, relations and political cronies. Our elected representatives have never objected to this form of corruption because at some stage they also expect to benefit from it.

The army had always been considered above malpractices. Its chief was perceived a man of character and dignity. But the Gen Musharraf destroyed this image for the furtherance of his personal ambition. A COAS bribing politicians to win their support so he could perpetuate his rule was something which was unheard of. He did not bribe from his pocket but gave away precious military land to win over the JUI's support to retain his uniform. The total area thus given away came to 1,200 acres, all situated in Dera Ismail Khan. The revelation which appeared in The News on Nov 2 gives names of the beneficiaries, none of them a soldier or martyr.

Gen Musharraf has been very generous to his personal staff, at state expense. Before leaving the Presidency in ignominy, he allotted plots of land in Islamabad to his cook, barber, valet and masseur. So he exercised good judgment in resigning rather than face impeachment proceedings.

In recent days there were speculations that Gen Musharraf would enter politics to lead the "Q" League. Senate leader Mian Raza Rabbani announced in the Senate that if Musharraf wanted to enter politics he should be ready to answer for the constitutional and human rights crimes committed by him. Prime Minister Gilani said the same thing to a Turkish newspaper, but added that no action would be taken against Gen Musharraf if he stayed away from politics.

This is warped logic, and an entirely negative approach. If Gen Musharraf has committed crimes, which he has, then he should be tried whether or not he enters politics. His crimes are many, including subverting the Constitution, human rights violations (the missing persons), sending Pakistanis to Guantanamo Bay, getting head money for men wanted by the US; destroying the independence of the judiciary, and bribing the JUI.

Prime Minister Gilani's passion for national reconciliation is praiseworthy. Gen Musharraf is a beneficiary of the prime minister's national reconstruction efforts. "National reconciliation" was also a catchphrase of Gen Musharraf's. By national reconciliation he meant that every politician should fall in line to demonstrate his patriotism. However, Mr Gilani should not extend his reconciliation efforts to violators of the Constitution and of human rights. People are curious and confused because Senate leader Rabbani and Mr Gilani have both assured Gen Musharraf that no action will be taken against him if he does not join politics. Is the PPP government fearful that if the retired general – according to the prime minister a relic of the past – entered politics, he will be swept to power by popular will or through intrigue?

By the time you read this article, Barack Obama would have made history, as the first non-white to win the presidential election in the mightiest empire in the world. On Jan 20, 2009, Mr Obama will sit in the Oval Office in the White House, the most famous, prestigious and powerful office in the world. The whites have at last expatiated themselves for all the wrongs they have committed against their non-white population.

Mr Obama's latest statements on US foreign policy reveal that he is learning fast about our troubled region. He has recognised the important role of Pakistan in the fight against terrorism. He wants Pakistan to be fully focused on this issue. He said that to ensure Pakistan was not distracted by other regional problems the US should facilitate a better understanding between India and Pakistan and try to resolve the Kashmir crisis so that the two neighbours can stay focused on the situation with the militants.

Mr Obama also backed the efforts of the Bush administration to persuade Pakistan that the biggest threat to Pakistan now is not India which has been the historical enemy. "It is actually the militants within its own borders."

It is a candid statement showing better American understanding of the crucial issue of Kashmir. It is not that Kashmir will be his top priority when he takes over as president, but at least he now knows that this dispute is a great hindrance in Pakistan's fight against terrorism.