Remembering Mukarram Khan
In 2001, just after U.S. invasion in Afghanistan, a tribal journalist from Mohmand Agency was captured near Kandhar along with another Pakistani & a French journalist. All 3 were taken into the captivity of Afghan Taliban on suspicion of being American spies. As their case went before the Taliban court, the tribal journalist found himself with an unexpected advantage; he was the only one who could understand both English, Urdu & Pushto.
Thus, he entered into the unlikeliest contract of all; working as a paid translator for Taliban while in captivity. At the end of the 3 months which marked the end of his ordeal, the tribal journalists had earned around 20 thousand rupees from Taliban.
That is how I knew Mukarram Khan; the only guy to have actually made money while under Taliban captivity. But the same man, who outsmarted and survived the Afghan Taliban for 3 long months, could not save himself from our home grown monsters; Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan assassinated Mukarram Khan yesterday for not giving them enough coverage.
Last year, Mukarram Khan had to leave his hometown in Mohmand due to constant threats to himself and his family; but rather than moving further away, he chose to remain in FATA and continued to dispense of his duties as a journalist from Shabqadar, Charsadda. He worked as a correspondent for multiple national and international news outlets. I knew him only for a short week; but he changed my own stereotypical perspective of what Tribesmen are usually like.
His experiences in the conflict zone showed me how little we really get to know of the brutalities that FATA residents face. His passion and dedication to the profession was unmatched. But the most amazing thing about Mukarram Khan was his spirit; with experiences harsh enough to turn anyone into a jaded, bitter, brooding robot, but Mukkartam Khan did not only manage to come across as a positive, soft spoken person quoting Faiz and Ghalib at every other thing, but was also progressive in ways we normally do not associate with the men of the tribal belt.
Mukarram Khan, receiving a certificate in Islamabad.
Having known him personally, it pains me to put Mukaram Khan in the context of gory statistics; but here is the heart breaking fact; Mukarram Khan is the first one to have perished in the line of duty this year, but in all, he has simply joined the long list of Pakistani journalists who have been killed after the start of this so called war against terror. Like all those who went before him, Mukaram Khan’s untimely death has brought along messages of condemnation and sympathies from the rulers and journalist unions; however, as always, there isn’t any noise or effort to find the assassins and bring them to justice.
Impunity, as always, prevails.
In the beginning of December 2011, I heard the Federal Secretary Information speak at an International Conference regarding safety of journalists. He did not only refrain from giving any concrete answers to the question of impunity, but also claimed to have no knowledge of the fact that around 20 journalists have been killed in Balochistan. At the same conference Interior Minister Rehman Malik proudly talked of the government’s efforts to end impunity by mentioning the commission formed to probe the murder of Saleem Shahzad; the same commission whose findings can be summed in three words; ‘he was murdered’.
DG ISPR, Maj Gen. Ather Abbas who also made an appearance gracefully placed the burden of killings on the victims themselves, accusing them of ‘’not informing the security forces’’ when going into danger zones.
I’d like to ask him, exactly who should have been informed yesterday, when Mukarram Khan went to a mosque to pray. I’d like to ask Mr. Rehman Malik, whether we need another commission simply to determine the fact that, yes, Mukarram Sahib was murdered. As for the information secretary, I ‘ll wait till he happens to visit another event where he can be informed of Mukkaram Khan’s tragic passing.
But the anger directed at the government authorities cannot match my disappointment with the media outlets, associations & unions.
Like the murders before him, Mukkaram Khan’s demise is also being treated simply as a sensational story; a story whose airing might help generate support for his grieved family, but a story that is missing context and accountability nonetheless. There has been a mention of previous murders, but hasn’t been any pressure to actually end impunity. Every single day, we see Kamran Khan and the likes busting their nerves screaming about hypothetical political crisis; but when it comes to issues that really need their relentless, passionate attention, we see them falling quiet or mentioning them simply as an afterthought.
Saleem Shahzad’s murder was touted as a turning point in this culture as we saw the media fraternity sitting together to demand an investigation. But the utterly useless result of the investigation has failed to rile the media.
If things remain same, Mukarram Khan’s murder would only mark the beginning of yet another bloody year of journalists in Pakistan.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
In post script, If one reads the news stories that have appeared in different newspapers today, there is needless stress on only one aspect – He was working for an American media outlet; Deewa Radio, VOA’s Pushto news service.
First, he was a stringer for Deewa, the American radio station and a full correspondent for Dunya, the local, national TV channel; when writing news stories reporters and specially their editors should know which description is more apt. The only one to actually mention Dunya before VOA was an international organization, Committee for Protection of Journalists.
Secondly, by stressing on the ‘’American’’ news outlet bit, they are giving the impression that his targeting was a result of his apparent American association; it wasn’t, he was targeted for not succumbing to the will of Taliban and spreading their message of hate. And while reporting on incidents like this, our newspapers need to ensure that they do not come across as offering excuses for such unacceptable incidents.
An edited version also appeared in The Express Tribune Blogs.
Tweeting, trending, empowering all the way.
From November 25 to December 10, a few curious terms start trending on twitter. The trends #16days, #TTBT and #TakeBackTheTech are a part of a virtual campaign to end violence against women by utilizing Information and Communication Technology. The campaign took shape in 2006 when APC Women’s program, realized that the internet had great power as an advocacy tool. Four years down the road, the campaign has taken a truly global form. From November 25th to December 10th, scores of women from all around the world gear up to use their collective virtual power to fight violence against women and advocate for gender empowerment. The 16 days of extensive campaigning is done carried out under the banner ‘Take Back the Tech’.
The idea that the campaigners are trying to spread is simple; use information and communication technology as a tool to address violence against women. Their ultimate aim is to create safe and equal digital spaces; equal because it is getting increasingly obvious that the gender biases prevalent in the society have seeped into the internet and virtual world is as guilty of gender bias as the real one.
Take Back the Tech campaigners in Pakistan, advocate the use of technology to reach out, map incidents of violence and create support networks for victims of violence. But many women, not directly associated with Take Back the Tech, question the effectiveness of a virtual campaign in a country like Pakistan, where internet penetration is barely 12%.
Shumaila Jaffery, an electronic media journalist, and an avid user of social media, is one of the sceptics.
“Even if technology allows women to connect to institutions working to safeguard women rights, where is technology? How many women in Pakistan have access to technology?”
According to Nighat Dad, a veteran ‘Take Back the Tech’ campaigner, many
“While campaigning for Take Back the Tech I met women from all walks of life – students, entrepreneurs, teachers, nurses, lawyers, social activists, government officials, politicians and strongly felt that women in Pakistan want to reclaim their spaces, whether online or offline. Under this campaign we have not only raised awareness about online spaces but also talked about different laws and policies effecting women in Pakistan and we have been doing it through ICT’s which are affecting women in not only online but in offline spaces as well.”; says Nighat.
But as the campaigners run women empowerment campaigns on the web, incidents of harassment through technology are on the rise. Cyber stalking, threats, sexual harassment through mobile and internet, and the distribution of personal, morphed and photo-shoped images via internet or cell phones are becoming favourite pastimes of virtual predators.
Last year, a woman from a small town in Sindh was raped and a video of the horrendous act was made available online. In the Capital, Sanobar, a working woman with a high profile job was put in quandary, after her ex-husband circulated her nude pictures through mms. Before she knew it, the pictures had gone viral on the internet. Sanobar ended up leaving her job and moving to another city to escape the trauma and the persecution.
In yet another incident, Nabeel, after an argument with his boss Saba, obtained a few candid pictures of hers and forwarded them to everyone on her Orkut list. Nabeel was fired for harassment, but the real price was paid by Saba, who did not only quit her job but has refrained from working anywhere since then.
Saba and Sanobar’s reaction, disassociation, is repeated by most women who become victims of cyber harassment. In the absence of laws to persecute crimes that have been committed in the cyber space or through digital means, women often come to believe that they have no other choice but to disassociate themselves from the virtual world. But playing the Ostrich has never solved the problem.
In case of such incidents, the FIA’s National Response Centre for Cyber Crimes that can be contacted. But the response centre is currently operating in a vacuum as there are no cyber crime laws in existence.
Prevention of Electronic Crime Ordinance (PECO) 2007 used to deal with cyber crimes such as cyber terrorism, data damage, electronic fraud and forgery. ‘Used to’ because PECO has not been re-promulgated since 2009. That has hindred pursuing cyber cases for the FIA’s NR3C wing.
In the absence of a law, the only concrete step to stop online abuse is to prevent it by creating a secure cyber profile.
“The foremost thing is to protect your privacy online. Protecting your privacy online is as important as protecting your identity offline. Girls should be very careful what personal information they are sharing online including in an email, photos, phone numbers, their location specially on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter and chat rooms.”; says Nighat.
IT experts associated with the campaign also advice women to avoid creating easy-to-guess passwords, using of strict privacy settings, clearing browsing history from work and public computers and making sure that any candid pictures or videos do not reach anyone who could possibly exploit them.
Take Back the Tech campaigners believe in the power of personal stories to prompt people into action, and thus the first part of the virtual campaign is mapping the stories of abuse. Be it culturally-justified violence against women, online harassment, cyber-stalking, intimate partner violence or sexual assault and rape, campaigners ask the women to come out and share their stories. Then next focus is on strengthening web related skills; women are encouraged to learn how to use internet, mobiles and other communication tools safely. More specifically they are encouraged to understand the strategies and tools that protect their privacy online. And finally, women are encouraged to exercise their rights online, starting with really basic things like blocking and reporting virtual predators rather than simply closing their own accounts.
In the past, some of Pakistan’s influential bloggers have come together to run this campaign online. This year number of youtube channels have also sprung up, showing the stories of courageous women who are refusing to take abuse silently and it is by bringing these stories to light that the campaigners are living their motto; Map it, End It, Take Back the Tech.
Names of the victims have been changed to protect identity.
The piece originally appeared in Dawn, Islamabad (Metropolitan)
Who will step up for the real Islam?
As one grows older (especially in the dear homeland), it is usual to suddenly discover religion. You’d see previously fun aunties & uncles rediscovering their mortality and trying to cram a life’s worth of Islam ki khidmat into their remaining years. The Khidmat is usually limited to criticizing the younger generation for their Godless ways and trying to hammer the fear of God into them.
However, a few months back, a friend’s mom took another step ahead. She approached another friend’s mother who happens to be a Christian, and tried to spread the message of Islam. With the best of intentions she asked the Christian woman to reconsider her faith clarifying that if she had not asked her to convert to Islam, she would have been held accountable on the Day of Judgment. The other lady smiled, thanked her for her concern and said “Behan hum aisay hi theek hain, kam az kam hum log apnay churches main baqi Christians ko to nahi mar rahay.”
If I wasn’t scared of having a fatwa issued against me this is where I would have paused and said, Christians one, Muslims zero.
But of course, one can’t joke about these things now a day, it is too dangerous.
The politically correct reaction, I guess is for me to pause and say Aztagfirrullah. Only, in this instance any Aztaghfirullahs I utter, will be directed at Muslims themselves and that again is something I shouldn’t do publicly. After all, anyone might find it offensive that I am trying to banish the devil from a follower of Islam when the narrative also includes a follower of a supposedly lesser religion. So, I’m left with an anecdote that tells of a lot of things which have gone haywire with our perception and interpretation of Islam, but even though it stirs up a lot of conflicting emotion in me, I am not at a liberty to discuss or even voice what I feel.
I’ve been taught to take Islam at face value. We all have. We are supposed to be Naqis-ul-Aqal (especially since I’m a women). So even though, I have been given a very inquisitive mind, I am not supposed to inquire about the philosophy behind a lot of religious practices and beliefs. I am supposed to blame my nafs for any doubts rising inside my mind.
I’m supposed to believe – Without question – Blindly.
And somehow, for 20 years or so, I did believe like that. Blindly & stubbornly, I banished all questions lying at the fringes of my mind & blamed my own lack of faith for all doubts. But then we entered this era. This era of extremism, of fear, this era of knowing that you aren’t safe anywhere, cause at any given time, one of our own Muslim brethren might decide to attack. And for me, the dynamics of religion changed.
It started with being scared for my brothers every time they left for Friday prayers, progressed to huge arguments trying to convince them not to go, cause after all God can’t blame them for praying at home if another Muslim is ready to blow them up in a mosque. I’ve grown more and more confused about Islam as various Lashkars waged their Islamic wars, killing and maiming other Muslims, thanking God for His greatness as the body counts rose.
Of course, we all know this isn’t the real Islam.
We know that Islam is the religion of peace. And yet, this knowing doesn’t really negate the fact that thousands of Muslims have been killed in Pakistan by Muslims themselves. And somehow, instead of making Muslims denounce extremism, it has made a lot of us more rigid towards their faith. Over the last few years, the extremism of thought has risen within the country. The devout have become increasingly more devout and the liberals have become exceedingly more liberal.
Both sides have become extremely intolerant of the other and for both groups, the only right way, seems to be the domination of their own philosophies over others.
In all this confusion, the only ‘guidance’ available to the masses comes either in the form of the Friday Sermons or a TV Host famous for shedding buckets of tears every Shab-e-Qadr and declaring some minorities Wajib ul Qatl.
Where are the Muslim scholars who can give us a view of Islam that is not so full of hate? If this isn’t the real Islam, where are the people who can show us what Islam really is about? Islam is a part of my identity and defending it comes as a reflex rather than a reaction. And yet, when someone like me needs to clear my head about my faith, I do not know anyone I can turn to without the fear of persecution. I know people who preach Shia, Sunni, Deo bandi, Baralvi and a dozen other ways of practicing the religion, I need one, who can teach me how to practice the Islam that really can be called a religion of reason and peace.
