AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
Cover-up in the classroom
How can higher education institutions learn to protect students against sexual harassment?
AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
Feature
The talking cure A graphic designer is helping survivors of sexual abuse share their stories
Cover Story
Cover-up in the classroom How can higher education institutions learn to protect students against sexual harassment?
1815 Feature
A wonderful web
The journey from a high-powered corporate job to a solo venture online
Feature
Making ends meet Pakistan’s transgenders fight discrimination from the government and employers to find work
27 30
Feature
Picture perfect Meet the woman who helped Humans of New York discover Pakistan
33
Regulars
6 People & Parties: Out and about with beautiful people 36 Reviews: Movies 38 Framed: Indian pilgrims carry water from the Ganges to their homes
Magazine Incharge: Dilaira Dubash. Senior Subeditors: Sanam Maher and Ali Haider Habib. Subeditor: Komal Anwar Creative Team: Jamal Khurshid, Essa Malik, Mohsin Alam, Talha Ahmed Khan, Hira Fareed, Maryam Rashid, Eesha Azam and Sanober Ahmed Publisher: Bilal A Lakhani. Editor: Kamal Siddiqi For feedback and submissions: magazine@tribune.com.pk 4 Twitter: @ETribuneMag & Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ETribuneMag Printed: uniprint@unigraph.com
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Mrs Musarat Qamar and Kavish
Pheby Haroon
6 AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
Quratulain Qamar Choudry launches ‘KAIROS’at Koel Gallery in Karachi
Mr and Mrs Uzair Akram with their children
Zeeshan and Fateh
Maria
PHOTOS COURTESY PHEGENECY PR & EVENTS
Muniza
Zoha
Sana
PHOTOS COURTESY PHEGENECY PR & EVENTS
Zarmeen with her son
Nighat and Quratulain
Maryam, Ghazal and Shamail
7 AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
Munaaf and Sabeen
Sadaf Hamid
Ali, Murtaza, Aneela, Shazia and Fahad Hussain
8 AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
Naheed Shabbir
Private screening of Bajrangi Bhaijaan in Karachi
Behroz Sabazwari
PHOTOS COURTESY THOR
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Muzna Ibrahim
Faisal Naqvi
Saira Yousuf
Minhal Aly
Kanwal Nazar
PHOTOS COURTESY THOR
Rabab Masood
Natasia Khaled with her fiance
9 AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Anoushay and Uzma
PHOTOS COURTESY PHEGENCY PR & EVENTS
Nueplex hosts screening of Manto in Karachi
Rabab Hashim
Emraan Rajput and Ghana Ali
10 AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
Tipu Sharif
Amna Ilyas
PHOTOS COURTESY PHEGENCY PR & EVENTS
Ali Safina, Hira Tareen and Zara Tareen
Sami Khan
Farhat Kapadia
Sarwat Gillani and Fahad Mirza
Ushna Shah
Gohar Rasheed
Hina Bayat
11 AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
Collectibles hosts a meet and greet event in Karachi
Alizeh Gabol
Sadaf and Amir
Ramiz, Fakhr e alam and Mohsin
12 AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
Amina and Afshan
Ayecha Ahmed
Rubab
PHOTOS COURTESY WALNUT COMMUNICATIONS
PEOPLE & PARTIES
PHOTOS COURTESY WALNUT COMMUNICATIONS
Maira and Shanze
Fauzia Aman
Muzna Ibrahim
Antonio and Sadaf
Zainab Mohammad
Faiza Lakhani
Safana and Zarmina
13 AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
Ali Zafar, Ayesha Omar and Shahzad Sheikh
Cinestar Cinema hosts a premiere of Karachi Se Lahore in Lahore Anusheh Asad
Juggun Kazim
14 AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
Sadaf Zarrar
Shiraz Uppal
PHOTOS COURTESY JBNJAWS PRODUCTIONS
PEOPLE & PARTIES
The
Talking Cure Survivors share their stories in an effort to end the stigma of talking about sexual abuse BY HURMAT MAJID
DESIGN BY TALHA KHAN
On August 11, Hussain Khanwala village in Kasur district made headlines around the world as news broke of an abuse scandal on an unprecedented level in Pakistan. Four hundred videos of at least 280 children forced to perform sexual acts had been created and sold in the village since 2006. Since then, rights organisations and activists have urged for the removal of social taboos surrounding child sex abuse, encouraging survivors to talk about their experiences. One effort to help survivors
speak up is ‘Talk, Dammit’, an online project trying to give voice to those silenced into submission. The project’s Facebook page lets victims of abuse share their stories with others. The effort empowers the contributors as much as the readers and encourages them to break their silence and to speak up. “’Talk, Dammit!’ is a project where I talk to victims of child sexual abuse and bring forth their stories in bits and
pieces — anonymously and with their consent — for all of you to engage with in constructive dialogue around the issue,” explains the project’s creator Syed Faizan Raza Rizvi. The 22-year-old student and graphic designer asks people to share their story by messaging him via Facebook. In a very short period of time, the page has become a platform where people feel safe sharing their stories with the world. The comments under each post reveal that the prevalent attitude towards abuse may be shifting, as readers share words of comfort with each contributor. This show of support and care gives courage not only to the contributor but also to other survivors of sexual abuse who fear being exposed.
Speak up
Since the page was created earlier this month, more than 50 people have shared their stories on it. Even though most contributors choose to remain anonymous on this platform, 15 AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
FEATURE their desire to talk about their struggle is refreshing. Aamna*, a contributor on the page, explained the effects of abuse thus: “It made me a shy child, someone who hated being in the limelight and had zero self-confidence. It also made me fear every person I came across. My studies took a toll as well.” Amna says that the ‘Talk, Dammit’ page was the first place where she had ever shared her story with others. “I’d already seen my friends make rape jokes and judge cases of abuse seen in the news,” she says, explaining why she told her story. “I didn’t want that kind of judgment.” Sarah*, another contributor on the page talked about the feeling of liberation that sharing her story gave her, saying, “When I wrote it down on paper, it felt somewhat tangible, like a tangled wire. It felt as if it was something I could actually solve and untangle. I know, I won’t be able to get over it completely but I still think that talking about it has helped me realise what my problem really is and how I’ll solve it.”
A victim of a child sex abuse scandal stands in his house in Hussain Khan Wala town, in Kasur district. PHOTO: REUTERS
When asked why others should share their stories and speak up, Sarah explains, “Bottling up is like letting poison spread inside you. It kills you inside. Let it out, and spread awareness. You never know who is benefiting from it.” “If not for yourself, talk for the sake of others,” says Anushay Khan, one of the few ‘Talk, Dammit’ contributors who have disclosed their names on the page. Khan adds, “You are never wrong. It is never about the clothes you wear, the way you talk or how you present yourself. It is in the mind of these sick people. I knew I was not at fault since the first day and everyone needs to realise that. Talk to someone, every reply will help you one way or the other. It shapes your personality, it gives you confidence, it gives you hope. You need to gather all that and become the man or woman you want to be.” While talking about the effects of abuse, Khan said, “I thought it was all fun and play. Even though I was being molested since before, I realised it at the age of 11, when I was old enough to know what was happening. I talked about it with a few cousins of mine but since no one was alarmed, I kept quiet for a while.”
IT IS NEVER ABOUT THE CLOTHES YOU WEAR, THE WAY YOU TALK OR HOW YOU PRESENT YOURSELF. IT IS IN THE MIND OF THESE SICK PEOPLE. I KNEW I WAS NOT AT FAULT SINCE THE FIRST DAY AND EVERYONE NEEDS TO REALISE THAT
Rizvi explains that as his contributors decided to share a very personal and sensitive part of their lives with the world, he has decided to work on the project alone. “I can’t even dream of a team at the moment, as trust is a big factor in the project,” he explains. “People are opening up because they know it is safe to do so, and I do not want to change that.” When asked about expanding the project, he answers, “I do plan to turn this into something bigger, I haven’t decided what that will be, but it doesn’t stop at just putting stories out. This is why the project now has its own Facebook page and is separate from my other work.” The project is already effecting change. “Through this page, a few trained psychologists have contacted me, saying that they are willing to help the people who have come forward, free of cost if they are willing to take help,” Rizvi says with pride. “I think that is a huge deal.”T
*Names have been changed to protect privacy. Hurmat Majid is a subeditor at The Express Tribune. She tweets @bhandprogramme
Anushay Khan ‘Talk, Dammit’ contributor
The man behind the voice
Syed Faizan Raza Rizvi has associated himself with many different causes over the years. Over the past few months, he has worked tirelessly to get help for victims of the heat wave in the country. Deciding to take the initiative was a spur-of-the-moment decision for Rizvi. “Apart from the obvious reason, the Kasur tragedy, I decided to take this initiative because there were plenty of people in my circle who had gone through such traumatic experiences and wished that they could talk about it,” he explains. “I knew if there were people like that in my circle, there would be plenty more who would want to share, even if it was done anonymously.” He was surprised by the response he received. “I did not know if people would be willing to share their stories with a stranger over the Internet, but the response has been overwhelming,” he says. “In two weeks, I gathered 50 stories and there will be many more.”
17 AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
COVER STORY
in the classroom How can higher education institutions learn to protect students against sexual harassment? BY KOMAL ANWAR AND NISMA CHAUHAN | DESIGN BY HIRA FAREED
In 2012, a few days after her orientation at the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi, Mariam* began receiving messages online from one of her new teachers at the university. Throughout her first semester, the behaviour persisted and the teacher continued to email her and ask her to meet him. When Mariam finally approached the registrar to report the harassment, she was called to his office. “The registrar seemed to be strangely excited about the complaint and was grinning as he asked me for details,” Mariam recalls. “He asked me what I was wearing during classes and whether I had lead the teacher on.” The following day, Mariam was called to the registrar’s office once more. “He told me that he had gone through my social media accounts and some drawings I had posted
online,” she says. “He said my drawings were sexual and as a girl, I should not be making such art.” The teacher was ultimately fired, but Mariam, who graduated this year, says she came to accept such behaviour at the university. “I got catcalls from male students all the time or they make nicknames for me based on my body, but I never reported them,” she says. As a girl, she says, “I get this kind of verbal harassment on a pretty regular basis, so I’ve just come to accept it.” Mariam’s story is not uncommon. Students reporting harassment at institutions in Pakistan say that they faced unnecessary questions and, in some cases, their university degree was withheld as the harassment claims were investigated. While many institutions boast watertight policies against harassment, are these policies implemented or merely practiced on paper? Continued on page 22
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A policy against harassment In 2010, the Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act was passed, governing the law on sexual harassment. One year later, in February 2011, the HEC circulated Policy Guidelines against Sexual Harassment in Institutions of Higher Learning, a policy related to sexual harassment, to 158 universities all over Pakistan. The HEC reports that complaints of sexual harassment on campus include the following allegations: asking female students to visit the supervisor’s office after hours; asking students to meet off campus; financial and sexual gratification; intimidation of faculty members by students and colleagues; harassment of minority students; inquiries into one’s sexual experiences; abuse that refers to mothers or sisters; forcing students to publish research in the supervisor’s name. The guideline holds figures of authority — such as department heads or supervisors — responsible if a harassment complaint is not appropriately dealt with. “Once a person in a position of authority at a higher education institution (HEI) has knowledge, or should have had knowledge, of conduct constituting sexual harassment, the HEI is exposed to liability… Any administrator, supervisor, manager or faculty member who is aware of sexual harassment and condones it, by action or inaction, would be held responsible for negligence towards maintaining sexual harassment-free campus,” the guideline notes. The Act requires the formation of a three-member inquiry committee under Section 3 and states that at least one member of the committee must be a woman. The inquiry committee is required to submit its findings within 30 days and to impose penalties, which, in serious cases, can result in dismissal from service and fine. A Harassment Monitoring Officer, with at least 10 years experience and ‘sound’ reputation is required, under the HEC guidelines, to promote awareness on sexual harassment and to act as adviser in case of a complaint. However, as per the HEC, universities have dragged their feet on implementing the guidelines and, in some cases, ignored it. In 2014, it was found that the National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Islamabad, flouted the HEC’s policy guideline when an all male threemember committee was set up to investigate a harassment complaint. The guilty party was removed from his position as head of department and his position shuffled to head another department. A 2013 HEC report stated only 20% of universities have 6 implemented the guidelines since 2011. In April 2013, the AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
What is ‘sexual harassment’? As per the HEC’s policy guideline, “Sexual harassment may be overt or subtle, and can range from visual signals or gestures to verbal abuse to physical contact along with hand or sign language to denote sexual activity, persistent and unwelcome flirting. Sexual harassment generally takes place when there is power or authority difference among persons involved (student/ teacher, employee/supervisor, junior teacher/senior teacher, research supervisee/supervisor).” The guideline states that such harassment “is a serious human rights issue. lt can be exacerbated by discrimination on other grounds of vulnerability such as gender, poverty, disability, race, religion, ethnic origin or sexual orientation.”
HE ASKED ME WHAT I WAS WEARING DURING CLASSES AND WHETHER I HAD LEAD THE TEACHER ON MARIAM, GRADUATE OF INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, KARACHI
HEC asked universities to take part in a survey on sexual harassment. Only 30 universities of 145 replied. In June, the HEC sent an email reminding the universities to respond, but few bothered to reply. “Now we have decided to halt projects carried out with HEC’s assistance and funding to those varsities which have not replied yet,” an HEC official who wished to remain anonymous told The Express Tribune at the time. In 2014, the HEC stated that it had sent repeated reminders to universities to send in names of faculty members nominated to inquiry committees required as per the policy, as well as details of harassment cases reported or resolved. Not a single university replied to the HEC.
Policy in practice The Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) states that the institution has a comprehensive sexual harassment policy, adopted on October 30, 2014. The university states that it deems harassment a punishable offence and has formed an inquiry committee, as per the HEC’s policy, comprising of three members to look into complaints of sexual harassment. “I was given a student handbook which mentioned the policy on harassment,” explains Ayesha, who graduated from LUMS in 2009. “If I had a complaint about harassment, I would have definitely reported it, because it was very easy to do so”. While a number of female LUMS students said they were aware of the university’s stance on harassment and were confident that their complaint would be taken seriously, male students said they would not bother reporting a complaint. “There is a lot of social stigma attached to guys reporting such incidents, so I would probably not make such a complaint,” said Ahmed, who graduated from the institution in 2014. In November 2014, news broke that the Federal Ombudsman had directed LUMS to fire Abid Hussain Imam, a faculty member in the law department, upon a harassment complaint. At the time, a graduate of the department, blogged about his reaction to the news and said, “I graduated from this department two years ago. Upon hearing the news, my reaction was not one of disbelief. I did not wonder, ‘How could this happen at Lums?’ but rather, ‘Which one of them finally got caught?’.” The writer, Shehzad Ghias, observed that girls complaining of harassment chose not to report it, largely because they did not want to ‘create a scene’. “One student walked into class wearing a sleeveless top and her professor exclaimed, ‘Girls who dress like this, their mothers do not sleep at their homes at night.’ She quietly went to her seat as she did not want to ‘create a scene’,” Ghias said. 7 AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
COVER STORY Zahra, an MPhil student at Punjab University echoed Ghias’ observation, saying, “I would keep quiet if I had a complaint because no one believes harassment takes place, and the girl is always the one who is looked down upon.” She added, “The girl is always considered guilty in these cases and no respectable family allows their respect to be exploited on a public forum.” As per the HEC guidelines, Punjab University has an anti-harassment committee headed by the university’s dean, but Zahra is unaware of this. She states that a religio-political student group holds sway at the university and “they beat up teachers and students who are caught flirting, let alone harassing a girl.” The University of Karachi also has a three-member sexual harassment committee, with the mandatory inclusion of one woman. However, questions remain over the committee’s efficacy. In November 2014, two months after a case of sexual harassment was reported at the social work department, a teacher at the Urdu department was reinstated after facing a two-year suspension on charges of sexual harassment. Sources claimed that while the investigations were going on, the teacher continued to receive his monthly salary while staying at home. In March this year, KU faculty members complained that the committee’s report into a harassment case was being ‘covered up’ by the vice-chancellor. “What was the point in instituting the committee and what was its mandate?” a senior faculty member asked at the time. A female teacher who wished to remain anonymous told The Express Tribune, “The KU administration has turned a blind eye towards this issue.” In January this year, Chairman of the Mass Communication department Professor Tahir Masood said that cases of inappropriate behaviour and alleged sexual harassment by teachers were gradually increasing, after three cases were reported between 2012 and 2015. He suggested that the existing committee be scrapped, in favour of an ‘impartial and trustworthy inquiry committee’.
Bridging the gap In many cases, complaints of harassment are treated with suspicion by faculty members. In June 2014, a female student at Quaid-e-Azam University claimed that an assistant professor tried to molest her when she visited his office to correct an error in her marks sheet. The teacher denied the claim and Vice Chancellor Dr Etazaz Ahmad responded, “It involves the issue of marks and is not a simple case. The girl belongs to a group that is already facing disciplinary proceedings. It can be a tactic to blackmail the assistant professor.” Executive director of Mehergarh, a social welfare 8 organisation, Maliha Husain also told The Express Tribune at AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
I WOULD KEEP QUIET IF I HAD A COMPLAINT BECAUSE NO ONE BELIEVES HARASSMENT TAKES PLACE, AND THE GIRL IS ALWAYS THE ONE WHO IS LOOKED DOWN UPON ZAHRA, STUDENT AT PUNJAB UNIVERSITY
First formal complaint In 2011, Islamabad’s Quaid-e-Azam University was the first institution to receive a complaint from a student after the passage of the Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act. The university syndicate removed a senior teacher after an inquiry, but this decision was overturned by the-then chancellor of the university, former president Asif Ali Zardari.
the time that in another instance, a female faculty member approached the vice-chancellor at another university with a complaint against a head of department. The threemember body constituted by the VC included the accused person as the committee’s head, according to Hussain. “Sexual harassment in higher education is not a new issue, but has until recently been a hidden silent one,” the HEC 2011 guideline states. “During the last few years, higher education institution personnel from administrators and faculty to employees and students have recognised the problem in terms of its lost productivity, time consumption, and legal implications (in addition to visible/invisible damage to the victim).” The question remains: how can education institutions learn to prevent such damage to teachers and students? T
*Names have been changed to protect privacy. Komal Anwar is a subeditor at The Express Tribune magazine desk. She tweets @Komal1201 Nisma Chauhan is a subeditor on The Express Tribune magazine desk. She tweets @ChauhanNisma
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The journey from a highpowered corporate job to a solo venture online TEXT AND PHOTOS BY SHEHZEEN REHMAN DESIGN BY EESHA AZAM
If someone had told me four years ago, that I would quit a high-powered corporate job to become a blogger, I would have questioned their sanity. By 2012, I had been living and breathing the corporate life for 7 years. My job was highly paid and came with fantastic perks; I was traveling the world and blogging was just something I’d fallen into as a hobby. The thought of exchanging all this and having this ‘hobby’ pay back wasn’t on my list of goals. I started The Desi Wonder Woman about two-and-a-half years ago with no real plan. I was still fully invested in the corporate world, but I wrote about things I loved on the side. Slowly, however, I noticed that a solid base of fantastic readers who shared my preferences, appreciated my candid writing and had an appetite for reading about lifestyle was coming together. In just under a year, I had about 50,000 hits a month and the blog evolved from a space to talk about my latest shopping picks to a full-fledged site that focused on style, home décor, food, travel and everything in between. A year-and-a-half ago, I realised that I was investing an exponential amount of time in the blog, had a sizeable audience and fledgling interest from brands. In my corporate life, I was one of the fastest promoted people at work and had swiftly picked up management skills that I could exploit for the blog such as editorial discipline, project management, working with business partners, and networking — all crucial skills if you’re going to run your own business. I came to the realisation that while I loved my job, I had gleaned all the experience that I could from it. I now wanted to build something for myself.
So, I did something no one anticipated: I bid the corporate world farewell. I was incredibly nervous. I was voluntarily moving from a very secure, financially stable position to uncharted territory where the income was flexible and work unclear. People were very doubtful about my decision. Someone called me out for “denying myself my potential” by choosing to move to an “easier” job, and called the new venture a ‘hobby’. Blogging is still in its nascent stages in Pakistan. Much of what is available does not appeal to a reader like myself and so, I created a simple blueprint: make a daily destination for readers, a place where they can switch off and check out some inspiring content. I wanted to generate authentic writing where content was king and brands were partners helping to produce material, instead of dominating the message track. Throw in a dash of humour (read: ‘bad jokes’) and I had the formula for a quick timeout from my reader’s busy routine. I soon found myself working around a packed editorial calendar spanning five days a week, with content geared up three months in advance. Once I had a small home office set up, I mapped out a work schedule and was at my desk at 9 a.m. every morning. The discipline of producing my own high-quality images and posting every day meant that it was two years before I took a vacation. With time, brands started approaching me to write about them. It is exhilarating to see your work translate into content that brands find profitable to partner with. However, I did not want to be the kind of blogger who writes about product launches. My rule is simple: if I don’t like reading such content, I won’t give it airtime, no matter how big the brand is. It is difficult to maintain this integrity and to make sure that your identity doesn’t get lost in the brand’s message. I specifically remember refusing to partner with a very large skincare brand that wanted me to cover their product launch for an entire week with exclusive posts. Association with a big name is great for your résumé but it only distances you from readers when you’re talking about a product without your approach being organic. One of my most interesting upcoming projects is with one of the largest haircare brands in the world. I’ve worked with their global experts to develop a campaign that mixes their tips and my personal experience. Thus, while my brand collaborations 28 were few and far between at the start, I remained selective AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
and I don’t regret this decision. Good lifestyle blogging appears effortless. But don’t be fooled: there is a lot of work behind the scenes. Setting up concept shoots, shooting images, editing and resizing them (anyone who does this will tell you what a snooze the process is), writing content, coordinating with brands, preparing media kits specific to brands, researching, planning monthly calendars, responding to readers, keeping your accounts in order — you’ll start to wonder why there aren’t enough hours in the day. As someone who has worked grueling hours as a senior manager responsible for an organisation of nearly 1000 people, I assure you — if done right, blogging is just as challenging.
People were very doubtful about my decision. Someone called me out for “denying myself my potential” by choosing to move to an “easier” job, and alled the new venture a ‘hobby’ As a blogger, you have to be on your A-game all the time. I was on a travel review trip last year in Thailand and I struck up a conversation with some individuals who work for a European country’s tourism board. Presenting myself and my brand at that moment landed me a deal for an allexpenses-paid trip as part of a collaboration for 2016. Today, my blog gets 100,000 views a month from all over the globe. I’ve worked with international brands like Sally Hansen, Babyliss, Make Up For Ever, TRESemmé, Sunsilk, and Jotun to name a few and have been featured in publications like Good Housekeeping, Elle Décor, and Buzzfeed. I experience products from brands I love, try food at fantastic restaurants and get invited to fabulous locations for travel reviews. Do I get paid as much as I did at my last job? Not yet. It’s naïve to expect to break records as soon as you hit the road (that stuff just happens to Lady Gaga). But switching career paths was not entirely about the money for me. Do I think I’ll make just as much money as I did? Yes. Will I be obsessed with that goal? No. I am living the life I love, growing and sustaining myself, and having a fantastic time along the way.
Readers respect genuine content and emotionally invest in you because of that. Blogs can have large audiences but their posts may never result in sales because they lack credibility or emotional resonance.
Be authentic
Be disciplined If you’re not producing content consistently, your blog is a hobby. A full-time blogger is at the job every day. There are no lazy mornings spent watching TV or quitting early to catch an afternoon movie. Most bloggers are quite lax. If you want to make a career of this, be prompt and efficient.
Be professional
Design your business strategy, know your target audience, construct action plans and develop what works with your personal style.
Learn the business
Be patient I wasn’t making money when I started out. You can depend on your savings or keep doing two jobs (which means working 24/7) until you take the plunge. Devise an income model and be patient. Be firm. Working from home is not taken seriously. Don’t let that interfere with your schedule. I firmly turn down plans or delay chores during work hours.
Block the noise. Unconventional jobs will always be
criticised. People reject what they don’t understand, but if you work hard, they’ll come around.
Shehzeen Rehman runs the blog The Desi Wonder Woman, and tweets @shehzeenrehman.
*This is the first of a series on entrepreneurs who struck out — and succeeded — on their own. To contribute, contact us: magazine@tribune.com.pk
FEATURE
Making ends
meet
Pakistan’s transgender community fights discrimination from the government and employers to find work
BY ZAINAB SADIA SAEED PHOTOS BY ARIF SOOMRO DESIGN BY SANOBER AHMED
Riffie Khan has a Double Master’s degree from Shah Abdul University in Shikarpur in Economics and Political Sciences. However, despite her academic achievements, she has been unable to hold down a job. In 2003, Khan was forced to leave her job at the National Medical Centre in Karachi, where she worked as front desk officer, because she did not fit in. Khan is one of many transgender people in the country who suffer in their professional and personal lives due to discrimination. “It’s the educated people that upset me the most,” she says. “When they discriminate against people like me, it hurts even more.”
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There are an estimated 500,000 ‘third-gender’ citizens in Pakistan, including cross-dressers, transsexuals, eunuchs, hermaphrodites, and transvestites. In 2012, the Pakistani government recognised the transgender population and a three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, ruled that the transgender community is entitled to rights guaranteed in the Constitution to all citizens, including the right of inheritance. Prior to this, as transgenders did not classify themselves as ‘male’ or ‘female’ on official documents, they were barred from basic rights, such as voting. In the general elections of May 2013, five members of the community also contested polls. However, while their rights are guaranteed on paper, members of the transgender community say they do AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
Bindiya Rana has dedicated her life to fighting discrimination against the transgender community.
A member of the transgender community dances at a wedding ceremony.
While many transgenders describe themselves as “professional wedding dancers”, they are forced to turn to prostitution to make ends meet.
not have these rights in practice. While the Supreme Court ordered that free education and free health-care must be guaranteed to the community, provincial departments have yet to implement this decision. Riffie Khan says that while many transgenders describe themselves as “professional wedding dancers”, they are forced to turn to prostitution to make ends meet. Khan has been lucky to land a job in the Social Welfare Department. She works in Karachi with Bindiya Rana, the founder of the Gender Interactive Alliance (GIA) — an organisation working for the equality and civil rights of transgender people in Pakistan — and runs a small home-based clothing business. “I have been denied all the opportunities I deserved even though I have the required level of education,” Khan claims. “I have a double Masters, yet I am only paid Rs15,000 per month and I have been forced to leave every job I have ever had.” In 2012, the transgender community was promised a 2% quota in employment by the government. However, community members say the quota has not improved their situation. “Our status of employment has remained the same,” says Khan. She says when she raises the issue at the Social Welfare Department where she works, she is told, ‘It will happen in due time’. “Why can’t the department open up a section of Khwaja Sarras as well, to examine the employment rate and opportunities for us?” she asks. “We keep reminding them that it has been three years since the government promised us the quota. But things are still the same.” “We have to keep reminding the government what they owe us, over and over again,” says Bindiya Rana, who feels that the quota is mismanaged. “When we were finally recognised and issued National Identity Cards, it felt like the Supreme Court gave us in one year what we had hoped to achieve in 15 years.” She adds, “Now, however, when we look at the progress we have made, it feels as though we have climbed just one step and there are many more hurdles to cross.” Many members of Pakistan’s transgender community have studied until the Intermediate level. Others have received vocational training as beauticians or cooks. However, employment still remains uncertain. “People need to 31 AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
FEATURE understand that your clothes and your gender orientation don’t make you forget or lose your skills and abilities,” says Bindiya Rana. The insecurity of being unemployed means that many members of the community plan ahead, particularly during months such as Ramazan when prices are hiked. For instance, Rana explains that many transgenders give up sex work and dancing during the month of Ramazan but work overtime the month before so they are able to survive the month of fasting. “It is hard to make ends meet lawfully especially Rimsha was hired by the Clifton Cantonment Board to deliver utility bills to consumers. when we are underemployed and unemployed,” she says. While some members of the community are denied employment, others are not given the salaries they are owed. Rimsha, for instance, has been employed at the Clifton Cantonment Board since 2010. Her salary has been slowly increased over five years, spurred by protests organised by Rana, and she is now paid Rs15,000, an amount that is largely spent on transportation every month. “There are so many others like me, and when they can’t make ends meet they find other ways to earn money, such as begging,” says Rimsha. Since 2010, Rimsha has been ‘on probation’ and her contract is renewed as needed. “According to the labour laws someone working for you for three months should be considered a permanent employee,” argues Khan. Rana explains that the community can only progress if it can sustain itself. “We need loans to be able to start businesses, so we can get off the streets,” Rana says. It is only through employment that the community can end a reliance on sex work, and thereby curb, the threat of HIV and AIDS, she feels. “If we were able to run restaurants or beauty parlours, we could give opportunities to others who are not as educated.” Rana urges the government to provide vocational training that targets the community specifically. “Even when we try to pursue an education, we are victimised,” says Riffie Khan. She recalls that when she visited a training institute in Karachi to improve her fluency in English, she was harassed. “People at the center asked me how I had dared to come there,” she says. “They told me I could not join the regular classes and would instead have a separate class where no other students would be allowed. I was made to feel guilty for being me.”
The Gender Interactive Alliance wants to end the community’s
32 reliance on sex work for money. AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
Zainab Sadia Saeed is a social worker, writing to unearth the real heroes. She tweets @zainabssaeed
FEATURE
PICTURE PERFECT
Brandon Stanton and his interpreter Haya Fatima Iqbal smile for a selfie.
Meet the woman who helped Humans of New York discover Pakistan BY FERYA ILYAS DESIGN BY SANOBER AHMED PHOTOS COURTESY: HAYA FATIMA IQBAL
On one hot afternoon in July, a young woman who works at an office on Karachi’s I.I. Chundrigar Road found herself being chased by a slight, curly-haired girl and a bearded, T-shirt-wearing American man. “Excuse me! Excuse me!” shouted the girl as the pair dodged honking cars during the busy lunch hour and sprinted after her. She slowed down and learned that the man wanted to take her photograph. The man was Brandon Stanton, a photographer who runs ‘Humans of New York’, a blog with over 14 million devoted followers across the world. “People must have been laughing seeing a foreigner with a camera and a screaming local chasing a young woman smack in the middle of one of Karachi’s busiest roads,” says Haya Fatima Iqbal, a 28-year old film-maker who partnered with Stanton as his interpreter during his trip to Pakistan. Last September, Stanton travelled to 11 countries in collaboration with the United Nations, to raise awareness of millennium development goals. At the end of July this year, he announced that he would be travelling to two countries — Pakistan and Iran. While the message was received with squeals of joy from HONY’s followers in Pakistan, many did not know at the time that Stanton had already visited the country and left by the time the first photograph — from Hunza — was posted on Facebook. “It was simply a precautionary measure,” Iqbal explains, as Stanton’s project required the ability to move freely and talk to strangers — a feat that would have been nearimpossible had the media tailed him. “Having a media crew around 33 AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
At times, Stanton and Iqbal worked for more than 12 hours a day in search of stories.
Brandon would have only made the situation awkward and I don’t think people would have opened up to him in that scenario.”
Mystery man At sehri on July 14, an intriguing email landed in Iqbal’s inbox. A journalist in New York, Fazeelat Aslam, had passed Iqbal’s email address on to Stanton, suggesting that she may be able to help him find an interpreter. Iqbal knew she had to pitch herself for this incredible opportunity. “I wrote to him about my experiences as a film-maker and how people have opened up to me on camera and told me things that they have never spoken to anyone about,” Iqbal recalls. By iftari, Iqbal and Stanton were ironing out details of his trip. “Brandon was sure about visiting Gilgit and Lahore,” Iqbal says. “I talked to him about the Karachi-Lahore rivalry and explained that he could not visit one city and not the other.” Five days later, Stanton arrived in Pakistan, but Iqbal could not tell anyone. “It was very difficult for me to not post a selfie I had taken with Brandon, but I was willing to take the secret to my grave,” she quips.
Finding ‘Humans’ The journey started from Lahore, onwards to Karachi and finally, Hunza — the exact opposite of the sequence of the pictures posted on the HONY page. Describing Brandon’s style of exploring, Iqbal shares how during a trip to the Walled City of Lahore, he told the driver to stop right at the entrance. “We walked for quite some time, far away from the car, observing the surroundings. When he felt he wanted to take someone’s picture, he would ask me, ‘How about him?’” Haya says. Iqbal would initiate conversations with the chosen man or woman and explain Stanton’s project. The majority of people they approached were not Internet-users, she says, and mentioning the word ‘Internet’ would prompt concerned queries. In some cases, Iqbal would show their chosen subject the HONY page on her mobile phone. “We had
HONY fans thanked Stanton for the Pakistan series as it helped many think beyond stereotypes.
The HONY community raised more then $2million to free bonded labourers in Pakistan. this pakka rule that if someone hesitates, let them go,” Iqbal explains, as the pair decided they did not want to convince anyone to have their photograph taken. She worried about the number of rejections they were receiving, but Stanton reassured her, saying, “I get rejected in New York all the time.” “We came across many people who did not understand the work but when they realised Brandon was visiting from a foreign land, they would say things like, ‘Chalain aap humaray mehmaan hain, ley lain picture (Since you are our guest, you can take a picture)’,” she recalls. On average, the pair approached 30 to 35 people every day and often worked 12-hour days, with an average of 10 to 15 good stories every day. Iqbal says Stanton was not recognised during his trip. “Only three people in Karachi knew who he was,” she says, recalling an instance when Stanton approached a girl for her photograph, she knew about HONY, but had no idea who he was. Iqbal recalls that while on the lookout for potential stories, she would keep an eye on the surroundings. “Many times, I was Brandon’s unofficial bodyguard or food inspector,” she says, laughing. The HONY founder was not immune to Karachi’s delicious food, but unfortunately suffered a bout of food poisoning and had to make do with khichri and yogurt. Iqbal recalls that Stanton was not overwhelmed by the city. “I’ve seen so many near-accidents happening on the roads here, yet everyone just seems to be laughing at the situation and moving on,” he had said to her.
Through a foreign lens While Pakistanis took pride in all the beautiful stories Brandon was rolling out on HONY’s platforms, fans around the world thanked him for bringing the largely unreported side of the country to the forefront. One story, encapsulated in seven photographs, from Lahore in particular resonated with HONY’s audience. Thousands donated to Syeda Ghulam Fatima’s Bonded Labour Liberation Front when Stanton told her story. “Fatima has devoted her life to ending bonded labor. She has been shot, electrocuted, and beaten numerous times for her
activism,” Stanton wrote on his Facebook page, along with testimonies of bonded labourers working at brick kilns in the country. To date, a campaign to support Fatima’s activism has raised more than $2.3 million. “Brandon’s pictures of Pakistan show life in its random, abstract form,” Iqbal explains. “There are heart-warming stories of family and love and on the other hand you have tales of eviction, illness and poverty.” Iqbal specifically mentions one photograph taken in Karachi of a middle-aged man who shared how he took care of his ailing wife during her last days. “The photograph shows a man relaxing on a charpoy in a very masculine posture, yet his story shows an entirely different side to his personality,” she explains. “All these stories reinforced my belief that you should never judge a person by the way they look or where they live — andar say kuch bhi nikal sakta hai (It can be anything from inside).”
Personal favourite Iqbal says it is difficult for her to choose her favourite photographs from Stanton’s collection of 70 images of Pakistan, but she is proudest of the images from Lyari in Karachi. “In my own work, I have tried to show that Lyari should not be known just for its security problems, and HONY’s pictures reflected that.” Stanton’s last photograph from the series in Pakistan was an image of children in Lyari. “That was a perfect message to end the series,” Iqbal feels. “For me, it was a double whammy of happiness.” Iqbal praises Stanton’s humble nature, saying it provided the impetus to create photographs that emotionally connected with millions. “Imagine, seven photos collecting $2 million,” she says, referring to the images of bonded labourers. “That did not happen just because Brandon is famous but because people trust him. He doesn’t think of himself as a celebrity. He is down to earth and that is exactly why his work is great.”t Ferya Ilyas is a senior subeditor at The Express Tribune. She tweets @ferya_ilyas AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
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MOVIE
THE COLD WAR CAPER
The spies of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. are left out in the cold in a stylish, superficial production BY ALLY ADNAN
The real stars of Guy Ritchie’s remarkably stylish, but sadly shallow The Man from U. N. C. L. E., without a doubt, are composer Daniel Pemberton and costume designer Joanna Johnston. A highly-entertaining celebration of the Cold War era — with all its glamour, fashion, style, intrigue, espionage, gadgetry, mystique, music and much else — the film is a veritable feast both for the eyes and for the ears. Pemberton’s retro score uses modern recording techniques to create music that is simultaneously dramatic, jazzy and charming. He employs the harpsichord, chimalong, drums, organ, guitar and bass flute to create an original score that never falls to the background, competing with — and occasionally outshining — the beautiful actors on screen. The bold and striking song The Drums of War uses 24 percussion instruments, each tuned to a different pitch, to create a mysterious and thundering sound hitherto unheard in cinema. Pemberton’s employment of bongos, castanets, congas, hochets, rototoms, shakers, timbales, and a plethora of other instruments to create a single coherent song is masterful. Likewise, Johnston’s on-point costume design, like Pemberton’s score, does not take a backseat to the action on screen, but is instead 36 an essential element in the film’s perfectly AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
tailored and elegant look. Johnston creates four individual and distinct styles, one each for the film’s four primary characters, and uses colours, lines, silhouettes and structures to highlight, if not define, the characters. The film’s finest performance — that of Elizabeth Debicki as the villainous Italian aristocrat Victoria Vinciguerra — would not have worked without Johnston’s sartorial touch. Ritchie’s big screen version of the 60s television series of the same name retains the main characters of the series and keeps the story in its original time period. American agent Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and Russian agent Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) are forced to work together as a team to save the world from nuclear destruction. Their mission requires them to locate a former Nazi scientist who is being forced to build a nuclear device by the evil Victoria Vinciguerra. They plan to do so with the help of the scientist’s estranged daughter, Gaby Teller (Alicia Vikander), who works as a car mechanic in Berlin. The spy duo needs to wade its way through a few double-crosses and a lot of action before they can stop Vinciguerra from selling an atom bomb. Ritchie’s visually delectable but intellectually vacuous film has three brilliant scenes. The first takes place in an outdoor cafe where
the two agents are briefed about the details of their secret mission in a decidedly public setting. The fact that their conversation can be heard by everyone in the cafe creates the setting for a truly funny visual gag. The second scene takes place in an upscale boutique where Solo and Kuryakin have a seriously silly discussion about wearing a Paco Rabanne belt with a Christian Dior dress. The third scene involves Teller springing into a spontaneous dance for Kuryakin that ends in the two wrestling each other on the floor. Intensely erotic, the scene has both the actors fully clothed. Such brilliant scenes, alas, are few and far between and the film seems content with showing exceedingly beautiful actors wearing extraordinarily glamorous clothes in magnificently exotic locations, and with crafting some particularly stylish action sequences, replete with vintage cars, scooters, boats and helicopters and set to wonderful music. That makes for a film that is entertaining but lacks substance; one that does not take itself too seriously. Audiences are likely to enjoy it more if they don’t take it too seriously either. Rating: Ally Adnan lives in Dallas and writes about culture, history and art. He tweets @allyadnan
Knocked out Jake Gyllenhaal ends a winning streak of gripping films with Southpaw, a boring boxing drama BY SCHAYAN RIAZ
One look at Jake Gyllenhaal’s recent filmography and it becomes clear that he is an actor who puts great deal of thought into his choices. There have hardly been any missteps for Gyllenhaal in the past five years, as he has solidly delivered with films like End of Watch, Enemy or Nightcrawler that should have, but didn’t, earn him an Oscar nomination for best actor in a leading role. Gyllenhaal’s latest, the muscular boxing movie Southpaw, sadly, discontinues this trend. Directed by Antoine Fuqua, Southpaw is not a terrible film. In fact, it is his best attempt after a very long time. But still, it is nowhere as good a film as it should have been. While large stretches are technically well-made, the plotting is simply cringe worthy, especially in the second half, where certain choices the protagonist makes are very questionable (such as working together with a shady business partner who betrayed his trust earlier in the film). Gyllenhaal’s histrionics raise such portions of the film to undeserved heights. He plays Billy Hope, an orphan from Hell’s Kitchen, New York, who has steadily boxed his way up to a sold-out title bout in Madison Square Garden. His wife Maureen (Rachel McAdams), whom he met at an orphanage when they were kids is always by his side, no matter what. They have a daughter too, played by an impressive newcomer Oona Laurence, who matches Gyllenhaal in every scene they share. Southpaw is one of those films where
if you have watched the trailer, then you have seen everything. And that’s worse for a sports movie, where the script follows a predictable narrative anyway. There will be a fight at the beginning, where the hero will win. Something bad will happen soon afterwards. After a downward spiral, the hero will hit rock bottom, only to gather himself up and eventually come back hard to redeem himself. It is a story told countless times and if done right, still has a strange emotional pull, but in this version, it just doesn’t feel to be convincing enough. If only the film would have had some humour or heart, it would have fared better. There are only glimpses of that. Hope’s battle-weary coach Tick Wills (Forest Whitaker) has some funny moments in a bar, even though it’s not clear if they are meant to be hilarious. Curtis James Jackson III (50 Cent) appears as a slimy boxing promoter, who pursues money, not relationships. The film should have featured him more, because his character seems to be the most interesting one out of the entire ensemble and actually stands out for something, even if it is negative. After playing skinny creep Lou Bloom in Nightcrawler, Gyllenhaal’s transformation into a buff boxer is commendable. He looks the part, but that is not what the film is about. That’s just his job. The real pity is that there isn’t much else to say about Southpaw other than ‘Gyllenhaal went to the gym’. Take that — and him — out of Southpaw and you are barely left with a film.
Rating: Schayan Riaz is a Germany-based writer who tweets @schayanriaz AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015
37
FRAMED
Holy trail
Pilgrims in India carry water from the Ganges to their hometowns TEXT AND PHOTOS BY ATHAR KHAN DESIGN BY SANOBER AHMED
D
uring the month of August, Kanwariyas can be spotted on the roads of northern India. Devotees of the Hindu god Shiva, Kanwariyas bathe in the Ganges and carry the water, believed to be holy, from the river to their hometowns in special pots and pot-holders. The pots cannot be placed on the ground and are hung on tree branches or any other supportive material during the journey on foot. Locals offer Kanwariyas food and water on their journey, which is known as Kanwar yatra and lasts a month. In New Delhi, where these Kanwariyas (pictured) were spotted, at least 300,000 pilgrims were expected by August 5.T
Athar Khan is a photographer at The Express Tribune.
38 AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5 2015