Posted on

A Return To The Dark Ages: Women Under Taliban Control In Afghanistan

Author: Javaria Ahmad

After a 20-year long occupation, the United States decided to fully withdraw its troops from the country, allowing the Taliban to refill the power vacuum. In the past two weeks alone, the Taliban have reassumed control of two-thirds of the country, including the major cities of Herat, Faryab, and Lashkar Gah. Following President Ashraf Ghani’s sudden departure, the city of Kabul swiveled right into the hands of the Taliban, who now enjoy unhindered access to the Presidential Palace. While the US is rushing to safely evacuate American officials and diplomats from Taliban-controlled Kabul, local citizens have no choice but to precariously cling to overcrowded airplanes in a desperate bid to flee the country, only to fall to their deaths. The USA’s war in Afghanistan has ended in the same way it had started 20 years ago: with the Taliban in control.

While in power 20 years ago, the Taliban enforced stringent laws that prohibited women from working outside, seeking education after the age of eight, and being seen in public unveiled and without a male guardian. Moreover, young girls were forced into marriages to encourage chastity, not allowed to appear on television or radio, and often deprived of adequate medical services because the Taliban deemed it inappropriate for women to be treated by na-mehram male doctors. Defying these laws entailed swift and harsh punishments which, for the sadistic pleasure of the Taliban or to teach a cautionary lesson, were meted out publicly, before a crowd of petrified spectators. While much has changed in the last twenty years, the Taliban most certainly have not, and the recent takeover threatens to once again relegate the women to the sidelines.

As an extremist and militant Islamist group, the Taliban harbor primitively misogynistic views on women and their involvement in the public sphere. In just a few days of their return to power, they have started whitewashing the pictures of female models outside beauty parlors and jewelry shops. The erasure of the visuals of the female form from the public domain is symbolic of the physical erasure of women from the social sphere that the Taliban takeover foreshadows. According to reports, teachers have started to bid farewell to their female students in schools and universities as education for women is being forbidden in many areas. Working women are being expelled from workplaces to be replaced by their male relatives. Furthermore, the mandatory observance of purdah also reneges on a right that Afghan women have earned after years of struggle: the right to choose for themselves and their bodies. Forced marriages are also expunging on the women’s right to decide for themselves as unmarried girls between the ages of 15 and 45 are being coerced into matrimonial arrangements with Taliban soldiers, confining them to a life of servitude, submission, and marital rape. Numerous Afghan women are losing sleep over the horrors that await them under the new regime; horrors that some of them have already countenanced once, years ago.

“I did not expect that we would be deprived of all our basic rights again and travel back to 20 years ago. That after 20 years of fighting for our rights and freedom, we should be hunting for burqas and hiding our identity.”

“Women in Afghanistan are the most at -danger or most at-risk population of the country… those who [have been] upset with women becoming powerful in the last 20 years.”

“I stay up late at night, sometimes till one or two in the morning, worrying about what will happen. I am afraid that because I am rejecting the burqa, soon I will have to stay at home, and I will lose my independence and freedom.”

These statements taken from The Guardian and NBC News reflect the fear and apprehensions that have been paralyzing Afghan women since the USA abandoned the country. Although the Taliban have assured that their assumption of power will be peaceful, people who are aware of the Taliban’s previous history in Afghanistan are desperate to flee the country in fear of their retribution. Many women have gone into hiding, lamenting the fate that awaits them now. From concealing diplomas, certificates, and books in their houses to buying burqas, Afghan women and girls now prepare for a life that they had worked so hard to shirk off.

In these difficult times, it is important to speak up on the matter. In order to help, you can donate to @AfghanAidHQ emergency relief fund or @rescueorg.

Posted on

Uncovering the Past: The Discovery of Unmarked Graves in Canada and the Plight of Indigenous Communities

Author: Javaria Ahmad

After news broke out about the discovery of 215 unmarked graves of children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia, the Cowessess First Nation decided to use the same ground-penetrating radar to scan more areas. Towards the end of June, they announced the additional discovery of 751 unmarked graves on the premises of the former Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan province. Last month, 160 more such graves were found on Penelakut Island, now referred to as Kupur Island. Notably, these graves mostly belonged to indigenous children.

From the 1800s to the mid-1900s, indigenous children were enrolled in these residential boarding schools of Canada. They were mostly taken away from their families without consent and were forced to live with the fact that the school was trying to instill “superior” Euro-American values and culture within them. In these Catholic, church-run boarding schools, young students were subject to abuse and extreme neglect; from not being allowed to speak their own languages to being targets of rampant physical, sexual and emotional violence. According to the accounts of survivors, many students died because of alienation and torture for being considered “heathens”, with many girls being impregnated by priests and students being subject to severe punishments for minor mistakes. Several students vanished as well, for which the possible explanation is that they died and their graves are now being discovered. Numerous children also died during their efforts to escape, while others committed suicide.

This mass discovery of unmarked graves in Canada is not an isolated event, it is a part of continuing systematic discrimination, prejudice, injustice, and racism against indigenous communities across the globe. Their values and culture have systematically been sidelined and many communities are pushed to the peripheries to inculcate Euro-American traditions and culture.

There is no denying that this was a crime against humanity. Although Canada has pledged millions of dollars for the search for remaining burial sites and is supporting the survivors and pressurizing the Catholic churches to compensate the victims of the residential schools, the truth remains that the pain children had to face while being taken to boarding schools against their will cannot be compensated. While the First Nations are still systematically silenced and sidelined, they have managed to survive and embrace their culture. They continue to thrive in many aspects, despite their past struggles. A daughter of a survivor said: “The whole residential school system was meant to destroy an entire people, but now I’m seeing young Indigenous becoming doctors, lawyers, and scientists. They’re becoming leaders. The fact that we can do these things and still know who we are and where we came from means the residential school system failed”.

Posted on

Tales from the Town Hall: Q&A with Dr. Adnan Zahid

Authors: Aiman Rahman, Areej Akhtar, Maha Uzair

As soon as the clock struck four today, LUMS students frantically began rummaging back and forth through emails to find the Zoom link for the Town Hall with the Dean of OSA. With the atmosphere reeking of premonition, tensions seemed to be running high as Dr. Adnan Zahid occupied center stage and was barraged with a tsunami of student questions. Some prominent concerns were brought to light such as hostel accommodation, campus facilities, and measures to combat Covid-19.

Traversing Through the Toils of Triple Occupancy: When a residence survey circulated by the Student Council revealed that accommodation options boiled down to either triple occupancy rooms with no tables and chairs to study or off-campus accommodation at Askari apartments with stringent curfews, many students felt as if they had to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea. Despite being agitated about the inconvenience of inhabiting triple occupancy rooms, students were more inclined towards LUMS hostels. Out of 1100 respondents, 70% opted for triple accommodation as opposed to 30% opting for Askari, allowing the Student Council and the administration to finalize the decision based on the results. During the Town Hall, Dr. Zahid further clarified that not only has the batch size increased this year, but the increase from last year has also aggravated the situation, when the campus was not fully functional and the entire student body could not be absorbed on campus premises. “There’s a two-year increase in the student body now,” he commented. Furthermore, he stressed that while triple occupancy may not be the ideal solution, it is one of the only two that are available right now, “Having double occupancy on campus across the board is a solution we do not have. Having triple occupancy or moving students out of the campus were the only solutions we had. It’s like being stuck between a rock and a hard place.” When asked about the health hazard posed by triple occupancy rooms since they would result in the violation of SOPs, Dr. Zahid stated, “On-campus engagement is happening because we are vaccinated. You cannot argue that triple occupancy alone is a health risk.” He further clarified that a system of random rigorous testing in hostels will be implemented to keep the virus infection at bay.

In regards to triple occupancy, an important concern raised by the student body was the rent of the hostel rooms. Many felt that they should not have to pay a staggering amount above PKR 30,000 for rooms meant for two people being inhabited by three instead. In response, Dr. Zahid stated that the rent of the hostel rooms was set by the finance department, and it was determined after multiplying the rent of double occupancy rooms by two, and dividing it by three. It was also communicated that accommodation applications will go live on Wednesday and there is a possibility that students will be allowed to mention their roommate preferences.

Salient Sorrows about Study Spaces: While double occupancy rooms provide adequate space for studying and taking classes inside the room, triple occupancy rooms certainly do not. With no desks or chairs for studying and working, students allotted triple occupancy rooms will not be able to take classes, writing assignments, or prepare for quizzes and exams conveniently inside their rooms. When this concern was raised, Dr. Zahid responded that within each hostel, two to three rooms will be converted into “study rooms” with sufficient furniture that students can utilize for studying. Moreover, he also assured students that other areas of campus were being converted into communal working spaces with chairs and desks to ensure that students can study undisturbed in a peaceful environment.

Spring Prophecies: Will the Next Semester Bode Well for Students?

As things already look hazy for Fall’ 21, students found themselves posing the ultimate question, “Would Spring’ 22 bode well for the students or would it only usher in another semester of fall blues?”. Dr. Zahid declared that the construction of a new building is underway and that students will no longer have to be crammed up in triple occupancy since upon completion of the said hostel building, LUMS will revert back to double occupancy. This appears to be a promising possibility for the students honeycombed into limited spaces this semester.

Money Woes: Fees, Inflation, and TAship Salaries

An interesting thing that LUMS students have noticed is how the university attributes yearly increases in fees to inflation. When Dr. Zahid was asked about why TAship salaries are never increased for the same reason, he replied that he will look into it. Hopefully, this point will be taken into consideration and TAs will be paid more, which is just what they deserve.

Additionally, another important point raised in the Town Hall was the matter of fees in an online system, “How is it that we are paying hundreds of thousands of rupees, which are increasing each year, to just essentially sit behind a screen and attend Zoom calls?”  Dr. Zahid emphasized that while it is true that in virtual classes students are not availing any campus facilities, the academic quality of the courses has not changed, and therefore the classes being offline or online should not affect the amount students are paying. He also quoted his own experience, saying that in the classes he had taught online, he had felt that the students had learned just as much as they had learned from him on-campus.

The Silent Bell of the Curfew

Among other things, changes in curfew timings have brought a halt to the exciting buzz of campus life since the beginning of the pandemic. The last communicated curfew timings were from 8 AM to 10 PM, and no student is allowed to leave or enter the premises outside this timeframe. When the Dean of OSA was asked about where the administration stands on removing the curfew, he responded by saying that they plan to impose a generous curfew, something like ‘till midnight’. He added that possibly in a month or so, they might reevaluate these timings and relax them further, reasoning that the curfew is in place just to exercise caution.

The Constant Crusade for Campus Facilities

When asked about the degree to which campus facilities will be accessible, it was established that all facilities will see a “phased” opening, not a full-fledged one. Therefore, complete access will not be offered to the student body. It was clarified that students should instead anticipate a phased reopening of these facilities so that a return to normalcy can be ensured for all in the next few months.

Quarantine Quabble

When asked about the quarantine guidelines that will be implementable in Fall, it was revealed that students will be allowed to visit their homes for a few days each month, and upon returning they might have to submit a negative PCR test in order to not be quarantined. If this policy is implemented, the expenses will be borne by the students themselves. This raises a question: do the same rules apply to instructors? The short answer is no.

Dr. Zahid proclaimed that the same quarantine rules cannot be applied to faculty members since “we are not responsible for them, we are responsible for the students.” Interestingly, faculty members are allowed to leave the campus as they wish, with no PCR tests required from them or and strict quarantine rules and regulations.

Shifting Online Classes Offline: A Tale as Old as Time

Several students expressed a sense of being wronged as a couple of their courses were converted from physical classes to remote ones. The decrease from the promised 60% to 51% in-person classes came across as an unpleasant surprise to the students who were already packing their suitcases and planning an on-campus semester. Dr. Zahid reasoned that this was because a lot of instructors have old parents and are petrified by the possibility of being carriers of the Delta Variant, and this has led to them reevaluating their decision about holding physical classes. He claimed that exercising caution fell under the domain of an instructor’s rights, especially since such a vicious variant of Covid-19 has cropped up.

Posted on

Mr. Khan and His Series of U-Turns

You would think that an Oxford graduate with a considerable amount of exposure and awareness would have a better understanding of the world. Unfortunately, that is not the case with our Prime Minister.

On 21st June 2021, in an interview with HBO Axios, the Prime Minister stated that raising temptation in a society leads to acts of sexual violence. When asked whether he thinks that women’s clothes have anything to do with it, the PM resorted to a very ignorant reply:

“A woman wearing very few clothes will have an impact on men unless they are robots”.

Such a comment is problematic on many levels. Not only does this imply that the victim is somehow responsible for the crime committed against them, but it also validates the actions of rapists; normalizing the behavior of men who commit sex crimes while reducing the rest of the men to mere machines. In a country where half of the population suffers on the account of patriarchy, such statements aggravate the already alarming levels of misogyny in society.

Khan failed to mention how dangerous the desires or “temptations” of these men are since they threaten anything in close proximity; be it women, children, animals, or even dead bodies. His failure to recognize rape as a crime solely based on lack of accountability and unstable power dynamics resulted in him receiving a lot of backlash on social media. It is not surprising that many individuals who associate harassment with the way a woman is dressed deemed this criticism unnecessary and viewed it as a personal attack on Imran Khan, proving yet again the damaging impact of an irresponsible remark. Being a populist leader, there is no denying that this proclamation rendered the premier a noble character among these groups.

Furthermore, femicide in the country is a pressing concern. Incidents as barbaric as the Noor Mukkadam murder case began making the news. From Quratulain to Noor to Saima bibi, such events left the nation shook and anger grew among the masses as new cases surfaced every other day. Under these circumstances, government officials and the Prime Minister remained silent, leaving the nation feeling helpless.

Meanwhile, Imran Khan continued to plant trees as if the women of the country were going to magically survive the violence against them, considering how oxygen deprivation suddenly became a bigger concern. To make matters worse, the domestic violence bill was also rejected during this time.

Amidst all the chaos, in a recent interview with PBS News Hour, Khan said that only the rapist is to blame for the crime that is committed and never the victim. This abrupt change in stance came as a surprise to the public. Hiding under the umbrella of “cultural imperialism”, he claimed that his words were taken out of context. However, in what context is it acceptable to compare men, living, breathing human beings, to robots, and justifying this comparison by saying they have no control over themselves.

While the unexpected change of his stance does convey a positive message, it seems nothing more than a publicity stunt to wipe the slate clean. It appears to be a calculated political move given the general public outrage. This is a rather fine way to gain sympathy when the government fails to serve otherwise.

Whatever the intention behind this change in opinion, any kind of hope was short-lived as the declaration was soon followed with some more problematic comments. Once again, Khan resorted to undermining the violence, abuse, harassment, and trauma that Pakistani women go through. When addressing the nation, the PM stated, “I can say, after going all over the world, this society gives more respect and dignity to women”. Keep in mind, he is talking about the sixth most dangerous country for women to live in. Seems like Mr. Prime Minister needs a fact check.

It is important to understand that being the Prime Minister of a country comes with great responsibility and delivering such apathetic statements is a luxury that the Prime Minister of a country cannot (and should not) enjoy.

As a leader, the least that Khan can do is to watch what he says. Being a blatant rape apologist, blaming victims, and refusing to recognize the ongoing gender-based violence are not the characteristics upon which the foundation of “Riyast-e-Madinah” can be laid.

Though Khan’s recent statements about the Noor Mukkadam case seem promising, the nation needs more than just words. The public shouldn’t have to beg for justice every time misfortune strikes. Justice should be served whether a case catches media attention or not. There should be laws that protect women and the implementation of these laws should be ensured by the government regardless of whether an issue makes it to the top trends on Twitter.

Nonetheless, at this point, the Prime Minister’s statements appear as bare minimal effort. Too little, too late.

Posted on

The Afghan Dagger

Author: Muhammad Yousif Khan

If you watch the movie ‘Prince of Persia: Sands of time’, you will notice that the story revolves around the pursuit of a dagger that can turn back time and transport people into the past. One can draw parallels between this movie and the dilemma in which Afghanistan finds itself right now. This dagger has now manifested into an Afghani reality from a mere cinematic experience. The dagger represents the war against terrorism, the consistent threat of terrorists, the bloodshed of thousands, and the country rapidly receding in terms of progress. A mere wrong push can tumble us back into the past where terror used to scare us off the streets.

Before we dwell on who holds this dagger in Afghanistan’s dilemma, we need first to establish some facts. The United States is pulling out its troops after an exasperating war and an equally unfortunate defeat. The Taliban are over the moon lately and have been celebrating their victory by intensifying their attacks on Afghan civilians. On the other hand, Pakistan is giving final touches to the fence across the Durand line (which took over three years to complete) to keep the terrorist outfits at bay.

However, the reality is much deeper than this. Over the past few weeks, significant progress has been made by Pakistan and the U.S. under the Biden administration, our U.S. counterparts want a smooth retreat, which is why both parties have reached out and have held several high-level meetings. This reach-out can be seen as the first set of official contacts made by both countries since Joe Biden’s election. The only word that gets out of those meetings is the U.S. re-affirming their commitment towards peace in Afghanistan and better cooperation with Pakistan. The deal itself was sealed a long time ago during Trump’s administration when Pakistan was threatened with FATF blacklisting. One can presume that these were covert tactics used as a buffer towards ensuring Pakistan does not go soft on the looming terror threat while the U.S. planned its escape from Afghanistan. Likewise, the U.S. withdrawal and admittance of defeat was a gradual revamping rather than an overnight revelation stimulated by Pakistan’s consecutive operations against the terrorists.

Coming back to the question of the bearer of the dagger. The U.S. wants nothing to do with the dagger; it cannot afford to spend another dollar on attempting to neutralizing the Afghan Taliban, especially when the other side is stronger than ever. The Taliban themselves are averse to the idea of the dagger’s existence in the first place. They are too close to complete control over Afghan soil. The Afghan himself is weak and dreads the dagger since he will bear the brunt of the violence should the peace process get disrupted. Consequently, the dagger lands in the hands of the Pakistani state. A country that now holds the fate of regional security is expected more than ever to keep the momentum going. Pakistan detests the powers of this dagger as much as anyone, but it cannot shy away from the fact that only it can carve out the future with it.

The vastly unpopular phrase in this part of the world, ‘do more’, comes into play here. Pakistan now needs to ‘keep doing more’ to ensure that its soil does not get used for terror ever again. The deeply institutionalized extremist roots and the ever-increasing incidence of sectarianism can cause a possible fire; a fire that can water down the progress of the country and impact thousands of lives in the process. To prevent any such thing from happening, Pakistan needs to cut out the extremist roots that have led to terrorism prevailing in the past, which can be done in several ways. In her book Pakistan Under Siege, Madiha Afzal mentions the underlying causes of extremist mindsets and how carefully dealing with them can prevent people from further lining up to become an accomplice in terrorism. She highlights ‘illiteracy’ as the main factor behind this. At present, around 60% of Pakistani individuals are illiterate. This is a discouraging fact. Many people live below the poverty line and have no proper knowledge of their religion which makes them vulnerable to the misconstrued assumptions of ‘Jihad’, ‘Islamic state’ and ‘Sharia’. This can be exploited by various extremist parties to derail peace in the region. In the coming few years, the Pakistani state needs to address this systematically through a series of much-needed educational and social reforms that uplift people’s living conditions and increase the literacy rate.

The General in Prince of Persia observed, “It is said that some lives are linked across time…”. Those lives are our children and their future generations who will live on this soil and live their lives in peace. However, this can only be possible if we educate the masses and mitigate extremism. It is up to the Pakistani government to bury the dagger six feet under and ensure that the concerned parties can coexist peacefully.

Posted on

Caretakers of Islam: Throwing Caution to the Wind

Author: Muhammad Rafeh

The highest law of our land reads ‘The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan’. In Pakistan, the caretakers of Islam are often called mullahs or maulvis, and they wield immense power. This is not because they are politically or socially well-known, but because they are the flag-bearers of Islam, something they use as a pin in the board for every political, social, or economic move they make.

The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, claimed, “there is no power that can undo Pakistan.” However, in recent times, one is compelled to wonder that while the founder’s words may hold true when it comes to external attempts of undoing, the same surely cannot be assumed in terms of internal undoing.

The pages of Pakistani history are painted red with the atrocities that its citizens have faced solely because of the power that these self-proclaimed Islamic caretakers hold. From religious cadres sealing off the country’s roads in protest of a woman being legally acquitted of blasphemy to wreaking havoc on the Aurat Marches across Pakistan, these religious fanatics have done everything but take care of the religion that preaches humanity before anything else.

After pondering on the subject, several questions come to mind. Do these people deserve to be called the caretakers of Islam? Are they worthy of being regarded with the reverence this community bestows upon them? Perhaps one can argue that every man who wears a cleric’s cap and grows a beard is not a maulvi, and that the people who engage in such cruelties do so of their own independent will, not because their religion commands it. This was seen following the ruckus caused by TLP earlier this year when members of the party openly dissociated themselves from the protestors clamoring on the streets and claimed that they were members of another party, charged with the task of discrediting TLP. It is easy to wash the blame off your hands in this country, especially when you know the state will never hold you accountable and will always end up caving in to your demands. This is what our incumbent government did by releasing the arrested TLP leader, Saad Rizvi.

Since the beginning of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s term, it has been clear that he secured premiership through the support of the entire country. It was expected of him to not socially exclude any faction if he intends to stay in power. Like his predecessors, Khan knows his politics; when he is to remain silent and when to take action. Recently, however, he has quite openly voiced his opinions on rape which mirror those of the country’s misguided mullahs. Time after time, he has suggested that women are raped because their “immodest” dressing entices men. One is then compelled to believe that perhaps he has the same mentality as those he remains silent for.

Not long ago, one of the Islamic caretakers openly admitted and justified the act of raping a child in a seminary. The video was preceded by another, filmed by one of the students at the seminary which shows the maulvi raping the child. The video rankled many to their cores and offered a terrifying glimpse into what happens behind the pristine, Arabic-engraved walls of seminaries. While the perpetrator has been arrested, the problem is far from solved.

Now that the extent of influence exercised by mullahs is out in the open, is Khan going to address the mounting issue? Is the government going to go back on vitalizing the status of mullahs through the implementation of the Single National Curriculum? Is it reasonable to expect such a U-turn, a concept this government is very familiar with, on the only educational policy this party has produced in its 3 years of power? For how long will these mullahs be allowed to torture, ridicule, and rape children before parents truly become aware of the trauma they inflict on minors within these madrasahs? Perhaps, it is safer to teach the Quran to your child yourself than have a potential predator lurking in your house.

What the common folk needs to consider is that the “caretakers” of Islam enjoy these sin-with-impunity rights because of us. They are made by us. We seek spiritual and religious guidance from them, often forgetting that they themselves are misguided. We put them on a pedestal, revere them as guardians of Islam because of their self-proclaimed proximity to the Holy Book, and blindly trust them with the life and well-being of our children. While Khan may be reluctant to pick a bone with these maulvis in an attempt to secure as many votes as possible for the 2023 elections, we, as a society, need to take more responsibility for the plight of our children under the care of mullahs. At the same time, the PTI government needs to reevaluate its priorities. They need to be aware of the potential consequences of remaining indifferent about a confession that has plunged our society into uncertainty and insecurity.

Whether the Prime Minister cares more about his people or his seat, only time will tell. However, it is about time we learn that while not all maulvis are morally and socially corrupt, it is better to give caution to the wind than have #NotAllMaulvis trend on Twitter.

 

Posted on

A Review of the Painfully Chaotic Midsummer Chaos

From one saas-bahu drama to another, it seems that the Pakistani entertainment industry tends to keep different, out-of-the-box storylines at an arm’s length. Midsummer Chaos is a web series that attempts to be unique and gives an insight into the lives of Pakistani teenagers belonging to the elite class, and their mind-boggling set of life problems. It appears as if the makers of this show were trying to cater to the Gossip Girl and Riverdale audience in Pakistan with a local twist. With an influencer-studded cast, this web series easily garnered a lot of attention – however, that backfired very quickly.

I was introduced to Midsummer Chaos by a friend of mine and I watched the first episode in the hopes of discovering something profound and life-changing. Much to my surprise (not really), the first episode left me with a look of complete confusion on my face. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. With dialogues and scenes that didn’t make any sense whatsoever, I quite frankly started doubting my personal mental capacity to comprehend things. Ranging from the Harris-Samir fight, who were apparently best friends, to Alynah and Harris’ relationship problems, one has to admit that some parts of it are pretty entertaining to watch, while others you can’t make through without cringing and fast-forwarding.

Some of the most noticeable things about the show were its riveting and fascinating story plotlines and scriptwriting. Some highlights which I can’t seem to forget are:

  • 20 different ways to say yaar
  • Harris accusing poor Sameer of being too drunk even though the party started like seven minutes ago

  • Harris being adamant about how he loves Alynah because their parents know each other, even though he asked her out over a ridiculous dare
  • Bisma Khan’s introduction to her amazing “Faces Behind Faces” show 
  • Sameer’s pseudo-philosophical answer when he was asked about his off-screen self: “I don’t remember life before social media. When I made my Instagram account public, that’s when I found myself.” 

  • Sameer’s public confession about his daddy issues: “My father wasn’t always around, he was never around actually.”

  • The awkward and cringy hug Harris gives Alynah – this scene alone is enough to make you uncomfortable for a decade (what’s up with her hands??)

  • The iconic café scene where crybaby Harris gets dumped by a newly rebellious Alynah 

  • Alynah’s delusion that teenagers are expected to date in Pakistan 

  • “Mujhey kuch nai samajh aa raha yaar yeh kya ho raha hai.” (And numerous other variations of this, because apparently, we weren’t the only ones confused)

 

  • Harris defining selfishness like a typical philosophy major, but dramatic: “Selfishness comes from a lack of self-worth that this world has gifted us” (????)

  • Harris exposing the real reason behind every relationship: “Tumhari koi self-worth nahi hai, aur na hi meri hai. Is liye ham saath hein.”

  • Sameer’s savage “Self respect nahi hai tere mai?” reply to when his best friend, Harris, needed a shoulder to cry one

 

  • The excess of Pinterest and Tumblr quotes forced into Mahar Bano’s dialogues at the end of each episode to immaculately wrap up the cringe fest 

The number of scenes and dialogues I could mention here are endless, and standing at just three episodes so far, the show has become the subject of a plethora of memes online. If you’re ever bored, go and take a look at the comment section of the episodes on YouTube, (ironically) you will find yourself thinking that it is one of the very few justifiable reasons for watching the show. I’m no movie/show critic, but anyone who has watched TV at some point in their lives would wonder what was Ahmed Sarym’s thought process behind putting together this show and allowing it to be revealed to the world, just like that. Frankly, there were even moments when I wondered whether it was a satire. 

If you haven’t seen the show yet and have some free time on your hands, I would not ask you to watch it. If you wish to catch up on the memes as you scratch your head in confusion and perhaps even laugh and cringe at the same time; then you probably should check out at least one episode. After experiencing the quirky accents, questionable life problems, and supposedly deep conversations at the end of each episode, you will not want more. Or maybe you will because it’s so bad that it’s good.

Posted on

Verses of Vengeance: When Protest and Poetry Met in Palestine

“Even though they walk daily to the gallows, Palestinians would rather love life where death is king than live life where love is dead.”

~ Yousef Khanfar

When Israeli forces started uprooting Palestinian olive trees in 1967, Mahmud Darvish wrote, “The olive tree does not weep and does not laugh/ The olive tree is the hillside’s modest lady,” in The Second Olive Tree. When the young children of Palestine took to the streets to pelt the humongous Israeli tanks with stones, Fadwa Tuqan wrote, “They died standing, blazing on the road/ Shining like stars, their lips pressed to the lips of life/ They stood up in the face of death/ Then disappeared like the sun,” in Martyrs Of The Intifada. When Israel began colonizing Palestinian lands, one after another, Tawfiq Zayyad wrote, “In Lidda, in Ramla, in the Galilee/ we shall remain/ like a wall upon your chest/ and in your throat/ like a shard of glass/ a cactus thorn/ and in your eyes/ a sandstorm,” in Here We Will Stay. For Palestinians, poetry is not just a literary genre; it is an instrument of protest, of rebellion, of swearing vengeance upon those who have usurped their land, culture, life, everything.

PALESTINIAN POET AND POLITICIAN TAWFIQ ZAYYAD ACCOMPANIED BY AMAL AND RĀBʿA MURQUS, THE DAUGHTERS OF NIMER MURQUS IN RĀAS AN-NĀQŪRA. PHOTO FROM THE DIGITAL ARCHIVE OF THE PALESTINIAN MUSEUM

Resistance literature has always been one of the most efficient weapons in the arsenal of the oppressed against the oppressors, and Kate Shannon from The New Yorker tells us why; “No dictator can take creation itself away, nor erase from the people’s consciousness existing art that has already worked its magic.” In recent and modern history, literary resistance has become almost as important and pervasive as armed resistance. When a group of twenty-three Iranian teenagers was captured by the Ba’ath forces during the Iran-Iraq War of 1983, Ahmed Yousafzadeh, one of the captives, published a book titled Those 23 People, to highlight the suffering of the prisoners. Throughout the 17th and 18th century, while people were being abducted from Africa and sold into slavery in the American colonies, Harriet Beecher Stowe penned his novel titled Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which depicted, in harrowing detail, the daily horrors of life endured by slaves, and catapulted the anti-slavery cause to the forefront in the US.  In wake of the mounting racial discrimination in the States, James Baldwin wrote the nonfiction book, The Fire Next Time, poignantly exploring the fury, frustration, and disillusionment riddling the black community in America. Hence, in times of socio-political upheavals and injustices, people have lifted the pen as readily as they have brandished a rifle, because as Iranian writer Azar Nafisi says, “The poet and the tyrant are rivals for the possession of reality. Tyrants have always known the danger of poets and writers.”

Up until 1948, Palestinian literature had largely been part of the Arab literary movement, which was inspired by Egyptian, Syrian, and Lebanese literature, and thrived during the first half of the century. However, after 1948, the wheels of a new literary movement were set in motion; poetry became the dominant genre and underwent significant changes in terms of themes, technique, and quality.

The Arab-Israeli war of 1948 concluded with a brief literary sabbatical which was succeeded by a patriotic awakening of sorts as poetry became the mode of expression for people, their nationalistic fervor, their unbridled rage at having been dispossessed of their land. During this time, Palestinian poetic language and technique also underwent an evolution. Arab literary trends collided with foreign poetic style, leaving deep fissures in the traditional rules of technique, and forging a new form in which the profound sorrow and anger of Palestinians figured predominantly. After 1948, Palestinian poetry essentially became representative of the harsh reality Palestinians found themselves in under the Israeli occupation. Poets ferociously penned verses dripping with not just grief, but also a retaliatory vehemence and an unwavering steadfastness or sumud, the Palestinian cultural value of perseverance. The reason poetry became the most popular and sought after genre in Palestinian resistance literature is because it could spread easily and quickly by oral recitation, and did not have to rely on publication. Furthermore, since ancient times, poetry has been intimately associated with the Arabian sense of identity, cultural heritage, and communal history. In the Arabic tradition, the role of the poet is not limited to the realms of literature, but is actively invoked in political and social activities. Within this tradition, the role of the poet has been of major significance. From the pre-Islamic era when poets were charged with the task of composing celebratory odes in praise of tribal heroes or ridiculing verses to defame enemies, through the pre-modern period when poets were patronized by the Islamic rulers to extoll their virtues and narrate the tales of their valor, to the modern period where Palestinians defy the Israeli apartheid and express their desire for communal freedom through the poetic language, poetry has always been an essential pivot point in Arabian history and culture.

Since 1948, Palestinians have ardently used poetry as a vehicle to create resistance and assert their identity. At the same time, these poems seek to arouse the Palestinian sense of revolt to struggle against the Israeli settler-colonialism and the numerous injustices dealt to them every day in Gaza and the West Bank. For example, in his poem The Passport, Mahmud Darvish writes:

Do not ask the valleys about their mother

The sword of light cleaves from my forehead

And from my hand springs the river’s water…

All the hearts of people

Are my nationality

So take away my passport.

 

In these lines, Darvish uses the image of the passport to defy Israel’s relentless attempts to extirpate the Palestinians from their land of birth, nationality, and culture, and annihilate their sense of identity in doing so. In addition, the images of sword, light, hands, and water also serve as metaphorical expressions of resistance. Another poem, Fadwa Tuqan’s To Christ, uses Al Quds (Jerusalem) as a rallying symbol of Palestinian identity, and depicts how this symbol is being mutilated under the Israeli occupation:

Lord, father of universe,

Jerusalem’s feasts are crucified

This year.

On your day,

All the dells, O Lord

Are silent!

They rang

For two thousand years

But now

They are dumbfounded,

The domes are black

Black news overwhelms all

Jerusalem walls

On the cross

Jerusalem bleeds

On the hands of torture.

 

During a live Al-Jazeera Stream, Palestinian poet Ibtisam Barakat said, her voice quivering with tears, “There is a Naqba that has been going on for seventy years; geographical and political, a Naqba of life, but there is also an emotional Naqba that is happening with all the Palestinians all over the world, and we don’t have a place to express it. Poetry is just a tiny oasis where we can express some of that Naqba.” In the end, for Palestinians, poetry is not just mere words stringed together in verses; it is a way of reclaiming the voice that they have been so cruelly stripped bare of.

 

Palestinian Poetry to read/listen:

http://www.thehypertexts.com/Fadwa%20Tuqan%20Palestinian%20Poet%20Poetry%20Picture%20Bio.htm

http://www.24grammata.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/PoetryOfResistance_Sulafa_Hijjaw-24grammata.comi_.pdf

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52553/i-have-a-seat-in-the-abandoned-theater

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=46724

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKucPh9xHtM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2vFJE93LTI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thVPpbpqVbo

 

Posted on

“Campus in Fall: To open, or not to open? That is the question” by Areej Akhtar, Maha Uzair & Aiman Rahman

Receiving the email “We hope you are keeping well and safe in these unprecedented times” has become a source of agitation for the majority of us at this point. We have been preoccupied with wistful daydreams about campus reopening for well over a year and we long to settle back into a familiar routine. The government’s decision to open vaccines for people aged 18 and above, as well as the vaccination camp set up on campus has culminated in the hope that campus reopening is a realistic possibility in Fall. An email sent out by the Vice-Chancellor on May 27th states that the “Vaccination policy is a necessary step towards safely opening the campus this Fall”. However, many aspects of the speculated campus reopening have remained shrouded in ambiguity; including the nature of the reopening, the immunization of the incoming freshman batch, and the reimbursement of vaccine costs to NOP scholars and Financial Aid students. Moreover, the surfacing of the Delta variant in Sindh and the alarming plausibility of a ‘fourth wave’ means that the possibility of an in-person semester still hangs in the balance. Amid this uncertainty, conversations with the Student Council President Anoosh Fatima Khan and the Dean of MGSHSS Dr. Ali Khan have lent some clarity and coherence to this issue.

The Nature of Reopening

While there seems to be a consensus among the student body that the campus will reopen in Fall, the nature of said reopening has remained unclear and been subjected to much conjecture and guesswork. Some have hypothesized that the reopening in Fall would entail the end of online learning and a resumption of in-person classes, whereas others have surmised the possibility of a staggered reopening similar to the one seen in the Spring semester. Dr. Ali Khan’s remarks have thwarted some of these assumptions while confirming others. “I don’t think it will open fully. It will be phased, along the lines of what we did a few months ago,” he stated. He further clarified that the resumption of in-person classes is currently very risky due to the problems posed by enclosed spaces. Despite the vaccine rollout, Dr. Khan insists on remaining cautious to some degree, “What we have learned from the pandemic is that as soon as you stop taking precautions, cases go back up.” He communicated how unfortunate it is that the “students, faculty, and staff don’t take responsibility themselves, then ask what LUMS will do”. On the other hand, the Student Council President, Anoosh, is relatively more optimistic about the reopening in Fall. “It will definitely be better than Spring, that is a surety. That was a really difficult time. But this time, we are seeing the schools are doing fine, the universities are doing fine, so we are hopeful that it’s going to be much, much better this time,” she stated. She further hinted at the resumption of more in-person classes “depending on however the ventilation process pans out.”

Reimbursement of Vaccine Costs to NOP Scholars and Financial Aid Students

The vaccination of NOP scholars and students on Financial Aid below 18 via private channels is also integral to the safe reopening of the campus in Fall. According to Anoosh, the university has set down reimbursement policies to ensure this, “They will reimburse the vaccination costs to NOP scholars. Students with 70% or above financial aid will be completely reimbursed, and people with below 70% financial aid are going to receive a 50% reimbursement on vaccination costs.” Dr. Ali Khan also highlighted that the LUMS vaccination camp was set up solely for the convenience of students.

Vaccinating the Incoming Batch

Vaccinating the incoming freshman batch will be crucial to campus reopening in Fall. As Anoosh stated, “ If we are vaccinated and there are like 1200 people coming in who are not, then that puts the numbers completely out of proportion.” Clarifying that the incoming batch does not fall under the Council’s domain, she recalled a conversation with Dr. Ali Khan, and remarked, “They’re going to make the vaccination mandatory by mentioning it on the offer letters so that when they (first-year students) come in, they are vaccinated.” However, the Council is still awaiting the administration’s final word on this. She also shed light on other mechanisms that are being implemented to ensure that the arrival of the incoming batch on campus does not result in a spike in cases. For instance, she even stated that “the O-Week management is considering whether to plan an on-campus O-Week or not”.

The Impact of the Delta Variant on campus reopening prospects

Recently, news has surfaced about a few cases of the “Delta variant” being found in Karachi, and authorities in Sindh sounded alarmed about a ‘fourth wave’ as a result. This is a new variant of Covid’19 which was first detected in India and is believed to have greater transmissibility. The looming shadow of the new variant and how it could interfere with campus reopening plans in Fall has become a source of distress for many students. Dr. Ali Khan has also voiced concern about this, “I’m currently in London, over 60% of people have received their doses here, and even then there is a surge in cases due to the Delta variant.” Speaking on how the variant could impact campus reopening prospects, Anoosh stated, “You can’t really have a very solid prediction with the Covid situation. The entire point is to make the policies in a way that we stay adaptive to the situation. Yesterday the news said that the positivity ratio for Lahore was about 1.2% which is very low. So that does show there is some kind of progress at the moment. Now, God forbid, if there is a huge surge in cases in the future, then naturally we will have to take that into consideration.”

While the vaccine rollout anchors us into some certainty regarding campus reopening in Fall, it is evident from the remarks of the Student Council President and the MGSHSS Dean that the emergence of the new variant, the evolving Covid-19 landscape in Pakistan, and the efficacy of the university’s own protective measures against the virus will have to be taken into consideration before a return to normal campus life can be envisioned. Would campus reopening in Fall remain a pipe dream for us? Only time will tell. Nevertheless, we can still hope that the numbers balance out and LUMS takes appropriate measures to accommodate its students so that we can miraculously sink back into our pre-covid lives. Student protests loom on the horizon as the ambiguity from the admin’s side deepens and the student body’s expectations escalate with time. As tensions run high, all of these aspects bubble and brew into a dangerous potion.

Posted on

Censorship, Deception, Weasel-Wording: How Western Media Whitewashes Israeli Apartheid and Settler-Colonialism

As the Israeli military relentlessly continues to launch bombing raids on the Gaza Strip, gravely injuring 1500 Palestinians, killing 212, of which 61 were children, Western media outlets report on the violence in a way that absolves Israel of its belligerence by portraying Hamas and the Palestinians as gruesome offenders.

Renowned media organizations like The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC News, and CNN have, under the deceitful veneer of “neutrality,” reported on the mounting Israeli violence in a way that places the heavily armed Israeli military on the same pedestal as the defenseless Palestinians brandishing mere pebbles in the face of a militarized, nuclear-armed apartheid regime.

Words and phrases such as “clash”, “Israeli-Palestinian conflict”, “escalation in communal violence”, “complex heightened tensions”, and a plethora of similar euphemisms have been employed to perpetuate the myth of the “two sides”, and mitigate or conceal the terrorist motives of the state of Israel. In doing so, they catapult to the forefront of global headlines a picture in which the Palestinians are depicted as the provocative aggressors, the initiators of “violence”, and the Israelis as the helpless victims who have no choice but to “retaliate” in “self-defense.” An unsettling example of such ideologically loaded media language can be found in the BBC on a report published after the Israeli forces attacked unarmed worshippers in the Al-Aqsa mosque, firing stun grenades and tear gas during prayer on May 8th. The BBC reported, “Protesters hurled stones at the police at Damascus Gate in the Old City, and officers responded with stun grenades, rubber bullets and water cannon.” The language used here completely reverses the role of the two in the incident; the Palestinians are portrayed as the stone-hurling offenders while the Israeli officers are shown to be the the passive forces who only resorted to violence as a “response.”

Considering that Israeli terrorism is always framed to appear as a “response,” people often get the impression that Palestinians brought the atrocities on themselves, that their behavior somehow warranted Israeli aggression, that they wouldn’t have been attacked had they not resisted the terrorizing forces. This is gross recycling of the ancient colonial trope used by colonizers throughout history to justify their abominations against the colonized people. In the book Britain’s Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya, authored by Caroline Elkins, Britain’s “murderous campaign” in colonial Kenya following the 1950s Mau Mau peasant uprising is described. In response to the uprising, the British established concentration camps for 1.5 million Kikuyu civilians  and a brutal system of torture camps that may have claimed the lives of tens, perhaps hundreds of those who dared to rebel against the powers that had colonized their lands, culture, language, heritage, everything. In India, the Indian Occupation Forces systematically target Kashmiris who protest against the state terrorism. Extra-judicial killings, torture in custody, forced disappearances, and incarcerations are routinely carried out by the Indian forces to weed out any resistance that emerges in the region. All acts of violence committed by the occupying power are glossed over as actions of ‘self-defense’ against the native people vehemently resisting their colonization. In reality, colonizers cannot exercise a “right to self-defense” against those they have colonized. The UN General Assembly Resolution 37/43 of 1982 recognizes “the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle.”

Another misleading aspect of the Western media coverage of the Israeli apartheid is that the terms “Palestinians” and “Arabs” as well as “Jews” and “Israelis” are often used interchangeably. Not only does this misrepresent the apartheid as a religious conflict, which it is not, but also obscures the colonial dimensions since neither are the Palestinians identified as the colonized natives nor the Israeli forces as the illegally settled colonizer. By referring to Palestinians as “Arabs” and Israelis as “Jews”, the apartheid is contextualized with religion; readers might dismiss the situation as a mere “conflict” between two “rival” religious groups. This steals attention from the actual cause of violence in the region: Israeli settler-colonialism. Moreover, when Israelis are synonymized with “Jews” in these reports, it blurs the line between Zionism and Jewism and consequently threatens to promote anti-Semitic sentiments.

In a report published in The New York Times today, the vague headline, “Airstrikes and Protests Escalate as U.S. Steps Up Mediation,” decisively remains cryptic about who is launching the airstrikes upon whom, and this lack of clarity continues to propel the narrative that the current situation in Gaza is not illegitimate Israeli colonial expansion but a “complicated and nuanced conflict.”

Mainstream Western media remorselessly uses colonial and imperialist rhetoric to validate and justify Israel’s forced ethnic displacement of Palestinians and the illegal colonization of their land. Through language manipulation, censorship, and the use of inaccurate euphemisms, a false equivalence is established between the armed Israeli military and the defenseless Palestinians vulnerable in the face of these atrocities. The Israeli apartheid is inaccurately portrayed as a “conflict”, a “clash” between equals. As May 15th marked seventy-three years of the Nakba, the central issues which make peace elusive in the region, settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, and genocide, remain unmentioned in a plethora of Western news reports. In fact, the war crimes that Israel commits with impunity are grossly sanitized by these media organizations to assert Israel’s inapplicable right to “self-defense” and vindicate the Israeli apartheid.