Focus on Kashmir
MORE than a month after India launched its ill-advised adventure in occupied Kashmir, protests regarding the dire human rights situation in the held valley refuse to die down.
On Friday, Prime Minister Imran Khan led a charged rally in Muzaffarabad to highlight the troubles across the LoC; he rightly warned the world that Indian repression in the held region would end up fuelling extremism, as people would opt to fight New Delhi’s brutality using “all means”.
Indeed, the reports trickling out of the valley indicate a pitiful situation for the residents of India-held Kashmir, as they remain under lockdown with little freedom to speak of.
It is to be hoped that Pakistan’s efforts to highlight the Kashmir question internationally are having some effect.
Read: UN chief calls for ‘maximum restraint’ in occupied Kashmir
UN Secretary General António Guterres says he remains “very concerned” about the situation escalating into a confrontation between India and Pakistan, while adding that the situation needs to be addressed “with full respect of human rights”.
Elsewhere, numerous American lawmakers have urged their president to mediate between Islamabad and New Delhi, and have called for India to lift the curfew in IHK.
The situation in Kashmir “has grave implications for democracy, human rights and regional stability. …” one congresswoman has said.
Indeed, in the age of social media and breaking news, it will be very hard for India to keep a lid on the brutalities it has unleashed on the Kashmiris.
Despite India’s mantra that ‘all is well’ in the held region, the realisation is slowly growing that India’s military enforcers have unleashed a reign of terror in IHK ever since Article 370 was scrapped last month — although condemnation by world governments has been disappointingly muted.
But India can no longer pretend that Kashmir is an ‘internal’ matter; it stands badly exposed in IHK and no amount of spin can convince neutral observers that the situation in the region is normal. Indeed, Pakistan’s diplomats have of late proactively highlighted the deplorable situation in IHK in key world capitals.
However, the key question is that despite the global cries for justice in Kashmir, and calls for a negotiated settlement to the problem, will India listen?
Up till now, the right-wing BJP government in New Delhi has shown no sign of bending its rigid stance and lifting the inhumane blockade of Kashmir.
Perhaps the only way this can be achieved is if the US and other strategic and economic partners of India exert enough diplomatic pressure on New Delhi and point out repeatedly that a peaceful solution is the only option for Kashmir, and that continued obduracy risks setting the entire region alight.
While the Kashmiris are putting up a brave front in the face of Indian brutality, if this issue is not handled with care, there is a very high likelihood that the entire subcontinent may get caught in an ugly conflagration.
Domestic violence
A NEW report published in the Journal of International Women’s Studies highlights the ways in which women continue to be marginalised in Pakistani society, by focusing on the prevalence of domestic violence in Punjab. Despite the province making considerable gains in recent years, women still cannot access justice due to various legal and cultural obstacles in their path. It seems the passing of progressive legislation has not had the desired effect on the status of women in society, nor has it resulted in a decrease in the violence committed against them. Three years ago, the Punjab Assembly passed the Protection of Women Against Violence Act, which aims to safeguard women against domestic, emotional and economic abuse. It was hailed as a welcome stride towards the realisation of greater rights for women, and yet, according to the report, despite one-third of all criminal cases falling under the domestic violence category, the conviction rate is a meagre one to 2.5pc. Three years before that, Sindh became the first province to pass a law to protect women, children and “any vulnerable person” from domestic abuse with the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act, 2013. So far, however, only one conviction has been reported. Meanwhile, KP has still not been able to pass the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Domestic Violence against Women (Prevention and Protection) Bill due to strong opposition from religious quarters.
Unfortunately, for many in this country, domestic abuse continues to be seen as a private affair — a dispute be ‘settled’ within the home — and not a criminal offence to be dealt with by the state. Each time such a bill has been tabled, there has been considerable outcry and unnecessarily prolonged debate before its passage. And so, even with the passing of pro-women laws, it seems that the desired change has not seeped into this nation’s collective psyche. Thus, an effort to make it easier for women to access a complicated criminal justice system, along with addressing societal stigma and fear around such issues, must accompany lawmaking. Years of deep-rooted societal misogyny cannot be eroded so quickly with paperwork when violence against women becomes such a ‘normalised’ part of our lives. One simply needs to scan the daily headlines — harassment, acid attacks, rape, so-called honour killings, dowry deaths — and then observe the lack of public outrage to get an idea of how normalised women’s suffering is.
Need for urban oases
CITIZENS in Karachi’s Clifton area might breathe easier, for the patch of land known as the Urban Forest has been granted a reprieve. How long it lasts, though, is anyone’s guess given the continued friction between the forest’s founder and the city’s mayor. This is not the first time that the Urban Forest’s adoption was cancelled and then reinstated by the KMC since a five-year agreement was signed in May 2017 to develop the former dumping ground into a self-sustaining, natural forest based on the methods of Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki. Sadly, this latest tussle was not without its casualties, as KMC workers razed some of its young trees. Given Karachi’s burgeoning concrete sprawl, and the resultant susceptibility to urban flooding and heat islands, this speaks volumes for our penchant for self-injury.
Parks and recreation areas are estimated to account for less than 2pc of Karachi’s total built spaces. And while the relatively affluent District South is considered the ‘greenest’ part of the city by this diminutive yardstick, the amount and quality of green spaces and permeable surfaces there, too, is far from adequate. Tree plantation drives have become popular among politicians, even those who lack environmental awareness in other contexts, and local administrations tend to prioritise aesthetics over environmental needs in the few green spaces they do develop. At best, this has given rise to the phenomenon of manicured lawns behind gated walls that offer little benefit to the pedestrian public most in need of green cover; at worst, it has led to the mass planting of unsuitable, non-native species of trees. Clearly, there is a need for deeper, genuine engagement between the city’s public officials, experts and civil society to counteract the growing threat of climate change and public health hazards posed by living in an environmentally hostile city. The Urban Forest may seem like a miniscule intervention in the face of such an existential challenge, but at least it represents a start.