Sameer February 17, 2002

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rel="tag" href="/tag/Kashmir">Kashmir policies during the last 5 months. Even the argument in favor of his convictions and events of 9/11 and attack on Indian Parliament providing opportunities to act does not change the outcome. It reversed the policies of last 20 years – accepting the positions taken by anti-Taliban Northern alliance, USA and India. Without denying the potential benefits of reversing “strategic depth” policies, the reversal of strategic depth in foreign policy must be matched by concrete changes in the strategic depth at home front. The steps taken thus far (eliminating separate electorates and increasing the number of women as well as overall numbers of seats in assemblies) are too cosmetic to foment any real change in the ingrained socio-political culture of Pakistan.

Broadly speaking, Pakistan’s shortcomings can be blamed on a combination of feudalism, corruption, runaway extensions of Two Nations Theory based ideology, misinterpreting Islam, misplaced priorities and status of women in the society. The order and contributions of each of the above mentioned factors vary with each individual’s mindset. Consequently the solutions proposed also depend on the order and proportion of each factor to the aggregate. Therefore the suggestions invariably fall within the framework of land reforms, improved accountability process, democracy without break, ijtehad, ijma, true Islam, reformed Islam, Ataturkism, secularism and benevolent authoritarianism. All these proposals lack serious feasibility and cost effectiveness studies.

Although it sounds futile and hopeless but, in fact, at least one feasible and cost effective way to tackle such issues is just around the corner. The smart and efficient approach demand utilizing what is available in abundance. An example often cited is manpower. Quite the opposite, the abundant reservoir of potentially pure gold – the women power – must be exploited.

A great deal of injustices have been done to women throughout history in which religions, traditions, chauvinism, machismo and masochistic male behavior have all contributed. Rationally speaking, the emancipation and empowering women should have been directly proportional to progress, liberty and freedom. However, even in the West, emancipation came about much slowly than anticipated. An accelerated emancipation of women through empowerment will undoubtedly accelerate progress and creation of just society in Pakistan.

In Pakistan, at present, there are only 9000 women out of 190,000 federal government employees and that too mostly in education. Women stand at less than 20 percent of the salaried labor force. Around 1100 cases of honor killing took place during year 2000 – a marked increase over the last year. The number of women victims of honor killing is more than the total killed in sectarian related violence. In various prisons in the country nearly a thousand innocent women from lower strata of society, falsely implicated in cases under the Hudood Ordinance, are incarcerated. This data clearly reveal continuous indifference behavior of establishment towards gender specific discriminations and imply tremendous resistance within society towards emancipation and empowering women. In spite of the terrible situation prevailing in the much-trumpeted Islamic Pakistan, exaggeration of the women exploitation in highly advanced and civilized countries is often used as a mean to prove that Islam gives Muslim women a place of honor and a far better deal in day-to-day life.

The Pakistani men, most of them Muslim, should be ashamed of themselves. Their mindset is frozen in time and obsessed with borderline issues. Their minds manufacture polarized situations leading to conflicts more often than harmony.

The media and establishment of Pakistani men blame India for most acts of violence on its soil and their counterparts in India do the same. There might be some elements of truth in the never-ending blame game but it also reveals the incompetence, irresponsible behavior and laziness of desi men. While getting to the facts requires systematic approaches such as opening up files, inquiries, collection of evidences, recording eye-witness accounts and then leading to most probable suspects, blaming India or Pakistan can be done without moving their feet from the tabletop while reading newspaper and having a cup of tea. A paradigm highly dependent on polarization, conflict, emotionalism, war, hate and disharmony in general as challenges is the most probable outcome of lazy, irresponsible, incompetent, machismo and egotistical elite men of sub-continent.

Several recent studies and examples speak of remarkable women strength and contributions towards peace and just societies. Their natural instincts related to producing and nurturing desire peace, which leads to better opportunities for communications, reason and resolution during crisis situations. Better livelihood through progress and production is more important to them for continuity of species than use of force particularly when it leads to loss of production and slowing down progress. Involving women is practical because a woman's vision of peace is more sustainable as it is based on egalitarian principals and is flexible enough to accommodate political differences. Women, by discussing their trauma, can understand and form a bond with members of opposing groups and the commonalities of their experiences can cut through ethnic, religious, tribal and social identities. In times of conflict, paradigms of conflict resolution from women’s perspective have played significant roles in modern times. In Bosnia, Bosnian and Serb Women's Forum formed contact groups and brought women together from opposing sections to discuss their experiences, which helped tremendously in developing tolerance. Daughters and Mothers of Lanka and Mother's Front in Sri Lanka are working for peace in the war torn region of northern Sri Lanka.

The inclusion of women in negotiations is important because men and women experience war differently and a woman's contextual experience can lead to an alternative formulation of conflict resolution. Nagaland is a northeastern Indian state fighting for autonomy since 1945, have included women’s groups during peace talks with the Indian government. Naga Mother's Association participated in the negotiations and worked out an achievable solution plan. In 1999, women leaders were accorded permanent observer status at the peace negotiations in Burundi. The women of Burundi are still working towards being granted full rights as participants in the peace process. Several women groups are actively engaged in Palestine/ Israel to instill sanity to otherwise mostly

insane path to crisis resolution.

It is common observation in Diaspora that women are exhibiting remarkable leadership and communication capabilities while men are doing better in technology related areas. It is perhaps passing down the acquired ability of desi women to manage households, set priorities within often-limited means to nurture and sustain as efficiently as possible. Their presence in the budget appropriation at national level and all levels of legislation is absolutely essential.

Most cost effective and efficient approach to accelerate emancipation of women and making up for the historical injustices is to adopt gender based separate electorates. Being almost equal in numbers, equal number of seats in the National Assembly, Senate and the four Provincial Assemblies should be assigned to women. Women must elect their own representatives, same way as men elect theirs. The current process of electing women to the assemblies must be abolished. Since women voter lists and polling stations have always been separated, only cost associated with this change may be few additional ladies rooms in the Parliament houses. Because of historical injustices leading to lower literacy rate among women, the restriction of bachelor degree must not be applied until there is parity in literacy levels. Is it asking too much for about half the population?

In the first few years, it may not make much difference because established political parties might grab the same proportion of ladies seats but 50 percent women caucus will be sufficient to wake up women, bringing them out and be counted. They will be demanding more say within the parties as well as in national affairs and it might even lead to predominantly women’s parties in the future.

The effects will be so far reaching that one can not fully comprehend them in advance. The first casualty will be wildly swinging identity. Pakistani women have little to cheer about history of sub-continent because history has not been fair to the – responsible for the current status of women in the society. Out of seven hundred years of Islamic empires, only Razia Sultana, Noor Jahan and few other influential women are worth mentioning. History is not as important to women as it is for men. They care about present and future much more due to natural instincts of producing, nurturing, sustaining and survival of the next generation. Their communication skills, crisis resolution skills, leadership and compromising attitude will have far reaching influence in creating a just society, rule of law and peace in the sub-continent. Many of the exclusively men issues like reforming Islam, Sahriat, fiqah, ijtehad and ijma will automatically lose importance, because the forces of change in the society will push these useless issues and other discriminatory laws such as Hudood ordinance by the wayside. In fact, controlling runaway population growth, literacy among women, economic revival, foreign investment, harmony at home and peace in the neighborhood are all directly linked to emancipation and empowerment of women. It will make sure to have a minimum of 50 percent members of parliament not inflicted or influenced by madrassah based mindset. Imagine the impossibility of women sitting on various appropriation committees and military asking and getting 30+ percent of it without a single question ever asked? A small step right now that is extremely cost effective will go a long way towards making up for the historical injustices, creating a just society, a progressive Pakistan and a respectful place in the community of nations.

After trying a failed strategic depth abroad for 20 years, it is imperative to give strategic depth at home at least 20 years, with practically no costs but effects only. Any challenge to this paradigm shit based on the examples of Indira Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto is useless because these examples do not represent grassroots changes.

Ironically, the authoritarian regime in Pakistan has the power to make the difference at this critical juncture of history with just one stroke of the pen. Such golden opportunities do not come by often. It is their chance to leave a legacy behind that overrides all the wrongdoing they have committed. We have always listened and accepted ideas from outside. Pakistan must give something to the world that our generations will be proud of. Pervez Musharraf has always been behind the curve. Here is his chance to be ahead of the curve. Will Pervez Musharraf act?

It is no longer doubtful that Pervez Musharraf acted out of compulsion rather than conviction, reversing Afghanistan and Kashmir policies during the last 5 months. Even the argument in favor of his convictions and events of 9/11 and attack on Indian Parliament providing opportunities to act does not change the outcome. It reversed the policies of last 20 years – accepting the positions taken by anti-Taliban Northern alliance, USA and India. Without denying the potential benefits of reversing “strategic depth” policies, the reversal of strategic depth in foreign policy must be matched by concrete changes in the strategic depth at home front. The steps taken thus far (eliminating separate electorates and increasing the number of women as well as overall numbers of seats in assemblies) are too cosmetic to foment any real change in the ingrained socio-political culture of Pakistan.



Broadly speaking, Pakistan’s shortcomings can be blamed on a combination of feudalism, corruption, runaway extensions of Two Nations Theory based ideology, misinterpreting Islam, misplaced priorities and status of women in the society. The order and contributions of each of the above mentioned factors vary with each individual’s mindset. Consequently the solutions proposed also depend on the order and proportion of each factor to the aggregate. Therefore the suggestions invariably fall within the framework of land reforms, improved accountability process, democracy without break, ijtehad, ijma, true Islam, reformed Islam, Ataturkism, secularism and benevolent authoritarianism. All these proposals lack serious feasibility and cost effectiveness studies.

Although it sounds futile and hopeless but, in fact, at least one feasible and cost effective way to tackle such issues is just around the corner. The smart and efficient approach demand utilizing what is available in abundance. An example often cited is manpower. Quite the opposite, the abundant reservoir of potentially pure gold – the women power – must be exploited.

A great deal of injustices have been done to women throughout history in which religions, traditions, chauvinism, machismo and masochistic male behavior have all contributed. Rationally speaking, the emancipation and empowering women should have been directly proportional to progress, liberty and freedom. However, even in the West, emancipation came about much slowly than anticipated. An accelerated emancipation of women through empowerment will undoubtedly accelerate progress and creation of just society in Pakistan.

In Pakistan, at present, there are only 9000 women out of 190,000 federal government employees and that too mostly in education. Women stand at less than 20 percent of the salaried labor force. Around 1100 cases of honor killing took place during year 2000 – a marked increase over the last year. The number of women victims of honor killing is more than the total killed in sectarian related violence. In various prisons in the country nearly a thousand innocent women from lower strata of society, falsely implicated in cases under the Hudood Ordinance, are incarcerated. This data clearly reveal continuous indifference behavior of establishment towards gender specific discriminations and imply tremendous resistance within society towards emancipation and empowering women. In spite of the terrible situation prevailing in the much-trumpeted Islamic Pakistan, exaggeration of the women exploitation in highly advanced and civilized countries is often used as a mean to prove that Islam gives Muslim women a place of honor and a far better deal in day-to-day life.

The Pakistani men, most of them Muslim, should be ashamed of themselves. Their mindset is frozen in time and obsessed with borderline issues. Their minds manufacture polarized situations leading to conflicts more often than harmony. The media and establishment of Pakistani men blame India for most acts of violence on its soil and their counterparts in India do the same. There might be some elements of truth in the never-ending blame game but it also reveals the incompetence, irresponsible behavior and laziness of desi men. While getting to the facts requires systematic approaches such as opening up files, inquiries, collection of evidences, recording eye-witness accounts and then leading to most probable suspects, blaming India or Pakistan can be done without moving their feet from the tabletop while reading newspaper and having a cup of tea. A paradigm highly dependent on polarization, conflict, emotionalism, war, hate and disharmony in general as challenges is the most probable outcome of lazy, irresponsible, incompetent, machismo and egotistical elite men of sub-continent.

Several recent studies and examples speak of remarkable women strength and contributions towards peace and just societies. Their natural instincts related to producing and nurturing desire peace, which leads to better opportunities for communications, reason and resolution during crisis situations. Better livelihood through progress and production is more important to them for continuity of species than use of force particularly when it leads to loss of production and slowing down progress. Involving women is practical because a woman's vision of peace is more sustainable as it is based on egalitarian principals and is flexible enough to accommodate political differences. Women, by discussing their trauma, can understand and form a bond with members of opposing groups and the commonalities of their experiences can cut through ethnic, religious, tribal and social identities. In times of conflict, paradigms of conflict resolution from women’s perspective have played significant roles in modern times. In Bosnia, Bosnian and Serb Women's Forum formed contact groups and brought women together from opposing sections to discuss their experiences, which helped tremendously in developing tolerance. Daughters and Mothers of Lanka and Mother's Front in Sri Lanka are working for peace in the war torn region of northern Sri Lanka.

The inclusion of women in negotiations is important because men and women experience war differently and a woman's contextual experience can lead to an alternative formulation of conflict resolution. Nagaland is a northeastern Indian state fighting for autonomy since 1945, have included women’s groups during peace talks with the Indian government. Naga Mother's Association participated in the negotiations and worked out an achievable solution plan. In 1999, women leaders were accorded permanent observer status at the peace negotiations in Burundi. The women of Burundi are still working towards being granted full rights as participants in the peace process. Several women groups are actively engaged in Palestine/ Israel to instill sanity to otherwise mostly insane path to crisis resolution.

It is common observation in Diaspora that women are exhibiting remarkable leadership and communication capabilities while men are doing better in technology related areas. It is perhaps passing down the acquired ability of desi women to manage households, set priorities within often-limited means to nurture and sustain as efficiently as possible. Their presence in the budget appropriation at national level and all levels of legislation is absolutely essential.



Most cost effective and efficient approach to accelerate emancipation of women and making up for the historical injustices is to adopt gender based separate electorates. Being almost equal in numbers, equal number of seats in the National Assembly, Senate and the four Provincial Assemblies should be assigned to women. Women must elect their own representatives, same way as men elect theirs. The current process of electing women to the assemblies must be abolished. Since women voter lists and polling stations have always been separated, only cost associated with this change may be few additional ladies rooms in the Parliament houses. Because of historical injustices leading to lower literacy rate among women, the restriction of bachelor degree must not be applied until there is parity in literacy levels. Is it asking too much for about half the population?

In the first few years, it may not make much difference because established political parties might grab the same proportion of ladies seats but 50 percent women caucus will be sufficient to wake up women, bringing them out and be counted. They will be demanding more say within the parties as well as in national affairs and it might even lead to predominantly women’s parties in the future.

The effects will be so far reaching that one can not fully comprehend them in advance. The first casualty will be wildly swinging identity. Pakistani women have little to cheer about history of sub-continent because history has not been fair to the – responsible for the current status of women in the society. Out of seven hundred years of Islamic empires, only Razia Sultana, Noor Jahan and few other influential women are worth mentioning. History is not as important to women as it is for men. They care about present and future much more due to natural instincts of producing, nurturing, sustaining and survival of the next generation. Their communication skills, crisis resolution skills, leadership and compromising attitude will have far reaching influence in creating a just society, rule of law and peace in the sub-continent. Many of the exclusively men issues like reforming Islam, Sahriat, fiqah, ijtehad and ijma will automatically lose importance, because the forces of change in the society will push these useless issues and other discriminatory laws such as Hudood ordinance by the wayside. In fact, controlling runaway population growth, literacy among women, economic revival, foreign investment, harmony at home and peace in the neighborhood are all directly linked to emancipation and empowerment of women. It will make sure to have a minimum of 50 percent members of parliament not inflicted or influenced by madrassah based mindset. Imagine the impossibility of women sitting on various appropriation committees and military asking and getting 30+ percent of it without a single question ever asked? A small step right now that is extremely cost effective will go a long way towards making up for the historical injustices, creating a just society, a progressive Pakistan and a respectful place in the community of nations.

After trying a failed strategic depth abroad for 20 years, it is imperative to give strategic depth at home at least 20 years, with practically no costs but effects only. Any challenge to this paradigm shit based on the examples of Indira Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto is useless because these examples do not represent grassroots changes.

Ironically, the authoritarian regime in Pakistan has the power to make the difference at this critical juncture of history with just one stroke of the pen. Such golden opportunities do not come by often. It is their chance to leave a legacy behind that overrides all the wrongdoing they have committed. We have always listened and accepted ideas from outside. Pakistan must give something to the world that our generations will be proud of. Pervez Musharraf has always been behind the curve. Here is his chance to be ahead of the curve. Will Pervez Musharraf act?