YES, we can!

While political parties are falling over each other, trying to get the attention of WOMEN, for their votes, MEN have been left literally speechless - without even a voice for themselves! Here are some of the pressing male right issues that can only be addressed by a 'self-respecting mens party' :

1. Ragging laws will be enforced strictly. Sexual ragging to be treated as equivalent to rape.
2. Personal laws will be amended to abolish genital mutilation below 18 years in all religions
3. Negative stereotyping of males in Media Advertisements will be monitored and penalised under strigent laws
4. Old age benefits will apply to all, Irrespective of gender
5. 'Divorce benefits' will be abolished and 'alimony' to be scrapped in India
6. All fresh recruitments to IT/BPOs/air crew/nursing, will be strictly monitored for sexual bias.
7. 498a and DV will be abolished. Child custody and defamation laws will be framed.
8. No weightage for gender for taxation purpose.
9. Bogus 'research', defaming males, and reports made from womens version alone without verification, and their publishers, to be severely punished under new laws
10. Monetary inducements for young boys and teachers to improve performance in examinations.

These demands, should naturally culminate in the natural plea for a Mens Welfare Ministry.

But will men get their rightful due, unless they themselves realise the tremendous evil, behind the forces working towards gender casteism?

The Congress has given most money for feminist causes, and created draconian misandrous laws. Under its rule, the ONLY graph to sky rocket, has been divorce! Many elderly men and innocent women have suffered to conseqences of misandrous laws passed by the Congress. No wonder, these elderly men and women will votes with fires burning in the pits of their stomachs.


WAKE UP MALES! SPEAK UP!

dear author,
we have a loooong way to go. let us see if there can even be a consensus back home about feudalism being the ultimate evil in pakistan. personally i am not optimistic that our intellignetsia (such as it is) will see the light and mount a civil society movement to reclaim the country from the clutches of the feudals, comparable to the one which got the judiciary restored. don't forget they (the feudals) still control all the levers of power in pakistan.

i am afraid the tallybans would beat the civil society by a mile in this race. so be it...

why are u quoting mr cowasjee, he is a muslim hater potty mouthed old man. i wish the taliban would take care of him for starters, we should not allow non muslims to comment so openly in muslims matters. he has no say in any islamic matter whether judicial or personal.. full stop!
and i dont think taliban are concerned with sending letters to defence schools from afghanistan, why not start with isb that nearer. this is all mqm led propoganda to creat attn and ridicule islam!
why is mr. cowasjee and you lot not bothered about mqm, they have sent much worse letters to schools, and factory owners and shop keepers and have destroyed the peace of karachi for decades!
so please do not try to defame islam and its warriors! they will be victorious because Allah is the one who protects his religion and warriors, so all of you who rant againt islamic law and taliban are infact taking on a fight with Allah...
may Allah guide you all!

"Now, only the US and the rest of the world can step in — we, in nuclear Pakistan, can do nothing but wait and see which way the cards fall. We, including the legislators, are all helpless, they by choice, we by default.

Footnote: Karachi is already feeling the Taliban pinch. Co- educational schools in Defence, Clifton and Saddar areas are known to have received visits and been threatened if they do not change, others have been sent letters with the same message."
Mr. Cowasjee, Daily Dawn, Karachi.

Somehow, those who manage perceptions amongst the people of Pakistan have to stop seeing Indians and India as their enemy and cause for all that is wrong. It starts from there. Barring a few kilometres from the border and LOC, and in some fundoo parts of India here and there, what happens in Pakistan does not really impact India anymore - other than the fatalistic approach we seem to have towards reasonably regular suicide and other such attacks on our cities.

But the Pakistani media has a lot to answer for. Instead of looking inwards and trying to be a reflection of whatever the ground realities are it appears to me that the media in Pakistan would rather deny deny deny. And by doing that they join hands with whatever and whoever is responsible for whatever it is that is happening in Pakistan.

Expecting the judiciary in Pakistan to change things is asking too much. What are the tools that they will use? The military? The civil service? The Pakistani judiciary can issue thousands of orders and edicts, who will implement them, the Americans?

Much is being made of the "Taliban now" kind of state of affairs. Fact remains, it is not new, it is just that the blowback is now turning the heat on those who thought they controlled things.

Please fix your media first. It starts from that. The media is not the maker of opinion, it should be the projector of opinion, and that doesn't seem to happen lately.

Good luck.

Dear Sir,

Your classification and description of the politicians is accurate. Your call to the people to make a move, any move, is what the country needs at this critical moment. Your idea to act now defines hope. Thanks.

Excellent article. Some positive approach. There are many things happening in Pakistan. Some positive and some negative. Concentrating on the negatives alone would not resolve any issue.

In the last two years Pakistan has certainly made progress in crucial areas. The civilian set up is now more viable. The Supreme Court is inclined to support the civilians instead of the army as was the case in the past and the Punjab government is taking an aggressive approach in resolving people's problems.

The PPP is still stuck in the old style politics but there is so much pressure on it that it will have to become more proactive or it will lose the government.

People in Pakistan are not waiting for the government to move, they are pushing the government in the right directions. In a large country like Pakistan with a new civilian set up, there are going to be problems. Mistakes will be made,a few things would get out of hand, and many would go wrong but eventually perseverance and staying the course would help more than crying like babies on every little incidence and every stupid statement from some ignorant politician.

Good theory. But the urban middle class and the "civil society" in Pakistan is too small to bring about a fundamental change. I think the change is more likely to come from a rural apprising by the unwashed masses against the feudal/tribal chiefs who make up the narrow and corrupt ruling elite in Pakistan.

Whether we like it or not, the vanguard of the rebellion against Pakistan's ruling elite will likely come from the rag-tag band of the unwashed Taliban who appear to be highly motivated and determined and energized at the moment.

After the existing order is destroyed, it's not clear how the bloody power struggle will play itself out over the long haul. We may see a reign of terror like the Chinese saw during the Cultural Revolution in the 60s. If or when a Pakistani "Deng" succeed a Pakistani "Mao" remains unclear.
But most Pakistanis would be happy to see the current power centers (feudals, military, clergy) lose their power.

It may already be too late, but none of this is necessarily inevitable, if the current power brokers can see the writing on the wall and act in their own enlightened self-interest before it's too late.
Riaz Haq, PakAlumni Worldwide