Reality star Kim Kardashian's work ethic 'advice' triggers the fury of former Kardashian employees

PUBLISHED ABOUT 10 HOURS AGO
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They complained about poor work conditions right after Kim spoke about people's poor work ethic in a recent interview.

Photo: Kim Kardashian/Instagram

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian was on the receiving end of major backlash on Twitter after her 'advice' on work ethic was widely criticised about on the internet.

In an interview to Variety released on March 9, Kim, alongside sisters Khloé Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian and mother Kris Jenner, talked about "their career in the entertainment business, advice for young women in the working world, and how their new show on Hulu, The Kardashians, will be different from Keeping Up with the Kardashians" — the E! Network reality TV show which helped launched their careers in the fashion and beauty business. The show aired its last season in 2021 after after 14 years.

In the interview Kim said, "I have the best advice for women in business. Get your f******g a** up and work. It seems like nobody wants to work these days. You have to surround yourself with people that want to work."

Kim's comments triggered an onslaught of angry posts on Twitter and amongst them were former employees of the Kardashian family who shared how they experienced poor work conditions while working for the family or the businesses they owned.

"I was an editor on the Kardashian apps in 2015 in Los Angeles," read a tweet. "[I] worked days, nights and weekends. [I] could only afford groceries from the 99 Cents Only Store and was called 'sick' more than once because I couldn’t put gas in my car to get to the office. [I was also] reprimanded for freelancing on the side."

"Remembering when I was a miserable unpaid intern travelling on my own dime across London to fetch Kylie Jenner a specific kind of manuka honey for her tea on a luxury fashion shoot," read another tweet.

Other users were quick to highlight not everyone has the same access to resources as the Kardashians. "She really swears we have the same access, resources and just overall privilege she does," shared one user. "I'm giggling cause ma'am you were born rich. [D]on't tell regular people what to do."

"People literally have to start working at the age of fourteen and a half to support their future on minimum wage and you were raised in a society were working was an option not a necessity," a user shared, directing her tweet towards Kim.

English actor and activist Jameela Jamil also criticised Kim for her comments. "I think if you grew up in Beverly Hills with super successful parents in what was simply a smaller mansion… nobody needs to hear your thoughts on success/work ethic. This same 24 hours in the day s**t is a nightmare. Ninety-nine point nine per cent of the world grew up with a VERY different 24 hours," she posted on Twitter.

OBITUARY: Remembering Farhad Zaidi

Jaffer Bilgrami
DAWN.COM
Published March 12, 2022 -

Farhad Zaidi


DISTINGUISHED print and broadcast journalist Farhad Zaidi, who passed away in Karachi on Friday, had only recently celebrated turning nonagenarian.

An icon of the old school of journalism, Zaidi sahab (as he was called by his juniors) was widely known for his grace, warmth of personality and natural gentility. As a professional, he was truthful, selfless and courageous. Those who ever had the privilege of working with him or even being acquainted with him will support my assessment.

Born in a reputed Syed family in the Indian town of Jaunpur, he had spent his early years in Aurangabad, where his father was posted. The Zaidi clan later made Lahore home, and it was from there that Farhad Zaidi started his long and illustrious career in Pakistani media.


My first two meetings with Zaidi sb were introductory and mostly perfunctory, as he did not know me well at the time; yet, they remain etched in my memory. The first was sometime in the mid-1970s, when fellow journalist and friend Zafar Qureshi, who had worked with him in a newspaper, took me to Zaidi sb’s residence in PECHS, Karachi.

This was followed by another, when I escorted my late boss, Muslehuddin sb of PTV, to Shezan in Karachi. The now-shuttered restaurant became a rendezvous for two displaced Laborites.

Zaidi sb started his career in journalism during the 1950s with Urdu dailies like Imroz, Nawa-e-Waqt and Mashriq. However, it was the editorship of the daily Hurriyat, an Urdu publication of the Dawn Media Group, which truly pushed him to prominence.

He edited the newspaper with professional distinction and shaped it into one of the most popular sources of information at the time. As a prolific writer, Farhad Zaidi gave the publication a new identity: he introduced features based on human interest stories and highlighted civic issues. He also brought in op-ed pieces which, though they were mostly political in nature, were literary gems in their own right.

This was an uncommon style in contemporary journalism and these editorials greatly influenced society at large. He later joined the daily Muslim — an English-language daily based in Islamabad — as part of its management. During this period, he was twice elected as President of All Pakistan Newspapers Society.

It would be unfair to compare Zaidi sb with his contemporaries in print media, as he was equally accomplished in the world of broadcast journalism. Appearing as compere in current affairs talk shows on the state television network, he was the perfect television personality: polite, well-informed and a professional who knew what he was doing.

He would be the preferred choice whenever PTV wished to interview politicians as part of its pre-election exercises.

His television background was perhaps instrumental in his eventual appointment to spearhead the network in the 1990s. Heading PTV came with near-daily pressures from the sitting government. Besides, handling its administration was no mean task as rampant intrigue and petty wrangling were quite common.

Yet, Farhad Zaidi navigated the network with good governance and completed his stint with an unblemished reputation. Very few know that he was also instrumental in opening the doors to the private sector to produce commercial news for state television.

Earlier in 1978, along with longtime friend and journalism colleague Ghazi Salahuddin, he was one of the most senior journalists who courted arrest to protest curbs imposed on the press by the military dictatorship of Gen Ziaul Haq and the flogging of journalists.

He was sentenced to six months in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail, but was eventually freed after a few weeks. His prison diaries were later published in the weekly Mayar.

It is regretful that Zaidi sb’s literary side was eclipsed due to his high-profile involvement in journalism. His epic poem Sharif Aadmi (Noble Man), written at the time of the hanging of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, brought him much acclaim in later years.

With his passing, the world has lost a gentleman who represented the finest breed of journalists this country has produced.

His Namaz-i-Janaza was offered at Yasrab Imambargah in the evening and he was laid to rest at the DHA phase-8 graveyard.

He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Mussarat Jabeen, the former editor of Akhbar-i-Khawateen, Nusrat and Millat, and sons Hasan Zaidi (Editor magazines at Dawn) and Ali Faisal Zaidi (Producer at BBC).

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2022

WORD OF THE DAY

nonagenarian

NOUN

1. a person who is from 90 to 99 years old.

Pakistan teen sensation Ahsan claims IBSF World Snooker crown

Anwar Zuberi   

Published March 12, 2022 - 

DOHA: Pakistan’s Ahsan Ramzan poses with the trophy after winning the IBSF World Snooker Championship final against Amir Sarkhosh of Iran on Friday.—courtesy IBSF

KARACHI: Riding on the crest of a wave, teenage sensation Ahsan Ramzan elevated his stature when he outpaced former runner-up Iranian Amir Sarkhosh 6-5 in an epic final to lay his hands on the International Billiards and Snooker Federation World Snooker Championship in Doha on Friday.

Fresh from his semi-final triumph over defending champion and compatriot Mohammad Asif, the 16-year-old Ahsan reached the zenith as he came back from 4-2 down at one stage to win a nerve-jangling final 63-60, 91-0, 19-65, 1-102, 28-68, 27-66, 86-18, 1-70, 69-0, 63-17, 67-25 and enter his name into the annals of the game.

Pakistan ended the event with a gold and two bronze after Sarkhosh had beaten Mohammad Sajjad in the other semi-final.

Ahsan became the second-youngest cueist to clinch the world title after China’s Yan Bingtao, who did it at the age of 14 defeating Sajjad in the title clash at Bangalore in 2014.

Ahsan also became the third Pakistani to win the world snooker championship since its inception in 1963 after veterans Mohammad Yousuf (1994 at Johannesburg) and Asif (2012 and 2019 at Sofia and Antalya).

The Lahore-based prodigy had a brilliant start as he surged into a 2-0 lead after winning the first two frames that also included a solid break of 70 in the second.

Sarkhosh, who took time to settle, came into the game by winning the next four frames on the trot, including a century break (102) in the fourth.

Ahsan, however, recovered to reduce the lead to 3-4 by taking the seventh frame but again fell prey as his opponent won the next to lead by 5-3 in the best of 11 frames encounter needing a frame to wrap up the match.

But Ahsan kept his cool and cue control to turn the tide in his favour by winning the remaining three frames in a row.

Ahsan had halted the winning streak of Asif in a gruelling semi-final that was stretched to the limit and saw the former claim a 5-4 victory on the penultimate day.

Ahsan came back thrice from the deficit, first to draw level at 4-4 and then won the decisive frame by a whisker. He won the battle 63-71, 21-60, 76-50, 75-51, 64-65, 63-46, 39-68, 69-62, 62-60.

This was Ahsan’s second victory over two-time world champion, the last being in quarter-final of the 46th National Snooker Cham­pionship held in Karachi six months ago.

In the other semi-final, Sarkhosh had also edged Sajjad 5-4 to book his place in the final.

Sajjad had a dismal start as he trailed 1-4 in the best of nine match. It was from there that he roared back into the match to tie at 4-4. But Amir scored a brilliant break of 64 in the decisive frame that enabled him to cruise into the final.

Amir won the duel 64-32, 59-47, 77-25, 18-62, 103-14, 30-59, 9-75, 24-58, 66-1. He made a century break of 102 in the fifth frame while Sajjad replied with 62 in the seventh.

Both the semi-finals lasted little over five hours.

Former President of Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) Ali Asghar Valika has hailed Ahsan’s victory in the world event.

“It’s like a dream come true as the cueist did his country proud,” he told Dawn after the final.

The Asian 6-Reds and Team Event will commence from Saturday.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2022

Ukraine diplomacy

A.G. Noorani

Published March 12, 2022 

THE US owes a heavy responsibility to save Ukraine from destruction at the hands of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. He is reckless but the West had led Ukraine up the garden path. Would it really have intervened if Ukraine was a member of Nato? For long, Americans and Europeans have discussed the efficacy of Nato’s guarantee. Would the US indeed risk nuclear annihilation to save Italy? And now the expanded Nato?

The legendary PM, Jim Hacker, had to confront this agonising dilemma in the BBC’s Yes Prime Minister serial when he met the government’s chief scientific adviser Isaac Rosenblum. He was merciless in questioning the PM on the futility of the nuclear deterrent and on defining the “last resort” when the nuclear button had to be pressed. He asked, “So what is the last resort? Piccadilly? … The Reform Club?” America’s nuclear strategists have long wrestled with this question — risk America’s annihilation while saving Italy? Or Ukraine?

This misses an important point. The Nato guarantee itself is of questionable worth and Nato’s expansion was a dangerous folly. Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949 says: “The parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that … each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the party or parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.”

The Nato guarantee is of questionable worth.

Explaining Article 5 to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee, secretary of state Dean Acheson said: “This … does not mean that the [US] would be automatically at war if one of the other signatory nations were the victim of an armed attack. … The obligation of this government under Article V would … be to take promptly the action it deemed necessary to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area. That decision would, of course, be taken in accordance with our constitutional procedures. The factors which would have to be considered would be the gravity of the attack and the nature of the action which this government considered necessary to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.”

In other words, there is no guarantee of automatic help under the treaty. Each party has a discretion on how to perform its obligation.

Acheson was asked by committee chairman: “Is there or is there not anything in the treaty that pledges us to an automatic declaration of war in any event?” He replied in the negative. Asked again, “Those are matters still residing in the discretion and judgement of the Government and the Senate?”, Acheson replied, “That is true”. The chairman asked: “Even after the occurrence of events, we would still have that freedom, would we not?” “That is true,” emphasised Acheson.

Far weaker were subsequent treaties like the ones with Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and in SEATO. Pakistan needs no edification on the worth of US pledges. The only case of an unqualified pledge was the Pact of Steel between Hitler and Mussolini on May 22, 1939. But neither under the UN Charter nor under international law does a victim of aggression need a treaty to solicit or obtain military aid for its defence. America’s refusal to supply planes to Ukraine is indefensible. Would it have intervened if Ukraine was a Nato member?

A few days ago, the Kremlin spokesperson published Russia’s surrender terms: Ukraine to lay down arms, alter its constitution to enshrine neutrality, acknowledge Cri­mea as Russian territory and Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states.

President Joe Biden assisted by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky must meet President Vladmir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva to hammer out a compromise. Force unrelated to achievable political ends is sterile diplomacy. Khrushchev said in March 1959: “History teaches us that conferences reflect in their decisions an established balance of forces resulting from victory or capitulations in war or similar circumstances.”

The foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine have met. On March 8, Ukraine said it was no longer pressing for Nato membership and was open to ‘compromise’ on the status of the two breakaway territories. On March 9, the Russian foreign ministry spokesperson said “some progress” had been made in the talks. Russia did not seek regime change in Ukraine.

The progress is significant. The agenda must also cover Russian reparations for the damage it has inflicted on that hapless country. Matters have gone too far. They can be resolved only by a Biden-Putin summit. There is need for an immediate ceasefire.

The writer is an author and lawyer based in Mumbai.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2022

Press ‘Enter’

F.S. Aijazuddin

Published March 10, 2022 



NEVER in the history of human conflict has so much been demanded of so many by so few. That parody of Winston Churchill’s wartime tribute to the RAF is cruelly applicable to the present conflict in Ukraine. An odium of Western politicians demanded expressions of loyalty from all nations, condemning Rus­sia. After they failed in the Security Council, ahead of the UNGA session they resorted to ‘friendly persuasion’ through their diplom­ats, targeting ambivalent countries like ours.

The level of pressure applied was astonishing. Countries were asked to sanction Russia, albeit selectively. Germany, for example, supported general sanctions but excluded its vital gas imports from Russia.

The International Paralympic Committee, having allowed Russia and Belarus to participate in the Beijing Winter Games 2022, under pressure reversed its decision. The IPC president asserted that “sport and politics should not mix”, then confessed that “behind the scenes many governments are having an influence”.

Boycotts of Olympic Games as a weapon of international remonstrance are not new. They have been used six times since 1956. Hopeful Olympians who train for years stand warned. They do not compete against athletes from other countries: they have to contend with hostile governments.

Will Putin extend his boot-print across Europe?

Even the arts are not exempt. Opera houses in New York, Bavaria, Zurich cancelled performances by Russian soprano Anna Netre­bko for not condemning President Putin. The Munich Philharmonic removed its chief conductor Valery Gergiev for the same reason.

History is replete with such hypocrisies. In June 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union. In July, Britain and the Soviet Union signed their Anglo-Soviet Pact against Germany. Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov praised it as “the foundation of friendship and fighting collaboration between our countries in the struggle against their common, sworn enemy [Nazi Germany]”. Winston Churchill quipped: “If Hitler invaded hell, I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil [Stalin] in the House of Commons.”

On March 8, the present House of Commons listened to a live dramatic appeal by Ukraine’s president. He marshalled Shakespeare and Churchill. PM Johnson responded with platitudes inspired by Chamberlain. Today, Stalin’s successor Vladimir Putin is to the West both the devil incarnate and Hitler reincarnate. To the angst of political analysts, Putin’s intentions remain (to quote Churchill) “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”.

Will Putin stop at Ukraine or will he, like Hitler after ingesting Czechoslovakia, extend his boot-print across Europe’s softer fringes?

Putin views the West and Nato as a Cerb­e­rus, a hydra-headed beast baiting the Russian bear. Nato barks at him but cannot bite without US’s dentures. He knows from experience that such sanctions are as limp as Olympic boy­cotts. Sanctions have never worked — not against Cuba, South Africa, Rhodesia, Libya, Iran, Afghanistan, nor against a hobbling Pakistan.

Putin has calculated that Ukrainian resistance will be raggle-taggle and short-term. He knows the West does not want to battle with him over Ukraine’s skies. Putin is not a 19th-century czar playing the Great Game over Af­­g­­­hanistan. He is not a 20th-century Gorba­chev conceding defeat in Afghanistan. To Put­­­in, the Crimea and Ukraine are not just tac­­­tically important; they are redemptive, the renaissance of Russia’s superpower ambitions.

Today’s Russia is no longer the Soviet Union bankrupted by its socialist policies and ‘Star Wars’ pretensions. It is not the rump left after Gorbachev’s disassembly and Yeltsin’s buffoonery. Russia is not the Soviet Union that communist China once mocked for being Marxist-Leni­n­­­­ist revisionist. Russia and China are the new ‘Eastern Axis’, two allie­­s who share a visceral suspicion of the West and its pervasive hegemony, disguised as the spread of democracy.

The foreseeable clash between Eastern and Western powers will not be only ideological and economic. It shall be technological. The West is vulnerable to cyberattacks by Russia and China. (Putin demonstrated that by interfering insidiously in the US presidential elections of 2016 and in 2020.) At the press of a button, its homeland systems could be disabled, disarmed or neutralised.

A recent New York Times report discussed US exposure: “Almost every industry runs its computers on one of three operating systems: Windows, macOS, and Linux. In many cases they also use the same business software — a defence contractor’s payroll system isn’t much different from a pharmacy’s. That means vulnerabilities are similar across industries.”

In ancient times, wars were decided by combat between single champions fielded by either side. The outcome of tomorrow’s conflicts may well be decided by two IT nerds, sitting on opposite sides of the globe, tasked to outwit each other with increasingly sophisticated destructive programmes.

Brace yourself for a crash of civilisations.

The writer is an author.

www.fsaijazuddin.pk

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2022

Europe’s ghosts

Rafia Zakaria

Published March 9, 2022

IN the city of Kyiv in Ukraine, the Russian invasion continues. Inside the cellars of the city’s homes, grandmothers describe their memories of World War II. History appears to be repeating itself. They fled underground to bomb shelters during that catastrophic period and they are fleeing to bomb shelters once again now. The idea that the world had had enough of war, or that the tentacles of armed conflict could not infiltrate the cobbled streets of Europe, has been proven false. War has come to Europe again and just like previously a strongman, one who could well prove to be as bloodthirsty and ruthless as any wartime dictator, is leading the charge.

The eruption of war tests theories about the world order. Francis Fukuyama, the historian who wrote the famous essay The End of History? in 1989, led everyone, the people of Europe especially, to believe that humanity was evolving beyond ideology. Liberal democracy, it was assumed, had created universal respect for democracy, for territorial sovereignty, the rule of law and so on. The idea that the developed countries would again stoop to wage a territorial war, fought on actual land, seemed quite out of place. But the days that have passed since the Russians invaded Ukraine have proved this argument to be an erroneous one.

Not only is Europe at war but the war is quite specifically about territorial control. If that were not enough, Putin’s threats of “consequences you have never encountered in your history” sounds terrifyingly like Europe’s last war. If the agenda of the Russian president is to wipe out Ukrainian existence, the only way to survive is to escape somewhere else, giving up altogether the rights to the homeland.

Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilisations fares much better. In his work, Huntington saw Ukraine as an enduring problem. In his view, Ukraine was a ‘cleft’ country representing two distinct portions, the Eastern portion belonging ethnically and culturally to Russia and the Western portion whose identity fits far better with the Eastern Europeans. This war, barring some miraculous intervention, could very likely lead to a Huntingtonian partition where the eastern half of the country goes to Russia and some sliver of the western portion is left ‘independent’ and can continue to identify with Europe. If you subscribe to this idea, then the war in Ukraine is part of the world dividing on civilisational lines.

The eruption of war tests theories about the world order.

The idea that Putin is only after Ukraine would likely be reassuring to the Western Europeans. It would mean that unlike Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich, Putin merely has regional plans. Worried about losing control over his sphere of influence and the encroachment of Nato states ever closer to his borders, he has set off on a quest to quell the threat once and for all. It would also mean that once he has regained control over his sphere of influence, he will order the nuclear-armed Russian army back to its barracks and all will be well again in Europe.

The present, however, is always haunted by the past. It is only around eight decades ago that the Europeans made similar calculations about Hitler’s intentions. Sudetenland, a resource-rich part of then Czechoslovakia, was inhabited by three million German speakers. Claiming that the Germans living there were being persecuted by the Czech authorities, Hitler demanded Sudetenland. To appease him, an agreement was signed by countries other than Czechoslovakia, leading to the region’s annexation by Hitler in 1938.

Hitler was entirely aware that the Allies were desperate to avoid a large conflict — as Putin is about Nato. The infamous Munich Agreement promised just this to Europe, that Germany could have Sudentenland and war would be averted. Six months of peace followed, which gave Hitler just enough time to regroup and then take over the rest of Czechoslovakia. In 1939, he moved on to Poland and then onwards still as the war raged on.

It is the unpreparedness of their ancestors that haunts the Europeans today. It is why so many are wondering if they too, like their ancestors, are waiting too long, not fleeing when they can. Hundreds of thousands of European Jews died because of their incredulity at what Hitler was doing. They never thought they would be suddenly stripped of their cosmopolitan lives, their bars and cafes, their urbane ways. Speaking to a German journalist in Berlin, I learned that even as far as that country is, next door to Poland, many are buying supplies and storing them just in case war does come to their door. Others are coming up with exit plans, talking beforehand of the point at which they will pack up and leave for the United States or Latin America or anywhere else except Europe.

The future is undecided. It is quite likely that the events that will determine its course are still taking place. Outside Europe, in South Asia, the unfortunate theatre of the last war, there was never any fanciful faith in the idea that humanity had ‘overcome’ war. Pakistan and more acutely Afghanistan are both scarred by Nato’s expeditions. Their history and their future will bear those scars for decades to come. Those, I suppose, are the grisly realities of the world’s unfortunate, those who are expected to be dealing with hardships, with refugees, with a lack of medical facilities as well as crashing currencies. Ukrainians are the new victims of the megalomania and egotism of hegemons. Superpowers and almost-superpowers should turn to those who have been bearing the scars of conflict, the death blows of lost homelands, for pointers. As it happens, it is not the bygone ghosts of old Europe that can be most instructive in handling this miserable moment, but the living ghosts of conflicts just past.

The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy.

rafia.zakaria@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2022

Imran Khan — once cricketer, now prime minister, unbudgeable rape apologist?

The premier clarified his opinions on rape and temptation and it confirmed what everyone already knew — he's a rape apologist.


IMAGES EDITORIAL
UPDATED 21 JUN, 2021

Well Captain, you've done it again. Despite your ministers, avid supporters and other party members scrambling to defend you the last time you were a rape apologist, you've proven that you do indeed blame women for rape.

You didn't let anyone change your mind — not public outcry, not international horror, not even your supporters twisting your words to mask your meaning. And this time, you spoke in English, leaving no room for ambiguity.

We would commend you for staying true to yourself if only the words you uttered weren't so problematic.

Women across Pakistan can rest assured that if someone rapes them, our prime minister will say it was the fault of "temptation", not the rapist. Would the same apply to children?

In an interview to Jonathan Swan for Axios, the premier was asked about his earlier comments about temptation, women's dressing and men's "willpower” — and how he was accused of rape victim blaming.

Imran, brushing it off as nonsense, said the concept of purdah is to avoid temptation in society. But then he went on to explain how Pakistan's society works and this where he lost the plot.

"We don’t have discos here, we don’t have nightclubs, so it is a completely different society, way of life here, so if you raise temptation in society to the point and all these young guys have nowhere to go, it has consequences in the society."



The interviewer point-blank asked him if what women wear has any effect. This is where our premier really went off track.

"If a woman is wearing very few clothes it will have an impact, it will have an impact on the men, unless they’re robots. I mean it’s common sense."

Is it common sense, PM Imran? Do you think men are so weak and out of control that the slightest show of skin will send them into a violent sexual fit?

When questioned if women's clothes would really provoke acts of sexual violence, the premier instead of saying "No, rape is not provoked", he said: "It depends on which society you live in. If in a society where people haven’t seen that sort of thing, it will have an impact on them."

There you have it folks, our prime minister in all his glory.

If you still have doubts about whether the premier is a rape apologist, let us disabuse you of that notion.

A rape apologist is someone who excuses, condones or justifies rape. When PM Imran says women wearing "very few clothes" will have an impact on men, he's saying men will rape you if you don't wear the clothes they want you to. To our Oxford- educated prime minister, clothes "provoke" rape. What then were the children and animals who were raped in Pakistan wearing, we ask.

Clearly, he must have an answer for that.

Men are not robots, he said, as if any sane man would attack a woman based on her clothes. If you weren't insulted before, you should be now. Imran Khan seems to have little respect for rape victims and it seems he doesn't think much of men either. He believes that men can't help it: they'll see a woman in "very few clothes" and attack. That he sees Pakistani men as little more than animals with no impulse control speaks volumes.

And for the people who say, oh but he's talking about "very few clothes", let us ask you this: what constitutes "very few clothes"? Is it a bikini? Or jeans and a T-shirt? Or shalwar kameez without a dupatta? Or a hijab without an abaya? Or an abaya without a face covering?

We'll say it again and again and again: There is no justification for rape — not the victim's clothes, shoes, hair, style of walking, manner of talking or anything else.

He also needs to keep in mind that by pushing this problematic narrative of "young men" not having outlets for their sexual urges, he is giving rapists and harassers an excuse on a silver platter. And they are not all "young men"! As was recently proven by the Mufti Azizur Rehman sexual abuse case, rape is a crime perpetuated by anyone in a position of power.

If nothing else, the premier could have kept this harrowing case in his mind while answering questions about rape and temptation and reminded himself that though there is never a time to be a rape apologist, this is an even worse time than usual. The trauma of rape is immense and it resurges every time a rape apologist provides what in their mind constitutes as a reason for this violence.

To our prime minister we have a few heartfelt requests: 1) Think, really think, about the impact your words have on survivors of sexual assault and their families. You have reduced their pain to something as vague as temptation and don't seem to have any concrete answers as to how you plan to tackle this issue or give them justice 2) Talk to women, and really listen. Women are groped in societies which have "discos and nightclubs" and women who wear an abaya and a hijab and a veil have been subjected to sexual violence as well. Stop putting all the burden of sexual violence on women and how they dress.

If you don't know what the women of this society go through regardless of what they wear, and are going to group all men into the category of "unable to control their sexual urges", then you, Imran Khan, are not fit to represent this society that you speak of.

Where are they?

Zubeida Mustafa

Published March 11, 2022

MARCH 8 was International Women’s Day and as is now customary the event allows social activists and feminists to focus on ‘gender equality’, the theme for this year. Given the candour of the youth, the discourse now allows for a true debate, which is the essence of democracy and crucial to the empowerment of women.

There is however a section of the female population of Pakistan whose cause has gone unnoticed by default. They are the trafficked ones. The media and human rights bodies have not fully addressed their suffering and the violation of their fundamental right to freedom. In that respect, I feel proud that my newspaper (Dawn) is the first one to have commented editorially on this issue twice within a week.

The trafficking of women for trading in prostitution is a crime against humanity which no country with a public conscience can choose to ignore. Only recently, it came to light that the Punjab police had disclosed that 40,585 women have been abducted in the period 2017-22 from Punjab. Although the police claim that they have recovered or traced 37,140 of them, one cannot really vouchsafe for the accuracy of this claim. About 53,400 suspects are said to have been arrested though it is not known what happened next. Were they investigated, prosecuted and convicted?

The figures were described as “staggering”. One of the judges on the Supreme Court bench hearing the case of one of the abducted girls termed it a failure of the police.

The case of trafficked girls and women goes unnoticed.

The fact of the matter is that this is not the full story. The figures quoted are only for Punjab. The other provinces have also contributed their share in making Pakistan a haven for traffickers and hell for abducted women. How can any leader of this country — civil, religious or military— hold up his head before the global community of nations and claim that he is a defender of women’s rights?

For nearly two decades, the US State Department has been issuing an annual report on the Trafficking of Persons (TIP) giving details of this criminal activity worldwide. Pakistan’s record is horrendous in terms of the massiveness of the number of victims and the paucity of corrective and preventive measures taken.

The figures reported in the TIP report annually increased over the years from over 12,000 to around 32,000 (2017 to 2021). The total includes boys and men picked up for bonded labour. The country is a leading member of the club patronising modern-day slavery.

One may well ask why. The main reason is the very factor why International Women’s Day is observed: the low status of women. In our patriarchal society it is easy and quite credible in the popular mind to hold women responsible for all sex crimes. According to the popular view, a woman is the source of such evils as she entices the man and so she deserves her fate. Small wonder no concerted efforts are made to eliminate these crimes or create awareness and sensitivity about sexuality issues. It is so easy for the police to dismiss a case of abduction as one of elopement.

Read: Where are Punjab’s missing daughters?

The trafficking of women for sex trading is probably the biggest financial factor in Pakistan’s black economy. It has international links and transactions of multimillion rupees are conducted daily. The icing on the cake is that there is official complicity at all levels after the crime is committed. The funds generated are shared by a wide range of parties to provide protection to all involved.

I don’t have any documentary evidence but have my experience to relate when I was running from pillar to post in a futile attempt to rescue two minor girls allegedly abducted by their stepbrother. Unofficially, I recei­ved a lot of information in the process on what happens behind the scenes in such cases.

For instance, one of the investigating officers informed me that the accused was receiving Rs120,000 every month which in the IO’s words was like “Dubai for a poor man in Karachi”. Connecting the dots, I could understand the tardiness of the judicial process that was deliberately created by corrupt lawyers and officials. Our system needs the grease of ‘heavy tipping’ to work and in trafficking cases money is there in abundance. Unfortunately, many among lower court magistrates are allegedly not averse to such manipulations.

In the case I was privy to even a judge of the higher judiciary was unable to ensure the presence of the victims’ mother at the bail hearing of the accused. He won his freedom on bail. Out of jail he continued his machinations in the lower judiciary. The case did not even reach the sessions court where it was expected to go having been directed to the judiciary by the Anti-Violent Crime Cell that deals with serious crimes.

Where do we go now? The trafficked girls’ poverty and their underprivileged class denied them justice.

www.zubeidamustafa.com

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2022

Scourge of trafficking

EditorialPublished March 12, 2022 - 

A RECENTLY published HRCP report has shed light on the alarming practice of human trafficking in the country. The report titled Modern slavery: Trafficking in Women and Girls in Pakistan describes Pakistan as a “source, transit and destination country for trafficking”. However, the real issue, according to the findings, pertains to internal trafficking “especially forced or bonded labour”. Although human trafficking gangs have existed in the country for decades, running forced begging rings, providing adults and children as fodder for bonded labour, and forcing women and girls into prostitution, there is little reliable data about this disturbing trend. Because of this, the report says, it is difficult to assess the true magnitude of trafficking. Considering that 151 girls have been recovered from Sargodha only since Jan 5 this year by the Punjab police, and 3,571 girls and women remain missing across the province, as reported by this paper last month, one can make an intelligent guess at the extent of this menace.

What is also unfortunate is the apathy of the law enforcers. Most cases of missing women and girls are registered as abductions or kidnappings or simply categorised as ‘elopement’ by police officials. As we have noted in this space before, in many cases the police do not even register a complaint when women and girls from poor families go missing. This indifference stems in large part from what the report describes as the lack of “capacity and understanding of human trafficking” in police ranks. Meanwhile, the challenges of intra-agency communication involving the provincial and federal law-enforcement agencies remain a big hurdle, with the institutional confusion showing up in the non-implementation of the recommendations of a national action plan to curb trafficking. This grim picture is not likely to improve unless the authorities develop the capabilities of the police and provide them with the needed resources, as well as devise a detailed policy on identifying and reporting cases of human trafficking. Additionally, the rehabilitation of victimised women and girls must be given due attention.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2022