Owais Mughal

I can relate to the ATP Picture of the Day (8 July, 2006) with school kids and also the earlier ATP discussion on dress rules (and facial hair, 20 June, 2006).

All during my primary school our uniform used to be shorts and shirt. Long pants were allowed in winter only. The school was quite adamant that our uniform should only be made from Tusser fabric. That fabric was only available from a single vendor named Rasheed Sons. Those who grew up in Karachi may know ‘Rasheed Sons’ as they were (and maybe they still are) the biggest uniform suppliers in the city. I remember neatly starched tusser uniforms and white PT shoes made us look very smart.

All was good until 1982 when a government directive suddenly changed our uniform to a yellow color shalwar. Apparently it was all done to force people to follow the religious interpretation of the government in power. One should ask what does shalwar. It was not even the national dress. All smart looking boys suddenly changed to sloppy and floppy looking balloons. I represented my class cricket team and we used to practice daily. I remember it was a struggle to do fast bowling with a non-aerodynamic fluttering shalwar, especially if the wind was blowing from the front.

In case you have not noticed on the sidebar on the right, ATP has a new feature. An ATP opinion poll for our readers and visitors. The question is about what can be done to improve Paksitan’s international image in terms of women rights.

I must confess, even though this is my question it bothers me a bit. Maybe, a better question might have been about what can be done to improve the condition of women’s rights in Pakistan. However, there are three reasons why I chose this question. First, the powers that be seem to be very concerned about Pakistan’s image these days, so why not give them the benefit of our advice. Second, some folks seem convinced that this blog is about Pakistan’s image; it really is not, but lets play along. Third, a lot of our readers are quite perturbed about the image question as various comments have shown, most recently in relation to the ATP post about the Dawn ad. So, OK, lets be positive and think about what ought to be done. Over to you!

The Question: Which of the following will do most to improve Pakistan’s international image in terms of women’s rights?

1. Publicize positive news about women pilots, professional women, etc.
2. Highlight how Islam gives a lot of rights to women
3. Vigorously defend against mis-reporting on women’s rights in Pakistan
4. Write and complain to media outlets that propagate negative stereotypes
5. Launch a ‘charm offensive’ on ‘softer side’ of Pakistan (cultural shows, fashion shows, etc.)
6. Change behavior of Pakistani men towards women though educational campaign in Pakistan
7. Repeal Hudood Ordinance and other laws that restrict women rights

You can get to the polling area by clicking on the responses in the sidebar, or directly by clicking here.

I know you are all more tech savvy than me and could skew the results by voting multiple times if you wanted to. I hope you won’t (it would be dishonest, unfair, and it will devastate my faith in our potential for real democracy). But if you do want to influence the results, please, by all means ask your friends to also vote!

Adil Najam

Leading on from earlier ATP post and discussion on this crash, this just in from Reuters (7.14PM ISD, 12 July, 2006):

Pakistan said on Wednesday it would not use Fokker planes for passenger flights after one of them crashed, killing all 45 people on board. The Fokker F-27 turboprop, operated by state-run Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), crashed on Monday on the outskirts of the central city of Multan two minutes after takeoff. “Fokkers will not be used for commercial flights. They will be used for cargo and other purposes,” Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani told reporters after a cabinet meeting. “The cabinet agreed that a sense of insecurity and fear had developed among the people about travelling in Fokkers after the crash.”

Pakistan has six Fokker planes in its fleet. Monday’s was the third crash of a Fokker Friendship operated by state-run Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) since 1970. PIA is replacing the Fokkers, built in 1964, with ATR 42-500 aircraft from Avions de Transport Regional — a joint venture between France-based European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company and Italy’s Alenia Aeronautica. One of the new planes has been delivered and six more are due by mid-2007, PIA officials said.

This is good news and a wise decision.