Unending despair: women's access versus control over finances

Globally, women are demanding for equal wages compared to men, but in Pakistan, even if a woman is earning an equal wage, her right to her own income is mostly not recognised. At the most she is gifted a gold or silver trinket, which too is either pawned or sold in the market if the man requires money at any stage.
But if she is the wife of a landless farmer, her situation is worse. Her existence is merely to assist her husband who works for a feudal on a farm where he is indentured along with his whole family, including women and children. These women and children merely add to the number of hands the head of the household has- their wages and power is zilch.
Though financial independence varies between rural and urban women as well as educated, less educated and illiterate women. Workforce participation is the highest among women with no education or those who have completed secondary school, whereas women with primary school education remain the least employed.
Perhaps this is one reason that participation of women in agriculture is higher compared to the other sectors. In Sindh, where the feudal system is still present on a larger scale, women have no bargaining power, whereas in Punjab, where landholdings have been diluted, mostly due to inheritance laws, there is a bit of room to bargain for women. Nevertheless, women do not get to have their fair share in the produce in any case; and on top of that, are held back by social obligations, including the burden of being the 'family honour'.
Hanging onto this delicate thread called ‘honour’, many women are continuously deprived of their right to refuse to work for a particular landlord, often at the risk of abuse and even rape. Worst is the situation of women who are part of the 1.7 million bonded labourers.
Many peasants are paid with a share in the crop produce, with a minimal monetary compensation, which can be as low as Rs5 per 40 kilogram of sugarcane, or Rs5 plus three kilogram of tomatoes for a day’s worth of picking tomatoes at a local landlord’s farm.
Experts have claimed countless of times that this situation can be mitigated via land reforms and distribution.
In March this year, Sindh government has reportedly distributed 55,439 acres of land among 6,000 people in 17 districts, which included 4,000 women and 1,200 men.
However, there are cases where the Sindh government allotted land to some women farmers, who later were stuck amid court cases brought against them by landlords who claim the allotted land as their property. This disparity, despite that women contribute close to 60 per cent in the rural agricultural economy, is one of the major reasons of rural to urban migration, which has its own downsides within the urban development sector. Nevertheless, urbanisation has its positives too.
With rapid urbanisation, participation of women in the workforce is increasing gradually; but again, many women, whether they work in a village or a city, do not necessarily have financial independence.
Many women, who have migrated to the cities, work as either home-based workers or domestic help, having no worker rights. Categorised under undocumented economy, their situation is dismal, with women getting Rs10 for a chickankari dress worth Rs3,000 at a flashy retail store; Rs17 a day for peeling 10 kilogram of garlic; or working eight hours a day as a maid at some NGO worker’s home for food (if lucky) and Rs1,200 a month.
But from there, it is downhill since the power over these resources is automatically taken over by the male members of a household, making a woman more vulnerable.
Though there is a difference between women working in menial jobs, and those in the white-collar sector, the access versus control matter remains.
One comes across countless stories of women domestic workers forcefully being relieved of their income by a male member; or stories of women working as teachers, doctors, engineers who have to give up their right to their own earnings due to the manoeuvrings of their partners.
Data of women’s workforce participation shows the most disproportionate numbers compared to men, especially in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka. But what is missing in the statistics is the information regarding how many of these women actually have power over the resources they generate or have been bequeathed via inheritance or any other means.
Between 2010 and 2012 the World Bank (WB) recorded female workforce participation of the total number of women in Pakistan at 24 per cent, which increased to 25 per cent in 2013, whereas male participation remained stable at 83 per cent throughout the same periods. This means female workforce participation in Pakistan has only been above Afghanistan within the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
Among SAARC countries during the same period, women have made up the lowest percentage of workers in Afghanistan at 15 per cent in 2010 and 16 per cent between 2011 and 2013. India has been slightly ahead of Pakistan with 29 per cent in 2010, 28 per cent in 2011 and 27 per cent in both 2012-13, showing a downward trend. The highest and most stable number of women workers has been recorded in Nepal by the WB at 80 per cent during the same period, followed by Bhutan at 66 per cent between 2010 and 2012, and 67 per cent in 2013. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, during the same period have remained stable at 57 per cent and 35 per cent respectively. Maldives is at par with Bangladesh and has a little more than double the female participation rate compared to Pakistan with 55 per cent in 2010 and 56 per cent between 2011 and 2013.
Though political parties talk of women participation in politics, and NGOs focus on women’s health, education, violence against women, and economic empowerment, the fact remains that financial independence of most women is a distant dream.
Economic empowerment of women is a game-changer in a staunchly patriarchal society. One of the most fundamental attack on a woman is deprivation of her financial rights, which is followed by food security, burden of extra manual labour, lack of reproductive rights and, more often than not, psychological battery regarding lack of financial means.

Published in The News at: http://e.thenews.com.pk/newsmag/mag/detail_article.asp?id=10513&magId=10#sthash.2vk5s7RY.dpuf

In the name of politics: Dashing the Hague Convention

The commoners’ idea that politics is a dirty business would not be too far-fetched when talking about Pakistan; instead, it is as extreme as those wearing sharia beards. An Urdu saying, ‘pait mein daarhi’ (literally: having or growing a beard in the stomach; figuratively: having a hidden beard), was written for those running so-called liberal parties. It’s a fight out here, and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has used the covert way to subvert Taliban, by targeting heritage at Sindh Cultural Festival. The planned fest is an unconventional example of how during armed conflicts, heritage sites might end up needing protection from overambitious politicians.

In a recent interview with Daily Times, Sharmila Farooqi credited PPP Patron-in-Chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (BBZ) for his idea to host Sindh Cultural Festival. Contrary to PPP’s inability to hold local government elections in a short time, arranging Sindh Festival was not much of a big deal. Using government funds, of course, not only was the PPP able to publish all sorts of advertisements accompanied by their cute little Superman logo in newspapers, they even pulled off an electronic advertisement targeting the mango people subconsciously via a well-tailored Baby Zardari as future prime minister.

Not stopping there, the PPP launched on to the big idea of bringing on centre stage the Mound of the Dead or Mohenjo Daro. However, the controversial woman leader had said that though the festival would be inaugurated at Mohenjo Daro, the ceremony had been planned at a safe distance, keeping in mind international bylaws.

Mohenjo Daro is an archaeological site in Sindh which was built around 2600 BC to house one of the largest settlements of Indus Valley Civilisation. Being among the four river valley civilisations, it is a record of not just Pakistan and India’s history and ancient heritage but the entire world. One might even argue in favour of political parties using such locations as a trump card to gain say in the pluralistic Sindh, but only if such a stage was not being set right atop the historically neglected but important UNESCO site.

What currently has been planned “on” Mohenjo Daro is nothing short of a way to eradicate the material evidence of the rich and diverse culture of this land. When we think of war and its awful consequences, the deaths of soldiers and civilians as well as alleged terrorists are a reminder of destroyed futures. But in case of attacking historical sites, it becomes about wiping out history, its memory and our collective past. Exactly what the Taliban are accused of! In these circumstances, how can one support such callous neglect and destruction of our past, present and future?

In their book ‘The Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Iraq’, Peter G Stone and Joanne Farchakh Bajjaly ask why, after millennia of human conflict, have we not become better at protecting cultural heritage and if we can get better? They attribute it to three aspects: targeted destruction to gain political advantage; ‘collateral damage’ where it is destroyed as an ‘innocent bystander’ as fighting takes place; and destruction caused by the trade in illicit antiquities. Perhaps the part about “political gain” is well suited to the current scenario, albeit there’s a difference in weapons.

Mohenjo Daro at the moment is not under threat from an armed conflict, but from the political aspirations of one of the mainstream parties, the PPP. However, the rhetoric being used by the party that ruled the country for five years during the previous democratic regime reads “heritage is under threat, and the festival will protect it from destruction”. In BBZ’s words that we have to experience as part of our daily commercial dose: “Sindh Festival will make us aware of our existence.” And what better way but to replace weapons with stakes nailing the wooden stage and tapping heels in stupor atop 5,000 years worth of history.

The 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (commonly known as the Hague Convention) is for protecting cultural property during an armed conflict. Perhaps they should come up with one called ‘Protection of Cultural Property Against Political Aspirations of Fledglings’.

One might remind BBZ that even the internationally acclaimed English rock band ‘Pink Floyd’ performed to an empty, ancient, Amphitheatre of Pompeii in Italy, respecting heritage by keeping the maddening frenzy of concert attendees at bay.

Taliban are the bogeyman!

Blaming everything on the Taliban is very easy, but I don't agree with this discourse. You cannot blame the thuggery of MQM or the 200 percent food inflation during PPP rule on the Taliban. If you can question the dumbfuckery of PTI burgers, who are at least struggling to make sense of the hotchpotch we live in, I too, can blame you for being a jiyala or saathi.

I can point fingers at you for wanting to maintain the status quo by voting for a predominantly feudal party that fooled the masses in the 70s with the ‘Roti, Kapra, Makan’ slogan. It was the political party responsible for kick-starting Islamism in the name of Islamic Socialism, initiating the nuclear program and declaring the Ahmedis as Non-Muslim.

I am glad that Karachiwalas are standing up against the thuggery of MQM. So what if it is the burger PTI walas? You may want to criticize this while sitting in your Dad's air-conditioned house in Lahore or Islamabad, but it only sounds like the cowardice and treachery of a person who has no guts to stand up for any principles, not even one’self.

Free ‘for all to rig’ elections

KARACHI: Despite that the offices of DRO (central) and his subordinates were established at the Government Comprehensive Girls High School in North Nazimabad, Block M, one of Daily Times staffers was manhandled by a lady polling officer when she refused to let the officer cast vote to Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on her behalf. The polling station is a part of NA-245 and PS-101 constituencies comprising Buffer Zone, Shadman, North Karachi and parts of Nazimabad, which falls in District Central and is a (MQM) stronghold. In 2008 General Elections, MQM's Farhat Muhammad Khan won the constituency by a huge majority of 149,157 votes against PPP's Qazi Muhammad Bashir with a mere 15,392 votes, PML-N's M Aslam Khan Khattak 3,275 and Jumma Khan Babar of ANP with 301 votes respectively. It is worth mentioning that in 2002 another MQM contestant Kanwer Khalid Younus had won the constituency with 51,696 votes compared to 41,947 votes bagged by Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal's Syed Munawwar Hassan. Several voters at the Government Comprehensive Girls High School polling station complained that the staff stamped on 'kite' for them. On complaint, nobody was around to help or rectify the problem. Polling staff aka MQM workers were busy stamping ballot papers one after another for people, some of whom were present on the occasion, while others had only sent their CNIC cards issued by NADRA. The biometric system, which had earlier been promised by the Election Commission of Pakistan, was missing. When one of the voters (Andaleeb Rizvi) protested against the stamping of ballot papers, she was asked, "Was she not Urdu speaking? Why would she want to vote somebody else?" by a man sitting with a government cap. The voter than took away the paper and went outside to get help, however one of the lady staffers followed her and a struggle ensued in which she snatched the ballot paper back screaming, "You are not allowed to take ballot papers outside." On being asked to guide to someone with more authority, the RO asked to cast vote again. Even the police guard just turned his eyes away from the whole scene, while many bystanders just kept looking and smiling. Some other women voters also started to complain about the 'stamping mafia' by that time, and in order to defuse the situation, all the polling staff in the booth started facilitating the voter who complained to re-cast her vote. On re-casting the vote, the lady at the ballot box opened the ballot paper to check who was voted. At this point the voter again protesting and asked the lady to not violate her rights, however the lady only responded by stating, 'get lost' (chal chal in Urdu). Meanwhile, one of the guys ordered the ladies to start winding up, as the desired number had been achieved. He also asked the said voter in a threatening manner if she had cast the vote to the desired party.

Published in Daily Times on May 12, 2013: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2013\05\12\story_12-5-2013_pg12_7

Capitalist Democracy: From weapons to Barbie Dolls

I have been asked the umpteenth time who will I vote for. Here's my answer for you, and now read it carefully, before annoying me again with your silly impertinent questions. I will not vote, because I do not dote on people who are 'relatively' less corrupt, less religious, less autocratic, less liberal and more secular.

Here I'll jot it down in bullet points, so it is more convenient for your perusal.

RELATIVELY: less corrupt

RELATIVELY: less religious

RELATIVELY: less autocratic

RELATIVELY: more secular

I will not vote some moron who can afford to campaign for the election because s/he has the money, his/her father earned being a corrupt government officer. Or who is a feudal. Or, who is friends with some pharma company owner, or some other businessman that cannot afford to run for election due to other engagements, but is willing to 'finance' someone for securing future legislation.

I do not find this scam of a 'democracy' you talk of worthy to vote. It has yet not convinced me. For the biggest 'democracy' I know, has so far funded militants across the globe, toppled elected governments to put in place dictators, and made life generally hell for anybody who had less money to buy what is being sold.

From weapons to Barbie Dolls, capitalist democracy that you term as an 'evolutionary process' for change, is nothing but a blueprint for disaster. In this system your human rights end where the capitalist profits are getting affected.

Umerkot rape cases: Where's the outrage Pakistanis?

While the Indian public is up and about regarding the Delhi rape case, Pakistanis are busy questioning the 'authenticity' and 'intent' of people who are bringing the Umerkot rape case in the public eye. In Pakistan rapists getting support from the ruling elite and their liberal mouthpieces, is a very common occurrence. Rather this is one of the feudal legacies of our country, to rape and watch. And while we are talking of legacies, let’s not forget another, oppressing minorities. 

The recent rape cases from Umerkot, a Pakistan People’s Party constituency, are the perfect examples of both our feudal legacies, sexual violence against minor-Hindu-girls. It is one of the worst weapons to silence and oppress people, be those women, children or religious and ethnic minorities. In Umerkot, a 6-year-old girl-child was raped by a Pakistan Muslim League (Functional) worker and a 14-year-old minor raped by influential men from the ruling PPP. (Read more details here)

Interestingly, the issue is hardly getting much attention since there is too much important stuff going on. First being the death anniversary of Benazir and second, continuing the Bhutto dynasty politics via Bilawal Zardari. Among all this are certain pseudo-liberals, for whom talking about the rape case is a method to malign the PPP.

Perhaps for them the case of Shahzeb Khan is also just to malign feudalism? After all, the feudal Bhuttos are the saviours of Pakistan. And with feudalism comes the ‘responsibility’ to oppress people, and help the ones who oppress (yes the oppressors and not the oppressed are protected where feudal-politicians-with military support run so-called-democracies). What do you plan now? Twist the story and claim it was a love match? (Rinkle Kumari) Or go the Sharjeel Memon way? Or simply make the lives of the families of victims hell, so they actually end up self immolating themselves. While you sit in your drawing room and spew shit on social media? Being in office does not make PPP exempt from criticism. The ruling PPP seems to enjoy perpetuating, supporting and even breeding rape culture.

And last but not the least. A question for all the 'staunch' patriotic anti-Indian Pakistani-Muslims and 'liberals', where is the outrage that you pretended at the Delhi rape case? Or is the rape by Indians more of a rape compared to rape by ‘Muslim / Pakistani men’? 

Using the Godfather way

People often question why the Muttahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) has so much support in Karachi and not other parties. (And I'm not a supporter of any party - a disclaimer was necessary here) MQM was not always there, rather it was the mullah party and the feudal party who had Karachi in their clutches after the capital was shifted to Islamabad. The city was divided between the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) with some smaller parties until 1987 when MQM swept Karachi and Hyderabad in the local body elections. However, it did not happen overnight or because the Urdu speaking suddenly wanted to support MQM for its linguistic and ethnic origins.

There is a documentary about the Medici made by PBS. It describes how from being mere bankers the Medici gained support from the people. By doing favors. Or I guess it can even be called the Godfather way. They did favors for people regardless of their social standing and in return gained their loyalty.

This is what the MQM does in Karachi. They do things like getting the electricity bill fixed for Muhammad Liaquat, which was screwed by the KESC; or one of the sector boys takes care of the weekly grocery shopping of a few women in the 'mohalla'; and some goon beats up the guy who teased Farrukh's sister on the street. These things enabled the MQM to get more and more support from the public. Another reason they get more support is that they do not have feudal lords in the upper echelons of the party. Rather they have doctors, engineers etc.

To increase their support, finances and vote bank, the ANP desperately needs more land in Karachi. Why the ANP needs land? That is the only way they will be able to generate more funds and more votes for themselves to stay around, following the MQM lead on getting to the public directly. I remember my Pakhtun taxi driver who always said that although he is not in ANP directly, if anybody in his 'abadi' has a problem, they go to the local sector to get it fixed. Hence the land mafia of any particular party is a goodwill and recruiting office. Less land for any party means, less funds and less voters. The tragedy for ANP is, it came to Karachi at a point when most land is already occupied or built.

PPP on the other hand screwed up its vote bank, which was mostly in Lyari and the suburbs of Karachi. They failed the people by not doing enough and are now fighting tooth and nail to get it back. In all this mayhem, the only people silently going about their business, and getting more support, are the bloody mullahs. One gets to see an increasing number of zombies in black abayas and more and more men with pants above their ankles in Karachi.

If only the sparring parties would take this as a hint and stop indulging in the urban warfare, Karachi may still have hope.

Katchi Abadi regularisation short term solution

Karachi being the biggest city of Pakistan currently has around 18 million residents as per unofficial statistics and still increasing as there is no check on the number of immigrants each year. From 6 million immigrants who came to Pakistan in 1947, 2 million Afghan refugees, illegal Bangladeshis and Biharis who came after the fall of Dhaka and millions of local immigrants from rural or less developed areas, the city is suffering from a severe shortage of proper or legal housing facilities, and around 50% dwell in slums or squatter settlements.

Distinguishing between the types of katchi abadies would be important here, as there is not just a single type. These abadies can broadly be divided into two categories; the old totally unplanned abadies that were established at the time of the Indo-Pak partition and the ones that came into existence because land-grabbers mobilised and provided houses to the constantly rising number of immigrants, especially with a boom in the Industries. After partition the government was not equipped to deal with the immigrants and hence and therefore people on self help basis provided themselves with whatever they could muster. However, instead addressing the issue, the government continued to neglect this sector and also neither checked the rapid rural to urban migration nor provided enough housing facilities. Thus, government negligence towards this factor, combined with the land-grabbers has not helped much, as land-grabbers taking advantage continuously kept on the move, grabbing more and more government land turning it to slums/katchi abadies.

The desperate immigrants on the other hand, who come looking for a place to live, find these katchi abadies to be the best solution for them. They are comparatively cheap, and more importantly can be found close to wherever they work and that too without paperwork. At places the encroached houses would be almost cantilevered above the Lyari River, with their foundations sunk deep in the sewage water, but this does not deter someone set on making it work no matter what the circumstances.

The situation instead of getting better has worsened as the government being merely disinterested in addressing the root cause, regularised these settlements, giving more incentive to the land-grabbers. If this regularisation process had just been followed by the provision of sufficient low-income houses as well as a check on rural to urban migration, perhaps it would have been better, but since it was not so, encroachments continued.

Moreover, involvement of political parties like MQM and PPP did not help much either, who instead of finding a true solution wanted to keep the people in the same conditions for either appeasing them to retain their vote banks or to keep them deprived of a better infrastructure and environment.

According to the Orangi Pilot Projects survey, conducted in 2002, the total number of katchi abadies was 539, whereas a news report dated June 27, 2010 claims, “There are around 1,293 spatial settlements, out of which the Sindh Katchi Abadi Authority has regularised only 500, while the remaining are being processed for regularisation.”

As a nation it appears we have a penchant for short term answers. We accept the government’s shortcomings and give it leeway to implement such short sighted solutions. There are several reasons for referring to the regularisation of katchi abadies as short term, foremost being that these katchi abadies are hubs for several illegal activities, starting from smuggling of something as mundane as cloth to drugs and ammunition. The abadies are nurseries for most criminal gangs and activities, since hiding in the criss-crossed lanes is not difficult. Also worth mentioning are the terrorists, who were arrested from several katchi abadies over the past few months, despite that in certain areas even law-enforcement agencies fear to go, or are supposedly scared to go.

Other causes to oppose katchi abadi regularisation include lack of planning and building regulations. Since a lot of the poor settlements are unplanned, often there is no provision for modern vehicles to pass through, which gives rise to the question what would happen in case the government has to provide aid to the local residents. These settlements are bustling with three, four and even six storey buildings, poor construction and bad planning with hardly any space between the lanes for a big car let alone a truck to pass through. In such circumstances even if a fire breaks out, the fire tenders have a tough time reaching the inferno.

With such conditions prevalent, we have a disaster looming round the corner, which may strike us any day. It may look fine and noble at the first glance to regularise the slums, filled with criminal activities, combined with bad planning and bad construction, but in reality and long term it is not so. Hopefully, the government would realise this soon, as well as the supporters of the idea, who consider the word slum should be reserved for the West, as slums are considered physical and morally bankrupt, but our katchi abadies are only physically dilapidated and not socially decrepit. A farsighted approach is needed, and more houses of course.