Safer Basant
THE season of spring is here — and with it, the usual crackdown on those attempting to celebrate it. For years now, the authorities in Punjab have cited safety concerns as the reason behind their ban on Basant, the traditional festival that paints the skies with radiant colours, as thousands take part in kite-flying competitions. No doubt there is some truth to their apprehensions. The use of glass-coated or metal strings, rooftops without guardrails and celebratory firing have all taken their toll on lives. This year has been no exception. On Friday, at least three people died in Basant-related incidents in Rawalpindi while many were injured. Meanwhile, police claimed they had rounded up more than 300 people violating the ban. Should safety concerns, then, trump the joy the season has brought to millions?
It is unfortunate that those in charge often adopt the quickest route to solving a challenge. For instance, instead of introducing arbitrary rules to curb kite-flying, there could have been a genuine attempt at making it safer. There are ways of doing that, as we have said previously in this space. Cotton strings can be attached by ensuring that kite manufacturers do not use hazardous material that could injure people, especially motorcyclists. Large public places can be designated for kite-flying and rules enforced to secure rooftops. Such steps, and more public awareness, could make Basant a lively celebration once again, without endangering life and limb. However, are we up to the challenge of shunning the easy way out and lifting the ban? Of understanding that stifling excitement and joy will only cause more frustration in a people that have very few happy occasions to celebrate as a nation? Moreover, there is a large obscurantist segment that views Basant as a ‘Hindu’ festival. Reintroducing Basant, with some safety measures, would send a strong message that the state supports citizens’ right to enjoy themselves and will not allow regressive thinking to prevail.
Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2023
Guantánamo returnees
IT is a bittersweet homecoming for the Rabbani brothers, Mohammed and Abdul Rahim. The two are finally back in Pakistan, but after spending nearly two decades in Guantánamo Bay, the notorious American gulag in Cuba that entered the global lexicon during the ‘war on terror’.
The brothers, accused of aiding Al Qaeda, have never been charged, in effect rendering their lengthy confinement illegal. Both were picked up from Karachi in 2002 and were taken to a CIA facility in Afghanistan before being shipped off to Guantánamo.
They claim they were tortured by the Americans. The release of the Rabbanis follows Saifullah Paracha’s repatriation to Pakistan last year; Mr Paracha, a septuagenarian, also languished in detention for nearly two decades without charge.
The release of these men brings into focus a particularly dark chapter of the ‘war on terror’: the use of gulags and black sites to circumvent legal systems and prevent the accused from defending themselves through due process.
The fact is that Guantánamo and other notorious facilities are a stain on the reputation of the US and other states that claim to respect fundamental rights — a stain that will not wash away easily. They reflect a contempt for legal norms and due process, indicating one law for ‘us’, and another for ‘them’.
The individuals held in Guantánamo were accused of aiding and abetting terrorism, yet Western legal systems — otherwise quite effective — seemed inadequate to prosecute these men in regular courts of law, where their fundamental rights would be guaranteed. What is more, the use of torture, freely employed by law enforcers in societies such as Pakistan, exposed the claims of those states that swear to uphold the ‘rules-based order’.
The fact is that during the ‘war on terror’ there were no rules, and the rights of dozens of men were violated as they spent large, productive parts of their lives incarcerated without charge and without conviction.
Moreover, these policies did little to combat terrorism, as the eventual rise of the militant Islamic State group proved. Terrorism cannot be countered by breaking the law and trampling on human rights. Many moons ago, Barack Obama promised that he would shut down Guantánamo.
Two other men have occupied the White House since, yet the promise remains unfulfilled. The current US administration should close down this gulag and compensate those held for decades without charge.
Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2023
An unconscionable death toll
DYING in the process of giving birth is a particularly poignant tragedy. And yet that is how a shockingly high number of women across the globe will continue to lose their lives unless governments recognise the monumental injustice of a situation where most of these deaths can be prevented by ensuring easily available medical interventions. According to Trends in Maternal Mortality, a report by several UN agencies released recently, a woman dies during pregnancy or childbirth every two minutes. That came to over 280,000 fatalities in 2020, a toll aptly described by the UNFPA executive director as “unconscionable”. Alarmingly, the maternal mortality ratio has either stagnated or increased in most parts of the world. Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 70pc of the fatalities, 82,000 of them in Nigeria alone. The report says that roughly a third of women across the world do not undergo even four of the eight recommended antenatal checkups or receive essential postnatal care; around 270m women lack access to modern family planning methods.
While South Asia is one of two regions where the MMR has shown a significant decline over the years, including in Pakistan, the country’s MMR remains unacceptably high at 154 in 2020, when 9,800 women died during pregnancy or childbirth. MMR in the same year for India was 103; in Bangladesh, it was 123. Pakistan’s MMR also provides a window into the inequity in human development indicators across the country. As per the Pakistan Maternal Mortality Survey, the MMR for Punjab is 157, while for Balochistan it is 298. There is likewise considerable disparity of around 25pc between rural and urban MMR with the latter registering a lower figure. These statistics also have a symbiotic link with gender inequality in Pakistan’s patriarchal culture where many women do not have agency over decisions about their reproductive health, including how many children to have and spacing between births. According to the Pakistan Demographic Health Survey 2018-19, only 10pc women can take decisions about their health in Pakistan. Couple that with inadequate antenatal care and lack of awareness, and it all adds to the risks incurred by pregnant women as well as the underweight babies they often bear.
Last year’s devastating floods and the prevailing economic crisis have pushed millions more into poverty and made the achievement of SDGs on reducing maternal and infant mortality even more unlikely. The already poor nutritional status of Pakistani women — especially in the rural areas — is sure to worsen, thereby contributing to an even higher prevalence of anaemia among them. This is a critical concern in a country where 41pc of maternal deaths are due to excessive blood loss during childbirth. Special interventions are needed if Pakistan’s modest gains in MMR are not to be reversed.
Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2023