This tweet is actually very uplifting compared to most the content we’ve covered on South Asia. Essentailly, recently the Pakistani senate authorized scholarships for woman in underddeveloped areas of Pakistan. This is huge because traditionally in South Asia and particularly Muslim culture, women are looked over to say the least. Enacting the “Ehsas Program”, will empower women and also pressure other countries in the region to give women what they deserve. Though this is a good step in the right direction the fight for women’s equality is far from over.

One thing that worries me about this Ehsas program is who will regulated the distribution of funds? As we know, South Asia has a corruption problem, and in the back of my head I can not help thinking that some will take advantage of this program to steal money from the women it was intended for.

Senate standing committee initiates the scholarship program for female students of Underdeveloped areas of #Pakistan & it has turned into reality. Out of 50k scholarshipssena in #Ehsas Program 25k are for females around 2500 scholarships would be awarded to less developed area. pic.twitter.com/xQL4j8avAb

— Senator Shahzaib Durrani (@Shahzeb_Durrani) December 10, 2019

https://twitter.com/husaynz/status/1199177479220613120?s=21

This tweet is quite interesting, in which a former Pakistani serviceman juxtaposes Pakistan’s treatment of their veterans with the United States. The author keys in on the lack of educational benefits provide to servicmen and servicewomen after their service. He also mentions how our society in the US naturally prioritizes and glorified those who serves and points at the Pakistani government to show more appreciation to is servicemen.

Cadet Caleb Minus

Blog Post

Link: https://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/90078/does-the-pakistani-industry-have-the-guts-to-boycott-khalilur-rehman-qamar/

 

I chose this blog post about the Pakistani movie/TV industry because it involves ICTs and also revolves around women’s perceptions, roles, and rights in Pakistan. It takes about how Khalilur Qamar, a successful director in Pakistan, uses his art to essentially demonize women and glorify men. The article highlights  “that any woman in a pair of jeans is inherently evil or that any wife who stands up for herself against abuse is bad” and that men are “innocent creatures who only suffer because of the women they are around with barely any fault of their own.” For this reason, on social media and obviously blogs are making a big deal about how he is reinforcing a dangerous form of patriarchy.

As a result, his colleagues and viewers have begun to outcry against his direct and subliminal comments on women. It’s nice to see that ICTs are being used to create and drive social change in Pakistan. Likewise, it’s interesting because in our class we’ve taken time to focus on the impact society has had on women in South Asia, more so in a negative sense, in that ICTs are often ineffective or simply not used to help women. This blog post shows that there are people, including men, who are fighting and calling out media that degrades women, to stop the “vile circle of woman blaming and the botched notions that a woman cannot ask for her rights”.

Cadet Caleb Minus

Encryption

HR: Example sheet

A Shop In Pakistan

On a little corner of Islamabad there’s a beautiful shop. This shop was grown from the ground up by a grew of people together. Though not blood, the workers and shop owner, Mr. San, grew to become a family. One day the owner lost trust in the other workers, his own family! He grew increasingly worried that the others were trying to change the identity of the shop as they began to suggest changes in inventory to become more modern. They kept asking to place more suits and dresses in the shop, but the owner refused to listen. The owner, Mr. San, would walk away from his workers anytime they suggested to modernize the inventory. Eventually, fed up of their begging, Mr San began to fire employees that wouldn’t buy into the shop’s origins.

On that day Mr. San’s ex-employees, tired of not being listened to, decided to come together and make their own shop across the street. They began to build their shop and inventory full of modern technology, apparel, and games. The community loved it. As their new store grew in popularity, Mr. San’s shop began to run out of business. In an attempt to survive, Mr. San tried suing the new shop, but failed. He went as far as trying to start rumors about his old employees and their store. On his last limb, Mr. San reached out his hand to combine businesses. Combining Mr. San’s expertise in sales with his new business partners knowledge of the new school items, the shops blew up and actually did better together. Having a more inclusive stores, featuring the best of the new age and traditional inventory, they gained the support of customers across Islamabad and Pakistan, as a whole.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1184772/Pakistan-India-news-update-World-war-3-Modi-Khan-nuclear-armageddon-Masood-Khan

This article touches on the current hasty conflict between India and Pakistan. Both country’s leadership have signaled escalation both verbally and physically through military force. Some call on the US, yet again, to mediate. Trump says he will if needed.

1. Isn’t already time to intervene if the US will? Jets have been shot down, skirmishes have multiplied and words are pretty hostile.
2. Do Pakistan and India really mean it when they say they’ll engage in nuclear war, or is it classic brinkmanship?

 

Link: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/pakistan-to-close-all-routes-to-afghanistan-ahead-of-presidential-polls/articleshow/71316135.cms

This article notes that Afghanistan has placed a travel ban on the Pakistani-Afghani border. With their elections, just yesterday, they were worried that the Taliban might try to “disrupt the process”. This speaks volumes against the common stereotypes of the Middle East/South Asia. Not all nations in that region are anti democracy and with that not all nations harbor significant numbers of terrorists. On a more relevant note, obviously Pakistan has a terrorist problem. One can only wonder how such groups must impact the political process in Pakistan.

Q1: How frequently do the Taliban and like groups fight the political process in Pakistan?

Q2: Does the Taliban have a significant media influence? Do they use encryption by chance, when communicating with their followers?

Q3: How effectively does the Pakistani government use digital media to fight Taliban propaganda?

This article commented on the conveniently timed TV interview of Pakistan’s leading opposition politician Asif Ali Zardari. Only a few minutes into his TV interview the channel broadcasting was shut down temporarily, when it came back Zardari’s interview was not continued, instead it was replaced by an old video of one of the current ruling party’s leading political figures. BBC got some feedback from an undisclosed source. The source said that this is normal and that the military establishment censors the media both by intimidating channels not to broadcast negative content, but also by prompting channels to push out their own narrative that supports the military and ruling party.

I find it hard to really come up with a question besides, what can the international community do to stop the oppression in Pakistan? The prime minister denies that Pakistan censors the media, but the data suggests otherwise. Reporters have been beaten and channels have been cancelled for weeks on end; so what can the international community do?

 

Article Link: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-49088653