PAKISTAN
Sordid claims
Editorial 

Published January 9, 2023 

WOMEN are cannon fodder in a chauvinistic society where a toxic political environment has erased the distinction between legitimate criticism and smear campaigns. Recently, a retired major levelled scurrilous allegations in a YouTube video to the effect that four Pakistani actresses had been deployed by the military top brass as ‘honey pots’ to lure politicians into discreetly filmed encounters that could be used to blackmail them. “…Model girls in safe houses and Mess. Politics of spying and immoral videos” he tweeted as an introduction to the video. He then proceeded to give the initials of the showbiz personalities he claimed were part of this plot. Within minutes, Twitter was awash in speculation about who fit the bill; with names, memes and derogatory comments being bandied about in a salacious feeding frenzy. The officer, Adil Raja, has been a diehard supporter of the PTI and since April has reportedly been based in London after developing serious differences with the army leadership over his political views. In the ugly, take-no-prisoners political environment in Pakistan, women and indeed femininity itself are convenient targets, instruments to demean the opposition and emasculate the men within it.

However, the double standards that are part and parcel of patriarchal societies ensure that the impact on the women involved (or assumed to be involved) in such controversies is far more profound and long-term than the price paid by their male counterparts. The whiff of scandal, of moral turpitude, dogs the former relentlessly, dredged up whenever they need to be ‘cut down to size’. We have seen this happen repeatedly to women journalists in particular in recent years whenever they have expressed an opinion unpopular with social media trolls. The trend underscores how the public space is essentially seen as a male domain, with females merely interlopers existing on sufferance. Some of the women presumed to be part of the honey trap claim have vigorously denounced the allegations. They must be supported by all right-thinking men and women across the political spectrum.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2023

PAKISTAN
Economic powder keg

Abbas Nasir 

Published January 8, 2023 

The writer is a former editor of Dawn.

VULGAR is the word that pops into mind when witnessing the kind of politicking that seems to have become the norm in Pakistan, especially against the backdrop of a faltering economy, back-breaking inflation, mass joblessness and terrorism raising its cobra-like head again.

Pursuit of power is an integral part of politics as politicians and their parties can only fulfil their pledges and start implementing their manifesto once in office. But this pursuit must conform to democratic norms of conduct. It can’t be divorced from the ground reality.

Respected academic Faisal Bari, writing in the Friday issue of this newspaper, has illustrated with great lucidity what sort of economic hardship is being faced by the people and that even members of the socioeconomic groups that earlier seemed immune from the vagaries of the downturn are now feeling the pinch, and many desperately so.

When those with high five- and even low six-figure monthly incomes are visibly suffering, it would be pointless to mention the miseries of the shirtless, those on low incomes or the unemployed, given that inflation is at 30 per cent.

It is time our leaders acknowledge that radical restructuring is the only 

way forward and the days of the elite profiting from a rentier economy are over.

For the love of God, I can’t imagine how a family of four gets by even on Rs50,000 a month, double the minimum wage (you and I both know not too many make even that legal threshold), while having to pay rent, utility bills, school fees and, of course, putting food on the table. Must take some kind of magic, highly skilled jugglery to keep one’s head above water.

I have had journalist friends telling me they have had to shift to lower rent homes and move their children to relatively cheaper schools. And even then they can’t make ends meet. As a parent I can say the ‘downgrading’ of your children’s school must be the most heartbreaking thing to have to do.

Given the inflation, it is safe to say that the direct cash subsidies being made under schemes such as BISP to those at the bottom of the pyramid may help. But, hand on heart, tell me how many days the meagre cash transfers will enable a poverty-steeped recipient to put no more than just bread on the table?

Against this backdrop, political leaders — among them those dubbed corrupt as well as those officially certified ‘sadiq’ and ‘ameen’ — with their invective-laden diatribe against each other, mock the shirtless even as they enjoy their Gucci shoes/accessories, Yeezy trainers and Birkin handbags with hefty $$$ tags, their mansions and 40-acre estates.

Even the most ‘frugal’ among them travel in SUVs that cost so much I can’t even dream of buying one. That is, despite having worked for nearly 40 years and pretty much having been fortunate enough to get some of the best jobs in the media. Yes, they mock the poor. There isn’t another way to describe what they do. Who really cares for the have-nots, beyond using them in campaign slogans?

Let’s admit it. The system is designed and perpetuated by the country’s civil-military elite to serve their own narrow interests, while the teeming millions lurch from one hardship to another and celebrate as an achievement being able to survive from one day to another. Literally.

Not sure if they can see it from their cosy perches but the situation is fast becoming or possibly has become untenable. From outright narcissism to material greed to visions of grandeur, whatever makes our leaders tick, it is time they acknowledge that radical restructuring is the only way forward and the days of the elite profiting from a rentier economy are over.

There can be no escaping the need now for political leaders of different hues, in and out of government, to sit around a table and agree on a set of measures to revive the economy, a sustainable plan that spurs growth and job creation, boosts exports and cuts the eternally yawning current account deficit which is at the root of so many of our troubles.

The first and foremost aim of any economic policy has to be to target and eliminate poverty. Both sides of the political divide can blame each other for the mess but to an outsider both are culpable as they were short of imagination and ideas when there was space to make decisions of far-reaching import.

Pointless to talk about a defence expenditure cut as that is somehow seen as non-negotiable. But for how long. Many, many billions are given away in subsidies to the elite by the elite each year. These need to stop as they not only amount to plunder of national wealth but also distort the economy and make even the capitalist model we so lovingly embrace unworkable.

The next census will show whether Pakistan’s population is 205 million or 220m or an even higher number. What we know already is that over 65 per cent of the country’s population is under 30. The proportion of the younger citizens is increasing every day in the country’s population.

This huge young segment presumably in good health has 30 to 40 good, solid years of a working life ahead of it. It is often called the youth bulge. Any country with such a large number of young people, decades away from retirement and pensions, would be seen as an asset. They are.

But in a failing economy with rampant poverty and unemployment, this very asset can become a powder keg, a ticking bomb. Millions of jobless youth can get restive very quickly and unleash chaos. Can our leaders see this danger?

TTP terrorism is on the rise again. That challenge needs to be addressed in line with the concerns of thousands who have demonstrated for peace in Waziristan and Swat. Equally, steps to halt the economy’s downward spiral can’t wait. All we need is jobless-driven chaos in the rest of the country.


abbas.nasir@hotmail.com
Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2023

SMOKERS’ CORNER: AT THE CROSSROADS OF SECULARISM AND ISLAM

Nadeem F. Paracha 

Published January 8, 2023 

Illustration by Abro

The South Asian Islamist theorist Abul Ala Maududi (d.1979) detested secularism. His ideas went a long way in constructing what came to be known as ‘Political Islam’. These ideas also influenced a number of Islamist ideologues outside South Asia.

A synthesis began to emerge when Maududi’s ideas engaged with Islamist ideologues in Arabia and Iran. At the core of the synthesis was an impassioned castigation of secularism. It was denounced as being a European concept that was inherently anti-religion.

But non-Islamist scholarship and studies on secularism in the last three decades have demonstrated that there are various kinds of secularism within the Western world. The same scholarship also maintains that secularism as an idea or its implementation in non-Western regions has deeper roots in those regions’ own histories and conditions.

The baseline thought behind secularism is the state’s neutrality towards religion. In various European countries, this thought has evolved to mean the right to practise religion as long as this right is not abused to challenge the writ of the state and disrupt the democratic contract between the state and society.

Islamist ideologues often posit secularism as being against Islam. However, an exploration of the history of Western secularism reveals that the problem is often with the Islamists’ cherry-picked interpretations

The state is to remain religion-neutral, treating religion as a citizen’s personal matter. The state can only intervene if it establishes that the matter has become publicly problematic and is causing discord.

This strand of secularism is the product of 17th and 18th century Enlightenment — a period in Europe and in the US that emphasised the importance of reason, science and material progress over ‘superstition’, monarchism, clericalism, traditionalism, etc. Most Enlightenment thinkers advocated the separation of the Church and the state. However, they did not call for the obliteration of religion.

They wanted religious texts to be ‘disenchanted’ and/or simplified and freed from superstition. The Enlightenment thinkers wanted religion to operate as a constructive social current (instead of an impediment) in an era of rapid political, economic and social changes.

So why did most Islamist ideologues explain Western secularism as anti-religion? I think it was a case of cherry-picking. They chose to focus more on the idea of secularism that emerged in France during the tumultuous 1789-99 revolution in that country.

Revolutionary French secularism was the product of a strong anti-clerical current in French society. Most common folk and intellectuals in France had accused the nexus between the monarchy and the Church as being entirely exploitative and the main culprit behind the country’s economic woes.

Compared to other European countries and the US, the strand of republicanism in France was more intense. During the revolutionary period, priests and clerics were violently persecuted, until the arrival of Napoleon Bonaparte, who restored order. Nevertheless, republicanism in France remained strong.



The US political scientist Elizabeth Hurd differentiates secularisms in the US and most European countries from French secularism, which is also referred to as ‘laïcite’. According to Hurd, the former strand of secularism seeks to preserve the liberties of citizens to think, organise and worship (or not) as they wish; whereas laïcite gives priority to the state and to common national identity over religion. But it is in no way anti-religion.

Many Islamists also mistook the overt anti-religion policies of some former communist regimes as secularism. Scholars of secularism desist from calling these regimes secular because they often tried to suppress established religions with an, albeit atheistic, creed built around a cult of personality.

Another flaw in the Islamists’ perceptions of secularism was their assumption that it was an entirely Western construct. Early Islamist thinkers were shocked when the Turkish nationalist Kamal Ataturk abolished the Ottoman caliphate and declared Turkey to be a modern republic. Indeed, Ataturk was influenced by French republicanism, but his secularisation policies were largely rooted in the political and economic turmoil that his country had plunged into in the 19th century.

When European powers began to encroach upon the political and economic interests of the Ottomans, it was the caliphate which responded by secularising many legal and social aspects of the empire. From 1839, the caliphate began to roll out a series of reforms. The reforms were introduced to sustain the empire and meet the changing needs of Ottoman society.

Therefore, Ataturk evolved something that was already in motion. This produced a secularism that was formulated to suit Turkish society. Turkish intellectuals, such as the sociologist Ziya Gokalp, played a prominent role in arguing for a secular Turkish nationalism as a way to address economic and political turmoil in Turkey. He contributed in coining the word ‘laiklik’ for Turkish secularism.

Unlike European and US secularisms, Turkish secularism was not religion-neutral. Instead, it gave the state the power to monopolise Islam and regulate it in the public sphere. It accepted Islam as being Turkey’s major religion, but one that was to be regulated according to the country’s modern nationalist and republican aspirations.

Indian secularism too was formulated according to India’s nationalist aspirations. It took into account the country’s religiously diverse society. Indian secularism is not about expunging religion from the public sphere, as such. It is about treating all Indians as equal citizens, no matter what their religion. It’s another thing that Hindu nationalists are of the view that Indian secularism is tilted more towards benefitting non-Hindus. They want to see it gone, or at least recognise India’s Hindu majority.

In Muslim-majority Pakistan, its founders conceptualised a project in which Islam was not used as a theocratic expression, but as a concept to formulate a political identity and nationalism.

According to the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor, when religion is used to formulate a nationalist idea or identity, the ritual and theological aspects of the faith decrease. Taylor sees this as part of the secularisation process. During the first two decades of Pakistan, the state formulated a secularism which saw the state regulate Islam in the public sphere, but continue using it as a nationalist expression.

This strand of secularism also took shape in various other Muslim-majority nation-states. Islamists abhorred it, because it limited their participation in the project. Therefore, they began to explain it as a Western concept and anti-Islam, before barging in (from the 1970s onwards) and redirecting the project’s orientation towards building a more Islamist nationalism.

Published in Dawn, EOS, January 8th, 2023

No saviours, please

Muna Khan 

Published January 8, 2023 

The writer is co-producer and co-host of On/Off the Record, a podcast on journalism in Pakistan.


IF I could remove one word from the dictionary, it would be all the iterations of ‘saviour’. No, I’m not selling anything remotely religious here. This idea came to me after a few weeks spent in ‘Decemberistan’, meeting more people than I have the entire year, wherein conversations turned to “What is happening in Pakistan” almost straightaway. More than ever before, I heard discussions around “Who will save Pakistan now?” Now was a reference to the disappointment folks felt at Imran Khan who, they reckoned, was the last hope for the country given how everyone from the “corrupt cabal” had been tried and tested.

While no one explicitly said Pakistan also needed saving from the establishment’s disastrous experiments, more people expressed resentment at their interference. This may seem a small step but I’m hopeful it has a big impact, especially when it comes time to vote.

Even I, who likes to identify as a happy cynic, can feel this uncertainty because I don’t know what’s coming next. Whatever type of governance emerges — technocrat, another compromised democratic set-up interested in protecting business and establishment interests — let us not pin hopes on one person or one institution. It is evident how placing expectations on either a popular leader or an army chief has resulted in more authoritarianism, more hatred, more intolerance, etc. I genuinely believe people want to come out of this dark side, including the many folks who say they want democracy but support systems that serve and protect the elite.


Let us not pin hopes on one person.

What really needs saving?

To those seeking to be saved, perhaps a moment of reflection is in order: how can people protect democracy from the forces who, frankly, don’t believe in it? How did Pakistan come to this inflection point for its economy and democracy? What can be done to ensure resources and wealth are shared?

Last year, political leaders spent a great deal of time convincing Pakistanis, through the media, that X leader would save the economy. None of the supposed and promised saviours have delivered. I’m amazed we’ve not run out of saviours.

This saviour syndrome isn’t limited to matters of governance. Women need to be saved by men, men need to be saved from wicked women, society from western influence and the list goes on. What if the word saving was replaced by safeguarding?

Pakistan’s precarious democracy needs to be safeguarded. Supporters of popular political parties are hellbent on sowing seeds of disinformation, distrust and divisiveness. The men and women who claim to be the true upholders of democracy often show disdain for parliament, ethics, rule of law. They seem to only create reforms to benefit themselves.

Yet people believe their circumstances will change once their leader — aka saviour — is brought (back) to power. This vicious cycle has reached a maniacal level and resulted in deep fissures in society. Unfortunately, media coverage drives that polarisation.

No one seems to have any ideas about how to reduce political polarisation or end support for undemocratic practices. Part of that may be because people don’t see the value of democratic processes. I think it’s a failure of the media for not contextualising events from a democratic perspective, instead only presenting it from their owners’ business perspective.

Far smarter folks than I have written about the massive structural reforms needed in Pakistan. The country needs a government structure that reflects the needs of its diverse population and, as big as that sounds, it’s a long-term goal worth striving for. On a more immediate level, people need to be convinced about a democracy that isn’t centred around one leader, one saviour.

The American political theorist Jennifer N. Victor suggested three simple things people can do to strengthen democracy in the US. Voting is crucial but so is building community in real life, not virtual. Speak to your elders to learn about the value of the mohalla, socialising with one’s neighbours, and being involved in community events which, she notes, improves civic efficacy, helps us bridge differences and “feel more invested in our communities.” She says these are all democratic values. The third thing she advises is the simplest but the toughest: Read. “Read anything that’s more than 240 characters,” she says, because reading stimulates the mind and broadens horizons.

Since you are reading this and believe in the value of reading newspapers, I can only ask you to encourage folks to do the same. Reading helps people understand other perspectives, thereby creating empathy, and allowing better-informed discussions. This is not the same as doom scrolling and/or hateful comments on social media.

Victor’s ideas may seem naive but they are a starting point and far better than the current strategy of believing the country’s future is safe in Bhutto, Khan or Sharif’s hands.


Twitter: @LedeingLady
Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2023

Kashmir: facing multiple assaults

India’s actions in the occupied region mimic Israeli settler policies in Palestine.

Maleeha Lodhi 

Published January 9, 2023 
The writer is a former ambassador to the US, UK & UN.

Just about every aspect of life for Muslims in occupied Jammu and Kashmir is under assault by India’s ruling BJP.

The year 2022 saw Indian actions aimed at disempowering its Muslim population by reshaping Kashmir’s demographic landscape and measures to systematically erode Kashmiri culture, language and religious identity.

Properties were confiscated and new land laws were introduced that would seize land from locals and give it to outsiders. The media has been muzzled, and journalists jailed and prevented from travelling overseas. Human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings and torture, continue with impunity while the entire leadership of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) remains in detention. More paramilitary forces were inducted into the world’s most militarised region.

A more egregious example of repression such as that in Kashmir can hardly be found anywhere in the world. Yet this grim situation is met by silence from countries that claim to be standard-bearers of human rights. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s international campaign to expose this is fitful at best, preoccupied as it is with multiple crises at home. Islamabad’s Kashmir diplomacy is now limited to just sending letters to the UN.

Although the occupied territory has seen violent oppression for over seven decades, Delhi’s unilateral action on Aug 5, 2019, opened a more brutal chapter in Kashmir’s tortured history. The Indian government illegally annexed the state of Jammu and Kashmir, bifurcated it, and integrated it into the Indian union. This was in blatant violation of UN Security Council resolutions. There are 11 resolutions on Kashmir. Specifically, it was a contravention of UNSC Resolution 38, whose para 2 clearly states that neither party to the dispute can bring about a material change in the situation in Kashmir.

A prolonged lockdown and communication blackout was imposed, the military siege tightened, public assembly was banned, the press silenced and Kashmiri leaders, including pro-Delhi politicians, jailed to prevent a popular upsurge against the move that robbed the Kashmiri people of virtually all their rights.

Since then, the BJP government has taken a number of steps —administrative, demographic and electoral — to disempower and disenfranchise Kashmiris and change the Muslim identity of Kashmir. Several actions mimic Israeli settler policies in occupied Palestine. In May 2022, India’s Delimitation Commission announced a plan to carve out new electoral constituencies, aimed at giving Jammu greater representation to reduce the political weight of Muslims in the J&K assembly and shift the balance to Hindus. Muslims constitute over 68 per cent of J&K’s population while Hindus represent around 28pc according to the (last) 2011 census. The BJP government wants through the delimitation plan to turn the Muslim majority into a minority.

India’s actions in the occupied region mimic Israeli settler policies in Palestine.

Demographic changes have also been set in train by new domicile rules introduced by Delhi. Over 3.4 million so-called domicile certificates have been issued to non-Kashmiri outsiders, who became eligible after abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian constitution in 2019. In July 2022, the chief election officer in the occupied Valley announced granting voting rights to any Indian citizen, even temporary residents, in a brazen effort to change the region’s demography. This would add almost 2.5m additional voters, including non-locals, to the electoral rolls. It represents an increase of 30pc voters to the electorate. Like the delimitation plan, this announcement provoked anger and resentment in Kashmir. APHC leaders denounced it and as did traditionally pro-India former chief ministers and politicians. Farooq Abdullah’s National Conference said the “inclusion of non-locals” was a “clear-cut ploy to disenfranchise the people of J&K”.

None of this has deterred the Modi government from pressing ahead. Nor have its actions been limited to electoral gerrymandering. Last year, BJP authorities seized the J&K Waqf Board and thus all its properties across the region. This marked a drive to take control of all prominent places of religious significance for Muslims in the occupied territory, including shrines. Religious leaders and Islamic scholars were arrested and prayers have been barred in many mosques across Kashmir. In the guise of cracking down on Jamaat-i-Islami, banned in 2019, the authorities have more recently seized properties worth millions of rupees. This includes a home that once belonged to the iconic Hurriyat leader, Syed Ali Geelani, who was denied a proper funeral in 2021.

BJP’s attack on Kashmiri culture has also involved eroding the status of Urdu. For over 100 years, Urdu was the official language of J&K. But in 2020, Urdu’s exclusive status was ended by legislation that made Hindi, Kashmiri and Dogri official languages in J&K, in addition to Urdu and English. Moves are now afoot to change the script of the Kashmiri language from Nastaliq to the Devanagri script.

None of this has attracted much international attention. What has been denounced by international human rights organisations is the silencing of Kashmir’s media, the arrest of journalists under sedition and anti-terror laws and the atmosphere of intimidation that has been created especially in the wake of the new, harsh media policy of 2020. In February 2022, Human Rights Watch condemned the intensified crackdown on the independent media and noted the “increasing harassment, threats, and prosecutions of journalists and human rights activists” in Kashmir. In September 2022, Amnesty International detailed the clampdown on the media and sweeping curbs on the freedom of expression, noting that the Kashmir Press Club had been closed down.

The BJP government seeks to use intensified repression, demographic changes and changing the electoral map to set the stage for eventual elections in J&K. This aims to consolidate and ‘legitimise’ its August 2019 action and enable Delhi to claim that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir has been ‘normalised’. But its efforts to entice and enlist even pro-India Kashmiri leaders to support this plan have failed. In the face of overwhelming Kashmiri opposition to the delimitation plan and new voting rules, it is hard to see how elections can be held, and if they are, whether they will be credible. Delhi’s policies of force and fraud have long failed in Kashmir and only deepened the alienation of its people and strengthened their resolve to resist occupation. There is little reason to think this will change in the future.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2023

GB protests

Editorial 

Published January 9, 2023 

MASSIVE protests held across Gilgit-Baltistan over the past several days have united the region’s geographically and religiously diverse communities, as well as supporters of different political parties. Moreover, traders’ bodies in the northern region have also backed the demonstrations. GB’s people have taken to the streets in freezing temperatures for a raft of reasons, which include questions about land rights, taxation, extensive power cuts as well as a reduction in the amount of subsidised wheat the centre provides the region. The fact is that GB’s residents are protesting about many of the same things people in other parts of Pakistan also raise their voices against. However, GB’s ambiguous constitutional status, as well as the lack of infrastructure compared to the rest of the country, makes this region’s plight unique. The protesters are not in favour of the GB Revenue Authority Bill, which was passed by the region’s assembly last year, as they say it imposes additional taxes on the region without giving it any representation in the federation. Moreover, the locals also have serious reservations about the state taking over land in the region that they say belongs to the people. The state has been acquiring land in GB for CPEC as well as other projects.

Considering that the people of GB have united over these issues, the state has to engage with them, listen to their concerns and arrive at mutually agreed solutions. Ramming ‘solutions’ down the people’s throats will only aggravate matters. The local people have a valid point where it comes to additional taxation. If the state is extracting revenue from the region, then it also has a responsibility to provide elected representation for GB in parliament. Of course, the constitutional status of the region has been kept vague due to the Kashmir dispute, but as has been argued in the past, a provisional provincial status can be considered for GB until that imbroglio is resolved. Coming to the land issue, this is a very sensitive matter and only through engaging with the local people politically can it be resolved amicably. While the state has a right to acquire land it feels is essential in the national interest, the people need to be taken on board and compensated accordingly, and no forced takeovers of land should take place. It is hoped that representatives of the government engage with the people of GB and resolve these issues in a democratic fashion.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2023

Gilgit-Baltistan

Gilgit-Baltistan, formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative territory, and constituting the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region which has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947, and between India and China f... Wikipedia

UK PM Sunak says he is open to discussing pay rises for nurses

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Sunday he was willing to discuss pay rises for nurses ahead of a meeting with public sector trade union leaders in an effort to end the biggest wave of industrial disputes in decades.

By Andrew MacAskill
01/08/23

NHS nurses hold signs during a strike, amid a dispute with the government over pay, outside University College Hospital in London, Britain December 20, 2022. REUTERS

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Sunday he was willing to discuss pay rises for nurses ahead of a meeting with public sector trade union leaders in an effort to end the biggest wave of industrial disputes in decades.

Britain's National Health Service, long treasured and funded by taxpayers, delivers free care to all, but is under strain following years of relative underinvestment and the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The strikes involving nurses and ambulance workers, staff shortages, and winter flu have led some hospitals to declare critical incidents. Patients are facing hours-long waits for ambulances, and some are being treated in corridors.

Sunak, who is under increasing pressure including from members of his Conservative Party to improve wage offers to healthcare staff, said the government was willing to have conversations with union leaders about pay, despite ministers previously refusing to reopen talks about this year's deal.

"We want to have a reasonable, honest, two-way conversation about pay," Sunak told the BBC. "The door has always been open to talk about the things that nurses want to talk about, and the unions want to talk about more generally."

Pat Cullen, the head of the Royal College of Nursing union, said she had a "chink of optimism" after noticing a "little shift" in the prime minister's stance.

The government will hold a meeting on Monday with union officials representing public sector workers such as nurses and train drivers.

The main opposition Labour Party and the Unite union, which represents ambulance workers, accused Sunak of making misleading statements over the offer to negotiate pay.

Labour said the prime minister was taking nurses and ambulance workers "for fools" because the government has made it clear it would only negotiate pay rises for next year.

Unions have said they will only call off strikes in the next few weeks if offers are made to resolve the disputes over this year's pay settlement.

Thousands of nurses in Britain will go on strike again on Jan. 18 and 19 after walking out on two days in December. Ambulance workers are due to go on strike on Jan. 23.

Sunak repeatedly refused to say during the interview on Sunday whether he uses private healthcare insisting the issue is a "distraction from the things that really matter".

"As a general policy I wouldn't ever talk about me or my family's healthcare situation," he said. "It's not really relevant."

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Sunak also said it is "not a given" that inflation will slow this year amid ongoing wage negotiations.

Lowering inflation "is a function of having a responsible economic policy when it comes to things like pay", he said.

"It's not a given that it just happens. You have to continue to be disciplined and make the right, responsible decisions."

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks to the media as he visits Harris Academy at Battersea in London, Britain January 6, 2023. REUTERS

UK

New fraud refund mechanism could exclude a quarter of victims, warns TSB


07 January 2023

TSB supports the Payment Systems Regulator’s (PSR) plans to introduce new fraud refund mechanism, having successfully campaigned for higher standards of refund protections

However, TSB warns the regulator’s plans to allow banks to adopt a £100 threshold could lead to around a quarter of fraud victims being denied reimbursement

TSB finds 20–40-year-olds account for over half (52%) of such cases, while one in six (17%) are over 60

High level of fraud generated by social media platforms will lead to many non-refunded victims, says TSB

TSB is warning that around a quarter (25%)1 of fraud victims could be denied reimbursement under the Payment Systems Regulator’s proposed refund mechanism, due to be introduced next year.

TSB has long-campaigned for higher fraud protections across the banking industry – and in other sectors, including social media and telecoms firms – and largely welcomes proposals2 that will require banks to offer refund standards much closer to TSB’s Fraud Refund Guarantee, introduced in 2019.

However, TSB is now urging the regulator to reconsider plans that would allow banks to exclude refunds to victims of sub-£100 cases – with warnings it could lead to around a quarter of all push payment victims being denied their money back.

By monetary value, cases under £100 account for a small amount of overall fraud losses – at one percent. Yet this equates to a projected £5 million3 stolen from UK households every year on current fraud rates.

TSB is also calling on the regulator to scrap proposals for a £35 excess fee per claim – with concerns the excess would disproportionately impact financially vulnerable people amid a cost-of-living crisis.

Fraud cases under £100 threshold

TSB data4 reveals that Purchase Fraud accounts for over two fifths (44%) of all sub-£100 fraud cases.

Purchase fraud remains a key driver of fraud across the industry – and accounts for two thirds (62%) of all bank transfer cases at TSB.

Alarmingly, over one in 10 (11%) cases under the £100 threshold are victims of Advanced Fee Fraud - a category which typically targets the most financially vulnerable, often by exploiting a fee from victims trying to access loans that simply do not exist.

TSB found that younger people would be disproportionately affected by the £100 threshold – as over half (52%) of victims within this category are aged 20-40. Over one in six (17%) victims of sub-£100 fraud are over 60.

Social media scams

TSB warns that if a £100 threshold is applied, it would exclude a significant number of consumers who have fallen victim on social media sites, where scams remain rife.

For example, Meta-owned platforms (Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) account for four fifths (80%) of all purchase fraud at TSB alone. And UK Finance states that over two thirds (70%)5 of all push-payment fraud starts on online platforms.

PSR consultation & industry refund rate

TSB has submitted evidence to the PSR's consultation largely welcoming the proposals – but calling for the £100 threshold and £35 excess fee to be reversed – to avoid leaving thousands of victims behind.

The regulator’s consultation on the future of fraud protection is aimed at changing the way the payments industry manages the widespread issue of fraud – today the most common crime in the UK.

The regulator aims to drastically improve the industry refund rate, which currently sits at 56 percent of losses, under the industry code. In comparison TSB refunds 98 percent of fraud cases under its Fraud Refund Guarantee.

Paul Davis, Director of Fraud Prevention, TSB said:

“We welcome these moves by government and regulators to increase customer protection from Fraud. However, many people simply cannot afford losing £100 to fraud – especially in the current economic climate – and deserve to be protected from increasingly complex scams that often take place on social media sites.

“TSB’s Fraud Refund Guarantee has been protecting our customers for nearly four years and currently pays out to 98 percent of fraud victims, including those with losses under £100.”

Notes to editors

1 Chris Hemsley, Managing Director, Payment Systems Regulator at the Treasury Sub-Committee on Financial Services Regulations, December 2022. Q34: https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/12429/pdf/

2 CP22/4: Authorised push payment (APP) scams: Requiring reimbursement | Payment Systems Regulator (psr.org.uk)

3 Calculations from latest UKFI fraud data for half year, 2022 – shows that 1% is £2.5 million and therefore £5million should current rates continue over a year.

4 All TSB data relates to analysis of internal customer records

5 UK Finance fraud data, 2021

Fraud Refund Guarantee
TSB introduced its Fraud Refund Guarantee in April 2019 – and has since refunded 98 percent of all fraud cases.

Read more, here: Fraud Refund Guarantee | TSB Bank

YouGov report: Global Future of Financial Services Report, 2022:
Fraud-related findings:61% of respondents stated the safety and security of their money was the most important driving factor when choosing a financial services company

37% were concerned their financial services company did not have enough fraud protectionsFull report: YouGov's The Future of Financial Services Report 2022

CRIMINAL CRYPTO CAPITALI$M

‘The money is gone’: Bahamas tries to turn page after FTX

By KEN SWEET

today

1 of 6

Bishop Lawrence Rolle performs in front of children and adults at Mt. Carmel Preparatory Academy in Nassau, Bahamas on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022. Rolle's ministry received $50,000 from FTX in early 2022, one of several donations the cryptocurrency exchange made to the Bahamian people when it relocated to the Caribbean island nation in 2021.

 (AP Photo/Ken Sweet)

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Dressed in a canary blue suit on a warm December night, sweat dripping from his brow, Bishop Lawrence Rolle belts out the lyrics to his latest hit song for the hundreds of children and adults gathered to celebrate Christmas.

“FTX!,” he sings, bent over and shaking his head for emphasis. “The money is gone!”

“FTX!,” his backup singer and audience scream back. “The money have done gone!”

The cryptocurrency exchange FTX was supposed to be the crown jewel of the Bahamian government’s push to be the global destination for all things crypto, after years of having an economy overly reliant on tourism and banking. Instead, FTX is bankrupt and Bahamians are trying to figure out what’s next for their country and whether their national crypto experiment has failed. Regulators are trying to locate FTX’s customers’ missing money.

Meanwhile, charities like Rolle’s and dozens of contractors now out of work hope that another company will come along and bring new opportunities to the island nation, without the complications and embarrassment of an alleged billion-dollar fraud

Rolle, a Pentecostal preacher known as the “singing bishop,” is a prominent figure in the Bahamas. For decades, he’s cooked and donated food to the poor and provided school lunches from his neighborhood kitchen at International Deliverance Praying Ministry in Over-The-Hill, one of the most impoverished parts of the capital of Nassau. Rolle and his staff feed roughly 2,500 people a week.

Rolle had been invited by Kirby Samuel, the principal of Mt. Carmel Preparatory Academy, to sing as part of the school’s Christmas celebration. His act consisted mostly of a half dozen Afro-Caribbean gospel songs, but one number stood out — his social media hit about the recent collapse of FTX.

Rolle’s ministry received $50,000 from FTX in early 2022, one of several donations FTX made to the Bahamian people when it relocated to the Caribbean island nation in 2021. It was money, he said, that was used to restore a food storage trailer and make additional food donations. Rolle said it cost upward of $10,000 a week to run his food donation program.

Asked about the failure of FTX, Rolle described it as a sad distraction from the many issues facing the country. Others are angry, particularly with Sam Bankman-Fried, the young founder of FTX. The Bahamas had a reputation, like some other Caribbean isles, as a destination for illicit and offshore finance. There was a belief that crypto would allow the island to diversify its economy, give Bahamians more financial opportunities and overall help provide the country a more prosperous future.

The country enacted the Digital Assets and Registered Exchanges Act in 2020, making the Bahamas one of the first countries to put together a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and other digital assets. The prime minister, Philip Davis, participated in the groundbreaking ceremony for FTX’s new $60 million headquarters in Nassau in April, along with Bankman-Fried.

“Their arrival was sort of the culmination of the work the Bahamians did to move in this direction,” said Stefen Deleveaux, president and CEO of the Caribbean Blockchain Association.

Several other crypto companies and startups are headquartered in the Bahamas, some of them at an incubator known as Crypto Isle, not far from downtown Nassau.

Deleveaux said he became interested in crypto as early as 2014, and mostly has been trying to focus his organizations’ efforts on the non-trading parts of crypto, like blockchain technology, financial inclusion and technological uses. He remains skeptical about cryptocurrency trading.

“It’s frustrating. Now when people think about crypto they are going to think of FTX,” Deleveaux said. “That’s going to make my own job much harder.”

In some ways, FTX was both ubiquitous and removed from the local community, Bahamians said. Its ads were everywhere, most notably at the Nassau Airport in the hall for tourist arrivals. But at the same time, FTX ran most of its operations from the secure luxury compound known as Albany, where residents like Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake can be regularly spotted. Albany is located on the opposite side of New Providence, the most populated island in the Bahamas and the location of Nassau.

“You don’t casually wander into Albany,” Deleveaux said.

One bartender at the Margaritaville Resort, where FTX ran up an unpaid $55,000 tab, described a group of 10 to 15 mostly white FTX employees who would eat in the restaurant, faces buried in their laptops the entire time. While FTX did hire Bahamians or contracted with Bahamian businesses, it was almost entirely for logistics jobs like construction, janitor services or food catering.

Just as quickly as FTX became engrained in elite Bahamian circles did the whole thing unravel. FTX failed in spectacular fashion in early November, going from solvent to bankrupt in less than a week. One food catering servicer said he had to let go most of his workers after FTX, his biggest contract, went bankrupt.

Bankman-Fried, 30, was arrested last month in the Bahamas, and extradited to the U.S. to face criminal charges in what U.S. Attorney Damian Williams has called “one of the biggest frauds in American history.” The floppy-haired crypto entrepreneur has been released on bail and is scheduled to go on trial in October.

Meanwhile, law enforcement and regulators in the U.S. and the Bahamas, as well as lawyers and FTX’s new management, are trying to determine how much of investors’ and customers’ money “is gone,” as Bishop Rolle repeats often in his song. Estimates of how much money was lost in the FTX collapse have varied significantly, since some assets are still being recovered, but one estimate puts the losses at around $8 billion to $10 billion.

“Like the rest of the world, I’ve been glued to my television set since (FTX’s) collapse,” said Mt. Carmel’s principal Samuel, in an interview.

Other Bahamians, however, said the FTX collapse has diverted attention away from the ongoing issues facing the Caribbean country.

The Bahamian economy was sorely tested in the coronavirus pandemic. The country effectively banned outside visitors for nearly two years, and only started letting cruise ships dock at its popular dock about eight months ago. In Nassau, there is widespread evidence of the pandemic’s economic toll. The British Colonial hotel, best known for being the site of the James Bond movie “Never Say Never Again,” was boarded up and closed in February. Rooms once went for $400 a night there.

Despite miles of pristine beaches, beautiful resorts, and the richest economy of the Caribbean, the Bahamas remains a country riven by inequality. Taxi drivers spoke about the inability to get even a $6,000 loan to buy their own vehicle. Roughly one out of five Bahamians do not have a bank account, according to the country’s central bank.

Late last year, the Bahamian government had to impose price controls on dozens of food staples in a desperate attempt to combat inflation.

FTX officials seemed to recognize food and hunger as an issue to tackle to develop goodwill with its new neighbors. Along with the $50,000 donation to Rolle’s ministry, FTX donated $250,000 to Hands for Hunger and poured $1.1 million into a new non-profit known as the Agricultural Development Committee, focused on building up the nation’s food security. The founder of the Committee, Phillip Smith, did not respond to several requests for comment on the donation.

As FTX filed for bankruptcy, there was speculation in Bahamian media about whether Rolle might have to return the $50,000 donation, which he said was spent in roughly a month after it was received.

“We pinched that money the best we could, buying flour, rice,” Rolle said. “There’s just too many hungry people.”

“It’s a difficult issue for the Bishop, but it’s one thing I think everyone in the country will agree: whatever they gave him, he did not spend it on himself,” Mt. Carmel’s Samuel said.

“I just wish there will be better companies than FTX,” Rolle said. “Many of our children got no parents, or we got parents who have two or four or five children, or kids have no father. We can barely afford to feed them. I pray to God that someone comes to donate even more.”

The Muslim-American legislators adding a new dimension to their country's democracy

The changing face of US politics is apparent in states throughout the country

Stephen Starr
Columbus, Ohio
Jan 06, 2023

It’s been a whirlwind week for Munira Abdullahi.

On Tuesday, she was sworn in as a representative at the Ohio state house — making history as the first Muslim woman to be elected to Ohio’s state legislature after last November’s midterm elections.

The swearing-in ceremony was followed by a reception and shortly after, a caucus meeting. Later that day, she visited her new office for the first time, delighting that it has a view of the Scioto River.

READ MORE
Muslim Americans fare well in midterm elections 2022

“The previous congresswoman who had the office left me a really nice letter saying how she is really proud of me, and to take the role seriously,” she tells The National.

“She also left me her couch, which was really nice of her.”

Ms Abdullahi, who was born in a refugee camp in Kenya, won her election with the help of fellow Somali Americans in Columbus, home to one of the largest Somali-American communities in the United States.

“The community really came out,” she says. “Some people had never voted before. It’s been really humbling.”

Ohio State Representative Munira Abdullahi. Photo: Stephen Starr

The 27-year-old legislator isn’t the only person sparking changes in American politics today.

This month, scores of Muslim-American women are making history by starting out in political careers at state houses, general assemblies, school boards and in other elected positions across the country.

Their experiences could reshape the local political landscape, for centuries dominated by white men, in the years to come.


In Ohio, Maine and Illinois, voters elected the first Muslim women to state legislatures.

In Illinois, Nabeela Syed, 23, defeated a Republican incumbent who was heavily tipped to hold his suburban Chicago district, while In Maine, voters elected two female Muslim candidates to the state house for the first time, with similar stories unfolding in Georgia, Minnesota and elsewhere.

Muslim and Arab-American midterm winners — in pictures






'It was wild for me to ever consider running for office at that age,' says 23-year-old Nabeela Syed. Photo: Nabeela Syed

It's an unprecedented event in American politics and is fuelled by several factors.

According to the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, a research institution in Washington, voter participation among Muslim Americans rocketed from 60 per cent in 2016 to 81 per cent in last year's midterms.

Many believe the actions of the Trump administration, which in 2016 banned all immigration from numerous Muslim-majority countries, prompted Muslim Americans not just to get out and vote, but to stand for political office at local and state level. Now, those decisions are bearing real fruit.

The letter from Ohio Representative Emilia Sykes, who previously occupied Ms Abdullahi's office space. Photo: Munira Abdullahi

For Ms Abdullahi, there’s a direct link between the ills she says her community have been facing and her own ambition to seek political office.

“[My activism] stemmed from things I see every day. There’s a lack of resources for mental health. There’s a huge issue around affordable health care,” she says.

Ms Abdullahi was involved in community work for a decade before running for political office in November.

“Transportation and housing costs are also huge issues for people in Columbus, in my district.”

Ohio State Representative Munira Abdullahi with friends and family at her swearing-in ceremony. Photo: Abdiselam Shahiy

She has also been influenced by the actions of her parents, who are involved in community activism, with her father helping to found two mosques.

For Ms Syed, the past few weeks have been similarly full-on, attending new member orientations and learning about introducing and getting bills past, as well as pensions and tax structure.

“People describe it like drinking out of a fire hose, and I think that’s an apt way to describe it,” she says. “It’s definitely been eye-opening.”

She feels that working on a punishing election campaign for most of last year, however, has prepared her for the steep learning curve and hard work ahead.

“We had a tough campaign. We flipped a Republican house seat to be Democrat. So being 23 years old it was a profound victory,” she says. “I just have to pinch myself.”

The path Ms Abdullahi and Ms Syed are about to embark on is a familiar one to Iman Jodeh, who two years ago made history by becoming the first Muslim and Palestinian American to be elected to Colorado’s General Assembly.


“It was very surreal and exhilarating; a little overwhelming in all the best ways,” she says of her first two years in office. Ms Jodeh represents a highly diverse district in Aurora, a suburb of Denver, and last November was re-elected to the General Assembly.

One of the main challenges she’s navigated over the past two years in office has been getting fiscal support from colleagues for policies that would help her constituents.

“The other thing that has unfortunately become commonplace for me has been navigating the space where I am the only Muslim or Arab,” she says.

“I welcome this all the time, I look at it as an opportunity to be that person in the room, to bridge that gap.”

Ms Jodeh has some advice for her fellow Muslim Americans setting out on a new political career this month.


“Be unapologetic about who you are. Stay true to your morals and understand you have the right to be in this space. You are representing people who have historically been underrepresented in politics,” she says.

“Representing a portion of Americans like Arabs or Muslims also means that you will be representing thousands of other people who may not share your identity but who share your values. We need to home in on our shared humanity.”

Still, the challenges are considerable. In many cases, the new politicos, such as Ms Abdullahi, will be faced with largely Republican-designed local political landscapes that have, in recent years, allowed its members establish an iron grip on many state houses through redistricting that oftentimes turns urban, liberal-leaning populations into minority voting areas.

“We’re being held back by things like gerrymandering, like lobbying,” Ms Abdullahi says. “Corporate politics really plays into our legislation.”


What does gerrymandering mean in US politics?

For Ms Syed, there is the prospect of helping to propose and draught laws to help govern a state of more than 12 million people that includes Chicago, America’s third-largest city. Springfield, the state capital of Illinois, is a three-hour drive from her home district.

“There will be plenty of driving involved, that’s for sure,” she says.

But on a more serious note, her growing profile means she often faces Islamophobic activity — recently she received a note demanding she burn her hijab in public.

“It’s not easy to see that, but I think it’s one of the things that comes with being among the first. I don’t think it should be normalised by any means, [but] continuing to bring more diversity is how we fight back against it,” she says.

If anything, the note has emboldened Ms Syed.

“The profound impact of being the first person to legislate on the house floor wearing a hijab,” she says. “It’s empowering.”
Updated: January 06, 2023, 11:59 a.m.

Taliban frees women’s activist Farhat Popalzai

• By Amu TV
• 
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Afghan women’s rights activist Farhat Popalzai, who was detained by the Taliban intelligence two months ago, was released from Taliban custody two weeks ago, sources told Amu TV.

A source, who wished to remain anonymous, told Amu TV that Popalzai has been released on surety from Taliban custody.

According to the source, the Taliban has warned Popalzai not to share details of her release or her imprisonment with the media; therefore, Farhat kept silent about her release.

A relative of Popalzai also confirmed this to Amu TV.

The source stated that Farhat went through a bad time in Taliban custody and that she is not in a good state mentally. 

According to the source, the Taliban put severe pressure on Popalzai during the interrogation. The Taliban has also made her promise not to divulge details of what she witnessed in prison.

Meanwhile, a source close to women’s rights activist Zarifa Yaqoubi also said that four of her male colleagues who were arrested along with Yaqoubi have been released from a Taliban jail.

The Taliban have arrested a number of women’s rights activists and advocates in the past 18 months since regaining control of the country. Many are still in custody.