Updated: Stamp out corruption the Chinese way?

A government official slaps a spa worker with a fat wad of cash and threatens to bury her under a mountain of banknotes, if she does not submit to his sexual advances. This government official, based in Hubei province China was stabbed to death by the women who later became a national hero, seen by many as standing up to a corrupt government official.

A side effect of the Pakistan-China, deeper than the depths of the ocean, higher than the highest mountain friendship, has been the evolution of a romanticised perception of China, of its leaders and its system of governance. Popularly, it’s assumed that corruption is non-existent in China. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Speaking on the occasion of the 90th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of China, President Hu Jintao identified rampant corruption within the Party as a threat to its continued survival. He declared that fighting corruption will be a "protracted, complicated and arduous battle”.

Economists fear that China is heading for a “hard landing” in 2012. Recent statistics show that electricity production, investment, quarterly growth, retail sales and trade figures have all declined. Given the economic problems of the European Union, uncertainty regarding government spending cuts in the US; it come as no surprise that quarterly GDP growth fell to 8.1%. Now 8.1% growth may sound very good, however it is largely assumed that China needs to grow at at least 8% a year to keep a vast population satisfied and quell any signs of popular dissent.

With corruption having become a national issue and the prospects of a period of declining growth, the last thing the Chinese leadership needed was an internal power struggle. That is exactly what it got!

The purge of the populist Communist Party leader of Chongqing and politburo member Bo Xilai, was also tipped for a senior leadership post later this year, marking the once in a decade change of Chinese leaders. Bo Xilai, a “princeling”, as descendants of senior Communist Party members are known, had been ideologically challenging the current leadership, headed by President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. Xilai’s case has become more complicated as his wife has been arrested as a suspect in the murder of a British businessman, Neil Haywood.

The purge however has not ended with Bo Xilai exit. Others including his three brothers accused of corruption, state officials, and politburo members who actively supported him, such as the former domesticsecurity chief Zhou Yongkang and senior “princeling” generals have also had to leave their posts.

In Pakistan, many believe that the Chinese model should be imported and implemented, ignoring the fact that the very same system has created conditions of stark inequality and rampant corruption. Much like their Pakistani peers, Chinese leaders have been found carrying fake degrees, sanctioned illegal land grabs, involved in siphoning off billions of dollars offshore and perhaps most famously, have managed to sidestep a 2004 ban on newgolf courses, ushering in the construction of 600 of them since the ban came into effect.

Unlike the Chinese leadership that has admitted the shortcomings of its system and is pushing through reforms, we in Pakistan continue to believe in a “Chinese model” which is completely detached from reality. The CPC recognizes the unique challenges it faces given Chinas current international status and her domestic pressures.

So whether its Iran, China or Turkey, longing for importing a system which is perceived to be effective and corruption free but based on a fantasy does no one, especially us any good. 

China isn't corruption free. All those who romanticise an authoritarian regime that will take a hard-line, top down approach to corruption and "stamp" it out and falling prey to cheap rhetoric. It sounds good, it means well, but such talk is cheap and betrays neither an understanding of corruption, nor its incentives and how to mediate them.

It’s high time we in Pakistan did the same and appreciate that the experiences of other countries while informing our policies, are never flexible enough to be implemented wholesale. Especially, when our opinion of a country and her policies are based on a fiction, unrepresentative of reality. 

UPDATE

Talking about good governance, how is this for an attempt at displaying all the good work Chinese officials are upto. A rather poor effort don't you think? Could have got someone better to Photoshop!

Musings on PIA: Part I

I had first intended to write one detailed post on PIA. But with so many considerations and areas to discuss I decided to split it up into different posts. 

Forget the past

As a state owned and managed enterprise, PIA's fortunes have been dwindling for over a decade. Now saddled with massive amounts of debt and ever expanding losses PIA needs to change and change drastically.

However, reform in itself is very difficult. And we, as citizens and consumers of PIA dont help to make things any better. Too much national pride is invested in PIA. Open any article or editorial on PIA, and it starts off by listing down its achievements from 30 or so years ago.

The past was the past. The world was different then. Jet fuel was definitely much much cheaper. PIA faced much less competition abroad and a monopoly over domestic flights. Comparing PIA today with what it was is an unfair comparison and sets unrealistic expectations on whoever attempts to bring about change.

Feels good, but the past is the past

Pakistanis need to detach some national pride in relation to PIA and accept that its financial performance is more important than how it makes us feel about ourselves and Pakistan.

Once we have accepted that PIA's fairytale entry into the aviation market is behind us, we can perhaps move forward by setting realistic expectations of the airline.

Unrealistic expectations

Talking about realistic expectations, many of us have fallen into the trap of comparing PIA with Middle Eastern Airlines. Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad etc, are profitable (to an extent) and provide excellent service (depending on what your idea of excellent is). However, this comparison is unfair as all these airlines have tacit state backing, lower operating costs due to state backed infrastructure development, such as airports and support facilities, and relatively lower labour costs, especially amongst lower skilled airport, janitorial and support staff based on migrant labour. Given the dearth of rights, these labourers have no union to represent themselves in the Gulf. Not to mention their success at sucking away alot of PIA's experienced staff.

Further afield the airline market looks quite grim. Traditional European carriers are struggling and several budget airlines have shut-down. Cathay Pacific, Qantas, JAL, Singapore airlines, US airlines have all experienced persistent losses over the past decade for one reason or the other. Mainly, the impact of higher oil prices, coupled with increased competition and rising airport charges has shrunk profit margins across the globe. Airlines are making money (those that still do) on volume and attracting business and premium travellers. It is here where PIA struggles.

Challenging regional dominance? 

Emirates has been profiled as an airline which will dominate the skies. It is expected to become the long haul equivalent of mass, budget airlines, an Easy Jet or Ryan air for the world. With an excellent airport in Dubai that subsidises its headquarters and acts as a global hub, purchase of high volume Airbus A380s have all helped to get bums on seats and increase marginal revenue per passenger, even whilst facing increasing competition from Qatar Airways and Etihad.

PIA then is poorly equipped to contest the dominance of Gulf Airlines. A major source of revenue is the Indian market and the massive economies of scales flights in and out of India enjoy. Problems with Indian airlines such as Kingfisher have helped nudge customers towards Gulf airlines, while opening up opportunities for other airlines. Lufthansa for example is bullish on its prospects in India. Its brand new Boeing 747-800 will be deployed on routes serving the Indian market.

Pakistan of course is excluded from the Indian market. Which is a shame, as PIA could have become the low cost alternative, bringing customers from Europe, transiting in Karachi for say onward flights to Mumbai. But that is still a pipe dream.

To sell and move on?

Privatization is consistently offered as a solution.

Then again, as a "strategic asset" its unlikely to be sold off completely. They are too many rent seekers attached to the organization to allow the gravy train to be privatised. There is the option of a partnership or a management buy out but that is unlikely to happen. In the region this has been tried before.

SriLankan airlines management was handed over the Emirates. The relationship remained rocky and came to a dead end when Emirates refused to disembark ticket paying passengers to accommodate government dignitaries. Emirates exited the partnership and Sri Lankan airlines is back in state hands.

Given the state of the global airline market PIA is unlikely to attract buyers. Pakistan itself is not an attractive market in terms of relocating overseas senior managers. Some say that PIA has many assets but the aeroplanes are old, depreciation has taken hold, so who is going to pay a "fair" price for it? Does the PIA brand have any value that could attract a potential buyer? Debatable. Who would want to buy into an organization with strong labour unions whose demands are unlikely to be met by the state and so will pass on to any potential private buyer. Who would buy into that?

What PIA does have is property holdings and more importantly sovereign landing rights as a flag carrier. The later is where PIA's strengths lie and who else but the state to leverage it?

Karachi as a "hub"

Now a year or so ago the Turkish dream filled the papers as a possible way to "save" PIA. Turkish Airlines, with which PIA already has a code sharing agreement, would have taken over some of PIA routes while PIA would have taken over some Eastbound Turkish Airline routes.

Pakistani passengers would then transfer at Istanbul and Eastbound passengers at Karachi. Now setting aside all the claims and counter claims regarding back handed deals etc, lets look into whether Karachi has the potential to be a major hub, attracting Eastbound travellers to opt for PIA-Turkish Airlines over someone else?

One of the big advantages that hubs like Dubai have is that the have transformed transiting through the airport as an experience in itself. There is something for everyone and most importantly, people are willing to spend money while they wait to change flights. People fly Emirates because their prices are competitive, they have a wide network, a reputation for good service and the attraction of slotting in a stopover or transit through Dubai. Doha in its new airport set to open later this year is trying to do the same and Qatar Airways has started to encourage stopovers in Doha, ditto for Etihad and Abu Dhabi.

Karachi does not offer any of this. The only way the Turkish Airlines-PIA alliance could have worked to increase passenger numbers would have been to cut prices and by becoming a lost cost option. However, Kuwait Airways has been trying to do just that, yet it remains loss making.

The confidence with which the MD of PIA at the time spoke glowingly about how new traffic was going to be generated by gaining Eastbound passengers was extremely optimistic. If you are on holiday, would you really want to transit through Karachi if given the choice?

And lets not forget about the all important First and Business class travellers. Now its here where airlines make their money. Are they proper lounges available which would compete with facilities offered at other airports in the region? Is PIA part of an airline alliance which is all important for business travellers? Now one potential benefit that was not really elaborated on when the Turkish Airlines-PIA partnership was announced, was whether this would perhaps help PIA gain entry into Star Alliance, which Turkish Airlines is part off. Perhaps this partnership would have helped to improve standards of customer service at Karachi Airport. However, attracting business travellers at a hub which struggles to keep the internet going is far too optimistic.

Alcohol, a variety of dinning options, recreational areas, lounges etc, all add to the experience of flying through an airport. Why people in PIA assumed that customers would consider transferring via Jinnah Terminal Karachi is beyond me.


(The following piece in the Economist about the fate of Eastern European airlines is quite analogous to the situation PIA faces: http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2012/02/eastern-europe)

Refund policy: The end of university looting (IHC rules in favour of university students)

The following blog was originally posted on Tribune Blogs.

There was some speculation regarding who this judgement applies to. According to the lawyer involved in this case, Bilal Mirza, this applies to both public and private institutions. Essentially no educational organization can demand non-refundable deposits, at least that's how I have interpreted the order.

Read the detailed verdict here: 

Detailed Judgement: ISB HC ruling on University Fees

Largely unreported, Pakistani students earned a well-deserved victory in the Islamabad High Court last week. The High Court ruled the current policy adopted by several public and private universities to demand non-refundable deposits at the time of offering admission ‘illegal’.

This is a problem that many students are familiar with. When the admission season starts, they apply to a range of institutions and even start hearing back from a lot of them. However, they are still in waiting for their first choice to respond.

In the meantime, unsure whether they will get into their most preferred university or not, they start making deposits at other institutions; only to later gain admission where they originally wanted and losing out on the sums deposited at all the other universities.

Recently, a student named Muhammad Usman Syed filed a petition at the Islamabad High Court, holding Comsats Institute of Information Technology and the High Education Commission (HEC) as respondents. His legal representatives, Bilal Mirza and Omer Farooq of Farooq Khan & Mirza argued that the policy of holding deposits and deeming them non-refundable is against international practises, where many institutions employed a pro-rata rate of refund.

The court was found in favour of the plaintiff and the HEC has been directed to implement a fee-refund policy in universities.

The findings of the case have a major impact on students across the country, especially at this time of the year. Over the summer holidays, a large number of students will submit admission applications in local universities. While the HEC may still take some time to implement the new policy, aspiring students in local institutions should be aware of their rights during the admission process.

Now that the precedent has been set, perhaps it’s also time for private schools to look into their admission practices and the hefty deposits that they charge?

I had the chance to briefly chat with Bilal Mirza, Advocate High Court, on the details of this case. Here is the transcribed interview:

1) Could you give a brief background of what policies the universities had adopted and why the plaintiff considered them to be unfair? 

There has been a prevalent practice adopted by many universities to announce their results well in advance of top tier universities in any given field. It requires the applicant students to deposit a hefty amount, which the prospectus ambiguously refers to as security deposit and the amount is stated as ‘non-refundable’, to be paid before a deadline deliberately set just prior to announcement of admission results by top tier universities.

Therefore, a student who wishes to secure his academic future and applies to several universities, is coerced into paying this amount in order to have a back-up option in the event he/she does not qualify for the top tier university. Many students, who do eventually get admission in top tier universities, are not returned this amount on a arbitrary ground that the applicant paid this amount with full knowledge of the fact that it is non-refundable and therefore now ‘estopped’ from claiming it.

The petition was filed to challenge:

• The practice of announcing results early with a deliberately short deadline
• The non-refundable policy of universities where students are forced to forfeit a sum paid to the universities without any legitimate reason – as the universities have provided no services as consideration.

Federation of Pakistan, through the Ministry of Education and the HEC were made parties to the proceedings. This was done so that appropriate directions may be issued for formulation and implementation of rules and regulations on this matter which was previously not being regulated by the HEC.

2) When was the case filed? What was the respondent’s response to the courts proceedings?

The case was filed in early 2011 at the Islamabad High Court not long after it was re-constituted. The respondent university’s main submission was that every university is empowered to formulate, approve and promulgate its own policies. It said that the present no-refund policy has been posited in pursuance of the same. Furthermore, as the amount is stated as non-refundable in the prospectus, therefore doctrine of estoppel was attracted and applicant students are not at the liberty to claim a refund.

3) What does the verdict mean? What can universities do and not do?

The judgement passed by the Honourable Islamabad High Court has declared that there is no estoppel against law. Even if an applicant was aware of the terms of the prospectus, it is not possible for one to contract out of fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan.

The no-refund policy of the universities has been declared to be against principles of natural justice. As it is exploitative, therefore it is in contravention of the tenets of the Constitution of Pakistan.

The Honourable judge also stated that is against the dictates of Islam and moral values to make claim to an amount against which no service, labour or product is given.

Furthermore, it has been emphasised that the educational institutes are expected to demonstrate parental conduct and approach towards students instead that of businessmen.

Educational institutes cannot be allowed to operate purely on commercial considerations rather main object should be to impart education with purpose of building nations.

It was also observed that the brunt of such policies is borne by the lower and middle classes, which is blatant discrimination as the right to education is not reserved only to the rich, influential and mighty ones. Also, entire families suffer due to these policies and brilliant students are deprived of education due to lack of resources to pay non-refundable security deposits.

 4) Is there any scope for this verdict to be applied retrospectively? If I was in a similar situation a year or two ago, can I claim money back?

Directions have been issued to the Ministry of Education and HEC to conform their policies with the observations made. The HEC has already adopted the dictum of the judgement by announcing that it will issue detailed regulations in compliance of the judgement and will eliminate the no-refund policies. Only expenses actually incurred by universities in processing applications etc. may be retained and the remaining amounts are to be refunded to the applicants. The judgement, unfortunately, does not have retrospective application but will benefit all students who henceforth apply for admissions in Pakistan.

5) Can this verdict be applied to other institutions such as private schools and colleges?

Yes, it applies to all public and private sector institutes.

The rise of an Empire: Malik Riaz, DHA & HRL

So you think the writ of the state is being challenged?


You dont have to go far. Just venture down the Islamabad highway and the  G.T. Road as you exit the Rawalpindi cantonment and private actors have already ceded from the state. The powers that be, Malik Riaz, the military through DHA, HRL and land grabbers have become a powerful cartel that has virtually surrounded the twin cities from one side and continue to expand. Supposedly all of this is under the guise of national development, enterprise, Western style living, thanking ex-Army officers for their services and making world class golf courses.

For a detailed analysis of how the military takes control of vast swaths of land see, Ayesha Siddiqa's, The New Land Barons? http://www.newslinemagazine.com/2006/07/the-new-land-barons/

Below I am reproducing a forward that was sent by Colonel (Retd) M Tariq Kamal, former Director Engineering DHA Islamabad, to the Pak Media mailing list.


========================================================================

Lt. Col. (Retd) M Tariq Kamal. Former Director Engineering DHA Islamabad,

Cell: 0300-8542971. Res: 051-5152157. Address: 10-C, Tariq Lane, Tulsa Raod, Lalazar, Rawalpindi.

DHA, Bahria Town deprive masses of Rs 62 billion

Forty thousand soldiers, one hundred ten thousand civilians lost savings

Authorities playing role of silent spectator:  ex- director DHA

Islamabad: (April 25) Defence Housing Authority Islamabad (DHAI) and Bahria Town have deprived 150 thousand people of their hard-earned Rs 62 billion, a former military officer said.
All the concerned authorities have decided to ignore this blatant breach of public trust, he said.Colonel (Retd) M Tariq Kamal, former Director Engineering DHAI said in a statement on Wednesday that DHAI has been receiving money in the name of allotment of plots in DHA Phase I Extension, DHA Phase II Extension and DHA Valley since a decade but what masses get in return is assurances and hollow promises.
Those who deposited money for plots considering it purely DHAI projects were deliberately kept in dark about the agreements between that DHAI and Bahria Town regarding land development.
Similarly, few would know that following the controversial agreements, DHAI silently transferred all the funds raised from public amounting to Rs 62 billion to the account of Bahria Town CEO Malik Riaz.Those who got cheated include 110 thousand civilians, 41 thousand serving and retired military officers, jawans and families of martyrs.  Total land in question is 1,65,000 kanal, he informed.Elaborating, he said that few years back DHAI and Bahria Town chief Malik Riaz inked controversial agreements according to which the later was entrusted to develop all the 1, 75,000 kanal land owned by DHAI.
Malik Riaz started development activity on 10,000 kanals after pursuance by DHAI authorities. As the development process kicked off, the DHAI bosses transferred Rs 62 billion into the account of Malik Riaz without any guarantee and against the advice of DHAI legal advisors Ahmer Bilal Soofi & Co.
Those DHAI employees who objected to the illegal steps were sacked immediately.
After some time, Mr. Riaz stopped development process and started using the money of DHAI members to fulfil his personal ambitions, he alleged.
He informed that according to the agreements DHAI is unable to take any decision or action while Mr. Riaz continues to delay development leaving millions of people worried and insecure.
Lt Col. (R) Tariq said that reasons for the unusual favour are still not known but it merits an investigation to ascertain as to why top officials misused authority and compromised DHAI reputation to benefit a property tycoon widely known for land grabbing.
Similarly, the applicants were deliberately kept unaware about the partnership of DHAI with Malik Riaz in the business otherwise the response of masses could have been different.
He said that Mr Riaz is not honouring agreements thus damaging DHAI reputation and causing a huge financial loss. Yet, DHAI administration’s indifference is bewildering and needs investigation.Lt Col. Tariq who is a member of DHAI as well as an affectee said that according to Clause 23 of Gazette Notification Ordinance No LIII, 2009, all the serving or retired army officers serving in DHA would be considered public servants (civilians).
However, the Central and Provincial Governments, NAB, FIA and police etc. would not take any concrete action against all those who have violated all laws and procedures to deprive 150 thousand families of their homes.
He said that the demands of overseas Pakistanis and findings of Transparency International have also fallen upon deaf years.

==========================================================

One report after another

Now there is no way of definitively establishing whether this is all true or not. But it does tie in with alot of rumours and news reports regarding DHAI and Malik Riaz over the last few years.

One of which of course was the revelation that DHAI had defaulted on its debt to Askari Bank and the amounts were large enough to threaten Askari Bank's continued operation.


Back in 2010 an editorial in the DAWN noted that:

One of these banks, the Askari Commercial Bank, like the DHA, is an arm of the military`s Army Welfare Trust. Unable to pay up, the Islamabad DHA is seeking not only a two-year moratorium on payment of mark-up and the principal loan amount, but also a waiver of the interest rate. Both requests, say banking experts, go against the rules of the State Bank of Pakistan.

Malik Riaz had allegedly helped tide DHAI over and in exchange largely taken over chunks of DHAI. Bahria Town sales started to actively sell and market DHA property. DHAI F Sector was developed on what was Bahria Town, but under the DHAI brand. Same case with the DHA overseas block where Bahria Town have actively been developing it under its own brand, yet not much has actually been constructed.  

Bahria Town and DHA have both been accused of land grabbing across the Islamabad/Rawalpindi jurisdictions. Most recently the DAWN published the following reports:


Police put on notice in land grabbing case http://dawn.com/2012/04/22/police-put-on-notice-in-land-grabbing-case-2/


Book the tycoon and son, court orders http://dawn.com/2012/04/24/book-the-tycoon-and-son-court-orders/

Things have been going from bad to worse when it comes to suburban property development around the twin cities. Poorly planned and managed housing societies have sprung up in former agricultural and rural areas. Local communities have been broken and displaced, often by force.


Malik Riaz's name keeps on popping up over the past decade or so for his alleged involvement in various land grabs. This perhaps makes DHAI's involvement with him even more short-sighted. How is it that an organization, the military, that claims that it excels at administration and honesty, is involved with such an individual? 


Allegations against Mr Riaz include not depositing employee income tax deductions with the FBR, harassing police personnel, kidnapping a mobile NADRA team and having Bahria Town workers change their CNIC addresses to influence local elections and selling land in the soan river. 


Questions, questions and more questions


The military at the very least should a) answer the allegations that it has not compensated villagers who held land in what is now DHA Phase II and DHA Phase II Extension/Overseas block etc b) explain how DHAI's debt is being repaid c) given that the DHAI Ordinance has not been passed by the National Assembly, in whose name and under what legal authority is it enforcing civic laws in its jurisdiction and sharing those rights and privileges with other actors and d) How land allotted as a gunnery range is now being converted and marketed as DHAI Phase 3.


Given that Malik Riaz and the DHAI are based in Rawalpindi and Islamabad they avoid the glare of the Karachi based media. Given the amount of advertising revenue that both DHA and BT generate for newspapers and television stations its hardly surprising that they dont come down hard on them.


Perhaps more importantly organizations such as DHA and BT have become part and parcel of middle and upper class aspirations. Its become the fashionable thing to do to invest in and live in such areas and highlight how you are enjoying "Western styled amenities" in Pakistan. 


Rise of the urban landlords


Malik Riaz and his ilk are what I like to describe our Urban Landlords. They have not only become wealthy by monopolizing large tracts of property themselves. They have been successful to tie in a much larger populations welfare within their own success. After all, who is going to take on people such as him if they are afraid that their investments in "files" and "plots" may go down the toilet. 


So not only are they wealthy, they are helping make other people wealthy as well. Further, they push people out and displace farmers from agricultural land forcing them to give up their traditional lifestyles and local economies for a harsh, labour intensive urban economy. Its urbanisation, but on Malik Riaz's and HRL's terms.


Now its also possible that Bahria Town may be completely above board. The DHA has done nothing wrong, the media is out to get them and jealous competitors are defaming them. If so, why don't they do themselves a favour and act with greater transparency and accountability rather than the DG ISPR making statements such as, the military will deal with its property in the national interest!


What the Colonel has highlighted above will probably not receive much attention. If the benchmark of corruption that is used to measure politicians was applied here, we would find GHQ-DHA involved in massive corruption. However, they can always fall back on jingoism and nationalism to justify their actions. What is despicable is that people like Malik Riaz who have co-opted the DHA brand and by extension the military as a major stakeholder, is free riding on the Army's name. 


Apparently he is supposed to be a role model that I am told young Pakistani entrepreneurs should emulate!


The following have some more details:


Reporter - Land Mafia, collusion with power players Part 1

Reporter - Land Mafia, collusion with power players Part 2

Reporter - Land Mafia, collusion with power players Part 3

Reporter - Land Mafia, collusion with power players Part 4

Arsalan Bilal on Hunger Strike - UPDATED

Words are mightier than the sword.

Ask the administrators of Bahria University Islamabad who have expelled Arsalan Bilal from the University for threatening staff members by forwarding a poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz. It appears irrelevant to the administrators that the same email was forwarded to his friends, class fellows, and family members, yet Faiz’s poetry is a reason good enough to warrant expulsion if a teacher is added to the mailing list.

Bahria University has also declared Arsalan Bilal “psychologically unstable”, even though they are no experts in psychiatry. If so, the university appears to have set aside its responsibility towards student welfare and supporting vulnerable members of its community and gone about adding to his mental stress by deciding to expel him.

This should all sound very familiar. In April 2011, Professor Qamar Riaz Mahmitkhel was dismissed from Bahria University for questioning the role of retired military officials and whether creativity could flourish in a military style setup. The question was asked in a packed auditorium and the response of the university’s administrators was for the Director Campus Commodore (retired) Mohammad Ali and security personnel to grab him by the collar and assault him. A 100 or so students subsequently protested against his dismissal at which point Naval Intelligence officials harassed the protestors and the administration threatened them with expulsion.

Mr Bilal who also runs Insight News – Bahria University, a Facebook page dedicated to news related to the institution, had also questioned the role of ex-Naval officials and certain faculty members policies in the university. He has been discouraged in pursuing his undergraduate research in ‘Politicization of religion in Pakistan’ and faced discrimination as he belongs to a minority sect.

As a result, Arsalan Bilal has gone on an indefinite hunger strike before Bahria University Islamabad from the 6^th of April.

When challenged, administrators usually explain their actions by pointing to the greater good. For example, the case of women being raped in International Islamic University Islamabad was hushed up, as the administration wanted to protect the reputation of the institution.

Universities in Pakistan, especially those of the Bahria University variety have reduced higher education to an extension of secondary school. The emphasis is on discipline, uniform, fines for poor attendance etc. What is ignored, is the quality of teaching and the content of the curriculum, emphasising rote learning and propaganda over thoughtful analysis and evaluation. The incident involving a retired Brigadier who assaulted a lecturer in NUML University for “daring” to “say something about the Army” comes to mind.

The fact is that HEC regulations are not enforced and individuals without the prerequisite qualifications are appointed in universities based on their affiliation with either the military or the civilian bureaucracy is not only HEC’s failure to enforce the law, our collective silence fails those students who study in these institutions.

The fact is that despite HEC’s efforts, the quality of Higher Education in Pakistan remains dismal. We are not producing mature, analytical and creative individuals ready to take on the world. Some universities are nothing more than over glorified finishing schools where 20 year olds are treated like children. The same administrators may send their own children to foreign universities where they are no uniforms, no attendance and the environment lacking any “discipline” of the variety they enforce on others.

Public universities cannot and must not be used as the post retirement, cushy appointment for retired bureaucrats, whether military or civil. I am sure there are many ex-military officials who can make excellent contributions to learning in education, however, the variety that expels students for raising questions and assaults teaching stuff have little to offer apart from their massive egos.

Education is far too important to be left to individuals. The key and most important stakeholders are and should be the students themselves. The HEC has developed elaborate structures and layers of bureaucracy that serves everyone but the students. Administrators are all powerful whether in the private or the public sector. Teaching staff have little or no job security and are subservient to the whims of administrators, most of whom have no background in education.  

If you believe that education is more than wearing uniforms and wearing your tie correctly then it’s important to support Arsalan Bilal in his protest. If he is silenced then the status quo will remain unchanged and it will silence anyone else who hopes to question the powers that be. Thousands upon thousands of students will receive a poor education, undeserving for an individual in the 21^st century.

A university student is old enough to join the military, marry, drive, carry a weapon, yet university administrators seem hell bent on treating them as children. Things must not continue as they are! 

Update: Arsalan Bilal on Saach TV: http://saach.tv/2012/04/12/strike-for-justice-or-self-promotion/

Follow Arsalan Bilal on Twitter: @arsalanbilal 

This post was originally published in the ET Blogs: http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/11033/bahria-university-arsalan-bilals-hunger-for-justice/

A related post on Bahria University: http://liberalfacist.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/misplaced-priorities-in-higher.html

Experiencing the Hajj Exhibit at the British Museum

On Friday I finally made it to the Hajj: Journey to the heart of Islam exhibit at the British Museum. For me personally it had been quite a big change in my usual routine, especially after attending the screening of Saving Face the night before.

Now I wasnt sure what I was thinking I was going to get to see at the exhibit. The reviews of the exhibition had celebrated how the Saudi Government after alot of lobbying had finally consented on sharing alot of the pieces on loan to the British Museum. It was made out to be quite a big deal.


To be fair, for non-Muslims, or anyone with a limited understanding of the rituals and symbolism of the Islamic faith, the event would have been quite enlightening. For me, it was not all that, but that was probably because once you skip the bits that you know about the exhibit didnt seem all that vast.


However, what it did allow was for certain things to stand out:


1) How times have changed....In the 14th Century King Mansa Musa, the founder of the Kingdom of Mali left Timbuktu making his was across West Africa, Sahara, on to Egypt and across the Red Sea to Meccca. Along the way he distributed so much gold that apparently it left the Egyptian economy in a decade long depression. His entourage was vast as he distributed gold amongst peasants and farmers along the way and anyone who offered hospitality.

Coming to the 19th century, NawabSikandar Begum , or the Begum of Bhopal was the first Muslim ruler to arrive in Mecca for the Hajj. She was quite shocked at the state of affairs for Indian pilgrims and later financed the construction of dormitories and kitchens for future pilgrims. She also lobbied the British to improve services available for Indian pilgrims.

Many examples were given of rulers and nobility coming to Arabia for the yearly pilgrimage and distributing their wealth along the way and leaving behind a legacy aimed at improving the lot of the common pilgrim.

Thats an amazing contrast with today, where Muslim rulers receive and expect VIP treatment on arrival in the holy cities. Saudi Arabia seems to be doing all it can to milk pilgrims for whatever they are worth. Given what is essentially meant to be an egalitarian exercise, the high rise 5 star hotels, pent houses over looking the Kaaba is extremely distasteful and this rampant commercialisation just seems wrong.

I mean, do rich people who can afford hotel rooms overlooking the Kaaba really believe that they are closer to God and that God is going to favour his or her prayers over the poor commoners beneath them? 

2) I had no idea that the Government of Pakistan issued special currency notes for Hajj use. Apparently this policy ended in 1994. Way cool!

Adil Najam discusses the origin of these notes and the thinking behind them in detail here: http://pakistaniat.com/2009/11/28/pakistan-hajj-notes/

3) The artwork was quite interesting as well. What I found quite interesting was the work by Ahmed Mater.

Ahmed Mater, born and living in Saudi Arabia, uses magnets and iron filings to illustrate the allure of the Hajj in contemporary life. 

4) What was also quite interesting was the history of the Mahmal. The Mahmal were richly decorated curtains or cloth that were prepared each year to send to Mecca at the time of the Hajj to drape the Kaaba. The Mahmal was prepared by the rulers of Egypt and a grand procession would pass through Cairo. It was a holiday, a celebration, a colourful event.

They were alot of artefacts on display. They were richly decorated and colourful. It seemed that the Hajj of the past was completely different to the Hajj today. Celebratory events of the past would be shunned today as some form of transgression or blasphemy. The Arabia of a hundred years ago had not yet adopted the austere monotone natures of the House of Saud. 

5) At the end of the exhibition where a plaque thanked the Saudi's for there benevolence in loaning exhibits to the British Museum I was left feeling cheated.

I mean, why is it, that grand exhibits are held in Britain, while all we Pakistanis get are Madrassas financed by Saudi money, regurgitating their interpretation of Islam. 

Why don't we have such exhibitions here? 

While the Saudi's store and share art from their collections across the world, their propagandists in Pakistan would make us believe that "art" in itself is un-Islamic.

Throughout Islamic history women led caravans, rode camels, negotiated with the Sharifs of Mecca, led their own private Army's and travelled across vast distances to perform the Hajj. 

Today women cannot drive or travel unaccompanied in Saudi Arabia, and if you were to believe Saudi propaganda that they like to perpetuate, they would make you think that women never left their homes throughout Islamic history. All while, sitting on a treasure trove of artefacts that they are happy to share with the West depicting quite the opposite. 

Watching Saving Face: Feeling Uncomfortable & Angry

Today I got to finally watch Saving Face at the Ritzy Picturehouse in Brixton. The documentary and the Q&A session were part of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival.

There was a very moving introduction by Katie Piper, a model who was raped and suffered from a severe acid attack in 2008. Her doctor, Dr Mohammad Jawad helped support her emotionally and conducted the necessary operations to help her overcame the brutal scaring.

The documentary itself follows Dr Jawad’s efforts to help acid attacks victims in Pakistan. He is supported by Islamic Help, Acid Survivors Foundation Pakistan, Acid Survivors Trust International, medical staff in Pakistan and others.

Victims of acid attacks share their experiences; how they were attacked, how they were treated subsequently, how they have supported each other and how they have campaigned for changing the law as they hope to seek justice.

What was very heart-warming was Dr Jawad’s interaction with the victims and the rapport that develops between him and his patients. Its quite obvious that he helps to support them emotionally and helps develop a comfort zone within which they build the foundations to reclaim their lives.

I found some parts quite disturbing. The profile of one particular acid attack victim (Rukhsana) who had acid thrown on her by her husband, then doused in oil by her sister in law and then her mother in law lit a match a threw it on her, was extremely uncomfortable to listen to. Especially, since she describes the attack standing in the very room  attack took place in! She was forced to return to her husband’s home after the attack as she had nowhere to go and no way to support her children.

The perpetrators, the husbands who are accused of throwing acid on their wives are interviewed as they are incarcerated during their trials. The smug, confident smirk on their faces is unbearable as they confidently deny having any hand in the attacks, claiming that someone else committed it, while they were there. How 99% of acid attacks are inflicted by the women on themselves. Even so, that does not stop them from continuing to threaten their wives and her family, while denying they have committed any crime to begin with. They truly believe they have done nothing wrong.

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Watching the film I initially felt quite uncomfortable, guilty and eventually, angry.

Uncomfortable because I feel guilty for being part of the wave of triumph that swept the country, after Saving Face won an Oscar. It was a celebration, an achievement to be proud of. Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy was rightly congratulated and celebrated. We celebrated film making, but overlooked the content of the film. Sure, the documentary has not been released in Pakistan, yet I am surprised that the local media has not covered or profiled any of the victims and organizations that the documentary highlights.

Yes, Saving Face has helped to bring acid attacks and violence against women’s front and centre in the national discourse. At the same time, I am also quite surprised, that no effort has been made (maybe I missed it?) by the press and the media at large to profile Dr Jawad, the organizations supporting acid attack victims and most importantly the victims themselves. They have been largely ignored as we have shared, RT’d and celebrated an award for film making.

Perhaps I am being undeservedly harsh in the moment, but I do feel disappointed and angry, that a lot of the people profiled in the documentary that are facing innumerable odds and struggle to support themselves, their families and each other have been ignored. 

If an Oscar winning documentary, chronicling their struggles is not going to help divert some attention to their plight, then what will? 

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All those people who were concerned that this documentary will portray Pakistan negatively before an international audience should not be worried.

Instead, the documentary and many of the people in it celebrate the best of Pakistan and their humanity that at times seems quite scarce.

The acid attack victims who despite threats and meagre resources refuse to back down and demand justice.... The lawyer who works pro-bono on women’s rights issues.... The free government acid attack clinic.... The many organizations that support acid attack victims.... The counsellors who work to provide a safe environment to help victims recuperate.... The doctors that offer their time and expertise... The Parliament that unanimously changed the law to help punish perpetrators of such crimes….all these people celebrate a lot the good that Pakistanis offer each other on a day to day basis.

Far from “defaming” Pakistan, it is a celebration of the triumph of humanity even in the worst of circumstances.

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During the Q&A session following the documentary, a representative from the ASTI gave the example of Bangladesh where intense lobbying of the government for changes in the law, restrictions on the sale of acid and involving men in demonstrating against acid attacks had helped to reduce annual attacks from 500 to just under 100 a year. Obviously, examples exist of successful campaigns to reduce such crimes.

Sharmeen mentioned that the film is being dubbed into many South Asia languages so that they can be shared and viewed by a wider audience, though I don’t recall whether she shared a date on  when it will be aired in Pakistan.

The moderator from HRW and the representative from ASTI thanked the filmmakers for helping to bring acid attacks to a global audience. Something that they have been trying to do for a long time. Perhaps, this will help to build a long term legacy of the film beyond an Oscar, as acid attacks are a global problem. Just a week or so ago, a women with her young child was attacked using acid in Manchester.

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As for the documentary itself? Did it deserve an Oscar? Was it worth the hype from a film making perspective? Well, that a judgement I cant make, as the topic is just too emotive and too close to home for me to come to an unbiased conclusion.

More info:

So to highlight some of the great stuff that some of the people and organizations that are featured in the documentary, see:

ASTI – Acid Survivors Trust International - http://www.acidviolence.org/

ASF – Acid Survivors Foundation Pakistan - http://acidsurvivorspakistan.org/photo-gallery

I was actually pleasantly surprised by the work they were doing, the value they give to providing emotional support to victims and offering protection. I had (wrongly) assumed that the stigma of being an acid attack victim would naturally lead to exclusion and detachment from wider society. At least the ASF offers a community, a safe area where victims support each other and receive support. The counsellors and workers there are probably the unsung heroes of this film.

Dr Mohammad Jawad - http://www.mohammadjawad.com/

Islamic Help - http://www.islamichelp.org.uk/smilesbetter

If you haven’t seen the film yet, perhaps reading the Viewers Guide beforehand would be helpful - http://www.savingfacefilm.com/savingface_viewersguide.pdf

Saving Face, The Campaign- http://savingfacefilm.com/the-campaign/mission/