Individual Counts

UK’s Department for International Development has launched a consultation to get ideas on how to improve its assistance for Pakistan. The key questions are:

How can UK help to increase Pakistanis’ access to basic services i.e. education, health etc?

What do you think should be the priorities of the Pakistani Government’s policy on poverty reduction?

What can UK do to promote economic success and growth that benefits the Pakistani poor?

What needs to be done to support more involvement of poor people, especially women, in decision making that affects them?

What can UK do to help the Government of Pakistan to promote transparency and accountability?

You and I may scoff at this…… pass sarcastic comments or we may give input and at least try to get our voices heard at this planning stage.

We’ll collect inputs and by end of March formally send all the comments etc to the DFID to either consider or throw out of the window. Either way, we would at least have played our part for whatever it is worth.

Prominent journalist Mariana Baabar last month did a story  for Outlook   magazine titled,“ The End of the  Affair”  focusing  on  Benazir- Zardari  marriage. Daily Times  did a  front page analysis of the story and  also wrote a scathing  second editorial  on it the very next day  titled  ,“Benazir -Zardari split?”   The  editorial  made  certain  unsubstantiated statements   such as   “the  story was written by a  journalist  friend   of Benazir”   and that  “ The story makes good reading, even though there are some allegations which probably have more to do with the reporter’s prejudice than with facts.” 

Marianna  Babar wanted to   respond  to  these allegations by sending  a letter to the editor but   Daily Times has  flatly refused to print this letter.  We were  approached  to   print it  on our site  which we are doing so below in the  interest of   free expression and setting the record straight for  those of you  who are interested in the issue.  Please find below Marianna  Babar’s response   which she sent  to Daily Times:

Mariana Baabar replies: Those writing to Outlook from Pakistan seem to have based their reactions to my story on the version the Pakistan-based Daily Times—and subsequently many others too carried.
In their front-page analysis of my story, Daily Times called me a journalist friendly to Benazir. Neither I nor Outlook made any such claim. It’s outrageous to see in the story the handiwork of the government and the ISI. Never known to be close to the establishment,I think it’s pertinent to point out how the story germinated: in a
stray remark I made about Benazir’s marriage in my weekly conversation with Outlook, the issue was considered important enough to be investigated. The story was based on briefings from multiple sources,both in Pakistan and abroad, many of whom are known to be close to the couple. Understanding the sensitivity of writing on Benazir’s marriage
in a year Pakistan is slated to go to election, I handled the story carefully, checking facts several times. In its editorial, Daily Times claimed it was Asif Zardari who had prepared a video of former president Farooq Leghari—and not the other way around, as reported in
my story. It then went on to claim that I was prejudiced against Leghari. The daily has conveniently forgotten that there were two videos—one by Leghari and another by Asif. It may also be pointed out that Daily Times editor Najam Sethi served as a minister in the
Leghari cabinet. As for Haqqani’s record, it’s well-known he worked with Nawaz Sharif to vilify Benazir and the PPP, thereafter switching sides with the elan characteristic of South Asia. Yes, he’s right in saying I’m no expert on marriage—I became a widow at 24. If memory serves me right, he has been married happily (or unhappily) at least
four times, enough, I assume, to make him an authority on the subject.”

Dr. Ghazala Anwar   who  had to give  up   her position at the International Islamic University version of Islam  is  “ Hatred or denigration of those whom God made different whether in gender,sexual orientation  or religious beliefs and practice ensues from putting  other than God at the Center of one’s heart and worship.Lesbian,Gay, bisexual and transgender Muslims are to be judged by the quality of their faith,the purity of their intentions and the goodness and selflessness of their actions as any Muslim or human being.’

Jamai-Hafsa  madrassah girl  students who’ve occupied the  Children’s Library at Islamabad to protest  over  the demoilition  of  an  illegally  constructed mosque  version of Islam  is “ All land  belongs  to  Allah and thus mosques can be built  anywhere.” 

The former has  not been allowed to teach. The latter are visited by parliamentarians  and lauded for their  “moral courage”  So ,  whose  version  of Islam  is  more meaningful?