Mustafa Qadri

CONSTITUTIONAL changes dilute presidential powers but leave minorities in the cold.

Democratic politics is often unpredictable. In Pakistan, it tends to be a rollercoaster, regardless of whether an elected government is in power. Despite these tendencies, not to mention a universally loathed President, unabated war against the Taliban, a stagnant economy and severe energy shortages, a broad coalition of Pakistani politicians has, to rephrase Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, just made the “impossible” possible.

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Maulana Fazlullah, chief of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Swat chapter, on Friday announced relaxation in the ban on girls’ education by allowing students to attend school up-to fourth grade.

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“The President’s actions send a strong message about his leadership and his desire to support causes that will promote peace and dignity, equality for women and girls and economic development in the poorest regions of the world,” said Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, UNFPA Executive Director.

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In a dark echo of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, violent religious extremists in Pakistan are moving to restrict girls’ education as they seek to impose a draconian version of Islamic law on a beleaguered population.

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With the rise in religious extremism and growing antagonism among ordinary Muslims against the West–largely a response to U.S. interventionist policies abroad–secular, Western-style feminists in countries such as Pakistan are increasingly seen as U.S. agents and regarded with suspicion and distrust.

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Afghanistan’s dying mothers
By Carol Mann
First Published: October 31, 2008
KABUL: Today in Badakhshan, Afghanistan, for every 100,000 births, 6,500 young mothers die. This is a world record, unrivaled anywhere. In other parts of Afghanistan, too, the rates of maternal mortality continue to be among the highest in the world.
Roughly 75% of Afghan newborns that die do [...]

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“Rural Pakistan’s silent victims” NewMatilda.com 29 September 2008:

“It’s as though someone has poured boiling tea on me…over and over again,” recalls Nazeeran, a woman from the village of Tehsil in south Punjab now fighting for her life at a refuge run by the Acid Survivors Foundation. Earlier this year she was doused in concentrated acid that caused severe burns to her face, shoulders and forearms. The acid continued to burn through her body for 10 hours, the time it took to finally obtain medical care at a hospital.

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