Feline frenzy
IT is a testament to our people’s fabled ‘resilience’ that they let very little faze them. A lion breaks loose during rush hour on the busiest thoroughfare of Pakistan’s largest city, and the jokes quickly follow. Political commentators quip that the shair has returned earlier than expected. It is a cheeky reference to a recent statement from the PML-N, promising the return of its long-absent ‘supreme leader’ to Pakistan. Meanwhile, TV headlines scream that the lion has strolled into the basement of a nearby building. One imagines the struggle for newscasters as they try to keep a straight face while relaying this ‘breaking’ news. In a social media video, some young men discuss the feline’s welfare and the circumstances of its abandonment, standing not a couple of metres away from the beast. They watch on as another citizen tries to grab the lion’s collar. Netizens sharing the video say they “love” the manner in which their commentary plays out. “It was in someone’s car.” “Where’s the owner of the car?” “Ran away. Probably didn’t have a licence.” “Should’ve at least taken his property with him. Must be expensive.”
The big cat, which is reported to have been ill, was being taken to the vet when it sprang free. Five people have been arrested over its escape. After a similar incident in Islamabad earlier this year, various wildlife experts highlighted the dangers of keeping wild beasts for personal amusement. It appears that their warnings had very little effect. As long as wealthy and powerful individuals continue to see exotic animals as a status symbol, it is unlikely that the illicit trade in wildlife will go away. It is good to have laws to curtail it, but our people also need an education on the moral unacceptability of keeping wild beasts behind bars or in confined spaces and to be taught to appreciate the wonders of nature in more wholesome ways.
Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2023
Killer air
AIR pollution in Pakistan — and in fact across South Asia — is shortening lifespans and affecting the overall quality of life. These are the grim findings of the University of Chicago’s annual Air Quality Life Index report. The document should serve as a wake-up call both to policymakers in this country, as well as the larger region, as the report has dubbed South Asia the “global epicentre of pollution”. This means that pollution is not only an environmental issue, it is also a public health one. Lahore has been termed Pakistan’s most polluted city, while the report notes that lives in the Punjab capital and Sheikhupura, Kasur and Peshawar, are being shortened by around seven years due to bad air. In fact, particulate pollution is said to be the second biggest threat to human health in Pakistan after cardiovascular disease. The reality is that South Asia as a whole is in the grip of a health crisis caused by polluted air. Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan have been termed the top four most polluted countries in the world, with New Delhi earning the unenviable title of “world’s most polluted megacity”. The causes behind high air pollution levels include the burning of fossil fuels by large populations, while crop burning and brick kilns add to the toxic mix.
The report notes that some progress has been made in Pakistan and Bangladesh in the regulation of brick kilns. But considering the nature of the threat, no one country can deal with this issue on its own. Indeed, the state needs to address the key factors locally — cutting down on emissions, shifting to cleaner fuels and technologies etc — but it will take a ‘whole of South Asia’ approach for air pollution to be effectively tackled. After all, pollution knows no boundaries, and unless all regional states work in unison, efforts will not deliver the desired results. The Chinese model can be referred to; the AQLI report says China has had “remarkable success” in its “war against pollution”. While the South Asian states, particularly Pakistan and India, rarely see eye to eye on anything, this is a ‘soft’ issue where multilateral cooperation is urgently required for the health and well-being of over 1.5bn people who call this region home. With political will and resources, as the AQLI study observes, change is possible.
Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2023
Beyond reason
THE violation of fundamental rights — including the right to due process, to freedom of association and speech — across the country, is now beyond farce. There is not even the pretence of adhering to the law, only a relentless determination to erase all dissent through whatever means can be conjured up to illegally deprive recalcitrant individuals of their liberty, and to silence them.
Consider the travails of lawyer and vocal critic of enforced disappearances, Imaan Hazir Mazari. Her ‘original sin’, a fiery speech made at a PTM rally in Islamabad, has been used to file three FIRs against her. She was first arrested on multiple charges, including sedition, rioting and dacoity, etc — by law-enforcement personnel who reportedly barged into her residence in the early hours without an arrest warrant.
Granted post-arrest bail in one case, Ms Mazari was kept in custody until she obtained bail in the second one as well. Shortly after her release, she was rearrested outside the prison gates — this time on far-fetched allegations of ‘terror financing’ — an arrest that her lawyer has claimed violated the Islamabad High Court’s orders.
Outspoken PTM leader Ali Wazir, arrested alongside Ms Mazari, is yet to be granted bail. The former South Waziristan MNA was an exception earlier for having been kept behind bars on various pretexts for over two years, despite being acquitted and granted bail several times. But post May 9, there is a sinister predictability to the pattern of repeated incarceration at the pleasure of the authorities.
Ms Mazari’s mother, former PTI MNA Shireen Mazari, was subjected to the same until she announced she was leaving her party. Many other PTI leaders — including Shehryar Afridi, arrested an outrageous 10 times — have been made to go through this ‘revolving door imprisonment’, which makes a mockery of the courts. Those turning their backs on the party ‘won’ their freedom.
While PTI’s lawyers are preoccupied with defending Imran Khan, the legal troubles of other party leaders — not to mention ordinary PTI supporters — are getting scant attention. Several of them are in the security establishment’s custody and facing trials in military courts.
The Punjab caretaker government informed the Lahore High Court that the detainees are not allowed to meet their families or legal counsel of their choice. Are these foreign enemy agents or citizens of Pakistan?
The flagrant abuse of power being witnessed today leaves Pakistan looking like a country virtually unmoored from the universal principles of justice on which its Constitution and its international human rights obligations are based. One wonders whether the centres of power are cognisant of how this affects the country’s global standing. Or is that not a priority in these times? As for the caretakers, pleading helplessness is not an option. They are complicit.
Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2023