REPORTOn “Liberalism and Secularism Seminar”, at Gummersbach, Germany 23 September to 5 October 2007  By Shafqat Aziz  

  While having a long association with Liberal Forum Pakistan, it was quite a heartening news for me that I was attending a seminar on a topic with that I personally  feel very much concerned about. It was the first time I was offered to attend such program at International Academy for Leadership, which is popularly known as the IAF. The subject itself was quite new and the participants were informed that it was also the first time the academy has a seminar on the subject. Besides Pakistan, 22 other countries had representation in the seminar including Tanzania, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Turkey, Argentina, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Russia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka. Stefan Melnik, a reputed and elegant moderator, briefed the participants “How liberalism and secularism linked to one another”? He also elaborated that “Why the topic was arranged in such a way”? The prime objective of holding seminars was not only raising awareness related to Liberal Values and Secularism as a prerequisite for establishment of any real liberal society but it was also aimed at to find out the perspectives of participants about Secularism and Liberalism. I had a fair chance to express my opinion during the event that, as a liberal, you tend to support the concept of secularism – the separation of state and religion, as the basis of general understanding. Many of the participants eventually got agreed with the idea that religion is a personal matter and should be separate from the governance part. However, religion in certain part of the world tends to be politicized by the political power.   

During the course of seminar, the example of Malaysia has been quoted regarding the interference of religion in the affairs of state. In Malaysia the main ruling political party United Malay National Organization has lately, at least verbally, inclined towards the acceptance of Malaysia as an Islamic state. Their election strategies and campaigns to win the heart of the majority Malay who are mostly Muslims cause concern among the other religious minorities. The Malaysian constitution does not explicitly state that the country is a secular state. What was written was that Islam is an official religion. When taking a stand that the country is an Islamic state, it implies a major change in the legal system – the supremacy of the Shariah laws over the civil laws. If that would happen, it would be very difficult for the minorities to practice their religious freedom as freely as they wish. Another positive nature of secularism discussed at the seminar was that sometimes and in some cases it could prevent a religious conflict from happening. An example would be the case of Thailand when thousand Buddhist monks took a street protest in their demand for the new constitution to write Buddhism as a state religion. In normal circumstances, it should not be an issue as Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist country. However, with the continuing violence in its southern provinces which Islam has been considered as one of the factors contributed to the rise of such conflict, writing Buddhism as a national religion would only exacerbate further the conflict in the already divided society. Hence, only secularism can be guarantee of long-term peace-full existence and rising religious division can only be a recipe for disaster.   The case of India and Pakistan also came under discussion. India chose to become a secular state at the time of their Independence in 1947 in order to accommodate the minority Muslims. In contrast, Pakistan adopted an Islamic state to accommodate the majority Muslims. As a result, Pakistan fails miserable to make the religion as a binding force among its populace and instead the phenomenon resulted as further polarization and intolerance.   The short excursion to Cologne remained a good learning opportunity as well and I have participated in the debate related to disputed demand of building a big mosque in the city. Later, we had a longer excursion trip to Weimar and Dresden. The visit to the concentration camp at Buchenwald was most moving as almost every participant could not hole his/her tears while witnessing the gas chambers and torture cells at those camps. While having the luxury of the company of Mr. Stefen and Ms. Birgit Lamm, we have been informed that how the people of the Germany as a nation redresses the blunders of the past incited by few hate-mongers and chose new path for the future. I was wondering why we can not establish foundations like Germany have establish to strengthen civil society and to avoid such disasters. At Dresden, we have visited a religious modern school; briefing related to the re-building of the Church of My Lady, briefing related to the global humanitarian services of the catholic Caritas Association besides some other learning opportunities and of course great opportunity of seeing the marvels of this beautiful historic city.  The significance of the IAF seminar that I noted was the role of moderator(s) as facilitator and the most of discussions remained interactive among the participants. The Moderators often refer to the participatory technique used by the facilitators. This would mean that participants can expect small input from the facilitators and the main knowledge must flow in and out from the exchange of opinion and views among the participants themselves. The participants were encouraged to learn new concepts by their active contribution and exchange of ideas mutually. I found it fascinating for all those who come from different continents to express and share their ideas and thoughts from different perspectives sometimes through heated argument, yet agreed at the end with each other over an important issue like the relations between the state and religion.   I am grateful to the foundation in particular Mr. Peter Andreas Bochmann, Resident Representative, FNSt Pakistan to give me an opportunity to expand my knowledge on the subject and to interact with the people from various backgrounds, especially on a subject upon I find hard to express my genuine feelings anywhere else due to fear of hostile opposition. But the IAF Academy Gummersbach proved to be such a wonderful place where I found out my lost freedom and enjoyed it for two weeks with forever freshening memories. My appreciation also goes to Dr. Stefan Melnik who has kindly guided us on the best possible way even at dining table and during traveling. Finally, I thank Ms. Birgit Lamm, the IAF director, who made us feel like home and imparted valuable information when and where we seek from her. I can not forget the role of co-moderator Eniko Gal, Dr. Busarin, assistant Claudia Stoll and of course the translators Anna Mantel and Peter Schultze.                                                   

“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.” Abraham Lincoln

International Women’s Day is celebrated globally on March 8. In some countries it is celebrated now merely as a special day when men give flowers and gifts to women in their lives while in others it is the political day to audit gender equality in different spheres of life. In Pakistan, the celebration of IWD is highly politicized. The day is commemorated with a lot of political flavour.

Every year the theme of Women’s Day is designated by the United Nations and activities of the celebration are often reflected in this theme. This year the UN’s theme for 2008 is “Investing in women and girls”. It is interesting to note that gender and democracy seem to have emerged naturally as a theme in Pakistan. Without making any conscious or collective decision on this, most of the events are organized under this theme due to the specific transitional context to democracy in the country.

Women’s specific issues including gender based violence were put on the backburner in the year 2007 due to the national crisis that engulfed the entire nation. The attack of the military establishment on the judiciary, suicide bombing that took hundreds of innocent lives, ill-planned military operations in Wana, Swat, North and South Wazirstan that killed many innocent people as well, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the leader of the most popular political party of the country, and the crises of flour, gas and electricity overwhelmed every citizen of the country. These are the issues that concerned women equally. However the specific issues that violated women’s rights including incidents of violence could not get the public attention as much as is deserved.

Women’s issues during national election could not make the headlines either due to political conditions in which election was held. Issues such as exclusion of women voters on electoral rolls, nomination of women belonging to political elite families yet again on the reserved seats by all political parties, restricting women to cast their vote in many constituencies were largely ignored.

It has also gone unnoticed that an unprecedented number of 199 women contested the election on direct seats at the provincial and national level. The rise in women’s political participation can be attributed as a positive impact of gender quota. The presence of 28,000 women in local government and 232 in all legislatures brought a subtle change at the cultural and societal level. Women parliamentarians despite the structural constraints they faced to perform their roles effectively became the role models for many. Consequently, there were far more women who applied for party tickets to contest the election than political parties were willing to grant. Many who were refused tickets by their political parties decided to contest the election as independents. However, all of them with the exception of Robina Watto from Okara lost. This shows opposing trends in politics where political parties continue to resist the granting of party tickets to women candidates whereas women’s aspiration to become representative of the public are moving beyond constraints.

Out of 199 contestants, 15 women won national assembly seats and 9 won provincial seats. Of those who won election on general seats, with the exception of one, all of them had party tickets and all of them belonged to political elite families. The limited success of women candidates in the general election shows that political parties and the society is still far behind in meeting the challenging aspirations of the women and the pace of cultural change valuing women in public life is frustratingly slow.

In the post election phase, it is vital that the women’s agenda must be brought back and pushed at the forefront of political debates. At the political front it must be ensured that women representatives are not treated as extras. They should be given voice and say in the formation of the national government. Also they should be brought in the position of power, leadership and responsibilities in the upcoming government.

Simultaneously, it is important for the civil society organizations and women’s rights groups to ensure through an effectively lobbying and advocacy that women agenda is not forgotten by the elected government as well as women representatives. Women parliamentarians who come on reserved seats for women have the additional responsibility to represent women’s interest and work for women specific issues. In order to persuade women representatives to push for women agenda, women must show collective power outside the parliament. They should organize themselves better and should develop a realistic, doable women’s agenda that reflects the needs of all women across regions, class and both rural and urban.

As a nation we must understand that gender equality is an essential condition for the process of democratization and the sustainable democracy. If nearly half of the population is not empowered to participate in political processes and have equal political rights, the society cannot claim itself truly democratic.

It is expected that in a democratic dispensation, women will have more space to raise their voices and concerns as citizens and as public representatives. The impact of economic and foreign policies perused by the Musharraf government has differential impact on men and women. Women have suffered more due to increased poverty and rise in extremism, therefore, it will be critically important for the elected government to integrate gender perspective in national policies. Next IWD must be marked with concert achievement made during the elected regime. Every year women have nothing to celebrate except their own collective resolve to fight for gender justice in the society.

* Report says major human rights problems included restrictions on citizens’ right to change their government, extra-judicial killings, torture, and disappearances
The human rights situation worsened during 2007, stemming primarily from President Pervez Musharraf’s decision to impose a 42-day state of emergency, suspend the Constitution and dismiss superior court judges, according to the annual Human Rights Report released by the United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday.

The section on Pakistan said that during 2007, the judiciary sought to check executive power and reverse President Musharraf’s March decision to suspend the chief justice of the Supreme Court. Civil society and the press widely supported the judiciary. The restored chief justice then began a series of “legal interventions” that received some public support but were considered “excessive” by the government.

The report said, “When he believed the Supreme Court was about to rule him ineligible for re-election as president, on November 3, General Musharraf declared a state of emergency and suspended the Constitution, which enabled him to replace the Supreme and High Court justices.” The review noted that additionally, the president demanded, as he had in 1999, that all judges, both replacements and sitting judges, swear an oath of loyalty to his new legal order, which they did in December.

Under his new powers, President Musharraf suspended basic civil liberties, including freedom of speech and assembly. In December, he lifted the emergency and restored and amended the Constitution, which enhanced his presidential powers.

Regulatory restrictions continued on press activities and freedom of assembly. During the 42 days of the emergency, the government imposed curbs on the media and arrested and/or detained over 6,000 lawyers, judges, political party workers/leaders, and civil society activists. By the end of the year, around one dozen activists, primarily lawyers and judges, remained under house arrest. The government restored public cable access to all but two channels of one private television station, but required the media to sign a code of conduct that discouraged criticism of the government and led to self-censorship.

Restrictions: The report noted, “Other major human rights problems included restrictions on citizens’ right to change their government, extra-judicial killings, torture, and disappearances. While the civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces, there were instances when local police acted independent of government authority. Violence from a low-level secessionist movement in Balochistan continued. Lengthy trial delays and failures to discipline and prosecute those responsible for abuses consistently contributed to a culture of impunity. Poor prison conditions, arbitrary arrests, and lengthy pre-trial detention remained problems, as did a lack of judicial independence. Corruption was widespread within the government and police forces, and the government made few attempts to combat the problem. Rape, domestic violence, and abuse against women, such as honour crimes and discriminatory legislation that affected women and religious minorities, remained serious problems, although implementation of the 2006 Women’s Protection Act improved conditions. Widespread trafficking in persons and exploitation of indentured, bonded, and child labour were ongoing problems.

Discrimination against religious minorities continued. Child abuse, commercial sexual exploitation of children, discrimination against persons with disabilities, and worker rights also remained concerns.

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