Punjab university-ICS

Starting of something which never did start

2012-09-29T06:17:00.005-07:00

Seeing, his own life through the shattered glass. Painted every wall he once wrote on. Glazed the sky once more in search of a simple life.

Well he believed in simplicity. For that he undid the complicated because he knew in the end it was as simple as written.He believed in quotes but with conditions because he knew in the end there were people to contradict his views.He believed in fundamentals but he wanted to go beyond.He knew that every problem had its solution so close to it that we almost missed them all the time.At so early an age he was a thinker in time but with no experience it was useless.He could speak out loud but with no words it was useless.

State-Press Relations since 1947

2012-06-21T08:05:00.000-07:00

State-Press Relations since 1947

The press has traditionally experienced the often harsh effects of Pakistan's political instability. When partition resulted in the establishment of Pakistan as an independent homeland for the Muslims, the Muslim League as a political party struggled with the tasks of leading the new country into stable statehood. Factionalism, however, quickly contributed to instability, internal strife, incompetence, and corruption. The press at this point was largely a remnant of the Moslem press present during the struggle for independence, and it was seen as aggravating the problems being faced by keeping these issues out in front of the people. Thus, the government began its long history of attempting to control the press through arrests, the banning of certain publications, and other punitive measures.

Between 1948 and 1956, political turbulence intensified with the assassination of the country's first Prime Minister, Quaid-i-Millat Liaquat Ali Khan, in 1951 and the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly in 1954. However, by 1956, the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was enforced; it contained an article specifically devoted to freedom of speech. The 1956 Constitution lasted less than three years when it was abrogated by the imposition of martial law in October 1958. A new enforcement of the constitution in 1962 occurred with the removal of martial law by President Ayub Khan. Although this constitution continued the recognition of an initial concept of freedom of expression, in reality, a military ruler imposed the constitution, and it contained no separate chapter on fundamental rights. The press and the public commented on the implications of living under a constitution devoid of mention of such basic rights, which resulted in Constitutional Amendment No. 1 to the 1962 Constitution.

History of 63 years independence is witness of Pakistani journalism always criticized by democratic and doctorial governments.

A man showed digital copy of his editorial and quaid e azam replied

“My dear boy write in the light of your own thinking don’t take instruction by any one, write with truth and fearlessness, I don’t like such interruption. And when I replied I’ll feel happy while adopting these suggestions than Quaid e azam replied aggressively “NO! I AM NOT THE EDITOR OF NEWS PAPER”. It shows how every indivual has right to speak out in favor of any one.

After independence media treated under the act of 1930 Pakistan Muslim league struggled hard for complete freedom of expression but after the death of Quaid-e-azam regulatory authority impose the same law which was formed by British rulers. It was the law which our Quaid strictly refused to sign by saying” I always have been fought against black laws in my whole life and now u want to signed this piece of paper by me, no I will remain with my stance” .

After implementation of the law, freedom of speech under gone by governmental polices if media tried to raise his voice against capital authority, government strictly charged them.

After this gora law four more laws were imposed on media

Pakistan safety Act (1949)
Pakistan security Act ( 1952)
Officials secret Act (1952)
Pakistan emergency act (1958)

Under Pakistan safety Act NAWA E WAQAT was banned and freedom of expression was suppressed. Finance minister and information secretary khuwaja shahbudin charged this act. hamid nizami launched a newspaper named jahad which was also banned by government. Another newspaper launched named nawa e Pakistan till March 1952.

According to press Act 1930 provinces were given the power over press that if any publication does mobilizes the people against government or civil disobedience that press would be heavily prosecuted for it.

Pakistan security Act 1952 is a law in which if there is any material found in newspapers and publications which is against the security of the country they will punish by the state but government of Pakistan used it wrongly.

Official secret Act 1952 is an act inspired by the U.K official secret act 1911 which was that no press or publication would disclose state secrets matters of top secret if any one did. Petition would be filed against them.

Charged securities

Pakistan textile market Film service

Barber

Travel scope

Dates of pin friends

Children art and handy craft

Art and life

Industrial records

Editor got in prison

Editor of khursheed

Editor of Al Islam

Editor of al jamiat

Editor of istaklal

Completely banned

Pashto weekly “plankton”

Other religious magazines

Sawyer

Naqosh

Al haq

Adab latif

Charged rupees three thousands for security.

Under these acts, the situation became very critical. Though in seven years, only in Punjab 31 newspapers were banned from 7 months to 15years other newspapers were asked to provide their securities.

Under security Act, 4 journalists kept in prison and charged different punishments. “MORNING NEWS”

Decade of Ayub khan:-

After 11 years of revolution of Pakistan, it was taken over by doctorial government inspite of democratic government. In the regime of ayub media became restricted. All news paper owned by different politicians restricted even though many of them were closed.

In other words it is known as “BLACK LAW” till now in the history of journalism.

Newspapers were diminished only to criticize and backup the social issues and never let the attention of readers towards government policies.

Progressive papers limited:- Ayub khan targeted PPL at first because of its worth. It was a organization of press by faiz ahmed faiz and syed sibit hussain who were heavily penalized by ayub khan because they wrote in favor of democracy and against dictator ship. It had following publications under PPL

Pakistan times
Amroz
Lael o nahar

It was taken over on April 18 1959 by the government.

National press trust:-

After 5 years of taking position on PPL government introduced NPT under which amroz, Pakistan times launched again

Associated press of Pakistan:-

After making such decision Ayub government took over APP and came forward and gave the reason behind it that due to great recession and corruption issues government has to step forward, but the basic reason behind this took over was to take control on news agency. News manager of ppl Lahore zameer quraishi was murdered by unknown persons.

However, in 1963, just one year after the adoption of the new constitution, the Press and Publications Ordinance (PPO) came into being. This ordinance contained the harshest of laws curtailing freedom of expression and the progressive development of the media and leading to the March 1969 relinquishing of power by President Ayub Khan to General Yahya Khan who imposed martial law. General Khan relied heavily on one of the measures of this ordinance, the system of "press advice" given out by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in order to avoid publication of news and reports deemed unsuitable for public consumption. It was also during this period that newspapers and magazines known for their independent and progressive views were first taken over by the government. Eventually the National Press Trust, created in 1964, took over these journals and acted as a front to control a section of the press.

Press and publication ordinance (1964)

This law was implemented at that time when president Ayub khan (president of Pakistan at that time) realized that if government wants to make it strong than it should limited the rights and circles of the institutions that are accountable to the government. On the basis of basic democratic system people were not free to express their own views. According to act 124, public processions were banned. There were many steps taken to control press. For example fully control of government on news print kota, distribution of pamphlets, fully control on newspapers due to NPT etc.

In September 1954, first time in Pakistan government formed press commission for the preparation of press laws. Responsibilities given to commission were to take review of press laws and to check if there is any need of amendment. Press publication ordinance was imposed in 1960.

This ordinance was imposed by the martial law government of Ayub.

Some important points of this amended law are given below

· Misguiding the armed forces and police

· Declaration of publication of newspaper will be attested by district magistrate.

· No Foreigner owner

· No foreigner will be allowed to be an owner of a newspaper nor have any share in any newspaper.

· Steps of parliament and court

· No newspaper will publish the steps taken by the court or parliament.

· Any newspaper creating hatred between the people of Pakistan.

· Details of criminals and crimes committed.

· Spreading rumors.

· News of corruption of Admission in police or army.

· Spoiling good relations with other countries

Years of Yahya khan

After ending of Ayub khan government, Yahya khan took the government and imposed new martial law in the country. Those restrictions that were made on press in Ayub khan’s government were made soften by this government. And result was that the press, (which was stuck in the restrictions of government) got freedom and removed the working way of “press advice”. And in result press got freedom and it was so beneficial that even it was not cared that (what would government say) in all matters. In Yahya khan’s era much freedom was given to press that we can’t find an example in the history. Senior analyst have their views that Yahya’s government favored freedom of press because to increase the period of their government.

Yahya’s government didn’t only work for the freedom of press but it also hurt it.

Some important incidents are given.

Ø Translator of Awami league (Itafaq), Dhaka was banned for two months.

Ø (The people), office of the Dhaka and press was destroyed in 1971.

Ø On March 30, 1971, all foreigners journalist were ordered to leave the country.

Ø Member of institutional board of daily “Azad” Abdullah Malik was given punishment for one year and was fined 50,000 by the court.

In 1960, the Western Pakistan Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance was promulgated. On the outside, the aim was to consolidate into one law different provisions for "preventive detention of persons" and "control of persons and publications for reasons connected with the maintenance of public order." The real aim was to refine and reinforce the mechanism of repression. With amendments in 1963 and 1964, this law empowered the government to ban the printing of publications, to enter and search premises, and to prohibit import of newspapers, among other measures. These powers have been used by succeeding government’s right up until the government of Musharraf.

In 1961, the government also took over the principal news agency of the country, the APP, arguing that "administrative and financial breakdown" justified such a move. Instead of allowing private enterprise to improve the quality of the news agency, the government saw this as an opportunity to control what news would be supplied to the print media, to radio, and to the outside world.

In spite of such repressive times, the press took a bold stand in providing alternative sources of news through an independent press. It was also during this time that the Press and Publications Ordinance collected under one law a number of excessive regulatory measures and punitive concepts that had previously existed in different laws and were now applied heavily to control the press. This press law (PPO) endured for 25 years before being repealed in September 1988.

In December 1971, when the break-up of Pakistan and the birth of Bangladesh occurred, General Yahya Khan handed over power to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as President and Pakistan's first civilian Chief Martial Law Administrator who continued to use martial law up to April 1972 when an interim constitution was adopted, prior to the enactment of a new constitution by the National Assembly in August 1973. Bhutto, however, reacting to criticism by various members of the press, imprisoned editors and publishers on the pretext of national security.

The next five years, from 1972 to 1977, represented the beginnings of democracy; however, they were marred by repressive actions toward the press. The new constitution, although formulated on the principles of democracy, human rights, and freedom of speech, did not deliver on these promises. The PPO remained, as did the National Press Trust. Furthermore, through coercion and manipulation, the government insured that the only other news agency in the country (aside from the government-owned APP), the Pakistan Press International (PPI), was brought under its authority.

This hard copy tells different reigns of governments telling their relations with press. The difficulties that the press faced in Pakistan and yet remained vibrant despite them, date back almost to the birth of the nation. Whereas Quid-e-Azam strongly believed in a free press, soon after his death, the press faced restrictions of various kinds.

Government-Press relations during the regime of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

“A free press can be good or bad, but…. most certainly, without freedom a press will never be anything but bad.”

Albert Camus

But the policy of repression of the press was continued during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s government.

Before coming into power, zulfikar Ali Bhutto strongly favored freedom of press. He used to support demands of journalists and he announced that he conceded the right of journalists to express their views. He made another announcement that when he will come into power, he will close the National Press Trust and will cancel the Press and Publications Ordinance.

But the promises were all forgotten and the matters were all opposite from the ones that were claimed. And journalists had to face even more difficulties and examinations.

After gaining power on December 20, 1971, his first step was to dismiss Z . A Sulehri, the chief editor of Pakistan Times. He forgot his promise of closing the NPT and cancellation of Press and Publications Ordinance.
Moreover, the attainment of Declaration of newspapers or magazines became difficult.
Only one changing that was made in NPT was to finish the Board of Directors and the authority to choose the chairman of the trust was taken by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto himself.

The situation is described in the words of Shafique Jalandhri as;

“Bhutto’s reign started with the restricted actions taken against journalists and journalism. He dismissed Z. A sulehri, the chief editor of Pakistan Times in just 24 hours after his selection. Altaf Gohar, the chief editor of Dawn and Huriat, was arrested on Feb 2, 1972. Besides harassing press, the news of taking the authority of newspapers under government was also spread. To increase the harassments to the owners of newspapers threats of investigating their properties were given to them. ”

· Due to the attempts taken by Bhutto’s government, a tremendous increase in the arrests, a decrease in the news print and cancellation of declaration of newspapers, was seen.

· It was quite wondering to note that only one declaration was issued for an English publication during that period. It was thought by some groups of people that it was published to please another country.

· A famous journalist Hussain Naqi questioned in a press conference criticizing that the promises regarding the freedom of press had been forgotten and there was an increase in difficulties of journalists. As a result of this criticism, declaration for his publication was cancelled.

· Subordination of press according to system of PRESS ADVISE was seen on january 19, 1947, when general elections were announced by Bhutto for the seat in National Assembly Larkana. Three advises were sent to the offices of newspapers late night.

I. A portrait will be provided by PID, that has to be published on front page of the newspaper. The caption like THE GREAT LEADER, SUPERIOR, will be published word by word. The size of the picture will be 8 * 6 inches.

II. The news regarding Bhutto’s selection in general elections will be published on the front page and for the rest people, it will be published in the inner pages.

III. The statement of Shah Farid-ul-Haq and news about press conference of professor ghafoor Ahmed will not be published before the submission of registry papers of candidate from the opposition at Larkana. In this regard, it has to be waiting for the issued APP version.

From the all above facts, we can conclude that government-press relations during the rule of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto were critical. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto……… who started his rule as a civilian administrator … began his term by trying to reach out to the journalist community and appeared to ease some restrictions that were in effect. However, his feudal instincts take over and he too tightened the noose and used his policy of nationalization to take over many independent news agencies and press.

In 1977, General Zia ul Haq ousted Bhutto from the prime minister position and once again imposed martial law under which abuse of journalists became public rather than covert. Journalists were flogged in public at Zia's whim. Although martial law usually ends with a Supreme Court-imposed deadline by which elections must be held, Zia was given no such deadline, and his time in office up to August 1988 had a deleterious effect on the mass media. Not one single law or regulation of any progressive character was created during Zia's rule. The only positive outcome of Zia's rule was the restoration of the news agency PPI to its original shareholders. Since then PPI provides a valuable alternative news source to the government-controlled APP.

Government of Genral Zia ul Haq

As at that time country's condition was getting out of control so, on 5th July 1977 general Zia imposed martial law in country and took government in his hands.

During his reign free journalism was also not there. But as compared to Bhutto’s government there were fewer restrictions so; journalists took a sigh of relief. National press act and press and publication ordinance was also remained at that time.to take control over the press the old methods were applied such as stop government advertisements, cancelling of declaration, reduce news prints etc. there was a new critical situation for journalists of that time that was the military court punishments on which there journalists became very aggressive. Zamir niazi said on this issue

"13th may 1978 was the darkest day in the history of journalism when the military court announces the punishment of hunters for the four journalists."

These journalists were sentenced with prison labor for different durations with heavy fines and hunters Punishment. In this time government took advantages from the martial law regulations for putting restrictions on press. This government promoted a book of famous journalist Zamir Niazi’s “PRESS IN CHAINS” with a special agenda and presents it to foreign journalists with signatures to show them that how much the media is free in our country. But government stopped government institutions from buying it and prohibited this book in government libraries. There was a strange notification issued by Punjab provisional department of education that no writer, columnist or philosopher is allow to attend conferences without permission.

Later years of unsuccessful democracy (1984-1997)

In 1985, Prime Minister Mohammad Khan Junejo was elected to the National Assembly, based on nonparty elections, and lifted martial law in December 1985. Even though Junejo was a more democratic political figure, the PPO remained in place under him, and he relied on the old media laws. However, in May 1988 President General Zia ul Haq dissolved the National Assembly and dismissed the Government of Prime Minister Junejo, replacing them with a cabinet of his own and no prime minister. This arrangement only lasted 11 weeks as Haq was killed in a suspicious plane crash in August 1988.

This incident resulted in the Chairman of the Senate, Mr. Ghulam Ishaq Khan, succeeding to the office of President as per the constitution. A caretaker government provided transition to a full-fledged democracy, which included repealing the press law that had coerced the media for so long.

A new law, known as the Registration of Printing Presses and Publications Ordinance came into effect in 1988. A key change in this law made it mandatory for the District Magistrate to issue a receipt to an applicant for the issuance of a declaration for the keeping of a printing press or the publication of a journal to provide the applicant with proof that would help avoid government interference.

The most significant change made in the press law of 1988 was the removal of power from the government and the right of an applicant to be heard in person by the authority before any punitive action was taken, like the closure of a press. Appeals were also now allowed. In addition, newspapers were no longer obligated to publish in full the press notes issued by the government.

For a variety of reasons, the press law of 1988 continued to be re-promulgated as an ordinance through 1997, even though the Supreme Court ruled such re-promulgation unconstitutional. One key reason for this was the recurring demands by representative bodies of the press to revise the 1988 law even further to remove any executive power to control the press.

The November 1988 elections saw Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the first Muslim woman prime minister of the world, assume office. She brought with her a new phase of liberalism toward the mass media laws and regulations. For example, Bhutto's government allowed government-controlled radio and television to provide daily and well-balanced coverage of the speeches and statements of its opposition in news bulletins and current affairs programs. Because the print media reaches such a small percentage of the population, this change had a significant impact on the public, but was returned to the old, one-sided coverage after only four months because of pressure on Bhutto by her party, the Pakistan People's Party.

The independent press grew stronger during this phase; the Urdu press and the English press, as well as the regional language press, such as Sindh language newspapers, showed a new energy in reporting the news and in analyzing the issues of the day. In addition, new technology and use of computers and desktop publishing allowed a more timely and in-depth reporting of the news. Bhutto also ended the manipulative government practice of using newsprint as a means of controlling the press. Specifically, the Ministry of Information no longer required issuance of permits to import newsprint and allowed a free and open system of importing newsprint at market prices.

In 1990, President Ishaq Khan dismissed Bhutto's government, charging them with misconduct, and declared a state of emergency. Bhutto and her party lost the October elections, and the new prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, took over. For reasons not apparent to the public, Sharif restored the issuance of permits system for news-print import.

The charges against Bhutto were resolved, and after a bitter campaign, the PPP was returned to power in October 1993, and Bhutto was again named prime minister. She was ousted again in 1996 amid charges of corruption, a caretaker government was installed, and Sharif defeated Bhutto in the February 1997 elections.

Years of Nawaz sharif

In Sharif's two and one-half years in power, he used many heavy-handed methods to deal with journalists who dared to criticize his government. He put tremendous pressure on independent journalists, using both covert and overt means of retribution. His Pakistan Muslim League party (PML) achieved a landslide electoral victory in the National Assembly, which made Sharif believe he had been given a "heavy mandate" to rule the country as he saw fit. He was able to cast aside all democratic checks on his power, except for the press. In the end, the press survived whereas Sharif did not. The press, in fact, through its wide reporting of Sharif's abuse of power, prepared the Pakistani people for General Pervez Musharraf's military coup on October 12, 1999.

Since the government of Nawaz Sharif there has been seen a lot of pressure on the press media of Pakistan. The awful point of this was that this democratic government was also trying evidently suppressing the media and its parts.

One of the major examples was of the Jang group media organization. The government has embarked upon a systematic campaign to harass and intimidate the Jang Group of Newspapers for publishing articles unflattering to the administration. The Jang group, Pakistan's largest newspaper company, publishes two of the country's most widely-read papers: the daily Urdu-language Jang newspaper and The News, an English-language daily.

Jang's December 14, 1998 publication of articles about a financial scandal involving Nawaz Sharif’s family's Ittefaq Group of Companies, reports of which have been featured in London's Observer newspaper, was followed by a raid on Jang's Rawalpindi bureau by officers from Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency. Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, publisher and editor-in-chief of the Jang Group of Newspapers said that the government of Nawaz Sharif applied intense pressure on him not to print the offending article, which ran prominently in both Jang and The News. The next day, FIA officers spent hours questioning newspaper staff, demanding to check Jang's actual stock of newsprint against the company's records. This investigation was apparently the latest attempt in 1998 by officials to intimidate newspaper management.

In October, 1998 the government served the Jang Group with tax notices totaling over 720 million rupees (about $13 million). Journalists in Pakistan report that those in power have long used the country's tax code to punish newspapers and magazines for opposing the government. In this case, although the Income Tax Appellate Court has stalled collection of these taxes pending a review of the claim's merits, employees of the Jang Group have reported continued harassment by authorities.

Various government departments have also made it extremely difficult for Jang to obtain sufficient newsprint to publish standard editions of its newspapers. The company's bank accounts were temporarily frozen by government order, preventing them from purchasing newsprint, and customs officials held a consignment of paper until a laboratory test could be conducted to determine whether the paper ordered by the company was indeed newsprint.

Jang has also experienced more direct pressure. For example, Shakil-ur-Rahman said that Senator Saifur Rahman-who heads the government's Ehtesab (Accountability) Bureau, established by the present administration to investigate corruption charges against the previous government-has repeatedly asked him to dismiss a number of senior journalists who have written critically about the administration. Among the journalists on the government's blacklist were:

Maleeha Lodhi, editor, The News (Rawalpindi)
Irshad Ahmed Haqqani, editor, Jang (Lahore)
Kamran Khan, investigative editor, The News (Karachi)
Sohaib Marghob, editor, Jang Sunday Magazine (Lahore)
Abid Tahimi, feature editor, Jang magazine (Lahore)
Mahmood Sham, editor, Jang (Karachi)
Kamila Hyat, editor, The News (Lahore)
Marianna Babar, special correspondent, The News (Rawalpindi)
Kaleem Omar, writer, The News (Karachi)
Sohail Wariach, senior assistant editor, Jang (Lahore)
Beena Sarwar, editor, The News on Sunday (Lahore)
Nasir Beg Chughtai, chief news editor, Jang (Karachi)
Mudassir Mirza, news editor, Jang ,/I>(Karachi)
Khawar Naeem Hashmi, chief news editor, Jang (Lahore)
Sajjad Anwar, editor, Jang magazine (Rawalpindi)

Disturbingly similar pressures have been applied to the well-respected magazine Newsline, an English-language monthly run by a journalists' cooperative. On October 1, plainclothes officers raided the magazine's Karachi office, pressing staff to reveal home phone numbers and addresses of the magazine's editors.

2000 and Musharaf for press

In May 2000 Musharraf's regime was strengthened by a unanimous decision by the Supreme Court to validate the October 1999 coup as having been necessary; at the same time the Court announced that the Chief Executive should name a date not later than 90 days before the expiry of the three-year period from October 12, 1999 for the holding of elections to the National Assembly, the provincial assemblies, and the Senate.

In Pakistan a cooperative effort appears to be underway between Musharraf's government and the journalism community. In general, Musharraf's administration seems to follow a more liberal policy towards the press with fewer restrictions and much less manipulation. However, reports vary widely. Whereas the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) reported continued harassment of and dangers to journalists, some journalists currently working for Pakistani newspapers offer another version of the situation. A. R. Khaliq, assistant editor for Business Recorder, reported that "the press, by and large, is not faced with any coercion or abuse under Musharraf."

THE MILITARY GOVERNMENT OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE GEN. PERVEZ MUSHARRAF sought to create an impression of benign rule. In part, this meant avoiding the bare-knuckle tactics that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif used to control the press. However, Musharraf's patience with his critics seemed to be wearing thin toward the end of 2000, and some of the country's leading journalists warned that a crackdown could be imminent.

While there was substantial debate on the administration's policies in the boutique English-language press, political coverage in the mass circulation vernacular media tended to be far more tame. Self-censorship continued in all media, with journalists keenly aware that they work without constitutional protections or democratic safeguards.

On February 26, Justice Rehmat Hussain Jafri imposed restrictions on media coverage of Nawaz Sharif's trial. The former prime minister was charged with hijacking and attempted murder based on events immediately preceding the coup.

The closest the military regime came to an overt attack on the press was a four-hour inspection of the Karachi headquarters of the Dawn Group of Newspapers, which publishes some of Pakistan's most influential and respected publications, including the English-language daily Dawn. On September 27, an army monitoring team arrived at the newspaper offices to investigate the company's electrical usage. Soldiers demanded access to all parts of the building, including the offices of editors and reporters. The inspection followed a series of complaints by senior officials about Dawn's political coverage. Journalists at the paper saw it as a punitive raid.

On September 12, Dawn had published an article entitled "Free Press: Is Musharraf Having Second Thoughts?" In the article, senior correspondent Shaheen Sehbai noted that the chief executive, on a recent visit to the United States, had exhibited a "growing impatience with the Pakistani press...[complaining that] it was irresponsible, corrupt, unpatriotic at times, and not pursuing healthy journalism."

In mid-October, Musharraf suggested drafting legislation to punish those who make "anti-state comments.". But some journalists worried that such legislation would inevitably be used against the press. These fears seemed reasonable, since Pakistan already has strict laws against sedition that have been used to punish journalists writing about politically sensitive subjects.

Legal protections are tenuous at best in most of the country, but journalists are especially vulnerable in Pakistan's border regions. Local journalists reporting from North West Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan, said they were regularly harassed and threatened for reporting critically on the policies of that country's ruling Taliban movement. These reporters feared publicizing their cases because the Pakistani military maintains close links with the Taliban, and because local police and security agents have also been hostile to the press.

Journalists were also vulnerable to arbitrary arrest and harassment in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), where local authorities exercise unchecked power and normal Pakistani law does not apply. Similarly, the uncertain political status of the Northern Areas, adjacent to the disputed territory of Kashmir, has created problems for journalists. On October 17, the deputy commissioner of Skardu banned K-2, one of four major weekly newspapers covering the region, for reporting on a protest demonstration by activists who demanded more rights for the local population.

Media and Democracy

2012-06-16T04:20:00.001-07:00

Introduction

Democracy is a freedom to elect our own dictator.
Or
Democracy is a form of government which provides a form of government in which every citizen participates in governmental affairs.

In today’s world media has gained a lot of importance in our lives and its effects on democracy is being worthwhile it provides an equal form to every person either educated or uneducated. It plays a vital role in the formulation of government. Democracy is the best form of government. It is apolitical and social system signifying the free and organic participation of whole masses for a common group.
There are three pillars of a democratic state viz,

· Executive:
Executive department executes laws and is accountable to all
· Legislature:
It makes law and keeps a check and balance on legislative acts.
· Judiciary:
It keeps a check on executive’s performance and provides justice to common people.

But due to its high importance in democracy “media” is regarded as the forth pillar of the state.
In every democracy, there exist such institutions through which public opinion can be formed and expressed; while administrative system is carried on in accordance with the aspirations of the people.
1.Media as an Informal Trainer:
In a political system every person is expected to be politically conscious and express his opinion on political matters. It is therefore necessary that all such facilities should be provided as can make them capable of performing such duties.
Media acts as a training institution in our society. Media boosts up public for any purpose and it creates political consciousness in local masses. Public opinion has great influence in democratic government where media plays a strong role to mold the views of the public according to their agenda and plans.
For Example:

In election campaigns, media plays a role of guidance for the people and tells them that it is their right to vote and think better for their future and their country’s too. It is the role of media to also reflect honest liberal society and also to promote good in the eyes of people. Not only does it regulate this but also handles people to go for nationalism and patriotism.

Another example is of the latest issue from the side of media where it propagated a lot of good for PTI (Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf). A lot of media coverage was given to their every convocation and meetings were highlighted. Hence media performed a favorable role for PTI at first but afterwards it was media which arose questions like this that from where did PTI got all this money to do such events and blame on them about having an Agency supporting them.
Electronic media affects more masses than print media in a country like Pakistan where majority of the people are illiterate. For such people electronic media acts as an informal trainer and molds their opinion strongly.
2.Guarantee of Freedom of Expression
In a democratic government, Media provides the forum where common man, bureaucrats, trade unions, can express their views on political matters. Whereas the journalists use this forum to express their opinions at a public friendly level. The Freedom of expression has been regarded as the backbone of modern democratic system. The formulation and expression of public opinion is made possible through the recognition of this right. Healthy criticism against the policies of government has been considered essential for the successful working of democracy. The media is the means of such expression. This media not only provides us information but also conveys our ideas and thoughts to the governing authorities.
For example:
Media was the agent behind the freedom of judiciary and the long march. It is because of the free press that anyone can express his or her views within the limits of the society’s norms. Media ensures that every aspect of the society is independent and is not under influence from another institution. Media regulates law in a sense that its coverage scares every wrong doer.
“Access to information is essential to the health of democracy for at least two reasons. First, it ensures that citizens make responsible, informed choices rather than acting out of ignorance or misinformation. Second, information serves a “checking function” by ensuring that elected representatives uphold their oaths of office and carry out the wishes of those who elected them.”
(“The role of media in democracy: a strategic approach by technical publication series”)
This freedom of expression is a universal and fundamental human right and is observed worldwide and the indirect regulatory body is the media which ensures its presence at all times.

3.Check on corruption (a watchdog):
Media plays a role of watchdog over the institutions like executive, judiciary, legislature, police and defense. It makes the government accountable and responsible to the people. The power of media restricts the government to deviate from the right path. It makes the public aware to these political actions and provokes them to raise their voices if something is doing to them that are wrong. Masses in turn or indirectly influence or force the government to change their polices immediately .Another function that the media plays is the role of watch dog on government. It makes the government accountable and responsible. The power of media restricts the government to deviate from the right path. It makes the public aware of the official actions and helps them formulate their opinion on those acts. It can provoke them to raise their voices if something is done to them which are not in their favor. In this way the masses can force them to change their policies immediately.
Pakistan has a backward economy, political instability, and corruption at all levels of society and government. In this situation media play vital role to aware public, threat the leaders and check balance on corruption. If something happen in our country media highlight these issues and aware public like Railway, PIA and Steel mill are near insolvency due to corruption of Government.
For example
If the media hadn't highlighted this case, we had been ignorant of it even now. But the free press and independent media rather the contemporary chained media, revealed this huge scandal done by politicians. Younas Habib was involved in the distribution of illegal money between the politicians for the sake of illegal political purposes. At that time media was not free enough to take the issue to the public eyes but after these so many years the nation has become aware of that act and can judge the politicians while voting for them. In this way media has played a very significant role.
Similarly was the case of N.R.O
4.Consistency and control of democracy:
Media has ensured the proper consistency and control of government over the state. In previous regimes, army has always taken up government over illogical issues but now media has an eye over the army that cannot take over this democratic regime how much does it deviate from the path. Media will also criticize the democratic regime but it will not let the defense army to take control of the state. Media says that the army should work at the borders and not in the country.
For example, General Zia and General Musharraf took over their time’s democratic parties and took control of the country because the media was not independent and strong like it is today. It is clear through the power of media now that no chief of army staff can take over state.
5.American media and its influence:
The direct influence of media has also been seen on countries like U.S. Their economic recession has raised a lot of questions in their media. Media has forced American Government to call back forces from Iraq and Afghanistan on this issue that their economy is facing a huge downfall and the government is spending money in Iraq and Afghan war.
So we can conclude that media in its full effort can shape public opinion in government’s favor or against. This influence can be direct or indirect with the help of shaping people’s view.

Negative role of media
Where media acts a watch dog on public institutions and public sectors it can also be involved in corruption and act as a bully in the society. Media also threatens institution to work in their favour.it does it by playing a negative role by either being biased or prejudice. It also works for its own purposes.

That is why media is also called an agenda setter in a society. It sets an aim to confront the government to obey or agree with their demands or else they would black mail them till then. This policy of media works only for its good and it can ruin the public interest also.

For example,
The issue of Mian Aamir was diffused in to something else by his channel Dunya news, and hence administration was forced to give up Mian Aamir as not the culprit behind the killing of 3 girls in a music concert arranged by his college.

Another issue was the blame of Shiekh rasheed on Hamid Mir that he took money by doing a show just against him the night before elections and due to that show sheikh rasheed lost elections from his town.

Conclusion
Media is an influential tool of society shaping people’s view and their opinion. A democratic government is weak without media. The government is made on the basis of the public vote, and it should serve the public according to their demands. The demands are always changing with the changing time. So that government can only do its best when the public demands are communicated to it correctly. The media bridges the demands to the right place.
Another function that the media plays is the role of watch dog on government. It makes the government accountable and responsible. The power of media restricts the government to deviate from the right path. It makes the public aware of the official actions and helps them formulate their opinion on those acts. It can provoke them to raise their voices if something is done to them which is not in their favor. In this way the masses can force them to change their policies immediately.
But it can play a role of evil too by setting agendas and blackmailing institutions.

Importance of English Language in Pakistan

2012-06-15T05:32:00.000-07:00

Importance of English Language in Pakistan

INTRODUCTION

anguage is the proper and systematic way of communication between individuals. It is the tool, with which he conducts his business in the society. It is a vehicle, by which different subject matters are transmitted. A person must know something of the structure of his language, its position in the world and its relation to other tongues. A language lives in a society so long as people speak it and use it as their native tongue. A language is important because the people who speak it are important — politically, socially, commercially, economically and culturally. Importance of English language is doubtlessly great. It is spoken by more than Three-hundred-forty (340) million people as a first language in United Kingdom and the United States. The better the focus on language the more civilized people become. Every language represents a complete different background of people, culture, ethnicity or region. Similarly English language has progressed to such an extent that it is the most widely understood language in the world with French as the runner up. English is widely used as an international language throughout the world. It is one of the official languages, even in most of the countries of the third world. It is also used for international communication. English is the highly developed language which has the ability to express ideas and it is the means of revelation of modern civilization.

Importance of English language is due to its international use. It is a fact that a vast knowledge of the universe has been demonstrated in this language. For the achievement of that knowledge, it is essential to understand this international language. We may assume that it shares with the other highly developed languages of Europe the ability to express the multiplicity of ideas and the refinement of thoughts that demand expression in our modern civilization. In this modern age when electronic media has widely spread all over the world, it is necessary to have the knowledge of this language because it is the medium of communication and a person, lacking the knowledge of this language can’t get awareness of the universal knowledge. As it is obvious that the universal exploration is mostly revealed in this language, so it’s worth can’t be descended.

It is the age of scientific advancement and mechanical approach, the subject matter of which is demonstrated in English language, so it is an essential necessity of the people to learn this language. English has proved itself, as a torch-bearing to the nations of the third world. It is contemplated as the means of ascending knowledge.

On the other hand, English has been the part of our nation’s history from the beginning .Clearly we cannot deny its importance in our life. Over the years, English language has become one of our principal assets in getting a global leadership. English language is one tool to establish our viewpoint. We can learn from others experience. We can check the theories of foreigners against our experience. We can reject the untenable and accept the tenable. We can also propagate our theories among the international audience and readers. We can make use of English to promote our worldview and spiritual heritage throughout the globe. Yes, other languages are important too, but not for the same reasons as English are important. English is important because it is, maybe, the only language that truly links the whole world together. If not for English, the whole world may not be as united as it is today. The other languages may be important for their local values and culture.

ENGLISH AND SUBCONTINENT:

British came in sub-continent for trade but ultimately invaded it. Muslims opposed them but Hindus favored them. Hindus got the English education whereas Muslims due to hatred feelings for British did not learn English. Hindus took benefit of it and came closer to the British due to convenience in communication. It was also clear in history that ignoring the leading language would prove harmful to us so it is now.

SIR SYED AND ENGLISH:

Leaders like Sir Syed Ahmad Khan played a vital role for the development of English in subcontinent especially for Muslims. He emphasized on the importance of learning English language to have better communication with the British because they were the ruling nation. He published bi-lingual newspaper in English and Urdu and also made arrangements for Muslims to get scientific knowledge in English. That was the time when English language started spreading in sub-continent and grew its roots stronger and stronger. Sir Syed never emphasized on turning culture and changing norms of our society but simply said that learning English would prove beneficial. This was right afterwards.

DISCUSSION

Significance of English:No one can deny the importance of English in modern world. Its importance is not confined to professionals and students solely but it is also very important for common people even house wives. It is due to the great importance of this international language that our government make it compulsory subject in the course of students. Besides its academic importance a person is characterized as illiterate who can’t speak English well.English is the international language as one can find people who understand that language in all parts of the world. It is also the language of internet and international media. Although Urdu is the official language of Pakistan but English is the language which is formally used in all private and government officials.Skill of English language helps students in finding a high quality job. In business life the most important common language is obviously English. In addition to this, especially high-quality jobs need good understanding ability and speaking skills in English. Therefore companies can easily open out to other countries and these companies generally employee graduates whose English is fluent and orderly. For example, a student, who is graduated from a university which takes English as a major language will find a better and high-quality job than other students who don’t know English adequately. In other words, the student who knows English will be more efficient in his job because he can use the information from foreign sources and web sites. He can prepare his assignments and tasks with the help of this information. In addition many high quality jobs are related with international communication and world wide data sharing. People working in an international company have to know English in order to communicate with foreign workers.English is the International Language and is one of the most popular and most spoken in the technology world. The latest and the most advanced discoveries and inventions in science and technology are being made in the universities located in the United States of America where English language is the means of scientific discourse. We need to know English language in order to study any science subject or any computer language. It is said that China is developing its own resources in the fields of science and technology without learning any foreign language including English. But foreign countries put blame on it that all such formulas had been stolen by it and these are not China’s own inventions. So without understanding the foreign science that is in English language, China prefers to copy out the things. But now we can see that china is also trying to learn English as a secondary language in its country.For many journalists today, English is the main language used for newspapers or magazines, radio, television or the internet. A journalist has to take interviews from foreign leaders on their visit to Pakistan or if that journalist has to take interviews from them by going abroad himself; for this purpose, English is a great necessity to be known by journalists. Radio has become quite famous among youngsters. They used to listen to channels that are entertaining as well as educating mediums. FM 91 and FM 89 are well known radio channels in Pakistan which allow many of their programs to be on air in English. So, radio and TV channels welcome preferably those people, who can write and speak English very well.It is quite clear that English has become a necessity today. We need it in different fields of life. That’s why it has become easier to learn more than ever before with the availability of many sources to help people learn very easily. Such as the Internet, books and educational institutes which spread around the world.DISADVANTAGES OF NOT HAVING ENGLISH IN SOCIETY:

We belong to a developing country and it is the fact that the ruling language is always of developed countries.so for the development and progress in every field of world we must follow the ruling language.in the absence of this thinking; we can never explore this world truly. This is the reason that societies where the modern language is not being followed remains cutoff from the progressing world. Similarly the person having no command on English language faces too many problems at every step of his life. For example at school level a student cannot compete with his fellow students who are well in English or doing O'level and A'level. Same is the case in colleges and universities where most of the work you have to do or submit is in English. And in an environment like this only those can excel who have better skills in English Language. The story does not end here the real problem starts from here when you are in field and about to find out a job. In a society like ours where the language English is being treated as a special language since last few decades.

Even our personality evaluation totally depends on our listening, writing and spoken English skills, the better we are the more we excel. So we can conclude that job opportunities are for those who are better in all these aspects. So, your general knowledge and practical skills are not as much important as your command over English. Same is the case with abroad settled non-English people who find great difficulty in living and communicating there. so, to avoid all these problems people from the very beginning are trying to admit their children in English medium schools where they pay heavy fees just to excel in this standard. That is why the poor people are still very far away from this language in our society and facing so many problems to move in society.

All advanced knowledge in science, technology and medicine is available in English. The results of the latest researches come to India through the medium of English. If we give up English, we will lag behind in the higher fields of study. Today the world has become one family.

Comparison with other countries

INDIA

English is important for a number of reasons in a country like India because it is a land of diversity. Different people speak different languages. A person of Tamil Nadu does not speak Hindi. So he can't understand Hindi of a person from North India. However he can understand in English.

So English is a link language. Different people can communicate with one another with the help of English. Secondly, all advanced knowledge in science, technology and medicine is available in English. The results of the latest researches come to India through the medium of English. If we give up English, we will lag behind in the higher fields of study. Today the world has become one family.

It is all due to English. English is an international language. English is the language of the Constitution, the Supreme Court, the High Courts and official departments. English is now firmly rooted in the soil of India. It has become a part of Indian life. Thus English has great importance for the integrity of India. It has to be second language in our country for the better development of the country.

As per the data published by the 2011 census India has managed to achieve an effective literacy rate of 74.04 per cent in 2011. In the 2001 census the country's literacy rate stood at 64.8 percent.

CHINA

Due to its increasing population, the People Republic of China is currently an important provider of labor force, as well as technology. The need for international acceptance is not so easy to satisfy; this is the main reason why English is one of the most important foreign languages taught in China. The estimation is that the Chinese willing to learn English are more numerous than the actual English native speakers. This is why the chance of teaching English in China constitutes a viable option for many teachers. Jobs in China have begun to flourish particularly since business English has become a generally accepted language and, thus, a language needed in international transactions. The opportunity to teach English in China, thus, sounds more likable to latest alumnae.

Literacy rate defined as knowledge of 1,500 Chinese characters in rural locations and 2,000 characters in urban areas.

Before the Communist party took power in 1949, about 80% of China’s population was illiterate. Enrollment rate was below 20% for elementary school and about 6% of junior secondary school.

By 2008, adult illiteracy rate in China dropped to only 3.58%. Elementary school and junior secondary school enrollment jumped to 99.5% and 98.5% respectively.

Today, Chinese youth (15-24 years) have a 99% literacy rate.

[UNICEF, 2004-2008 data]

BANGLADESH

On the one hand English language is dominantly present in every side of our national life while on the other hand in Bangla’s constitution it is clearly declared that the language of the country is Bangla. In fact, nothing is said about the status of English language in Bangla’s constitution. On one hand, economic activities in the private companies are carried out in English while there is a government law (Bangla Procholon ain1987) that government offices must use Bangla in their official works. So from the government point of view Bangla is the national- official language of Bangladesh and English is the most important foreign language. But in reality English is the second language of the country and in many places English is more important than Bangla in Bangladesh.

Literacy Situation

At National level

5 years and over

57.53

Sub division-Rural

5 years and over

Can write a letter for communication (Literate) 54.19

Sub division-Urban

5 years and over

Can write a letter for communication (Literate) 68.40

Conclusion:-

Pakistan got independent 64 years ago but people are still dependent on their so called norms which are a great obstacle in the progress of every field. Our system of society has forced the living of here to stay in darkness of illiteracy.

Pakistan’s educational system especially in governmental sector focuses on grammar (tenses, parts of speech, pair of words etc.) from 3 or 4 standard till master’s degree. Though all above mentioned syllabus is very important but we should also improve our vocabulary as well as accent. Limited vocabulary may devaluate a person a many places and our even highly qualified students can’t get what English people say.

Now days, English makes a personality strong although it becomes an essential part in every field of life. We take an example of our film industry where they even can’t understand a single word moreover can’t pronounce a single word in a proper way like meera even know the meaning of paparazzi photographers. Once she said “government appointed her as an ambassador of Canada” but she even don’t know Canada never have an ambassador from showbiz. It shows that our studies system is not up to mark and we don’t know the history as well as current status of developed countries.

Another issue was highlighted by Pakistani media that Aitzaz Ahsan (senior lawyer of Supreme Court) submitted a petition in Supreme Court in which he did a lot of grammar and spelling mistakes which shows the standard of English language in Pakistan even at this high level. Many sectors of Pakistan for Instance business class, media are trying to improve their standard to qualify for job

Solution is always better than a conclusion:-

We should remove the remedies rather than criticize them.

· The matter of fact is we should have to improve our spoken skills.

· We should improve our school system,

· English language must be compulsory in every school.

· We must improve our living standard because children spend 12 to 14 hours at their home.

· Focusing on child education at the grass root level will help more effectively.

· Adopt English as a language but not English culture as a trait.

MURDER SELF-ESTEEM or DREAMS?

2012-06-13T12:01:00.000-07:00

MURDER SELF-ESTEEM or DREAMS?

Can growing wrinkles take away dreams from the eyes?
Can graying hair make a heart to cease beating?

Can a trembling hand make somebody give up the urge to be cuddled??

Can a cooped-back murder the vigor inside the chest?

NO !!

Razia Bibi, 73; eats, sleeps, walks and talks her dire desire of paying a pilgrimage to the home of her Lord. After the death of her husband, her sons took away her property. And on her wish to visit Mecca, her son paid her a heavy thrashing and threw her out of his (formerly her’s) home.

“He broke my arm and beat me with a bat,” she told, while showing her still useless arm.

As she reached her daughter’s place, she interrogated her brother about his behavior with their mother and he responded “now she has come to you? Keep her there with you; I am coming to rip her legs apart. She says she wants to visit Mecca” poor Razia Bibi cried while repeating his son’s words.

Eight years ago, her daughter left her in this old age home in Lahore , where she is provided with basic necessities of life, but nothing equivalent to warmth and love. May be her children do not remember that they were seeded from the same womb which they have now deceived. She has been deprived of everything in life but her dream… her heart that still beats for the fulfillment of that dream…

The duty boy at the old age home says that in his 5 years of work, “none of her children or relatives has come to visit this lady, who speaks about going to Mecca to everybody who comes from any NGO or college to visit people here”.

She has now started losing her senses; she has started hallucinating that she has already visited Mecca. “I was standing in front of the kaa’ba, on my right side was Hazrat Ali and on the other was Hazrat Fatima and she gave me a golden goblet and I performed Hajj with them” she narrates her dream as if it were reality.

“My husband was really tall and handsome and he loved me very much,” razia boasts. But minutes after this memory escapes her lips, she lapses into silence.

Her husband, with his death has brought her to the verge of deciding between either to give up her self-esteem and remain isolated in her room in the old-age-home, or to give up her dreams and become a part of her son’s home as an old piece of furniture, which won’t speak or express its opinion.

Razia bibi has chosen to give up on her self-esteem, the pride of being owned. Or maybe this was the only option her children left to her.

“Write so provoking, that they may feel sorry and shameful for what they have done to me” Razia requested us about her children.

*Based on the experience of personal visit to government old age complex in Lahore.

maghazi

2012-06-12T00:03:00.001-07:00

The word Maghazi(literally, stories of military expeditions) refers to the

ghazwas and the surayas. It is worth much importance for a Muslim to learn all these. As they have a significant value in the history of Islam and the world itself.

Ibn e Asakar has copied Hazrat Imam Zain ul Abideen Ali bin Hussain bin Ameer ul Momineen Ali RA as saying,

“we were taught the Maghazi as we were taught the chapters of Quran”

Similarly, he has mentioned Ismael bin Muhammad bin Saad bin Abi Waqas RA as saying,

“My father, Muhammad bin Saad taught me about Maghazi and told me while counting the

ghazwat and surayas on his hand and used to say O my son, this is your forefathers’ honour

dont spoil it, your better in this world and the hereafter is in knowing these Maghazi.”

so here you can see that how our elders used to know and learn about them and here are we

who just know about three wars which we have got to learn due to our syllabus and nothing

more. Here I will try to summerize all the Maghazi which I know so that you can learn

something about them.

First of all, we must differentiate between Ghazwa and suraya.

Suriya:In the Arabic language the word sīra (Arabic: سيرة‎) comes from the verb sāra which

means to travel or to be on a journey. In which the Prophet (Sallal la ho alehe wa aal e he wasallam) had not taken part.

Ghazwa: Those military expeditions (Arabic: غزوة ‎)in which the Prophet (Sallal la ho alehe wa aal e he wasallam) had Himself taken part. Weather there was a war or it was merely a journey.

There are given almost 27 Ghazwat in the books of Islamic history. Which are as follow

Ghazwa Al Abwa

Ghazwa Buwat

Ghazwa Safwan

Ghazwa Al Usheera

Ghazwa Badr

Ghazwa Bani Sulem

Ghazwa As SAweeq

Ghazwa Ghatfan

Ghazwa Ze Amar

Ghazwa Al Dara’

Ghazwa Bani Qeenqa’

Ghazwa Uhad

Ghazwa Hmra’al Asad

Ghazwa Bani nuzair

Ghazwa Badr ul Akheera

Ghazwa Duma tul Jandal

Ghazwa bani Mustaliq

Ghazwa Khandaq

Ghazwa bani Quraiza

Ghazwa banu Lajban

Ghazwa hudaibiah

Ghazwa Ze Qurd

Ghazwa Khaiber

Ghazwa Zaat ur Raqa’

Ghazwa Umra’ tul Qaza

Ghazwa Fatah Makka

Ghazwa Hunain

Ghazwa At Taif

Ghazwa Tbook

similarly there number of surayas are 35, :

Sarya Hazrat Hamza RA

Sarya Ubaid bin Haris RA

Sarya Saad bin Waqas RA

Sarya Abdullah bin Jahash RA

and others which will be discussed in future posts In Sha Allah.

poem on elegence

2012-06-11T23:59:00.002-07:00

She shows such elegance, beauty and grace;

Once in a week, afternoon at usual place

I wait there patiently, but deep inside;

I erupt with joy when I see her first glimpse.

She shows such elegance, beauty and grace

She arrives, and I felt as to lose my senses

Then she come close and;

My feelings becomes rich and butterflies

Gathering inside me

She shows such elegance, beauty and grace

Then I regain my confidence and greet her

With the usual love, hug and laughter

Except, this time, I hold on for longer

She shows such elegance, beauty and grace

We walk towards the sitting and I sigh…

She stares at me as if to say, “What’s wrong?”

There is a problem… I cannot deny.

So I take some time to gather my thoughts

My time has come; I need to tell her now...

then I ask her if she can keep a secret,

and I whisper to her, "I fancy you..."

"You show such elegance, beauty and grace”

She seems to be flushes blinks and then gently smiles back.

A rush goes through me as I realize...

Her reaction is odd and not of approval.

A small stream of tears rolls from my eyes

I felt that I lost everything by this response

you’ve left it too late, my mind shouts to me.

The girl of my dreams is out of my reach,

I stand there, in stark contrast to before,

and she apologizes and leaves swiftly.

Never mind, I say to myself sadly,

She'll be happier with her first, true love,

Than with a friend that is not as close. Me.

Even now, as she runs away from this place,

she still shows such elegance, beauty and grace

INTRODUCTION TO FRUED AND PSYCHOANALYSIS THEORY

2012-06-11T23:50:00.002-07:00

INTRODUCTION TO FRUED AND PSYCHOANALYSIS THEORY

Sigmund Freud was born in 1856 in the Czech Republic. After working much of his life in Vienna, he left in 1938 to avoid Nazi persecution. He moved to England where he died in Hampstead in 1939.

Freud's early work in psychology and psychoanalysis endeavored to understand and cure the human mind by means of hypnosis. Freud's initial exposure to hypnosis in a clinical setting was over the winter of 1885-1886, when he studied in Paris with Jean-Martin Charcot, a renowned French professor of neurology. Charcot's work centered on the causes of hysteria, a disorder which could cause paralysis and extreme fits. He soon discovered that the symptoms of hysteria could be induced in non hysterics by hypnotic suggestion and that the symptoms of hysterics could be alleviated or transformed by hypnotic suggestion. This ran contrary to the then-prevalent belief that hysteria had physiological causes; it suggested that a deeper, unseen level of consciousness could affect an individual's conscious conduct.

For Freud, dreams were the royal road to the unconscious. He began to analyze dreams in order to understand aspects of personality as they relate to pathology. He believed that behavior was not a chance occurrence; every action and thought is motivated by the unconscious at some level. In order to live in a civilized society, people have a tendency to hold back their urges and repress their impulses. However, these urges and impulses must be released in some way; they have a way of coming to the surface in disguised form: one way they are released is through dreams. Freud discovered that the elements in a subject's dream tend to be particularly close to repressed unconscious content and that free associations starting from those dream elements quickly encounter topics causing emotional arousal as the unconscious is stimulated, followed by resistance to those feelings. He revolutionized the study of dreams with his work The Interpretation Of Dreams.

As a result of his clinical experience, Freud developed a model of the human personality which has stood the test of time. Many of the terms Freud introduced, such as Ego, Superego, the Id and the Unconscious are therefore still used in contemporary psychology. Freud's basic concept was a construct of the human psyche as an orderly progression through the developmental stages of childhood to final maturation in adult life.

The Structure of the Personality:

Freud's orientation was biological, a natural result of his medical training and of the period in which he began his work. His conception of the individual was as a reservoir of dynamic energy, continuously seeking a means of discharge and in turn continuously needing replenishment. This veritable storehouse of energy he called the Libido, the genetically inherent energy empowering the life instinct. The instinctual drive towards survival and replacement of energy requires translation into more specific terms such as 'food, love, security' etc.

Instincts drive and direct behavior, the goal of which is the satisfaction of needs derived from the instincts. Needs create tension, and behavior is directed towards reduction of this tension. This concept of needs is called the Pleasure Principle, the attempt to keep excitation or tension as low as possible. In practice this is the desire for immediate gratification. Freud ascribed the appropriate directional functioning to what he termed the Id, which included other genetically inherent features, such as the impulse to love and to seek gratification. The Id strives to bring about the satisfaction of instinctual needs on the basis of the pleasure principle. The Id represents the inner world that has no knowledge of objective reality. Its psychic processes are primary processes - undirected attempts at immediate satisfaction. It is not governed by logic; it contains contradictory yet co-existent impulses. It is the individual's primary subjective reality at the unconscious level.

The Id can do no more than formulate a necessity, so the Ego is invoked. It develops from the Id because of the organism's need to cope with external reality for the satisfaction of its instinctual requirements. Freud described the Ego as a regulating agent and an intermediary, registering demands and meeting requirements, which in turn necessitates coordination with the environment - the world of reality. Although it seeks pleasure and the avoidance of pain, the Ego is under the influence of the Reality Principle, which is the delay of immediate gratification in recognition of social requirements or higher needs. It operates by means of secondary processes - perception, problem solving, and repression - that is, realistic, logical thinking and reality testing.

Levels of Consciousness:

The id, the ego and the superego function in different levels of consciousness: indeed, Freud's theory of the mind hinges upon the ability of impulses or memories to "float" from one level to another. The interaction between the three functions of the mind represents a constant movement of items from one level to another.

Id:

As the baby emerges from the womb into the reality of life, he wants only to eat, drink, urinate, defecate, be warm, and gain sexual pleasure. These urges are the demands of the id, the most primitive motivational force. In pursuit of these ends, the id demands immediate gratification: it is ruled by the pleasure principle, demanding satisfaction now, regardless of circumstances and possible undesirable effects. If a young child was ruled entirely by his id, he would steal and eat a piece of chocolate from a store regardless of the menacing owner watching above him or even his parents scolding beside him.

The id will not stand for a delay in gratification. For some urges, such as urination, this is easily satisfied. However, if the urge is not immediately discharaged, the id will form a memory of the end of the motivation: the thirsty infant will form an image of the mother's breast. This act of wish-fulfillment satisfies the id's desire for the moment, though obviously it does not reduce the tension of the unfulfilled urge.

Ego

The eventual understanding that immediate gratification is usually impossible (and often unwise) comes with the formation of the ego, which is ruled by the reality principle. The ego acts as a go-between in the id's relations with reality, often supressing the id's urges until an appropriate situation arises. This repression of inappropriate desires and urges represents the greatest strain on, and the most important function of, the mind. The ego often utilizes defense mechanisms to achieve and aid this repression. Where the id may have an urge and form a picture which satisfies this urge, the ego engages in a strategy to actually fulfill the urge. The thirsty five-year-old now not only identifies water as the satisfaction of his urge, but forms a plan to obtain water, perhaps by finding a drinking fountain. While the ego is still in the service of the id, it borrows some of its psychic energy in an effort to control the urge until it is feasibly satisfied. The ego's efforts at pragmatic satisfaction of urges eventually builds a great number of skills and memories and becomes aware of itself as an entity. With the formation of the ego, the individual becomes a self, instead of an amalgamation of urges and needs.

Superego

While the ego may temporarily repress certain urges of the id in fear of punishment, eventually these external sources of punishment are internalized, and the child will not steal the chocolate, even unwatched, because he has taken punishment, right, and wrong into himself. The superego uses guilt and self-reproach as its primary means of enforcement for these rules. But if a person does something which is acceptable to the superego, he experiences pride and self-satisfaction.

The superego is sub-dividable into two parts: conscience and ego ideal. Conscience tells what is right and wrong, and forces the ego to inhibit the id in pursuit of morally acceptable, not pleasurable or even realistic, goals. The ego ideal aims the individual's path of life toward the ideal, perfect goals instilled by society. In the pursuit, the mind attempts to make up for the loss of the perfect life experienced as a baby.

Consciousness and the Unconscious:

Freud divided the mind into layers. Perceptual awareness, he termed the conscious state. But a large part of a person's inner life goes on outside awareness. This unconscious part of the mind includes some material which has been dissociated from conscious thinking - the Subconscious; and some that can relatively easily become conscious - the Preconscious contents. The Preconscious is described as having no sense of awareness but it's contents are available for recall. The unconscious contains memories which have been repressed, and under normal circumstances cannot be recalled. According to Groddeck, we "are lived by our unconscious"; Freud certainly subscribed to this theory.

In Freudian psychoanalysis, the word preconscious is applied to thoughts which are unconscious at the particular moment in question, but which are not repressed and are therefore available for recall and easily capable of becoming conscious. As explained by David Stafford-Clark in What Freud Really Said(1965)...

"If consciousness is then the sum total of everything of which we are aware, pre-consciousness is the reservoir of everything we can remember, all that is accessible to voluntary recall: the storehouse of memory. This leaves the unconscious area of mental life to contain all the more primitive drives and impulses influencing our actions without our necessarily ever becoming fully aware of them, together with every important constellation of ideas or memories with a strong emotional charge, which have at one time been present in consciousness but have since been repressed so that they are no longer available to it, even through introspection or attempts at memory."

There are two ways that material is made unconscious. The first, a conscious process, consists of making an experience unconscious; that is, material in the preconscious that is inadmissible to consciousness is suppressed down into the unconscious. Note: this may be considered 'suppression' and the material is then considered to be subconscious. The material may emerge into the preconscious or even consciousness if current circumstances are similar to the original circumstances and remind the person, causing emotional charge.

The second way that material is made unconscious is repression. This is itself an unconscious process and consists of forbidding material to rise up and enter the preconscious, so that it remains uninspected in the unconscious. Very painful trauma, physical or emotional, is thus shut of from consciousness. Sometimes only part of an experience may be repressed; some memory of it may remain preconscious but feelings are not attached to it. A constant expenditure of energy is required to maintain the repression.

As we have seen, the personality of the individual is dependent upon the interaction of three mental structures: the Id, the Ego and the Superego. Behavior is usually the result of an interaction within this system. The Ego is the executive of the personality, mediating and reconciling the demands of the Id, with its instinctual and persistent demands, the need to conform with the Superego, with its introjections and related conscience and Ego-ideals, and the objective facts of reality. This interaction is unconscious most of the time; however much of it is Preconscious so that it can easily be brought into consciousness, and some of it is conscious thought and feelings.

Where the Ego is unable to accede to the demands of the Id, or in certain cases, the demands of society, these impulses are repressed and become unconscious, but they are not divested of energy and are often the cause of future trouble.

The reactions of the Ego are influenced by incidents and memories that have accumulated over the years. This brings us back to the childhood period: the focus of Freudian theory. In infancy there is virtually no organization of memory or experience, hence the Id is in a dominating position, and frustration or delay can cause a violent 'all or nothing' reaction. If frustration is of a traumatic intensity and prolonged, the ensuing warping of the child's personality is long lasting. In many cases, cognitive development along certain lines can be arrested at that stage. If, for example, an infant is deprived of love and affection over a long period, its own natural impulse to give love can be distorted. The infant's attitude in later life will be affected, so that it is unable to achieve a proper relationship with others. It has been said that "Under stress we tend to return to the age at which progress to emotional maturity was arrested."

An important feature of early childhood is the development of the 'Guilt Complex' or conscience. Initially the child accepts the standards imposed by parents, which are enforced by their reward-or-punishment approach. With experience and knowledge the child acquires its own standards of behavior, based on observation and parental precept (rule of conduct). Behavior which digresses from these self-imposed standards arouses feelings of guilt and failure: at times, under certain circumstances, these feelings may be at an unconscious level, and like other unconscious and repressed ideas, can give rise to abnormal behavior.

An important contribution of Freud was his recognition that repressed ideas, when released into the conscious mind accompanied by the emotions associated with them at the time (a process of abreaction), discharge their pent-up energy and cease to be a source of disturbance. This is known as Catharsis (purging, cleansing).

Freud devoted much time and effort to perfecting techniques for analyzing mental disturbances, and relating them to primary causes. Hypnosis, psychoanalysis, free (word) association, and dream interpretation were all used to trace typical disturbances to traumatic memories at specific developmental stages of childhood.

With regard to repressed ideas arising from traumatic conditions experienced in adult life - there is nearly always a predisposition to abnormality resulting from similar childhood experiences of a traumatic nature.

Freud's basic model of the mind, in which the Ego mediates between internal drives and perceptions of external reality, bears a remarkable resemblance to recent notions in behavioral neurology about the hierarchical organization of the cortex and the limbic system. Freud's description of the Unconscious includes the wellspring of the Id and the storehouse of suppressed or repressed traumatic material, as well as the structural unconscious processes that run the body. I prefer to differentiate consciousness between Subconscious processes - both cognitive and affective - and those that are deeply imbedded Unconscious processes, including automated behavior and the store of Genetic or Archetypal memories.

References:

· Gregory Mitchell. (2011): Sigmund Frued and Fruedian Psychoanalysis. Mind

Development resource book. Retrieved on 10th June, 2012. Retrieved from:

http://www.trans4mind.com/mind-development/freud.html
· David B. Stevenson. (1998). Freud's Division of the Mind. The Victorian Web. Brown University. Retrieved on 10th June, 2012. Retrieved from:
http://www.victorianweb.org/science/freud/division.html

Definitions of consciousness

Consciousness is notoriously difficult to define, though as some have pointed out, we all know what it is from direct experience. Here is a selection of notable views.

"A mere echo, the faint rumour left behind by the disappearing 'soul' upon the air of philosophy ."

William James, 'Does Consciousness Exist?'' 1904

"Consciousness: the having of perceptions, thoughts and feelings; awareness. The term is impossible to define except in terms that are unintelligible without a grasp of what consciousness means... Nothing worth reading has been written about it."

Stuart Sutherland, 'Consciousness', International Dictionary of Psychology', 1995

"...there is no question of there being a commonly accepted, exclusive sense of the term... I prefer to use it as synonymous with 'mental phenomenon' or 'mental act.' "

"...intentional in-existence, the reference to something as an object, is a distinguishing characteristic of all mental phenomena. No physical phenomenon exhibits anything similar."

Franz Brentano, 'Psychology from an empirical standpoint', 1874

" ...current values of parameters governing the high-level computations of the operating system."

P. Johnson-Laird, 'A computational analysis of consciousness', Cognition and Brain Theory, 1983

"Consciousness is like the Trinity; if it is explained so that you understand it, it hasn't been explained correctly ."

R.J. Joynt, 'Are Two Heads better than One?', Behavioural Brain Sciences, 1981

"'Consciousness' refers to those states of sentience and awareness that typically begin when we awake from a dreamless sleep and continue until we go to sleep again, or fall into a coma or die or otherwise become 'unconscious'."

John Searle , 'The Mystery of Consciousness', 1997

"What is meant by consciousness we need not discuss - it is beyond all doubt."

Sigmund Freud, 'New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis', 1933

"It is often held therefore (1) that a mind cannot help being constantly aware of all the supposed occupants of its own private stage, and (2) that it can also deliberately scrutinize by a species of non-sensuous perception at least some of its own states and operations. Moreover both this constant awareness (generally called 'consciousness'), and this non-sensuous inner perception (generally called 'introspection') have been supposed to be exempt from error.

Gilbert Ryle, 'The Concept of Mind', 1949

"...perhaps 'consciousness' is best seen as a sort of dummy term like 'thing'; useful for the flexibility that is assured by its lack of specific content."

Kathleen Wilkes, 'Is Consciousness Important?', British Journal of Philosophy of Science, 1984

"We are conscious of something, on this model, when we have a thought about it. So a mental state will be conscious if it is accompanied by a thought about that state...The core of the theory, then is that a mental state is a conscious state when, and only when, it is accompanied by a suitable HOT [Higher Order Thought]"

David M. Rosenthal, 'A Theory of Consciousness', The Nature of Consciousness (ed Block, Flanagan and Güzeldere), 1997

"Behaviourism claims that consciousness is neither a definite nor a usable concept. The behaviourist, who has been trained always as an experimentalist, holds, further, that belief in the existence of consciousness goes back to the ancient days of superstition and magic."

John Watson, 'Behaviourism', 1924

"'Consciousness' is a word worn smooth by a million tongues. Depending upon the figure of speech chosen it is a state of being, a substance, a process, a place, an epiphenomenon, an emergent aspect of matter, or the only true reality."

George Miller, 'Psychology: the Science of Mental Life'', 1962

"Consciousness, we shall find, is reducible to relations between objects, and objects we shall find to be reducible to relations between different states of consciousness; and neither point of view is more nearly ultimate than the other."

T.S.Eliot (Doctoral dissertation), 1916

"The concept of consciousness is a hybrid or better, a mongrel concept: the word 'consciousness' connotes a number of different concepts and denotes a number of different phenomena... P-consciousness is experience...A is access-consciousness. A state is A-conscious if it is poised for free use in reasoning and for direct 'rational' control of action and speech...Conflation of P-consciousness and A-consciousness is ubiquitous in the burgeoning literature on consciousness..."

Ned Block, 'On a Confusion about a Function of Consciousness', Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 1995

"... in the most interesting sense of the word 'consciousness', consciousness is the cream on the cake of mentality, a special and sophisticated development of mentality. It is not the cake itself."

David Armstrong, 'What is consciousness?' , The nature of Mind and Other Essays, 1980

"The improvements we install in our brain when we learn our languages permit us to review, recall, rehearse, redesign our own activities, turning our brains into echo chambers of sorts, in which otherwise evanescent processes can hang around and become objects in their own right. Those that persist the longest, acquiring influence as they persist, we call our conscious thoughts."

Daniel Dennett , 'Kinds of Minds', 1996

"The presence of mental images and their use by an animal to regulate its behavior, provides a pragmatic working definition of consciousness"

D.R.Griffin, 'The Question of Animal Awareness', 1976

Article on the Lahore Railway blast, 24th April Tuesday

2012-06-05T06:11:00.002-07:00

Article on the Railway blast, 24^th April Tuesday

Bloodshed along with horrible cries and painful voices were seen and heard at the railway station this Tuesday. Paralyzed by fear, citizens are unable to go about their daily routine. That will be the likely impact of the attack on April 24, Tuesday in the Business Express lounge at the Lahore Railway Station that killed two people at the spot and two children the next day leaving over 60 injured. This was the first major terrorist attack in Lahore in over a year or 16 months to be exact, it has shattered whatever hopes of serenity may have begun to emerge in the country’s cultural capital. Coming as it did, just four days after the Bhoja Air crash in Islamabad, the railway attack will further engender greater fear of using transportation. Safety in public transport will now be seen as an illusion with both air and rail travel proving to be fraught with risk.

At about 6 30p.m, a bomb exploded outside the business lounge of Lahore Railway station where a train Awami Express had just arrived. The incident took place on platform number 2 where people were waiting in the lounge for the next train to arrive. According to the officials a Porter Muhammad Boota carrying a bag came across the door of the platform where constable Idrees frisked him upon which the bag exploded resulting in killing both Muhammad Boota and Idrees on the spot.

The passengers waiting on the platform shooked with panic by the explosion. The splinters and pieces of broken windowpanes blew everywhere with the intensity of the blast. The incident created panic at the railway station premises as well as adjoining areas, as the people rushed outside their places to save their lives. The ear-deafening bang of the blast echoed through the congested area frequently thronged by the locals and outsiders.

Rescue operations were called immediately and emergency was declared in all the nearest hospitals. Rescue 1122 and Bomb squad rushed to the scene of crime and inspected for any further threat from the premises. Bomb Disposal Squad and Lahore police collected evidence from the crime scene. However, the crime scene was messed up due to rush of the people as railways police had failed to cordon off the area properly.

Police removed the two bodies to the morgue and started a probe into the incident, while no case was registered till the filing of this report. Constable Idrees, of age 50, a resident of Narowal, and a porter, Boota, age 40, a resident of Chungi Amar Sidhu, Lahore, were the ones who died on the spot. Rescue sources said 65 injured people, including 15 women, were shifted to the Mayo, Ganga Ram and Services hospitals, five of them in critical condition.

Two of them brothers a four-year-old Aamir Sohail and eight-year-old Mehmood, both sons of Zahoor Ahmad of Khanpura, Rahim Yar Khan, succumbed to their wounds at Children’s and Mayo hospitals. The blast left all 14 family members injured. Whereas the death toll has now increased to 4.

After a long peace, finally the silence of terrorism broke out on Tuesday the 24^th April, 2012 taking away 4 precious lives with it and leaving nothing but sorrows. This is the 214^th bomb blast incident since 2001. Killing a total of 338 people and leaving more than 1000 seriously injured. In all these incidents more than 300 were suicidal attacks and the rest either remote controlled of timer. The last issue that took place was also in Lahore where the blast took place in Urdu Bazaar near Gamey shah injuring around 70 people.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani separately condemned the blast and expressed grief and shock over the loss of lives and injuries. They said such cowardly acts of terrorism could not dent the government's resolve to fight and eliminate this menace. They directed the authorities concerned to ensure the provision of best medical care to those injured in the tragic blast. President Zardari and PM Gilani also conveyed their condolences to the bereaved families and prayed for the departed souls.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Gilani telephoned Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and expressed condolences over the killings. He said he had summoned the minister for water and power on Wednesday to apprise him about implementation of the decisions of energy conference. On the other hand PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Interior Minister Rehman Malik also condemned the blast.

Chief minister Shahbaz Sharif announced financial assistance to the deceased’s family and the injured. So On behalf of Chief Minister Punjab Special Assistant on Health,
Salaman Rafique on Monday distributed financial assistance cheques amounting to Rs 1.625 million among the heirs of two deceased children Mahmood Ahmed and Amir Sohail and others 12 injured of the Lahore railway station blast. Salaman Rafique distributed these 14 cheques at Mayo Hospital. He gave two cheques worth Rs 0.5 million each to the father of the deceased children, Zahoor Ahmed. Both children were real brothers.and belonged to Rahim Yaar Khan. Special Assistant to CM also distributed 11 cheques worth Rs 50,000 each among the minor injured and a cheque of Rs 75,000 was given to the injured who sustained heavy injuries.
Pakistani police defused a bomb on a passenger train Awami Express in the country’s northwest (Attock Station) on Wednesday. Bomb diffusal squad reported it to be a 20 kilogram bomb found by a guard in a briefcase in the early hours of the morning on the train from Karachi to Peshawar. Officials say that this bomb could be of the same person or group who blew on the other night. Whereas no clue could be find about the suspects of this blast. IG Police Habibur Rehman told that this was remote controlled bomb with bearings.
Further into investigation all the CCTV footages could have helped identify the culprit had the cameras around the scene been operational. Railway incharge said that due to fewer funds in the department the administration could not pay the rent and the security cameras and walkthrough gates were not functional for two months. The place where the bomb exploded was littered with shattered glass pieces and upended furniture as all the windowpanes were blown up.
To avoid such incidents in future, chief minister have advised the federal government to put more emphasis on the security of the public transport and equip the police with even more high tech gadgets. And more security checks should be implied in order to minimize the threat completely.

feature on bomb blast in Lahore railway

2012-06-05T06:10:00.000-07:00

Feature on Bomb Blast on Lahore Railway station, 24^th April, 2012

Rihana woke up early in the morning and prepared breakfast for his husband and the kids going to school. She didn’t knew that she was giving breakfast to her husband Muhammad Boota, a fifty year old porter at Lahore railway station, for the last time. Rihana and boota had nine children in which 7 were girls and there were two baby brothers. They live in the area of Chungi Amar sahdhu and were married for about 25 years. Their first three daughters are married and the rest still live with the family. Rihana gave a good luck see off to her husband and Muhammad Boota went to his work.

According to his friends, Boota restlessly worked through the day carrying people’s luggage from platforms to outdoor and from outdoor to platforms. He was seen active at all the service shifts from 8 in the morning till the last where he was carrying a bag to his death. Muhammad Boota was the one porter who was carrying the bag that contained the bomb. His friends say that this was the only simple moment they left him out of their site. Nobody saw him take the bag and the person who gave him this bag. Poor Boota didn’t realize at all that not every bag is meant to be taken and carried to destinations. When Boota reached at Platform number 2 with that black bag he was asked to give a checking of that bag by the Railway police constable Idrees, a 40 year old person with a very good history of his service in railway. When Idrees frisked him the bomb exploded and both Muhammad Boota and Idrees died on the spot. The bomb’s explosion was so intense that one of the eye witnesses said that at first they thought that a tire burst or a cylinder exploded, but as they all went out to see it they realized a bomb had exploded. He saw splinters of window glass mostly and the whole area filled with dust. People were rushing here and there and some of them were unconsciously lying on the ground. Furthermore he added that government should at least take appropriate steps to safe guard the public transport. After some time rescue operations started and picked up the injured and railway police was the first one to announce both Porter Muhammad Boota and Constable Idrees dead. Media officials and bomb disposal Squad probe into the investigation of the incident. The bomb disposal squad at first declared the area safe after a complete check for any further threat.

At home, Rihana was watching T.V and was worried that what ever happened to her husband, Muhammad Boota was not picking up the cell phone and it was going for a non-responding answer. Rihana was quite worried that at last a call came from the police that her Husband Muhammad Boota was killed in the bomb blast. A hell broke out on Rihana on getting this news. His children cried a lot as they were now orphans. The next morning his body arrived in an enclosed casket at his house where his relatives had arranged the final settings for the funeral ceremony.

The next morning Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif called Rihana and shared condolences with Rihana and said that government is here to support the left 6 children of Late Muhammad Boota by giving an aid of Rs. 5 Lakh to his family.

Rihana said that all those who were involved in the killing and this bomb explosion will be answerable to Allah Almighty. And her curse is upon the terrorist till their life. Her shout was that who will support her children now? Who will take care of her and her family now?

A Question which every relative of the bomb blast incident has been asking since 2001

socialization and its agents

2012-06-05T06:07:00.001-07:00

Q. 1 Define socialization and explain agencies of socialization?

“Socialization is a process by which the biological man is made social through socio-cultural influence around him”

“The process of inducting an individual into the social world”

“The means by which social and cultural continuity are attained in a society”

Socialization is a process whereby individuals are made aware of behaviours that are expected of them with regards to the norms, beliefs, attitudes, and values of the society in which they live.”

There are two kinds of socialization which are informal socialization (socialization by direct contact from family, parents, playmates and books) and formal socialization (socialization by indirect contact in schools and clubs).

Agencies of socialization:-

1. Family:-

Ø Family is the place where a newly born child learns the ABC of socialization. The most important agent of socialization, family helps mould an individual.

Ø Here, he learns the values of society, beliefs, language, religious inclinations and political views shape an individual's outlook towards society.

Ø Parents are the most influencing people in an individual’s life. They teach him manners and language which is bridge between the individual and society. In short, family is responsible for making socially and culturally civilised people.

2. Schools:-

Ø School is one of the basic forms of formal education. It is the second most important agent of socialization after family because it is the place where a child meets different kinds of children and learns to make out the right and wrong in society.

Ø Schools help pass on knowledge, create awareness and inculcate the feelings of tolerance in individuals. In schools an individual learns morality, nationalism, patriotism, ideology and also adopts norms habits and customs of society.

3. Peer groups:-

Ø Meeting likeminded people, making friends and hanging out together may seem like a teenager’s life. But in fact, each and every individual in society loves to have social contact.

Ø Peer group or play group is the group of friends where every individual is influenced by the whole group. Peers have great impact on an individual's thoughts and line of thinking.

Ø An individual learns to behave in a manner that they think will be acceptable to their peers. Peer acceptance is an important part of socialization.

4. Religion:-

Ø It is also an important factor in making a socially civilised person.

Ø It gives us the set of boundaries and limitations under which an individual works and is called religiously bound. He is told what to eat and what to drink too. He is thus told how to behave in a society, work with people and also co-operate with them.

Ø Religion gives practices and performs a vital role in socialization of a person. In this respect, religion has its own set of norms, values, and objectives that regulate the conduct of its members.

5. Government:-

Ø The government plays a vital role in socializing an individual because it provides the law and rules in a state where the citizen must abide them else he will fall in disobedience to the state.

Ø These laws restrict him in doing bad and some laws promote him in doing well. Such as punishment for theft, robbery and killing and reward for good deeds.

6. Media:-

Ø They play a powerful role in the process of socialization because through these means people easily learn new ideas, attitudes, fashions, trends etc.

Ø The mass media are another agent of socialization. Television shows, movies, popular music, magazines, Web sites, and other aspects of the mass media influence our political views; our tastes in popular culture; our views of women, people of color, and gays; and many other beliefs and practices.

Ø They are a source of social power and social cohesion. They inform, entertain and educate the people. They influence their lifestyles.

7. Work and Community:-

Ø Community and culture help pass on the religious views and cultural traditions in an individual.

Ø A community is the group where an individual meets people with similar ideologies and interact for personal and community growth.

Ø Work is the place where a person earns his lively hood and thus interacts with the people he works with. He not only seeks guidance but also knows his limits at this work place.

Ø Community includes Mosque, clubs, political parties, offices, seminars and discussions, hotels and marriage, in short every get together.

8. Ethnic background:-

Ø Ethnic background is basically referred to as the identification of an individual in a society.

Ø This as an agent of socialization works same as the agent of family because it gives us our society values, norms, customs and traditions. Those customs which our societies have been doing for decades and are known for their ethnic group.

Ø They act as a medium or set of traditions ready to socialize and civilise an individual.

Q. 2 Define culture and explain it with respect to society?

“The totality of socially transmitted behaviour patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.”

“The predominating attitudes and behaviour that characterize the functioning of a group or organization”

“These patterns, traits, and products considered as the expression of a particular period, class, community, or population”

Culture is the way of life of a social group, the group's total man made environment including all the material and nonmaterial products of group life that are transmitted from one generation to the next. Culture is dependent upon many factors and elements. The basic of them is that every nation explicit their own culture and culture is known to them as their way of living, practising worship, working, dealing with people etc. Every area has its own culture with respect to the people living there. Culture also has a direct influence on it from mass media and other agencies of socialization.

Karl Markz-conflict theory

2012-06-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

Introduction

Karl Marx, the son of Hirschel and Henrietta Marx, was born in Trier, Germany, in 1818. Hirschel Marx was a lawyer and to escape anti-Semitism decided to abandon his Jewish faith when Karl was a child. Although the majority of people living in Trier were Catholics, Marx decided to become a Protestant. He also changed his name from Hirschel to Heinrich.

After schooling in Trier (1830-35), Marx entered Bonn University to study law. At university he spent much of his time socializing and running up large debts. His father was horrified when he discovered that Karl had been wounded in a duel. Heinrich Marx agreed to pay off his son's debts but insisted that he moved to the more sedate Berlin University.

The philosopher, social scientist, historian and revolutionary, Karl Marx, is without a doubt the most influential socialist thinker to emerge in the 19th century. Although he was largely ignored by scholars in his own lifetime, his social, economic and political ideas gained rapid acceptance in the socialist movement after his death in 1883. Until quite recently almost half the population of the world lived under regimes that claim to be Marxist. This very success, however, has meant that the original ideas of Marx have often been modified and his meanings adapted to a great variety of political circumstances

History

KARL MARX makes different statements about ideology at different points in his career; however, his most straightforward statement about ideology appears in The German Ideology, which he wrote with Frederick Engels. Ideology itself represents the "production of ideas, of conceptions, of consciousness," all that "men say, imagine, conceive," and include such things as "politics, laws, morality, religion, metaphysics, etc." Ideology functions as the superstructure of a civilization: the conventions and culture that make up the dominant ideas of a society. The "ruling ideas" of a given epoch are, however, those of the ruling class: "The ruling ideas are nothing more than the ideal expression of the dominant material relationships, the dominant material relationships grasped as ideas; hence of the relationships which make the one class the ruling one, therefore, the ideas of their dominance". Since one goal of ideology is to legitimize those forces in a position of hegemony, it tends to obfuscate the violence and exploitation that often keep a disempowered group in its place (from slaves in tribal society to the peasantry in feudal society to the proletariat in capitalist society).

His ideas have since played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement. He published various books during his lifetime, with the most notable being The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Capital (1867–1894), many of which were co-written with his friend, the fellow German revolutionary socialist Friedrich Engels.

Moving to Paris in 1843, he began writing for other radical newspapers, the Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher and Vorwärts! As well as writing a series of books, several of which were co-written with Engels. Exiled to Brussels in Belgium in 1845, he became a leading figure of the Communist League, before moving back to Cologne, where he founded his own newspaper, the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Exiled once more, in 1849 he moved to London together with his wife Jenny and their children. In London, where the family was reduced to poverty, Marx continued writing and formulating his theories about the nature of society and how he believed it could be improved, as well as campaigning for socialism and becoming a significant figure in the International Workingmen's Association.

Marx was banished from Paris in 1845 as a dangerous revolutionary. He went to Brussels, Belgium. In the spring of 1847 Marx, along with Engels, joined a secret society called the "Communist League." At the league's request they authored the " Communist Manifesto," which outlines the theory of the class struggle, and of the revolutionary role of the proletariat. Due to his revolutionary activities, Marx was banished from Belgium in February 1848, finally ending up in London in 1849 where he lived until his death.

In 1864 the "International Working Men's Association" was founded in London. Marx was a central figure in the new organization, and author of its first statement, and a host of resolutions, declarations and manifestos. His health was undermined by his strenuous work for "International." The first volume of "Das Kapital," Marx's most important work, appeared in 1867. Ultimately ill-health prevented him from completing two other volumes.

On March 14 1883 Marx passed away peacefully in his armchair. He lies buried at Highgate Cemetery in London.

His contribution towards society

Karl Marx's most famous books on communism today are Das Capital and The Communist Manifesto, he has also written:

The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon, Grundrisse, The German Ideology, Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844, and Theses on Feuerbach.
All of the books he has written deal with Communism/Marxism.
Karl Marx said “Capital is dead labour, which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labour, and lives the more, the more labour it sucks.”

Marxism (conflict structuralism)

Labour/working class theory

Labour theory of value

Marxism sees the overall structure of society primarily determined (or influenced) by the economic system- the means of production, such as the land, factories and offices necessary to produce society’s goods.

These means of production are privately owned, and most people depend on the owners for employment. Karl Marx argued that the workers produce more than what is needed for employers to pay them their wages- this “extra” produced by the workers is what Karl Marx called Surplus value, and provides profit for the employer.

For example, in a burger chain, it is the workers who make, cook, package or packing and serves the burgers, but only half the burgers they sell are necessary to pay their wages. The rest of the burgers provide profit for the burger chain owners. This means the workers who produce the burgers do not get the full value of their work, and they are therefore being exploited.

Change in institutions

Economic institution is the base of the society and the others are the super structure of it. Economic institution influences all social institutions when change comes in economic institution all the institution accept change.

Control of society

Norms come from the Elite class (bourgeoisie or the capitalist class) of the society and the powerful makes the norms and controls the behaviour of the people by social control. The control by direct force by police and law and indirect force by syllabus, education and mass media.

Class system in Marxism

Capitalists and workers class

Karl Marx argued that there were two basic social classes in capitalist industrial society; a small, wealthy and powerful class of owners of the means of production, (which he called the bourgeoisie or the capitalist class- the owning class) and a much larger, poorer class of non-owners (which he called the proletariat or working class). The proletariat, because they own no means of production of their own, had no means of living other than to sell their labour, or labour power as Karl Marx called it, to the bourgeoisie in exchange for a wage or salary. The Capitalist exploited the working class, by making profit out of them by keeping wages as low as possible instead of giving the workers the full payment for the goods they had produced.

A summary of the Marxist view of society

The elite or capitalist class includes the power of wealth that has access to the resources to manufacture or produce products. The working class on the other hand is individuals that have no power and their hard work is sold to capitalist class to produce these products. The elite have an advantage over the working class in that they keep this class enslaved, so that they have to rely on the elite for income and they can maintain this power position of wealth

Class conflict

Karl Marx argued this exploitation created major differences in interest between the two classes, and this created conflict.

For example, the workers’ interest lay in higher wages to achieve a better lifestyle, but these would be at the expense of the bosses’ profit. The bosses wanted higher profits to expand their business and wealth, but this could only be achieved by keeping wages as low as possible or by making the workers produce more by working harder. The interests of these two classes are therefore totally opposite, and this generates conflict between the two social classes (Class conflict). Marx believed this class conflict affect all areas of life.

The ruling class

Karl Marx argued that the owning class was also a ruling class. For example, because they owned the means of production, the bourgeoisie could decide where factories should be located, whether they should be opened or closed down, and they could control the work force through hiring or firing. Democratically elected governments could not afford to ignore this power of the bourgeoisie; otherwise they might face rising unemployment or other social problems if the bourgeoisie decided not to invest its money.

Dominant ideology

Karl Marx believed the ruling or dominant ideas in any society, what he called dominant ideology, were those of the owning class (hence it is sometimes also called the ruling class ideology) and the major institutions in society reflected those ideas.

For example, the law protected the interest of the owning class more than it did the working class; religion acted as the “Opium of the people”, persuading the working class to accept their position as just and natural (rather than rebelling against it), by promising future rewards in heaven for putting up with their present suffering: the bourgeoisie’s ownership of the mass media meant only their ideas were put forward. In this way, the working class were almost brainwashed into accepting their position. They failed to recognise they were being exploited and therefore did not rebel against the bourgeoisie or elite class.

Marx called this lack of awareness by the working class of their own interest false consciousness.

Revolution and communism

However, Marx thought that one day the circumstances would arise in which the workers did become aware of their exploitation, and develop class consciousness.

Class consciousness is awareness in the members of a social class of their real interests and their exploitation.

The workers would join together to act against the bourgeoisie through strikes, demonstrations and other forms of protest. This would eventually lead to a revolution against and overthrow of the bourgeoisie. This means that the production would then be put in the hands of the state and run in the interest of everyone, not just of the bourgeoisie. A new type of society- communism- would be created, which would be without exploitation, without classes and without class conflict.

Marx therefore saw society as the base on the exploitation of one large class by a small group of owners, creating social classes with opposing interests, and inequalities of wealth and power in society. Rather than seeing society functioning harmoniously as the functionality do, Marxists see society based on conflict between rival social classes (class conflict) in social institutions serving to maintain the interest of a ruling class. However, like functionalities, Marxists see the behaviour of individuals as still largely determined or moulded by social institutions.

Explanation of Marx’s Labour Theory of Value

Marx inherited the labour theory of value from the classical school. Here the continuity is even more pronounced; but there is also a radical break, For Ricardo, labour is essentially a numeraire, which enables a common computation of labour and capital as basic elements of production costs. For Marx, labour is value. Value is nothing but that fragment of the total labour potential existing in a given society in a certain period (e.g. a year or a month) which is used for the output of a given commodity, at the average social productivity of labour existing then and there, divided by the total number of these commodities produced. and expressed in hours (or minutes), days, weeks, months of labour.

Value is therefore essentially a social, objective and historically relative category, It is social because it is determined by the overall result of the fluctuating efforts of each individual producer (under capitalism: of each individual firm or factory). It is objective because it is given, once the production of a given commodity is finished, and is thus independent from personal (or collective) valuations of customers on the market place; and it is historically relative because it changes with each important change (progress or regression) of the average productivity of labour in a given branch of output, including in agriculture and transportation.

This does not imply that Marx’s concept of value is in any way completely detached from consumption. It only means that the feedback of consumers’ behaviour and wishes upon value is always mediated through changes in the allocation of labour inputs in production, labour being seen as subdivided into living labour and dead (dated) labour, i.e. tools and raw materials. The market emits signals to which the producing units react. Value changes after these reactions, not before them. Market price changes can of course occur prior to changes in value. In fact, changes in market prices are among the key signals which can lead to changes in labour allocation between different branches of production, i.e. to changes in labour quantities necessary to produce given commodities. But then, for Marx, values determine prices only basically and in the medium-term sense of the word. This determination only appears clearly as an explication of medium and long-term price movements. In the shorter run, prices fluctuate around values as axes. Marx never intended to negate the operation of market laws, of the law of supply and demand, in determining these short-term fluctuations

Criticism

Many economists believe that the Marxist labor theory of value has been "discredited". The criticism revolves around the undue stress Marx put on labor, ignoring other sources of value (such as technology or know-how) Nonetheless certain elements of the theory are still believed to be valid, in particular, argument that interests of employee and employer are not the same, and that markets do not have a long-term tendency towards stability and equilibrium.

Bibliography

Book: - Introducing sociology by ken brown

Web references:-

www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1877/06/karl-marx.html

www.historyguide.org/intellect/marx.html

http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96may/marx.html

http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article284

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/k/karl_marx_3.html

www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/subject/quotes/index.htm

www.6sociologists.20m.com/marx.html

Learning and conditioning-psychology

2012-06-05T05:57:00.002-07:00

Learning and Conditioning

Learning has been defined in different ways:

· Learning means acquiring skill or efficiency in meeting situations which are relatively new to the individual.

· It is the process of getting new information and storing it in the brain.

· It may be defined as a relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge that occurs as a result of experience or practice.

· Learning is a mental activity by means of which knowledge, skills, attitudes and ideas are acquired resulting in desirable changes in behavior.

Factors or elements of learning

Learning is a process which starts from birth and continues till death. It brings about a change and modification in the individual’s behavior. It is helpful for the individual not only in attaining knowledge but also in formation of different habits through physical and mental activities.

The fundamental factors or elements of learning are:

· Arousal

· Motivation

· Reinforcement and

· Association

1. Arousal:

Arousal of an act or stimulation in learning is based on the curiosity instinct. Human being from the very beginning starts questioning what is it? How is it? Why is it working? These questions provoke the arousal for learning.

In our example (video shown in the class), girl gives the idea to a guy. Thus giving a curiosity instinct “HOW TO RIDE A BIKE”. The boy gets the idea and learns to work on it.

2. Motivation:

Some "Why" questions: Why do you go to class each day? Why do students study for hours (sometimes even days) to pass examinations (and don't say, "To pass examinations")? Why do professors teach students, and why do they test students? Why did you pick out those shoes or those pants to wear today? Each of these questions has an answer...there is some motive for engaging in those behaviors. We may define a motive (or motivation) as a need, want, interest, or desire that propels someone (or an organism) in a certain direction. This motivating mechanism can be called many things--a habit, a belief, a desire, an instinct, a need, an interest, a compulsion, or a drive--but no matter what its label, it is this motivation that prompts us to take action. Indeed, the motivation comes from the verb "to move."

Some Introductory Psychology books define the field of motivation as the study of goal-directed behavior.

Examples of motivation: The basic instincts of hunger and thirst evoke the purpose of satiating the need and drive of hunger by looking for food and drive of thirst by looking for water. So the act of searching or knowing the place of food and water becomes the motivation for learning.

Learning modifies the human behavior of satisfying their hunger and thirst as compared with animals. The animals eat and drink in the same manner with no change; but human beings have learned to eat the cooked food in the form of many delicious dishes with spoons and forks on the dining table according to their need keeping in view the medical advice.

Example in the video:

Motivation is a goal directed activity in which the goal is provided by the girl in a sense of “REACHING EARLY”. “When the boy will learn to ride the bike, he will reach there in time.”

3. Reinforcement:

Reinforcement exceeds the rate of learning. Positive reinforcement in the form of prizes strengthens the successful behavior or correct response in the leaning. Negative reinforcement in the form of punishments weakens the incorrect responses in learning and helps in avoiding failure.

Examples of positive reinforcement:

· A girl studies hard, pays attention in class and does her homework. As a result, she gets excellent grades.

· At work, you exceed this month's sales quota so your boss gives you a bonus.

· For your psychology class, you watch a video about the human brain and write a paper about what you learned. Your instructor gives you 20 extra credit points for your work.

Examples of negative reinforcement:

· You decide to clean up your mess in the room in order to avoid getting in a fight with your roommate

· On Monday morning, you leave the house early in order to avoid getting stuck in traffic and being late for class.

· Your cell phone rings in the middle of a class lecture, and you are scolded by your teacher for not turning your phone off prior to class. So you switched off your mobile before entering into the class.

· Because you're late to work one morning, you drive over the speed limit through a school zone. As a result, you get pulled over by a police officer and receive a ticket. So you follow the traffic rules and drive slowly in any case to avoid such situation.

Example in the video:

The bait is given in the sense of time. “AS SOON AS THE BOY LEARNS TO RIDE THE BIK, HE WILL SUCCEED IN GETTING THE GIRL”

Thus providing the positive reinforcement.

4. Association:

Association also affects learning. It helps in associating temporal and spatial events. Learning is thought to be the formation of association between stimulus and response.

Examples of association:

If a person wants to learn riding a motor cycle. He will say it is easy because I had ridden it previously. He can recall it. He will think that it’s quite a same thing as both include two tires and balancing. He tries to associate it with the previous one.

Example in the video:

The friend helps the boy in how to ride a bike in associating with his previous experiences of riding a bicycle in his childhood. He tells him to lose fear and creates confidence in him.

An individual has to learn the beliefs and creeds, traditions, and moral-social values of certain society. He has to learn to earn to make his living and fulfill his psycho-bio-social needs.

In this process of learning he undergoes the following changes:

Every person in society has to observe and follow some basic and foremost rules of society to live in it. These may be related to social interaction which includes norms, values and traditions and may be of earning related issues to meet his psycho- bio- social needs. In the process of earning following changes occur.

PHYSICAL CHANGES:

During any exercise which involves physical participation a person’s body undergo many changes. For example when a person start using computer for the first time he finds many difficulties in handling keyboard, mouse and watching screen. He gets confuse in keyboard alphabets, in handling mouse and coordination with all three parts of the computer. But as practice go on he get control over it.

Here we will discuss another example which is also shown in our video. A man in process of learning bike riding experiences physical changes. His body adapts many new techniques of doing this job.

Example in the video:

For example in gripping clutch handling the balance of motorcycle by weight and passing the brake paddle. In beginning he finds difficulties in coordinating all these activities. But with the passage of time and experience he become confident and skilled motorbike rider.

NEURAL CHANGES:

While practicing all this neural changes occur which first cause some problem in coordination of all this activity as stimulus and response does not occur accurately at the first time as the practice go on man overcomes his mental hindrances and their produces a continuity and harmony in stimulus.

Example in the video:

During learning nervous system first hinders or obstruct but as time passes continuity and harmony occur in stimulus response process of nervous system. As shown in our video.

MENTAL CHANGES:

To learn a new thing active attention is required. This brings mental changes in an individual. After learning this need of active attention changes into passive attention that it gains no more full attention. For example in case of computer typing the passage of time practice makes one perfect and he can use keyboard easily without paying whole attention on it as his mind and body start coordinating with each other easily.

Example in the video:

Mental changes are related to attention as biker first pay his full attention on learning but after getting experience his active attention changes into passive attention just because of body-mind coordination.

PSYCHOLOGICAL CHANGES:

Individual’s behavior also affected by psychological changes which occur during learning. Because at first he hesitate in learning and performing because of low practice and no confidence while after learning confidence helps him to move forward in life and achieve his goal

Example in the video:

The first hesitant and reluctant biker at the end rides bike with full confidence and without fear.

Definitions by famous psychologists

In the book “psychology a study of mental life” Robert S. Woolworths and Donald G. Marquis defines Learning as every aspect of life moves around learning. Each and every part of life belongs to learning for instance from vary first day of life a child starts learning till his last breath…..

· Robert eoodworth took learning as an exercise and reinforcement.

· According to Floyd L Runch learning is a process in which a person according to his surroundings.

· Henry E Garret relates learning with mental and physical changes according to the environment. For example adaptation of language according to the demand.

· Hilgard produced a definition which is similar to others that an activity teaches us a new lesson.

· Herbert J Kalausmeier research of learning based on changes of an individual through experience. For instance a man makes a mistake while driving and have an accident, but for the next time he ll be careful during driving.

· Crow L D explains learning as a continuous change according to the niceties of life e.g DO IN ROME AS THE ROMANS DO

· Robert S. Feldman in his book “understanding psychology” defines learning as a permanent after an experience. For example being conscious after an accident.

· James O Lugo gave a perfect definition of learning as a flexible behavior based on concepts, intelligence and past experience e.g. Good & Bad memories

· B.F Skinner defines learning as observable behavior for example a child observes his mother or father and try to copy it.

Utility of political science

2012-06-05T05:56:00.001-07:00

Political science teaches understanding of politics and government:

The primary function of the study of the political science is to provide the understanding of politics and government, which are two of the more important forces in human life and society. Political science does not and cannot teach a man how to govern his country; it can yet provide him with the understanding of politics and government. It deals with them in their varied aspects and processes. It will inform and enlighten the common man and woman of various aspects and processes of politics and government. More importantly the knowledge will help a Politian in the proper performance in his or her role as a practitioner of politics. Consequently, the study of political science will enable to Politian to understand and improve the working of the government. Professor Robson writes” The purpose of political science is to throw light on political action and political ideas in order that the government by the man may be improved. Only if those entrusted with responsibility for accept the aims of deliberately attempting solve the political problems which confront mankind in each country and all nations collectively can we justify a large expenditure of time intellectual effort and money on political science.

Political science is the study of social choice:

Human life and society are always confronted with choosing between two alternatives and facing the consequences of the choice. If the choice is good success and achievement are the results if bad failure and suffering are the consequence. In politics however it is always between two groups or parties which may lead to dispute and or conflict over the alternatives. Political science is the study of how and why the choices are and why one line of action or choice is to be adopted. “Social choice is the essence of politics and political science is the study of how and why these choices are made. Finally it is the study of the choices themselves and their consequences whether they lead to golden ages or holocaust.”

Political science is a policy science a futurist science:

D. Lasswell says that political science is the policy science. Policy means a line of action chosen in the awareness of future and of its consequences. It is the choice between the two alternatives courses of action made on the basis of social good. Lasswell writes “Policy awareness implies the mobilization of the knowledge whether of trend or of condition that illuminates the shape of things to come.”

In the traditional societies is static, bound with custom and routine of life. Therefore in such societies there is no change and no development and political science does not really exist in such societies for there are no alternatives yet they suffer from consequences of their traditional ways of life. In the developed and advanced societies or countries where change is the law of life social development is consciously planned. In such a society political science becomes s future-oriented intellectual activity. It studies changes and development. It even aims at anticipating changes and developments, political and other in ones own and as well as in foreign countries. It thus becomes a policy. It is particularly so in the modern age of science and high technology which are transforming every aspect and every thing in human life, society, culture and politics. Political science has to be a problem-solving science, anticipating events and their immediate and future consequences. “The crucial point is”, writes Harold Lasswell, “that man is taking all evolution as a species the planned introduction of novels form of life or the evolutionary future of cosmos. The circuiting of events through the internal process of man and other higher forms of life is the policy making through which evolution can be affected. Given a potentiality of this kind political science comes to play a crucial role in the clarification of goals and strategies within the decision process not only for men not only for such developed forms of life as are created or discovered but for the universe as the whole. Government is the art of anticipation particularly in the modern age when every, government State and nation stands in a gladiator-like posture against almost every other government, state and nation of the world.

Modern Times and Political science:

The importance of political science in the modern times than if ever was in the past ages. Modern age is comforted with many and varied problems and perils of which we shall consider here only three namely the nuclear threat cultural crises and the space adventures.

The present age is the nuclear age the age of nuclear bombs with all their disastrous consequences for the very existence of life on the earth the only place in the whole universe where the man has come into being where he live for ages to come provided not totally exterminated in a nuclear holocaust as depicted in the well known film “The Day After”. The nuclear bomb however will not destroy humanity by subordinates to use it as did the American airmen on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan at the Heads of state or governments decided to resort to unleashing the nuclear war. But if one kind of politics leads to nuclear war, another kind of political science to analyze the two kinds of politics and enable the people to understand the ways and means of saving the whole humanity from this perilous situation.

Nuclear threat is only the part of the dangerous situation confronting mankind today. The present ages in the history of the world has been rightly characterized as the ages of Continuous Cultural Crisis in which old values and standard of life and conduct are being challenged and noticeable in all aspects of modern life, but most world into several Communist East into the number of lesser alliance and blocs in the underdeveloped third World. Wars or war-like strugglers are being waged by various countries, States, blocs such as between Arabs and Israel, between the Palestine and their Israel oppressors the war between Nicaragua and its enemies Soviet intervention in Afghanistan and its war with afghan freedom fighters or mujahedeen, the endless indo-pak disputes between the Whites and Blacks in South Africa and all sorts of disputes in various parts and region of the African Continent as well as in central and southern America , the China-Russia and China-India tangle and so on so forth. Only intelligent men women equipped with the knowledge of political science and not only of political science can understand rightly and assess properly the nature and consequences of these conflicts between rival political systems and ideologies.

Since 1957 when the first Soviet Sputnik spun around the globe the world is confronted with a new development, which has opened a new chapter in the history of world politics it is the beginning of the Space Age. Harold D. Lasswell ha significantly called this development as astro-politics ---- the politics of the space adventures of the developed countries, like USA or USSA, and not so developed countries like India are object of expansionist and imperialist designs, e.g. the SDI or the Star Wars. The present day race for example to the planet mars may become the race of gods of war to fight not only on the earth the ancient cockpit of mankind but also in the outer space. “The present period of world transformation”, writes Harold Lasswell “could with equal justice be called the age of science or that astro-politics. No one imagines that political science alone among the arts and sciences will remain unaffected by the changes through which the world is moving. The distinctive concern of political science is with the political process itself and it is impossible to believe that government and law will be outside the accelerating tempo of history.” He adds further, “Political scientists must themselves carry the primary burden of describing and explaining the flow of political institutions throughout the globe.” He writes further, “Political scientists are more explicitly conscious of the world as a whole and especially of the factors that limit cooperation than economic theorists have been. They are more accustomed to considering the issues that arise in the clarifying of globe or the invention of policy than are for example sociologists or psychologists.”

Importance of Political Science for Its Student:

We now come to specific questions. Why should a student study political science? What good will it does to him or to her in later life? Will it help him or her to get a better job then he or she would get otherwise? Such must have been the questions asked by many, if not all students, who opted to take political science instead of some other subject for their academic courses.

Political science offers many advantages to its students. We begin with the general advantages first. The study of political science will enable state and also the reason why the political power can be exercised for human good for maintaining peace, harmony and progress. They will realize that government is not meant to be an agency of oppression or exploitation, but as a means for improvement and betterment of the social political economic and physical conditions of everyone in the State and in the whole mankind. They will realize that the state exists for man and not man for the state. This was true only in the past ages but more so in the present age, but for potentialities for doing well is immense today due to the tremendous power of the modern science and technology. Charles Dickens, the English novelist wrote in his novel: the tale of two cities about the revolutionary France Revolution of 1789: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going to Heaven, we were all going direct to other way.” Now what was true of France at the end of the eighteenth century is truer of the present age at the end of the twentieth century and will be far more of twenty-first century the third millennium about to dawn over the whole human world. If there is any branch of human knowledge which will make the new world of man the best of times the age of wisdom of hope and light usher in “The Day After,” it is the science of politics the architectonic science as Plato put modern government and politics is as necessary for the students as for the adults if they are to make the world safe for themselves and for future generations.

Moreover it teaches the students to value higher interests and nobler ends more than the lesser ones. For instance a student of Political Science must uphold the interests of mankind more than those of nation or any other lesser organization. Moreover he will often notices that evil doctrines and purposes masquerade as good and noble in the grab of nationalism, love of freedom or such other item, which an average man is unable to detect. The study of political science prepares its student to be on guard against such descriptions. “It is of the nature of states as of men,” says R.H. Tawny an English liberal writer, “to yield to the temptations to oppress, rob murder. It is not the mere commission of these crimes which is the symptoms of the approach of spiritual death; it is the assertion that when committed for the advantages of the British Empire, the Nordic Race, the Catholic Church, or the International Proletariat they are not crimes but virtue” an intelligent, honest humanistic understanding of the modern world and its politics is the great advantage and supreme utility of the study of political science. Ultimate goal of all science and knowledge is world State in which all mankind will be equal, free, and happy, regardless of the difference of race, nationality, color, religion, clan, caste.

Now we return to the specific advantages of the study of political science for its students. Firstly it provides them the knowledge and understanding of democracy as the best form of state. It will do so by providing them the knowledge of the political systems and forces which will enable them to develop democratic attitudes and beliefs both individually and collectively. Secondly, its knowledge enables its student to be a good citizen not merely in the sense of good voter, but also as a Good man who knows his rights and fulfill his duties. Thirdly he will know how his government operates what interests and forces are behind its policies and what results such policies are likely to produce. Ignorance of politics can be disastrous for the individual as also for the society and state of which he or she is a member. Civics is taught to in our schools to pupils to enable them to know how the government is run. Political science is a continuation of this knowledge on greater and more scientific scales. Thus what civics began, political science will complete it will make the students become intelligent and well-informed adults and citizen. For instance the study of political science will complete it will enable its student to understand such terms as fascism, socialism, communism, liberalism, democracy, tyranny, imperialisms, old and new, freedom, equality and the like. They will thus be able to know how far the actions of such parties and groups correspond to their claims or public Statements, this science will thus broaden the vision of its students.

Secondly the study of political terms their use, misuse and abuse will benefit the students of politics in sharpening their wits and help them to see between the lines or below the lines or below the surface of things. “For the great majority of mankind”, wrote Niccolo Machiavelli, “are satisfied with appearance as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are”. With such knowledge of the reality of political events and processes we shall understand better a number of problems which have a more immediate impact on our lives. We can learn how to lessen some forms of suffering such as those that result from poverty and unemployment. We can learn the cause of war and to further the efforts of mankind for peace and progress. Justice, liberty, happiness and well-being are values which will be prompted more by intelligent students of politics than otherwise.

It is a science which taxes human mind to the utmost. It is one of the most important sciences for human welfare and happiness. Knowledge is power and knowledge of political science if powerful. Its theories, the inhabitants of the whole globe than the inventions and discoveries of Chemistry and Physics. The ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity are more powerful than bombs and bullets. Furthermore the study of politics like that of other social sciences would enable Man to utilize these inventions and discoveries for his weal rather than woe.

In the end we may mention that the study of political science has also a personal utility for its students. Besides providing opportunities for teaching it in the universities and colleges in Pakistan, political science is also prescribed as a paper in all the competitive examinations for joining federal and Provincial Public Services as well as of armed forces of Pakistan. Moreover, various sub-fields of political science such as public administration, or international relations are also included as independent papers for candidates appearing in these public and military services examinations as well as for teaching in colleges and universities.

Success of democracy:

Political science as a discipline has guided much important in a democratic. According to the democratic norms, no person or any group therefore, can claim political power on hereditary basis; this is the will of the people that stands paramount in a free society. For that purpose, a participant system is evolved in which political role of citizens is not restricted merely to the casting of votes for return the candidates to the legislative assemblies; they are, on the other hand , provided opportunities to participate ,directly or indirectly, in the decision making process. Obviously, it is not possible for a common man to have a correct appraisal of the political science equips the decision –makers with necessary information for arriving at correct decisions.

Political consciousness:

It is with the help of political science that the people have knowledge regarding governmental affairs. He can exercise the right to vote in a benefiting manner only if he has full perception of functions of a government. Casting of vote is in the nature of judgment given by voters to decide the fate of political parties who present their programs during election campaign. It is therefore, imperative for a politically conscious and vigilant. Domestic politics in modern world is to a large extent, affected by worldwide trends, making the political issue all the more complicated beyond the grasp of a layman. The study of the political science enables common citizen to develop an understanding of the political processes and the contemporary political realities.

Protection of rights:

Fundamental rights of the citizens have gained much importance in the modern-age. In order to enforce them effectively, it is a general practice to incorporate a last of fundamental rights in the constitution. Lack of political consciousness among the citizens, indirectly creates hurdles in the effective enforcement of the rights of citizens, on the one hand, and fosters autocratic trends in the ruling elite, on the other. Awareness about their rights and duties on the part of the citizens stands a solid guarantee for the protection of fundamental liberties. Political science engenders this sense in the minds of citizens.

Promotion of knowledge:

Political science is a social science which is closely related to allied disciplines. The present day political problems have their roots deeply planted in other socio –economic and cultural issues. Political science analyses all these political issues in a wider context, utilizing the research techniques and data furnished by other disciplines. Thus a profound study of this discipline broadens the intellectual understanding of its students and enriches their knowledge.

Introduction of values:

The successful working of a democratic system is conditioned by the presence of democratic political culture. Divergent point of views regarding the goals and policies of the political system, are allowed to exist in a free society. Choice to alternate solution to political problems is left open at the discretion of popular will. But such an atmosphere requires higher sense of responsibility and tolerance on the part of citizens, groups and political parties. The study of political science indoctrinates liberal education hence it effectively performs the function of political socialization in a society.

Political training:

The performance of governmental function is not an easy job in modern world societies. It requires a lot of political sagacity, skill, general information and a knowledge and training in statecraft. Political science educates the voters, makes them sensible to perceive their responsibilities and holds the political office-bearers, accountable to the people. In this context, the techniques and practices adopted by different political systems are let known to the students of politics in a consistent and comprehensive manner.

Adjustment of loyalties:

Multi-groups and associations flourish in modern societies to satisfy divergent wants of their members. Citizens are generally members of such various associations and that of political parties. The presence of divergent interests and conflicting loyalties requires a higher sense of tolerance and the presence of other civic virtues in a society. Political science aims at the creation and fostering of supportive political values in a society.

Improvement in political behavior:

The knowledge of political values imparted through the study of this subject, acquaints the citizens with the peaceful means and techniques necessary to present their demands effectively and get these translated of political science, the citizens are educated enough to demarcate clearly the boundaries between legal means and extra constitutional men’s in pursuance of their goals and thus can avoid violence and other undesirable means. Citizens, who have acquired such liberal education, can have a clear estimation of the far-reaching disastrous consequences of violence. A clear perception of the right and wrong in the realm of politics can definitely contribute, to some extent, in the improvement of political behavior.

Political science-an art or science?

2012-06-05T05:55:00.001-07:00

political science

definition:

Political science is the study of governments, public policies and political processes, systems, and political behavior.

Political science subfields include political theory, political economy, policy studies and analysis, comparative politics, international relations, and a host of related fields.

Political scientists use both humanistic and scientific perspectives and tools and a variety of methodological approaches to examine the process, systems, and political dynamics of all countries and regions of the

world.

Is politics a science?

The claim of a social science to be treated as a full-fledged science , has been an issue most perplexing to the students. The word ‘science’ is , no doubt , inserted in the title of politics; certain scholars , however , refuse to consider it as a science on the grounds that its premises are not as valid as their counterparts in physical sciences. No doubt , the subject and the issue of politics are so intricate and diverse that unanimity can hardly be seen in the view points of different theorist. Moreover , traditional mode of scientific enquiry and research is not directly applicable to fact-finding in the realm of politics. In order to have a clear appraisal of the nature of this science , it is appropriate to explain the term science.

WHAT IS SCIENCE?

The term science is applied to the composition of consistent propositions which have been deduced on the basis of impartial study and observation. The conclusions based on scientific enquiry , are so compiles that sequence cause and effect remains consistent. Moreover , these premises are valid of universal character at all times and for all places. The natural sciences such as physics , chemistry , biology etc., can be termed as sciences , because their dictums and research methodology is purely of scientific character. The law of gravitation or the composition of water , for instance , depicts certain laws which hold good for all times.

IMPERFECT SCIENCE:

Political science cannot be considered as a science in aforesaid meanings , as there are notable variations in political concepts and political environments. It is difficult to anticipate future course action , as multi-factors and cross-currents upset the flow of circumstances sometimes quite abruptly. The underline motives and interests that shape political behavior and attitude , are of divergent types and they affect the working of political institutions in different manners This account for the absence of finality in political dictums.

DIVERGENT OPINIONS:

Sometimes divergent views are found among different political scientists on the same issue. Jhon S. Mill , for example , believes in the principle of one nation one state’ as necessary safeguard of liberty. Whereas Lord Acton an equally high authority on the subject , postulates multi-nation polity as a symbol of civilized way of life. Multitude of ideas and different can also be traced in regard to the form of government. Some political theorists praise parliamentary system while certain other prefer presidential sustem. Solid arguments are advanced in support of their respective views from both sides. The difference and variations in the structures and processes of governments ay different historical phases , is especially noble. Consequently , a subject that has to deal with such uncertain environments , can’t claim universality and definiteness. Lord Bryce considers political science as an imperfect science in the same sense as Marshal called economics as the science of waves.

Arguments against :

The arguments that are opposed to consider political science as a true science , are the following.

1.lack of Consensus on Nature of Political Science:

There is no agreement among political scientists as to its methods, principles and conclusions.The writers of politics do not adopt any one method in the field of political enquiry and research.

2. No Certainty and Universality in the Laws of Political Science:

It lacks uniform principles or laws that are universally valid. The generalisations of the natural sciences are frequently described as laws. But the generalisations put forward by social sciences including Political Science are endlessly disputed as they do not possess the same degree of certainty or universality. At best, they are 'tendencies', not 'laws'.

3. No Predictability:

The political behaviour of man is unpredictable and hence it is difficult to arrive at exact and definite views and conclusions. Generalisations in social sciences lack the quality of predictability which is regarded as a major characteristic of the 'laws' of natural sciences. The latter make forecasts about future developments possible.

4. No Law of Cause and Effect:

There are many laws in natural science - a particular cause will lead to a particular effect. But this does not happen in Political Science. There is no certainty that the factors which caused the French Revolution of 1789 will lead to a similar revolution in another country.

5. Not Possible to Conduct Experiments in any Laboratory:

It is impossible to apply to Political Science rigorous scientific methods of investigation. General statements are difficult to establish because of the problem of their verifiability. "Political phenomena are characterized by uncertainty, variableness and a lack of order and continuity."

Laboratory experiments are not possible in Political Science as in the case of Physics or Chemistry. Social phenomena based on human behaviour are constantly undergoing change and are more difficult to control. Political Science is primarily a science of observation, and not of experiment.

6. No Neutrality and Objectivity:

Objectivity which characterizes the study of physical sciences is lacking in political studies. Political scientists cannot take a totally impartial, value neutral attitude in dealing with political issues and affairs. The subjective bias of the political observer colours his judgment of political problems and his findings may be one-sided.

Arguments in support:

political science can claim to be a science in a sense of scientific method of enquiry and research based on observation , experimentation and empirical verification of facts , is fully adopted. Aristotle made a substantial contribution in the field of scientific research in the realm of political and considered it a Master cience Later, some German scholars also enrich this subject through their intellectual contribution. Most of the scholars are of the view that the science of state can be developed as a full-fledged science, through continuous research and perfection of its techniques. Through the adoption of scientific techniques of research , multi principles of universal character , can be developed in the field of this science. The researcher is not handicapped by the paucity of data in this context.

Historical events and contemporary realities provide him with ample material for data collection . the whole world is appears to be a laboratory for the students of politics , feeding his observation and enriching his information. Aristotle drew up the conclusion on the basis of vast study of political history , that autocracy and oppression pavers the way for revolutionary changes. This dictum holds good even at present , as recent historical facts stand an evidence to this effect.

To illustrate another example , most of the political scientist agree that exploitation , poverty and depression make the way for dictatorship. This hypothesis can be verified through an examination of the recent political changes in the contemporary world. Ibn Khaldon , the celebrated Muslim sociologist and historian , has discovered some universal laws regulating a cyclic change regarding the origin , rise and fall of the rule of dynasties. At present , it is admitted on all hands , that democratic system is the best system evolved so far. Even autocratic regimes , in order to legitimize their right to rule , use the cover of democracy .

POLITICS AS AN ART

An Art determines practically the dimensions of any task and set its tone. Political science is an art as it deals with statecraft. The principles of political science , have been developed not exclusively on the basis of theoretical knowledge ; observation of facts and the experience gained from the implementation of these principles, also contribute a lot in this respect. The system of election for example , can be better appraised and evaluated if actual conduct of election is minutely observed. Most of the political theorists, have refined their concepts on the basis of political enquiry made in the routine lifr. Following are the important aspects of political science to be treated as an art.

Statecraft:

Political science is the science of state and government , statesmanship is an art, which is acquired through experience. Most of the books on the politics written during the medieval ages, dealt with the practical side of policies viz the primary aim of these writers was to advise the rulers of about government policies . “the prince” of machially and siyasat nama of nizam-ul-mulk-tusi are the clear examples.

Convection :

The convection developed within every political system , from the backbone of the system , despite the fact that these are nowhere reduced to writing. The convection are not generally the product of some conscious thinking , they have spontaneous and evolutionary growth. The success of parliamentary system in Britain , owes a lot to the constitutional convections.

Experiments and observation:

Maximum importance is attached , at present , to experiments and observation in the field of political study and research. The premises of politics , can remain in true with the political trends of the time only if they remain responsive to environmental settings. The science of politics loses its significance and validity if is concerned merely with the mechanical application of its norms. Modern political science incites the students to be flexible in approach and broad-minded enough to consider new realities and faces new challenges; it engenders creativity among the researchers. To be a good politician , requires a knowledge of political concepts and deep insight in the trends of practical politics. At present research in different branches of political science , is pragmatic and empirical. Survey , research and statistical techniques , for instance , are borrowed to predict , on valid grounds , future course of political action.

Conclusion:

This is an undeniable fact that the science of state and government , has furnished such concept and norms in the light of which we can decide which system is most suitable under given condition , it has also clearly portrayed the essential features and symbols of an ideal system. As a matter of fact ,it would be unjust to forfeit the claim of political science to be regarded as a science, simply because it has no permanent laws of universal character. There exist a science of state and government that has it independent rules , norms and principles that provide sufficient guideline to person involve in statecraft.

• Political Science is a body of systematized knowledge which can be applied in drafting a constitution, in day to day administration, in legislation, in foreign policy and above all in bringing about all round development of the state.

• Thus the knowledge of Political Science is made use of by statesmen, diplomats, administrators, social reformers and activists to achieve their objectives. The knowledge of Political Science is not merely of theoretical value, but it has practical utility.

• It will suffice to say in conclusion that Political Science is mainly an art.

public opinion-what it means?

2012-06-05T05:53:00.002-07:00

Definition

Public opinion is the aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs held by the adult population. Public opinion can also be defined as the complex collection of opinions of many different people and the sum of all their views.

The principle approaches to the study of public opinion may be divided into 4 categories:

i. Quantitative measurement of opinion distributions;

ii. Investigation of the internal relationships among the individual opinions that make up public opinion on an issue;

iii. Description or analysis of the public role of public opinion;

iv. Study both of the communication media that disseminate the ideas on which opinions are based and of the uses that propagandist and other manipulators make of these media.

1. MEDIA

Mass media content created for newsworthy events and those stories that are not told all have Television broadcasting has a large amount of control over the content society watches and the times in which it is viewed. This is a distinguishing feature of traditional media which new media have challenged by altering the participation habits of the public. The internet creates a space for more diverse political opinions, social and cultural viewpoints and a heightened level of consumer participation. There have been suggestions that allowing consumers to produce information through the internet will lead to an overload of information.

2. Evolution

When people realized that their work and every day decision making can have a effect on other people as well than the concept of public opinion evolved.

3. Press Democracy at Work

The print media includes newspaper, periodicals, pamphlets, journals, leaflets etc. Press or print media supplies the news regarding all political and social happenings in the world. It throws a flood of light on current issues. In fact press is regarded as the watchdog of democracy by carrying the voice of the public to the government. People express their criticism or support in the form of articles, or comments through press. Hence, make the government responsible and answerable. In fact, government also propagates its policies and programmes through media. It tries to highlight its achievements to make public opinion in its favour.

4. Radio and Television

Electronic media i.e. radio and televisions act as a mirror of social life. Print media influences only the educated. The electronic media plays an important part in collecting the information and moulding the thoughts of the uneducated masses also. The audio-visual media is used as a powerful means for bringing about social transformation and setting up a new social order free from social evils. It is used to educate the masses on certain sensitive issues like casteism, communalism violence etc. Through radio and television masses communicate their feelings and opinions towards various government policies and programmes.

5. Political parties and their activities

Political parties formulate and organize public opinion. They are called mobilisers of opinion. Political parties not only make the people aware of various public issues. Their purpose is to make the people politically conscious to think about public problems. Political parties publish journals, pamphlets, leaflets, manifestoes, posters etc. to mould the public opinion in their favour.

6. Educational Institutions

They include schools, colleges, literary clubs, study circles, universities and libraries etc. They can mould public opinion to a great extent. The adolescents get easily swayed by the opinion of others. Therefore the right kind of training is very important for this age group. Eminent leaders, scholars and educationists help in moulding their leadership qualities and help in creating public opinion through Debates, Talks, Seminars etc. Various co-curricular activities like Drama, Symposium, Painting/Slogan writing competition etc. also prove very effective in sensitizing the students on important national and international issues. There are certain limitations on the use of public opinion. It is believed that the public takes interest in local and national affairs. The public is reasonably well informed. The public thinks, with reason and logic and arrives at the rational conclusion. The opinion of the public is expressed through the elections/polls. Public opinion always keeps the government on its toes and the alert government makes the laws based on social and moral principles expressed by it. Public opinion is the voice of interested spectators of action. Public opinion reflects the plurality and diversity of opinions. Sometimes it is taken very casually. It is more a matter of interpretation. Fault does not lie with the opinion but with the interpretation. At times, sample may also not be appropriate. In modern mass societies people read, listen and see so much that it is not always easy for them to sift facts from fiction. Hence, it poses a great challenge to people to make intelligent discrimination of news and views. However, the fact remains that public opinion is very effective means of communication between the government and the citizens.

8. Legislature:

Legislature in every democratic country is a forum for expression of political ideas. Debates and discussions arc held in the legislature. An account of these debates is published in the newspapers.

People read them with great interest and thus they are acquainted with all the aspects of political life.

Significance

Public opinion is considered to be the essential element for successful working of democratic communication in the system. Public Opinion is the expression of the views of citizens. No government can afford to ignore it. A sound and effective public opinion can even shake the structures of dictators. The strength of democratic system lies in respecting the mind power of the people. There should be free and fair interaction of thoughts for solving the collective problems. Public opinion acquires great relevance in realising this democratic goal. It promotes wider awareness and invites citizens to examine issues from different points of view. The significance and role of public opinion can be explained as follows:

(A) Guide to the Government: Public opinion acts as the guide to the government in respect of policy formation. Government functions in general on the basis of mandate received in elections and tries to win over the masses to fulfil the promises made during elections.

(B) Helping in Law Making: Government is always under pressure of public opinion and takes note of the same in formulating laws for the common good. Governmental policies are invariably affected by people’s opinion on various issues. Public opinion helps the government to enact laws in the given situation.

(C) Acts as a Watchdog: Public opinion acts as a watchdog. It controls and checks the government from becoming irresponsible. While criticizing the wrong policies of the government, public opinion always keeps the government alert. Government is always conscious of the fact that people would not vote for it or bring it back to power again if it goes against the wishes of the people.

(D) Protects the Rights & Liberties: Public opinion acts as the protector of rights and liberties of citizens. In a democratic country, people have the right to criticize or support the government in their own way. More effective and positive use of this right not only encourages or motivates the government but also keeps the government alive towards the rights and liberties of the people.

(E) Acts as a Powerful Force in International Sphere: - Public opinion has acquired worldwide importance. In fact, international relations are influenced by public opinion. In the age of globalization, the issues like promotion and protection of human rights, environment and discrimination based on race, religion or sex, prevention of child labour, terrorism etc. hold international community answerable to public opinion. Therefore, the governments remain conscious of such international public opinion also. In fact, no democratic government can afford to ignore public opinion.

Problems:

1. Elite Transfer:-

Ruling class always belong to upper class. Majority of the positions formed in this class. This is the class which has a luxurious life and got high education, hats why they are far away from the problems of lower class and can’t hear the necessities of common people. For instance in subcontinent all countries have a role of passing ones leader ship to next generation.

2. Lack of honesty:-

Honest and sound public opinion is one of the major problems of Pakistan. Some people are wrongly influenced or they themselves express wrong public opinion because of their choice. Ones honesty behind this dishonesty is the shame behind ones idea, and some are also afraid to express the right because they are scared of the majority’s opinion. another issue still resides that why people don’t contributes or such polls that measures or determine public opinion such problems are caused by ignorance or lack of interest in politics and state matters.

So, it is very important that people should be awarded of the current scenario and political situations with trends in system by which they are being ruled upon. By this method people will take parts in polls and surveys regarding people opinion. An effective and sound public opinion will then require both people’s contribution, that is their due duty upon state, and honesty, which is the fundamental requisite for true leader ship. For instance America and u.k conducts regular polls regarding issues in states and politics and the contribution percentage is 90% to 95%. Thus it proves that effective system of rule (e.g. democracy) require public opinion

3. Illiteracy:-

A literate state can achieve high goals for the progress of their country. Only through high literacy rate nations can make their moral high. According to Pakistani commission 57% people (who can read or write his name) are literate .this is not enough percentage for the progress of a country but only 23% people who are well educated and can underline the problems of a common man, which is very low from the bottom line. In such condition public opinion become ineffective

4. Collection:-

The major problem is the procedure to collect data. It requires a lot of physical effort and also extra usage of budget. One procedure is to make samples in which sample of an area or field has taken and make analysis of public opinion. In second procedure analyst ask person to person to get exact figures

In first procedure the data can be mishandle e.g. thousand people are working in a factory, to get a public opinion analyst picked up 100 people from total and if 5 or 6 persons not gives their opinion it will cause a lack of sample and if the underline people’s opinion doesn’t match with other people will be false data. And the data picking up by different fields like class, work, nature etc It will be a highly charge procedure

In second procedure it is very difficult to ask one by one from every person. It causes high expanses.

Public opinion is too much costly like in our country (Pakistan).so collection is not a reliable.

5. Media as white elephant:-

Media is forth pillar of democratic government. It is playing vital role through which every person aware with common and important news on daily bases. Different is considered an authentic source of information. Different talk shows and opinion programs are held to aware common people with burning news and sometimes unimportant issues highlighted by them. For example issue of dengue became very popular in last days because of media intention; media helped by giving every person awareness but also frighten to them by the daises.

6. Supporting ones view point:-

A person who claims a party or an individual better than others and supports particular party/individual vice versa but can’t prove it for instance people are not well known about historical movements and make their concepts according to the limited knowledge. As in the previous election after the death of Benazir Bhutto PPP was succeeded to role in federal. The survey was held by different media channels to know about vote casting in the favor of PPP and most of the public said JUST BECAUSE OF THE DEATH OF BHUTTO AND HIS DAUGHTER MARTERYARD…so this type of irrelevant arguments are given by public.

Requirements of an effective public opinion

The effectiveness and weightage of a sound public opinion is dependent upon the very participation of common people in politics. It has been statistically observed that a lot of people don’t take interest in political happenings around them or in their nation, others who do, lack exact and accurate information. In developed countries like U.S and U.K, the government and some non-governmental organisations conduct regular public opinion measurements, often through public polls and other techniques. This exercise makes people aware of the current issues also with benefiting the present governing body by public opinion about them and some issues.

The presence of an effective public opinion is most important for a developing country like Pakistan where democracy is starting to live now. It is difficult to discover the different trends in our society and even more difficult to dig out public opinion from such society. Very few people come on the merit to give an effective public opinion. Those who give such opinions are the victims of prejudices and biased opinion on account of wrong, invalid or bad information/experience. The concept of public opinion is generally criticised on the grounds that is always reflect the opinion of few political leaders, and that at its initial stages, it always aims at protecting the vested interests. It is given so wider publicity through the effective use of propaganda machinery that common people are also mobilised, thereby opinion of an elite class is transformed into public opinion. Common people do not enough time or knowledge and information to develop independent opinion.

Only such an opinion can be called effective or sound public opinion that fulfils the following requirements:-

1. Freedom of expression:-

Better decisions can be arrived at in an atmosphere of free deliberations. Freedom of expression is an essential prerequisite regarding the formation of an effective public opinion. Not following the way of power and letting common people say what they want to can prove a lot better for both the government and people. Free discussion also helps the government in keeping itself better informed about their mistakes and what people want and also about the trends in public opinion. Frequency in the flow of information helps a government in the performance of its feedback functions.

2. Vigilance:-

Eternal vigilance and interest in political affairs is an essential requirement of a sound and effective public opinion. An ignorant person is incapable of understanding the difficult issues involved in public policy or policy making. The people are expected to be conscious enough to understand important political problems and issues relating to both, internal as well as international affairs.

3. Freedom of press and public publications:-

Freedom of media and press publications is another important requisite of an effective and sound public opinion. Flow of information is necessary to the formation of this opinion. In case undue restraints and banns over media and publications, rumours will always have their way up. The wrongdoers may take advantage of such situation, hence can misguide public by wrong information, such as to affect the public view. It is however necessary that positive steps should be taken in order to eliminate the vested interests on media and replace them with upright and just persons.

4. Tolerance:-

Freedom of expression and freedom of media and press publications cannot always ensure the true formation of a sound public opinion if people are not tolerant enough to listen to the opposite point of view. The threat to liberty comes from an intolerant majority that oppress and regiment minorities by virtue of its numerical strength. In like manner, sound opinion can’t develop in case a minority is intolerant to the verdict of the majority.

5. National integration:-

A group of people held by fraternal feelings can develop sound opinion because they all think for the betterment of their country and nation. It is essential that they should not indulge in parochial prejudices. General consensus on important regime norms and on basic ideological principles is imperative for sound public opinion.

Our society

During the research on voting behaviour, it was found that the values of people have deep bearing on their actions and thoughts, irrespective of the advancements they have made. The clever politicians try to exploit this aspect of the social life during elections and use attractive slogans. Some even use religion as a tool for political victory. Undoubtedly, the cultural legacy of a people sets targets of politics and determines the tone of collective life.

The people of Pakistan also pay due heed to their cultural heritage. In order to appraise the trends of public opinion of this region, the Muslims cultural legacy will have to be taken into consideration. No party in Pakistan can afford to violate the basic values and beliefs that underlie the ideology of this country. Even the secular parties, in order to legitimise their role, had to mould their programmes and policies in this direction. Pakistan has faced a lot of problems since its independence; merely a system of democracy has worked. So the changing scenario always affects the public opinion and the insecurity of the system. Or we can say that the system of governance is not that safe. Opinion of the common people depends upon the system by what they are being ruled. In Pakistan we can say that as democracy has been attacked by some people as is public opinion been. Problems such as elite transfer and opinion leaders hinder the way people think about the present government or the residing issues.

Despite the cultural legacy on the lifestyle of a society, the values and belief system itself is not stagnant, as it is affected by the changing trends of public opinion. The economic changes and technological advancements have, of course, shaped such trends. Due tremendous developments in the field of communication and transportation, the interaction between the nations has been broadened. Consequently, mutual diffusion of cultures has given rise to new trends and promoted new values in every society. Development in mutual relationship and ever increasing dependence of societies, have fostered new beliefs and modes of thinking and replaced some outdated norms. Nevertheless, the dimension of this conflict between traditionalism and modernism has been varying from society to society and from region to region.

Improvements done in the method of measurement

Effectiveness of public opinion in a democratic system is dependent upon the fact as how far it has been successful in shaping public policy. It has been an important problem for a representative government, to keep itself well-informed about the trends of public opinion. Following are the major improvements in the area of measuring the public opinion:

1. Modern method and private polls:-

Lot of improvements took place regarding the perfection of technique in the measurement of public opinion. As a matter of fact, many such techniques had been in use since long in business and commercial activities. But these were imitated and began to be used in politics from 1936 onward. By this time, different other agencies, other than the news paper, also got involved in conducting opinion polls.

Apart from the involvement of certain agencies and institutions in the conduct of opinion polls, sometimes candidates contesting the elections also do it. It is on the basis of findings by public opinion that the candidates are in a better position to assess the general trends of public opinion. Hence candidates and political parties, try to shape their policies in the light of new and better requirements.

2. Voting( an appraisal):-

As direct democracy is no more possible, due to the high population of a nation, in the present times, whereas people are practically taken into confidence only at times of elections held after intervals; opinion polls can be instrumental in promoting public interest in politics. It is generally observed that people show more interest in the election of men then in the choice of issues. But the process relating to the measurement of public opinion, promotes the interest of people directly in policy matters. Hence they can be indirectly involved in the process of policy-making. No doubt. Sometimes miscalculations take place in the results of public opinion polls but such defects can be overcome through frequent use of such methods.

INTRODUCTION TO PARLIAMENTARY FORM OF GOVERNMENT

2012-06-05T05:50:00.000-07:00

“INTRODUCTION TO PARLIAMENTARY FORM OF GOVERNMENT”

DEFINITION:-

Parliamentary system can be defined as: “Representative system that features FUSION OF POWER rather than SEPARATION OF POWER between the executive and legislative institutions and power” .

NATURE OF PARLIMENTARY FORM OF GOVERNMENT:

Parliamentary form of government is a one in which legislative and executive organs of the state are closely connected and interdependent on each other for the affairs of the state.

As Garner says, these are "inextricably mingled".

It has 2 executives:

· Binomial executive (hereditary monarch like the British queen).

· Titular executive (an elected president in India or in Italy).

ORGANS OF PARLIMENTARY FORM OF GOVERNMENT:

There are 4 organs of the parliamentary form of government:

· the king or president

· the prime minister

· the cabinet or councils of minister

· The parliament.

The TITULAR HEAD OF STATE, king or president, is the nominal executive.

In theory, he may possess many powers but in practice he cannot exercise them without the consent and advice of the prime minister.

As Bagehot says: "he reigns but does not rule".

The real executive is the CABINET OR THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS, HEADED BY PRIME MINISTER. The prime minister and all other ministers are the members of parliament. They are responsible to the titular head of the state for their acts and policies, but really to the parliament.

Cabinet as a whole is responsible to parliament. Whenever a new cabinet is to be formed, the king summons the leader of the majority party in the parliament to form a government. He then becomes the prime minister and selects all other ministers from his party.

The LEGISLATURE OR THE PARLIAMENT is the most important organ of the parliamentary form of government. It possesses supreme power or sovereignty in the law or constitution. The cabinet is responsible to it. It holds office only so long as it has the confidence of the parliament.

If the cabinet loses the support of the parliament. It passes the vote of no confidence against it. In this case either the ministry resigns, and gives place to new one which has the support of the majority in the parliament or it dissolves the parliament and appeals to electorate.

How does it work:
A system of government in which the power to make and execute laws is held by a parliament. Britain has a parliamentary system of government, one of the oldest in the world. The United States does not; its legislature, the Congress, passes the laws, and a separate part of government, the executive branch, carries them out. Legislatures called parliaments operate under a parliamentary system of government in which the executive is constitutionally answerable to the parliament. Parliaments may consist of chambers or houses, and are usually either bicameral or unicameral although more complex models exist, or have existed. It consists of a upper chamber and a lower chamber. An upper chamber is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. An upper house is often called a senate. In parliamentary systems the upper house is frequently seen as an advisory or revising chamber; for this reason its powers of direct action are often reduced in some way. Whereas the lower chamber has more powers in bicameral legislature as compared to the upper one. Under parliamentary systems it is usually the lower house alone that designates the head of government or prime minister. But even in this there are some exceptions however, such as the Prime Minister of Japan, who is formally selected with the approval of both houses. And thus the legislature composed of only one house is described as unicameral.
A nation's Prime Minister (PM) is almost always the leader of the majority party in the lower house of parliament, but only holds his or her office as long as the "confidence of the house" is maintained. If members of the lower house lose faith in the leader for whatever reason, they can call a vote of no confidence and force the PM to resign. This can be particularly dangerous to a government when the distribution of seats is relatively even, in which case a new election is often called shortly thereafter. However, in case of general discontent with the head of government, his replacement can be made very smoothly without all the complications that it represents in the case of a presidential system.

ADVANTAGES OF PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT:-

The cabinet and parliamentary system of government has following merits and advantages:

STRENGTHENS THE REALTION B/W EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATURE:

As the members of cabinet are also the members of the parliament, there is a close collaboration and intimate interdependence between executive and legislature. The ministers participate in all debates, discussions and decisions of the legislature, and are responsible to it. There is a unity of purpose and harmony between them. The close harmony between the cabinet and parliament gives this system of government the merits of promptitude, efficiency and confidence in its actions and policies.

ENSURES RESPONSIBILITY AND CHECKS AUTOCRACY:

The chief merit of the cabinet system is the responsible form of government. It ensures the responsibility of those who govern to those who are governed. This responsibility is firstly and directly to the members of parliament. The ministers are constantly criticized by the members of parliament especially by those of opposition. It is impossible for an irresponsible ministry to hold office for long.It resigns as soon a it loses the confidence of the majority in the legislature.

QUICKER LEGISLATIVE ACTION:

One of the commonly attributed advantages to parliamentary systems is that it's faster and easier to pass legislation^.This is because the executive branch is dependent upon the direct or indirect support of the legislative branch and often includes members of the legislature. Thus, this would amount to the executive (as the majority party or coalition of parties in the legislature) possessing more votes in order to pass legislation.

DIVISION OF POWER:

Parliamentarianism has attractive features for nations that are ethnically, racially, or ideologically divided. In a unipersonal presidential system, all executive power is concentrated in the president. In a parliamentary system, with a collegial executive, power is more divided.

RESPONSIBLE AND CHALLENGABLE:

The main virtue of this government is responsibility. As the members of the majority party in the Legislature form the ministry, there is little chance of conflict between the legislature and the administrative department. As the administration is conducted by the elected representatives of the people, the best law and improved type of administration are possible. In this system the cabinet is responsible to the legislature. So the ministers cannot be arbitrary in their policies and activities. If they are arbitrary the ministers are compelled to resign by the vote of no confidence.

This administrative system is easily changeable. The legislature can remove the cabinet ministers from power if they are considered unfit. Again if the Legislature is against the public opinion, the Head of the state on the advice of the cabinet ministry can dissolve the parliament. By this system such as balance can be maintained.

Demerits:

1. Weak Separation of Powers:

In this system, the principle of separation of powers is violated. As the ministers are the members of the ruling party or coalition, they dominate policy-making though, in principle, policy-making is the domain of the legislature.

2. Cabinet Dictatorship:

The Council of Ministers, with the support of the majority in the lower house of the legislature, tends to be authoritarian and irresponsible. Being assured of the support of the majority, it does not care for the feelings and views of opposition. It has also little respect for the legislature as the majority is bound to support the government. Thus, the Cabinet Government is reduced to party government, and parliamentary democracy is turned into Cabinet Dictatorship.

3. In-continuity in Policies:

As the Council of Ministers does not enjoy a fixed tenure, it is not able to adopt any bold, long-term policy. The problem is compounded I in a coalition government which is often unstable. The coalition partners tend to fight among themselves. As a result, they fail to adopt any bold policy.

4. Partisanship:

In a Parliamentary system, political parties are guided more by partisan motives than by national or people's interests. The ruling party and the opposition see each other as enemies. While the ruling party seldom sees any merit in criticizing the opposition, the opposition often opposes the government for the sake of opposition.

5. Government by Incompetent Persons:

The Parliamentary government lacks competence and effectiveness, because the ministers are mostly incompetents. As the ministers have to be appointed from among the members of the legislature, the scope for appointing talented and competent people as ministers is limited. Many times, important considerations in appointing ministers are not skill, competence and talent but caste, religion, community faction and influence in the party.

6. Control by Bureaucracy:

While the Cabinet is powerful, more powerful is the bureaucracy. The ministers, being mostly incompetent, depend upon civil servants for expert advice and guidance. The civil servants exercise real powers in the name of minister. They do not come out to the front. They are not accountable to the legislature.

7. Fail in Emergency:

The Parliamentary form of government, no doubt, has certain gaps. In particular, it is handicapped by immense partisanship, lack of expertise, and difficulty in taking prompt decisions during crises and emergency situation. It has no capability to take sudden decision.

8. Indirect selection of Prime Minister:

In parliamentary form of government the prime minister does not elected by the will of the public. The parliamentarians of winning party elect the prime minister according to their own will and interests. So there are chances that the prime minister does not fulfill the public demands.

9. Expensive Government system:

In parliamentary form of government there are a hundreds of parliamentarians in government. And the expenses of their protocol and other benefits have huge burden on national treasury. And there are a lot of expenses on elections process as well.

President Musharaf

2012-06-05T05:46:00.000-07:00

Introduction:-

On October 12, 1999, the Pakistan Army once again ousted the Civilian Government. At that time Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif headed the Government. The coup immediately followed the premieres attempt to replace the Army Chief while he was on a tour to Sri Lanka. After two days of chilling uncertainty, Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf assumed the title of Chief Executive. Although the use of the term "Martial Law" was avoided, Pakistan once again came under military rule. It was claimed that the Army was forced to take this step to save the country from "turmoil and uncertainty".

After the military takeover, the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif (his brother and former Chief Minister of Punjab) and five other officials were booked on charges of hijacking, kidnapping and attempted murder in the "Plane Conspiracy" case. The prosecution's case was based on a police report filed by an Army Colonel. Nawaz Sharif, in his capacity as Prime Minster, was accused of giving orders to the Civil Aviation Authority to prevent a Colombo-Karachi Pakistan International Airlines commercial flight, with Musharraf on board, from landing at Karachi or anywhere else in Pakistan. He was to face a charge of attempted murder endangering the lives of General Pervez Musharraf and 200 other passengers on board by disallowing the plane to land when its fuel was at a low level. The case was tried by an anti-terrorism court in Karachi, ironically established by Nawaz Sharif himself, which sentenced him to life imprisonment. In their appeal to the High Court, Mr. Sharif's lawyers maintained that no charge of corruption was proved against the former Prime Minister, and that it was the Prime Minister’s constitutional right to remove the Army Chief.

Later on, Mr. Nawaz Sharif was, however, pardoned and exiled by the military government to Saudi Arabia on conditions that he would forfeit Rupees 500 million (equivalent to roughly US$ 8 million) in property and stay out of politics for the next 21 years.

President General Musharraf kept his word to restore democracy and hold elections in October 2002 as mandated by the Supreme Court. He gratified the nation when after general elections, Pakistan's National Assembly and Senate in November 2002 met for the first time since the coup three years earlier. He also relinquished the post of Chief Executive when Zafaullah Khan Jamali became Prime Minister of Pakistan in November 2002. President Musharraf, however, continues to hold the offices of Chief of Army Staff, and Chief of the Staff Committee. The opposition parties refused to accept Framework Order (LFO) 2002 as it empowered the President to sack the prime minister, dissolve parliament and also recognize him as both head of the army and head of the state. According to the opposition the provisions of the LFO were unconstitutional and illegal, and against the sovereignty of the Parliament. As a result, the business of parliament remained in deadlock for a year. In December, 2003 as part of a deal with MMA (Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal) to end the stand-off, General Musharraf agreed that he would step down as military head of the country on December 31, 2004 and also give up some of the powers he assumed after the coup while on January 1,2004. After getting vote of confidence from parliament and the four provincial assemblies, President Pervez Musharraf would now serve full five-year term as President till 2007 under the constitutional provisions after the seventeenth amendment was passed by a two-third majority of the Parliament. He secured 658 votes (56.23 per cent) with simple majority from a total of 1,170 members of parliament and the four assemblies amid MMA abstention and opposition boycott.

President Musharraf presents to the world vision of a modern, tolerant, democratic, Islamic Pakistan and favors economic reforms and free trade with the West. He has also played a vital role in negotiating an economic package to assist Pakistan out of its problems.

General Pervaiz Mushraf’s LFO was based upon his famous 7 point agenda which is as follows:-

1. Rebuild national confidence and morale.

2. Strengthen the federation, remove inter provincial disharmony and restore national cohesion.

3. Revive the economy and restore investor confidence

4 Ensure law and order and dispense speedy justice.

5. Depoliticise state institutions.

6. Devolution of power to the grass roots level.

7. Ensure swift and across the board accountability

Achievements:-

He attracted and gained the trust of millions of people of Pakistan by his 7 point agenda. His regime lasted for approximately 10 years in which he has achieved a lot and also failed a lot. His achievement and failures are as follows:-

The Situation on 12th October 1999, when Mr. Musharraf took over was that Pakistan faced:

1. Economic bankruptcy.

2. International isolation.

3. The Country was referred to as a ‘failed state’.

4. Political instability and chequered political history of previous governments. Opposition never allowed an elected government to complete term and derailed the process / institutions.

Achievements Summary:

1. Empowerment of people through devolution at grass roots level.

2. Empowerment of Women at all tiers of government / legislature.

3. Legislation against honour killings. Women Protection Bill.

4. Empowerment of minorities through joint electorate as well as reserved seats.

5. Empowerment of younger generation by reducing voter age from 21 to 18 years.

6. Empowerment of media by allowing total freedom to press and print media and flow of information.

7. Empowerment of economy through wide ranging economic reforms.

8. Record allocations for science and technology, education and health sectors. Emphasis on human resource development.

9. Free, Fair, Transparent and Peaceful Election.

Economic Achievements

General:

Ø During his years in power, Pakistan pursued consistent and favourable policies of liberalization, deregulation and privatization.

Ø Economic recovery, institutional reforms and good governance were our declared priorities.

Ø For economic recovery, the Government pursued a two-pronged strategy of ensuring macro-economic stability and introducing structural reforms for self-sustainable growth.

Ø As a result, the economy had expanded at an average rate of 7% per annum during the last four years. Its growth touched a record level of 9% in 2004-05.

Ø Growth of large scale manufacturing which was 3.6% during 1999-00, registered an average increase of 11.31 % per annum during the period from 2000-07. Growth of this sector was highest in 2004-05 i.e. 19.9%.

Ø Exchange rate remained stable despite widening of trade and current account deficits, clearly indicating strong inflows of external resources.

Ø Foreign Exchange reserves have crossed US$ 16 billion mark and the increased reserves can now finance more than 31 weeks of imports against only 10 weeks in 1998-99.

Ø Per capita income had increased from $ 526 (1999-00) to $925 (2006-07).

Revenue Collections

Ø Total revenue collections increased from Rs 308 billion in 1999 to Rs 846 billion during 2007.

GDP

Ø GDP growth which was 3.9% in 1999-00 grew at an average rate of 6% per annum during the period from 2000-07.

Ø Total GDP which ranged between Rs 769.7 billion (1988-89) and Rs 2,938.4 billion (1998-99), registered an enormous growth during the last 8 years and ranged between Rs 3,826 billion (1999-00) and Rs 9,970 billion (2006-07).

Ø Stock Market

Ø Growth of stock market ranged between (–) 44.7% (in 1997-98) and 219.1% during 1988-99.

Ø As against KSE index of 1,257 points on 12th October, 1999, it was 13,772 in 2006-07.

Ø As against market capitalization of Rs 334 billion on 12th October, 1999, it was Rs 3,980 billion at the close of financial year 2006-07.

State of Foreign Debt

Ø Foreign debt and liabilities grew at an average rate of 7.4% per annum during 11 years from 1989-99. Total debt in 1989 was $20.522 billion which rose to $38.922 billion in 1999.

Ø If this trend had continued, Pakistan’s external debt and liabilities would have been over $ 60 billion. This level was brought down to $38.86 billion.

Ø External Debt and Liabilities (EDL) as % of GDP, which fluctuated between 51% and 66.3% during the period from 1988-99; (66.3% in 1988-89), fluctuated between 42.6% (2002-03) and 27.1% (2006-07).

Agriculture

Ø In 1998-99 our country was importing key staples to meet domestic requirements. In contrast, in FY07, country witnessed significant rise in the productivity in almost all major crops.

Ø Agriculture credit market was quite shallow and gross disbursements were only Rs 42.9 billion in 1998-99. Gross disbursements of agri-credit rose to Rs 168 billion in 2006-07.

Remittances

Ø As against US$ 1.06 billion received during 1998-99, US$ 5.5 billion were received during 2006-07.

Social Sector Achievements

Health Sector

Ø During 1998-1999 total health expenditure was Rs 25 billion which had increased to Rs 50 billion.

Ø There had been an increase of about 20,000 registered doctors, around 3,000 registered dentists, about 15,000 nurses, and 56,000 lady health workers. The quantity, quality and distribution of this workforce were being improved.

Ø During 2000-2008 health indicators had shown gradual improvement.

Ø Many new initiatives in the health sector were undertaken during this period, including the Expanded Program of Immunization; Polio Eradication Programme; Hepatitis Control Programme; Primary Health Care Programme, TB Prevention & Control Programme; Aids Prevention & Control Programme; Blindness Prevention & Control Programme; National Maternal and Child Health Programme; and National Nutrition Program.

Education Spread

Ø 81 new universities including Degree Awarding Institutions (DAI) and 14,117 schools/colleges were opened.

Ø 1,267,519 stipends to the needy students.

Ø 47,546,520 students were provided books free of cost.

Ø 127,623 missing facilities were provided in educational institutions.

Women Empowerment

Ø National Policy for Development and Empowerment of Women was announced on 7th March, 2002.

Ø This policy contained a vision, defined goals, aims and objectives, formulated through a laborious and detailed consultative process.

Ø Reservation of 20% women’s seats in the National Assembly (There were 72 women Members of the National Assembly against 60 reserved seats).

Ø Reservation of 18% seats for women in the Senate (There were 17 women Members of the Senate).

Ø Reservation of women seats in the Provincial Assemblies (There were 139 women Members of the Provincial Assemblies against 128 reserved seats).

Ø There were six (6) women members of the then Federal Cabinet, which was an important step towards increasing women’s role in the national decision – making. We have a woman as Governor of the State Bank.

Ø Reservation of 33% seats for women at all tiers of local government remains a hallmark of the new system centered on the devolution of power (There are 27,624 Women Councillors’ against 28,549 reserved seats in local bodies).

Legal and Social Empowerment of Women

Ø Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2004 (Honour Killing Bill) enacted.

Ø Reservation of quota for women in Government jobs including Central Superior Services.

Ø Presidential Ordinance promulgated on 8th of July 2006, “the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Ordinance, 2006,” allowed bail for women held on all charges with the exception of terrorism and murder. Out of more than 6,000 jailed women, around 1,000 were freed.

Ø Enactment of Women Protection Act, 2006 which provides a just and secure environment for women to work as equal partners for the development of Pakistan.

Employment opportunities

Ø During 1999-07, as many as 110,086 teachers, 65,231 Lady Health Visitors and 78,024 personnel in Police Department were appointed.

Ø 1,187,432 job opportunities were created in the Telecom Sector and 126,742 in Local Government Departments.

Ø 6.6 million Job opportunities were created in Punjab in new business/industries.

Ø 165,609 jobs were provided in various departments in the provinces.

Infrastructure Development

Mega Projects

Ø Work on 102 mega projects was initiated in various sectors from 2000.

Ø Such projects included Makran Coastal Highway, Lowari Tunnel, Pindi Bhattian – Faisalabad Motorway (M-3), Karachi Northern Bypass, Mirani Dam, Raising of Mangla Dam, Gomal Zam Dam, Sabakzai Dam, Satpara Dam, Kachhi Canal, Rainee Canal, Greater Thal Canal, Gwadar Port, Lining of Watercourses, Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad Road, Diamer-Bhasha Dam, Neelum-Jhelum Hydro Electric Project and Islamabad-Muzaffarabad Road.

Ø Six projects costing between Rs 1-5 billion have since been completed.

Ø Work on six projects including raising of Mangla Dam and Lyari Expressway and first unit of 4 MW of Satpara Dam, was nearing completion.

Ø Work on the remaining 89 projects was in progress and was scheduled to be completed during April, 2008 to December, 2016.

Ø As many as 34,251 development schemes were launched during the period from 1999-07.

Failures:-

1. Abrogated the constitution:-

General Pervaiz Musharaf abrogated the constitution and gave his own 7 point agenda which he himself failed to follow. Instead he gave LFO (legal framework order) and PCO (provincial constitutional order) according to which he said that he would file the corrupt Politian but he himself joined them in the regular elections of 2003.

2. Bases give to American forces:-

After the incident of 9/11 American forces started attacking Afghanistan. For this President Musharaf allowed and gave bases to the Americans in the North West frontier in 2001. This was one the biggest mistake for the security of the country.

3. Chief justice issue

i. President Musharaf dismissed the chief justice of Pakistan, Ch. Iftikhar because he didn’t take oath under PCO and was imprisoned for this too. President Musharaf took over the independence of judiciary.

4. Media issue

i. President Musharaf banned many channels which showed the live or recorded coverage of judiciary movement. Such channels included GEO, AAJ and other private channels.

5. Lal masjid issue

i. The downfall of President Musharaf started when he overtook the Lal masjid. The issue is very controversial to talk about and is said to have easily taken under control but was at first left loose for 4 days and then a grand operation took it all over

6. Akbar bugti issue

i. The assassination of Akbar Bugti in Baluchistan has caused a lot of troubles for Musharaf in Baluchistan.

7. Allowed drone attacks

i. These drone attacks in the country are considered to be one of his pacts signed between him and American forces.

8. Security failure and assignations under his regime

i. One of the biggest failures of his regimes is the assignation of Banazir Bhutto and the assassination attempt over Nawaz Sharif and other political leaders. This convinced the people of Pakistan that they are not safe under these suicidal attacks.

9. Kargil issue

Also in his service as the chief of army of staff Musharaf is reported to have killed many people and pressed the issue under so that so no one would know what really happened.

Ayub Khan-complete

2012-06-05T05:41:00.001-07:00

Early years and personal life:

Ayub Khan was born on May 14, 1907, in Haripur British India, in the village of Rehana near the Haripur District of North-West Frontier Province. He was a Pashtun Pathan of the Tareen tribe. He was the first child of the second wife of Mir Dad Khan Tareen, who was a Risaldar-Major (the senior most non-commissioned rank) in Hodson's Horse, a cavalry regiment of the pre-independence Indian Army. For his basic education, he was enrolled in a school in Sarai Saleh, which was about four miles from his village and used to go to school on a mule's back. Later he was moved to a school in Haripur, where he started living with his grandmother. He enrolled at Aligarh Muslim University in 1922, but did not complete his studies there, as he was accepted into the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

Khan’s son Gohar Ayub Khan was Pakistan’s Foreign Minister in the Nawaz Sharif government. Gohar’s son and Ayub’s grandson Omar Ayub Khan was Pakistan’s Minister of State for Finance. Gohar Ayub Khan and Omar Ayub Khan are politicians of Hazara.

Military career:

Ayub Khan did well at Sandhurst and was given an officer's commission in the British Indian Army on 2 February, 1928 and then joined the 1st Battalion of the 14th Punjab Regiment Sherdils, later known as 5th Punjab Regiment. During World War II, he served as a captain and later as a major on the Burma front. Following the war, he joined the fledgling Pakistani Army as the 10th ranking senior officer (his Pakistan Army number was 10. He was promoted to Brigadier and commanded a brigade in Waziristan and then in 1948 was sent with the local rank of Major General to East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh as General Officer Commanding of 14th Infantry division responsible for the whole East Wing of Pakistan, for which non-combatant service he was awarded the Hilal-i-Jurat. He returned to West Pakistan in November 1949 as Adjutant General of the Army and then was briefly Deputy Commander-in-Chief.

Chief of Army Staff:

Ayub Khan was made Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army on January 17, 1951, succeeding General Sir Douglas Gracey, thus becoming the first native Pakistani general to hold that position. Therefore, he superseded two of his seniors, Maj Gen Muhammad Akbar Khan and Maj Gen N.A.M. Raza. Ayub Khan was promoted to C-in-C only due to the death of Maj Gen Iftikhar Khan, who was nominated as the first native C-in-C, but unfortunately died in an air-crash enroot to his C-in-C training in the UK. Iskandar Mirza, Secretary of Defence, was instrumental in Ayub's promotion, commencing a relationship in which Mirza became Governor General of the Dominion of Pakistan and later President of Pakistan, when it became a republic on March 23, 1956. The events surrounding his appointment set the precedent for a Pakistani general being promoted out of turn, ostensibly because he was the least ambitious of the Generals and the most loyal. It was only 3 months before the end of his tenure as Commander-in-Chief that Ayub Khan deposed his mentor, Iskandar Mirza, Pakistan's President, in a military coup, after Mirza had declared Martial Law and made Ayub Martial Law commander..

Defence Minister:

He would later go on to serve in the second cabinet (1954) of Muhammad Ali Bogra as Defence Minister, and when Iskander Mirza declared martial law on October 7, 1958, Ayub Khan was made its chief martial law administrator. Both Nawab Amir Mohammad Khan and Sandhurst trained General Wajid Ali Khan Burki were instrumental in Ayub Khan's Rise to power, until today the three families retain adjoining houses in Islamabad. This would be the first of many instances in the history of Pakistan of the military becoming directly involved in politics.

Martial Law administrator:

On October 7, 1958, President Iskander Mirza abrogated the Constitution and declared Martial Law in the country. This was the first of many military regimes to mar Pakistan's history. With this step, the Constitution of 1956 was abrogated, ministers were dismissed, Central and Provincial Assemblies were dissolved and all political activities were banned.

General Muhammad Ayub Khan, the then Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, became the Chief Martial Law Administrator. The parliamentary system in Pakistan came to end.

Ayub khan as a martial law administrator:

He removed the post of governor general and announced the new post as president of Pakistan.

President of Pakistan:

Within three weeks of assuming charge on October 27, 1958, General Ayub khan forced Sikander mirza to resign with the post of Governor General and then he became the first president of Pakistan.

Ayub Kahn’s Initial Reforms:

Ayub khan used his authority and made some reforms in the country.

1: He Improved law and order.

2: He made new capital of Pakistan (Islamabad).

3: He made Price control list.

4: He took steps to eradicate the smuggling.

5: He asked to return black money.

Ayub’s Land reforms:

Ayub khan announced Land reforms: "no person to hold more than 500 acres of irrigated or 1000 acres of unirrigated, with minor exceptions relating to existing land-owners, and the land thus released would be distributed to tenants and other deserving claimants; landlords would be paid compensations for resumed land in the form of heritable and transferable 4 per cent bonds, redeemable in twenty-five years, on a fixed scale according to the number of unit owned; existing tenants on such land would be given the opportunity to buy it on installments spread over twenty-five years, and special consideration would be given to tenants in congested areas. All tenants would have security of tenure: compensation would be paid for legal ejectment and an embargo placed on rent increases and illegal exactions in the shape of fees, free labor or services. The division of holdings below an economic level would be forbidden and provision made for the compulsory consolidation of already fragmented holdings…"

Ayub’s industrial reforms:

Ayub Khan's era is known for the industrialization in the country. He created an environment where the private sector was encouraged to establish medium and small-scale industries in Pakistan. This opened up avenues for new job opportunities and thus the economic graph of the country started rising.

Ayub’s Educational reforms:

Ayub Khan tried to raise the education standards of the country by introducing educational reforms. He was the first Pakistani ruler who attempted to bring in land reforms but the idea was not implemented properly.

He banned student unions, he offers to build many technical, agricultural and commercial schools.

He made scholarship programs for students, he made student laws.

He established training centers for teachers.etc

Ayub established Family Law’s:

Ayub Khan introduced the Muslim Family Laws through an Ordinance on March 2, 1961 under which unmitigated polygamy was abolished, consent of the current wife was made mandatory for a second marriage, and brakes were also placed on the practice of instant divorce where men would divorce women by saying "I divorce you" three times. The Arbitration Councils set up under the law in the urban and rural areas were to deal with cases of

(a) Grant of sanction to a person to contract a second marriage during the subsistence of a marriage.

(b) Reconciliation of a dispute between a husband and a wife.

(c) Grant maintenance to the wife and children.

Ayub’s new political structural reforms:

P.O.D.O & E.B.D.O :

In March 1959, the Martial Law administration published the Public Offices (Disqualification) Order (PODO) patterned after the now defunct—and often misused—PRODA law that provided for public office holders found guilty by a two-person tribunal to be disqualified from holding public office for up to fifteen years. Realizing that PODO deliberations can be lengthy and does not include people who were members of legislatures—only those who held public office—another order, the Elective Bodies (Disqualification) Order (EBDO) was created. Three tribunals were created to inquire into allegations of misconduct as referred to them by the government. Unlike PODO, the person appearing before the EBDO tribunal was not afforded the assistance of counsel and was required to appear personally. The purpose of EBDO clearly was a summary cleansing of the country’s political landscape of all those against whom even a slightest charge of misconduct could be investigated. Persons convicted o EBDO investigation were required to retire from public life until 31st December 1966 and make good any loss to the national exchequer that their actions might have caused. A “relaxation” in the EBDO proceedings was that it allowed for the possibility of voluntary retirement (until 31st December 1966) in which case the inquiry against the public official was to be dropped.

While definite figures do not exist, In 1960, in East Pakistan alone, as many as 3000 people seemed to have faced this regulation (perhaps 6000 or more overall)—majority of whom either opted to retire or were disqualified (i.e. EBDO-ed). Evidence suggests that majority of the people simply chose to retire rather than face the difficult questions of an EBDO tribunal. Thus, in a fairly systematic and complete fashion, the Martial Law administration cleared the political field for any likely opposition to the Presidents future ambitions.

Ayub’s basic democracy system (B,D system):

On the eve of the first anniversary of the "Revolution," President Ayub Khan has promulgated an ordinance for setting up "basic democracies," or small units of local self-government in the country. There will be around 120000 such units, each representing from 1000 to 15000 citizens. "Democracy has brought to the very doorstep of the people," claims President Ayub in his speech today,

"making it possible for them to know its real meaning in terms of managing and developing their village or mohalla as they would manage and develop their own home or family. Indeed for the first time in the history of Pakistan, our people will be able to elect as their representatives men and women whom they know from personal knowledge to be good, honest and competent."

The military regime was not shown any inclination of lifting ban from the political parties, and the elections for the basic democracies were held on a non-party basis.

Indus Water treaty:

After Independence, problems between the two countries arose over the distribution of water. Rivers flow into Pakistan territory from across India. In 1947, when Punjab was divided between the two countries, many of the canal head-works remained with India. The division of Punjab thus created major problems for irrigation in Pakistan.

On April 1, 1948, India stopped the supply of water to Pakistan from every canal flowing from India to Pakistan. Pakistan protested and India finally agreed on an interim agreement on May 4, 1948. This agreement was not a permanent solution; therefore, Pakistan approached the World Bank in 1952 to help settle the problem permanently. Negotiations were carried out between the two countries through the offices of the World Bank. It was finally in Ayub Khan's regime that an agreement was signed between India and Pakistan in September 1960. This agreement is known as the Indus Water Treaty.

This treaty divided the use of rivers and canals between the two countries. Pakistan obtained exclusive rights for the three western rivers, namely Indus, Jhelum and Chenab. And India retained rights to the three eastern rivers, namely Ravi, Beas and Sutluj. The treaty also guaranteed ten years of uninterrupted water supply. During this period Pakistan was to build huge dams, financed partly by long-term World Bank loans and compensation money from India. Three multipurpose dams, Warsak, Mangla and Tarbela were built. A system of eight link canals was also built, and the remodeling of existing canals was carried out. Five barrages and a gated siphon were also constructed under this treaty.

Presidential election and restoration of democracy (1960):

1960’s Presidential Elections were held on the simple formula of referendum, 95.6% of all BD members have said yes to the question: Do you have confidence in President Field Marshall Muhammad Ayub Khan, Hilal-e-Pakistan, Hilal-e-Jurat?

The victory has also provided Ayub Khan the authority to proceed with the framing of constitution for the country.

Ayub Khan takes oath as the 1st "elected" President of Pakistan.

Pakistani space program:

President Ayub Khan, who was very close to Dr. Abdus Salam, established Pakistan's National Space Agency, Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) on September 16, 1961. Ayub Khan also appointed Dr. Abdus Salam as its head. It was Ayub Khan's administration when National Aeronautics and Space Administration began training of Pakistani scientists and engineers in the NASA's headquarters. President Ayub Khan was eager to make Pakistan as space power, that is why he appointed a noted aeronautical engineer and military scientist, Air Mar. Gen. W. J. M. Turowicz as Pakistan's Rocket Program head. Gen. W. J. M. Turowicz efforts led Pakistan to developed ballistic missiles series by its own in the future. General W. J. M. Turowicz had led a series of Rehbar Sounding Rockets fired from Pakistani soil. However, after Ayub Khan's removal from office the Space program was frozen for more than 2 decades.

Development of Constitution of 1962:

With the aim of investigating the reasons of failure of the parliamentary system in Pakistan, and to make recommendations for a new constitution, Ayub Khan appointed a Constitution Commission under the supervision of Justice Shahab-ud-din. After a number of considerations, the Commission submitted its report on May 6, 1961. Ayub Khan was not satisfied with the report and had it processed through various committees. As a result the Constitution, which was promulgated on March 1, and enforced on June 8, 1962, was entirely different from the one recommended by the Shahab-ud-din Commission.

The Constitution of 1962 consisted of 250 Articles, which were divided into 12 Parts and three Schedules. It advocated presidential form of government with absolute powers vested in the President. The President was to be a Muslim not less than 35 years of age. The term of the President was for five years and nobody could hold the post for more than two consecutive terms. The President was the head of the state as well as the head of the Government. The President had the power to appoint Provincial Governors, Federal Ministers, Advocate General, Auditor General and Chairmen and Members of various administrative commissions. As the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Pakistan, the appointment of the chiefs of the forces was also his duty.

The Constitution of 1962 provided for a unicameral legislature. The National Assembly was to consist of 156 members, including six women. The Eighth Amendment later increased this number to 218. Principle of parity was retained and seats were distributed equally between the two wings of the country. Principle of Basic Democracy was introduced for the first time in the country and the system of indirect elections was presented. Only 80,000 Basic Democrats were given the right to vote in the presidential elections. The Eighth Amendment later increased this number to 120,000. Half of them were to be from the Eastern Wing, the rest from the Western Wing of the country.

According to the Constitution of 1962, the Executive was not separated from the Legislature. The President exercised veto power in the legislative affairs and could even veto a bill passed by the National Assembly with a two-third majority. He had the power to issue ordinances when the Assembly was not in session. The ordinance needed the approval of the National Assembly within 48 days of its first meeting or 108 days after its promulgation. However, if the President enforced emergency in the country, which according to the constitution was within his jurisdictions, then the ordinances needed no approval from the legislative body.

The President had the power to dissolve the National Assembly. Federal form of government was introduced in the country with most of the powers reserved for the Central Government. There was a federal list of subjects over which the provinces had no jurisdiction. Principle of One Unit for West Pakistan was maintained and the number of seats for Punjab was curtailed to 40 percent in the Western Wing for the initial five years. Provincial Governors were to enjoy the same position in the provinces, which the President was to enjoy in the center.

Islamic clauses were included in the Constitution. These could not be challenged in any court of law. The state was named the Republic of Pakistan, but the first amendment added the word "Islamic" to the name. The word "Islam" and not "Quran and Sunnah" was used in the Islamic clauses to give a liberal touch to the Constitution. The Advisory Council of Islamic Ideology was introduced whose job was to recommend to the government ways and means to enable Muslims to live their lives according to the teachings of Islam.

The Constitution of 1962 was a written Constitution upholding the fundamental rights of the citizens. Under the Constitution, the Judiciary had little independence and the appointment of the Chief Justices and Judges of the Supreme and High Courts was in the hands of the President. The President also had the power to remove a judge after an inquiry on misconduct or on the basis of mental or physical illness.

Both Urdu and Bengali were made the national languages of Pakistan and English was declared as the official language of the country for the first ten years. The Constitution was flexible in nature and could be amended by a two-third majority in the National Assembly and with the approval of the President. In its short life of seven years, eight amendments were made in the Constitution.

When Ayub Khan handed over power to Yahya Khan, Martial Law was enforced in the country and the Constitution was terminated on March 25, 1969.

Second Presidential election (1965) against Fatima Jinnah:

In 1964, Ayub confident in his apparent popularity and seeing deep divisions within the political opposition, called for Presidential elections.

He was however taken by surprise when despite a brief disagreement between the five main opposition parties ( a preference for a former close associate of Ayub Khan General Azam Khan as candidate was dropped), the joint opposition agreed on supporting the respected and popular Fatima Jinnah, the sister of the founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Despite Jinnah's considerable popularity and public disaffection with Ayub's government, Ayub won with 64% of the vote in a bitterly contested election on January 2, 1965. The election did not conform to international standards and journalists. It is widely held, as subsequent historians and analysts almost uniformly say, that the elections were rigged in favor of Ayub Khan.

Indo-Pak War 1965:

At 3:00 AM on September 6, 1965, without a formal declaration of war, Indians crossed the international border of West Pakistan and launched a three-pronged offensive against Lahore, Sialkot and Rajasthan. There was a fierce tank battle on the plains of Punjab. The domestic Indo-Pak conflict transformed into an international conflict and raised Super Power concerns.

The U. S. suspended military supplies to both sides during the Indo-Pak War. Both the Soviet Union and the United States took a united stand to curtail the conflict within the boundaries of the Sub-continent from escalating into a global conflict. China threatened to intervene and offered military support to Pakistan. It was to keep China away from this conflict that both the Soviet Union and the United States pressured the U. N. to arrange for an immediate ceasefire. The main diplomatic effort to stop the fighting was conducted under the auspices of the United Nations and a ceasefire came into effect on September 23, 1965.

The Soviet Union, which had remained neutral while India and Pakistan were at war, played broker at Tashkent afterwards. A Soviet Government communique formally announced on December 8 that the Indian Prime Minister Shastri and the Pakistani President Ayub would meet at Tashkent on January 4, 1966.

The Tashkent Conference lasted from January 4 to January 10. The Soviet Premier Kosygin earned praise as a peacemaker. The main achievement of the Conference was to withdraw, no later than February 25, 1966, all armed personnel to the position held before August 5, 1964.

Historical address of Ayub khan (6 sep 1965):

"My dear countrymen, in this hour of trial you have to remain absolutely calm. You must know that each one of you has to perform a supreme duty which demands complete dedication and devotion… Be prepared to strike and to strike hard; for the evil which has raised its head against your borders is doomed to destruction. Go forward and meet the enemy. God is with you..."

Tashqand treaty:

The Soviet Union, which had remained neutral when India and Pakistan went to war in September 1965, played the broker afterwards at Tashkent. A Soviet Government communiquÅ½ formally announced on December 8 that the Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and the Pakistani President Muhammad Ayub Khan would meet at Tashkent on January 4, 1966. The Tashkent Conference lasted from January 4 to January 10. Largely as due to the efforts of Soviet Premier Kosygin, India and Pakistan signed a declaration that is known as the Tashkent Declaration.

The significant clauses of this agreement were:

1. The Prime Minister of India and the President of Pakistan agree to make all efforts to establish good relations between India and Pakistan in accordance with the United Nations Charter. They affirm to renounce the use of force in the settlement of their disputes.

2. The President of Pakistan and the Indian Prime Minister agree to withdraw, no later than February 25, 1966, all armed personnel to the position held before August 5, 1964.

3. Both India and Pakistan agree to follow the principle of non-interference in their affairs and will discourage the use of any propaganda against each other.

4. Both the countries also agree to reopen normal diplomatic functioning and to return of the High Commissioners of both the countries to their posts.

5. Measures towards the restoration of economic and trade relations, communications, as well as cultural exchanges between the two countries were to be taken. Measures were to be taken to implement the existing agreements between Pakistan and India.

6. Prisoners of war would be repatriated.

7. Discussions would continue relating to the problem of refugees and eviction of illegal immigrants. Both sides will create conditions that will prevent the exodus of the people.

Decline of Ayub:

News of the Tashkent Declaration shocked the people who were expecting something quite different. Things further worsened as Ayub Khan refused to comment and went into seclusion instead of taking the people into confidence over the reasons for signing the agreement. Demonstrations and rioting erupted at various places throughout the country.

It was the difference over Tashkent Declaration, which eventually led to the removal of Z. A. Bhutto from Ayub's government, who later on launched his own party, called the Pakistan People's Party.

Despite the fact that Ayub Khan was able to satisfy the misgiving of the people, there is no doubt that the Tashkent Declaration greatly damaged the image of Ayub Khan, and became one of the many factors that led to his downfall.

Foreign Policy:

As President, Ayub Khan allied Pakistan with the global U.S. military alliance against the Soviet Union. This in turn led to major economic aid from the U.S. and European nations, and the industrial sector of Pakistan grew very rapidly, improving the economy, but the consequences of cartelization included increased inequality in the distribution of wealth. It was under Ayub Khan that the capital was moved from Karachi to Rawalpindi, in anticipation of the construction of a new capital: Islamabad. In 1960, Khan's government signed the Indus Waters Treaty with archrival India to resolve disputes regarding the sharing of the waters of the six rivers in the Punjab Dobb that flow between the two countries. Khan's administration also built a major network of irrigation canals, high-water dams and thermal and hydroelectric power stations.

Despite the Indus Waters Treaty, Ayub maintained icy relations with India. He established close political and military ties with Communist China, exploiting its differences with Soviet Russia and its 1962 war with India. To this day, China remains a strong economic, political and military ally of Pakistan.

Criticisms against Ayub Khan:

Government corruption and nepotism, in addition to an environment of repression of free speech and political freedoms increased unrest. Criticisms of his sons and family's personal wealth increased especially his son's actions after his father's election in the allegedly rigged 1965 Presidential elections against Fatima Jinnah is a subject of criticism by many writers. Gohar Ayub, it is said led a victory parade right into the heartland of Opposition territory in Karachi, in a blatantly provocative move and the civil administration’s failure to stop the rally led to a fierce clashes between opposing groups with many locals being killed. Gohar Ayub also faced criticisms during that time on questions of family corruption and cronyism through his business links with his father-in-law retired Lt. General Habibullah Khan Khattak. One Western commentator in 1969 estimated Gohar Ayub's personal wealth at the time at $4 million dollars, while his family's wealth was put in the range of $10–$20 million dollars.

Ayub began to lose both power and popularity. On one occasion, while visiting East Pakistan, there was a failed attempt to assassinate him, though this was not reported in the press of the day.

Ayub was persuaded by underlings to award himself the Nishan-e-Pakistan, Pakistan's highest civil award, on the grounds that to award it to other heads of state he should have it himself and also promoted himself to the rank of Field Marshal. He was to be Pakistan's second Field Marshal, if the first is regarded as Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck (1884–1981), supreme commander of military forces in India and Pakistan in the lead-up to independence in 1947.

Aggravating an already bad situation, with increasing economic disparity in the country under his rule, hoarding and manipulation by major sugar manufacturers resulted in the controlled price of 1 kg sugar to be increased by 1 rupee and the whole population took to the streets. As Ayub's popularity plummeted, he decided to give up rule.

In 1971 when war broke out, Ayub Khan was in West Pakistan and did not comment on the events of the war. He died in 1974.

Conclusion:

The characteristics of Ayub’s era discussed above show some successful decisions and some not so successful decisions of Ayub. In my opinion Ayub was a man of great determination but the he was lacking the quality of ‘listening to others’. He always did what he thought better in the light of his own experience.

His regime can be characterized with some developments but he couldn’t maintain the national harmony among the distant provinces of Pakistan, i.e. East Pakistan and West Pakistan.

References:

www.google.com

www.wikipedia.com

www.storyofpakistan.com

www.pakistanspace.tripod.com

www.understandingpakistan.com

foriegn policy of Pakistan

2012-06-03T00:00:00.001-07:00

DEFINITION

Foreign policy "is composed of goals sought , values set, decisions made and actions taken by states and national governments acting on their behalf in the context of the external relations of national societies. It constitutes an attempt to design, manage and control the foreign relations in national societies

”The foreign policy is to establish and develop relations with other countries to watch the national interests by taking appropriate steps at international level.

The sub-discipline that specializes in relations is known as foreign policy analysis (FPA). FPA contributes to overall communication between nations. A country's foreign policy, called the international relations policy, consists of strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals in international relations. The approaches are strategically employed to interact with other countries. In recent times, due to the deepening level of globalization and transnational activities, the states will also have to interact with non-state actors. The aforementioned interaction is evaluated and monitored in attempts to maximize benefits of multilateral international cooperation. Since the national interests are paramount, foreign policies are designed by the government through high-level decision making processes. National interests accomplishment can occur as a result of peaceful cooperation with other nations, or through exploitation. Usually, creating foreign policy is the job of the head of government and the foreign minister (or equivalent). In some countries the legislature also has considerable oversight.

FOREIGN POLICY of PAKISTAN

Pakistan emerged on the map of the world on 14th August 1947 and it inherited the foreign policy from British India. After independence, Pakistan made some changes in British policy according to the ideology and the objectives of Pakistan Movement

Foreign Policy of Pakistan was established by Quaid-e-Azam itself.
The father of the nation , defined Foreign Policy towards other countries of the world in 1948,as follows:
" Our Foreign Policy is one of friendliness and good-will towards all the nations of the world. We do not cherish aggressive designs against any country or nation. We believe in the policy of honesty and fair play in national and international dealings and are prepared to make our outmost contribution to the promotion of peace and prosperity among the nations of the world. Pakistan will never be found lacking in extending its material and moral support to the oppressed and suppressed of the United Nations Character.

PRINCIPLES OF FOREIGN POLICY :

Every country established its foreign policy according to own ideological, historical, political and geographical circumstances. Foreign Policy of Pakistan was established by Quaid-e-Azam itself. Foreign policy of Pakistan is based on the following basic principles:

Peaceful Co-existence

Pakistan believes in peaceful co-existence and respects the liberty, freedom and sovereignty of other countries, and expects the same from others. Pakistan is always disinterested in the internal affairs of others, and opposes imperialism and aggression of every type.

Non-Alignment

Pakistan has adopted the policy of non-alignment by making changes in its foreign policy. Pakistan has not shown alignment with any bloc, and has established good relationship with all the countries. Therefore, now Pakistan is trying to establish good relationship with Russia, United State, China, United Kingdom France and other countries and expects the same from others of significant importance. At present Pakistan is also a regular member of Non-aligned Movement (NAM).

Unite Nations Charter

Pakistan wants to develop its relations with all countries on the basis of bilateralism. Pakistan also wants to solve its conflicts with neighboring countries on the basis of bilateralism. Therefore, Pakistan has invited India many times to solve the Kashmir dispute by negotiation.

United Nations Charter

Pakistan is a member of United Nations and follows its charter strictly. Therefore, Pakistan has supported every action of the United Nations and provided military assistance to implement its decisions.

Support to Right of Self-Determination

Pakistan supports the right of self-determination of all the suppressed nations. Pakistan believes that every nation must have the right of self-determination. Therefore, Pakistan has supported the demand of abolishing the colonialism and every movement for the exercise of the right of self-determination in Europe, Africa and Asia. Pakistan has played very important role in the struggle of independence of Kashmir, Palestine, Bosnia, Namibia and Vietnam. It has also opposed the occupation of Afghanistan by Russia, and helped the Afghanis to get the liberation from foreign rule. 6.

Unity of Islamic World

Pakistan is the supporter of the unity of Islamic world, and is following the policy to establish good relations with Muslim countries. Pakistan has always tried to solve the conflicts of Islamic world and played very important role in Iran – Iraq war, Palestine’s and Afghanistan’s liberation. Pakistan is an active member of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). Pakistan has provided a platform for Muslim countries of Central Asia to solve their economic problems by establishing Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO).

De-weaponisation

Pakistan is the main supporter of de-weaponisation and supported all international efforts to de-weaponise the world. Therefore, Pakistan is not in the race of weaponisation. Pakistan uses atomic energy for peaceful purposes. Pakistan tries to avoid the danger of nuclear war. In the world Pakistan has repeatedly suggested for the de-weaponisation of South Asia, but India has not responded it accordingly.

Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Pakistan wants to eliminate the racial discrimination throughout the world. Pakistan has protested over racial discrimination in South Africa, Namibia and Rodeshia. There is no racial discrimination in Pakistan and all the minorities in Pakistan have equal rights.

Establishment of Peace

Pakistan wants establishment of peace throughout the world. Pakistan has also protested against aggressive powers desires, and supported the oppressed nations for getting the peace. Pakistan has repeatedly invited India to negotiate peace in South Asia but it has rejected every move.

10.

Good Relations with Neighbors

Pakistan wants good relationship with all neighbors including India. Pakistan also wants to solve all the issues with neighboring countries including Kashmir issue with India peacefully. Therefore, Pakistan has invited India for talks at any time, at every level and at every place.

11.

International and Regional Cooperation

Pakistan is an active member of international and regional organization i.e. United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and SAARC. Pakistan always cooperates with all these organizations for the security of world peace.

OBJECTIVES OF FOREIGN POLICY OF PAKISTAN:

According to Lord Parmesan:

“In the International Relations, There is no any permanent friend and

enemy but the preference is given only to the national interest any

state form its foreign policy on the base of National Security & Interest.”

The main objectives of the foreign policy of Pakistan are as under:-

National Security

The main objective of foreign policy of Pakistan is its national security or

Independence . Pakistan was a new born state, and there was a need to make arrangements for its security. So Pakistan formulated its foreign policy on the basis of national security. It gave due importance to the national security, while establishing external relationships with other countries. Pakistan respects the national integrity and the political independence of other countries, and expect from others the same.

Economic Development

Pakistan is a developing country and inspires for its economic development. It needs to establish and maintain cordial relations with those states with whom it can maximize its trade relations or from whom it can obtain maximum economic benefits. Pakistan has made changes in its foreign policy keeping in view the new economic trends. It has adopted particularly free trade, free economic policy, and policy of privatization.

Protection of Ideology of Pakistan

Pakistan is an ideological state and its foreign policy is based upon the ideology of Pakistan or Islam. The foreign policy is meant to protect the ideology. The stability of Pakistan is also dependent upon ideology.

Better Relations with Islamic Countries

Pakistan can protect its ideology by developing good relationship with Muslim countries. All the constitutions of Pakistan emphasized on establishing good relations with Muslim countries.

Non-Alignment

Pakistan has adopted the policy of non-alignment by making changes in its foreign policy. Pakistan has not shown alignment with any bloc, and has established good relationship with all the countries. Therefore, now Pakistan is trying to establish good relationship with Russia, United State, China, United Kingdom, France and other countries and expects the same from others of significant importance. At present Pakistan is also a regular member of Non-aligned Movement (NAM).

Support to Right of Self-Determination

Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Pakistan wants to eliminate the racial discrimination throughout the world. Pakistan has protested over racial discrimination in South Africa Namibia and Rodeshia. There is no racial discrimination in Pakistan and all the minorities in Pakistan have equal rights.

Establishment of Peace

DETERMINANTS OF THE FOREIGN POLICY OF PAKISTAN:

The following are the determinants of the foreign policy of Pakistan:-

Administrative Troika

Administrative Troika comprises the President of Pakistan, the Prime Minister and Chief of Army Staff. It plays very important role in formulating foreign policy. It can approve or disapprove the foreign policy of Pakistan or can make any change in it. However, it is very difficult to deviate from the previous foreign commitments made by Troika.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The ministry can play very important role in formulating the foreign policy. It comprises the specialists and experts of foreign policy and the bureaucrats of high level. They prepare foreign policy, keeping in view the basic objectives and principles of the policy. They formulate the policy, plans and programmers regarding the priorities of foreign policy, and fully cooperate with Troika for its preparation. In accordance with new constitutional amendment, the Troika has been replaced by the National Security Council.

Intelligence Agencies

Pakistan’s intelligence agencies also play very effective role in the formulation of foreign policy by providing full information about the objectives of other countries foreign policies. Keeping in view these information’s, Pakistan formulates its foreign policy.

Political Parties and Pressure Groups

The political parties and pressure groups have deep impacts on the formulation of foreign policy. The political parties include the priorities of foreign policy in their manifestoes, and after their success in the election, they force the government to change the priorities of foreign policy according to the changing scenario in the light of their view points. Likewise the pressure groups can also influence the foreign policy.

Parliament

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs usually prepares the foreign policy according to the directions of executive and puts it before the Parliament for approval. After discussion and debate the parliament gives approval to it or suggests some change in it.

International Organizations

Pakistan joined the UN on September 30, 1947, and has been an active participant in the UN and its specialized agencies and other bodies, as well as in various specialized UN conferences. In 1993 Pakistan was elected to a two-year term on the UN Security Council. In addition, Pakistani nationals have contributed their skills within the UN itself. For example, in 1987, Nafis Sadik, a Pakistani woman physician, became executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) with the rank of undersecretary general. Pakistan has also been the recipient of assistance from UN development organizations, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in a variety of fields such as agriculture, water and sanitation, national planning, and human development. The UNDP, for example, allocated more than US$87 million for assistance to Pakistan for the 1992-96 program period.

Pakistan's view of the UN has necessarily been conditioned by its own needs and experience. Although recognizing the shortcomings and powerlessness of the UN in many situations, Pakistan has seen no alternative to the UN as a forum where weaker countries could appeal to the world's conscience against the actions of stronger powers. Consequently, Pakistan has called for solutions to international problems through UN auspices, most notably for resolution of the Kashmir issue. Pakistan also played a highly visible role in UN peacekeeping efforts, contributing more than 7,000 troops to the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM)--the largest single national contingent to any peacekeeping force in early 1994. Pakistan had troops serving with the United Nations Protection Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNPROFOR BH) and had

8 participating observers in a number of other UN mission

Pakistan's participation in other international organizations, including SAARC and the ECO, reflect its desire to be an influential player in the geographic region of which it is a part. In addition, Pakistan has play addition, Pakistan has played a leading role in the OIC, and President Zia was instrumental in revitalizing the OIC as a forum for periodic meetings of the heads of Islamic states. Pakistan thus appears firmly committed to the utility of broad based international cooperation

Foreign relations

People's Republic of China–Pakistan relations:

It refers to bilateral relationship that began in 1950 when Pakistan was among the first countries to break relations with the Republic of China on Taiwan and recognise the PRC. Following the 1962 Sino-Indian War, Pakistan's relations with the PRC became stronger and extremely close; since then, the two countries have regularly exchanged high-level visits resulting in a variety of agreements. The PRC has provided economic, military and technical assistance or aid to Pakistan and both of them consider as a strategically.

1950 - Pakistan becomes third non-communist country, and first Muslim one, to recognize China.

1951 - Beijing and at the time Karachi established diplomatic relations between themselves in the month of May.

1970 - Pakistan helps US make contacts with China that result in visit to China by then US National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger in 1971.

1978 - Karakoram Highway linking mountainous Northern Pakistan with Western China officially opens

1999 - A 300-megawatt nuclear power plant, built with Chinese help in Punjab province, is completed. China is helping to build a second 300-megawatt nuclear plant due to be finished by 2010.

2009 Pakistani intelligence agencies helped the Chinese government of catching several suspected Uyghur terrorists seeking haven in Pakistan and planning to launch illegal operations

2010 Wen Jiabao visited Pakistan. More than 30 billion US dollars of deals were signed. Pakistan China friendship center was inaugurated in Islamabad by Prime Minister of China Wen Jiabao.

Relations between India and Pakistan:

Relations between Pakistan and India are defined by the violent partition of British India in 1947, the Kashmir dispute and the numerous military conflicts fought between the two nations. Consequently, even though the two South Asian nations share historic, cultural, geographic, and economic links, their relationship has been plagued by hostility and suspicion.

Kashmir dispute

Kashmir was a princely state, ruled by a Hindu king, Maharaja Hari Singh. . Hari Singh signed a Standstill Agreement (preserving status quo) with Pakistan, but did not make his decision by August 15, 1947.

1971 Bangladesh Liberation War

Pakistan, since independence, was geo-politically divided into two major regions, West Pakistan and East Pakistan. East Pakistan was occupied mostly by Bengali people. In December 1971, following a political crisis in East Pakistan, the situation soon spiralled out of control in East Pakistan and India intervened in favour of the rebelling Bengali populace

2007 Samjhauta Express bombing:

The 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings was a terrorist attack targeted on the Samjhauta Express train on the 18^th of February. The Samjhauta Express is an international train that runs from New Delhi, India to Lahore, Pakistan, and is one of two trains to cross the India-Pakistan border.

2008 Mumbai attacks

The 2008 Mumbai attacks by ten terrorists killed over 173 and wounded 308. The sole surviving gunman Ajmal Kasab who was arrested during the attacks was found to be a Pakistani national

Sporting ties:

Cricket and hockey matches between the two (as well as other sports to a lesser degree such as those of the SAARC games) have often been political in nature. During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan General Zia-ul Haq traveled to India for a bout of “cricket diplomacy” to keep India from supporting the Soviets by opening another front. Pervez Musharaff also tried to do the same more than a decade later but to no avail.

Other Territorial Disputes:

Pakistan is locked in other territorial disputes with India such as the Siachen Glacier and Kori Creek. Pakistan is also currently having dialogue with India regarding the Baglihar Dam being built over the River Chenab in Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistan – United States relations:

Refers to bilateral relationship between the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the United States of America. The United States established diplomatic relations with Pakistan started on October 20, 1947. The relationship since then was based primarily on U.S. economic and military assistance to Pakistan.^[1] Pakistan is a Major non-NATO ally of the United States. The history of Pakistan–American relations has been defined as one of “Roller Coaster.

Foreign Assistance Act:

In April of 1979 the United States suspended all economic assistance to Pakistan (with the exception of food assistance, as required my the 1977 Symington Amendment to the US Foreign Assistance Act of 1961) over concerns about Pakistan's nuclear program.^[3] The US Foreign Assistance Act states that the US will not provide assistance to nations whose governments significantly violate human

Democratic governments: 1988–1998:

The stage was set for a very tumultuous situation; the 1990s was an era of intense upheaval in Pakistan. Pakistan found itself in a state of extremely high insecurity as tensions mounted with India and Afghanistan’s infighting continued. Pakistan’s alliance with the U.S. was strained due to factors such as its support for the Taliban and public distancing of the Pakistani government from the U.S. However the U.S. initially supported the Taliban.

Post–September 11:

After the September 11 attacks in 2001 in the United States, Pakistan became a key ally in the war on terror with the United States. In 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush strongly encouraged Pakistan government to join the U.S. war on terror, as a result Pakistan joined the U.S. war

Present relation :

Between 2002–2010, Pakistan received approximately 18 billion military and economic aid from the United States. In February 2010, the Obama administration requested an additional 3 billion in aid, for a Pakistan is a major non-NATO ally as part of the War on Terrorism. A leading recipient of U.S. military aid, Pakistan will expect to receive approximately 1.3 billion for 2010. 25% of the military is subsidized by the U.S. governmental of 20.7 billion.

Death of Osama bin Laden:

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the U.S. State Department stated that "cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden and the compound in which he was hiding". President Obama also said during his announcement of the raid that "US counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden and the compound where he was hiding.

Pakistan-U.S ties

2012-06-02T23:59:00.001-07:00

Background:

Mullen Lashes At ISI

· Relations between Pakistan and the US have been volatile throughout the year (OBL incident + drone strikes) but they took an unexpected dive after Admiral Mike Mullen’s (American Joint Chiefs of Staff) congressional testimony implicating the Inter-Service Intelligence directorate in the Haqqani network’s deadly breach of security in what is deemed to be the safest part of Kabul (attack on the US embassy at Kabul on September 13^th).

· Undoubtedly this is a swift initiative by the US to the rock bottom in their relations with the potential to actualize into direct punitive actions on a wide spectrum spanning multifaceted military, diplomatic, economic and psychological fronts.

· The irony of the USA’s approach is that while strategically on the retreat, having declared the dilution of military presence in Afghanistan, and contingent upon crafting a viable pro-US dispensation in the region, it is operationally adopting a belligerent attitude towards Pakistan especially FATA which holds the key to peace in Afghanistan.

Some statements from the US high-ups

US can prove Pakistan’s ties with Haqqanis – Cameron Munter (the US ambassador to Islamabad). White house backs Mike Mullens allegations, “It is critical that the government of Pakisatn breaks any links they have and take strong action against the Haqqani network.” White House spokesman Jay Carney told a briefing in Washington.

Pakistan’s response

· Gilani cautions US on negative messaging

· US boots not to be tolerated in Pakistan- Rehman Malik

· Mullen’s statement not based on facts- General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani

· Pakistan never backed Haqqani Network- Lt. General Ahmed Shuja Pasha

· Foreign Office stresses respect for sovereignty – Tehmina Janjua (FO spokesperson)

· Gilani mobilizes the political parties of Pakistan to attend APC (All Party’s Conference)

Diplomacy underway to de-escalate crisis

· General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani met Admiral Mike Mullen in Seville (Spain).

· Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar had a lengthy discussion with US Secretary of the State Hillary Clinton in New York.

· Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir had a talk with US envoy to Afghanistan Marc Grossman and with the US ambassador to Pakistan, Cameron Munter in Islamabad.

· ISI Chief Shuja Pasha met CIA Director Petraeus.

· APC (55 leaders representing various shades of opinion confirmed participation) –

13 point resolution ‘stress on peace with our own people’.

What Next… (Future of ties with the US)

The political and defence analysts hold divergent views with regards to the future of Pak-US ties. The anti-Americanism is prevailing in Pakistan. The best possible solution is to invite the US to the negotiation table and let us talk peace! We need to make the Americans realize now that they are not fighting a specific insurgency (i.e Haqqanis or Talibans), but an entire Afghan nation; they are fighting the Afghan people! It is about time the Taliban’s legitimate national aspirations be respected and their moral and political rights recognized in an independent Afghanistan.

For that the 13-point resolution passed by the APC should be implemented in letter and spirit, Pakistan has to ensure regional stability in South Asia after USA’s exit from Afghanistan and for that reason it has to strengthen ties with all its neighbours, Afghanistan being the most important one!

_______________________

What’s going on in the U.S? (Economic recession…)

NEW YORK- Protests against Wall Street entered their 18th day on October 5 as demonstrators across the country showed their anger over the wobbly economy and what they see as corporate greed by marching on Federal Reserve banks and camping out.
Demonstrations are expected to continue throughout the week as more groups hold organizational meetings and air their concerns on websites and through streaming video.

A slice of America`s discontented, from college students worried about their job prospects to middle-age workers who have been recently laid off, were galvanized after the arrests of 700 protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge over the weekend. Some protesters likened themselves to the tea party movement but with a liberal bent or to the Arab Spring demonstrators who brought down their rulers in the Middle East.

Iranian President Ahmadinejad TAGS Wall Street Protests as the ‘AMERICAN SPRING’

Panetta warns Nato US won`t be able to fill defence gaps The US military faces serious budget cuts and will be unable to make up any shortfalls in the Nato alliance as European members slash defence spending, Pentagon chief Leon Panetta warned on October 6.

Fiscal pressures are bearing down on both sides of the Atlantic and Nato allies will need to work closely together to pool funds, instead of counting on America`s much larger defence spending to close the gap, Panetta said.

`As for the United States, many might assume that the United States defence budget is so large it can absorb and cover alliance shortcomings but make no mistake about it, we are facing dramatic cuts with real implications for alliance capability,` the US defence secretary said in a speech in Brussels.Panetta delivered his warning ahead of talks with Nato counterparts in Brussels, centred on the missions in Libya and Afghanistan as well as the shortcomings the alliance has witnessed in carrying out the operations.

Although US defence spending far exceeds European budgets, Panetta said American military leaders were facing $450 billion in cuts over 10 years, which he called `tough but manageable.` But if the US Congress fails to tackle the country`s deficit this year, the Pentagon `could face additional cuts in defense ... (that) would be devastating to our national security and to yours as well.` The cuts contemplated by the Pentagon would reduce the size of the force and curtail some weapons programmes, but the gargantuan US defence budget at nearly $700 billion still dwarfs that of the 27 other Nato members combined.

US army has discipline problem, says general The US Army`s top commander in Europe says discipline among soldiers is a problem that if not addressed could become `cancerous.

Lt Gen Mark Hertling told a small group of reporters on October 8 that only a small percentage of soldiers lack proper discipline, but he stressed his concern that it be fixed, now that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are winding down and more troops are returning to their home bases.

Pak – US ties -- a glimpse

Background:

· Intense US pressure during the past week.

· There was an exchange of assertive opinions between the intelligence-services of both the countries.

Some statements:

Military aid linked with `cooperation`, says US embassy

· A spokesman for the US Embassy, Mark Stroh said on October 5 that military assistance to Pakistan had not been cut off, but suspended. He said the security assistance would be based on `cooperation` between the two countries. The military assistance to Pakistan includes the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) and the Pakistan Capacity Building Fund (PCBF). Mr. Stroh said the US assistance for civilian side, including in energy and other sectors, would continue.

· Inter-Services Public Relations director-general Maj-Gen Athar Abbas also confirmed that the US had suspended military assistance to Pakistan, but had not conveyed it in black and white.

· He said the US had also suspended the $7 billion Kerry-Lugar package under which only $300 million had been released against a commitment of $1.5 billion per year for the five-year package. A joint working group on military and capacity building assistance was to meet on May 2 this year, but the meeting was called off because of US operation in Abbottabad the same day.

No mediatory role for India in Afghanistan: US

· India has no mediatory role in Afghanistan, said the US State Department as Defence Secretary Leon Panetta expressed the desire to build a `cooperative and trusting` relationship with Pakistan. `With regard to playing a mediating role, I don`t think that`s what we`re looking for here. We do believe this trilateral structure is of value and we should continue its’ State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said when asked if India could play a mediatory role in Afghanistan.

· The trilateral structure she referred to includes the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan and senior US envoy Mark Grossman is currently visiting the region to help arrange the next meeting of this forum, scheduled on Nov 1-2 in Turkey.

· Mr. Grossman also plans to visit New Delhi for talks on Afghanistan but Miss Nuland said the US had no plan to ask India to attend the trilateral talks. The State Department official said the US was also supporting `any and all warming between Pakistan and India` but it did not extend to offering India a formal mediatory role in Afghanistan.

Pakistan must protect US interests, says Obama

· President Barack Obama warned on October 7 that the United States would not feel comfortable in a long-term strategic relationship with Pakistan if it did not protect US interests as well.

· In a 90-minute news conference at the White House, the US leader focused mainly on domestic issues, chiding banks, showing irritation with the Wall Street and urging lawmakers to help him create jobs.

· This was Mr Obama`s first news conference since his former military chief Admiral Mike Mullen told a Senate hearing two weeks ago that Pakistan was encouraging the Haqqani network of militants to attack US and Nato targets in Afghanistan.

· President Obama`s remarks, however, show that those lobbying for Pakistan `have their work cut out for them, as a senior Pakistani diplomat said. `With respect to Pakistan ... my number one goal is to make sure that Al Qaeda cannot attack the US homeland and cannot affect US interests around the world, Mr Obama said. `And we have done an outstanding job, I think, in going after, directly, Al Qaeda in this border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

· To ease tensions between the two countries, the US had tried to get conversations between Afghans and Pakistanis going more effectively than they have been in the past, he said. `But we`ve still got more work to do.

‘10 years of war’ Obama vows to implement his Afghan plan

· On the 10th anniversary of the US military campaign in Afghanistan (October 7), President Barack Obama told his nation that he was ending the Afghan war responsibly.

· The war in Afghanistan became America`s longest military engagement ever but most Americans were still debating what should be the best strategy for bringing that war to an end.

· In a statement issued by his office, Mr Obama pledged to implement his plans for turning over Afghanistan`s security to the Afghans themselves by 2014. `After a difficult decade, we are responsibly ending today`s wars from a position of strength,` Mr Obama said. `As the rest of our troops come home from Iraq this year, we have begun to draw down our forces in Afghanistan and transition security to the Afghan people, with whom we will forge an enduring partnership,` he said.

· Afghan deaths were not reliably counted in the first years of the war. But the UN says 11,221 civilians have been killed since 2006, 1,462 of them in the first six months of this year. The costs both in lives and dollars are influencing the public opinion as well. A recent CBS News poll found that nearly 6 in 10 Americans say the United States should not be involved in Afghanistan, a sharp turnaround from as recently as two years ago, when a majority supported the US mission there. Almost 7 in 10 people say the war has gone on longer than they expected.

· A recent Pew Research opinion poll suggests that one in three US veterans of the post-9/11 military believes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not worth fighting, and a majority think that after 10 years of combat America should be focusing more on its own problem.

· Another Washington Post Pew Research Centre poll finds a 44 per cent plurality of Americans support for Obama`s plan to withdraw combat troops from Afghanistan by 2014. Roughly three in 10 say he is not withdrawing quickly enough and 14 per cent say he is moving too quickly.

Ties with Pakistan vital to security, says US

· Ties with Pakistan remained vital to US national security, the White House said on October 8 as the State Department pledged to continue to work with Islamabad to defeat terrorism.

· `The cooperation we have with Pakistan is extremely important in terms of our national security objectives, in terms of protecting Americans, in terms of taking the fight to Al Qaeda, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told a briefing in Washington.

Karzai asks US to step up pressure on Pakistan

· Afghan President Hamid Karzai held talks with the US envoy for the region, Marc Grossman, in Kabul on October 8 just days after President Barack Obama warned Pakistan there were `some connections` between its intelligence services and the militants.

· `The Afghan president asked Mr. Grossman to put more pressure on Pakistan so that future meetings with them should bring a positive result, one official at the presidential palace said.

· Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, long mired in distrust, have recently deteriorated with Kabul alleging that the murder of its peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani was plotted in Pakistan and carried out by a Pakistani.

Negotiations with Taliban US encouraging Karzai to seek Pakistan`s help

· US officials support Afghan President Hamid Karzai`s call for engaging the Taliban through Pakistan, The Washington Post reported on October 9 amid speculations that Washington and Islamabad are once again warming up to each other after unprecedented tensions.

· Instead of dealing with `shadow intermediaries`, Mr Karzai wants to pursue reconciliation `in a way that`s more focused with established interlocutors, which the government of Pakistan would be one. We welcome that`, a senior US official told the Post.

· Diplomatic sources in Washington told Dawn that as the first concrete step towards engaging Pakistan, the United States was encouraging Afghanistan to convene a meeting of a joint peace commission, established in June.

Conclusion/ Analysis

We have seen 10 years of going nowhere on one side of the border and 10 of going backwards on the other: back to bloodshed, back to civil chaos. It`s simplistic to say that Afghanistan doesn`t matter. You might as well say that the100 years of war that scarred medieval Europe didn`t matter. The real victim of Bush`s great 9/11 folly is Pakistan. It might have been a buoyant nation today, joining India and China at world economic forums.

A decade ago General Musharraf was Pakistan`s new man on top of the heap.
Its sense of grievance may be unappealing. The preoccupation with India, the futile attachment to Kashmir, the hapless swings between corrupt democracy and army autocracy are all heavy burdens. Yet the message of public opinion, in its bewilderment, cannot be ignored. For three decades of Afghan tumult, Pakistan has been blown hither and yon by outside imbecilities. And 10 full years after 9/11, it is the heaviest casualty of them all.

A recent report by the government-funded US Institute of Peace (USIP) pointed out that the Pakistanis were not sure how the Americans wanted to shape the end-game in Afghanistan.

`Pakistani elite believe that the US would continue to push the Pakistan military to `do more` to stamp out militant sanctuaries while it tries to open up direct channels for talks with the Taliban with an eye on reducing reliance on Pakistan`s security establishment in the political and reconciliation process, the report noted.

Who is saying what about the US?

The protests on Wall Street and elsewhere in the United States will grow to `mark the downfall of the West,` Iran`s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Oct 12.

`This issue in America is very important, Khamenei said in a public speech broadcast on Iranian state television. `What they are calling the Wall Street movement has excited the people and is an important issue, which they (the US media) have tried to downplay, he told a crowd in the western city of Kermanshah.

Pak-US ties

Background:

The US persistently urged Pakistan to ‘cooperate’ in order to protect US interests in Afghanistan, during the past week.

Some statements:

Clinton says US open to discussing peace deal with Haqqanis

· On October 12 two powerful US officials secretaries of state and defence had acknowledged Pakistan`s pivotal role in a negotiated settlement in Afghanistan, and one of them even stressed the need to reach out to the Haqqani network.

· `The reality is that we cannot resolve the issues of Afghanistan without resolving the issues of Pakistan,` said Defence Secretary Leon Panetta.

· `As we try to draw down and transition to a stable and secure Afghanistan, in many ways, we have to also have a stable and secure Pakistan. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in two separate interviews, signalled that the United States was open to discussing a peace deal with the Haqqanis, although they continued to target US and Nato troops.

US urged to avoid verbal assaults, finger-pointing

· America`s special envoy Marc Grossman said on October 13after wide-ranging talks with political and military leadership on that US-Pakistan relations were important for both the countries and served their best interests.

· The United States wanted strong and cordial relations with Pakistan, he said at a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar.

Engagement will be productive, hopes Clinton Pakistan continues to pose `real threat`: Panetta

· Pakistan was one of the areas where terrorism remained a major threat, US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta told a congressional hearing on October 13, but he refused to be dragged into a debate over the need to send US troops in that country.

· Mr Panetta and Gen Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, both testified for the first time in their current positions on the future of US defence and the military 10 years after 9/11.

· Mr Panetta identified Pakistan as one of the areas which posed `real threats` to the US and its interests.

US not sincere about Afghan peace: Haqqanis

· The United States was not sincere about peace in Afghanistan when it signaled it would remain open to exploring a settlement that includes the Haqqani network, one of the group`s senior commanders said on October 13.

Report urges Obama to freeze Pakistan aid

· An influential US think-tank urged the Obama administration on October 14 to freeze its aid to Pakistan until the country took actions against perpetrators of the US Embassy attack in Kabul and helped shut down the Haqqani network.

· The Heritage Foundation, often used by former US president George W. Bush to announce foreign policy decisions, also asked the administration to back Congress on conditioning all US aid to Pakistan on certain counter-terrorism benchmarks. But the report warned that while this would be `a welcome tactic, it may be insufficient`.

Legislators briefed by army top brass US attack in N. Waziristan unlikely

· Chief of the Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has ruled out the possibility of an immediate unilateral US military offensive in North Waziristan, saying the Americans will have to think 10 times before going for this.

· The comments came at a rare briefing held on October 18 for members of the standing committees on defence of the two houses of parliament at the General Headquarters.

· Gen Kayani said the US had been told that Pakistan did not need military aid, adding that he had received a call from Washington asking if he meant it. `My reply was we mean what we say`. He said only 20 per cent of the $1.5 billion aid under the Kerry-Lugar bill had so far been received.

· Director General of Military Operations, MajGen Ashfaq Nadeem informed the legislators that Taliban activity in Afghanistan had increased by 40 per cent, despite 10 years of military presence of 49 countries. He said there were safe havens of Taliban in Kunar and Nuristan in Afghanistan.

· `Taliban operate from there (Afghanistan) to launch attacks inside Pakistan.

· Maj-Gen Nadeem said India`s cold start doctrine had added to the threats confronting Pakistan. He said seven out of nine Indian commands and three strike corps were along the border with Pakistan. Eighty-one per cent of forward and main operating bases were positioned against Pakistan.

Biometric system to be revived along Afghan border: Malik

· Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on October 19 that Pakistan had decided to restore biometric system on its border with Afghanistan from Nov 30 to stop illegal crossing from both sides. He said no-one would be allowed to cross the border without going through the screening process.

(The biometric system is designed to replace the previous permit system, by issuing border passes to people after recording their fingerprints, retinas or facial patterns for identification.)

Afghan troop pullout plan being altered: US general

· The US-led coalition has launched a new offensive against one of Afghanistan`s most potent militant networks and plans to ramp up operations next year along the border with Pakistan before the American troop drawdown gathers steam, its top commander confirmed on October 19.

· Marine Gen John Allen said the `high-intensity, sensitive` operation that began just a few days ago targeted the Haqqani group.

· Gen Allen commands more than 130,000 international troops in Afghanistan, including about 98,000 from the United States.

· The four-star general in his 50s, who succeeded Gen David Petraeus in July, came to Afghanistan as the international military coalition prepares to withdraw fighting forces by the end of 2014, leaving foreign troops in support or training roles only. Gen Allen said the plan is now for the transition to be achieved in five steps the last starting as early as the fall of 2013 instead of late 2013 or early 2014 as had been discussed

· Hillary Clinton comes to Pakistan on October 20.

The US pressure continues to pierce Pakistani top brass

Clinton arrives with tough message

· US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Pakistan on October 20 on what observers here said was a dual mission to convey a tough message to Pakistan to act against the Haqqani network and dismantle militants` `safe havens` on this side of the border and try to repair the dents relations between the countries have suffered in recent months.

· The officials accompanying her, CIA Director Gen David Petraeus, Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman, Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Martin Dempesy and President Barack Obama`s Adviser on Afghan War Lt-Gen Douglas Lute, indicated the nature of talks she wanted to hold in Islamabad.

· And the civil and military leaders of Pakistan who held the first round of talks immediately after her arrival testified to the seriousness Islamabad attached to the visit.

· Her meeting with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was attended by Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Finance Minister Dr Hafeez Shaikh, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir, Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and ISI Chief Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha.

· Officially it was said that bilateral relations, war on terror and the situation in Afghanistan were discussed at the meeting.

· Ms Clinton expressed the US desire to maintain strategic partnership with Pakistan, but stressed that Pakistan must sever ties with militants as a prerequisite for that.

· `We intend to push the Pakistanis very hard as to what they are willing and able to do with us... to remove the safe havens and the continuing threats across the border to Afghans,` she said.

Help US to `fight, talk & build`- Clinton`s 3-point strategy for ties with Pakistan

· US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on October 20 that she wanted Pakistan to work with the United States on a three-point strategy for defeating extremists, which includes fighting the militants, talking with them and building the region.

· She reminded Pakistanis that the militants were killing not only Afghans and Americans but had also killed 30,000 Pakistanis in the last 10 years.

· Urging Pakistani authorities to destroy militant safe havens in Fata, she said those sites were also used to attack targets inside Pakistan.

· The Pakistanis, she said, could `do a lot` in helping the US `in making sure that they don`t cross the border` she said, underlining what precise actions Washington wanted Islamabad to take.

· In the talking category, Secretary Clinton urged Pakistan to `unequivocally state publicly that they want to see the Afghan Taliban and those associated with them, which would include the Haqqani network, to begin negotiating towards a resolution with the Afghans themselves, and that they will, with us, stand behind that kind of negotiation.

· On the third, i.e. building, she urged Pakistan to be part of helping to create the regional architecture that `we`re looking for at the conference in Istanbul in early November and the conference at Bonn in early December` This, she said, would enable Pakistan to be part of `the international community that promotes economic integration in the region, that understands there has to be security for there to be prosperity`.

· `Yet we also need to reach out and talk with those who are willing to reconcile on the three terms that have been laid out: Renounce violence, break with Al Qaeda, and respect the laws and constitution of Afghanistan, including protecting the rights of minorities and women.

Pakistan urged to play role of peacemaker Clinton demands action in `days and weeks`

· In a rather bitter-sweet message, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked Islamabad on October 21 to start dismantling militant safe havens along the Afghan border within `days and weeks`, but said the United States respected Pakistan`s sovereignty and would not undertake any unilateral action against terrorists on its soil.

· During an extensive interaction with media personnel and members of civil society, she urged Pakistan to do more to nudge and push the Taliban towards the negotiating table. Pakistan-US ties were important and they needed each other, she added.

US likened to mother-in-law

· `We are trying to please you, and every time you come and visit us you have a new idea and tell us, `You are not doing enough and need to work harder`,` said Shamama, who works for a women`s group in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Laughing at length, Ms Clinton said she could personally relate to the woman`s perspective because she too was a mother-in-law.

Pakistan ready to arrange talks with Taliban, US told

· Pakistan has told the United States it is ready to facilitate its talks with the Taliban, but cannot become a guarantor to the negotiating process, a senior security official told Dawn on October 22.

· `Pakistan must not be blamed in case of failure of attempts (by US) f or reconciliation with the Taliban as it does not spoon-feed them,` the official remarked.

· `Contact with the Haqqani group is there, but they are notin our pocket,` was the message put across during a crucial meeting between the two sides on October 21.

Clinton visit eases US-Pakistan misgivings

· In her interview with Fox News, Secretary Clinton, when asked to comment on Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani`s recent statement that instead of blaming Pakistan for all its problems Afghanistan should try to deal with them first, appeared sympathetic to Islamabad`s position on this issue too.

· The United States, however, has also asked Pakistan to launch a military operation against Afghan militants, particularly the Haqqani network, which it says operates from the country`s tribal belt.

Karzai says he`ll back Pakistan in conflict with US

· Afghanistan would support Pakistan in case of military conflict between Pakistan and the United States, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in an interview to a Pakistani TV channel broadcast on October 22.

US, Pakistan `agree on work plan`

· The United States and Pakistan have 90-95 per cent agreement on a work plan to combat terrorists, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on October 23 while reflecting on her two day visit to Islamabad.

· The delegation, which included the CIA and US military chiefs, stressed two points: both countries have to work together to eliminate the threat from safe havens and they also need to back an Afghan-led reconciliation process.

US not seeking overt military action in Fata, says Clinton

· The United States has asked the Pakistanis to squeeze the Taliban and the Haqqani network but that does not necessarily mean taking overt military action against them, said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who also acknowledged that the Pakistani Taliban had built safe havens in Afghanistan.

· In two interviews to US media outlets, released by the State Department on October 24, Secretary Clinton indicated that the US was not planning to send ground troops into Fata to target terrorist hideouts.

Pace and scope of talks to be decided by Afghans Accord with US on Taliban `tri-logue`

· The United States and Pakistan agree on a framework for holding direct talks with the militants and are now working to operationalise the plan, says the US State Department.

· At a briefing for the press corps that accompanied Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Islamabad last week, two State Department officials explained what the secretary meant when she said in her recent interviews that the US and Pakistan had agreement on 90-95 per cent of issues they confronted.

· They said the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan had already an understanding on holding a `tri-logue` with the Taliban militants

CONCLUSION/ANALYSIS

`DAYS and weeks, not months and years,` said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Islamabad on Friday. She was referring to the time frame within which America wants to make progress with Pakistan on a range of regional security issues, from Afghanistan`s reconciliation process and confronting the Haqqani network to solving the problem of improvised explosive devices on both sides of the border. Her words brought a new urgency to the need for sorting out US-Pakistan relations. But even when combined with her blunt remarks in Kabul earlier about the need for Pakistan to go after militant safe havens here, her visit can hardly be interpreted, as some sections of the media had done before her arrival, as the delivery of a final warning that Pakistan must cooperate, or else.

In fact, Ms Clinton lowered the temperature and undertook useful public diplomacy by addressing at least three issues that have become the source of much concern in Pakistan: she said unequivocally that there would be no American boots on the ground in Pakistan in reply to questions about whether the US will launch unilateral strikes if action is not taken against the Haqqani network. She stated that America has no evidence of the involvement of Pakistani intelligence in the attack on the US embassy in Kabul. And even as she reiterated theneed for Pakistan to pursue the Afghan Taliban, Ms Clinton said action would be taken against Pakistani Taliban who have found refuge on the Afghan side of the border.

She was also frank about America`s openness to negotiating with the Haqqani network even while combating it militarily, and said that Pakistan should play a role in the former effort, not just the latter. This creates some common ground with the All-Party Conference resolution that emphasises dialogue with militants, could be a useful way to leverage Pakistan`s contacts, and might make it easier for Pakistan to cooperate with efforts to neutralise the Haqqani network. And in remarks at her joint press conference with the Pakistani foreign minister, the focus was on putting these plans into action.

Conclusively, resetting Pakistan-US relations will require a mutual retreat from the rhetoric and recriminations of recent months.

Haqqani safe havens have to be destroyed; strong Pak-India ties real game-changer Clinton wants Mulla Omar in peace talks

· US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a congressional panel on October 27 that any Afghan-led peace process would have to include the Quetta Shura and its leader Mulla Omar.

· Her statement before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs also emphasized several other key points reflecting a major change in US approach towards seeking a peaceful end to the Afghan conflict

· There is no solution in the region without Pakistan and no stable future in the region without a partnership.

· The US needs to negotiate with the Haqqani network while continuing to work with Pakistan to destroy the safe havens it has inside Fata.

· The US aid to Pakistan should not be conditioned to disbanding Lashkar-i-Taiba. And the `real game-changer in the region` would be a stronger relationship between Pakistan and India.

Panetta`s reward for Osama hunt

· Pentagon chief Leon Panetta will bring in the new year with a $10,000 bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild from 1870, courtesy of a bet with a friend over tracking down Osama bin Laden.

· The wager was struck last new year`s eve in California, when restaurateur Ted Balestreri pledged to uncork the oldest bottle in his collection if Panetta then the CIA director found the Al Qaeda mastermind.

Pak safe havens, Karzai govt ineptness worry Pentagon

· Militant safe havens in Pakistan and the Karzai government`s incapacities pose a significant threat to peace in Afghanistan, says a Pentagon report released on October 28 as US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned American lawmakers `not to undercut our progress` in the region.

· The Pentagon report noted that the relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan had improved early on, but several events had severely strained the ties.

· Most notable was the May 2 US raid on Osama bin Laden`s compound in Abbottabad. Cross-border attacks diminished in August but high-profile attacks in September, including an assault on the US embassy in Kabul, were a significant setback.

· The report said that these attacks `were carried out by the Haqqani network and directly enabled by Pakistani safe haven and support` Secretary Clinton asked the Congress not to allow its growing frustration with the situation in the Pakistan-Afghan region to mar US relationships with the two countries.

· `Working with our Afghan and Pakistani partners is not always easy but these relationships are advancing America`s national security interests. And walking away would undermine those interests, she told the lawmakers as some of them urged the Obama administration to reconsider its relations with the two countries.

· The lawmakers were particularly concerned with Pakistan`s alleged refusal to rein in the Haqqani network and had urged Secretary Clinton to stop US military aid to the country.

US has no permission for drone strikes: Gilani

· Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani categorically said on October 29 that no permission had been granted to the United States to launch drone attacks on targets inside Pakistan.

· `There is no such permission,` he told a large group of Pakistani expatriates.

· Mr. Gilani, who is in Australia on a four day visit to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, said drone attacks were counter-productive because they caused collateral damage and undermined the government`s efforts to garner support against extremists and terrorists.

November 2011, US back on track! PAK-US ties move towards normalcy

US seeking ISI`s help to end Afghan war, says NYT

· Just a month after accusing the Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI, of supporting the Haqqani network in its attacks on US troops in Afghanistan, the Obama administration is seeking the agency`s help to organise reconciliation talks aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan, the New York Times reported on October 31.

· It said the revamped approach, which US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called `Fight, Talk, Build` during a high-level US delegation`s visit to Kabul and Islamabad last month, combined continued American air and ground strikes against the Haqqani network and the Taliban with an insistence that Pakistan`s Inter Services Intelligence agency get them to the negotiating table.

· The Times observed the strategy was emerging amid an increase in the pace of attacks against Americans in Kabul, including a suicide attack on Saturday that killed as many as 10 Americans and in which the Haqqanis were suspected. It is the latest effort at brokering a deal with militants before the last of 33,000 American `surge` troops prepare to pull out of Afghanistan by September, and comes as early hopes in the White House about having the outlines of a deal in time for a multinational conference on Dec 5 in Bonn, Germany, have been all but abandoned.

No peace in Afghanistan without Pakistan help: US

· The Afghan reconciliation process needs active support from Pakistan to succeed, said the US State Department on November 2, although it played down media reports that the Obama administration had decided to give Islamabad a greater role in the peace process.

· At the regular briefing, spokesperson Victoria Nuland described the reports as `a little bit overwritten` but acknowledged that the US was working with Pakistan to secure a peace deal.

· The US media, however, insisted that Washington was willing to give Pakistan a greater role because it believed that doing so would curtail their support for the insurgency.

· Ms Nuland explained that as the US supported an Afghan-led effort to talk, the Pakistanis should be `signalling to Taliban who may be reconcilable on their side of the border that they support talks within the Afghan red lines`.

Pakistan aid should continue: Clinton

· Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a message released on November 4, has urged the US Congress to continue providing financial assistance to Pakistan and warned that disengaging at this stage would undermine America`s national security interests.

· Secretary Clinton`s message to Congress accompanies a status report on Pakistan and Afghanistan from the State Department, which also strongly endorses America`s continued engagement with both countries.

· `In Pakistan, it means leveraging the resources provided by the landmark Kerry Lugar-Berman legislation to address major economic challenges that threaten Pakistan`s stability,` the secretary said.

Zardari `assured US of action against Haqqanis`

· President Asif Ali Zardari promised to work with the United States to `eradicate` the militant Haqqani network, a pledge made during a meeting with visiting American congressmen, on November 9.

Mullen denies receiving Ijaz`s letter

On Oct 10, Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz claimed that President Zardari had sought Washington`s help for removing the army and ISIchiefs and assured the latter that he would cut all ties to militant groups if it assisted him do so. The president allegedly made this offer in a letter he gave Mr Ijaz for personally delivering it to the American leaders.

On November 9- `Admiral Mullen does not know Mr Ijaz and has no recollection of receiving any correspondence from him,` said a message from the former US military chief. Capt John Kirby, a former spokesman for the admiral, said Mr Mullen had asked him to release this message on his behalf.`I cannot say definitively that correspondence did not come from him the admiral received many missives as chairman from many people every day, some official, some not. But he does not recall one from this individual,` Capt Kirby told The Cable, a publication associated with the prestigious Foreign Policy group.

But the head of the Homeland Security delegation, Michael McCaul, downplayed the significance of the remarks, saying it was unclear whether President Zardari had the power to make good on his pledge, given the influence of the Pakistani military.

Mansoor Ijaz stands by his claim

· Mansoor Ijaz, a PakistaniAmerican who claims to have delivered a secret message to US officials on behalf of President Asif Ali Zardari, said on November 11 that his contacts indeed had delivered that letter to the then US military chief Admiral Mike Mullen.

· Earlier this week, Mr Mullen`s spokesman Captain John Kirby said that the admiral had not received any letter from Mr Ijaz.

· On Oct 10, Mr Ijaz claimed that President Zardari had sought Washington`s help for removing the army and ISI chiefs and had assured the Obama administration that he would cut all ties to militant groups if it assisted him do so.

· The president allegedly made this offer in a letter he gave Mr Ijaz for personally delivering it to American leaders.

· But earlier this week, The Cable, a publication associated with the prestigious Foreign Policy group, published a report based on a statement by Mr Mullen`s spokesman, saying that the admiral did `not know Mr Ijaz and has no recollection of receiving any correspondence from him Capt Kirby also said he `cannot say definitively that correspondence did not come from him the admiral received many missives as chairman from many people every day, some official, some not. But he does not recall one from this individual`.

· In an email message to Dawn, Mr. Ijaz pointed out that the denial confirmed his claim.

· `I never said I delivered anything to Admiral Mullen.

· What I wrote was the memo was delivered to Admiral Mullen at 1400 hrs on May 10,` Mr. Ijaz wrote. `We have proof that Admiral Mullen received the memorandum and acknowledged to the person who delivered it to him.

· Mr. Ijaz confirmed Capt Kirby`s claim that Admiral Mullen did not know the Pakistani-American businessman.

national and international affairs

2012-06-02T23:57:00.003-07:00

CONSTITUTION MAKING IN PAKISTAN (1947-1956)

Constitution is a basic document which sets out the framework for governance and exercise of power. It defines the powers of the institutions and sets out the relationship that exists between different state institutions. It also describes the powers within which these institutions have to work and what would be the nature of relationship of the individual with the state.

At the time of establishment of Pakistan an Interim constitution was introduced in Pakistan which was a modified version of the India Act 1935.The task of framing the future constitution was assigned to the CA of Pakistan that came into existence on Aug 1947.We will discuss that what were the stages and what were the steps that were taken for framing the constitution of Pakistan.

The whole process of constitution making started with the passing of the Objective Resolution. The Objective Resolution which was passed in March 1949 outlined the basic principles and foundations of the constitution. The principles that had to be kept in mind by the constituent assembly of Pakistan while framing the constitution. In a way the Objective Resolution not only identifying the objectives, the goals they wanted to achieve it was also setting out the priorities that had to be pursued.

Once the Objective Resolution was passed by the Constituent Assembly then the steps had to be taken for the formulation of the constitution and the 1^st step after the passing of the Objective Resolution was to set up the BPC (a committee comprising the members of theca of Pakistan).The strength of the BPC was fixed as 24.But the committee had to co-opt more members if it needed but at least there were 24 members they were Muslims and non-Muslim members and also women were the members of the BPC.Along with BPC some sub committees were also set up primarily to assist the BPC.These sub committees were assigned some specific tasks to deal with some specific issue and I can give you examples that one such committee dealt with the issue of federalism. What kind of federal model Pakistan was to adopt, this sub committee was to look into the matter and then report back to BPC.There were other sub committees for example a committee on judiciary to look into the judicial set up that was to be established in Pakistan. Another sub committee on fundamental rights the civil and political rights that were to be given to the citizens of Pakistan and there was also a committee on the minorities the non Muslims who were also the citizens of Pakistan.

So in this way there were a lot of sub committees I have given you some examples but there were more sub committees than I have mentioned. So the BPC and the different sub committees deliberated on different aspects of constitution making and then they prepare a report that is called the BPC First report.

First Basic Principle Committee’s Report: 1950:

We are calling it 1^st report because the BPC prepared more than one report so that we are calling it 1^st and 2^nd report and so on so that we can identify the different efforts made by the BPC.So the 1st report was presented to the constituent assembly in 1950 and this report outlined certain broad and key principles, it was not framing the constitution, it was identifying certain broad principles. That was to serve as the basis and foundations of the constitution.

Let me mention certain recommendations which the BPC, s 1^st report of 1950 made so that you have an idea about the kind of system they wanted to introduce in Pakistan.

1. First important recommendation by the BPC report was that the Objective Resolution would be included in the constitution of Pakistan as the directive principles of policy as guideline of policy making.

2. Another important recommendation was that the head of the state that was to be named as the president was to be elected by the joint session of the parliament for five years; it means that a person could hold the presidential office for five years. The president was given some discretionary powers and certain other categories of power were recommended to be assigned to the president. Although the authority was to be exercised by the PM.

3. So for as the legislation was concerned the 1^st report had recommended that there will be two houses the upper house and the lower house and the principle recommended here for the composition for the two houses was that the upper house all provincial units have equal representation and in the case of lower house recommendation was to be given on the basis of population, it means that if a province have more population it will have more representation and in that case East Pakistan had more population than West Pakistan and it had more representation in the lower house. So for as powers were concerned powers were equally divided between the two houses that meant that both houses had same kind of powers

4. Cabinet and the PM were to be answerable to both houses of the parliament.

5. In this way it tried to provide certain basic principles, however this report was silent on the issue of National Language what would be the National Language of Pakistan the report was silent and it didn’t make any kind of recommendation.

Criticism:

When this report was presented to the Constituent Assembly there was criticism in the house and outside the house one basic criticism was on the issue of representation which was an important issue the constituent assembly had to deal with and here we see that on the question of representation there was a criticism that if you provide equal representation to all the units of a federation then the Western part had more representation because the western part had more units and there was only one unit in East Bengal. So the feeling was that the Western part would have more representation. Then there were couple of other issues that were raised in the constituent assembly with reference to the 1^st report. For example the issue of equal powers to both houses the general principle is that the lower house has more powers and the upper house has less powers that is the standard principle in the parliamentary system of govt but here both houses had equal powers so this was criticized and then the issue of national language that it should said something about national language.

Now keeping in view this criticism it was decided that the BPC will review the report in the light of points raise and criticism in the constituent assembly. So the constituent assembly deliberated on this so that the points raised in the constituent assembly and outside could be incorporated and the report is made more acceptable to the representatives. So it reviewed the recommendations and brought back the revised or the second report.

Second BPC Report 1952:

The 2^nd report or the revised report generally followed the same principles but it tried to accommodate the criticism made on the 1^st report and I will give you just one or two examples to illustrate my point that what kind of changes it made in the 1^st report.

1. One issue was the question of representation how should different provinces of Pakistan one province in the Eastern wing and more than one province or the administrative units in the Western part should be provided representation. So the 2^nd report followed the principle of equal representation to both wings of Pakistan.60 members from the Eastern wing and 60 members from the Western wing or the Western part and then these 60 seats allocated to the western part were further divided among the different provinces of the western part. The same principles applied to the lower house 200 seats were given to the Western part and 200 seats for the Eastern part and then again the western seats were further divided among various provinces also different administrative units in the western part of Pakistan.

2. More powers were to be given to the lower house the house which represents the people that was given more responsibility.

3. It also emphasized that in Pakistan law making would be n accordance with the principles of Islam. This was in a way a reflection of the Objective Resolution where sovereignty over entire universe had been assigned to Almighty Allah and it was to be exercised by the state of Pakistan through the representatives of the people within the limits prescribed by Him and there would be no law which violates the principles and teachings of Islam.

4. In order to facilitate that it was also decided that an advisory board comprised of 5 religious scholars was constituted who would advise on the matter of law making in accordance with the principles and teachings of Islam.

2^nd report was also silent on the issue of national language. However it definitely accommodated some demands, the issue of representation the fear that the East Pakistan would dominate West Pakistan was care off.

Criticism:

However there was criticism that why equal representation. In the case of the 1^st report some were saying equality and here some were saying why equality had been created. But the 2^nd report accommodated the issues that were raised in the 1^st report. This report was declared against the principles of federation. The West Pakistan favored equality only for upper house. While the report was being discuss there was a political crises in Pakistan.PM Nazimuddine was removed from his office due to this crises and the new PM Ch.Muhammed Ali became the new PM.

Third Report (Muhammad Ali Bogra Formula) 1953:

Ch.Muhammad Ali and his team deliberated on all the issues and prepared a report which s called as 3^rd report but generally in Pakistani history it is called as The Muhammad Ali Formula because MAB was the PM and under his leadership a new set of proposals was prepared which he represented to the Constituent assembly and therefore it is generally describe as the Muhammad Ali Formula for the constitution making.

This formula was presented in October 1953 revised the original proposals in the lights of the comments and criticism and it adopted a novel procedure for providing representation to different units of Pakistan. It decided that in the case of upper house there will be equal representation to all the units of Pakistan and for this purpose Pakistan was divided into five units’ one unit was East Pakistan and four units were in West Pakistan and each unit was given equal representation it means that in the upper house 10 members were from Eastern part and 40 members were to come from the four units of West Pakistan.

In the lower house more representation was given to Eastern part because that had more population than the western part. So according to this formula 165 seats were given to East Pakistan and from the western part the strength of the members was 135 and this was the application of principle of representation on the basis of population. So in this case the standard principle of federalism was followed that is in the upper house the units of federation were given equal representation and in the lower house the units are represented on the basis of population.

However there s a unique feature here although the standard principle of federalism is followed but whenever the parliament met in a joint session there was parity or equality between the two wings of Pakistan. Let me explain this in the case of Eastern Pakistan it had 10 members in the upper house and 165 in the lower house the total were 175.In the case of Western Part there were 4 units each sending 10 members and total 40 members and in the in the lower house West Pakistan was to send 135 members and total members from West Pakistan were 175, So it is the principle pf parity or equality when the parliament meet in a joint session.

There was another provision provided in this formula that although decisions were to be made by the majority vote but this decision could not be effective unless at least 30% of members from both zones vote in favour of this, So 30% members from both wings are required to have majority for any law making. In this way this proposal incorporated the principle of parity with inter dependence. Parity in a sense that in case of joint session both wings have equal representation.Inter dependence that 30% member from both wings are included in the required majority for any law making. So in other words one wing could not get it away what it wanted, it had to seek the support of the other side, so parity and interdependence are built in the system through this proposal.

Criticism:

This proposal provided for equal powers to both houses and they could also take up issues in joint session. This proposal was received with greater welcome however there was some criticism. There were certain points mentioned here by the members were, one issue was that it was providing for unreasonably complex process. You divide Western part into four units and Eastern part in one unit then the allocation of seats that is to be done parity at the joint session level and then 30% clause, so some people were saying and some newspapers were writing articles that this would become a complicated process. But generally this proposal was accepted although there was criticism over here and there in the parliament and outside the parliament.

Another issue that attracted some criticism was the issue of equal powers to both houses and some people were saying that since the lower house represents the people therefore lower house should have more powers but in this proposal both houses were given equal powers. Another significant measure during this period which facilitated the constitution making was the settlement of the language issue. In 1954 he Constituent Assembly of Pakistan decided that the Bengali and Urdu would be the national languages of Pakistan. This decision facilitated the constitution making process.

The acceptance of two languages helped to defuse the controversies that had emerged in constitution making. In this way this issue amicably settled to the satisfaction of most political leaders and political parties.

After this the Constituent Assembly devoted itself toward the making of the constitution and the drafting of the constitution started that is by the summer of 1954 all the basic principles had been agreed to by the CA and drafting had started and in fact by October 1954 good part of the constitution had been drafted by the committee or group of people ,constitutional experts, legal experts who were drafting the constitution, and it was assumed that very shortly the draft constitution would be presented to the constituent assembly that would deliberate on it discuss the draft and make changes if required and ultimately the constitution would be approved and it was expected that very soon Pakistan would have its own constitution.

However a sudden development in the same month October 1954 created a situation that delayed constitution making and that development was on 24 October 1954 GG Ghulam Muhammad decided to dissolve the CA of Pakistan exercising his powers as the GG.He argued that the CA of Pakistan had been dealing with the constitution for a long time, that the CA came into existence on Aug 1947 and this was Oct 1954 and his argument was that this CA was not able to make the constitution and it had make the constitution making a perpetual process therefore he could use his powers to dissolve the CA,that mean that the whole effort to make the constitution came into a standstill. Dissolution of the CA also meant that the govt of PM Muhammad Ali Bogra came to an end but the GG asked him to set up a new govt which included some old ministers and some new ministers and in this way constitution making was delayed.

One result of this dissolution of the CA of Pakistan by the GG was that this matter was taken to the superior judiciary foe adjudication; the president of the CA at that time Maulvi Tameezuddin moved the case first to Sind chief court and then to the federal court of Pakistan and this was known as the Tameezuddin case. This legal and constitutional battle in the Sind chief court and then in the federal court went on for several months and the federal court through various judgments which it gave from time to time and also through its advisory opinion which the federal court gave to the GG during the same period the ultimate decision or the resolution was that the GG was able to get a away with the dissolution of the CA of Pakistan but the federal court directed that the new CA will have to be elected.

GG could not nominate anybody but it had to be elected therefore by keeping in view the judgment of the federal court and the advisory opinion of the federal court the govt of Pakistan decided to hold new elections for the 2^nd CA.These elections were indirect that were held in June and July 1955 and the 2^nd CA started its session in July 1955.In the case of 2^nd CA two things were different from the 1^st CA.In the 1^st CA the ML was the majority party while in the 2^nd CA no political party had an absolute majority and in the case of 2^nd CA the membership was 80 out of which 40 from East and 40 from West Pakistan so in a way it was a principle of equality and parity.

The 2^nd CA took up on its task of framing the constitution of Pakistan and in order to deal with this issue the 2^nd CA did not start from the beginning, it could make use of all the work done by the earlier CA.It was in a way building on what the 1^st CA had done. The important step taken by the 2^nd CA was the integration of the province of West Pakistan and it is also known as the One Unit Scheme for Western Pakistan. In the case of West Pakistan there were 3 provinces, Balouchistan was not a full province but a different administrative unit, other than these 4 major units there were princely states, what was done in 1955 that all these administrative units in the West Pakistan were integrated into the province of West Pakistan.

Smaller administrative units were abolished all the provinces and units in West Pakistan lost their separate identity and were integrated into West Pakistan. So this is or what is called as the One Unit Scheme for West Pakistan and because of this there were only two provinces in Pakistan East Pakistan and the West Pakistan and in this way the issue of representation was resolved, although in the smaller provinces and units of West Pakistan there was criticism of setting up of this integrated province of West Pakistan.

Nevertheless, this integration in the constitution making process in Pakistan and after that the CA began to deal with the constitution, it discuss the constitution and the draft of the constitution was released for the CA and for the public at large on 8^th January 1956 that is the draft text of the constitution. This text was discussed in the CA, outside the CA and then the CA approved the constitution on 29^th Feb 1956.The next stage in the making of the constitution was the approval of the constitution by the GG of Pakistan, that is his signatures were required and at that time Sikander Mirza was the GG of Pakistan and on March 2^nd ha signed the constitution that has been approved by the CA and in this way it became the constitution of Pakistan. This constitution was enforced on 23^rd March 1956 and it replaced the Interim Constitution of Pakistan that was introduced in Pakistan in Aug 1947.In this way the long run effort to make the constitution of Pakistan was successful in giving this country a constitution of its own which became operative on 23^rd March 1956.

OBJECTIVE RESOLUTION OF 1949:

The Objectives Resolution was the first constitutional document that proved to be the ‘foundation’ of the constitutional developments in Pakistan. It provided parameters and sublime principles to the legislators. It made the constitution-making process easy task setting some particular objectives before them that would be acceptable to the people of Pakistan who had suffered a lot under the Hindu-dominated majority. The Resolution was moved by Liaquat Ali Khan, the then Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and approved on March 12, 1949.

The Constituent Assembly (1947-54)

First, we will take up the first aspect that is the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. We are briefly talking about the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan because it was this first constituent Assembly of Pakistan that passed the OR of March 1949. The first Constituent Assembly came into existence under Indian Independence Act 1947at the time of independence; however its roots can be traced back to the 1946 when the elections for the constituent assembly for United India were held in July 1946 to decide the destiny of the All India Muslim League (AIML)’s claim that it is the only representative party of the Indian Muslims that desire separate homeland, Pakistan. The Constituent Assembly held its first meeting on 9^th, December 1946. The ML did not participate in the elections because it demanded separate Constituent Assembly for Pakistan.

When Indian Independence Act came in July, 1947 in the light of the June 3^rd Plan, the First Constituent Assembly came into existence; it comprised the members of the old Constituent Assembly from the Districts that became part of Pakistan. Originally there were 69 members but later on 10 more members were gradually inducted in order to provide representation to the princely states that had exceeded to Pakistan and also to people who had migrated to Pakistan from India. So its strength went up to 79 but actually it was less than that because some members’ dies and some members left for India so its actual strength went down slightly from 79. In this Constituent Assembly there were two major political parties, The ML which had led the movement for the establishment for Pakistan. The other major party although much smaller than the ML was the Congress party and its members were from East Pakistan at that time. There were also couple of other members who were not part of ML, however these two political parties were significant especially the ML.

Functions of the Assembly:

This constituent assembly performed two functions, the first function was constitution making, so it would at that time act as the constituent assembly,

And the 2^nd function which it performed was Law Making which means that it would also make ordinary laws for the state of Pakistan,

So in other words it was performing 2 functions constitution making when it was called as constituent assembly and when it is performing the function of law making then it was called as the legislative assembly but the title was the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. It is this Constituent Assembly that passed the OR that we are going to discuss very soon.

The first constituent assembly of Pakistan that came into existence at the time of Independence in August 1947 lasted until October 1954. In October 1954 the first constituent assembly was dissolved. So the first constituent assembly of Pakistan remained in office for little over seven years. This was the first constitutional document which served as the foundation of the constitution sets out the parameters and identified the goals and the objectives which the framers of the constitution wanted to achieve.

The OR was moved by Liaquat Al Khan who was the PM of Pakistan at that time and the constituent assembly debated this resolution in at least five sessions. They deliberated this in great details on all clauses and provisions and on March 12, 1949 this OR was adopted by the constituent assembly of Pakistan.

The objective resolution:

FEATURES:

1. Sovereignty:

Sovereignty over the entire universe belongs to Almighty Allah alone.

2. A sacred trust:

The 2^nd principle is an extension of the first which says that the authority which He has delegated to the state of Pakistan through its people for being exercised within the limits prescribed by Him is a sacred trust.

3. The constitution:

The Constitution will be framed for sovereign, independent state of Pakistan.

4. The representatives of the people:

The state shall exercise its power through the representatives of the people.

5. Principles of Democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice as enunciated by Islam will be fully observed.

6. Islamic principles:

Muslims shall be enabled to organize their lives in accordance with the teachings and requirements of Islam as set out in the Quran and the Sunnah.

7. Minorities:

The 7^th principle outlined in the OR of March 1949 is that the minorities will have freedom to freely profess and practice their religions and develop their cultures.

8. Human rights:

The 8^th principle is very similar to the 7^th that says Provisions for safeguarding the legitimate interests of minorities, backward and depressed classes. So in addition to the minorities the OR was also talking about the backward and the depressed classes.

9. Federation:

Pakistan shall be a Federation with autonomous units.

10. State’s sovereignty:

State’s sovereignty and territorial integrity will be protected.

11. International norms:

People of Pakistan should have an opportunity to prosper and to attain their rightful place in the comity of nations and make contribution towards international peace progress and happiness of humanity.

Comments

These 11 principles are in brief principles of the OR and these serve as guidelines for constitution making in Pakistan. The principles enunciated in the OR are also in a way aspiration the desires, goals and the objectives for which the constituent assembly was to frame a constitution that is to say that the Pakistani polity or the Pakistan political system was to move in the direction of achieving those goals outlined in the Objective Resolution. You can say the same thing in other words that the constitution that was to be framed by the constituent assembly was to reflect the principles outlined in the Objective Resolution.

EXPLAINATION AND IMPORTANCE:

The first principle which comes after the opening Bismillah is the Resolution declared the sovereignty of God as the distinctive political philosophy and the primary feature of the Islamic political system that the God Almighty is the source of authority and power for the whole Universe. This notion that the authority or the sovereignty belongs to Allah is different from the notion that is practiced in the Western Democracy. The Western democracy gives the notion that sovereignty lies in the people but this Resolution is important having the concept of the sovereignty of God. It clarified that people would utilize powers gifted by God so they would have to work within the limits prescribed by Him which is the source of ultimate power and authority in this World. The Objective Resolution and later on the all the constitutions of Pakistan recognized this principle. In fact, this sentence that the sovereignty belongs to Almighty Allah is incorporated in all the constitutions of Pakistan. The exercise of the powers is a sacred trust.

The next line which we have outlined while discussing the principles is an extension of this principle, when you say sovereignty belongs to Almighty Allah, a logical follow up is that the power and the authority that is to be exercised by the state of Pakistan or those who will be exercising power in the name of the state of Pakistan will have to function within the limits prescribed by Allah. They can’t violate His command and principles which have to be followed at all times and this job of exercising authority or power is a sacred trust. Nobody, any leader or institution can claim that his power or authority belongs to him or her. It is a responsibility and an obligation and as an obligation it is a sacred trust because ultimate power belongs to Allah and if you are exercising it then it would be a trust on you, it is your duty not your personal power.

Another important principle that comes out of the OR is the institution of representation. In the principles which I have outlined it is very clearly stated that the powers would be exercised through the representatives. It is not that some body can grap power and claim that the power to his or her. The system of representation is provided for in the OR. Those people who will exercise the power as a sacred trust will be representatives of the people. In other words he OR provides for a democratic and a representative system. It provides excess of power to the people through their representatives therefore the principle of representation is of vital importance and significance. It is understandable that this principle was incorporated in the Objectives Resolution. If we go back to the Independence period we will find that the ML while striving for the establishment of Pakistan was claiming to be the representative of the Muslims and through 1946 elections it established its credentials as the sole representative body of the Muslims and that principle is reflected here.

There is another principle that we have discussed which stresses on the modern notions of democracy, freedom, equality and social justice. The representatives of the people of Pakistan will manage the affairs under the universal ideology of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance, and social justice with the spirit of an Islamic framework. These principles are the foundation and bases of any civilized political system. Islam also provides for these kinds of principles. In fact, equality, tolerance and social justice have been the characteristic features of Islam. Therefore here the OR was combining the two and that’s why it says that these principles will be implemented as enunciated in Islam. In other words this principle describe the modern notion of state governance like representation and then the principles of democracy and equality which are find in both and the OR has emphasize Islam because in the period of pre-independence Muslims of this Sub-Continent were defining their national identity with reference to Islam, Islamic culture, heritage and civilization and you can see the reflection of both in the Objectives Resolution.

There is an other principle which is emphasized in the Objectives Resolution that is the enabling class; the OR says that the state would create conditions to enable the Muslims to organize their lives with the principles and teachings of Islam as set out in the Quran and the Sunnah which are the main sources of guidance and inspiration for the Muslims all over the World.

Now here the OR is talking about the enabling role of the state that the state would facilitate and help and would create such conditions where Muslims will be in a position to lead their lives in accordance to the principles and teachings of Islam. Here the element of question has been excluded, state is not forcing the people but enabling them, this enabling principle whereby you facilitate is in line with the principles of Islam which does not believe in use of coercion and force in the religious domain. Therefore, it becomes the obligation of the state to create positive and helpful conditions and environment.

In addition to this the OR also talks about the minorities, the framers of the resolution were fully conscious that Non-Muslims are also citizens of Pakistan. The Resolution pledged to give the due respect and rights to the minorities, backward and depressed classes in the benign society of Pakistan. Their rights, interests, religion and culture were not confuted. We have seen in the principles that the resolution also talks about the religious minorities. Those sections which for some reason cannot move along with the other sections of the society and for religious minorities it provides them full freedom to profess and practice their religions. They are free to go to their religious places and to follow their religious practices and in addition to this they were also assured facility to promote their cultures and similarly, the OR shows much concerns about the need to help the backward classes and also depressed classes and what should be their rights and how their rights, interests and religions could be protected. This also reflects one of the primary teachings of Islam, the teachings which emphasize tolerance and which give freedom to Non-Muslims to follow their own religious practices and cultural norms and this principle is clearly reflected in the OR and also in the subsequent constitutions that were made in Pakistan.

Another important principle is related to the federal structure of the govt that Pakistan will be a federal state and where its units and in case of Pakistan its units are called provinces. The constituent units of Pakistani federation will enjoy autonomy and within the defined field the provincial govts or administration of the units of the federation will have power to do and handle their own affairs. The introduction of system of federation was understandable, in a diversified system is more workable and again if we look at the political legacy of Pakistan, if we go back to the period of freedom movement, we will find that during that time the ML was demanding a federal system with autonomy to the provinces. The idea was that if there is a federal system and autonomous provinces then in the provinces where Muslims are in a majority they will be free to handle their own affairs, therefore ML was demanding a federal model with autonomy to the provinces until 1940. It was in 1940 that the ML demanded partition of India and establishment of a separate state.

So, after the attainment of independence it was natural, it was understandable that the Ml and the members of the constituent assembly will go for a federal model with autonomy to the provinces. All the constitutions of Pakistan incorporated this principle, principle of federalism and autonomy for the provinces.

Another important principle of significance and relevance is the emphasis on the protection of Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and this is one of the primary functions a govt have to perform because if you can’t protect state sovereignty and if you can’t defend the territory of the state that state disappears. In fact, the security and the protection of its territory is the primary function of any state or any govt of a state, therefore this principle has been incorporated in the Objectives Resolution.

You have seen in this discussion that the OR was carefully prepared and it incorporated certain principles which were to serve as the foundation of the constitutional and the legal and the political structure that was to be created in Pakistan. When the OR was moved in the constituent assembly of Pakistan in March 1949 a no. of non Muslim members who were members of the Congress raised couple of objections.

Objections by Non-Muslims

In fact, these were the fears that they had in their minds and they raised those issues in the constituent assembly which were thoroughly debated by Muslim members as well as by the non Muslim members. The major objection by the Non-Muslims was that this OR was trying to mix the religion and politics that was against the spirit of democracy and from their perspective that needed to be separated. Actually, this is what happened in the Europe but that does not mean that it should happen everywhere. In case of Islam you cannot really draw clear lines between the two domains as describe by the European political thinkers that the state and the religion and here in this case Pakistan and the Islam. This objection was ruled out because the Muslims of this Sub Continent had defined their identity with reference to Islam and there was a general census that the state of Pakistan will have relationship with the parameters and principles which they have used to defined their identity and then demand a separate state.

The other point raised by the non-Muslims was that they objected on the ‘Sovereignty of Allah’ and minorities’ rights, they were saying that the sovereignty will have been with the people with God it may be too extract; also saying it would promote inequality in the society. Again it was explained in and outside the constituent assembly that this is the cardinal principle of Islam and this does not mean that some individuals or some group would claim to exercise that authority in the name of God. The framers of this resolution were not talking about theocratic or religious state. The authority was to be exercised through the representatives not through a particular class and the only limit was that those representatives had to exercise that authority within the limits prescribed by Allah in the Quran and the Sunnah and this job of exercising power was a sacred responsibility and it was a trust. Otherwise people could elect anybody and they could exercise that authority within certain parameters. They were also of view that Shariah was not adequate for the modern time. They feared that it would encourage the religious extremists to work for the establishment of a ‘theocratic state. ’Theocratic is basically mean where a particular class of people can rule the state in the name of religion or the priesthood or the religious scholars would rule and that kind of notion does not exist in Islam. Therefore, when Liaquat Ali Khan and other people were talking about the Islamic state or a state based on the Islamic principles, they were not talking about a theocratic state. In fact, Liaquat Ali Khan and others who were in the constituent assembly repeatedly said that Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic state but it is going to be a modern democratic state which work within the limits prescribed by God Almighty who is the ultimate source of authority and ultimate source of power, power ultimately belongs to Allah not to a particular class, section or group of people, who so ever exercises power is exercising as a responsibility.

IMPORTANCE:

The Objectives Resolution is a basic and primary document of the constitutional history of Pakistan. It is a framework that provides mechanism to achieve goals for a better life of the people of Pakistan. Whenever we discuss history of constitution making even history of politics OR is very important. It’s important that it embraces centrality of Islam to polity sustaining their links with the pre-independence period and the post independence period. The AIML leaders were modernist Muslims not in favour of an orthodox religious state. Therefore, they selected the middle way abiding by the Islamic laws and the international democratic values. The Resolution remained ‘Preamble of all the constitutions due to its importance. And during the period of General Zia-ul-Haq OR was incorporated in the constitution of Pakistan as the article 2-A.

FOREIGN POLICY OF PAKISTAN:

INTRODUCTION

No country today can think of a life independent of other nations.Every country has to develope relations with other countries so as to meets its requirements in economical,industrial and technological fields.It is thus necessary for every country to formulate a sound foreign policy.Pakistan is an important third world country in its developmental stage.It also has formulated her foreign policy keeping in mind its geoghraphy ,politics and economics.
DEFINITION OF FOREIGN POLICY

Foreign Policy can be defined as :
"Relations between sovereign states.It is reflection of demestic politics and an interraction among sovereign states.It indicates the principles and preferences on which a country qant to establish relations with another country."
PAKISTAN'S FOREIGN POLICY IN LIGHT OF QUAID-E-AZAM'S WORDS

The father of the nation,Quaid-e-Azam defined Foreign Policy towards other countries of the world in 1948,as follows:
" Our Foreign Policy is one of friendliness and good-will towards all the nations of the world.We do not cherish aggressive designs against any country or nation.We believe in the policy of honesty and fair play in national and international dealings and are prepared to make our outmost contribution to the promotion of peace and prosperity among the nations of the world.Pakistan will never be found lacking in extending its material and moral support to the oppressed and suppressed of the United Nations Charter."
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BASIC GOALS OF PAKISTAN'S FOREIGN POLICY

1.Maintenance of territorial integrity.
2.Maintenance of its political independence.
3.Acceleration of social and economic development.
4.Strengthening its place on the globe.
5.Keeping cordial and friendly relations with all countries.
GUIDING PRINCPLES OF PAKISTAN'S FPREIGN POLICY

Following are the principles of Pakistan's Policy:
1.Protection of freedom and soveregnity

Pakistan came into being after great sacrifices of million of Muslims ,like any other country,she also considers with deep regard the need for preservation of its independence and does not allow any country to harm its freedom .Therefore,the principle of protection of independence and sovereignty is the corner stone of Pakistan's Foreign Policy.
2.Cordial Relations with Muslim Countries

Pakistan always tries to establish cordial and friendly relations with Muslim countries.It has always moved its concern against Israel,India and U.S.S.R capturing Palestine,Kashmir and Afghanistan respectively.She has shouldered high responsibilities and used her influence for safeguarding the rights of the Muslims.Pakistan is also an active member of the Islamic Conference.
3.Non Interference in Internal Affairs of Other ountries

Pakistan has sought to establish normal and friendly relations with all countries especially its neighbouring countries,on the basis of universally acknowledge the principle of national sovereignty,non use of force,non-interference in the internal affairs of state.
4.Implementation of U.N Charter

Pakistan's policy is to act upon UN Charter and to support all moves by the UN to implwmwnt it.Pakistan has been the member of UN since the year of its birth.
5.Promotion of World Peace

Pakistan policy is to promote peace among nations.It has no aggresive designs against any country.Neither does it support any such action.Pakistan has always held that the international disputes should be settled through negotiations rather than non-battlefield.
6.NON-ALIGNMENT

Pakistan follows the policy of Non-Alignment i,e to keep away from alignment with any big power bloc and avoids taking sides in the cold war.It has also given up its association with SEATO and CENTO and was included in NAM in 1979.
7.Support for Self-Determination and Condemnation of Racial Discrimination

Pakistan is a staunch supporter of the right of self-determination and has been in the fore front of efforts to eliminate colorialism.It has advocated the right of self determination of Kashmir.
CONCLUTION

The guiding principles of Pakistan's Foreign Policy are rooted in the country's Islamic ideology,its rich cultural heritage and historical experience.As an Islamic and non-aligned country,Pakistan supports Islamic caouses and firmly upholds the above mentioned principles,which hold out the promose of a just and equitable world order in which nations can live in peace and security.

TOOLS OF FOREIGN POLICY:

The term foreign policy refers to a state’s international goals and its strategies to achieve those goals. Foreign policymakers follow the same five steps with which public policy gets made:

1. Agenda setting: A problem or issue rises to prominence on the agenda.

2. Formulation: Possible policies are created and debated.

3. Adoption: The government adopts one policy.

4. Implementation: The appropriate government agency enacts the policy.

5. Evaluation: Officials and agencies judge whether the policy has been successful.

Unlike domestic policy, however, foreign policymaking usually involves fewer people and less publicity. In the United States, the president serves as the chief diplomat and is charged with running American foreign policy. The president employs three tools to conduct foreign policy:

1. Diplomacy

2. Foreign aid

3. Military force.

DIPLOMACY:

Diplomacy is the act of dealing with other nations, usually through negotiation and discussion. Diplomacy involves meetings between political leaders, sending diplomatic messages, and making public statements about the relationship between countries. The American president, for example, often hosts leaders and chief diplomats of other nations at the White House in order to discuss a variety of issues. Most diplomacy occurs behind the scenes as officials hold secret negotiations or meet privately to discuss key issues.

APPROACHES TO DIPLOMACY:

States generally pursue diplomacy in one of three ways:

· Unilaterally: The states acts alone, without the assistance or consent of any other state.

· Bilaterally: The state works in conjunction with another state.

· Multilaterally: The state works in conjunction with several other states.

There are pros and cons to each of these three approaches. Acting unilaterally, for example, allows a state to do what it wants without compromise, but it must also bear all the costs itself. Acting with allies, on the other hand, allows a state to maintain good relations and to share the diplomatic burden, but this often requires compromise.

es often help each other to improve relations and achieve their own foreign policy objectives. There are two types of foreign aid:

1. Military aid: States donate, sell, or trade military equipment and technology to affect the military balance of power in certain key regions of the world

2. Economic aid: States donate or loan money to other counties to boost economic development.

MILITARY FORCE:

In some cases, states use military force or the threat of military force to achieve their foreign policy objectives. The use of military forces often involves stronger states pressuring weaker states to get what they want.

Example: The practice of forcing a weak state to comply with a stronger state via the threat of force is sometimes called Finlandization. In the final days of World War II, Finland reached a peace agreement with the Soviet Union. Even though both countries knew that the Soviets could have easily overwhelmed the Finns, neither wanted war, and the Soviets preferred to use their military elsewhere. The terms of the peace treaty basically gave the Soviets everything they wanted, so much so that Finland almost became a puppet of the Soviet Union.

DETERRENCE:

Deterrence refers to the build up of military force as a threat to warn another state not to pursue a particular course of action.

Example: Throughout the Cold War, the United States relied on the strength of its nuclear and conventional weapons to deter the Soviet Union from invading western Europe.

democratic regimes in world

2012-06-02T23:56:00.001-07:00

NUCLEAR PROBLEMS:

TECHNICAL COOPERATION MEETING TO CONSIDER NEW BUDGET

The Technical Cooperation Programme undertakes projects in human health, agricultural productivity, food security, water management, environmental protection, medicine and sustainable energy development.

The annual meeting of the IAEA's Technical Assistance and Cooperation Committee (TACC) convenes Monday, 14 November in Vienna.

The Committee will consider the full programme cycle for 2012-2013. Then the TACC will make recommendations for changes or approval to the IAEA Board of Governors, which begins its deliberations three days later on 17 November.

Planning for the Technical Cooperation programme starts two years prior to project implementation.

Nuclear Experts Discuss IAEA Operational Safety Reviews

Senior nuclear experts offered several recommendations on how the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) can further develop its operational safety review services (on 15^th November 2011). The IAEA hosted a technical meeting on the Evaluation of Effectiveness of Operational Safety Review Services and their Future Evolution at the Agency's headquarters in Vienna from 1 to 4 November 2011.

Representatives from nuclear regulatory bodies, nuclear utilities, nuclear power plants and technical support organisations from 19 IAEA Member States and the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) took part in the meeting. It provided a platform for the exchange of information, experience and lessons learned from the operational safety review missions performed during 2008-2011. The meeting also included discussion of expectations for the future evolution of these services.

The IAEA's operational safety review services assess the operational safety performance of nuclear power plants by conducting peer reviews using the requirements of IAEA Safety Standards. The longest running safety review service, the Operational Safety Review Team (OSART) programme, was established in 1982 and has provided advice and assistance to Member States in 165 missions to enhance the safety of nuclear power plants during commissioning and operation. Other review services available in the area of operations evaluate operating experience feedback, safe long-term operation and safety culture.

The IAEA Action Plan on Nuclear Safety includes actions focused towards strengthening the existing IAEA peer reviews by incorporating lessons learned and improving their effectiveness. This week's meeting provided several recommendations to the IAEA on how to modify the scope and methodology of the OSART missions to reflect the lessons learned from this year's accident at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

The most important recommendation was to introduce Severe Accident Management as a separate review area in the standard OSART scope. The meeting endorsed the integration of the different types of operational safety services under the umbrella of OSART, to improve the effectiveness of using available resources and harmonising the methodology of these services. In addition, several ideas on how to improve the efficiency of OSART missions in identifying safety significant issues were endorsed by the meeting.

The meeting considered that the IAEA operational safety review services, and in particular the OSART programme, were effective in supporting the enhancement of the safety of nuclear power plants during both commissioning and operation. The recommendations and improvements endorsed by the meeting in light of the Fukushima accident and a review of the services are intended to support further enhancement of the safety of nuclear power plants worldwide.

Statement by IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano

Action Plan - the product of intensive consultations with Member States - is both a rallying point and a blueprint for strengthening nuclear safety worldwide.

It contains concrete and achievable actions to make nuclear safety post-Fukushima more robust and effective than before.

At its core is greater transparency. If there is more transparency, there is more incentive to implement all the actions in the Plan, and to be seen to do so.

We count on Member States to implement the Action Plan fully and vigorously. It will need their sustained commitment and full involvement.

I am confident that the UN High-Level Meeting on Nuclear Safety and Security, which is taking place in New York today, will continue to build on the foundations laid here in Vienna.

We must not lose our sense of urgency. Public expectations are very high.

This is an Action Plan. It is time for action.

IAEA DECLARES PAKISTAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM SAFE

While declaring Pakistan's nuclear program secure, IAEA appreciated the dedication to the safety and security of the regulators as well of operators.

ISLAMABAD: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Monday declared the nuclear program of Pakistan as safe and secure and appreciated the obvious dedication to the safety and security of the regulators as well of operators.

Talking exclusively to APP on the sidelines of “International seminar on nuclear safety and security”, held here from 21-23 April, Deputy Director General IAEA Denis Flory said the IAEA emphasizes the importance of national responsibility for security, which Pakistan takes seriously. In fact, Pakistan has had an Action Plan in place to strengthen nuclear security since 2006, he added.

Giving details he said this plan covers such items as Management of Radioactive Sources; Nuclear Security Emergency Co-ordination Center (NuSECC); Locating and Securing Orphan Radioactive Sources.

Pakistan has worked with the agency to implement that plan and to provide resources for its implementation, he maintained.

For example, he said, Pakistan is the 10th largest contributor to the Nuclear Security Fund, contributing $1.16 million. This is an example of their strong leadership and commitment as well as their serious approach to nuclear security in the course of implementing its action plan.

IAEA should become more than "nuclear watchdog": Pakistan

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should strengthen the nuclear safety regime in its way towards an impartial, efficient and professional body -- not just a "nuclear watchdog," a senior Pakistani diplomat said here Tuesday.

The remarks came as Raza Bashir Tarar, the acting permanent representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, addressed the 66th session of the UN General Assembly on the report of the IAEA.

"It would be important for the Agency to be seen as an impartial, efficient and professional body -- not just a 'nuclear watchdog'" in fulfilling its crucial role of promoting peaceful use of nuclear energy and advancing socio-economic development, Tarar said.

The UN-affiliated organization's role has become even more important in an increasingly complex and challenging international environment, with the fast growing global energy demands, shortage of fossil fuel reserves and the diverse challenges of safety and security concerns, Tarar said.

"In evolving a strengthened nuclear safety regime, it would be essential to take into account the differentiated nature of countries'needs and circumstances," the Pakistani representative said. "The course correction proposals and modalities should be based on technical and objective assessments."

Tarar said that the IAEA, with its global leading role in evolving guidelines, recommendations, codes, and guidance documents in the area of nuclear security, has put duplicate and overlapping efforts on nuclear security related activities.

"It would be counterproductive, both financially and politically, to duplicate nuclear security related activities, particularly in the design and development of parallel guidelines, recommendations, standards and guidance documents in various areas related to nuclear security," Tarar said.

Policies and practices, based on commercial and political considerations, have eroded the sanctity of long-standing norms and legal instruments that underpin the non-proliferation regime, he said.

"Pakistan believes in an equitable, non-discriminatory and criteria-based approach to advance the universally shared goals of non-proliferation and promotion of peaceful uses of nuclear energy, " Tarar said.

Pakistan is now actively engaged in the applications of nuclear technology for the socio-economic development that include areas such as cancer diagnosis and treatment, agriculture, food preservation, water management, industry and generation of electrical power, Tarar said.

The country will continue to apply safety review of nuclear energy facilities as it expands its nuclear capacities in public sectors, he said.

"We also hope that considerations of nuclear safety and nuclear security would facilitate, not hinder, the pursuit of peaceful uses of nuclear energy for advancing the development agenda and offsetting environmental degradation," Tarar said.

IAEA REMEDIATION MISSION ISSUES FINAL REPORT

Interview with Tero Varjoranta, Director, Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology Division and Deputy Team Leader, 10 November 2011

A team of international experts completed their assessment of the strategy and plans being considered by the Japanese authorities to remediate the areas off-site TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP).

"A lot of good work, done at all levels, is on-going in Japan in the area of environmental remediation," said Juan Carlos Lentijo, Team Leader and General Director for Radiation Protection at Spain's nuclear regulatory authority.

In the report, Japan is encouraged to continue its remediation efforts, taking into account the advice provided by the Mission.

"In the early phases of the Fukushima Daiichi accident, a very cautious approach was adopted by the Japanese authorities in terms of dealing with the handling of residue materials. It is considered right to do so," Lentijo said.

"However, at this point in time, we see that there is room to take a more balanced approach, focusing on the real priority areas, classifying residue materials and adopting appropriate remediation measures on the basis of the results of safety assessments for each specific situation."

The IAEA stands ready to support Japan as it continues its efforts to remediate the environment in the area off-site the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

The IAEA sent the mission to Japan from 7 to 15 October 2011 following a request from the country's government. The mission, comprising 12 international and IAEA experts from several countries, visited numerous locations in the Fukushima Prefecture and conducted meetings in Tokyo and Fukushima with Japanese officials from several ministries and institutions.

The Mission had three objectives:

1. Provide assistance related to Japan’s plans to remediate large areas contaminated by the accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP;

2. Review Japan’s ongoing remediation related strategies, plans and activities, including contamination mapping; and

3. Share its findings with the international community as part of the joint effort to broadly disseminate lessons learned from the accident.

The Mission included an assessment of information provided to the Team, open discussions with relevant institutions in Japan, and visits to the affected areas, including several demonstration sites. The Team also visited the Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP. The authorities of Japan provided comprehensive information on their remediation programme.

BACKGROUND

The accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant has led to elevated levels of radiation over large areas. The Government of Japan has been formulating a strategy and plans to implement countermeasures to remediate these areas.

The IAEA organized an International Fact Finding Expert Mission of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident Following The Great East Japan Earthquake And Tsunami, which took place between 24 May and 2 June 2011

The environmental remediation mission of 7-15 October was a follow-up to the fact-finding mission held earlier in the year and an essential component of the IAEA's Nuclear Safety Action Plan, approved by the IAEA Board of Governors on 13 September and endorsed by all 151 Member States at the recent IAEA General Conference in September 2011.

IRAN’S NUCLEAR CHALLENGE:

In its latest report, the International Atomic Energy Agency has delivered a damning critique of the current status of Iran’s nuclear program. While acknowledging that the Agency had found no evidence that Iran had actually decided to build nuclear weapons, a fact conveniently overlooked by the international media, the report underlined the growing sophistication and expansion of the program suggesting a move in the direction of weaponisation. In specific terms, Iran was accused of carrying out computer simulations of nuclear explosives, developing detonators and creating over a dozen designs of warhead attachments to missiles.
The release of the report was preceded by ominous Israeli sabre rattling involving the test firing of a ballistic missile and hints of surgical strikes against Iranian nuclear installations. Following the release of the report, talk of military action acquired wider currency within Israel and in the Western media. Warnings of the direst consequences by the Iranian leadership inducted a measure of moderation in the debate prompting the US Secretary of Defence to caution against military strikes as these would have ”unintended consequences” for American interests and forces in the region. The Israelis are now calling for the imposition of “destructive sanctions” which would effectively neutralise Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The United Kingdom, France and Germany have also called for additional sanctions.
Already the Security Council has imposed four layers of sanctions against Iran since 2006 when Iranian non-compliance was first reported by the IAEA Board of Governors. According to the West’s own admission, these sanctions have not worked. Further proliferation of penal measures are unlikely to produce the anticipated results and are, in any case, opposed by China and Russia who have expressed a clear preference for the diplomatic option. Even the reticent Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary General, has come out against the use of force and has called for a negotiated solution.
The issue is relatively simple. Iran, consistent with the NPT and IAEA provisions is entitled to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Thirteen states are currently engaged in the production of enriched uranium and plutonium for use as fuel rods in power reactors. Japan, one of whose nationals currently heads the IAEA, boasts amongst the largest reprocessing plants in the world. These activities are closely monitored by the Agency through a stringent safeguards regime which has been significantly upgraded in recent years.
There are two reasons why this right is being denied to Iran: its radical Islamist orientation manifest principally in its unrelenting hostility towards Israel and the fact that its nuclear infrastructure was clandestinely constructed fuelling the fear that Iran was pursuing the path of nuclear weapons using peaceful applications as a façade. While the first has no locus in international law the second is considered legitimate even though the Iranians claim that secrecy was imposed on them as otherwise the West would have used its immense clout to pressurise its sources of supply to deny Iran the means to acquire the technology. The Iranians also contend that under the IAEA Statute, declaration of nuclear assets becomes mandatory only when nuclear material is introduced into the facility which was not done until 2003 and that too under intimation to the Agency. By those criteria, in strictly legal terms, Iran claims it had not breached any Agency regulations.
That the debate on the Iranian nuclear issue is driven in good measure by political considerations is beyond question. Three instances clearly bear this out.
The decision of the IAEA Board of Governors in 2006 to refer the Iranian dossier to the Security Council was taken through a vote which is unprecedented. The Board takes all its decisions by consensus, a time-honoured practice which was breached in this instance.
Several previous instances of non-compliance were never reported to the Security Council, the most glaring being the detection of highly enriched uranium in one of South Korea’s nuclear facilities. The enrichment was found to be in the range of 80 percent which is close to if not actually bomb grade level. Yet the Board did not take any action. According to Goldsmith, a former Deputy Director General of the IAEA, these discriminatory practices were actuated by purely political considerations.
The moot point is that if this information was available earlier why it was not published. If it was discovered recently all its sources should be made public in the interest of transparency particularly since these revelations have the potential to unleash war in the region.

RUSSIAN DOUBTS OF THE IAEA REPORT ON IRAN’S NUKES

The Russians have indicated that they don’t believe necessarily in the credibility of the IAEA report.

Whereas Ben rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications said that: Absolutely, the IAEA report is, again, the finding of a very credible international organization. This is not simply the judgment of the United States or any one country. This is the finding of the preeminent international organization that deals with these issues. Therefore it’s essential that the international community take those findings very seriously.

Now, there’s a foundation for sanctions that exist because of the U.N. Security Council resolution that we’ll continue to build up from. And as that’s taken place the United States has moved very far with other like-minded nations. The Russians have taken significant steps, unprecedented steps, in terms of their own sanctions, in terms of even canceling some arms contracts. But the U.S. is building out from that with European and Asian partners as well. So there’s space for us, again, to significantly dial up pressure as it relates to sanctions.

At the same time, it’s important that Iran is isolated diplomatically and politically when it’s outside of its international obligations. And that we believe has a very important impact on the Iranian government and on its position in the international community.

NUCLEAR PROGRAME OF IRAN;

NUCLEAR PROGRAME OF IRAN AND THE REACTION OF INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY:

ISRAEL

Israel Calls for Stricter Sanctions Against Iran's Nuclear Program, Claims IAEA Report is Incomplete Following the release of a recent U.N. report indicating suspicious activities in Iran's nuclear program, Israeli leaders have indicated a more urgent need to impose stricter sanctions against the program.

RUSSIA:
Senior Russian Analyst Questions Veracity of IAEA Report on Iran A senior Russian analyst voiced suspicion over veracity of the latest report issued by IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano on Iran, stressing that it reveals nothing new about Tehran's nuclear program.

EU MINISTERS:

EU Ministers Postpone Decision on New Iran Sanctions European Union foreign ministers spoke out in favor of tougher sanctions against Iran Monday, but decided to wait until their next meeting on Dec 1. before taking further action.

SAUDI ARABIA AND KOREA
Saudi Arabia, South Korea in Nuclear Cooperation Deal Saudi Arabia has signed a bilateral agreement with South Korea for cooperation on the development of nuclear energy as the world's top oil exporter seeks to diversify its energy mix to meet rising power demand, the Saudi government said on Tuesday.

China backs Russia on Iran's nuclear program

Russia says more sanction will not topple Iran regime; China Foreign Ministry says 'dialogue and cooperation' needed to resolve dispute, imposing pressure, sanctions 'cannot fundamentally resolve' issue.

China's Foreign Ministry joined Russia Thursday in warning Western countries that additional pressure on Iran would not solve the nuclear stand-off.

Beijing reacted to a new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which said this week that there are many concrete indications that Iran worked towards developing a nuclear weapon.

Several Western powers including France have raised the possibility of new sanctions, should Iran not start answering the IAEA's questions on this topic.

"We, as always, believe that dialogue and cooperation are the only effective approaches for properly resolving the Iran nuclear issue," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.

"Imposing pressure and sanctions cannot fundamentally resolve the issue," he added.

The last round of talks between Iran and the grouping of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China ended without result in January.

A senior Western official said Thursday in Vienna that diplomatic efforts were underway to show a united front among these six powers at a meeting of the IAEA governing board next week.

"Our goal is to do everything we can to narrow our differences there," he said. "It will be tough."

The official said that new punitive measures should be discussed only after the IAEA meeting, and after gauging Iran's reaction to the new report.

Russian Vice Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov warned Wednesday that additional sanctions would amount to an attempt at toppling Iran's regime.

So far, the UN Security Council has passed four sets of sanctions against Tehran but has stopped short of targeting the country's oil sector, which is a key revenue source for the Islamic leadership.

Experts Complete IAEA Follow-up Review of Australia's Nuclear Regulatory Authority

Sydney, Australia -- Nuclear and radiation safety experts concluded an eight-day mission (on 15^th November 2011) to review the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), the country's nuclear regulator. At the request of the Australian Government, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) assembled a peer-review team of five regulatory experts from as many nations and three IAEA staff members to conduct a follow-up assessment of an Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) mission conducted in 2007.

This follow-up IRRS mission examined ARPANSA's progress in acting upon the recommendations and suggestions made during the 2007 IRRS mission and reviewed the areas of significant regulatory changes since that review. Both reviews covered safety regulatory aspects of all facilities and activities regulated by ARPANSA.

The review team found that ARPANSA has made significant progress toward improving its regulatory activities, as most of the findings identified in the 2007 report have been effectively addressed and therefore can be considered closed. Complementing the ARPANSA strengths identified during the 2007 mission, the 2011 IRRS team noted the following strengths:

Response to the Tepco Fukushima Dai-ichi accident;
High level of in-house technical expertise in radiation safety;
Recognition of the need and willingness to re-organize ARPANSA;
Timely development of the national sealed source register in good coordination with other relevant organizations; and
Creation of the Australian clinical dosimetry service and the national dose reference levels database.

The 2011 IRRS team also made recommendations and suggestions to further strengthen ARPANSA's regulatory system, including:

Making full use of the opportunity to revise the ARPANS Act in 2012;
Completing implementation of the reorganization of ARPANSA;
Influencing enhancement of the national framework for nuclear and radiation emergency preparedness;
Establishing a coordinating function for ARPANSA's Emergency Preparedness and response arrangements;
Better utilizing the expertise within ARPANSA with respect to the regulation of patient protection; and
Increasing ARPANSA's leadership role in the implementation of Codes of Practice in patient protection.

The IRRS team identified areas where the Australian Government should take actions to enhance the national regulatory infrastructure for nuclear safety and security. These include:

Revise the ARPANS Act to take full account of international principles, recommendations and IAEA safety standards and guides; and
Enhance the national framework for nuclear and radiation emergency preparedness by clearly identifying and assigning responsibilities to ARPANSA and other appropriate organizations.

Carl-Magnus Larsson, Chief Executive Officer of ARPANSA, said, "ARPANSA has benefitted from the IRRS mission using the contribution from senior regulators which has resulted and will certainly lead in further improvements in our regulatory system." He also encouraged other countries that are yet to have an IRRS mission to make use of the IAEA's services in the area of nuclear safety.

About IRRS Missions

IRRS missions are designed to strengthen and enhance the effectiveness of the national nuclear regulatory infrastructure of States, while recognizing the ultimate responsibility of each State to ensure safety in this area. This is done through consideration of both regulatory, technical and policy issues, with comparisons against IAEA Safety Standards and, where appropriate, good practices elsewhere.

DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA:

The missile program of the DPRK (Democratic Peoples’s Republic Of Korea) otherwise known as North Korea, threatens the United States. President Clinton is considering whether or not he should continue talks that could shut down the missile system. One of the questions to take into account is how to verify that North Korea has actually discontinued its missile program.It refuses to comply with the safeguards agreement it made with the IAEA. In 1999, it allowed the IAEA to only perform certain safeguards, such as the verification of the freeze of graphite moderated reactors and other, similar, facilities.

gender portrait in media

2012-06-02T23:53:00.001-07:00

Gender roles

We all have heard about the gender roles in our society. They are the roles given to men and women by the society. In fact, the social roles and also the importance of these roles in our daily life. But do these roles change with some TV commercial showing the mere opposite of our culture.

What is needed? And what is being delivered? What is wanted? And what is being shown? There are some positive sides of these advertisement like the promo of DALDA, which perfectly portraits a family, wife cooking in kitchen, husband returning from job and kids playing. Moreover, the ads of cellular company like JAZZ or INDIGO giving their packages in cultural limits. A mother talking to her son abroad or a business using their package for business promotion.

Another TV commercial of a product DAIRY MILK portraits a scene of marriage of a sister which is quite good and shows the perfect cultural values of our society. But where there is good, bad is always there to spoil it. TV commercials not only promote products, they also promote relations, vague fashion statements and complexity between the upper and lower society people. An ad of WARID GLOW or TELENOR DJUICE promotes unclear relations or to be more appropriate showing youth of society to interact with each other in a loving or romantic mood. These products never respect the values of a particular culture.

A shaver ad should remain to the person‘s face and not his half naked body. The only relation between a boy and a girl is not love. Some ads do not emphasize on the product, the try to show students of a university or college always chatting and messaging on their cell phones. The ad of chilli milli for instance shows a student boy getting a girl just by offering her a chilli milli. I mean what is this ? what are they trying to promote. Isn’t chilli milli a kid type product? The why show such a strange commercial for it.

Is there a need to revive this type of attitude. It is entirely up to you, whether you want to see a girl offering peki in her college or a bunch of people dancing around to sell their tarang. Whether you want positive minds of society or a lady wandering around in desert to find a molty foam.

1. Merits of advertisement….!!!

Today I am going to talk about Merits of Advertisement by putting Gender of infront. as we all know that television commercials have become one of the most effective, most persuasive,& most popular methods of selling products of any sort. We absorb that commercials become a most attractive thing in our society, as it was not 4 5 years back.

· Public service messages:-

The messages given through public service messages have a good impact on our society. Like in commercial

Of (AC) we all see that a man is in a lift,& a lift stops due to load shading, he calls to his employer & ask him to keep an AC temperature at a certain degree centigrade to cover up the gap of load shading. In commercial official members (Boss & employer)are male. we have a concept of male for out door work, this shows male gender regarding our society. Now talk about other advertisements, which try to intellect us with procegger of vaccination,& try to be aware society through the progress in medical field.

· Awareness In society:-

Mostly people have changed their way of awkward living style through admiring a well managed life style of advertisement. Both male & female specially youth took a great impact of the well nourished life of boys & girls. they have tried to make their selves pretended like them, they try to dress up like them ,try to walk like them,& try to talk like them. for example in Djuice commercial some boys & girls are shown to advertising their sms package they all are well dressed & talking in a well mannered way, so youth try to copy them, their dressing sense,& their conversation style)

· Scientific topologies:-

Different electronic topologies companies have introduce their appliances. Which are advertising through females & males. eastern females are usually taken as a house job woman so in exceptional commercial cases, women are putting as a leading role, like in Dawlence Advertisement, a girl tried to advertise the appliances like dry washing machine and a working of microwave. In this commercial she is loving to her kids and managing her house job.

· Moral Values:-

In some commercial you see that they are promoting our moral values e.g. in Jazz commercial a baby born and baby’s grandfather saying Azan into the ears of new born baby. Though they are showing their charming package, but according to our moral values. In another commercial of Dalda a mother is cooking in a kitchen & her daughter observing her & try to copy her like her daughter puts Dupatta on her head & serves food in front of her father and grand parents with great love and all the family become happy that she tries to become a Mertha Stewart. This commercial puts a good impact on young girls that they tried to become a good girls.

· Cultural Values:-

In some advertisements they elaborate family gathering like in Olpers commercial they all are shown in a gathering party of a Aftari , females are serving eatable items to their families and the children who had their fast shown happy and loveable through others and it also shows unity of different countries like in first they show Pakistani culture and a celebrity Atif Aslam saying Natt and then a Lebanon man saying a Natt and then another celebrity. They all are paying same kind of job at a same time, which shows an attachment to our religion. In Dalda commercial the lady is cooking in Kitchen and serving food showing love and affection to her in laws and taking them as her parents, showing love and sacrifice to her husband and showing motherhood to her children.

Annimations

The fiction stories present through cartoons makes for attracting kids. They show a good & bad behavior of different personalities. If some one does a good deed & care for others become a hero or a heroin. The attitude of good animations puts a positive affect on children. & they try to put their selves in that structure.

· Learning Process:-

These commercials also give an opportunity of learning like in Tetra pack animation they told a procedure of containing milk in a proper manner. They told a milk taken by cows store in a small container and took into a process unit and then to UHT (Ultra High Temperature) where it has a temperature of 4 degree centigrade which is very high temperature and sealed in many packets .

Up given data shows a very qualitative knowledge for kids.

· Scientific Technology:-

Now take animations of safeguard, they show scientific technologies that a bad man made a jarsoma to spread a disease in kids and same work is done in tetra pack animations, & than a good man entered in a story he has informed through e-mails & by getting messages of many researchers & doctors with in a little bit time of period. He talked to kids through television & gives them some suggestions to keep them away from hygienic’ and kids obeyed hurrily started using safeguard

· Gender Role:-

in both animation good and bad roles are divided equally between female and male characters like in
Tetra pack leading role is given to a male and a female and show women as a serving person as we have usually in our culture of middle and lower society .

· Objectives:-

When advertising consumer products like children’s toys, chocolates, candy bars, tooth paste etc. Study shows that Pakistani children are very much aware about TV commercial’s features like: truthfulness, annoyingness, taste and influencing characteristics of the ad.

· Economic Development:-

Pakistani economy is progressing fastly due to advertising companies and companies which make these ads like network connection companies gives many charming and cheaper packages which are fastly adopted by people, e.g. U fone, Teleonor, Warid and Jazz commercials in which they show low call rates and cheaper sms packages and get huge amount of money and as much tax pay which handles economy.

According to a survey Pakistani economy relies on a network connection companies.

Multinational companies have survey which says 70-30 rule.

Which states that 70% of investment is for ads and publicity and 30% is for growth of industry or products? This rule helps economic development. It all started when the makers of Pepsi sold its product free for 2 years. Then this 70-30 rule followed after.

Disadvantages of Ads

As of my group members have explained the need and advantages of the ads we see on television or listen on radio. I would like to discuss about the demerits of those promos.

In my opinion, what they are trying to show is vulgarity, indiscipline in society and unclear relations. Straight up we talk about some of the famous ads of current time. Like if I want to sell a network connection I would not really like to dance around in expensive clothes like they did in “Telenor’s” ad. I would not also like to show that these packages of “D-juice” or “u-fone u^th” or “jazz sms bundles” are only for the young generation and the only use of these calls and messaging packages are for promotion of a relation called love between a boy and a girl. Is this what we really demand for?

Are we forgetting something? Yes we are, our culture and our morals. We really don’t like ads which show students of a university always on their cell phones. Does this really happen?

Are we crazy about some package that much where we don’t realize that we came here to study. Why do these ads promote fashion, why do they create social imbalance? Why do they use girls to promote products? Why there is such a gender imbalance in our media?

I mean why is there a lady dancing in front of a “orient” refrigerator to sell it? Why not show the advantages of such product? Through these a T.V commercials the only thing which they are promoting is showing what we are not.

Impacts of advertisements on society

The advertisements in electronic media are far more effective in leaving an impression on the minds of viewers and listeners than other programmes and items. Advertisements do not only sell products; they sell concepts, values and beliefs too. They tell us who we are and what we should be and how we should govern our lives.

Ø Constructive impacts:

· Making the minds broader:

If we see few years back, communication was not fast as much as today. Irrespective of the specific gender, majority of people have their own cell phones. There are good packages of network connections like jazz, talkshawk, glow, Djuice etc. In ads, we see a good thing that such facility has not been shown just for boys but for girls too. This has made the minds of people of our society broader. They also make no difference as girl or boy in facilitating their children with cell phones. They think it beneficial for the girls and boys equally.

· Urge the girls to cook:

We see girls in ads showing interest for cooking. These ads urge girls to try something their own. There are some ads like ads of “National”, “Shan”, “Bake Parlor “ products and all these types of ads are liked by women and they show great interest in buying them as these types of products make their cooking easier and save the time.

· Ads of fertilizers:

There are some ads of fertilizers like “Urea” and “Sona”. Such ads are although very rare and we see these ads only on PTV in a specific time. Such ads increase the knowledge of men of villages who are farmers and are not aware from these useful products. Through these ads they came to know their new related product and get benefits from it in their practical lives.

· Ads of detergents and paints:

The advertisements of the new detergents with up-to-date formulas are helping the women in maintaining cloth in perfect conditions. These include the ads of “RIN”, “SURF EXCEL” and “BONUS” etc. Ads of paints including MASTER PAINTS and BERGER are also seen on television. After viewing these ads, men and women, both have the opinion to have a change in their houses like houses shown in the TV ads.

· Ads of home appliances:

Ads are very helpful in having information about new or extra features of home appliances like fridge, washing machines, microwave ovens and air conditioners etc. Work related to these appliances is stereotypically thought for women. And a woman living in a village is also taking benefits from these appliances by knowing about them through these ads.

Ø Destructive impacts:

· Fall in complex and lack of confidence:

There are ads of cosmetics like fair & lovely etc. Fairness creams do not perform as claimed by the sellers through TV advertisements. After viewing of such ads black or dark coloured girls could have the feelings of inferiority, social disapproval, lack of confidence, family and friends jokes aimed at their skin colour and other psychological problems like falling in complex.

· Causing harm for women:

In ads, we see models or actresses. Girls or women get impressed from their fitness and try their best to get fitness as that of the models in the advertisements. The number of real life women and girls who seek a similarly underweight body is epidemic and they can suffer devastating health consequences.

· Eroding self-esteem of women:

Women are frequently used to sell the products that they have nothing to do with. Using women to add glamour to the scene and equating them with purchasable commodities erodes self-esteem of women, reinforces their intellectual

and constructive role in the society.

· Losing trust of parents:

The way of advertising of network connections is creating problems in the society especially for youth. The network connection companies are not just telling their packages through advertisements but also conveying the message to youth in a wrong sense that how they can use these packages.

In the Djuice TV commercial, a young guy who is apparently losing his day just because he did not sleep last night because he was texting and calling his friends the whole night. This ad suggests the youth that there is nothing bad not to sleep at nights just because texting and calling. And our youth is actually doing this and becoming a cause of worry for their parents.

Secondly, there are a lot of ads promoting flirtatious ideas. Especially university is targeted for this purpose. This type of ads suggests that this is happening in the universities. This thing causes the parents to become extra conscious and may be they do not trust their university going children.

violence on women-gender studies

2012-06-02T23:50:00.002-07:00

Definition:-

Violence can be seen “as a loss of control of aggressive impulse leading to action”.

Shengold, 1999

Violence against women is any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in the public or private life.

Types of violence:-

Violence against women includes but is not limited to the following:

1. Physical violence

Hitting, slapping, punching, kicking, burning, cutting, or otherwise harming the body

2. Sexual violence

Rape (in or out of marriage), assault, attempted rape, forced prostitution, incest, coercion, female genital mutilation, sexual harassment, inappropriate/unwanted touching

3. Economic Violence

Overwork, denial of ownership of property, withholding or taking earnings, denial of inheritance, withholding education, unequal pay, not being allowed to work, deprivation of access to basic needs such as food and shelter.

4. Emotional violence

Verbal abuse, threats, insults, control, constant criticism, intimidation, humiliation.

Cause of Violence against Women

Ø The cause of violence against women is women’s low status in the home and community.

Ø Using power and control over women is violence.

Ø Women are considered less valuable than and subordinate to men. Men are seen as having power and legitimacy to control women.

Violence throughout Women’s Life Cycle

Women are vulnerable to different types of violence within their life cycle:

Ø Infancy:

When they are born, girl babies in some parts of Pakistan are vulnerable to general neglect such as less healthcare and nutrition than male children of the same age

Ø Childhood:

Young girls are faced with sexual abuse, malnutrition, FGM, overwork

Ø Adolescence:

Forced prostitution, coercion, transactional sex, trafficking, forced early marriage, rape and other forms of sexual abuse

Ø Reproductive age:

Intimate partner violence, sexual assault by non-partner or intimate partner, sexual harassment, sex trafficking

Ø Elderly:

Elder/widow abuse, loss of land and inheritance, rape

Consequences of Violence against Women for women

Physical Consequences

Ø Physical injuries - fractures, concussions, cuts, broken bones, gunshot wounds

Ø Poor health-

Chronic pain, gastrointestinal disorders

Ø Permanent disability

Death due to homicide or suicide

Ø Sexual consequences

Unwanted pregnancies

Sexually transmitted infections including HIV

Miscarriages, low birth weight babies

Ø Emotional Consequences

Depression

Stress

Panic disorders

Low self esteem

Drug and/or alcohol abuse

Ø Economic Consequences

Loss of economic productivity

Fewer hours worked due to injury and illness

Costs of treatment reduces family and community incomes

Consequences of Violence against women for Men

Ø Unhappy relationship with partner

Ø Emotional distance and mistrust from the children

Ø Health problems such as sexually transmitted

Ø Infections including HIV/AIDS

Ø Emotional problems, such as depression, hopelessness, lack of satisfaction

Ø Strain on the finances of the family due to

Ø Expenditure on treatment, loss of productive hours

Ø Imprisonment

Ø Community resources used solving violence cases with authorities i.e. police, family or clan leaders

Consequences of Violence against Women for children

Children live in fear all the time

Low self esteem

Problems in school e.g. poor performance

Violent behavior

Sensitive

Withdrawal from activities

Sleeping problems

Consequences of Violence against Women for communities

Loss of productive labor force due to poor health, disability, death

Increased crime

Lack of harmony within the community

Women excluded from leadership and political processes

Alcohol and drug abuse

Stress on health and social services

Underdevelopment of community

Cases of violence

Domestic:-

Honor killing:-

It is a cheap tradition in some of the rural areas. It refers women’s honor that when there is a doubt at any women that she has some other kind of relation with some other guy than his husband so she is supposed to be punished by throwing stones.

Rape cases:-

The Result is…..

DRASTIC

Dowry act of 1976

[ACT XLIII OF 1976] An Act to provide for restrictions on dowry and bridal gifts.
WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for restriction on dowry and bridal gifts and for matters connected therewith or ancillary thereto;
It is hereby enacted as follows: -
1. Short title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the Dowry and Bridal Gifts (Restriction) Act, 1976.
(2) It extends to the whole of Pakistan and applies to all citizens of Pakistan.
(3) It shall come into force at once.

2. Restriction on dowry, presents and bridal gifts. - (1) Neither the aggregate value of the dowry and presents given to the bride by her parents nor the aggregate value of the bridal gifts or of the presents given to the bridegroom shall exceed five thousand rupees.
Explanation. The ceiling of five thousand rupees specified in this sub-section does not in any way imply that the dowry, bridal gifts and presents of a lesser amount may not be given.
(2) No dowry, bridal gifts or presents may be given before or after six months of nikah and if rukhsati takes place some time after nikah, after six months of such rukhsati.

3. Restriction on presents.- No person shall give to either party to the marriage any present the value of which exceeds one hundred rupees:
Provided that the limit of one hundred rupees shall not apply to the presents given to the bridegroom by the parents of the bride under sub-section (1) of section 3:
Provided further that the President, the Prime Minister, Federal Minister, Chief Minister of State, Adviser, Governor, Speaker, Deputy Speaker, the Chairman or the Deputy Chairman of the Senate, Parliamentary Secretary, Member of the Senate, National Assembly or Provincial Assembly, Government servant or an official serving in any corporation, industry or establishment owned, controlled or managed by Government shall not receive any present in connection with his marriage or the marriage of his son or daughter except from his relations (khandan):
Provided further that this restriction shall not apply to a Government servant or official serving in the scale below National Pay Scale 17 not exercising in any manner judicial, revenue or executive authority.

4. Vesting of dowry, etc., in the bride. - All property given as dowry or bridal gifts and all property given to the bride as a present shall vest absolutely in the bride and her interest in property however derived shall hereafter not be restrictive, conditional or limited.

5. Expenditure on marriage. - The total expenditure on a marriage, excluding the value of dowry, bridal gifts and presents, but including the expenses on mehndi, baarat and valima, incurred by or on behalf of either party to the marriage shall not exceed two thousand and five hundred rupees.

6. Display of dowry, etc.- The parents of each party to a marriage shall, at the time of rukhsati, display all items of dowry, bridal gifts and presents given or received in connection with the marriage so as to be visible to the persons attending the rukhsati.

7. Penalty and procedure.- (1) Whoever, contravenes, or fails to comply with, any provision of this Act or the rules made thereunder, shall be punishable with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees, or with both, and the dowry, bridal gifts or presents given or accepted in contravention of the provisions of this Act shall be forfeited to the Federal Government to be utilized for the marriage of poor girls in such a way as may be prescribed by rules made under this Act:
Provided that if both the parents of a party to the marriage contravene, or fail to comply with, any provision of this Act or the rules made thereunder, action under this section shall be taken only against the father:
Provided further that if the parent who contravenes, or fails to comply with, any provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder, is a female, shall be punishable with fine only.
(2) An offence punishable under this Act shall be triable only by a Family Court established under the West Pakistan Family Courts Act, 1964 (W.P. Act No. XXXV of 1964).
(3) No Family Court shall take cognizance of an offence punishable under this Act except upon a complaint in writing made by, or under the authority of, the Deputy Commissioner within nine months from the date of nikah, and if rukhsati takes place some time after nikah, from the date of such rukhsati.
(4) While trying an offence punishable under this Act, a Family Court shall follow the procedure prescribed by the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (Act V of 1898), for the trial off offences by Magistrates.

8. Power to make rules.- The Federal Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.

9. Repeal.- The West Pakistan Dowry (Prohibition on Display) Act, 1967 (West Pakistan Act No. XVI of 1967) and the North-West Frontier Province Dowry Act, 1972 (N.W.F.P. Act No. IX of 1972), are hereby repealed.

Some statistics of women exploitation in labor work force

Distribution of women Labourers to family income
*	Below 1000 Rs	1001-2000	2001-3000	3001-4000	Total
Developed	31	96	18	7	152
Underdeveloped	7	42	11	5	65

*survey taken from statistical information from Rural Landless Women labourers- problems and prospects----by A. Balakrishnan

Survey taken from 152* urban and 65* rural women

Types of work with in the village
Agriculture	Construction	Brick/chamber works	Mills	Total
134	17	1	0	152

*survey taken from statistical information from Rural Landless Women labourers- problems and prospects----by A. Balakrishnan

Exploitation of women labourers in getting wages
	Yes	No
Developed cities	44	108
Underdeveloped cities	15	50

*survey taken from statistical information from Rural Landless Women labourers- problems and prospects----by A. Balakrishnan

Awareness about minimum wage act
	Yes	No	Total
Developed cities	1	151	152
Underdeveloped cities	1	64	65

*survey taken from statistical information from Rural Landless Women labourers- problems and prospects----by A. Balakrishnan

Conclusion:-

“A solution will be always better than the conclusion”

What can you do to prevent violence against women?

As a woman, what can you do?

Talk to family members about the benefits of a healthy family

Support other women experiencing violence

Treat your boy and girl children equally

Seek support when you are experiencing violence

As a man, what can you do?

Commit to non-violence in your own relationships

Plan and enjoy fun things to do together with your family

Share family responsibilities with your partner

Respect your partner as you wish to be respected

Treat your boy and girl children equally

As a young person, what can you do?

Commit to non-violence in all your relationships

Offer support to friends experiencing violence

Respect each other boys and girls - as equals

Learn how to solve problems by talking not fighting

As a community member, what can you do?

Believe women when they tell you they are experiencing violence

Speak out when you know violence is happening

Preach in churches and mosques about how happy families are non-violent families

As police, health workers or other professionals, be supportive and encouraging to women who report violence

Bibliography

Books:-

Ø Survey taken from statistical information from Rural Landless Women laborers- problems and prospects----by A. Balakrishnan

Ø Definition taken from The Psychology of female violence by Anna Motz

Ø Untold stories by Ayesha Ahmad

Ø Violence against women-print media 2006-2008

News papers:-

Ø Daily times 17th may, 2008 By Ali Usman

Ø Dec 12, 2002 Dawn

Ø The dawn September, 03, 2007

Ø Daily dawn dated 02-06-06

Ø The nation 2004-2-7

Ø The dawn 6^th July, 2007

Ø The nation 18/4/2007

Ø The nation 9^th July 2007

Web references

Ø www.Pakistaneye.com

Ø www.refrence.com/articles

Ø www.vawasia.com/stats/stories

Ø www.speakout.com/voilenceagainstwomen

Ø www.undp.com/voilenceissues