By Sherry Rehman Garhi Dopatta used to be a bucolic village near Muzzafarabad where its simple mountain-folk lived by breeding livestock and growing subsistence grain. After October 8, this village has been transformed into a rubble-filled quake-pit, where the stench of disease, dust and death still hangs over the hamlet like a cloud. Three
The Local Bodies Charade
When General Musharraf introduced the Local Government Ordinance in 2001, it was considered controversial to start with. The old LGO as it was known, was lumbered with structural, conceptual and poor delivery problems even though it was protected by the constitution in Article 268. One criticism leveled against it was that given the fraught experience
Enigma of the Defence Budget
DAWN Thursday, June 16, 2005 By Sherry Rehman ONE of the issues that surfaces every year for budget-makers in Pakistan is the search for fiscal space. This year the trillion-plus budget continues to be squeezed on both sides by two large, seemingly fixed liabilities: debt servicing and defence spending. Despite defence absorbing
Indo-Pak Conference 2005
Democratising the Dialogue Over the last two years, South Asian integration has become the flavour of the decade among security gurus from and about the region. Last month the Indian Delhi Policy Group run by Radha Kumar and Kanti Bajpai had sponsored a week long multi-city experts’ workshop to deliberate on modes of conflict
The Media’s Role in Kashmir 2005
Sherry Rehman March 2005 Islamabad “Media is a double-edged sword. It can be a frightful weapon of violence also when it propagates messages of intolerance or disinformation that manipulate public sentiment. The inevitable manipulation of the media in war situations leads to greater polarization and fuels mistrust between populations in conflict”[1].
Karo Kari: No Honour in the Honour-Killings bill
Dawn, Jan 13, 2005 By Sherry Rehman, There comes a time in every nation’s history when its citizens have to face the mirror of its collective conscience. The first entitlement we owe ourselves is the right to survival and recourse to justice. Yet what haunts half of the country’s population today is that
Separating Fact from Fiction: Ten Reasons to Repeal the Hudood Ordinances
Sherry Rehman For the first time in twenty-five years, the National Assembly has been heatedly debating the Hudood Ordinances for the last three weeks on every Private Member’s Day. The five criminal laws remain stubbornly on the statute books despite the much-repeated promises of General Pervez Musharraf that they should be done away with.
Ten Reasons to Repeal the Hudood Laws
Sherry Rehman For the first time in twenty-five years, the National Assembly has been heatedly debating the Hudood Ordinances for the last three weeks on every Private Member’s Day. The five criminal laws remain stubbornly on the statute books despite the much-repeated promises of General Pervez Musharraf that they should be done away with.
Election Processes in India and Pakistan: Making the Votes Count
By Sherry Rehman The bedrock of the democratic process is premised on a fair and free election by which the will of the people is ascertained through a nation-wide poll. If a democratic state cannot administer a transparent election under which there is a basic consensus by all stakeholders, then it fails in its
Making History
The Nation, 26 May 2003 By Sherry Rehman “History is the most dangerous product ever concocted by the chemistry of the intellect. It inebriates nations, saddles them with false memories, keeps their old sores running, torments them when they not at rest, and induces in them megalomania and the mania of persecution.”