Huqooq March ends today on 8th March with public gathering in Gandakha participated by thousands of men and women. Huqooq March started by Awami Party on March 1st to support election campaign of Mai Jori, a peasant woman contesting election of provincial assembly of Balochistan.

The marchers arrived in Gandakha today that was received by hundreds of men and women as they marched into the streets of Gandakha. Addressing the public gathering Mai said that her election contest is the overwhelming decision of peasants, women and youth of the area. She was least worried about the election result and promised to continue struggling for the poor for their rights fighting against the big landlords and influential people who in a cowardice attempt use the government resources to influence the election.

Mai Jori and other participants of the Huqooq March joined the 8th March ceremony to commemorate international women’s rights day. The opponent candidates belong to families of tribal chiefs of their tribes. Sardar Attaullah Khan Buledi and Sardar Nasir Khan Jamali are main candidates along with Mai Jori Jamali. In typical customary tradition some of the nationalist and democratic parties have obliged the sardar by withdrawn their respective candidates in support of one or other Sardar. The parties who withdrew their candidates includes PML – N, JUI – F, National Party and some independent candidates.

Mai Jori and her family is also threatened in traditional way as well as offered money to withdraw from election but she has bluntly refused to withdraw her candidature. Different civil society organizations have decided to monitor the polling process on March 10th and have sent solidarity messages to Mai Jori. Mai Jori have collected significant financial contributions from her voters and supporters.

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Read the detailed fact sheet on this dispute and then support these protestors by sIgning the PC Workers Petition to The Hashwani Group

It heartening to note that despite all the resistance by the Hashwani Group and the PPP Leader Najmi Alam who threatened the protestors setting up camp outside Pearl Continental to disappear for two days this last Friday since Mr. Zardari was in town. Abira Ashfaq talked to Mohd Nasir one of the protesting workers today to report that…

1. They’ve held three negotiation sessions in the last 12 days in the basement – and offered to end dharna if PC reinstates the 4, and continues negotiations on the rest of the demands. PC has not acceded.
2. There are about 200 people in the basement; some of these employees are continuing their shifts esp. those in essential jobs. After their shift ends, they return to the basement. These people are able to eat meals during their shifts; the rest are managing on whatever they can get their hands on – from outside – and snacks (chanas).
3. People who left the basement to go home were not allowed to return. PC has a staff of 550-600 people on daily wages and they are hiring new people daily.
4. Hashwani is an arrogant man, and despite them having used top level connections in the PPP, Home Ministry, and the Labour Department, he is not budging from his position, and has made it an issue of personal pride.
5. They have received verbal threats from the police and management – yet the police has not taken violent action because in the words of the police, they are a “peaceful” (puraman) demonstration ; but then he also said that PC has had the police prepare chargesheets against a 140 of the 200 protestors to, perhaps, be used in the future.
6. Despite all this he sounded hopeful and felt HR and the GM (general manager) (who apparently has not visited them even once) are slowing softening. He also expressed the view that management was scared of the dharna.

Sign this petition to The Hashwani Group by the Pearl Continental Workers’ Occupation

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Ufone has to its credit featured some funny advertisement spot for its TV commercials. More recently a certain Ufone ad was pulled off-the-air after a very brief run and is not even featured on its corporate website. As per the editors of Cafe Pyala this ad spot might have been too quickly pulled off-air “According to sources, the following Ufone ad was pulled off air (after a short run) because of grumblings from Those Who Matter over its portrayal of politicos”.

This post has a video enclosed, please click through to watch the video

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For the past 10 days about 150 employees of the Pearl Continental Hotel are holed up in the basement of PC Hotel in Karachi in protest of the sacking of over 100 employees across Pakistan. What started as a simple protest on Constitution avenue in response to the sacking of 4 union empolyees from Karachi PC, 27 from Pindi PC and 70 from Peshawar 24 days back was met with ignorance from the hotel management has led the workers union to step up their protests and are now roughing it out in the basement of the PC Hotel in Karachi.

The surprising thing is the fact that over 150 people are protesting in one posh hotel in the central business district of Karachi and not one media channel has had the courage to come and report on this issue. The protesters do claim that a crew from Dawn and Express did come by a few days back but the news report never found the airwaves while Ummat has to its credit published this issue a number of times. In any argument there are naturally two divergent points of views, one naturally is originating from the management which might could be in the process of downsizing while another point of view might come from the sacked employees who could be feeling disgruntled. What concerns me is that from the number of issues that the main stream media in Pakistan is quick to dissect at a moments notice its appalling that it chooses to ignore such a protest entirely either under direct or indirect pressure. Lets also not forget the how Mindshare and Unilever blackballed the media channels from reporting on Saad Khan’s death

International Socialists activists have to its credit been reporting on this daily activities of these protesters and it lead two Peoples’ Resistance activists, Abira and Madiha to venture out and check out this situation and Abira reported as follows

The doormen were sympathetic and even showed us a way to go to the backside where we could enter from the “time office.” However we were stopped by security guard and a horrible fellow in a black suit with a walkie-talkie who tried to tell us that these strikers were a security risk.

Here are some of the fact (which still need to be refined)

The protestors

There are about 150 protestors in the basement. They are now in their ninth day of occupying the basement of Pearl Continental Hotel Qasim, one of the leaders, seemed in good spirits; he said the hotel was not disallowing food provision. Most of the facts given are from Qasim. He said the management asked them to leave and got someone from the Labor Department to talk to them; the Labor Dept. guy told them they were engaged in an illegal dharna and must stop immediately. They were threatened with police action. A couple of days ago, their family members and supporters protested outside the hotel, and faced police brutality and lathi charge. Three supporters were arrested and later released. But, Qasim added, the workers are determined to stay there until their demands are met. They are willing to face coercive action if it comes to that.

History

The PC workers’ struggle has been going on for since 2001. PC sacked 300 employees post 9-11 slump in business. Later PC accused four workers of starting a fire in the hotel, and locked them for 2 months in a secret prison in Karachi. When they were released, these workers were dismissed on false charges of arson and for taking unauthorized leave (absenteeism). The workers were able to get a stay on their dismissal, and their case has been pending in Labor Court. Since then PC has been on an anti union rampage. PILER, International Food Union, LPP and other groups have supported them in the past. In fact there has even been an ILO investigation that concluded “grave violations of union rights had been committed by the hotel management and local authorities.” ILO requested the government to fully investigate the detention and take other actions. Details of the background can be read at Global Unions: Pearl Continental Hotel Workers Take Their Long Struggle for Justice to Geneva

Current Struggle Demands

The current basement struggle is in support of those four PC workers who were finally given dismissal notices recently. The court had placed a stay order on their dismissal. (Now this part I am not clear on whether the court removed the stay). But whatever happened with the stay order, the hotel issued dismissal letters to those four employees. As soon as the workers at PC heard the news, they occupied the basement. However, their demands are not limited to the reinstatement of the wrongly dismissed workers – but also the pitiful wages they get. Qasim is in assistant in the store engineering department. I could not gather the exact nature of his work – but he does some mechanical work. He has been employed at the hotel for fourteen years and gets a shamefully low Rs. 7800 for nine hour shifts each day; PC has not delivered on yearly wage increments. In addition they recently announced a 30% cut in their provident funds and said it was because the hotel was suffering losses. The workers receive medical insurance for themselves and family members, and an extra allowance of Rs.1100 – a fixed sum given to each employee regardless of experience. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that this package is grossly inadequate in today’s economy. Qasim admitted PC allows all employees free meals at the hotel. But remember, a room at this hotel goes for about Rs. 20,000, which roughly equals a worker’s two month salary.

Media Coverage

Media coverage has been abysmal. Besides Ummat nobody has published a story on the protest despite its bold and radical nature; Protestors feel the media do not wish to irk the Hashwanis who are clearly a Brahmin family, rich in connections. DAWN and Express news interviewed PC workers protesting outside the hotel, but did not carry a story. An ANP representative visited them and made false promises, according to Qasim.

A protest has been organized on Saturday March 6th at 5:00pm at Karachi Press Club

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Mai Jori continues her eight day Huqooq March by going walking through the various villages and towns in her constituency to rally up support for her by-election bid, but more importantly she is the symbol of hope for the down trodden and suppressed women of that area. throughout her journey she is being greeted by many peasants who greet her to a resounding welcome everywhere she goes.

On the third day (March 3rd) of Huqooq March she and her fellow marchers traversed through the village “Bagh Tail” by marching 30km through a convoy of motor bikes, hitching rides from various datsun pick ups, buses, cars and tractor trolleys. The marchers were well received by the villagers at Bagh Tail who literally came out in droves to greet her. Addressing the marchers and villagers gathered to receive her, Mai Jori resolved to continue lobbying for the rights of poor and vulnerable especially women regardless of the outcome of her election result.

On the fourth day (March 4th) the marchers visited the villages Choki Jamali, Dildar wah, Hadero, Khanpur and other villages. She was yet again received by a large number of villagers who came out to receive the participants of Huqooq march. Addressing the Huqooq March Mai Jori expressed her concern that some influential candidates were using non-democratic tactics to influence the election process. She demanded from Election Commission of Pakistan and the Government of Pakistan should ensure secret ballot on the polling day and make this a free and fair election process. In the end she thanked various civil society groups all over Pakistan for supporting the demand for free, fair and impartial election in the constituency.

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A Pakistani-American author—cited for the empathy, depth, and complexity of his work—is the winner of the $20,000 The Story Prize for his book In Other Rooms, Other Wonders

At the end of an evening of readings and conversation, debut writer Daniyal Mueenuddin took the stage and accepted The Story Prize for his collection In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, a book of eight connected stories set in southern Pakistan and centering around the estate of a feudal landowner. The curators of The Story Prize, Dark and Lindsey selected the three finalists from among 78 books entered in 2009, representing 53 different publishers. The Story Prize is the highest prize money given in the literature award

Its interesting to read the experience that shaped his debut book from being a student at the Lahore American School to graduate from Yale and working for some time as a lawyer at a New York law firm only to quit a few years later and return to his homeland to compose this book, the story is definitely worth reading. It is mostly his own personal journey across the years that has shaped this 256 page collection of short stories. Daniyal Mueenuddin links a number of short stories to describe the interwoven lives of an aging feudal landowner, his servants and managers, and his extended family who have lost touch with the land. The stories in – In Other Rooms, Other Wonders make up a vivid portrait of feudal Pakistan, describing the advantages and constraints of social station, the dissolution of old ways, and the shock of change.

New York Times Dalia Sofer reviewed this book last month quite interestingly writes “Reading Daniyal Mueenuddin’s mesmerizing first collection, “In Other Rooms, Other Wonders,” is like watching a game of blackjack, the shrewd players calculating their way beyond their dealt cards in an attempt to beat the dealer. Some bust, others surrender. But in Mueenuddin’s world, no one wins.”

On Nov 25th 2009 NPR interviewed Daniyal Mueenuddin for the Morning Edition, the transcript of the interview can be read at NPR website while the audio can be heared here

Download audio file (inotherroom.mp3)

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This Friday a few offroad enthusiasts headed off to Hingol National Park deep within Baluchistan some 280km from Karachi, reaching Aghore Camp we then dropped off the metaled Coastal Highway and headed into total offroading wilderness going up north some 40-odd km to a location called Poldat.

Poldat is a natural mountainous gorge which is the passageway of the Hingol river from the north to the south, many of Hingol’s tributaries aggregate ahead of this region and pass through this natural gorge to finally dump into the Arabian Sea. In all likelihood this mountainous passageway cannot be traversed by any vehicle and hence the offroaders took this up as a challenge to try and reach this remote destination. We were able to drive up to about a kilometer short of Poldat and trekked the rest of the way up.

I share here some pictures from our expedition while a 20-minute podcast was posted on Laidback Show website. I also choose to share detailed GPS tracks in the form of a KMZ file for easy open reference if someone in the future might be tempted to head this way

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Karachi-to-Poldat=575km [KMZ File also available for download here]

View the Expedition Poldat Feb 2010 in a larger format with all the detailed tracks from Karachi to Poldat plotted out on Google Maps

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Faisal Kapadia and I headed off to Hingol National Park for three exciting days of offroading adventure along with OffroadPakistan for Expedition Poldat. During that trip we recorded our 17^th Episode of the Laidback Show – Enjoy

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Mai Jori, a peasant women contesting the Baluchistan Assembly by-elections has embarked upon an eight day Huqooq March (March for Rights) journey across her constituency by foot rallying voters to stand up for their rights and be a part of the change. Mai Jori started on the 1st of March from the village Ghulam Muhammad Jamali to Gandakha and visited several villages on the way and will continue to march across the region till the 8th of March. Men and women of the area joined this March for Rights in hundreds.


Adil Najam at Pakistaniat did a detailed investigation on the contesting candidates – “The candidates in question are Mir Atta Ullah Bulledi – seemingly the front-runner who is an independent candidate, who seemingly has past links to the PPP but is now supported by the Muslim League (N), Sardar Fateh Ali Umrani, Ex-Federal Minister Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind and Sardar Dhani Bux Lashari – and Abdul Hakeem Memon of JUI (Fazal) who claim “that voters are being threatened with arms and large number of armed men are arriving in the constituency to intimidate the voters, thus increasing chances of tribal clash in the region.”

All reports suggest that Mir Atta Ullah Bulledi remains the front-runner and his most likely threat will come from Nasir Khan Jamali of PPP. However, no matter what the result is we will be keeping a close eye on and rooting for Mai Jori. For the stand that she is taking, and for all that she stands for!

We here on this blog will keep a close eye on this election campaign and hope that some serious in roads are made in upsetting the traditional feualistic clulture that preavils

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Mai Jori Jamali a peasant farmer belonging to a village called Ghulam Muhammad Jamali in Baluchistan filed to contest the bye-election on the vacant seat of Baluchistan Assembly PB 25 Jaffarabad – I on March 10^th 2010. Her papers have been accepted and declared correct after scrutiny. Mai Jori is illiterate and helps her husband in farming she also looks after her nine children. She brings water for the family after traveling 2 km distance and was shot into prominence in 1978 due to Pat Feeder Kisan movement when progressive and trade unions leaders had started living in the Goth area for the sake of movement.

Mai Jori is contesting from the area which was recently brought into focus for the infamous and heinous crime against women where a few women were buried alive in 2008 in a case of Honor Killing. Mai Jori Jamali is contesting election on party ticket of Awami Party Pakistan.

It is being reported that Mai Jori and her relatives have taken this decision to dare to fight with outdated customs of women brutality in the region.

Awami Party leader Ramzan Memon said that “Mai Jori will prove that politics even election politics is possible with money and high level patronization. Mai Jori will lead the long march by foot from village to village as part of election campaign against Pajeros and high level influence. They also demanded from the government to ensure enabling environment so that Mai Jori can feel herself safe during election campaign and in future too”

Naturally an election campaign requires some level of funding and a collection has already been initiated from the voters of the constituency while a strong appeal is being made to democratic and progressive people for their support and contributions. Simultaneously a more recent effort is being made to gather a list of potential volunteers who would help in the monitoring of a free and fair polling day.

Her effort to rally electoral support kicking off with a door to door Haqooq March [Rights' March] on 1^st March to the 8^th of March where she and fellow women colleagues will walk through a number of villages this on immediate impact shows the courage of women to break one major traditional taboo about woman’s mobility in the area

I believe that Mai Jori deserves our unconditional support from every where in the country and abroad it will give inspiration to other women irrespective of their political affiliation to come forward and resist and break free from various heinous customs and traditions used against women, like Karo-Kari and honor killing amongst many other issues

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