بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Pakistan Headlines 23/09/2016
Headlines:
- 9/11 – Baldia Factory Fire- Seeking Justice in Democracy is Folly
- Education in Democratic Pakistan Will Not Build a Nation
- Liberation of Kashmir Can Only be By Jihad by the Armed Forces and Never Through the Criminal “International Community”
Details:
9/11 – Baldia Factory Fire- Seeking Justice in Democracy is Folly
As reported in Dawn on 12 September 2016, “On the fourth anniversary of the Baldia factory fire, the worst industrial disaster in the country’s history…KiK Company would pay $5.15 million in compensation to the families of those who died in the fire overnight.” Kik is a German company which procured more than 70% of the products made at the ill-fated factory and it has been accused of overlooking workers’ safety – a responsibility which it was obligated to share with the factory owners under international laws. In Pakistan, the workers working in majority of the local companies are ill-treated, under-paid, are provided lack of health & safety working environment. This incident is a reminder of the dangerous environment workers are being made to work under. The Government & other institutions have exploited the poor working class due to lack of better economic opportunities.
11 September 2016 marked the fourth anniversary of the Baldia Factory Fire, in which victims who were burned alive in Karachi while working in the factory. Three to four hundred workers were working in the factory when someone locked the entry/exit doors and set the factory ablaze. This horrific event killed more than 255 male and female innocent workers whilst afflicting serious burn injuries to more than 50 people. These were the years when Karachi was engulfed with racial and ethnic killings fueled by the same political parties which were present in the parliament. Businessman, doctors and other hard working people were being harassed and killed for extortions (Bhatta) and ransom, violence and other crimes, all were at its peak as this lawlessness was being controlled by none other than the authorities themselves for their heinous self interests.
As reported in Dawn on 23 February 2016, the Joint Investigation Tribunal (JIT) report said: “Based upon available evidence and expert opinions, the JIT has come to conclusion that factory fire was a planned sabotage/terrorist activity and not an accidental fire.” Various investigations have yielded similar results that the incident was not accidental but was planned. The report also alleges that the terrorist act was carried out “due to refusal to pay extortion (Bhatta) of Rs 200,000,000 and partnership in factory profits by factory owners to office-bearers, namely Rehman Bhola and Hammad Siddiqi of MQM-A.” Whatever the final findings may come out to be, it is however certain that the indirect or direct role of MQM, other political parties and authorities cannot be ruled out in causing the lawless situation in Karachi. Four years on the victims` families are still awaiting justice. Moreover the government and opposition pledges of offering money and plots to the families of victims have still not materialized.
How can real justice be expected in a democratic system, where law is man made? When man has the right to define what is right and what is wrong to save the powerful, as is the case in Pakistan where the president and governors are immune from prosecution. This political system has always served and saved the powerful & influential elite, whereas on other hand weak are persecuted at will. In contrast to Democracy, in the Khilafah "Caliphate" the right to legislate has been reserved only for the Creator Allah (swt), who defines right and wrong, not to favor any particular elite, but to provide justice for all mankind. It is a just system where no one is immune or above the law. In fact one of the objectives of implementation of Islam is to provide justice to the humanity. ﴿لَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا رُسُلَنَا بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ وَأَنْزَلْنَا مَعَهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْمِيزَانَ لِيَقُومَ النَّاسُ بِالْقِسْطِ﴾“Indeed We have sent Our Messengers with clear proofs, and revealed with them the Scripture and the Balance (justice) that mankind may keep up justice.” [Al-Hadid 57:25] Another aspect is that unlike the Capitalist system, where the human is seen as a money making machine, in Islam, the employer is obliged to take care of the employee. The Islamic state is obliged to ensure that every of its citizens are given the appropriate earning opportunity under proper working conditions, including a work place of safety. Abu Bakra reported that the Messenger of Allah (saw)said in his khutba on the Day of Sacrifice during the Farewell Hajj,
«فَإِنَّ دِمَاءَكُمْ وَأَمْوَالَكُمْ وَأَعْرَاضَكُمْ بَيْنَكُمْ حَرَامٌ كَحُرْمَةِ يَوْمِكُمْ هَذَا فِي شَهْرِكُمْ هَذَا فِي بَلَدِكُمْ هَذَا لِيُبَلِّغ الشَّاهِدُ الْغَائِبَ»
“Your blood, your property and your honour are sacred to you, like the sacredness of this day in this month in this city.” (Agreed upon)
Education in Democratic Pakistan Will Not Build a Nation
As reported in Dawn on 9 September 2016 “Around 1.8 million children are out of school in Balochistan as efforts continue to ensure greater enrolment in school, a seminar on non-formal education was told on Friday. The provincial education minister, Rahim Ziaratwal while speaking at the seminar revealed that 60 per cent of children quit education by the time they reach the primary and middle school level, whereas 45pc of students leave schooling prior to completion of their Matriculation.” Though the literacy and education situation in overall Pakistan is awful, this staggering data reminds us that Baluchistan province has been worst hit by government neglect. As per 2015 data, Pakistan has one of the lowest literacy rates, i.e. 58%, in the world and the second largest out-of-school population, 5.1 million children, after Nigeria. The poor economic opportunities and environment provided by the government for the lower and middle-class people of Pakistan becomes the major reason for the children to be deprived of education. They are forced to become part of the labor force so that they may be able to support their family’s financial needs.
Even the government schools which are considered functioning lack the basic necessities. With Baluchistan as an example, the report reveals the wretched condition of the schools which are being operated. As reported in Dawn on 9 September 2016, “The plight of these schools in rural Balochistan is miserable, with single room schools across the province shelter-less with no basic facilities such as clean drinking water and toilets for the children.” The culture of ghost schools and teachers, unqualified teachers, lack of basic facilities such as chairs, desks, writing boards and books, is common in government schools, especially in the rural areas. This only reveals that in this system the education is not for the weak and poor, as the ones who can afford education would opt for private schools, whilst it will be weak and poor who will be affected the most. The government expenditure hovers around 2% of GDP in education sector, which further exposes that the rhetoric of providing education to all seems no more than lip service.
Another important aspect is that in this Capitalist system the humans are seen as economic machines therefore the objective of education in Pakistan and elsewhere around the Muslim countries has become to secure a better earning opportunity for the individual. It appalling that the literate has such a low bar that it is often defined as someone above the age of 15 who is able to read and write. On the contrary, in our Deen, education is one of the most fundamental pillars of the Islamic State. The outcome of the education system is to build a nation by preparing personalities based on set of ideas. Any nation whose people believe in an idea would also want their future generations to adopt such ideas so as to preserve them. This culture of a nation is what determines a people’s civilization, the nation’s goals, and their way of life. Such people are moulded into one nation based on this culture. And it is this culture that distinguishes one nation from another. This also holds true for the Muslim Ummah. The individuals are not prepared as economic machines but as torch bearers to humanity, leaders who would bring mankind from darkness, who would spread knowledge instead of ignorance. Hence in Islam it is the responsibility of the Khilafah "Caliphate" State to provide education to all along with the basic necessities. Hizb ut Tahrir stipulates in its Introduction to the Constitution, Article 173: “It is an obligation upon the State to teach every individual, male or female, those things which are necessary for the mainstream of life. This should be obligatory and provided freely in the school education. The State should, to the best of its ability, provide the opportunity for everyone to continue higher education free of charge.”
Liberation of Kashmir Can Only be By Jihad by the Armed Forces and Never Through the Criminal “International Community”
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, while addressing the United Nations General Assembly session on 21 September 2016, said Pakistan wants peace with India but maintained it is "not possible without resolving the Kashmir issue" and urged the international community to resolve the matter, saying, "The Security Council has called for the exercise of the right to self- determination by the people of Jammu and Kashmir through a free and fair plebiscite held under UN auspices. The people of Kashmir have waited 70 years for implementation of this promise. The Security Council must honour its commitments by implementing its own decisions."
Despite the long standing and brutal atrocities against the Muslims of Kashmir by the Indian armed forces, Nawaz Sharif, who shamelessly resorted to asking the criminal UN to stop the bloodshed in Kashmir. Rather than mobilizing the sons of the Pakistani army, the sixth largest in the world, to liberate their Muslim brothers and sisters in Kashmir, the Raheel-Nawaz regime abdicated responsibility for protecting Kashmir’s Muslims to an international community that itself has the blood of hundreds of thousands of Muslims on its hands. This international community is nothing but a tool for prolonging the suffering of this Ummah through offering false hopes of protection and change. It stands as a graveyard of broken promises and pledges to the Muslims.
We call those with Imaan in the army of Pakistan, who love their Rabb and wish to secure honour in this world and a high station in Jannah, to sever their allegiance to these shameless, cowardly regimes and to liberate Kashmir from the clutches of its evil occupiers and to give their Nusrah for the establishment of the righteous Khilafah "Caliphate", under which they will serve their Deen and their Ummah, and not the agendas of Western governments. The Prophet (saw) said, «الْمُسْلِمُ أَخُو الْمُسْلِمِ، لَا يَظْلِمُهُ، وَلَا يَخْذُلُهُ» “A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim: he does not oppress him, nor does he abandon him.
«فَإِنَّ دِمَاءَكُمْ وَأَمْوَالَكُمْ وَأَعْرَاضَكُمْ بَيْنَكُمْ حَرَامٌ كَحُرْمَةِ يَوْمِكُمْ هَذَا فِي شَهْرِكُمْ هَذَا فِي بَلَدِكُمْ هَذَا لِيُبَلِّغ الشَّاهِدُ الْغَائِبَ»