SPACE/COSMOS

Japan space firm postpones second attempt at orbit

AFP 

Published December 15, 2024 

TOKYO: A company aiming to become Japan’s first private firm to put a satellite into orbit postponed its rocket launch on Saturday, after its first try ended in a mid-air explosion.

Tokyo-based Space One’s Kairos rocket was to make its second blast-off from the company’s launch pad in the rural western region of Wakayama at 11am, but called it off in a move announced about 20 minutes before the scheduled launch.

“During the final decision-making process for the launch, we analysed the weather conditions and determined that the wind speeds above an altitude of 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) were so strong that it was not suitable for launch,” Space One executive Kozo Abe told reporters.

Abe said the company plans to make another attempt today on Sunday at 11am. “We will do our utmost to prepare for tomorrow’s launch,” he said.

Private firms are offering cheaper and more frequent space exploration opportunities than governments, and Space One hopes to emulate Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which has contracts with NASA and the Pentagon. But first, it needs to get off the ground.

The solid-fuel Kairos, carrying a small government test satellite, lifted off for the first time in March from the Space One launch pad, dubbed Spaceport Kii.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2024

M87's powerful jet unleashes rare gamma-ray outburst

Nagoya City University

 

image: 

Light curve of the gamma-ray flare (bottom) and collection of quasi-simulated images of the M87 jet (top) at various scales obtained in radio and X-ray during the 2018 campaign. The instrument, the wavelength observation range and scale are shown at the top left of each image.

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Credit: EHT Collaboration, Fermi-LAT Collaboration, H.E.S.S. Collaboration, MAGIC Collaboration, VERITAS Collaboration, EAVN Collaboration

Also known as Virgo A or NGC 4486, M87 is the brightest object in the Virgo cluster of galaxies, the largest gravitationally bound type of structure in the universe. It came to fame in April 2019 after scientists from EHT released the first image of a black hole in its center. Led by the EHT multi wavelength working group, a study published in Astronomy and Astrophysics Journal presents the data from the second EHT observational campaign conducted in April 2018, involving over 25 terrestrial and orbital telescopes. The authors report the first observation of a high-energy gamma-ray flare in over a decade from the supermassive black hole M87, based on nearly simultaneous spectra of the galaxy spanning the broadest wavelength range ever collected.

"We were lucky to detect a gamma-ray flare from M87 during this Event Horizon Telescope's multi-wavelength campaign. This marks the first gamma-ray flaring event observed in this source in over a decade, allowing us to precisely constrain the size of the region responsible for the observed gamma-ray emission. Observations—both recent ones with a more sensitive EHT array and those planned for the coming years—will provide invaluable insights and an extraordinary opportunity to study the physics surrounding M87’s supermassive black hole. These efforts promise to shed light on the disk-jet connection and uncover the origins and mechanisms behind the gamma-ray photon emission." says Giacomo Principe, one of the paper coordinators, a researcher at the University of Trieste associated with INAF and INFN. The article has been accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
 
The relativistic jet examined by the researchers is surprising in its extent, reaching sizes that exceed the black hole’s event horizon by tens of millions of times (7 orders of magnitude) - akin to the difference between the size of a bacterium and the largest known blue whale.
 
The energetic flare, which lasted approximately three days and suggests an emission region of less than three light-days in size (~170 AU, where 1 Astronomical Unit is the distance from the Sun to Earth), revealed a bright burst of high-energy emission—well above the energies typically detected by radio telescopes from the black hole region.

"The activity of this supermassive black hole is highly unpredictable – It is hard to forecast when a flare will occur. The contrasting data obtained in 2017 and 2018, representing its quiescent and active phases respectively, provide crucial insights into unraveling the activity cycle of this enigmatic black hole." says Kazuhiro Hada at Nagoya City University, who led radio observations and analysis of the multi-wavelength campaign. 

"The duration of a flare roughly corresponds to the size of the emission region. The rapid variability in gamma rays indicates that the flare region is extremely small, only approximately ten times the size of the central black hole. Interestingly, the sharp variability observed in gamma rays was not detected in other wavelengths. This suggests that the flare region has a complex structure and exhibits different characteristics depending on the wavelength." explains Daniel Mazin at the Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, The University of Tokyo, a member of the MAGIC telescope team that detected the gamma ray flare. 

The second EHT and multi-wavelength campaign in 2018 leveraged more than two dozen high-profile observational facilities, including NASA’s Fermi-LAT, HST, NuSTAR, Chandra, and Swift telescopes, together with the world’s three largest Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope arrays (H.E.S.S., MAGIC and VERITAS). These observatories are sensitive to X-ray photons as well as high-energy very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-rays, respectively. During the campaign, the LAT instrument aboard the Fermi space observatory detected an increase in high-energy gamma-ray flux with energies up to billions of times greater than visible light. Chandra and NuSTAR then collected high-quality data in the X-ray band. The East Asian VLBI Network (EAVN) radio observations show an apparent annual change in the jet's position angle within a few microseconds of arc from the galaxy's core.

"By combining the information about the change in the jet direction, the brightness distribution of the ring observed by the EHT and the gamma-ray activity, we can better understand the mechanisms behind the production of the very-high-energy radiation." says Motoki Kino at Kogakuin University, a coordinator of the EAVN observations during the campaign.  
 
Data also show a significant variation in the position angle of the asymmetry of the ring (the so-called event horizon of the black hole) and the jet’s position, suggesting a physical relation between these structures on very different scales. The researcher explains: “In the first image obtained during the 2018 observational campaign, it was seen that the emission along the ring was not homogeneous, thus presenting asymmetries (i.e., brighter areas). Subsequent observations conducted in 2018 and related to this paper confirmed the data, highlighting that the asymmetry's position angle had changed.”

The team also compared the observed broadband multi-wavelength spectra with theoretical emission models. "The flare in 2018 exhibited particularly strong brightening in gamma rays. It is possible that ultra-high-energy particles underwent additional acceleration within the same emission region observed in quiet states, or that new acceleration occurred in a different emission region." says Tomohisa Kawashima at the Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, who performed a simulation using a supercomputer installed at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. 

“How and where particles are accelerated in supermassive black hole jets is a longstanding mystery.  For the first time, we can combine direct imaging of the near event horizon regions during gamma-ray flares from particle acceleration events and test theories about the flare origins,” says Sera Markoff, a professor at the University of Amsterdam and co-author of the study.
 
This discovery paves the way for stimulating future research and potential breakthroughs in understanding the universe.

All the involved multi-wavelength facilities (IMAGE)

Nagoya City University

The observatories and telescopes that participated in the 2018 multiband campaign to detect the high-energy gamma-ray flare from the M87* black hole. 

Credit

EHT Collaboration, Fermi-LAT Collaboration, H.E.S.S. Collaboration, MAGIC Collaboration, VERITAS Collaboration, EAVN Collaboration

Journal

Astronomy and Astrophysics

DOI

10.1051/0004-6361/202450497 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Broadband Multi-wavelength Properties of M87 During the 2018 Event Horizon Telescope Campaign including a Very-High-Energy Gamma-ray Episode

Article Publication Date

13-Dec-2024

Astrophysicists capture astonishing images of gamma-ray flare from supermassive black hole M87

The jet is tens of millions of times larger than the black hole’s event horizon

University of California - Los Angeles

Key takeaways

• The galaxy M87, located in the Virgo constellation, provided the first-ever photo of a black hole in 2019, when the Event Horizon Telescope captured an image of the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center.
• An international research team including UCLA has observed a teraelectronvolt gamma-ray flare seven orders of magnitude — tens of millions of times — larger than the event horizon, or surface of the black hole itself. 
• A flare of this intensity — which has not been observed in over a decade —  can offer crucial insights into how particles, such as electrons and positrons, are accelerated in the extreme environments near black holes.

The first-ever photo of a black hole rocked the world in 2019, when the Event Horizon Telescope, or EHT, published an image of the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy M87, also known as Virgo A or NGC 4486, located in the constellation of Virgo. This black hole is surprising scientists again with a teraelectronvolt gamma-ray flare — emitting photons billions of times more energetic than visible light. Such an intense flare has not been observed in over a decade, offering crucial insights into how particles, such as electrons and positrons, are accelerated in the extreme environments near black holes.

The jet coming out of the center of M87 is seven orders of magnitude — tens of millions of times — larger than the event horizon, or surface of the black hole itself. The bright burst of high-energy emission was well above the energies typically detected by radio telescopes from the black hole region. The flare lasted about three days and probably emerged from a region less than three light-days in size, or a little under 15 billion miles.

A gamma ray is a packet of electromagnetic energy, also known as a photon. Gamma rays have the most energy of any wavelength in the electromagnetic spectrum and are produced by the hottest and most energetic environments in the universe, such as regions around black holes. The photons in M87’s gamma ray flare have energy levels up to a few teraelectronvolts. Teraelectronvolts are used to measure the energy in subatomic particles and are equivalent to the energy of a mosquito in motion. This is a huge amount of energy for particles that are many trillion times smaller than a mosquito. Photons with several teraelectronvolts of energy are vastly more energetic than the photons that make up visible light.

As matter falls toward a black hole, it forms an accretion disk where particles are accelerated due to the loss of gravitational potential energy. Some are even redirected away from the black hole’s poles as a powerful outflow, called “jets,” driven by intense magnetic fields. This process is irregular, which often causes a rapid energy outburst called a “flare.” However, gamma rays cannot penetrate Earth’s atmosphere. Nearly 70 years ago, physicists discovered that gamma rays can be detected from the ground by observing the secondary radiation generated when they strike the atmosphere.

“We still don’t fully understand how particles are accelerated near the black hole or within the jet,” said Weidong Jin, a postdoctoral researcher at UCLA and a corresponding author of a paper describing the findings published by an international team of authors in Astronomy & Astrophysics. “These particles are so energetic, they’re traveling near the speed of light, and we want to understand where and how they gain such energy. Our study presents the most comprehensive spectral data ever collected for this galaxy, along with modeling to shed light on these processes.”

Jin contributed to analysis of the highest energy part of the dataset, called the very-high-energy gamma rays, which was collected by VERITAS — a ground-based gamma-ray instrument operating at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in southern Arizona. UCLA played a major role in the construction of VERITAS — short for Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System — participating in the development of the electronics to read out the telescope sensors and in the development of computer software to analyze the telescope data and to simulate the telescope performance. This analysis helped detect the flare, as indicated by large luminosity changes that are a significant departure from the baseline variability.

More than two dozen high-profile ground- and space-based observational facilities, including NASA’s Fermi-LAT, Hubble Space Telescope, NuSTAR, Chandra and Swift telescopes, together with the world’s three largest imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope arrays (VERITAS, H.E.S.S. and MAGIC) joined this second EHT and multi-wavelength campaign in 2018. These observatories are sensitive to X-ray photons as well as high-energy and very-high-energy gamma-rays, respectively.

One of the key datasets used in this study is called spectral energy distribution.

“The spectrum describes how energy from astronomical sources, like M87, is distributed across different wavelengths of light,” Jin said. “It’s like breaking the light into a rainbow and measuring how much energy is present in each color. This analysis helps us uncover the different processes that drive the acceleration of high-energy particles in the jet of the supermassive black hole.”

Further analysis by the paper’s authors found a significant variation in the position and angle of the ring, also called the event horizon, and the jet position. This suggests a physical relationship between the particles and the event horizon, at different size scales, influences the jet’s position.

“One of the most striking features of M87’s black hole is a bipolar jet extending thousands of light years from the core,” Jin said. “This study provided a unique opportunity to investigate the origin of the very-high-energy gamma-ray emission during the flare, and to identify the location where the particles causing the flare are being accelerated. Our findings could help resolve a long-standing debate about the origins of cosmic rays detected on Earth.”

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Journal

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Northwestern University joins Giant Magellan Telescope International Consortium

Northwestern’s investment expands the Giant Magellan Telescope international consortium to 15 research institutions from the United States, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Israel, South Korea, and Taiwan

GMTO Corporation

 

image: 

As the 9th American institution to invest, Northwestern University expands the Giant Magellan Telescope international consortium to 15 members from the United States, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Israel, South Korea, and Taiwan.

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Credit: Damien Jemison, Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation

PASADENA, CA – December 13, 2024 – The Giant Magellan Telescope announced today that Northwestern University has joined its international consortium to construct the $2.54 billion observatory.

 

Home to the world-renowned Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) and the newly founded NSF-Simons AI Institute for the Sky (SkAI), Northwestern is at the forefront of advancing astrophysical research. Northwestern researchers will develop and apply cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) tools to enhance the Giant Magellan Telescope’s capabilities, enabling it to search for Earth-like planets across the Milky Way, investigate the Universe’s most energetic explosions, and explore the intricate relationship between galaxies and black holes.

 

“Northwestern University’s strength in AI, astrophysics, and engineering innovation makes them an important addition to our consortium,” said Dr. Walter Massey, Board Chair of the Giant Magellan Telescope and former Director of the National Science Foundation. “Their involvement further establishes the Giant Magellan Telescope as the telescope of choice for America’s top universities, now spanning institutions across Arizona, Texas, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C. This collaboration reflects a nationwide commitment to advancing astronomy and cementing U.S. leadership in manufacturing and scientific discovery.”

 

As a new partner, Northwestern joins a distinguished group of American institutions driving one of the largest public-private partnerships in science, which includes the University of Arizona, Carnegie Science, The University of Texas at Austin, the University of Chicago, Texas A&M University, Harvard University, the Smithsonian Institution, and Arizona State University. Together, these institutions award more than 30% of the nation’s Ph.D. degrees and invest more than $250 million annually in research and instrumentation for astronomy in the U.S. — fueling technology innovations and strengthening America’s manufacturing economy. Northwestern’s investment builds the consortium’s momentum as it awaits the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) decision regarding federal participation in the partnership, which would expand access in the Giant Magellan Telescope to include all U.S. scientists.

 

Recognized as a leader in cross-disciplinary collaborations, Northwestern is ranked #6 in U.S. News & World Report’s National Universities rankings and #11 in the Times Higher Education Interdisciplinary Science Rankings, which recognizes, incentivizes and celebrates interdisciplinary science in higher education around the globe. CIERA and Northwestern Astronomy also rank in the top 10 nationally for research impact and national awards for faculty. CIERA’s interdisciplinary approach connects astronomy research and education to computer science, engineering, high-performance computing, and beyond. Just this year, the NSF and Simons Foundation awarded Northwestern with a highly competitive grant to establish the SkAI Institute. The Institute, which unites researchers across disciplines to develop innovative, trustworthy AI tools for survey astronomy, especially motivated by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, solidifies Northwestern as a leader at the forefront of AI and astrophysics.

 

With these strengths, Northwestern researchers will contribute essential expertise to the complex datasets generated by the Giant Magellan Telescope and will play a crucial role in ensuring the observatory achieves its full potential as a tool for humanity’s continuing exploration of the Universe when it is commissioned in the early 2030s.

 

"Northwestern's commitment to interdisciplinary research — particularly in astrophysics, AI, data science and engineering — positions us to lead the next wave of astronomical research,” Northwestern President Michael H. Schill said. “Our full partnership with the Giant Magellan Telescope Consortium is a testament to this vision. I am especially grateful for Vicky Kalogera's leadership and efforts to secure this partnership. This collaboration will provide unparalleled opportunities for our students and faculty to push the boundaries of research and innovation as we seek to understand the Universe.”

 

The Giant Magellan Telescope will deliver up to 200 times the resolution and sensitivity of today’s leading telescopes, offering unprecedented power for astronomical discovery. Unique among the new class of “extremely large telescopes,” it features the widest field of view and the only science instruments capable of detecting and analyzing Earth-like planets in the reflected light of their host stars. It will be the first ground- or space-based telescope, operating now or in the future, capable of such unprecedented detections. This revolutionary capability moves the field beyond traditional transit detection methods for the first time.

 

The Giant Magellan Telescope is now 40% under construction across 36 states and on track to be operational in Chile by the early 2030s.

PAKISTAN

SOCIETY: THE FEUDAL GUNS

Ali Raza Mugheri 

Published December 15, 2024 

DAWN

Personal security guards on duty | Wikimedia Commons

The sight of gun-toting men with rugged features and in kurta shalwar and turbans, sitting in the back of a double-cabin pick-up truck and often gesticulating wildly at nearby cars to make way for their vehicle, is common in Karachi, particularly in the city’s posh neighbourhoods.

It is the same in the rest of Sindh, as it is in the provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and parts of rural Punjab. The chequered security situation and the high incidence of internecine tribal rivalries and conflicts are used as a justification for their presence.

But despite their visibility, the backgrounds and daily lives of and reasons for these men becoming hired guns remain largely opaque to most observers. Much has been written about the poor pay, excessive work hours and poor training of many uniformed guards in the employ of private security companies. But most people don’t know that these informal guards of the landed rich and powerful have it much worse.

CODES OF HONOUR AND EXPLOITATION

These tribal guards are primarily in the employ of their tribal chiefs or spiritual leaders, usually without a formal contract. They are bound by ties of loyalty, often spanning generations, and the fear of reprisal, not just against them, but also their families living in their hometowns that are under the control of their tribal chief or spiritual leader, are their daily lot.

At the same time, these tribal guards get paid less than the minimum wage, have poor safety gear and no insurance cover, or training and refresher courses in shooting or safety.

While the challenges facing guards working for private security companies are well documented, very little is known about the tribal men who protect their chieftains…

Instead, these men hailing from a martial culture, are driven by values of tribal honour, says Gohram*, one such armed guard who is from the Bugti clan. He was part of a shoot-out that saw hundreds of bullets being fired between two factions of the tribe in a busy commercial area in Karachi’s Defence area a few months ago, resulting in five fatalities, including at least one guard.

“In Baloch culture, failing to retaliate would disgrace my family and haunt me,” Gohram tells Eos. For him, to surrender is to betray the tribe and its chief. Retaliation isn’t optional — it’s demanded. The fear of shame drives individuals to fight, even in grave danger. “Now, I’m seen as a warrior,” he says.

While many others share Gohram’s sense of honour, they do so keeping self-preservation in mind.

Wazir*, a former gunman, tells Eos that his party was ambushed by dacoits while travelling with their sardar [tribal chief]. “They stole everything — our weapons, phones, money — and beat us,” he continues. “But when we returned to the sardar’s bungalow, he punished us again, furious that we hadn’t fought back.”

Wazeer says that if they had fought back, they were likely to be killed. But that wasn’t the sardar’s concern. Wazeer adds that he was later implicated on false charges and imprisoned for four months, a consequence of his employer’s political clout.

After his release, he decided to join a different profession. “Today, I’m a labourer, and I thank God for my cowardice — it saved my life,” he tells Eos.

Most tribal guards face the situation that Wazeer had to contend with, as they have no formal contract with their employer or any legal protection such as that enjoyed by those associated with private security companies.

Although many gunmen grow up surrounded by firearms, their knowledge is rudimentary at best — limited to tasks such as loading, unloading and aerial gunfire. Despite this exposure, they lack proper training in the effective handling or maintenance of weapons, making them ill-equipped to serve in their supposed roles as protectors.

A local politician with his personal guards riding atop the vehicle | Social Media

A VICIOUS CYCLE

The tradition of becoming a gunman is often passed down through generations. The children of armed gunmen, who typically lack access to education and agricultural or vocational skills, frequently follow in the footsteps of their fathers. This generational cycle further entrenches the power of the feudal elite, as entire families become dependent on their employer for survival, with little hope of breaking free from this inherited role of servitude.

To reward loyalty, some feudal lords get their guards appointed in government departments — as janitors, gardeners or drivers — though these roles are usually only on paper, with the guard continuing bungalow duties while drawing a salary for rarely performed work. Occasionally, the sons of senior guards are given minor government jobs as a token of their fathers’ loyal service.

Such jobs help augment the guard’s income, who often earn as little as one-third of the current minimum wage, which stands at Rs37,000 in Sindh.

Mir Jangi Khan Magsi, an expert on rural dynamics, says that only a few loyal gunmen earn a salary of Rs9,000 to Rs12,000, with perks like meals and accommodation only available when the employer is present. With meagre earnings, many such guards resort to scheming and sycophancy. “They earn extra by flattering visitors or accepting money from officers visiting their sardar’s residence,” he tells Eos.

In contrast, the same tribal gunmen, when employed by urban businessmen, can hope to receive better wages and improved living conditions. Arif* and Sajjad*, cousins from rural Sindh, now work as gunmen for a Karachi businessman. The businessman hired them on the recommendation of their tribal chief — likely as a token of gratitude.

“We now earn 35,000 rupees each per month, much better than the 12,000 rupees we were paid by the sardar,” they tell Eos. This not only benefits the tribal guards, but also those employing them. The cousins say their employer previously spent Rs160,000 monthly on guards of a private security firm, who worked 10-hour shifts. “Now, he pays us 70,000 collectively for the same round-the-clock service, while we also handle errands, such as grocery shopping, driving and other tasks,” they say.

They know that they are likely to get even better remuneration and support if they joined a private security company, but they find the recruitment process challenging. “Plus, we are already much better off, so we are happy with what we have,” they add.

CONTRASTING REASONS, SIMILAR OUTCOMES

One reason for men becoming a tribal guard is to escape the hard labour of working the farms. Others do it for fame and fortune, or to be associated with a powerful figure.

Then there are those who work for a sardar or chieftain because they know it would get them immunity from crimes already committed. They become part of the chief’s ‘militia’, a parallel force that ensures the sardar’s will is the law and any resistance is crushed.

“I had several theft and robbery charges pending,” Muzaffar* tells Eos. “The police chased me, but they stopped after I became a gunman for a powerful sardar,” he points out.

These tribal guards are often accused of terrorising residents in metropolises at the behest of their sardars. Even if there is a complaint against a particular guard, it is easy for them to vanish in their hometowns, with the local police unwilling to take action.

Nabeel*, a resident of Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority, tells Eos that gunmen stationed outside a house in his neighbourhood constantly harass families. “Our street is full of them and complaints to their owners go ignored,” he says. “We fear for our security, unsure if they’re trustworthy or criminals.”

Without adequate laws in place, and an obsequious police force, residents in urban and rural centres have no option but to be wary of such armed men, forever careful of not stepping on the toes of their tribal overlords. One word from the sardar can have these scary-looking men wreak havoc on anyone, even a driver who cut too close to their vehicle.

Recruited from impoverished communities, these gunmen reinforce feudal dominance and instill fear. But lured by status and protection, they themselves endure a precarious, manipulated existence. Addressing this issue requires urgent legal reforms and socio-economic changes to dismantle the power structures that enable feudal lords to wield unchecked authority.

**Name changed for privacy*

The writer is a freelance journalist and researcher. He can be contacted at ali_mugheri1987@yahoo.com.

Published in Dawn, EOS, December 15th, 2024

PAKISTAN

Dangerous overreach

DAWN
Editorial

December 15, 2024 

THE latest wave of arrests  and cases filed against journalists and social media users under Peca marks an alarming escalation in the state’s campaign to control the digital narrative. With over 150 individuals now facing charges for allegedly “promoting false narratives” about the Nov 26 protests, the law has morphed from its original purpose into a tool for suppressing legitimate reporting and public discourse. The sheer scope of these cases, coupled with proposed amendments that would increase prison terms to seven years and fines to Rs2m, reveals the increasingly draconian nature of Pakistan’s cybercrime regime. What began as legislation ostensibly aimed at protecting citizens from online crimes has become a catch-all mechanism for silencing dissent and controlling the flow of information. Particularly troubling is the vague and subjective nature of the charges being levelled. The criminalisation of what authorities deem “false narratives” creates an environment where journalists must self-censor or risk prosecution, effectively gutting their ability to report on matters of public interest. When coverage of protests and allegations of state violence can trigger criminal charges, we have entered dangerous territory indeed.

The timing of these cases, following claims of alleged protest-related deaths, suggests their real purpose: to discourage independent investigation of controversial events. This use of state machinery to enforce a single official narrative strikes at the heart of press freedom and citizens’ right to information. Pakistan is already facing severe challenges to its democratic values. Amnesty International has raised concerns over the lack of transparency in the state’s actions, while civil society has highlighted the dangers of unchecked powers under Peca. The law, in its current form, erodes trust in democratic processes and creates an environment of fear for journalists and citizens alike. Pakistan’s democratic health requires a vibrant, fearless press corps able to investigate and report without fear of prosecution. The weaponisation of Peca must end.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2024

PAKISTAN

Education’s downhill journey

Ayesha Razzaque 

December 13, 2024

DAWN

AS we approach the end of the year, it is worth looking back at major trends and developments in the education sector in 2024. I have prioritised developments with wide-ranging impact over small-scale and pilot initiatives.

We normalised days-long, citywide cellphone service suspension years ago. This year, the government decided to beta-test censorship tools on 250 million people without a well-planned rollout, effectively suspending internet access, both blanket and select services — X, VPNs, even WhatsApp. Disruptions were so bad that even social media accounts loyal to the government earlier in the year either went quiet or switched sides. Why are internet disruptions relevant to education? While Covid necessitated school closures, this year made them a tool of first resort, whether the reason was politics, the summer heat, or pollution. The fig leaf justification given is that classes have been switched ‘online’, but how effectively they are conducted — often announced at short notice and taking on the form of WhatsApp messages — is questionable.

This year, the encroachment of the administrative state into the affairs of universities, otherwise described as autonomous, continued and brought more dysfunction. Until much later this year, dozens of public universities across Punjab and KP were operating without permanently appointed vice chancellors. Soon after the 2024 election, we saw a public tug-of-war play out in KP and Punjab between the respective chief ministers and governors. Politics trickling into academia is not new, but the public wrangling over the bounty of VC appointments was jarring.

This month, the passage of the KP Universities (Amendment) Act, 2024, gave the power of appointing VCs to the chief minister. It allows greater bureaucratic control of universities and political interference, trickling down to appointments of registrars, deans, etc. VCs will effectively report to a provincial secretary. A proposal for a similar amendment, vehemently opposed by VCs, has been made in Balochistan. Meanwhile, 14 public universities in KP have been declared unviable and will either be shuttered or merged with other universities. Eager to lead this race to the bottom, Sindh’s cabinet just approved draft amendments to the Sindh Universities and Institutes Laws Act, 2018, which, if approved by the Sindh Assembly, will allow a Grade-21 bureaucrat to be appointed VC. This could inspire Punjab to follow suit with a similar amendment.

The most consistent conversation in higher education was a constant mantra for public universities, still heavily subsidised, to become financially self-reliant because governments can no longer commit to supporting them. Governments are urging universities to generate their own resources, but not loosening the ropes that tie the VCs’ arms behind their backs. What it decodes to, but no one is willing to spell it out for fear of political blowback, is hiking the fees and/or selling part of their land grant. On the latter, public universities have been prodded in that direction to various degrees, depending on how juicy their lands are in the eyes of private parties. Another term that has recently entered the vocabulary of higher education discourse is ‘endowment fund’, but with little understanding of what establishing, maintaining, and growing one entails. Instead, many expect to be handed a readymade pot of money.


There has been no action on the ground that matches the scale of the challenge.

For years, computer science has been taking engineering programmes’ share of enrolment. Engineering programmes everywhere have been witnessing a declining interest, forcing some universities to shutter engineering departments. Private universities, hit especially hard, lobbied the Pakistan Engineering Council to change entry criteria allowing FSc pre-medical students to be admitted. The HEC has locked horns with the PEC on this issue. Diluted admission requirements will likely further reduce trust and confidence in Pakistani engineering qualifications.

This year, we witnessed the impact of disinformation in the education sector when an unsubstantiated rape allegation (absent an accuser) upended campus life in multiple institutions for days. In the end, investigations by the state and private media failed to establish that an assault had occurred. Protest organisers realised they jumped the gun and began back-pedalling, changing goalposts, claiming their protests were about the lack of student representation in universities, but the damage was done.

Despite laws passed in Sindh and a court decision in Islamabad, universities are dragging their feet on the functioning of student unions.

This year, we heard the prime minister twice declare an education emergency, making for progressive-sounding headlines. Twenty-six million children remain out of school and the learning levels of children have plateaued. There has been no action on the ground that matches the scale of the challenge. We only have made-for-media moments by savvy bureaucrats, some of whom have cultivated coteries of useful followers in the media and feed them feel-good stories published without critical thought.

In Punjab, a large number of public schools will be handed to private entities in the name of public-private partnerships, which have been shown to work in certain situations. However, I cannot recall any country with a school education sector worth emulating that washed its hands off running public schools, which is why this feels like a surrender.

If the government is incapable of delivering school education, what else is it incapable of? Is it qualified to regulate school education or dictate curriculums to private schools? Is it capable of providing basic healthcare services? Should a government incapable of fulfilling constitutional obligations shoot the breeze about bidding for and running a complex and competitive business like an airline? If it cannot deliver school education, what are the odds it can do better with higher education? How much longer will it be until public universities are privatised?

Last year, the outgoing parliament scrambled to grant charters to dozens of private universities. I salute elected representatives’ dedication to the cause of higher education, but I wonder why so few have been willing to put in comparable efforts for the cause of school education that the state is responsible for providing. Going out on a limb, it could have something to do with the fact that schools do not require charters, which makes supporting them a lot less lucrative, but what do I know?

The writer has a PhD in education.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2024

Going ‘glocal’

Neda Mulji 

December 15, 2024 

DAWN


ASPIRING for an education system that matches global standards is not only about curriculum design, competencies and skills. It is also about classroom management, behaviour, student grooming, values and ethics. As we aim to tap into the 21st-century skills of creative and critical thinking, we can only begin to teach those skills if we have the patience to listen to students as they express their ideas; if we can provide opportunities for them to work and think together in class; if we can have a non-judgmental environment where no student is afraid to speak up and where we can guarantee inclusiveness so there is no bias.

This is a tall order for many teachers lacking the professional development background where awareness of these serious issues is raised, evidence-informed research is brought into learning material, and teachers are encouraged to bring successful practices to their classrooms.

Some would argue that the needs of our students are different. Socioeconomic backgrounds, education levels of parents and language barriers force a teacher to resort to a formula of trying whatever ‘works’, often borrowing from their own background, values and learning experiences from childhood.

With access to new forms of learning, teachers have access to formal processes of tapping into the skills of the National Curriculum of Pakistan, even as it demands of them student learning outcomes that they haven’t been trained to deliver.


Global and local education systems overlap in many ways.

Global and local education systems overlap in many ways, and it’s possible to bring the best of both worlds into classrooms. While we can teach local values, along with cultural sensitivity and regard for societal demands, we can also aim to provide exposure to cultures, curricular and best practices worldwide.

While it is true that the examination results published year after year are indeed at par with global results, it is not a reflection of global standards involving values such as diversity and inclusion, creative expression, collaborative spirit, a sense of self and work ethic. Glocalising our edu-cation system would imply truly integrating processes through the UN’s SDG 4 framework.

Access and opportunity are a vital cog in ensuring academic achievement and progress. Opportunities to access upgraded methods of teaching and learning, keeping up with global themes, and applying best practices to local needs and context might be a winning formula to prepare our students for the future.

Resistance to access usually comes from a suspicion of global practices infiltrating our religious, cultural and family values. The truth is, we need inclusiveness to empower our students to develop new perspectives and evolve with the changing trends in the world. How do we build a world where we embrace new possibilities while holding on firmly to our distinctive heritage? When we start controlling the influences on learning and growth, we restrict possibilities for growth. While the world is moving fast in the direction of incorporating AI in teaching and learning, we are still struggling to move away from extended explanations in classrooms. While the world lays growing emphasis on creative and critical thinking, we still expect students to reproduce the teacher’s ideas and words, copied down in carefully written notes.

If we could increase awareness of other cultures and systems of teaching and learning, we could make leaps in the direction of greater opportunities for students and higher academic achievement. We hear many conversations about technology and innovative growth, but we cannot expect to do a deep dive into it when our students and our teachers are ill-prepared for the transformation.

Ultimately, we hope to enable our students to collaborate transnationally to solve urgent issues such as climate cha­nge, work towards social justice, bring about peace between nations in conflict, resolve food insecurity, health emergencies and the like.

For our next generations to be able to do all that and much more, they need to be prepared for global citizenship with an awareness of global structures, systems and cultures. They need to be able to integrate global concepts with local culture.

It has frequently been said ‘a quality education is a passport to the future’, and it is in this context that we must prepare our future generations to understand the world and its demands. This includes understanding other cultures and their development of thought, history and values.

It enables students to think critically about their local issues in relation to the broader world and also strengthens their skills to adapt to a variety of thinking and working environments, with the aim of taking actionable steps within their communities.

The writer is a teacher, educator, author and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK.
neda.mulji@gmail.com
Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2024

Is Trump the answer?

Ghazan Jamal 

December 14, 2024

DAWN

GIVEN his past record, it was surprising to see endorsements for candidate Trump by Muslim Americans, including influential imams, in the swing state of Michigan and the Pakistani-American Public Affairs Committee (PAKPAC).

The disillusionment of Muslim Americans with Joe Biden’s presidency and, by extension, with Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, given America’s staunch support for Israel despite the latter’s genocide against the Palestinian people, was clear.

PAKPAC also seemed to be equally angry at the current US administration over the Donald Lu cipher saga. However, rather than choosing not to vote or vote for the third-party candidate — the Green Party’s Jill Stein, who was the only presidential candidate to vigorously oppose US support for Israel — it was shocking to see many endorse Donald Trump.

They justified this because of the supposed promises made by candidate Trump to address the Muslim American community’s concerns, especially around the Israel-Palestine conflict. However, a review of his first term and seeing his selections for key staffing positions for his new administration should make it clear that he is not going to live up to his end of the bargain.

Under the Jerusalem Embassy Act, the US was supposed to move its embassy to Jerusalem. However, recognising how sensitive such a move would be, the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations all deferred this controversial move. In contrast, Trump, soon after taking office in his first term, not only shifted the US embassy to Jerusalem but also closed down the US consulate that provided services to Palestinians.

Later, president Trump, alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, unveiled his Middle East peace plan that proposed recognition of Israeli sovereignty over West Bank settlements and stated that Jerusalem would “remain as Israel’s undivided capital”. It recognised Palestinian statehood only over 15 per cent of what the Palestine Liberation Organisation refers to as “historic Palestine”. Understandably, the proposal was rejected by Palestinians.

His nominations for key staffing positions for his second term make it evident that president-elect Trump is going to be even more belligerently one-sided in support of Israel than previous administrations. Mike Huckabee, his choice of US ambassador to Israel, is a self-declared Zionist who has stated that there is “really no such thing as a Palestinian”. According to Huckabee, this is just a “political tool to try and force land away from Israel”.

It is clear that Trump is not going to live up to his end of the bargain with Muslim American voters.

Trump’s nominee for US ambassador to the UN, Elise Stefanik, has similar views. She gained notoriety for her confrontation with the presidents of Ivy League universities during a US House of Representatives hearing.

She accused them of being antisemitic because they refused to crack down on students participating in widespread pro-Palestinian protests on campuses. She recently also called for “[cutting] off funding to UNRWA” (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine), the main provider of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza.

Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Mike Waltz, nominated for the positions of secretary of state and national security adviser, respectively, are long established supporters of Israel and have heavily criticised President Biden’s handling of the Israel-Gaza conflict as being too obstructive towards Israel. The latter even echoed candidate Trump’s call to “let Israel finish the job”.

Domestically, the main architect behind the infamous ‘Muslim ban’ executive order, Stephen Miller, returns to president-elect Trump’s team as his deputy chief of policy with the mandate of focusing on immigration policy for the new administration.

Given Trump’s past and current actions, Pakistanis at home and in the US should be wary. Unlike previous American presidents who purported to crusade for democracy and human rights globally (albeit who were frustratingly inconsistent when these values conflicted with perceived US strategic interests), these values do not even appear to be a consideration in Trump’s foreign policy. One need only see how he chose to loosen the rules of engagement for air strikes in Afghanistan during his first term, which led to a 330pc increase in civilian casualties.

Moreover, he is responsible for negotiating the disastrous deal with the Taliban that brought them back to power in Afghanistan and has contributed to a resurgence of militancy in Pakistan. He also withheld $1.3 billion of military aid to Pakistan in his first term, tweeting in 2018: “The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than $33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit…”.

The relationship only normalised with Pakistan in Trump’s final year in office because of the necessity of Pakistan’s support in withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan.

Involvement in Pakistan’s internal matters is contrary to Trump’s isolationist tendencies and his espoused ‘America first’ foreign policy. As Pakistan’s strategic importance to the US has waned with the conclusion of the so-called war on terror, Pakistani-Americans need to rethink their approach.

Constituting only a little over 1pc of the US population, Muslim Americans, including Pakistani-Americans, are not a large enough voting bloc to impact US policy through their votes alone. If they want to have a chance to truly influence US policy, it is, ironically, the outsized power of the Zionist lobby that can be instructive.

While the Jewish population of the US is scarcely more than that of Muslims, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is by far one of the most influental lobbying groups in the country. It is well-funded and very strategic in how it backs or opposes candidates in both general and party primary elections as well as its aggressive lobbying around any policies affecting Israel.

PAKPAC and other Muslim groups should actively work towards fundraising and developing a more effective lobby in Washington, increasing community outreach at the grassroots level, raising public awareness through traditional and nontraditional media, and building coalitions with other politically active groups to mitigate the damage that the next four years are likely to bring.

The writer is a development practitioner and a former parliamentarian.

X: @GhaziGJ

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2024

Syria on my mind

Muna Khan 

 December 15, 2024 

DAWN

IN the mid-2000s, my sister was living in Damascus and I planned a visit to her and then a trip to Lebanon, together. But I could not secure a visa to Syria, ostensibly because I was a journalist, something I did not disclose in my application, choosing instead to describe myself accurately as a freelance writer. Someone from the embassy called. I had not submitted my CV, but he knew when I had worked at this newspaper as a leader writer. He said they’d get back to me. When I called to follow up, a very kind Pakistani staff member told me they did not grant visas to journalists, even to folks vowing not to practise again.

In an unfortunate turn of events, my sister could not apply for a visa to Lebanon, so we would joke about waving to each other across the border.

My sister and I wanted to inherit our parents’ love affair with the Levant, where it was easy to drive between countries without visa issues. My father, who experienced wars in Pakistan, considered buying a flat in Beirut in the 1970s because he described it as a peaceful country.

A few months after that trip to Lebanon, I moved to Dubai to work at a large Arab news organisation, managing their English-language operations. I landed at a crazy time — smack in the middle of the Arab Spring, months after Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s ouster, then Tunisia’s president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s ouster, both events following mass civilian uprisings that would spread across the region, igniting hope and fury. I hit the ground running, relearning about the region from an Arab perspective, from various Arab colleagues, each with their set of ‘Great Game’ theories. I had to reset my language too, knowing who got to be called a rebel, terrorist, hero. Israel was always, and remains, the enemy.


They are mere pawns in someone’s theory.

The war in Syria was unfolding on our screens. Twitter was Twitter and not yet the cesspool of hatred it has become. NPR’s Andy Carvin was a legend for being a “one-man Twitter bureau” crowd-sourcing and verifying during this turbulent period in the Middle East. I’ve always wanted to meet him to discuss how he made the decisions he did to tweet out graphic images of children from Syria, for example. Social media disrupted our roles as the gatekeepers of information.

This is long before fake news or misinformation became common parlance. We’d post a video from Hama only to learn later it was from Homs. Verification often took a back seat to speed. We had to beat the other news media outlets in breaking news — the advantage was that ours were the few news organisations with a long presence in Syria, but this didn’t make working there easier. The Syrian regime was notoriously difficult to, and about, journalists. Reporters returning to Dubai were showing clear signs of PTSD and spoke of horrific things they’d seen, but were also keen to return to the war zone. They all worried about their Syrian colleagues and sources’ safety.

We heard about a producer in our TV newsroom who watched live as a reporter pointed to her aunt crying as she held the body of her son. She completed her shift. We all went the next day to condole with her and returned to our desks where my Syrian colleague said she dreaded the same happening to her. My colleagues from Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Tunisia, Lebanon, and Palestine often talked about families dying violent deaths. They’d barely get to mourn because someone had to take the news out.

Many people don’t fully grasp what it is like to work in a newsroom during war in your country or someone else’s. The constant exposure to violence, sounds of war, and also keeping your head above water as you wait to hear from your colleague with information, putting their well-being and yours aside to write the news while also navigating editorial policies of a fast-changing landscape, where changing leadership means a change in positions. Bashar or HTS or someone else was a necessary evil one day, and an inconvenient truth the next.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights in May said it documented the killing of 717 journalists and media workers since March 2011, including 53 who died due to torture.

We will hear about Syria as a chessboard of power and politics. Oded Yinon’s 1982 plan about a greater Israel has surfaced in some discussions. Everyone has an angle, a theory about this game or that, but the voices of the people most impacted by the decades of civil unrest don’t feature; they are mere pawns in someone’s theory.

I have no theory, but ask you to think about my former Syrian colleagues wherever they are, some celebrating this freedom, others uncertain, all mourning loved ones and afraid to hope that something better awaits.

The writer is a journalism instructor.
X: @LedeingLady
Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2024

Israel approves plan aiming to double annexed Golan population

AFP

December 15, 2024 Updated about 6 hours ago

An Israeli army vehicle patrols near the fence leading into the UN-patrolled buffer zone which separates Israeli and Syrian forces near the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights on December 15. — AFP

The Israeli government on Sunday approved a plan to double the population of the occupied and annexed Golan Heights, following the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, the prime minister’s office said.

The government had “unanimously approved” the 40 million shekel ($11 million) “plan for the demographic development of the Golan … in light of the war and the new front in Syria and the desire to double the population”, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.

Israel has occupied most of the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau, since 1967 and annexed that area in 1981 in a move recognised only by the United States.

Netanyahu said, “The strengthening of the Golan is that of the State of Israel and it is particularly important at this time. We will continue to establish ourselves there, develop it and settle there”.


The occupied Golan Heights are home to about 23,000 Druze Arabs, whose presence predates the occupation and most of whom retain Syrian citizenship, as well as around 30,000 Israelis.

Last week, Netanyahu declared that the annexed Golan would be Israeli “for eternity”. That followed an order he gave for troops to cross into a UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces since 1974. Troops also seized areas beyond the buffer, including on Mount Hermon.

Israel portrayed the move, which drew international condemnation, as a temporary and defensive measure after what Netanyahu’s office called a “vacuum on Israel’s border and in the buffer zone”, following Assad’s fall.

In the aftermath of Assad’s overthrow, Israel also launched hundreds of strikes on Syria — according to a war monitor — targeting strategic military sites and weapons, including chemical weapons.

On Sunday, the Israeli premier said his country had “no interest in confronting Syria. Israel’s policy toward Syria will be determined by the evolving reality on the ground”.

In a video statement following a phone call with US President-elect Donald Trump, Netanyahu said Syria had attacked Israel in the past and allowed others including Lebanese Hezbollah to do so from its territory.

“To ensure that what happened in the past does not happen again, we have taken a series of intensive actions in recent days,” he said. “Within a few days, we destroyed capabilities that the Assad regime had built over decades.”

Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the head of the rebels who toppled Assad who now goes by his real name, Ahmed al-Sharaa, on Saturday accused Israel of “a new unjustified escalation in the region” by entering the buffer zone.

However, he said, “The general exhaustion in Syria after years of war and conflict does not allow us to enter new conflicts”.

Washington in 2019 became the first and so far only country to recognise Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, during Trump’s first term.

PAKISTAN

Scientists introduce 3 new varieties of climate-resilient wheat in KP

Zahid Imdad

Published December 15, 2024 

DAWN

Image shows wheat variety seeds results on display — Author.

Scientists at the Agricultural Research Institute Tarnab (ARIT) in Peshawar have developed three new wheat varieties promising enhanced climate resilience and a threefold increase in per acre yield, offering a breakthrough for farmers facing climate challenges.

Climate-resilient crops are part of sustainable agriculture practices, which aim to meet current food needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own.

The researchers have also developed a new wheat seed variant suitable for rain-fed farming.

Image shows wheat variety seeds results on display — Author.

A report from ARIT, a copy of which was shared with the Dawn.com, showed that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s wheat production was below par. It currently produces only 1.4 million tonnes of wheat while its annual consumption stands at 5m tonnes.

Moreover, farming is heavily dependent on rain, with nearly 51 per cent of the land contigent of rainfall, it showed.

Akhtar Ali, a senior agricultural scientist at the institute who was familiar with the work, told Dawn.com that climate change had critically impacted farming in the province over the last five years.

“Changes and delay in the rain patterns, including a delay in time intervals amongst seasons, has created new challenges and hardships for agriculture sector,” he said.

Ali said that the yield from the existing varieties of the seeds had dramatically decreased in the province due to climate change, adding that the institute had been working to develop new seeds over the past few years, which would be suitable for production in the current climate.

“After long experiments, we have introduced two types of seeds: one each for canal irrigated and rain fed lands,” Ali said, adding that the seeds meant for canal irrigated lands has potential to produce three times more yield per acre to existing ones.

Altaf Khan, another ARIT researcher, told Dawn.com that a sharp increase in production was a “difficult task to achieve”, mainly because of climate change and farmers still practicing outdated and conventional methods of farmers.

He said that it was time for the farmers to adopt scientific methods of farming. “The new seeds will only achieve the production goals when modern farming techniques are used,” he said.

The institute’s report further showed that wheat’s production and farming area had remained almost static in KP for nine years.

From 2015 to 2016, wheat comprised just 0.753 million hectares of the total area, while in 2022-2023, wheat comprised 0.770 million hectares. Meanwhile, wheat production had also been negligible, with it ranging from 1.247 to 1.47 million tonnes over the course of nine years — with farmers across KP complaining about the the crop dissappointing them last year.

Farmers voice concern

Image showing farmers working in a field. — Author.

While speaking to Dawn.com, Marwan Khan 35, a farmer from Charsadda district, said that the farmers struggled to meet the cost of wheat last year.

He noted that in 2023, he got a market rate of over Rs6,000 for 50 kg of wheat, highlighting that the fear of instability in the wheat market price compelled him to reduce the area for the crop by 20pc.

Ashfaq Ahmed, another farmer told Dawn.com, that conventional farming was not as efficient as it was two decades ago, and that they needed to use more fertilisers and pesticides today to meet their needs.

He said the prices of fertilisers, pesticides and seeds had quadrupled, which added to their worries.

Innovation and support

— Author.

The recent research and development work regarding the new variety of seeds are to meet the evolving needs of farmers in KP, which, in turn, also emphasises the role of the government to provide cost-effective seeds, fertilisers and pesticides to the farmers — in addition to raising awareness of the impact of climate change on agriculture so that farmers can adapt faster to the changing landscape.

SMOKERS’ CORNER: THE ILLUSION oF AUTHENTICITY

Nadeem F. Paracha 

Published December 15, 2024 

DAWN

Illustration by Abro

'Authentic’ has become quite the buzzword — especially in the world of consumer brands, and even in politics. Apparently, Gen-Z is all about seeking ‘authenticity’ as well. The assumption is that people are in search of ‘authentic experiences’ in an inauthentic world.

But this isn’t a sudden occurrence. The context in which the word is being used was originally framed in the late 18th and 19th centuries, during the emergence of the Industrial Revolution in Europe, growing urbanisation and the demystification of religion. The desire to gain authentic experiences was firmly embedded in the so-called ‘Romantic Movement’ in various regions of Europe — especially among the middle classes. The aim of the movement was to escape the mechanised realm of factories, overcrowding, rising crime and also the stated supremacy of reason over emotion.

To the Romantics of 18th/19th century Britain, for example, the authentic experience lay in the countryside, where people lived simple, uncomplicated lives and retained their organic connection with nature. The Romantics yearned for a past that was apparently free from “the tyranny of the machine.” They went looking for it in the countryside. They produced paintings of rolling green landscapes, wrote odes to the birds, bees and the trees, and some even decided to settle there.

Yet, the fact was, the past that they were romanticising was brutal — populated by people with extremely short life-spans, incurable diseases, famines, superstition, illiteracy, religious exploitation etc. In her 1982 book Back to the Land, British scholar Jan Marsh wrote that some people tend to invest rural and more primitive societies with virtues they perceive as lacking in themselves.



The term ‘authentic’ has evolved from a Romantic ideal into marketing gimmicks and aesthetic trends. In many cases, both at home and abroad, the search for authenticity often masks privilege, nostalgia and myth-making

In the mid- and late-1980s, some of my friends and I often visited Bhit to attend the death anniversary [urs] of the 18th century Sufi saint Shah Abdul Latif. Bhit is still a small town in Sindh’s Matiari District. We were idealistic young men. We were romantics. Attending the urs was a way to break away from our ‘inauthentic’ urban, middle class lives in Karachi and experience the ‘authentic’ spiritual connection between the common people of Bhit and the memory of the saint.

We always travelled by bus and, after attending the festivities at the shrine, we slept in the open fields just outside the shrine, amidst scorpions, snakes, ants, mosquitoes, heaps of cow dung, and the possibility of being ambushed by wolves. Such experiences can go a long way in shaping a deeper understanding of a people outside

of one’s own class. But the truth is, there was really nothing ‘spiritual’ about our experiences.

By 1990, I was convinced that spirituality, authenticity and virtues of simplicity that I was imagining in the common folk of Bhit, were actually misery and a reality that many young people in Matiari were desperate to escape.

It wasn’t a wonderful display of authenticity that I discovered there, but something a lot more inspirational and admirable: a burning urge in young, downtrodden Sindhis to gain modern education and demystify what us romantics had mystified. They desired to become what we had wanted to escape. They neither had the time nor the resources to indulge in any fanciful notions of ‘authenticity’. They lived it. But they could not understand why anyone with more privilege and resources would want to seek it.

I also came to believe that by romanticising the lifestyles of ‘simple’, underprivileged folk, one undermines their ambition to seek upward mobility. The privileged want the ‘simple folk’ to play out and perform the virtues that the seekers of authenticity have projected on them.

As life got more complex in the 20th century, the meaning of authenticity mutated. From a longing to become ‘one with nature’ (in the countryside), parts of it became a craving to create national wholes rooted in memories of a gallant past.

For example, to seek authenticity, all nationalisms are built on largely imagined and romanticised pasts. In Germany, for instance, the ultra-nationalists and then the Nazis painted a pre-modern past in which the Germanic people were noble, bold and ‘naturally’ superior. German nationalism became infatuated with ‘authentic’ manifestations of nationalism in which virtues — supposedly present in ancient Germanic people — were ‘revived’ in the shape of Nazism. Nazism became the ‘authentic’ German nationalism. How lovely.

‘Authenticity’ is being sought in cultural pursuits as well. One outcome of this has produced what is called “aesthetic poverty”, or “poor core”: well-off young people dressing like poor people. The clothes in this regard are designed and provided by high-end fashion brands. Examples include high-end fashion brands adapting the way 1960s’ hippies, 1970s’ Marxist revolutionaries, or 1990s’ scruffy grunge rock musicians looked. American media sarcastically dubbed this “radical chic.”

The same happened with men’s shalwar-qameez which, after it was declared the “awami libaas” [the people’s dress] by the Z.A. Bhutto regime and then something related to Islam (by the Ziaul Haq dictatorship), was adapted by high-end fashion brands so that politicians, businessmen, bureaucrats, famous preachers and white-collar men could wear it and feel ‘authentic’.

Things evolve and mutate. If they don’t, they’ll stagnate and wither away. Nothing’s authentic as such. A well-known Pakistani chef once quipped on a TV show: “People ask me to prepare authentic Mughal nihari. I tell them, if I do, you will outright reject its taste. You’ll spit it out!”

On the one hand, authenticity is a marketing ploy and, on the other, a romanticised delusion. To truly experience authenticity, one will have to literally travel back in time. And if it is ‘authentic’ 17th century Mughal nihari they’re looking for, then they better make sure to carry with them a few boxes of packaged masala.

Published in Dawn, EOS, December 15th, 2024