Written by Ed Yong for Not Exactly Rocket Science

For something intangible, a glance can be a powerful thing. It can carry the weight of culture and history, it can cause psychological harm, and it can act as a muzzle. Consider the relatively simple act of a man staring at a woman's body. This is such a common part of modern society that most of us rarely stop to think of its consequences, much less investigate it with a scientific lens.

Tamar Saguy is different. Leading a team of Israeli and US psychologists, she has shown that women become more silent if they think that men are focusing on their bodies. They showed that women who were asked to introduce themselves to an anonymous male partner spent far less time talking about themselves if they believed that their bodies were being checked out. Men had no such problem. Nor, for that matter, did women if they thought they were being inspected by another woman.

Saguy's study is one of the first to provide evidence of the social harms of sexual objectification – the act of treating people as "de-personalised objects of desire instead of as individuals with complex personalities". It targets women more often than men. It's apparent in magazine covers showing a woman in a sexually enticing pose, in inappropriate comments about a colleague's appearance, and in unsolicited looks at body parts. These looks were what Saguy focused on.

She recruited 207 students, 114 of whom were women, on the pretence of studying how people communicate using expressions, gestures and vocal cues. Each one sat alone in a room with a recorder and video camera. They had two minutes to introduce themselves to a male or female partner, using a list of topics such as "plans for the future" or "four things you like doing the most". The partner was supposedly sat in the next room and either watching the speaker from the neck up, watching from the neck down, or just listening on audio. The camera was tilted or blocked accordingly.

Saguy found that women talked about themselves for less time than men, but only if they thought they were being visually inspected by a man, and particularly if they thought their bodies were being checked out. They used the full two minutes if they were describing themselves to another woman (no matter where the camera was pointing) or if they were speaking to a man who could hear but not see them. But if their partner was a man watching their bodies, they spoke for just under one-and-a-half minutes. You can see these differences in the graph below (although note that the y-axis starts at 60, a practice I don't particularly like).

Men had no such qualms. They used the full two minutes regardless of whether they were being watched or listened to, and no matter the gender of their partner. The fact that men didn't react in the same way is important. For a start, it shows that it's a man's gaze and not just any downward glance that affects a woman's behaviour. It also puts paid to the false equivalence arguments that are often put forward when discussing gender issues (i.e. "women look at male bodies too"). 

When the students answered a questionnaire after the experiment, both men and women "felt more like a body than as a real person" if the camera focused on them from the neck down. But only the women were really put off by it. Around 61% of them disliked the body-pointed camera, compared to just 32% who disliked the face-pointing one or 7% who disliked the audio. For the men, 36% disliked the body camera, 42% disliked the face one and 22% disliked the audio. 

As Saguy explains, "When a woman believes that a man is focusing on her body, she narrows her presence… by spending less time talking." There are a few possible reasons for this. Saguy suspects that objectification prompts women to align their behaviour with what's expected of them – silent things devoid of other interesting traits. Treat someone like an object, and they'll behave like one. Alternatively, worries about their appearance might simply distract them from the task at hand.

Obviously, this experiment used a fairly artificial scenario. In the real world, social interactions are more complicated and objectification can take place more subtly, with a quick glance rather than a blatantly angled camera.

Even so, these behaviours don't go unnoticed. They could be major problems if the same detrimental silencing effect in Saguy's study applies in real-world situations where being vocal is important for success – job interviews, work meetings, networking sessions, classrooms and more. There will always be hardened lechers among us but often, objectification happens without us thinking about it or becoming aware of it. It's time, perhaps, that more of us did.

Reference: Saguy et al. 2010. Interacting Like a Body: Objectification Can Lead Women to Narrow Their Presence in Social Interactions. Psychological Science http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797609357751

By Ayaz Amir for The News, appeared on Friday Jan 29, 2010

Clash of institutions has a grand ring to it, suggestive of Cromwell's Roundheads battling the monarchy; or the children of the French Revolution slaughtering the French nobility; or Lenin's Bolsheviks storming the Winter Palace. 

Would that this were the state of affairs in Pakistan. We could then expect something creative, a higher synthesis, to emerge from all this disorder. But we are not that lucky. This is less clash of institutions than elephants on parade: large egos on the march, the vanity of mediocrity on display — dressed up, as Pakistani mediocrity mostly is, in the colours of national salvation. 

If Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is refusing to put a pistol to his head, if he is refusing to become another Farooq Leghari, and if the National Assembly (including the PML-N) is with him on the matter of not committing collective suicide, media samurais — of whom there are not a few and who deserve the title of Ustad-e-Fidayeen better than any Taliban — are dismayed, and almost on the verge of hysteria, because the triumph of prudence is the last thing they wish to celebrate. 

For six months and more these laptop warriors have been spreading confusion and alarm, conning a public which they take to be gullible into thinking that political change is around the corner. But their deadlines having not been met, not once but repeatedly, it is not surprising if there is an air of increasing desperation about their battle-cries, which they expect the public to take as serious analysis. If their frantic outpourings are serious analysis, comic relief acquires a different meaning. 

Two slogans have proved the most enduring in our history: Islam and corruption. Every humbug in authority, especially when besieged and short of real answers to our many problems, has raised the banner of Islam, none more loudly than Gen Ziaul Haq, who would be prince if ever there was a kingdom dedicated wholesale to the worship of hypocrisy. The more of a mess we have made of our Constitution the greater the reliance on Islamic references — not for acting upon them, perish the thought, as for the sacred rites of lip-service and window-dressing. 

To much the same use has been put the slogan of corruption. In every military coup, from Ayub to Musharraf, in every civilian coup, whether carried out by Ghulam Ishaq Khan or Farooq Leghari, the eradication of corruption has figured as the foremost priority. Ironic, then, is it not, that after every forced transition, every turn of the screw, the one thing to explode was corruption? So much for the good intentions, and so much for the heaven they led to. 

At present too the idea of change — that change is necessary if Pakistan is to survive — has been hyped up relentlessly around the theme of corruption. Foremost in this campaign, although keeping themselves well hidden in the shadows, have been the self-appointed guardians of our ideological frontiers. They may have been less than adept at guarding our geographical frontiers — the ones visible on a map — but the ramparts of ideology, in their own definition of this term, they continue to guard jealously.

. . . .  it is salutary to remember that the judges did not restore democracy. It was democracy which restored them. 

The laptop warriors may be doing their own thing, for in their ranks are to be found the odd knight of good faith genuinely taken in by all the talk about corruption, but the wrecking game they are embarked upon fits in neatly with the agenda of the ideological warriors who are just not comfortable with a civilian dispensation. 

Angels from heaven can descend tomorrow and minister to the needs of the Islamic Republic, but the ideological warriors and the definers of strategic depth — one and the same thing — won't be satisfied. Why do they suffer the Constitution? Why do they endure civilian trappings? If they are so impatient with democracy they should make Myanmar their model and once and for all have done with the charade of democracy. 

It is a measure of the success of the forces out to alter the political landscape that in just two years since the revival of democracy, they have managed to instil into the minds of the middle class — which for all its presumed sophistication is the first to fall for such gambits — that Pakistan's number one problem is corruption. If this bull is caught by the horns salvation is at hand. If not, the Republic faces ruin and destruction. 

The lawyers' movement did much good in that it helped weaken the foundations of dictatorship, although I must hasten to add that by itself it wasn't strong enough to defeat that dictatorship. That outcome had to await the fruition of the political process as signified by the holding of elections and the assumption of office by a political government. Even so, the lawyers' movement was an inspiring sight while it lasted. To a nation caught in the throes of depression it gave a glimpse of what resolve and sustained commitment could achieve. 

But there have been some negative effects too. One is the outbreak of a species of arrogance amongst lawyers finding vent in violent and yahoo behaviour. The frequency of such outbursts is serving to dim the shine of the lawyers' movement, the heroes of yesterday allowing themselves to be seen in a poor light. The second is the rise of a strange kind of innocence which seems to be divorced from any understanding of Pakistan's tempestuous past. 

This innocence finds expression in the belief that the movement and the subsequent restoration of the judges were turning points in our history. In this somewhat exalted view of things, the restored judges have been cast in heroic colours, indeed likened to prophets of a new dawn in which justice and the rule of law will always prevail. It was no doubt in a like spirit of exaltation that Justice Jawwad Khawaja in his added note to the detailed judgement of My Lord the Chief Justice in the NRO case stated that the last three years in their momentousness "… can be accorded the same historical significance as the events of 1947… and those of 1971…" 

Jinnah was the hero of 1947 and Yahya the anti-hero of 1971. While Musharraf can be made to run a close parallel to Yahya, whom should we take as the Jinnah of the last three years? In any event, this rendering of history can be faulted on another count. On our side of the divide, Jinnah was the sole architect of 1947. Lawyers and judges have not been the sole shapers of the outcome of the last three years. They played a part and often a heroic part in those events but not the sole part. 

And it is salutary to remember that the judges did not restore democracy. It was democracy which restored them. As we go on about a new dawn this sequence of events should not be forgotten. 

Furthermore, as laptop warriors foam at the mouth and serve up their beliefs and desires as news and analysis, faith that a new dawn is really at hand will be immeasurably strengthened if the guardians of justice take up two pressing challenges: (1) apologise in the clearest of terms, with a due sense of contrition, for the oath taken by them at the altar of Musharraf's PCO in 2000, and if some amongst their present lordships validated Musharraf's coup in the Zafar Ali Shah judgment, an apology for that too; and (2) take up instantly Air Marshal Asghar Khan's petition about the Mehran Bank scandal and the money distributed by the ISI in the 1990 elections. 

If there is any hesitation on both or either of these counts — and there can be very understandable reasons for exercising caution — would it be too much to ask that discretion be the better part of valour in other things as well? 

The inadequacy of the political class may be great and may be enough to drive one to despair. But if there is one lesson of our history it is that there is no alternative to democracy. It is within its fold and bosom that we must seek its reform and correction, and the salvation of the Pakistani nation. 

Following is the text of an email I received on Jan 22, 2010 from some Syed Muhammad Pasha on an email network that I’m member of and keep receiving their emails. This particular email got my attention for being venomous towards one particular religious minority of Pakistan, which cotinues to be under attack by an overwhelming religious majority of the country. My reply to this email consisted of my request to help understand what this particular Press Release wants to say? What do we mean by BOYCOTTING QADIYANIS? If we mean denying them jobs etc, we’re already doing that. Almost all the institutions of this country have this unwritten (and sometimes written) principle that no Ahmadi would be appointed as the head of institution. Then what exactly boycotting them means? Does that mean killing them? Even that is already being done quite in routine and scot-free. So, what exactly this "Call for Boycott” actually means?

 

Obviously, my email is unanswered to date. But I present this question to all of you. What exactly do we mean?

“Baithul Aman”

N-22/O-51( First Floor), Barracks Road,

Periamet, CHENNAI 600003

Who says women have not contributed to the human history? Here’s one of our Asian female heroes who made us all proud with her life full of struggle, and responsible to stand up for our rights, through her death! Meena, who changed the horizon of options for Afghan women for all times to come.

Meena Keshwar Kamal, commonly known as Meena, (February 27, 1956 – February 4, 1987) was an Afghan feminist and activist on behalf of women's rights. She founded the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) in 1977, a group organized to promote equality and education for women.

In 1979, she campaigned against what she perceived as a Russian puppet state controlling Afghanistan, and organized meetings in schools to mobilize support against it, and in 1981, she launched a bilingual feminist magazine, Payam-e-Zan (Women's Message). She also founded Watan Schools to aid refugee children and their mothers, offering both hospitalization and the teaching of practical skills.

At the end of 1981, by invitation of the French Government Meena represented the Afghan resistance movement at the French Socialist Party Congress. The Soviet delegation at the Congress, headed by Boris Ponamaryev, left the hall as participants cheered when Meena started waving a victory sign.

She was assassinated in Quetta, Pakistan on February 4, 1987. Reports vary as to who the assassins were, but are believed to have been agents of KHAD, the Afghan secret police, or of fundamentalist Mujahideen leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Kamal was married to Afghanistan Liberation Organization leader Faiz Ahmad, who himself was murdered by agents of Hekmatyar on November 12, 1986. She also has three children whose whereabouts are unknown.

Time Magazine on Nov.13, 2006, in a special issue included Meena among "60 Asian Heroes" and wrote: "Although she was only 30 when she died, Meena had already planted the seeds of an Afghan women's rights movement based on the power of knowledge.” 

RAWA says about her: "Meena gave 12 years of her short but brilliant life to struggle for her homeland and her people. She had a strong belief that despite the darkness of illiteracy, ignorance of fundamentalism, and corruption and decadence of sell outs imposed on our women under the name of freedom and equality, finally that half of population will be awaken and cross the path towards freedom, democracy and women's rights. The enemy was rightly shivering with fear by the love and respect that Meena was creating within the hearts of our people. They knew that within the fire of her fights all the enemies of freedom, democracy and women would be turned to ashes."

An enduring quote from Meena states:

Military still 'calling the shots' in political and judicial process, report reveals

By Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent – The Independent (Jan 22, 2010)

Pakistan's powerful military has actively worked to undermine efforts by the elected government to improve human rights in the country, according to a new report. It also tried to destabilise the elected government, and force out President Asif Ali Zardari.

In a damning critique of the military establishment, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the armed forces had opposed efforts to end its intervention in the political and judicial process. It had also resisted attempts to locate some of the scores of people who were "disappeared" in the restive province of Baluchistan during the years of General Pervez Musharraf's rule. "The Pakistani military continues to subvert the political and judicial systems in Pakistan," said Ali Dayan Hasan of HRW.

"After eight years of disastrous military rule and in spite of the election of a civilian government, the army appears determined to continue calling the shots in order to ensure that it can continue to perpetrate abuses with impunity," he said.

The travails of Baluchistan represent one of Pakistan's darker but seldom-told narratives. General Musharraf's regime responded to a long-active independence movement with swift brutality. A veteran leader, Nawab Akbar Bugti, was assassinated and untold numbers of suspected activists were either jailed without process or else disappeared. Considered an ally in America's "war on terror", General Musharraf's actions were overlooked or even helped by the West.

Following the election of a civilian government in the spring of 2008 headed by Mr Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the authorities vowed to end the violence, withdraw troops and release political prisoners. Yet that has not happened. Worse, last April three Baluch leaders were murdered, allegedly by the military-controlled security forces, delivering a damaging blow to the relationship between Mr Zardari's government and the local community.

Mr Hasan said the military continued to hold sway over the province, muzzling local media and undermining reconciliation. "The military needs to recognise that it no longer runs the show," he added.

The report also highlighted how the military worked against Mr Zardari last autumn over a US aid bill, "in an apparent attempt to… force the resignation" of President Zardari. The Kerry-Lugar bill offered $7.5bn, but was opposed by the Pakistani military because of conditions the US attached, in particular that it was satisfied that the armed forces were fighting terrorism and not "subverting the political or judicial processes of Pakistan". Mr Zardari said no one who supported democracy could oppose the objectives of the conditions attached to the aid.

Rasul Bakhsh Rais, a Lahore-based analyst, said Pakistan's military – which has directly ruled the country for half its existence – had become more subtle in the way it intervened. For instance, it had been building a relationship with the Prime Minister Yousaf Gilani as a way of trying to isolate the President. "I think now they are working to counter Mr Zardari, to create checks and balances," he said.

The publication of the report came as the US Defence Secretary Robert Gates made his first visit to Pakistan since 2007, amid pressure from Washington for Pakistan to attack militants based in North Waziristan and blamed for cross-border raids on Western targets inside Afghanistan. Yesterday, a military spokesman said there would be no new offensives for at least six months. Some of the Taliban leaders operating in the territory are alleged to have close ties to ISI, Pakistan's powerful military intelligence agency.

Following are the recently opened vacancies in multiple organizations/institutions of Pakistan: 

• Jobs in NCHD Islamabad
• Career Opportunities at British Council in different Cities
• Job Opening at ICRC
• Jobs at IPDF
• Vacancies in Ministry of Women Development Pakistan
• Female Teachers needed at The Citizens Foundation
• Multiple Jobs at Punjab Educational Endowment Fund
• Vacancy Announcement at UNDP
• Jobs at Muslim Aid
• Jobs At Agha Khan Foundation Pakistan
• Multiple Jobs
• ACTED Pakistan a French based NGO is currently looking for a qualified, dynamic and experienced individual to fill the following position.
• Project Officer – Quality and Accountability, Sphere (01 Position– Islamabad)
• Situation Vacant at University of Peshawar
• Vacancies Available at Multinational Oil & Gas Field Services Company
• Volunteer Programme Officer needed by charity educating deprived children from the Himalayan region of Pakistan
• Research Fellow – Trade and Economics vacancy in SDPI
• Research Fellow – Gender at SDPI
• Research Fellow – Water needed at SDPI
• Researcher (Livelihoods and Local Governance)
• DFID Situations Vacant

Written by Nirupama Subramanian, this piece appeared in The Hindu on January 21, 2010

In the absence of unions on campus, student activism in Pakistan sustains itself on the inspiration and nostalgia of events past.

On a January day more than five decades ago, hundreds of college students in Karachi took to the streets demanding that the government provide them with better educational facilities. The police fired at them, and there were deaths. This led to more protests over the next three days. As many as 27 students lost their lives, over 400 were injured and more than 1,000 jailed.

The event snowballed into a full-fledged students’ movement that would continue for nearly a year. It was the first protest of its kind in the new nation, reflecting both the early difficulties and material hardships faced by people, especially those who had migrated from India, as well as the hopes and aspirations of an entire new generation fired by the idealism and zeal of nation-building.

Earlier this month, hundreds of people gathered in Karachi to honour the legacy of the January 1953 movement, and the memory of its leader, Dr. Mohammed Sarwar, who died last year at the age of 79. Pulled together by his daughter, journalist-film maker Beena Sarwar, the commemoration included a riveting documentary of the movement and reminiscences by some of those who participated in it.

The title of the event, Looking Back to Look Forward, was a studied choice. Student unions have been banned in Pakistan since the Zia regime, and although a pledge to revive them was given pride of place in the 100-day roadmap unveiled by Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani in the National Assembly immediately upon taking office in March 2008, it did not happen.

The over two decades old suppression of student activism has been blamed for a number of ills that plague Pakistan today: the unchallenged rise of religious extremist ideologies among the youth, their “de-politicisation”, the apathy and disaffection among them, the lack of leadership, representational and negotiation skills among the present generation of politicians, and indeed, for the weak roots of democracy itself.

Despite the wide acknowledgement of the crucial role students can play in the body politic, there is still no sign that the government is planning to make good its promise to bring unions back into Pakistan’s campuses. The announcement by the Prime Minister did lead to the setting up of “tri-partite commission” under the auspices of Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission consisting of administrators, faculty and students to discuss the modalities of restoring student unions.

But, according to those with knowledge of the proceedings, instead of talking about the modalities, many of them began by stating their opposition to the restoration. The entire project now seems to have been quietly shelved.

Education administrators and even large sections of students seem to fear student activism could lead to a repeat of the early 1980s when political parties, through their student wings, brought violent turf wars into campuses, the worst-hit among which was Karachi University.

Even so, the 1953 commemoration, the first time a students’ movement has been celebrated in this way in Pakistan, attracted a surprisingly large number of young people, and their calls for the PPP government to keep its promise to restore student unions gave the event an electric atmosphere.

“We may not have undergone the physical torture that the students who participated in the 1953 movement experienced,” said Alia Amirali, a student activist in Islamabad’s Qauid-e-Azam University, making a stirring speech at the event, “but students are now prey to a far worse kind of suppression, and that is the suppression of the mind”. The depoliticisation of students, she said, was responsible for causing hopelessness among youth.

The 1953 movement was spearheaded by the progressive Democratic Students’ Front under the leadership of Dr. Sarwar, then a student of Karachi’s Dow Medical College. The college lacked even basic facilities, as did other educational institutions across the city. The students joined hands to highlight their demands, which included one for setting up a university in Karachi. Before partition, the colleges in Karachi were affiliated to Bombay University.

After the incidents of January 7 and 8 that year, the movement spread countrywide. During that time, the students brought out a fortnightly called Student Herald, which used to be so popular that students used to requisition copies in advance. In 1954, as Pakistan joined U.S.-led Cold War military alliances, the government banned the Communist Party, and the DSF, which was thought to be affiliated with it. The Herald too was shut down. Many DSF activists joined the National Students’ Federation, and were inspiration for the next generation of NSF activists who spearheaded the 1969 protests against the Ayub regime, eventually leading to the ouster of the military ruler.

Pakistan’s next military regime would take no chances with student activism. The violence on the campus between student wings of various political parties gave General Zia ul Haq the excuse he was looking for and unions were banned in 1984.

But the regime continued to encourage on-campus activism by the Islami-Jamiat-e-Taleba, the student wing of the Jamat-e-Islami, categorising it as a religious organisation. As a major campus recruiter for volunteers to join the mujahideen in the first Afghan war against the Soviets, the IJT was a darling of the country’s security establishment and remains a powerful campus organisation to this day.

But 2006 saw the first stirrings of a student backlash against the monopoly of the IJT, triggered by its dress code for students and edicts against music shows and intermingling of the sexes in Lahore’s Punjab University campus. A year later, protests by students from a few universities and private colleges against the 2007 Musharraf emergency raised hopes that Pakistani youth still cared enough to believe they could make a difference.

“We can thank General Musharraf for bringing us out on the streets again. It is an exaggeration to describe what happened then as a students’ movement, but whatever it was, it restored life to our dead campus,” said Ms. Amirali, “not for one, two or three days, but for three whole months”.

Those three months briefly brought into focus the progressive role that students and youth could build a democratic culture in Pakistan. But the failure to restore student unions shows that Pakistan either still does not trust its youth to act responsibly or fears their power to bring change, Pervez Hoodbhoy, who teaches at the Qauid-e-Azam University in Islamabad, told The Hindu.

Going by past experience, there are also real concerns that political parties will turn campuses into violent battlefields. Another worry for many is that given the existing dominance of religious Right-wing organisations on campus, these would do everything to gain control of student bodies.

Still, said Dr. Hoodbhoy, the government must not shy away from helping to revive student activism, in order to restore “meaningful discussions on social, cultural and political issues” to campuses.

He advocated a cautious start: before a full restoration, the government should allow and encourage limited activities by students such as participation in disaster relief work, community work, and science popularisation by students.

Also, a clear code of ethics that specifically abjures physical violence, and that specifies immediate penalties, including immediate expulsion of students if these are violated by whoever is responsible, irrespective of political orientation.

But it does not seem as if student activism is going to be legitimised and allowed to flourish in Pakistan any time soon. Until then, students who want to make a difference through progressive campus politics may have to sustain themselves on the inspiration and nostalgia of events past, such as the 1953 movement.

Awards and certificate distribution ceremonies are usually very close to my heart and I try hard to attend them even if I’m not specially invited. These ceremonies show you the face of Pakistan that is joyfully smiling with sense of achievement and is eager to learn. On August 1, 2009 however, I could not get to one of these ceremonies, which was organized by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Lahore held in the honour of position-holders in Matriculation examination, at Alhamra Lahore. I did not know what I was going to miss. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was the chief guest. No, it was not the CM one would miss seeing.

It was my hero! He was there as many other students were there. But he was not just “one of them”. What made him different was his confidence in himself, not in his appearance. What made him on a higher pedestal was his unbeatable passion for learning and education. What made him distinguished was the level of struggle he had to undertake to get where he was today. What he carried with him was a promise – a promise so rarely manifested in the product we get from a widely divisive education system. He carried with him an unusual hope for people who’ve become so used to only the bad news, and who’ve lost any hope for the future of Pakistan. He was my hero – the real hero!

People at the ceremony saw him with the usual contempt we seem to have for the ones who do not display minimum standards of being “presentable”. Clad in worn out faded shalwar qameez and old muddy slippers, he looked like one of the peons or office boys, not worthy of receiving any “protocol” in such ceremonies. He, it seemed, was a total distraction for the guests none of whom wanted him to seat beside them. He looked around for any place to sit, but could only get unwelcoming gaze from the already seated guests. Ignoring this cold gaze, he comfortably sat on the stairs after getting displaced frequently from corner to other as if he was quite used to such treatment by the educated and the worthy.

The ceremony started after the arrival of Chief Minister. Couple of short speeches by high placed officials of the Board of Intermediate & Secondary Education, the Education Department Punjab, and the announcements of position holders started. Position-holders were sitting with their hearts pounding and their proud parents sitting beside them with wide smiles. Asif Naveed. The announcer shouted twice and guests in the hall moved their necks back . .. what???? This rural boy in rags? Second position in Matriculation Board exams!

This was Asif Naveed who gracefully descended from the stairs where he was calmly seated, walked confidently towards the stage, received his result card and a cheque worth Rs. 15,000 from BISE. His eyes sparkling with joy his face shimmering with sense of accomplishment . . . he looked at the result card and visualized his mother who would be waiting for him at home. He joyously shaked hands with the Chief Minister he used to see on front page of the newspaper. He could never imagine he could ever get to see the CM in person, and today he was standing right in front of him shaking hands! He’s never going to forget this day, he thought.

His heart was about to jump out of his rib cage when he was returning back to the stairs where he was sitting a while ago, imagining the face of his mother who has been so sure of this day all along the years of his schooling. And right then, he heard his name being announced once again. It was the announcer telling him that the Chief Minister wanted him to sit in CM’s seat rather than those stairs! Surprised and bewildered, he went to the CM who very lovingly got him seated next to him and started talking about what Asif wanted to do in future.

A while ago, no one wanted to even see him in this hall! What a magic this piece of paper has, he looked at the result card and continued speaking to the CM.

This rural boy in rags comes from a village near Okara, a semi-urban district south west of Lahore in Punjab . This district is relatively new agricultural center of Punjab and is home to around 50,000 small farmers based in rural dwellings around Okara city. Asif’s school is around 25 kilometers from the city of Okara, while his home is 7 kilometers from his school in Neherwala. The way from the village to the school is not paved and remains muddy and swampy to date. Only those who have seen such places in poverty stricken south Punjab, would be able to understand how difficult it would have been for a child to cover that 7 kilometers distance every day, to reach the school. Even to ride a bicycle would be impossible especially in bad weather. But this boy kept on the journey despite all odds. He never left working with his father in fields along with taking care of other house hold chores at home. There were all kinds of other hurdles like power outages for long hours, which has been most severe in rural Punjab in last four years. While his parents were not very hostile to his education, the overall environment of a rural society was not very enabling either. He did not tire. He never studied in an academy or any tuition center owing to their economic condition which did not allow any of such “luxuries”. Secondly, his teachers at school were so hardworking that any tuition would have been superfluous. The school had total of 18 students who appeared in Matriculation exams in 2009, all of whom passed with flying colours. All of who came from rural small farmer families. Naveed got this top notch in his school and an overall second position in Punjab.

Recalling the day when a BISE representative came to his village in order to inform him of this ceremony, he shared that his family got scared receiving someone at their door that late in the night. Their fear was due to the incidence of theft in their house a night earlier. A night before, they had lost their buffalo in a mmid-night robbery. The buffalo was their only asset and they had no clue what they are going to do without her. In agriculture based rural areas of Pakistan, livestock remains to be an inalienable part of people’s earning and making two ends meet. 

The word “regret” was unknown to him, but he was quite upset on not being able to study science. He so wanted to become a scientist and invent something that would make the life of small farmers like his father, easier and healthier! He could not opt for science subjects because someone else did not do his/her duty right. Yes, it is as simple as that. His school, to date, does not have a science teacher. He and all his class mates were so sure that they would have scored equally high had they been able to study science. I wonder if Parha Likha Punjab has something to do with science as well??? 

To my very pleasant surprise, Asif wants to do something as big as Jinnah did. He is influenced by the personality of Mohammad Ali Jinnah whose perseverance and hard work had always inspired him. He had no career objective in mind, because he could not think of any career other than agriculture in his village, but he surely wants to contribute to the society. All he plans for his future is to concentrate on his studies and make his mother happy and proud who, he told, would be cooking paraathas (wheat flour pancakes shallow fried in ghee – a delicacy in rural Punjab, which is cooked in poor families only for very special guests) for him at home.

Asif Naveed, you are my hero – a real hero. Keep going. Keep your journey continued. The country, the nation is proud of you. And this mother of yours wants every son and daughter that this country produces, to be like you! Jeetay raho.

For the use of news analysts, bloggers and researchers, I have compiled following record of US attacks on Taliban on Pakistan's territory. I could gather the news items about a total of 84 drone (un-manned predator planes) attacks on Pakistan by US forces since June 2004 to Jan 2010. If you can add to it with a reference, please do. Your posts and comments are warmly welcomed. I hope this post is useful for the readers.

June 18, 2004

5 killed, including Nek Muhammad Wazir, near Wana, South Waziristan. Source Dawn

May 14, 2005

Haitham al-Yemeni killed in a strike near the Afghan border in North Waziristan. Source: Washington Post 

November 30, 2005

Al-Qaeda's #3, Abu Hamza Rabia, killed in an attack in Asoray, near Miranshah, the capital of North Waziristan. Source: Daily Telegraph 

January 13, 2006

An airstrike kills 18 in Damadola, Bajaur, but misses Ayman al-Zawahri. Source: Telegraph

April 26, 2007

4 killed in the village of Saidgai in North Waziristan. Source: AP

June 19, 2007

20 killed in the village of Mami Rogha in North Waziristan. Source: Washington Post 

November 2, 2007

5 killed in an attack on a madrasa in a village outside Miran Shah, North Waziristan. Source New York Times

January 29, 2008

Senior al-Qaeda commander Abu Laith al-Libi, as well as seven Arabs and six Central Asians, died in a missile strike that hit a village near Mir Ali, North Waziristan. Source: BBC

February 27, 2008

12 people killed in a strike near Kalosha village in South Waziristan. Source: Al Jazeera

March 16, 2008

16 killed in a strike in Shahnawaz Kheil Dhoog, South Waziristan. The dead included nine Islamist militants, including one Arab and two Turkmen fighters. Source: ITN

May 14, 2008

12 people, including Abu Sulayman Al-Jazairi, an al-Qaeda leader from Algeria, killed near the hamlet of Khaza, in the Damadola area of Bajaur. The missiles hit the compound of Maulavi Ismail, where militants had gathered for dinner. Source: Dawn 

July 28, 2008

South Waziristan missile strike in Zeralita, Azam Warsak, kills 6 al-Qaeda operatives, including Midhat Mursi, a notorious bomb maker who trained Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui. Originally form Egypt, Mursi ran the Derunta training camp in Afghanistan. Source: Reuters 

August 31, 2008

Missile strike on Al-Qaeda training camp in Tappi, Miramshah, North Waziristan kills two militants carrying Canadian passports, as well as six others, including two women. Source: Our Bombs

September 8, 2008

23 killed in Daande Darpkhel airstrike in Daande Darpkhel near Miranshah, North Waziristan. The targets of the airstrike were Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Sirajuddin. Haqqani escaped, but 8 of his grandchildren were among the dead. Source: NYTimes

September 12, 2008

12 killed in Miranshah airstrike on two separate buildings. Seven Taliban are among the dead. Source: BBC 

September 30, 2008

6 killed in a strike near Mir Ali, North Waziristan. Source: Telegraph

October 16, 2008

Senior Al-Qaeda leader Khalid Habib, an Egyptian citizen, is killed in a strike near Taparghai, South Waziristan, along with five other al-Qaeda or Taliban members. Long War Journal

October 22, 2008

4 killed in a village near Miranshah by missiles fired from suspected US drone. Source: Reuters 

October 26, 2008

20 killed in a strike in Mandatta, South Waziristan. Top Taliban commander Mohammad Omar is among the dead. Source: BBC

October 31, 2008

20 killed, including Al-Qaeda operative Abu Akash and Mohammad Hasan Khalil al-Hakim (alias Abu Jihad al-Masri), after 2 missiles hit near Mir Ali, North Waziristan. Source: The Times of London  

October 31, 2008

In the second targeted assassination of the day, two missiles hit a house near Wana, the main town of South Waziristan. The building was a terrorist hideout, and up to 12 rebels died. Source: The Time 

November 14, 2008

12 killed in a strike in a village outside Miranshah. A Pakistani security official said that nine foreign militants – believed to be al-Qaeda fighters – were among those killed. Source: The Times 

November 19, 2008

Abdullah Azam al-Saudi, along with five other al-Qaeda militants, killed in Bannu district. US intelligence officials had identified him as the main link between Al-Qaeda's senior command and Taliban networks in the Pakistani border region with Afghanistan. Source: Newsweek

November 22, 2008

British-Pakistani al-Qaeda operative Rashid Rauf and 4 others, including Abu Zubair al-Masri, killed in a strike in Ali Khel, North Waziristan. Source: NYTimes 

December 22, 2008

At least 8 killed in South Waziristan by suspected US drone strike. Source: VOA

January 1, 2009

2 senior al-Qaeda leaders, Usama al-Kini and Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan, killed in a missile strike. Both men had long been on the FBI's Most Wanted list for their role in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. Source: Fox News

January 23, 2009

In the first attacks since Barack Obama became US president, at least 14 killed in Waziristan in 2 separate attacks by 5 missiles fired from drones. Missile #1 hit a house in a village called Zarakai near the town of Mirali, North Waziristan. Source: BBC

January 23, 2009

In the first attacks since Barack Obama became US president, at least 14 killed in Waziristan in 2 separate attacks by 5 missiles fired from drones. Missile #2 was aimed at the house of a Taliban commander about 6 miles from Wana, South Waziristan. Source: BBC

February 14, 2009

More than 30 killed when two missiles are launched by drones near town of Makin in South Waziristan. Source: NYTimes 

February 16, 2009

Strike in Baggan village in the Kurram Valley kills 30, reportedly at a Taliban training camp for fighters preparing to combat coalition forces in Afghanistan. Source: Guardian

March 1, 2009

Strike in Sararogha village in South Waziristan kills 7 people. Source: BBC

March 12, 2009

24 killed in attack in Berju in Kurram Agency. Source: Dawn

March 15, 2009

4 killed in Jani Khel in Bannu district in North-West Frontier Province. Source: NYTimes

March 25, 2009

7 killed in attacks on 2 vehicles by two missiles in Makin area of South Waziristan. Source: BBC

March 26, 2009

A strike killed 4 militants in the Essokhel area, around 19 miles east of Mir Ali town in the North Waziristan tribal region. Source: Times of India

April 1, 2009

14 killed in Orakzai Agency tribal area. Source: BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7975871.stm

April 4, 2009

13 killed in North Waziristan, 20 miles west of the region's main town of Miranshah. Source: Reuters 

April 8, 2009

4 killed in attack on a vehicle in Gangi Khel in South Waziristan. Source: Dawn 

April 19, 2009

At least 3 killed and 5 injured in an attack in South Waziristan. Source: BBC

April 29, 2009

Strike in Kanni Garam village in South Waziristan kills 6 people. Source: Dawn  

May 9, 2009

A strike in Sararogha in South Waziristan kills 6 people. Source: Dawn

May 12, 2009

A strike in Sra Khawra village in South Waziristan kills 8 people. Source: BBC

May 16, 2009

A strike in the village of Sarkai Naki in North Waziristan kills 25 people. Many of the dead were Pakistani militants belonging to a group led by Hafiz Gul Bahadar. A Pakistani intelligence official identified one of the Arab men killed by the drone airstrike as Asad al-Misri. Source: NYTimes

June 14, 2009

A strike on a vehicle in South Waziristan kills 5 people. Source: Reuters 

June 18, 2009

A strike in Shahalam village in South Waziristan kills 5 people. Source: Xinhua

June 23, 2009 #1

A strike in Neej Narai in South Waziristan kills at least 8 people. The remote area, about 65 kilometers north of the main district town of Wana, is under the control of Baitullah Mehsud's Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Source: Dawn

June 23, 2009 #2

An airstrike in Makin kills over 60 people but misses Baitullah Mehsud. Many of the dead were attending the funerals of people killed in air strikes earlier that day. The strike is likely the deadliest drone attack to date. Source: NYTimes 

July 3, 2009

US Drone kills 17 people and injures a further 27. Source: Press TV

July 7, 2009

A strike on a militant compound in the Zangarha area 9 miles north-east of the town of Ladha in South Waziristan kills at least 12 people. Source: BBC

July 8, 2009 #1

A strike on a hideout in Karwan Manza area, some six miles south-east of Ladha, kills at least 10 militants. and on a vehicle convoy in South Waziristan kills at least 50 people. Source: BBC

July 8, 2009 #2

In the second attack of the day, 40 militants died when five missiles hit a vehicle convoy on the main road between Ladha and Sararogha in South Waziristan. Source: BBC

July 17, 2009

A strike on a house in North Waziristan, 19 miles from Miranshah, kills 4 people. Source: BBC

August 5, 2009

A strike in the Zangar area of South Waziristan killed 12, including Baitullah Mehsud, his wife, and his wife's parents. The Pakistani Taliban leader's death was confirmed after weeks of uncertainty. Source: Guardian

August 11, 2009

A strike in Ladha village, South Waziristan, kills 10. Source: BBC

August 21, 2009

A missile strike on the village of Darpa Kheil, North Waziristan, reportedly targeting Sirajuddin Haqqani, kills at least 21 people. Source: BBC

August 27, 2009

A missile strike on the Tapar Ghai area in the Kanigram district of South Waziristan kills 8 people. One of the dead was reportedly Tohir Yo‘ldosh, leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Source: BBC

September 8, 2009

Drone-fired missiles kill 10 in Dargamandi, North Waziristan. The attack may have killed al-Qaeda leaders Ilyas Kashmiri and Mustafa al Jaziri, as well as three Punjabi militants and two or three local Taliban fighters. Source: Al Jazeera

September 14, 2009

Drone-fired missile kills four people in a car 1.5 miles from Mir Ali in North Waziristan. Source: Military Times

September 24, 2009

Drone-fired missile kills up to 12 people in the village of Dande Darpa Khel near Mir Ali. Source: Military Times

September 29, 2009 #1

In the first strike of the day, a drone attack reportedly kills six Taliban, including two Uzbek fighters and Taliban commander Irfan Mehsud, in a compound in Sararogha village, South Waziristan. Source: Daily Times 

September 29, 2009 #2

In the second strike of the day, a missile killed seven insurgents in a house in Dande Darpa Khel village, North Waziristan. Source: Daily Times

October 15, 2009

U.S. drone missile kills at least four people in Darpa Khel in North Waziristan. Source: BBC

October 21, 2009

A U.S. drone missile killed two or three alleged militants in Spalaga, North Waziristan, in territory controlled by Hafiz Gul Bahadur. One of those killed was reportedly Abu Ayyub al-Masri (not the same as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the al-Qaeda in Iraq leader), an explosives expert for al-Qaeda and a "Tier 1" target of US counter-terrorism operations. Source: The Australian 

October 24, 2009

A U.S. drone strike kills 27 in Damadolla, inside Bajaur tribal agency. The 27 victims were reportedly a mix of Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives in a strategy meeting. The dead include 11 "foreigners." One of those reported killed is Faqir Mohammed's nephew, Zahid, and another is Mohammed's unnamed son-in-law. The meeting was apparently being held to decide on whether to reinforce South Wazaristan against Pakistani forces. Source: The Nation

November 5, 2009

2 killed in Miranshah, North Waziristan. Source: Turkish Weekly

November 18, 2009

4 killed and 5 injured in Shanakhora village of North Waziristan, 12 miles south of Miranshah. Source: AFP

November 20, 2009

8 killed in the Machikhel area near the town of Mir Ali. Source: BBC

December 8, 2009

3 killed in a car near Miranshah in North Waziristan, reportedly including 2 al-Qaeda members. Senior al-Qaeda planner Saleh al-Somali, a Somali citizen, is believed to have died in this strike. Source: BBC

December 9, 2009

Six killed in Tanga, Ladha, South Waziristan, four of whom are al-Qaeda — and two Taliban. Source: Long War Journal

December 17, 2009 #1

17 killed in 2 separate attacks in North Waziristan in an area controlled by Hafiz Gul Bahadur. In the first attack, two missiles hit a car near Dosali, killing two. Source: Military Times 

December 17, 2009 #2

In the second attack of the day, 10 missiles fired by five drones hit two compounds in Ambarshaga, killing 15 people. Unnamed sources stated that seven of the dead were "foreigners." Source: Military Times

December 18, 2009

3 killed in an attack in Dattakhel region in North Waziristan. Source: BBC

December 26, 2009

13 killed in an attack in Saidgai village in North Waziristan. Source: Xinhua 

December 31, 2009

At least 3 killed in an attack in Machikhel village in North Waziristan. According to The Frontier Post, senior Taliban leader and strong Haqqani ally Haji Omar Khan, brother of Arif Khan, was killed in the strike, along with the son of local tribal leader Karim Khan. Source: CNN 

January 1, 2010

A missile strike on a vehicle near Ghundikala village in North Waziristan kills 3. Source: Dawn

January 3, 2010

5 militants including 3 Arabs killed in an attack on Mosakki village around Mir Ali, North Waziristan. Source: Dawn

January 6, 2010

2 separate missile strikes one hour apart kill approximately 20-25 people in Sanzalai village, North Waziristan. The attacks were the deadliest since a suicide bomber killed 7 CIA officers and injured 6 others at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Afghanistan, used by the CIA to coordinate drone attacks in Pakistan. Source: New York Times

January 8, 2010

A missile strike in Tappi village in North Waziristan kills 5 people. All the militants killed were local and attached to Taliban Commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur. Source: AFP

January 9, 2010

Strike kills one of FBI's most wanted terrorists: Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim, a member of al-Qaeda and Abu Nidal. In total, 4 killed and 3 injured when 2 missiles are fired on a compound in Ismail Khan in North Waziristan, which is territory of the Haqqani network. Source: AP

January 14, 2010

Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud is said to be wounded in an attack that kills 15 militants in Shaktoi, South Waziristan. Source: CNN

January 15, 2010 

A drone missile attack killed five militants in Zanini, outside Mir Ali in North Waziristan. Source: AFP

January 15, 2010

Second missile strike of the day kills 6 in Bichi village in North Waziristan. Source: AFP

January 17, 2010

In the 9th drone attack of 2010, four missiles slammed into a house in the Shaktoi area of South Waziristan. The house targeted was used by Usman Jan, head of the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Five Uzbeks were killed in the strike, and the rest were Pakistani Taliban. Source: AP 

January 19, 2010

Two missiles fired at a compound in the Booya village of the Datakhel sub-division, 20 miles west of Miranshah in North Waziristan kill at least 6 militants. Source: Voice of America

If you want to see the geographical distribution of the drone attacks, please watch on Google Map.

The approximate locations of U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan since 2004. Strikes prior to 2008 are yellow, those in 2008 during the Bush administration are red, and strikes during the Obama administration in 2009-2010 are green. Most strikes are on Pashtun villages in North and South Waziristan in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghan border.

video management, video solution, video streaming This is Mustafa Kamal, Nazim Karachi, expressing his opinion on the tragedy of Bolton Market. While he humbly shares his profound thoughts, the news caster stays mum. I think here is something for President Zardari to learn from this young and promising politician of our country, how to handle media! And I don't think the media disliked the way Mustafa Kamal dealt with it because we saw no no videos of this conversation doing day-long rounds on TV screen with superimposed Indian songs our electronic media is so obsessed to use in current affairs programs. Naturally what Firdaus Ashiq Awan did with Abid Sher Ali or Kashmala Tariq on screen, was something to lament about and our free media was quite justified to humiliate her on that. But this one is something, I think all the media equivocally supports.

If it is so, why don't the politicians from other parties learn to behave? Why don't they express themselves the way this video shows? I think its high time to learn from youngsters and change the old ways.

watch?v=0pwnaQHujBI