T Magazine 14 March

SUNDAY March 14, 2021

CULTURE & SOCIETY Page 3

Sewage from houses and hotels is being dumped into Swat River — Dr Abdul Aziz

45,000 Afghan troops were killed since Ashraf Ghani took office, he admitted in 2019

EDUCATION

LAW & JUSTICE

Page 6

Page 8

HEC is trying to take away the opportunity of middle-class students — Shakeel Farooqi

State coercion makes heroes out of rogue lawyers — Umer Gilani

GRAPPLING WITH

STEREOTYPES Story by: Nabil Tahir

MMA has been around for decades and has made countless men and women household names. From Pakistan, a single woman hopes to lead the way for many more

M

ixed martial arts (MMA) competitions have been around for decades now. In that time, the popularity and reach of various promotions like the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has made the sport a household name. From an exclusively male pursuit in its early years, MMA can now boast of a huge evergrowing fan base that transcends both borders and gender barriers. It has also made women fighters like Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano international superstars.

Like other nations, Pakistan too, in recent years, has been home to a burgeoning MMA scene. A handful of Pakistani fighters have already made waves internationally and many more are sure to follow their lead.

Given the sport’s physical nature and the social attitudes towards gender that continue to prevail in the country, it may seem that there is not much scope for Pakistani women in MMA as of yet. But some of the strongest Pakistani women fighters are more than a step ahead of that line of thinking and have taken it upon themselves to knock such stereotypes out of the octagon.

The one in three hundred Although it has not been long since MMA gyms and training were formally introduced in Pakistan, the country has already produced more than 300 fighters that are competing internationally in the sport. Among them, stands just one woman at the moment: Anita Karim.

These days, women MMA fighters are viewed just as seriously as men and their bouts garner as much attention as well Born and raised in Hunza valley, it only took Anita two months to get her grip on the sport and make it to the international ring. It would take her another three to win her first international bout.

The 24-year-old is proud to be Pakistan’s first and, for now, only woman MMA fighter and is quite comfortable breaking stereotypes. Being the first in her

league can put anyone in a challenging space, but cided to train her for professional MMA fights.”

Anita brushes away such pressure talks while talking Tracing the origins to The Express Tribune.

“It is quite usual, to be honest. I belong to a family MMA traces its origins to the inter-stylistic duels that of Taekwondo black belt holders and to an area where took place throughout Japan and other far eastern nations the women do all the toughest work. The bodies of the throughout the early part of the previous century. These women in our region are trained to do hard work. From mixed-style contests with an ever-changing rule set would an early age, we carry a set the scene for interplay lot of load on our backs between some of the styles and climb up the hills. that would later form the A woman carries around pillars of the MMA toolset: 20 to 30 kilogrammes boxing, wrestling, judo, juof wood, crop and other jitsu, karate and muay thai necessities for many kito name a few. lometres. This makes our The concept behind muscles adapted to hard such contests along with work,” she says. some of the arts practiced Talking about her in them also made their Anita Karim exposure, Anita said way to Brazil with a comdaughters where she comes from are bound to learn munity of post-War Japanese migrants. This would give both household work while they continue to study. In a rise to two crucial nodes of MMA heritage: Brazilian jiumostly male-dominant society, the restriction acts like a jitsu and the ‘Vale Tudo’ or ‘everything goes’ rule set. barbed wire around the ambitions of women. Anita herIn the West, the idea to take what works from variself, however, was raised differently. ous fighting styles was made popular by none other “When I was born and raised, I used to hear that the than Bruce Lee and his philosophy of Jeet Kune Do. sons are the ones who make their parents proud. I nev- The renowned Japanese professional wrestler Antonio er liked to hear people say that women are made to do Inoki, famous in Pakistan for his bouts with Akram household work and they should stay within their lim- and Jhara Pehlwan, would provide one template for its. I always used to tell my dad that I will become his modern MMA with his 1976 fight with boxer Muhamson and do everything that men can do,” she said. “Be- mad Ali. That fight would directly inspire Pancrase longing to a Taekwondo family, I have been practising and Pride, two of the earliest MMA promotions that it since childhood, while doing all the work here are ex- came to the fore in the 90s. pected to do,” she said.

The MMA revolution, however, would be ushered in In 2017, Anita, along with her brothers moved to Is- by the emergence of UFC in 1993. Originating as annual lamabad, where she was given an option to either study showcase for Brazil’s Gracie family and their style of jiuor train for MMA. “The fact that I had the option was a jitsu, the contest would evolve into both the sport’s leadblessing. So I chose both,” she said. Anita completed her ing promotion and the proving grounds for its constant Intermediate and went to the gym where her coaches development and evolution.

Ehtisham Karim and Ali Sultan trained her for the first time. It was during this training that she decided to pur- A tailor-made rule set sue MMA full time.

As a near no holds barred full-contact sport, MMA was once Ehtisham, while talking to The Express Tribune, considered too tough and violent for both men and women. said that Anita was tough since the beginning. Following the surge of UFC popularity in the 90s in the US, “When we brought her to the gym, she passed all the attempts were made to prohibit MMA contests entirely and tests and was comfortable with all the techniques it gained the exaggerated reputation of ‘bloodsport’. other male fighters learn,” he said. “Since the beginOver the years, however, various MMA promotions ning, she had a spark in her and that is why we de- would tweak and refine their formula to eliminate

I belong to a family of black belts and an area where women do all the toughest work

chances of lasting or life-threatening injuries from the sport. From ‘everything goes’, MMA evolved its own set of rules, like the ones that govern boxing and other fullcontact competitions.

And as women too started taking an interest, the traditional rule set was further adjusted for female-only contests to ensure safety and fairness. In Japan, ReMix prohibited the ground-and-pound fighting technique, in which one fighter takes their opponent to the ground and pummels them with strikes from the dominant position. The fight promoter, which was rebranded to Smackgirl in 2001, also introduced a time limit for ground fighting that would remain in place till 2008.

In the United States, women’s bouts, organised by EliteXC, saw three-minute rounds while those of Strikeforce initially lasted two minutes. Rounds for men, in contrast, last five minutes. Strikeforce later changed this rule to allow for five-minute rounds for all challenges regardless of gender.

It took Anita only two months to get her grip on the sport. It would take her another three to win her first international bout Weight limits and weight classification for women’s MMA competitions are different too in several of organisations including Strikeforce, Smackgirl and Valkyrie.

While men are required to wear a groin protector, women are forbidden from doing so. Women must wear a top and chest protector, while men are allowed neither.

A quarter century from its introduction, as more and more women begin to participate in the sport bouts, viewers and professionals have reassessed their own views.

Nowadays, women fighters are viewed just as seriously as contenders as the men and competitions that take place on the international stage garner as much attention as well.

Not only that, women MMA fighters now train alongside men and their bouts last the same duration as well.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

COVER STORY The real challenge According to Anita, it is not tough to pursue MMA full time, but the real challenge is social pressure. “The time I decided to go for MMA, I called up my father and told him that I am going to cut my hair and take a break from studies to train for MMA fights. My mother and father were reluctant to allow me, but when they saw the passion I had for MMA, they relented,” she said.

“The real hurdle, began after that.”

“The time I cut my hair and dedicated myself completely to the MMA, people back home started talking about how I’m not doing the type of work that ‘normal’ women do. They criticised me a lot on my appearance and [for] the path that I took. Unfortunately, this is why many female fighters give up; just because they face pressure from the society. I was lucky that I had a supportive brother, and he asked me to ignore everything and just focus on my training and ambition.” MMA training involves challenging and gruelling sessions that last for hours.

An average training day for an MMA athlete is eight hours. But for the female fighters in Pakistan, it is even more challenging as they have to train with men. When Anita decided to take up MMA, there wasn’t a single girl in the gym that her brothers built (which is also happens to be the first-ever professional MMA training centre in Pakistan). She had no choice but to train exclusively with men.

“Although my body was already equipped because of Taekwondo and the hard work on the fields, still the MMA training was a whole new experience,” she said. “When I started to train initially, and when I got tired, I used to go to the kitchen to cry as I was not allowed to cry at the training centre. The training for a female fighter is a lot tougher than for a male fighter,” she said, adding that her brother used to motivate her by saying that if they can do it, then why can’t she.

Ethtisham, while explaining reasons why women leave MMA training, said, “We have lost many good fighters just because they were forced to leave by their family.

Either that or their inner willpower was not enough to carry on the tough training. We have seen many leaving the training after the first two punches,” he said.

Training with men Pakistan has a limited number of women fighters, therefore, they are left to train with men. While explaining the scenario, Anita said that although it is challenging to train with men, it has given her the much-needed strength. “If I had been training with women fighters, I wouldn’t be as strong and equipped as I am today. Women fighters around the world train with men to enhance their skill level. If you train for a day with men, you will learn more than you’ll learn after 15 to 20 national fights against a woman. So this turned out to be a positive element for me,” she said.

Anita’s toughness and the confidence to try out everything that her brothers are doing at the training centre were not only developed by background in martial arts but also through a close brush with death. At the age of eight, Anita was in a motorbike accident, in which she hit her head and slipped into a coma.

“After some hours, with the prayers of my parents, I came back. I had been so close to death, and I came back challenging it. That moment gave me the strength and convinced me that I can do anything.”

MMA athletes train eight hours a day. The challenge is greater for women in Pakistan, as they have to train with men Anita’s confidence along with her level of performance, is something rarely seen in the ring. She has only gone from strength to strength in every fight. She emerged victorious with seven gold medals and a silver medal at the Pakistan Grappling Challenge (PGC) 2017-2018. One fight in particular, won her the title of “Arm Collector”, as she won all her bouts in that fight through arm locks.

“I participated in a grappling competition, my first bout outside Taekwondo. I was up against a technically sound girl from a renowned gym. In a dramatic turn of events, I caught her in a Kimura (a type of armlock); for whatever reasons, she didn’t or couldn’t tap, and her arm snapped,” she said.

Teaching self-defence Anita won her first international fight, One Warrior Series (OWS), on February 28, 2019, against Indonesia’s Gita

MMA traces its origins to the inter-stylistic duels that to ok place throughout Japan and ot her far eastern natio ns througho ut the early part of the previous century.

2

MARCH 14, 2021

My first bout outside Taekwondo, I was up against a technically sound girl from a renowned gym. I caught her in a Kimura armlock. For whatever reason, she did not or could not tap, and her arm snapped Anita Karim

Suharsono.

While recalling the time she came back to Pakistan after winning her first international fight, Anita said that she was given a very warm welcome by her family and all the men and women of her region. “The best moment was when I started hearing from the people that they want not only for their daughters to become like me but that they also want me to train their sons to become like me. This was the beginning of the rise of female MMA fighters in Pakistan. That one fight did it all,” she said.

“I still remember the words of my father that if I want to take this up as a profession, then I have to succeed because if I don’t, it will close the doors for many other females who want to take up similar sports,” she said. “I did all the hard work I could just to keep my father’s word and today I have achieved the first step, and many more are yet to come,” she added.

Ehtisham, while explaining the importance of Anita’s win, said, “The spark that I saw in the eyes of the girls of the town, was enough for me. They now have someone to look up to. Before Anita, there was no one, no example to be given to the young girls. All the girls in the Gilgit-Baltistan region can achieve what Anita has as hard work, and fighting is in the genetics of this region,” he said.

Since then, many female students, doctors, working women, and others have joined our gym to get MMA training to become a fighter and learn self-defense. “In Pakistan, we have seen many harassment cases, and in most of them, the females are blamed. This is because they don’t have the self-confidence to speak up or to take action against it. If they go out confidently, then no one would dare to touch any woman. MMA is not just about going in the ring and fighting but it also teaches self-defense techniques that every woman should learn. This sport involves physical and mental training. Whenever a woman comes across any harassment, they have to be mentally strong to think about what action to take, then it comes down to the physical training that helps her defend herself,” he says.

“We at Fight Fortress MMA Gym teach the women how to defend themselves and make their mental fitness strong too. Many women have started to join us and some are determined to learn more and more. A woman living in the city requires much more work than a woman living on hills and mountains,” Anita said, adding that training with men also helps in developing self-defense as you get to know how men react in combat.

According to Ehtisham, whenever someone joins the gym, he asks them to leave their egos at the door and do as the instructor says. “MMA cannot afford any laziness. You have to be active throughout. This is why mental health is important. If you think that you have done enough for the

s ch contest t behind su rts p ce n co The f the a h some o e their along wit also mad m e th of in d e is u ct mm nity pra with a co l zi ra B . way to migrants Japanese post-War

If one won’t see any future of the sport, then the number of fighters will remain low Ehtisham Karim day and you got tiered, that the time when you start losing. Many females come here who are dedicated fighter but still require years of hard work to become a professional fighter,” he said, adding that it takes around three to four years of rigorous training for a woman to become a professional fighter.

By explaining the type of training the other girls are being given, Ehtisham said they are being trained on the same model as Anita was trained. “The chunk that has the desire to become professional fighters is just 1-2 per cent, rest come to learn self-defense,” he said. “One has to put their full in training. You need patience, believe in yourself, do what you have to do, no ifs, no buts.”

Making women independent Female fighters in Pakistan are often discouraged by society but if they are given the right motivation and support, they can become the country’s pride like Anita.

“I have seen from childhood that the women are dependent either on their fathers or husbands after marriage. I never liked to hear that a woman should be home before night or that a woman should stay within her limits,” said Anita. “I feel sad when I hear people talking about female taking up a sport that involves fighting, develop their minds that the women will fight with everyone. I even heard that if she learns to fight, she will not be able to control her anger after marriage and will fight with everyone.

But it is the opposite. It teaches discipline and helps us to control our nerves.”

Anita, while recalling a memory of when she gained confidence to compete, said that the support of parents is really important. “Parents play an important role. I still remember that my father once decided to test my MMA skills in the beginning and asked me to try my skills on him. I told him that if I get a punch, I won’t stop until I take revenge.

Then I took him on and locked him in a rear-naked choke. A new person can only survive 10-15 seconds, while a trained athlete can bear upto 30 seconds. So I started counting, and my father started to faint after five seconds so I loosened my hold. That was day my father said that he has full confi-

In the West, the idea to ta ke what works from various fight ing styles was made po pular by none other than Bruce Le e and his ph ilosophy of Jeet Kune Do.

stler essional wre Japanese prof kistan Pa in s ou i, fam Antonio Inok d an with Akram for his bouts e one id ov pr ld an, wou Jhara Pehlw ith his w A M modern M template for Ali. ad m am uh ith M 1976 fight w

dence in me,” she said.

Anita believes that women should not be dependent on anyone to go somewhere. “They should be able to work as men and MMA teaches that,” she says.

The future of women in MMA Although many women have started to train in MMA, according to Anita, there is a long way to go before Pakistan will list among the top MMA fighters. “The women have the potential to do that. We just have to be dedicated and never give up. One should keep trying and facing the difficult phases in life, but giving up should not be the option. I have had many occasions where I could have given up gone back to my region to do the same thing that other women are doing,” she says.

Ehtisham believes that a woman should learn household work but at the same time should be independent enough to take care of herself. “Anita has learned all the household work. She is an expert in doing everything but her skills at MMA are the best. This was possible only because she kept on trying and fighting herself to become a stronger fighter,” he said.

He also emphasised the importance of holding local leagues and competitions. “Right now, there is no league in Pakistan for both male and female fighters. There is a lot of potential, but the platform is not given. If one won’t see any future of the sport, then the number of fighters will remain low, and Pakistan won’t be able to participate internationally.”

Many female students and working women have joined Ehtisham’s gym to learn MMA techniques for self-defence “There are cages at the amateur level academies which lets them get the experience. The more a fighter fights, the more experience he gets. No matter how much training you do, the skills that you learn from a fight in a cage cannot be learned anywhere else,” he said.

He also added that the need for working at the grassroots level is really important. “You cannot make international participation if you only hold major tournaments. You have to invest in the grassroots. Only then you can make great fighters.

The MMA re volution, ho wever, would be us hered in by th e emergence in 1993 of U FC, which origin ally served as annual showcase fo r Brazil’s Gra cie family and their styl e of jiu-jitsu.

Photos: ONE Championship

CULTURE & SOCIETY

TROUBLE IN PARADISE

Story by: Hamid Hussain | Design: Umar Waqas

Construction of houses, commercial buildings in water channels, release of sewage water and dumping of waste threatens both the beauty and environmental balance of Swat River The scenic Swat valley, which is considered the ‘Switzerland of Pakistan’ is gradually losing its natural beauty due to environmental degradation caused by deforestation, air pollution, water contamination, soil erosion, population explosion, urbanisation, industrialisation, use of plastic bags, noise pollution and climate change.

The 2010 floods that wreaked havoc in Swat valley was a warning for taking measures to protect the delicate ecological balance of the region. Deforestation and unplanned urbanisation has already stressed the ecology of the region.

The population of the Swat district has increased from 1.2 million in 1998 to 2.31 million in 2017 while the only available plain area on both sides of Swat River is insufficient for the increasing population. New settlements are being made in the mountains, which are cracking the natural balance of the ecology.

Freshwater is being polluted on a daily basis in the district where an unprecedented amount of waste is dumped in Swat River.

Environmental expert Assistant Professor Dr Abdul Aziz at the Sheringal University, Upper Dir told The Express Tribune that unplanned construction of houses, commercial buildings especially close to Swat River and different streams and in the mountains is causing environmental degradation. Sewerage from houses and hotels is being dumped into Swat River, which is polluting the river.

He says that decreasing forest cover has slowed down the water flow due to which every year floods hits the region with greater intensity as the water, undeterred by surrounding vegetation, flows at a faster speed.

As a first step to protect the Swat river and its tributaries, the government must immediately stop illegal sand mining Dr Aziz says restoration of tourism activities following the military operation without taking adequate measures for protection of environment are also causing severe environmental damage which will have devastating impacts on local population and rest of the province.

With provincial government banking tourism to revive economy, the number of tourists to the Swat valley has increased manifold but there seems to be no strategic plan which will stop the environmental degradation, he added.

An environmental activist from Mingora, Shaukat Ali told The Express Tribune that during his recent visit to Kalam he noticed that the blood and other leftovers of the slaughtered animals is being flushed openly into Swat River right in the middle of Kalam valley. This is all happening right under the nose of the Kalam Tehsil municipal authorities, which are responsible for ensuring that municipal waste is dumped properly.

Photos: Hamid Hussain

Ali says the Swat River, which is a vital supply of water for the communities living in the Swat valley and for people of the rest of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) province, has become a dumping site for raw sewage and rubbish.

As the river crosses through villages and bazars, the water quality and colour changes, he said.

The Water and Sanitation Services in Swat do not have any landfill sites and even the dump domestic waste in the river.

Hotels, houses in waterways People have rebuilt the hotels that were swept away by the floods of 2010. Noone from the relevant authorities have stopped the hotel owners from rebuilding their hotels inside the Swat River and other small streams, says Altaf Hussain, who is an environmental expert and former lecturer at the Environmental Department of University of Swat.

Hussain who belongs to Barikot area of Swat says that both people and the authorities have forgotten about the floods of 2010. The hotels, privately owned buildings beside and inside the river would be completely exposed in the event of another flood, he feared.

The environmentalist says the Darral Khwar, one of the main water streams that feed the mighty Swat River has been encroached upon in Bahrain area of the valley. Markets have been built inside the stream while the authorities have turned a blind to the situation. The main Bahrain market witnesses severe floods almost every year. The situation in Fizagat area of Swat is no different where hotels and restaurants have encroached on the river basin with no protection from flooding.

Regarding newly discovered tourist spots, the former lecturer says Gabeen Jabba will soon become denuded hillside.

Heavy number of visitors who throw trash everywhere is disturbing the ecology of the area. The tourists’ vandalism on the mountain tops will lead to a higher melting of snow and coupled with global warming, it could lead to severe flash floods every year, he explained.

Hussain further said that another major issue is the unprecedented decrease in the snow in the glaciers above Kalam.

Researcher, writer and advocate of the cultural and indigenous rights of the marginalised mountain communities of Pakistan Zubair Torwali told The Express Tribune that unplanned rapid urbanisation and industrialisation in Swat was one of the major causes of environmental degradation. “Climate change is being witnessed in Swat valley. Irregularity in weather pattern has increased while this year the spring weather has arrived early, which means a prolonged summer.”

Torwali says another problem is the uncontrolled and mostly illegal sand and rocks mining from Swat riverbed for construction. This practice is destroying the river, he added.

As a first step to protect the Swat river and its tributaries, the government must immediately stop the illegal sand mining, he said, adding that the K-P

carbon dioxide, affecting the fish.

The report recommends a recycling unit for Mingora city so that organic waste is converted into organic fertiliser and marble factories along the riverbank should be prohibited from constructing silting tanks for deposition of their waste into the river.

Lastly, the leather and cosmetic industries should obtain a no objection certificate from the environment department before starting to function, so that heavy metal and chlorine is kept from being dumped into the river.

In another report of an enquiry conducted by the K-P Planning and Development Department it was revealed that solid waste dumped on the bank of Swat River has polluted its water, which poses a serious threat to the aquatic life.

Laws to curb Swat River pollution

Everyone has forgotten about the 2010 floods. Hotels beside the river would be exposed if there is another flood Environmental expert Altaf Hussain Rivers Protection Ordinance, 2002 should be implemented in letter and spirit.

The indigenous activist said another major issue is the construction of houses and commercial buildings on the riverside. The excavated material from the road between Bahrain and Kalam was thrown into the Swat River, which could cause flooding in the river during monsoon.

Torwali who hails from Kohistan region says illegal cutting of trees during the Covid-19 pandemic was very high. The forest cover in Kalam and the rest of the Swat valley has caused irreparable loss during the pandemic, he informed.

He says heavy influx of tourists is also a major problem because they throw plastic bottles and other stuff which is causing pollution in different scenic spots and lakes in Swat valley.

The famous Mahodand Lake and Osho Forest in Kalam have been littered with plastic waste.

Locally made substandard snacks which are packaged in plastic in every nook and corner of the area is yet another major source of pollution. Children, adults eat and throw the plastic on the ground which eventually ends up in the small water tributaries.

Along with the forest department efforts, the authorities need to strengthen the local traditional mechanism for protection of forests. Environment impact assessment should be made a mandatory requirement before launching any development or tourism related projects in Swat, he asserted.

In January last year, K-P Chief Minister Mahmood Khan chaired a meeting over the issue of environmental degradation in Swat especially the dumping of domestic sewerage and industrial waste into Swat River. The meeting had decided to raise the issue in the provincial assembly for making laws to curb the increasing water pollution in the valley. However, so far no progress has been witnessed in this regard.

CM Mahmood, who hails from Swat had issued directives for preventive measures to control environmental degradation in the district. He had also directed for conducting a scientific examination on the causes of environmental degradation in the district.

The provincial chief executive had warned that rapid deterioration of the environment is an alarming situation, and it was high time to take adequate measures.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials during the meeting informed that approximately 38 marble factories and 350 hotels in the area while a few industries have been set up. Of the hotels operating in the valley, 102 of them are located along the banks of the Swat River. These hotels, the chief minister was informed, dump their waste and sewage into the river. The environment protection body had serviced notices on 117 hotel owners in the valley in 2019.

The officials said that the government was still collecting data about dumping of untreated sewerage into the river. According to data collected from Matta tehsil of Swat as many as 1,450 sewerage lines empty into the river out of which at least 126 have been removed.

The EPA Regional Office Assistant Director Majid Khan told The Express Tribune that the agency has taken several measures with the assistance of district administration.

The official did not mention the actions taken for protection of environment in the scenic valley.

Urban sprawl

1.1m

Water pollution In October 2016, the K-P Fisheries Department had constituted a technical committee to investigate the incidents of a mysterious disease affecting the fish in the Swat River. A report by the committee revealed water pollution was the main cause of the the fish dying in large numbers in the rivers.

The report stated that water pollution has changed the chemical makeup of the river. It is an alarming threat to aquatic life. Rains and subsequent floods in Swat River, causes depletion of oxygen in the river water, it added.

It further stated, due to decomposition of organic waste products, the need for oxygen in the water also increased as decomposition and other chemical reactions resulted in accumulation of

is by how much the population of Swat district has increased since 1998

MARCH 14, 2021

3

POLITICS & WORLD AFFAIRS

Afghanistan: Are we in the endgame now?

Story by: Naveed Husssain | Design by: Ibrahim Yahya

A recently leaked letter has laid bare US frustrations with Kabul’s footdragging over the Afghan peace process. With Washington setting its sights on other, more strategic challenges, it offers a sneak-peak at the strategy Biden may pursue

Last week, a letter from the new US administration to the Afghan president generated a lot of media buzz. This was more so because the letter was confidential and was leaked to an Afghan TV news channel – perhaps by someone in the presidential palace. The letter may not have taken Kabul by surprise, but the ‘not-so-veiled threat’ it contained did. Afghanistan’s governing elite were miffed and they didn’t hide it.

The letter surfaced shortly after a flurry of whirlwind visits

by Ambassador Zalmey Khalilzad, the US peace emissary for Afghanistan, to Doha, Kabul, and Islamabad. Khalilzad’s Doha meeting cleared fears and misgivings swirling around the media about Biden’s possible course of action in Afghanistan. A guessing game has been ongoing since Biden ordered a ‘review’ of the peace deal signed by his predecessor with the Taliban. The new developments indicate Biden doesn’t want to upset the apple cart.

He appears inclined to take up the Doha process where it was left off by the Donald Trump administration with a few tweaks here and there.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed the letter to both President Ashraf Ghani and High Peace Council Chairman Dr Abdullah Abdullah. The move shows the Biden administration’s desire to jumpstart the moribund process for a political settlement in Afghanistan. At the same time, it offers a sneak-peak at the strategy President Biden might pursue to this end.

The leaked letter In the letter, Blinken spells out a four-point plan to “move matters more fundamentally and quickly.” The plan envisages 1.) ministeriallevel talks bringing officials from Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, and India together with the US to discuss a ‘unified approach’; 2.) proposals “aimed at expediting discussions on a negotiated settlement and ceasefire; 3.) a senior-level meeting between the Taliban and the Afghan government in Turkey; and 4.) a proposal to implement a 90day reduction in violence.

Unsustainable

with Ghani’s often-intransigent stance in the on-again, off-again peace talks. Tellingly, similar letters were sent to President Ghani and Abdullah – something many believe signals the two are seen as equal by the new US administration. And if Ghani rejects and Abdullah accepts the roadmap, then the US might cast its lot with the latter to rev up the stalled peace drive.

‘Hollowed-out’ security forces Blinken’s straight talk on Afghanistan’s security shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Internal US assessments have consistently painted a grim picture.

“The Afghan security forces look robust on paper, with 352,000 soldiers and police officers. But the Afghan government can prove that only 254,000 of them serve in the ranks,” The Washington Post wrote in a report last December. “For years, Afghan commanders inflated the numbers so they could pocket salaries — paid by US taxpayers — for no-show or imaginary personnel, according to US government audits,” revealed the report based on the Afghanistan Papers, a confidential trove of government documents made public by The Post.

US military trainers have described the Afghan security forces as “incompetent, unmotivated and rife with deserters,” it added. One officer said one-third of police recruits were ‘drug addicts or Taliban’.

Another called them ‘stealing fools’ who looted so much fuel from US bases that they perpetually smelled of gasoline. None of the trainers expressed confidence that the Afghan army and police could ever fend off, much less defeat, the Taliban on their own.

Moreover, high casualty and desertion rates, low morale, and ineffective military leadership have hollowed out the Afghan forces. President Ghani said in January 2019 that about 45,000 Afghan troops and policemen had been killed since he took office in September 2014 – a casualty rate security experts say is not sustainable.

Saleh’s hubris and Ghani’s grandiose delusion cannot change the stark fact that the Afghan security forces remain dependent on Nato. Blinken might have sounded blunt or bossy, but his warning is based on a realistic assessment of the situation on ground.

$8.5 billion

REPORTED CIVILIAN CASUALTIES BY PARTY ATTRIBUTION

per year is the amount Afghanistan would require to ensure delivery of basic services

43% Taliban

For Afghans, this could be a defining moment. Political leaders, including the Taliban, need to rise above tribal and ethnic affiliations, and show magnanimity

Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan Killed

Injured

Blinken concludes the letter with a chilling warning: “We are considering the full withdrawal of our forces by May 1, as we consider other options.” Under the Doha deal signed in February 2020, all foreign troops must leave Afghanistan by May 1, 2021. The drawdown process began immediately after the deal signing and now Afghanistan hosts only 2,500 US servicemen [Nato troops not included].

“Even with the continuation of financial assistance from the United States to your forces after an American military withdrawal, I am concerned the security situation will worsen and that the Taliban could make rapid territorial gains,” Blinken wrote. He asked the Afghan leader to “understand the urgency of my tone.”

Blinken’s message to Ghani, to paraphrase his letter, is clear and blunt: the glacial pace of the Doha process is not acceptable; better show “urgent leadership” and help speed up the peace drive or else the American forces would withdraw leaving Ghani at the mercy of a resurgent Taliban. Currently, around 30 per cent of Afghanistan’s 407 districts are under the government control. The Taliban hold sway in 20 per cent, while the rest are contested, according to the Long War Journal.

Blinken’s plan has triggered a mixed response – from outright rejection by the governing elite, to muted acquiescence by Afghanistan’s chief peacemaker and the Taliban. The bluntest reaction came from the first vice president. “We have the right not to hang the fate of 35 million people on someone else’s schedule,” Amrullah Saleh told a gathering in Kabul a day after the leaked letter surfaced. “The Americans and their Western allies have every right to decide the fate of 2,500 US and a few thousand Nato troops now stationed in our country,” he added while dismissing Blinken’s threat.

The new US plan envisions the formation of a ‘transitional peace government’ that would eventually transfer power to a permanent government “following the adoption of a new constitution and national elections.” The Taliban, who claim to be a government in exile, do not accept Afghanistan’s current constitution. Neither do they recognise the Ghani government which they mock as a “puppet propped up by its foreign backers.”

Ghani seems to have publicly rejected the roadmap. “Free, fair, and inclusive elections under the auspices of the international community should be the only way to form a new government,” he told lawmakers at the Afghan parliament. “Any institution can write a fantasy on a piece of paper and suggest a solution for Afghanistan. These papers have been written in the past and will be written in the future. Our guarantee is our constitution.”

However, Abdullah Abdullah, who at one point had set up a parallel government after a bitter election dispute with Ghani in 2019, said all proposals should be discussed. “I don’t defend or acknowledge US foreign secretary’s letter, but it talks about national consensus and acceleration of the peace process,” he said.

The tone and tenor of the letter reflects America’s frustration

41% Unknown Insurgents

1% Other/ Unknown

x 5 Districts

4,551,049

Taliban control

Districts

Unconfirmable Taliban claim of control

3

4

MARCH 14, 2021

IS-K

The financial cost of the protracted US military campaign in Afghanistan has been staggering – with some estimates putting it at a whopping $1 trillion. The US allocated more than $133 billion to rebuild the war-torn country — more than it had spent to revive Western Europe with the Marshall Plan after World War II, according to the Post investigation.

Perhaps this gusher of dollars and the mindless rush to spend this money was a fatal mistake. A 2016 report from the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) strongly criticised Washington for pouring billions of dollars into Afghanistan with so little oversight that it fueled a culture of ‘rampant corruption’ while the US officials failed to recognise the lethal threat it posed to their strategy.

Christopher Kolenda, a colonel who advised three US generals in charge of the Afghan war, said the Hamid Karzai-led government had “self-organised into a kleptocracy” by 2006. “I like to use a cancer analogy,” The Post investigation quoted Kolenda as telling government interviewers. “Petty corruption is like skin cancer; there are ways to deal with it and you’ll probably be just fine. Corruption within the ministries, higher level, is like colon cancer; it’s worse, but if you catch it in time, you’re probably ok.

Kleptocracy, however, is like brain cancer; it’s fatal.”

This cancer required surgical intervention, but it was knowingly left to rot and fester. Soon, the cancer metastasised to the entire government machinery with government officials, including judges, bureaucrats, and law enforcers, brazenly minting money in bribes, and in the process eroding whatever little credibility or legitimacy the central government could muster. The main

Population

92,381

ANSDF

‘Kleptocratic’ ruling elite

Taliban Control in Afghanistan x 50,000 People

5% 9%

75

POLITICS & WORLD AFFAIRS beneficiary of this endemic culture of corruption was the Taliban.

The militia cashed in on the pent-up grievances of the Afghan people and their growing distrust in the government to project itself as a saviour.

Alarmingly, there has been no improvement. Last year, Integrity Watch Afghanistan, a nongovernmental organisation that works to increase transparency and accountability, said no action has been taken to weed out corruption despite the government’s countless commitments to the global community to this effect. The Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Investment endorsed the concerns.

“Extortion and the involvement of strongmen have increased, the government does not bother to confront them, the most dangerous thing is that sometimes there has been the involvement of high level officials, even at the level of minister,” it said.

UN OCHA-COORDINATED CONTRIBUTIONS

BY DONOR, CALENDAR YEAR 2020

Germany

US

5%

UN Cerf

5%

World Bank

26%

13% EU

The Trillion Dollar War Cost of the Afghanistan Conflict in USD

What next?

34%

4%

government interviewers in 2015. “What are we trying to do here?

We didn’t have the foggiest notion of what we were undertaking,” he admitted, according to The Post investigation.

Senior officials in the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations consistently lied about the war throughout the long campaign “making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable.” And instead of acknowledging their inherently flawed strategies and lack of clear objectives, they looked for scapegoats – a move that further strained its relations with regional countries.

Afghanistan remains as fractured as ever, as polarised as ever, as volatile as ever. The longest, costliest – and perhaps the bloodiest – military campaign in US history couldn’t change much. Nearly 2,400 US servicemen have been killed, another 20,589 maimed during the bloody campaign that cost America a whopping $1 trillion. It’s becoming increasingly difficult for the administration to explain to US taxpayers that the unwinnable war is worth fighting.

Other

14% UK

Economic fragility A viable and functioning economy is essential for Afghanistan to survive and thrive. But decades of war and rampant corruption have stymied its economic growth. While the Afghan security forces are financially and tactically dependent on Nato, Afghanistan’s economy relies heavily on foreign assistance. According to one estimate, nearly half of Afghanistan’s $20 billion economy comprises aid from international donors.

In November 2020, Afghanistan’s development partners pledged $3 billion for 2021 with a total of $12 billion offered over four years at a ministerial conference in Geneva. The aid has strings attached: Kabul has to rein in the runaway corruption, dial down violence and negotiate a ceasefire. It was the third such conference. At the previous two, Afghanistan had received a whopping $31 billion – $15 billion at Brussels in October 2016 and $16 billion at Tokyo in 2012.

According to the recent World Bank estimates, Afghanistan would require $8.5 billion per year through 2024 to ensure delivery of basic social services and provide the cost of running the government administration. The country’s economy has been in stagnation since 2014, which triggered a sharp uptick in poverty and unemployment. Fears abound that a reduction in foreign aid might result in economic collapse.

America’s Afghan strategy (or lack thereof) Afghanistan carries the macabre epitaph ‘graveyard of empires’.

The Americans knew that. And perhaps they had, or believed to have, a plan to prove it wrong. “The history of military conflict in Afghanistan [has] been one of initial success, followed by long years of floundering and ultimate failure. We’re not going to repeat that mistake,” President George W Bush said in a speech at the Virginia Military Institute on April 17, 2002, soon after toppling the Taliban regime. But that didn’t happen.

In the beginning, the US mission had a clear, stated objective: to disrupt and defeat al Qaeda and prevent a repeat of 9/11. But the goalpost started shifting as the war dragged on. Administration officials started talking about turning Afghanistan into a democracy, transforming the local culture and empowering women – something completely alien to the Afghan society where tribal and ethnic affiliations trump everything else.

This lack of clarity was further compounded by the US distrust of most countries in Afghanistan’s neighbourhood and its attempt to reconfigure the regional balance of power among Pakistan, India, Iran and Russia. In doing so, the US policymakers overlooked concerns of Afghanistan’s neighbours, which created suspicions and doubts and resulted in the lack of regional cooperation the US badly required to stabilise the volatile country.

“We were devoid of a fundamental understanding of Afghanistan — we didn’t know what we were doing,” Douglas Lute, a three-star army general who served as the White House’s Afghan war czar during the Bush and Obama administrations, told

The war in Afghanistan is in a strategic stalemate. US officials admit a battlefield victory is no longer the mission goal. More fighting means more death and destruction and more American taxpayers’ money.

Time might be on the Taliban side as they can wait out the foreign forces while eroding the government’s control bit by bit. The picture is grim and becomes even grimmer by the day. So, what are the policy options available for the Biden administration?

There could be three possible scenarios: 1.) to adhere to the troop withdrawal timetable agreed in Doha; 2.) to delay exit and pursue a vigorous diplomatic effort to negotiate a political end to the conflict; and 3.) to continue fighting a war the US and its allies could not win in 20 years. All three options are fraught with risks.

And Biden has to choose the least risky one. The US president’s decision to retain Khalilzad as peace emissary and Blinken’s letter to President Ghani make it amply clear that Option 3 is off the table.

As far Option 1, there are fears Afghanistan might relapse into chaos after the troop pullout without a permanent political settlement. This is a nightmarish scenario for the US policymakers as this would undo the gains of two decades, unleashing torrents of criticism globally and eventually pushing the Americans back into the fray. Recent statements from US and Nato officials indicate their troops would not leave Afghanistan ‘before the time is right’.

This leaves the Biden administration with Option 2, but the Taliban might construe a unilateral delay in troop withdrawal as a breach of the Doha deal. The new US administration has to directly engage with the Taliban to renegotiate any tweak in the withdrawal timetable. This process, Khalilzad’s recent Doha visit shows, is already underway.

At what cost

2,400 US military servicemen have been killed in the longest, costliest and perhaps the bloodiest military campaign in US history This is perhaps the most pragmatic approach. Staying on indefinitely in a country surrounded by states with which the US has either hostile or not-so-ideal relations would only sink Washington deeper into the Afghan quicksand. Moreover, Biden’s recent push to cobble up the so-called Quad, a four-way alliance of the US, Australia, Japan and India for a “sovereign, independent Indo-Pacific,” shows the Americans have a bigger fish to fry.

For regional players – neighbours in particular, Afghanistan should no longer be seen as a battleground for turf wars in pursuit of their geopolitical and geostrategic objectives. This would only perpetuate the vicious cycle of violence in a country that has been caught up in the proxy wars of regional and international powers since the late 70s. But for this to happen, the US would have to make sure its endgame plan is not influenced by its new strategic alignments in the region.

For Afghans, this should be a defining moment. The political players, including the Taliban, need to rise above their tribal and ethnic affiliations, give up parochialism, show leadership and magnanimity, and do whatever it takes for peace in their country, which has suffered far too much over the last four decades. Nothing should be set in stone. The only non-negotiable thing should be the interests of the Afghan people who deserve to live in peace and prosper.

For all stakeholders, the road to peace may not be easy one. It may be strewn with bumps and potholes. Spoilers – both within and outside Afghanistan – may also try to set up roadblocks in their efforts to throw the process off the rail. But this is the only road that leads to a peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan, which is the key to regional peace and stability.

15,157,565

GOA controlled or undetermined

133

US Troop Levels in Afghanistan

13,205,484

Contested

187 MARCH 14, 2021

5

EDUCATION

Futures suspended by a tug of war In a bid to bring education in line with global standards, HEC announced an end to two-year degrees. As the Sindh govt refuses to comply, students wonder if their qualifications will even have value A YUSRA SALIM KARACHI

While graduate students are eligible for commissioned exams after these changes, job opportunities for them are shrinking

What if I want to apply for a government job after getting my degree? They will never accept it [the job application] if the federal organisation does not consider my degree valid Student Iqra Khan

6

MARCH 14, 2021

Holding her plastic folder in hand and waiting in line for her turn to submit some forms at University of Karachi’s silver jubilee gate section, Kiran Fatima reveals that she was in shock when she learned that the Higher Education Commission (HEC) had closed down two-year degree programmes. Fatima who has already appeared in part one of her BA degree now considers her future to be in shambles as her plans to do an MA after completing her BA and then help financially support her widowed mother seem all but derailed for now.

Iqra Khan’s story is not very different either. Khan, who has plans to apply for teaching later on, has two papers left in Islamic studies before her MA is completed. “What is the use of appearing now and getting a degree if it is not recognised [afterwards]?” she said. “What if I want to apply for a government job after getting my degree? They will never accept it [the job application] if the federal organisation does not consider my degree valid.”

There are several students who have similar stories to that of Fatima and Khan. Hundreds and thousands are just a few exams shy of finishing their degrees or have registered and were on the cusp of taking their examinations.

To equalise the standards of education in Pakistan with that of the rest of the world, HEC has been trying time and again to implement new rules and make changes in the existing system of degree years and credit hours. Recently, a tug of war between the Government of Sindh and Federal HEC began when the regulatory body announced to put an end to the two-year degree programmes. However, the universities and boards authorities in Sindh have decided to continue these programmes, whereas in Punjab, the programme has been ended and a substitute programme has been accepted.

In 2011, the Associate Degree programme (AD) was announced as an alternative to the BA/BSc degree programme, where the former is equivalent to 14 years of schooling, and entitles graduates to get admission in the 5th semester of respective BS programmes after fulfilling respective university’s entry requirements, just like previous students used to get accepted into an MA programme after completing their BA/BSc degrees, explained Ayesha Ikram, who is serving as the Director General in the Human Resource Development at the HEC. In 2016, the transition period for the concluding programme came to an end and a final decision was made to halt admissions into the BA/ BSc programmes on December 31, 2018 followed by a decision to stop admissions into the MA/MSc programmes on December 31, 2020. It was also decided that the last BA/BSc exam would be held in 2020, and that the admission to the last batch of MA/MSc students would take place before December 31, 2020. These decisions were confirmed in 2017 and the universities were simultaneously informed, and reminders about this decision were sent to universities thereafter in 2018, 2019 and again in 2020. Clarifying HEC’s position, Ikram said that the HEC has not ended the twoyear programme, rather stopped admissions into the two-year BA/BSc programme after December 2018. After that deadline, admissions were only to be given into the AD programme, which is also a two-year programme.

Despite HEC’s clear notifications of the change in policies, University of Karachi, in clear defiance of HEC’s announcement, continued to enroll students into the two-year-degree programmes. However, according to Ikram, the fate of these students and institutes will now clearly be impacted by the violation of this rule as BA/ BSc degrees issued after 2021 will not be recognised by the HEC.

Students hang in the balance Students who are in a limbo over this tug of war and have enrolled into the programmes or have completed one year are asked to enroll in a regular AD programme or will enroll in the distance learning mode. However, any degree of BA/BSc will not be entertained or recognised by the HEC. According to Ikram, the change was made because the four-year BS programme helps universities plan the education process better and it is also consistent with the international practice.

“HEC is continuously trying to improve the quality of the graduate programmes,” she said.

But what of the state universities in this current

scenario where a large amount of their revenue is generated from these private bachelors and masters degree programme? “Universities are advised to adhere to rules as they [HEC] are fountains for knowledge and are creating future leaders. They should not violate the existing rules,” she said.

Same mistakes, different faces According to Shakeel Farooqi, representative Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA), none of the chairpersons appointed by the HEC until today including Dr Ata-ur-Rahman, Tariq Banori, Javed Laghari and Mukhtar Ahmed, have ever served as a proper educationist or teacher in the academia which is why they cannot understand the outcry and also cannot connect to the issue in terms of how students suffer from such decisions.

“Majority of the students cannot afford to come to regular universities, they earn in the morning and appear privately for exams,” he said adding, “HEC is trying to take away the opportunity of middle-class students to complete his BA and start earning, they are now in a state where they do not have the option of studying privately like they used to.”

HEC created a similar situation when it announced the BS fouryear programme and later on kept recognising other programmes While graduate level students are eligible for the commissioned exams in the province after these changes, it should be noted that the job opportunities of these students are shrinking, which is counterproductive as the ultimate goal of majority of the students, after completing 14 years of education, is to ultimately get a job.

“Pakistan’s higher education is useless because where we need to make education affordable and easier because we are not very strong economically, we are trying our very hard to make it difficult for the students,” he added.

Sharing how HEC has been shifting from one stance to another, and keep changing policies every now and then, he said that the visionary committee including several university professors, presented this same Associate Degree in 1999 as well, after which the student wotould be eligible join university in third year and were also eligible to appear in CSS exams.

HEC created a similar situation to that of the current one, when they announced the BS fouryear programme and later on kept recognising other programmes. “Students and their admissions at the University of Karachi faced hundreds of problems on a daily basis after which, the university with HEC’s approval announced conversion and later on closed down giving admissions in BS programme,” he said while sharing how now University of Karachi just offered BA(Hons), BSc (Hons), MA and MSc.

Sindh Government’s grit to ignore HEC To take this issue of students one step ahead, the adviser to the Chief Minister of Sindh on Educational Boards and Universities, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro announced that Sindh will continue the two-year programmes and is not closing it down despite whatever HEC has to say.

While talking to The Express Tribune, Khuhro said that, “After the 18th amendment, HEC cannot force us to comply with their policy and it is about the future of hundreds of thousands of students who will be destitute after this decision”.

He also said that the Sindh Government will go into court against them and this decision of theirs. “Majority of the students who apply to these programmes are supporting their families financially by working during the day and cannot attend regular universities which is why HEC needs to understand that there are a lot of students who need moral support and at least complete BA/BSc privately or from concerned colleges,” Khuhro explained adding that, “There is a whole system in place from colleges which will lapse as soon we start implementing this decision and the outcome is also not in favor of the students, which is why we will rectify this policy on every level.” (DETAILS OF THE AD ARE AVAILABLE IN THE UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION POLICY IN 2020 POLICY CAN BE DOWNLOADED FROM HTTPS://WWW.HEC.GOV.PK/ENGLISH/SERVICES/FACULTY/ PLAGIARISM/DOCUMENTS/UGE-POLICY.PDF)

Photos: Agencies/Creative Common

ART, MEDIA & LITERATURE

Lady Susan & other ‘cunning’ heroines FARWA NAQVI

Everyone loves to read female characters who manage to be outspoken in adversarial circumstances and fight to snatch their rights. Those who are isolated but refuse to remain voiceless give hope to us all. But what of the women who are not in a position to do that? Those who have no choice but to use tools such as manipulation to get what they want? Such characters are usually frowned at but what people often don’t realise is that while it is brave to raise one’s voice against injustice, for many women who are trying to make ends meet, it is not a realistic possibility.

Lady Susan is one of those rare characters who have nothing to gain by speaking out.

So she twists difficult situations in her favour by using her power subtly. The central character of an obscure novel by Jane Austen by the same name, Lady Susan Vernon is a widow in her thirties who has no wealth left and has no way of ensuring a comfortable life for herself and her daughter except by enchanting the men who can give it to her. Described by their peers as scheming and clever, she is despised by most of her peers.

Fully aware of the gossip she inspires, Lady Susan, instead of despairing, takes it upon herself to prove her haters wrong by disarming them with her charm and then uses the change of opinion to her advantage.

Lady Susan understands the importance of keeping up appearances and acting in an agreeable manner so as to not offend the society “There is exquisite pleasure in subduing an insolent spirit, in making a person predetermined to dislike acknowledge one’s superiority,” she tells her friend and partner in crime Mrs Johnson in a letter.

Lady Susan makes that remark after noting that her sister-in-law’s brother already had a negative opinion of the widow before they even met.

She is also not averse to seeking pleasure and is unapologetic about being in a relationship with a married man and the chaos that it leads to. She would rather wreak havoc on a family than be cowed into hiding what she wants.

Austen’s wit and sarcasm shines in the epistolary novel, which shatters the author’s reputation as one only capable of writing stories about love and marriage. Despite being written in the late 18th century - though it was published much

Photos: File

later - the story is ahead of its time. At a time when women had little control or agency, Lady Susan stands out as one who is incredibly self-aware and knows how to get what she needs and wants. She is not ignorant of society’s contempt towards women who come across as intimidating and goes to great lengths to appear as non-threatening and innocent as she can.

Even in the contemporary world, independent, outspoken women make society uncomfortable and insecure and the latter often goes to great lengths to silence such females by casting them in a negative light and launching personal attacks. The recent interview of Duke and Duchess of Sussex Harry and Meghan comes to mind, where the latter has been viciously attacked by the British tabloid media for speaking out about mental health problems that she suffered from when part of the royal family as well as highlighting the racism that exists in the Institution.

Closer to home, we have women like actor Mehwish Hayat who was trolled and defamed when she was nominated for Sitarai-Imtiaz. Many commenters on social media accused her of handing out sexual favours to earn the coveted award, criticised her for her appearance and dressing for no apparent reason. Many other women suffer similar attacks for simply being vocal and good at what they are doing. Acknowledging a woman’s success and the hard work that led to it is extremely hard for the society we live in.

Our society, in short, is threatened by women who come across as independent, outspoken and successful. That is the ultimate nightmare - a woman who does not know her place in society and, therefore, does not act according to people’s expectations. In such circumstances, a woman who wishes to survive is left with two choices: either she toes the line and struggles, or she uses society’s expectations against it and prospers.

Lady Susan understands the importance of keeping up appearances and acting in an agreeable manner so as to not offend the society. So she is friendly and warm to everyone she meets, no matter what opinion she might have of them, appears non-threatening and vulnerable so feathers are not ruffled. At the same time, she is aware that maintaining propriety for the sake of society’s approval will not take her far. If she must behave in accordance with the society’s wishes, she must also take something in return.

Appearance versus reality is a constant theme in the story as Lady Susan weaponsises herself with the manners which are expected from her and forces others to drop their guards, enabling her to take advantage of them.

“Grace and manner, after all, are of the greatest importance,” she notes in one of her letters, while discussing the futility of study-

Many societies are threatened by women who come across as independent, outspoken and successful. That is the ultimate nightmare: a woman who ‘does not know her place’ and, therefore, defies expectations

Appearance versus reality is a constant theme in the story as Susan weaponises herself with the manners which are expected from her ing arts, sciences and languages. For her, the only way to get her way is to understand the wishes and hopes of the other person and use that knowledge to manipulate them. A society that turned its back on her after her husband’s death, leaving her with little resources to lead a respectable life and bring up her daughter, deserves to be exploited by her.

Who else can she possibly rely on apart from herself in a world that has spurned her?

Lady Susan’s tactics also shed light on a callous society that is happy to revel in gossip about the “most accomplished coquette” but refuses to acknowledge her unfavourable circumstances which force her to move from place to place in search of shelter and comfort. She has no friend but one Mrs Johnson, an American who married an older, richer man who controls the people she interacts with. She is Lady Susan’s only confidant who does not judge her for any of her actions, including her efforts to prevent the marriage of her brotherin-law. The indifference and contempt Lady Susan experiences at the hands of her other acquaintances and family members is very relatable. How many times have we seen society heaping scorn over a woman, who does not have the tools to defend herself, by criticising her character and giving credibility to rumours which have the potential to damage her reputation? We as a society revel in gossip about women, whether it has a foundation or not, but we cannot be bothered with their appeals for help. We love vulnerable, innocent women, but taking responsibility for their situation? That’s too much to ask.

Lady Susan’s schemes may not be morally acceptable but they are a means of survival.

She has figured out the rules her society plays by and follows them all impeccably but instead of allowing people to pull her down, she drags them with her head held high.

The only difficulty in Lady Susan’s life, apart from the lack of fortune, is her daughter Frederica, who she refers to as a “simpleton” and the “torment of my life”. A teenager, Frederica is the only person in the story who tries to resist her mother’s attempts to manipulate her life.

Frederica’s character of a scared teenager who manages to find enough courage to stand up for herself is, of course, very enjoy-

Austen’s wit and sarcasm shines in the novel, which shatters her reputation as one only capable of writing stories about love and marriage

able to read as she is the female we all root for - even though most of us won’t support people like her in real life. For Frederica, the society is her own mother whose expectations she defies constantly. Given how Lady Susan herself refuses to mould herself according to the wishes of the society, it is ironic that she is so repulsed and agitated by her daughter’s attempts to resist her mother’s influence.

Though Frederica’s situation grows favourable by the time the story comes to an end, it is only because Lady Susan could no longer bother with maternal duties. Deprived of her only friend, the widow has to look at other ways to improve her situation and keeping her daughter close would have disturbed her plan to marry the very man who she earlier thought was suitable for Frederica.

The story also highlights how the institution of marriage can be a trap for women who were deprived of the option to step out and the hypocritical treatment meted out by the society to husband and wife. The young wife of Lady Susan’s lover Mr Mainwaring is said to be devastated by her husband’s betrayal and does not want to live with him anymore.

However, even though Mr Mainwaring is not judged for cheating on his wife, she cannot leave or take similar liberties as him. While he can visit Lady Susan any time he wants, Mrs Mainwaring, who does not lack for money, must sit at her guardian’s house and “fret” about her husband.

Many may argue that all Lady Susan was after was men and fortune, and therefore the story’s focus is not much different from Austen’s other novels. The argument, if raised,

The story also highlights how the institution of marriage can be a trap for women who were deprived of the option to step out would be superficial, however, as it would be ignorant of Lady Susan’s ground realities. If she has nothing but men and wealth to run after, whose fault is it? The very society that criticises her.

In my limited reading experience, I’ve come across few characters who are as fully aware and comfortable with their follies as Lady Susan, who admits to have tried to stop her brother-in-law from marrying for the sake of property and insists that her scheming should be left in the forgotten past. Like a true politician, she believes in turning past foes into allies if circumstances call for it. Had the era allowed her, she surely would have had a great career but alas, she had to make the entire society her chessboard because no other opportunities were afforded to her.

MARCH 14, 2021

7

LAW & JUSTICE

A judiciary held hostage Politics within bar associations and an increasing amount of violence and aggression displayed by lawyers is holding court proceedings back and inflicting hundreds of millions in losses to courts A HASNAAT MALIK ISLAMABAD

Despite playing an important role in the restoration of judges in March 2009, the image of the legal community has been badly affected due to a high number strikes and incidents where large groups have displayed an alarming level of rowdy and violent behaviour. Even the justice system seems to have been taken hostage by them.

In cases where one lawyer has displayed violent behaviour, several others have often banded with him. In cases where a lawyer has been arrested for said violent behaviour, hundreds of others have tried to foil arrest attempts, protested outside courts and taken to streets in strike attempts. The scenes often resemble more closely to those of thug-like street gangs rather than upstanding citizens in charge of upholding and protecting the law.

An incident of this nature was witnessed on February 8, when dozens of lawyers ransacked the chamber of Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Athar Minallah during a protest against demolition of their illegal chambers at the Islamabad District Courts also known as the ‘katcheri’.

Following this incident, IHC CJ Minallah has shown courage against such an act of intimidation by initiating action against lawyers who were involved in the incident. Several lawyers were arrested and the practicing licence of more than a dozen lawyers was also suspended by the IHC. A unity amongst judicial benches is now the need of the hour to face this challenge. If all superior courts have differ-

Politics has also impacted the regulatory roles of bar associations. Their election campaigns intensify the aggression displayed by lawyers ent approaches in dealing with this challenge, then they will not be able to sustain pressure on the bar, to rectify and resolve this issue.

Unlike in the past, the Supreme Court has fully backed the IHC in its decision to take actions against the lawyers who were involved in the incident. Due to unity displayed by the bench, the have been able to counter the aggression of the lawyers and keep it at bay.

Politics has also impacted the regulatory roles of different the bar associations. The annual election campaigns of the bar associations always intensify the aggression displayed by these lawyers.

Former Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) executive member Raheel Kamran Sheikh laments that instead of focusing on issuebased politics, bar representatives often represent popular sentiments of their voters. Their primary objective is to remain in power and receive personal benefits, he maintains.

“In my humble opinion, we, as regulators, have largely failed on most of these fronts primarily owing to the regulatory hold up caused due to the politics within bar associations,”

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MARCH 14, 2021

Sheikh further stated.

Sindh High Court Bar Association President Salahuddin Ahmed says, “The disciplinary bodies for judges as well as lawyers should have some outside representation from nonjudges and non-lawyers. It is very difficult to have effective self-regulation. This applies equally to the media, the PMDC, engineers council etc,” he adds.

A debate over the role of regulatory bodies in maintaining discipline among lawyers started soon after restoration the of the judiciary in March, 2009. Senior lawyers admitted that the PBC and the provincial bar councils have failed to initiate disciplinary actions against the lawyers who violate the code of conduct. Under the law, superior courts judges are the head of tribunals who hear complaints against judges. However, these tribunals do not take action against lawyers, if the latter are involved in misconduct.

In 2016, the then CJ Syed Mansoor Ali Shah constituted a sev-

Fiscal fallout

Rs450 million were lost to the national exchequer due to lawyers’ strikes between Jan and Mar 2017 en-member supervisory committee. The purpose of the committee was to curb incidents of misbehaviour in lower courts and protect the rights of the judges, especially women judges, who are sometimes face more hostility from the lawyers.

The chief justice headed the supervisory committee with Justice Kazim Raza Shamsi, Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan, Justice Abdul Sami Khan, Justice Ibadur Rehman Lodhi, Justice Atir Mahmood and Justice Masood Jahangir as its members.

The committee, set up under the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1973, had issued show-cause notices to Lahore Bar Association Vice President Rana Saeed and former president of Ferozwala Bar Association, Asif Bashir Mirza.

Both Saeed and Mirza were accused of misbehaving with judicial officers over ‘unfavourable’ decisions and snatching court records. Later, the committee suspended the practicing licences of both the lawyers and referred their cases to the Punjab Bar Council disciplinary committee.

However, the lawyers’ disciplinary committee refused to accept the LHC’s administrative order and restored the licences of both advocates.

Similarly, when the LHC contempt proceedings against Lahore High Court Bar Association Multan President Sher Zaman Qureshi case in 2017 after, after Qureshi and other lawyers had vandalised and ransacked the court of Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan in Multan, former Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar gave intervened and quashed the proceedings against the lawyers.

Senior lawyers believe that most of the cases of lawyers’ misconduct were found in Punjab, therefore, they feel that it is time to make the Punjab Bar Council disciplinary committee/ tribunal more effective.

In July, 2019, the then Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa rightly urged the lawyers to launch a movement called‘Tehreek-e-Bahali Izate-Wukla’ for the restoration of the dignity to the legal profession. He said that lawyers should give due respect to judges.

In 2017, the then LHC CJ Syed Mansoor Ali Shah conducted a study regarding the loss of the first three months of legal action and court hearings due to the lawyers’ strikes in Punjab between January and March 2017.

According to the study, the national exchequer suffered a huge loss of Rs450 million due to lawyers’ strikes in different bar associations of Punjab during those three months.

The study also revealed that due to 948 incidents of strikes, 600,000 cases were affected and 100,000 cases could not be decided.

Active lawyer Umer Gilani belives that the only solution for lawyers’ ‘wuklagardi’, as some people pejoratively call it, is to engage in, and to promote and protect, alternative bar politics.

“After the PIC incident in Lahore and also after the recent attack on CJ IHC, hundreds of lawyers mobilised to raise their voice of dissent on principle,” he said. “If such voices continue to rise from within the ranks of lawyers, I am absolutely confident that this violent streak can be controlled. In the longer run, bar leadership - like other elected people - follow their electorate,” he adds.

Gilani however, states that contrary to what some people think, the use of coercive state power - registration of FIRs,

raids, arrests and demolition of encroachments - is not a solution to this issue. It is the “making heroes out of rogue lawyers, who are actually a small minority,” he adds.

He says that it must also be understood that ‘wukla-gardi’, like all other sustained social phenomenon, has economic roots. “For a vast majority of young lawyers and also for civil judges, who are not from dynastic lawyers’ families nor from privileged, Englishspeaking backgrounds, opportunities for professional advancements are extremely limited. It is these underprivileged lawyers who resort to hooliganism for generating social power and then they use this power to generate some money,” he said.

Last year, the Ministry of Law had sought comments from the PBC – the apex regularity body of lawyers – over a proposal for lifetime cancellation of a lawyer’s practicing licence in case he or she is found guilty of committing acts of physical violence against any individual.

The letter sent to the PBC seeks its input in view of a bill titled ‘Legal Practitioner and Bar Council Act 2019’, which was introduced in the National Assembly by the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s lawmaker Amjad Ali Khan.

The bill proposes that “the license of legal practitioner shall be cancelled for life in case of physical violence against any person by him and the license shall also be cancelled, if the legal practitioner is involved in cheating, fraud, forgery, false affidavit, deliberate concealment of facts.”

In its ‘object and reasons’, the bill notes that the amendment has been proposed in view of “recent incidents of protests” turning into violence activities involving members of legal profession and “to ensure peaceful environment in the legal profession and judicial proceedings in future.”

The bill apparently referred to the December 11, 2019 incident in Lahore wherein at least three cardiac patients lost their lives when scores of lawyers stormed the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) vandalising the facility and thrashing everyone in sight apparently to “settle the score” with doctors who, they claimed, had attacked one of their colleagues.

However, the PBC had opposed the proposed amendment arguing that a mechanism is already present to take disciplinary action against lawyers over misconduct.

“One section of lawyers proposed punishment should be implemented on commission of illegal acts and should range from suspension of license for a certain period to cancellation of a license, said Kamran Sheikh.

“Further, to make disciplinary committees and tribunals of the bar councils more independent and less amenable to regulatory capture, two MNAs nominated by the Speaker National Assembly, one each from treasury and opposition, should be included in their compositions in the cases of the PBC and Islamabad Bar Council,” he added.

Disciplinary bodies for judges as well as lawyers should have some outside representation from non-judges and non-lawyers. It is very difficult to have effective self-regulation SHCBA President Salahuddin Ahmed Sindh High Court Bar Association President Salahuddin Ahmed said changing punishments may not be a useful way of controlling misconduct of lawyers. “The main problem in curbing professional misconduct is actually that professionals are reluctant to punish their own colleagues, whether the punishment is small or great,” he said.

“I think the only effective way is to amend the law in such a way that the concerned disciplinary bodies and tribunals have at least partial representation of people and civil society members who do not belong to the subject profession,” he added.

Ahmad recommended that the PBC members should choose one representative each from the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) or a media body and that such representatives should have fixed three-year tenures.

Under the law, superior courts judges are head of tribunals which hear complaints’ against judges.

However, these tribunals do not take action against lawyers, if they are involved in misconduct. Regulatory bodies are facing immense criticism over their failure to initiate disciplinary actions against the lawyers who violated the code of conduct.

Recently, IHC Judge Justice Babar Sattar in an order posed vital questions for adjudication. The court also appointed senior lawyers Makhdoom Ali Khan, Ali Zafar, Salman Akram Raja and Afnan Kareem Kundi as amicus to assist in this matter.

The IHC judge questioned as to whether the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1976, vest any power in the Islamabad Bar Council or the Islamabad High Court Bar Association to issue a call for strike, mandating lawyers not to appear before courts, subject to the threat of penal and disciplinary action: While the license of a lawyer can be suspended and he can be removed from practice on the ground that he has committed grave indiscipline or grave misconduct, does appearing in Court in face of a strike called by a Bar Council or a Bar Association amount to grave indiscipline or grave misconduct for purposes of Section 41 read together with Rule 175-A of the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1976, attracting penal consequences?

In view of Rule 166 in Chapter XII of the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1976, which mandates an advocate to be present in Court when his case is called, would refusal to appear on ground of strike not constitute grave indiscipline or grave misconduct for purposes of Section 41 of the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1976, rendering the lawyer in question liable for disciplinary proceedings and penal action under Section 41 and 54 of the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1976?

Does the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act vest in a Bar Council the authority to issue mandatory instructions to strike court proceedings which could render provisions of the CPC, including Order XI Rule 9, nugatory?

Would a mandatory call to strike court proceedings issued by a bar council constitute“sufficient cause” for grant of adjournment by courts for purposes of Section 35A of the CPC, promulgated through the Cost of Litigation Act, 2017, in view of the legislative intent and purpose of such statutory provision?

By refusing to appear before the Court on the ground of a call to strike by a Bar Council or a Bar Association would the lawyer, breach “the Cannons of Professional Conduct and Etiquettes of Advocates”, and would he/she undermine the right of access to justice of parties before the Court, which right is guaranteed under the Constitution and forms the raison d’etre for the establishment and existence of the judicial arm of the state?

If a Bar Council has the power and authority to issue calls to strike court proceedings at will resulting in the suspension of the same, would the automatic grant of adjournments not fall foul of Article X of the Code of Conduct for Judges issued under Article 209 of the Constitution which states that: “In this judicial work a Judge shall take all steps to decide cases within the shortest time, controlling effectively efforts made to prevent early disposal of cases and make every endeavor to minimise suffering of litigants by deciding cases expeditiously through proper written judgments. A Judge who is unmindful or indifferent towards this aspect of his duty is not faithful to his work, which is a grave fault”?

If it is assumed that bar councils have the right to issue mandatory calls for striking court proceedings, subject to penalty attaching to lawyers for non-observance, wouldn’t compliance with such order by licensed lawyers result in the shutdown of the judicial organ of the state, even if temporarily?

Can such a situation be countenanced when under the scheme of the Constitution, the judiciary is one of the three pillars of the state and the machinery for enforcement of fundamental rights of citizens?

If a lawyer chooses to strike by refusing to appear before the Court, would he render himself liable for obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting denial of timely justice caused due to incessant delay in its dispensation? These questions are important for adjudication. Bar associations need to realise that when there is no system of self accountbility then external elements forcefully regulate them.

Photos: Agencies