Monthly Archives: November, 2009
by Rajashri Dasgupta
Thirty years after CEDAW, does the Convention really serve a useful
purpose? Sunila Abeysekera, Sri Lankan human rights campaigner who
heads International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific, says
the Convention is a good space for democratic countries to reaffirm
that they respect women’s rights
For over two decades, Sunila Abeysekera has been an ardent campaigner
of human rights and women’s rights in Sri Lanka and around the
world. She defied threats to her life when she brought human rights
abuses in Sri Lanka to the attention of the international community.
In 1999, she won the UN Human Rights Award and was honoured for her
work by Human Rights Watch last year. (more…)
LAHORE: In its preliminary report, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Observers’ Mission has expressed satisfaction over the relatively peaceful conclusion of the Gilgit-Baltistan elections and appreciated the enthusiastic turnout of voters.
At the same time, the mission expressed its sorrow over a few incidents of violence which resulted in the death of two persons and injuries to at least 40 others. The mission also regretted that the entire electoral process was marred by flaws caused by haste in holding the polls and inadequate preparations. Besides, the pre-poll climate had been considerably vitiated by government efforts to lure voters with relief and development packages. The mission will issue its detailed report after some time.
The observers’ mission was led by the commission’s co-chairperson Iqbal Haider and consisted of Parveen Soomro, Kamran Arif, Hussain Naqi and Najam U Din. The mission was supported by over 70 local observers in all seven districts of Gilgit-Baltistan.
Pre-poll assessment: The HRCP noted with satisfaction that the main political parties in the country had shown tremendous interest in the Gilgit-Baltistan elections.
The HRCP observers met with all stakeholders to ascertain their points of view. The chief election commissioner (CEC), appointed barely a month before the election, mentioned many difficulties the Election Commission (EC) faced in organising the elections at short notice, such as finalisation of electoral rolls in a mere 18 days which resulted in many inaccuracies in the lists, inadequacy of the polling stations and the polling booths therein, insufficient polling staff and a severe lack of security arrangements. The mission received numerous complaints that the federal government representatives – including the prime minister, members of his cabinet and the acting-governor of Gilgit-Baltistan – tried to woo voters at government cost and with a string of financial incentives.
The PML-N, PML-Q, MQM and the independent candidates expressed serious reservations about the role of the Gilgit-Baltistan acting-governor who actively campaigned for the PPP candidates. Reservations were also expressed about the prime minister’s speech at Skardu on Nov 10 in which he appealed to the people to vote for the PPP.
The manner in which the Benazir Income Support Programme and to some extent the Benazir Tractor Scheme were implemented was also criticised.
The PPP refuted the allegations that the acting-governor campaigned for it and stated that the governor had every right to hold meetings and announce development schemes. (more…)
If the governments of India and Pakistan cannot start cooperating
against the common enemy soon enough, today’s accusations will become
facts and tenets of belief tomorrow and serious exchanges will become
harder than ever
by I. A. Rehman
Hopes of resumption of India-Pakistan dialogue, aroused by Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh’s speech in Srinagar last month, have not
borne fruit as early as one had expected or wished for. But there is
some consolation in the fact that both sides seem to be trying to
overcome whatever reservations on picking up the thread they have.
Mr Manmohan Singh referred to ties with Pakistan at the end of his
address on building a “new Kashmir”, in the course of which he
declared that “the perpetrators of the acts of terror must pay the
heaviest penalty for their barbaric crimes against humanity”. Then he
added:
“It is a misplaced idea that one can reach a compromise with the
ideology of the terrorists or that they can be used for one’s own
political purpose. Eventually they turn against you and bring only
death and destruction. The real face of the terrorists is clear for
the people of Pakistan to see with their own eyes. I hope that the
government of Pakistan will take the ongoing actions against the
terrorist groups to their logical conclusion. They should destroy
these groups wherever they are operating and for whatever misguided
purpose. I call upon the people and the government of Pakistan to
show their sincerity and good faith. As I have said many times
before, we will not be found wanting in our response… I appeal to the
government of Pakistan to carry forward the hand of friendship that
we have extended. This is in the interest of the people of India and
Pakistan”.
Human rights groups including Voice of People, Peoples Vigilance Committee on Human Rights and Bunkar Dastkar Adhikar Manch organised a People’s Tribunal on situation of Education and development among Muslim Weavers and Artisans on Wednesday.
Sayeda Hameed, member, Planning Commission of India, chaired the tribunal and heard their problems. The tribunals report would be sent to the Prime Minister. (more…)
| by Salai Pi Pi |
| The New York based Human Rights Watch has urged the Indian government to change its current policy towards Burma before its elections in 2010.
Brad Adams, Executive Director of HRW’s Asia Division said on Thursday that the world’s largest democracy, India should press Burma to release Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners to usher in genuine political reforms in the country, instead of strengthening its cozy ties with the regime. “We think the Indian government should reverse it policy and stand for democracy and human rights in Burma,” said Brad Adams in a press conference held in the Women’s Press Club in New Delhi. Adams said India’s role is important in pushing the Burmese military leaders to hold a genuine election next year while the international community, including Southeast Asian countries criticizes Burma for its human right records and slow pace in restoring democracy. “India should not accept the forthcoming 2010 election in Burma if the regime does not release detained Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners,” he said, “No one will take the poll result seriously.” After the Burmese regime rigged the referendum to approve the constitution in 2008, it announced holding elections next year, which Adam said, will entrench military rule in the country. Source: http://www.mizzima.com/news/regional/3039-india-urged-to-change-policy-on-burma.html Thursday 12th November 2009 |
By Zubeida Mustafa
A REPORT recently released by Fafen (Free and Fair Election Network), an umbrella organisation of 30 civil society groups working to foster democratic accountability in Pakistan, should provide us some food for thought on the workings of our democracy.
Since Dec 2008, Fafen has been monitoring the proceedings of the National Assembly by deploying trained observers there. Its latest report focuses on the 16th session of the National Assembly (Oct 5-16, 2009).
Its observations clearly confirm what we have long suspected. Our MPs are not playing effectively the role of custodians of democracy that is expected of them. They do not seem to even recognise the significance of this role.
After having lived through decades of authoritarian rule by military strongmen who spoke of tearing up constitutions like scraps of paper, the nation would want our parliamentarians to do better at upholding the spirit and form of democracy.
Even if the demands of principled politics mean nothing to them, they must be astute enough to understand that their own personal interest lies in preserving democracy, as their social and economic status as well as their political clout is dependent on their membership of the elected lawmaking bodies. Or is it that having become used to being co-opted by military dictators they feel democracy is dispensable?
Be that as it may, the people find it difficult to swallow the disappointment they feel at their lawmakers’ performance. Given the quantum of work done by the MNAs as recorded by Fafen — the 10 daily sittings cumulatively enacted 34 hours and 25 minutes of parliamentary business — one gets the impression that there is not much for the legislators to do. The attendance record also betrays a similar indifference that is not justified. The speaker was not present during seven of the 10 sittings while 31 members were absent as they had applied for leave. We are not told how many sittings were attended by the prime minister himself. Most disturbing was the observation: “Many members who were technically ‘present’ for sittings actually left the house chamber to conduct other business.”
Such apathy would have been understandable under a military regime when parliament is no more than a rubberstamp body to showcase the pseudo-democracy dictators flaunt to win respectability internationally. Legislators did not take their work seriously as decisions were taken elsewhere. Do they still feel the same way? Hence their under-performance.
And absenteeism is not the only problem. Their failure to use effectively question hour to bring accountability and transparency in the governance process has been pronounced. By questioning the government shrewdly parliamentarians can keep it on its toes and promote accountability.
On the eight days when a question hour was held (Tuesday is an ‘unquestionable’ day) 380 questions were asked — 169 by women, the holders of the contemptuously termed khairati seats.
Had these women who constitute 22 per cent of the members not undertaken to ask 44 per cent of the questions, the government would have had less to worry about. As it is in six of the eight question hours the concerned minister never bothered to show up and a large number of questions were not answered.
This attitude is also reflected in newspaper reports. The usual observation is that barring a few ‘incorrigible’ questioners others do not put up questions for written answers or actively participate in question hour.
Parliament’s performance in lawmaking, its primary function, has traditionally been the poorest. According to Fafen’s report, of the 46 bills listed as the order of the day only four were adopted, three rejected and 39 referred to standing committees. That is not unusual. The 12th Assembly passed only 38 laws in its five-year tenure out of the 222 bills introduced. Undemocratic governments prefer to rule by ordinances since it saves them the trouble of having to defend a bill that is debated in the house.
Even elected rulers and lawmakers seem to have become used to the convenience of government by ordinances. A random search on the Internet brought up 11 ordinances that have been promulgated in Pakistan in 2009 alone. Some of them are of great importance but didn’t go through the normal lawmaking process, such as the Nizam-i-Adl Ordinance, Local Government (Amendment) Ordinance and the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Ordinance.
This is the story of only one hat the parliamentarians wear — that of lawmakers. They wear a second hat too — as representatives of their constituents. It is their responsibility to keep in touch with voters, look into their problems and act as a conduit of their opinion to the powers that be. One doesn’t need a survey to reveal the disconnect between the MNAs and their voters. A common complaint of the public is that their representatives only show up when elections are round the corner.
Transparency is the need of the hour. Fafen asks for Assembly sessions to be opened to citizen observers by a standardised procedure of accreditation. This is normal practice in democratic societies to create public interest in elected bodies. The website of the British parliament carries this notice: “UK residents and overseas visitors may watch debates for free on current issues or proposed new laws in both houses by visiting the public galleries.”
Obviously we are taking our democracy for granted. Why? Is it because the masses have no stake in it as they are not the real beneficiaries? Cyril Almeida has asked if our politicians can ever make democracy work. Kamran Shafi believes they can, provided our democracy gets the time it takes to grow and flower and prosper, to which endeavour he exhorts all to say “No” to another army take-over.
Absolutely correct. But should not the parliamentarians lend a helping hand in this endeavour by playing the role they are paid for more effectively? If you follow the working of the legislatures and read the fine print, you will find we still have a long way to go.
Source: http://www.dawn.com
by I.A. Rehman
REGARDLESS of the views of the hawks in Pakistan’s establishment, and howsoever strong they may be, Islamabad must give a positive response to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s offer of peace.
Normal relations and mutually-beneficial cooperation between the two closest South Asian neighbours has always been desirable for many reasons but their urgency has been increased many times over by the extremists’ challenge to the Pakistan state.
No sane person on either side of the border can deny that the threat to the stability of Pakistan is also a threat to India’s vital interests, and their joint efforts are needed to ensure victory over the terrorists. (more…)
by Amit Bhaduri & Romila Thapar
Those that have governed in tribal areas must share the responsibility for the negligence of the adivasis. The proposals for a multi-lateral dialogue should be set in that context.
There has been a flurry of concern as also vituperation over the activities of the Maoists in the forests that are mostly home to tribal society. There is a confrontation between the state and this society through the intervention of the Maoists. One pauses while reading the speeches of those in authority and thinks back to the past. The texts of the past represent the people of the forest, the forest-dwellers, largely as “the Other” – the rakshasas, and those who moved like an ink-black cloud through the forest with their bloodshot eyes, who ate and drank all the wrong things, had the wrong rules of sexuality and, as strange creatures, were far removed from ‘us.’
Kautilya in the Arthashastra condemns them as troublemakers and Ashoka threatens the atavikas, the forest-dwellers, without telling us why. The interest of various kingdoms in extending control over forests has an obvious explanation. The forests supplied elephants for the army, mineral wealth including iron, timber for building, and by clearing forests the acreage of cultivable land increased and the consequent agriculture brought in revenue. In later times, even when there were situations of dependence on forest people, the conventional attitude towards them was that they were outside the social pale and had to be kept at a distance. (more…)
The members of South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) express horror at the escalating attacks on civilians in Pakistan which has resulted in the death of about 300 people since mid-October 2009. Two weeks ago, the army launched its offensive in South Waziristan, the tribal territory separating Pakistan and Afghanistan that is widely regarded as a haven for the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Since then, the militants have carried out retaliatory attacks across the country.
On 9 October, 52 people died in a suicide car bombing in a busy Peshawar market. On October 10, militants held dozens of hostages for some 22 hours inside the army headquarters in Rawalpindi. Eleven military personnel, three civilians, and nine militants were killed in the siege. On October 20, back-to-back explosions took place at Islamabad’s International Islamic University. At least six people died in the attack. Twenty-nine others were wounded. On October 28, a massive car bomb once again tore through the heart of a bustling marketplace in the north-western city of Peshawar, killing at least 100 people and injuring at least 200 others, mostly women and children. A suicide bomber detonated explosives outside a bank in Rawalpindi on 2nd November 2009 killing 35 and wounding 65. In the most recent suicide bomb attack on the 8th of November, at least 12 people have been killed, including the local anti-Taliban mayor, and about 35 injured in the city of Peshawar. (more…)
Loading...