NEIGHBOUR Myanmar Crimes www.southasia.com.pk December 2018 INSIDE PAKISTAN Jinnah’s Vision INDIA Open Denial SRI LANKA Rajapaksa Returns SAUDI ARABIA Murder in Consulate Ad 12 Jinnah’s Pakistan Jinnah's vision of Pakistan has been greatly distorted over the years. It can only be achieved if the nation reverts to the Quaid's original ideals of a progressive Pakistan. Contents 14 Where is Jinnah’s Pakistan? The Pakistani nation is still groping in the dark. Islamabad The Austerity Reality 30 Not much cost-cutting is visible. New Delhi Kabul The Stalemate The West is again talking to 34 the Taliban. 29Open Denial India is going the extreme road. Thimphu Lessons of Democracy 37 There is something wrong with Bhutan’s democratic system. 33 Dhaka Next Battle The people of Bangladesh are tired with the battle of the begums. 4 SOUTHASIA • DECEMBER 2018 REGULAR FEATURES Editor’s Mail 8 On Record 9 Briefs 10 FORUM 12 COVER STORY Where is Jinnah’s Pakistan? 14 Towards Jinnah’s Ideals 15 Interview: Liaquat H. Merchant 17 Empowerment of Women 20 Quest for Jinnah’s Pakistan 21 Vision to Reality 23 A Progressive State 24 Jinnah’s Nation Today 25 REGION New Delhi Shifting Focus 28 42 New Delhi International Open Denial 29 After the Murder There is turmoil in Saudi Arabia Islamabad after Jamal Khashoggi’s murder. The Austerity Reality 30 Islamabad The New Economic Era 31 Dhaka Next Battle 33 Kabul The Stalemate 34 Colombo Tale of Two Prime Ministers 36 Thimphu 47 Lessons of Democracy 37 Neighbour Malé More Than A Refugee At a Deceptive Crossroads 38 Crisis INTERNATIONAL Myanmar faces a crisis that After the Murder 42 refuses to go away. Another Betrayal 43 NEIGHBOUR Unity in Fragments 46 More Than A Refugee Crisis 47 OPINION There is no ‘Other’ Side 49 FEATURES 55 Islamabad Lahore & Pursuit of Healthcare 52 New Delhi Islamabad Another Smog! The Worker’s Plight 53 The Punjab in both India Lahore & New Delhi and Pakistan is bracing Another Smog! 55 for a smog spell. Ranchi Ayushman Bharat 56 Dhaka Autocratic Democracy 58 Kathmandu Kathmandu Migrant Manpower 59 Migrant Manpower BOOK REVIEW Labour export accounts A Calibrated Blend 61 59 for a good part of Nepal’s SAARC ROUNDUP 62 foreign earnings. SOUTHASIA • DECEMBER 2018 5 COMMENT South Asia Moves On olitical developments in South Asia seem to be at their peak. In the last few DECEMBER 2018 VOL.22 ISSUE 12 months the region has witnessed a smooth transition of democracy in such Pcountries as Nepal and Pakistan, where new governments have emerged through the peaceful holding of elections in February and July, respectively. Countries PRESIDENT & EDITOR IN CHIEF like Bhutan and the Maldives successfully held their general elections in October. Syed Jawaid Iqbal New government setups have come into place in these countries in the pursuit of EDITOR national development and progress. Javed Ansari Other South Asian nations like Bangladesh and India will elect their new governments in December and May. In Sri Lanka, the prorogation of the National ASSISTANT EDITORS Parliament, coupled with the sacking of Prime Minister Ranil Wikremesinghe and the Faizan Usmani appointment of the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa in his place, has led to a Syeda Areeba Rasheed political crisis. The future of the Sri Lankan government, led by President Maithripala CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Sirisena seems to be in the balance. Nepal was the first South Asian country to hold S. G. Jilanee elections in 2018 and the re-emergence of veteran politician K.P. Sharma Oli as the country's Prime Minister has so far been taken as a positive development to carry the CONTRIBUTORS nation forward. Oli is the first Prime Minister in the political history of Nepal who has A Rauf K Khattak – Aneela Shahzad – Azhar Ali been elected twice under the newly adopted Constitution. Dr. Arshad Syed Karim – Dr. Imran Khalid – Dr. Moonis Ahmar In July this year, Pakistan made a major stride in terms of democratic transition Dr. Muhammad Ali Ehsan – Dr. Sadaf Khan – Hira Fatima by holding its general elections for the third time on the trot. Despite its 100-days Imran Jan – Inamullah Marwat – M. Shaiq Usmani track record, it would be quite early to decide about the performance of the newly- Meriam Sabih – Mirza Aqeel Baig – Muhammad Hanif elected government headed by Prime Minister Imran Khan, the former cricket star. Munawar Mahar – Nadya Chishty-Mujahid In any event, the government seems to be trying its best to take the country out of its Prof. S. Shafiqur Rehman – S. G. Jilanee – S.R.H. Hashmi Shabana Mahfooz – Syed Adnan Athar Bukhari – Syed Jawaid Iqbal deep crises, particularly on the economic front and has also initiated many welfare Syed Kamran Hashmi – Syeda Maham Rasheed programmes to provide much-needed relief to the deprived masses. Despite suffering through an endless war between the Taliban and the U.S.-led GRAPHICS & LAYOUT Afghan forces, Afghanistan has just made a leap forward by successfully holding Kamran Ghulam Nabi elections in October for the lower house of parliament and district councils. Through Haroon Rasheed the parliamentary elections in Afghanistan were already three years overdue, an Riaz Masih impressive voter turnout in the recent polls reflects the country’s desire to emerge BUSINESS UNIT HEAD as a politically stable and democratic nation, free from terror, insecurity and all the Syed Ovais Akhtar other socio-economic evils that fail Afghanistan again and again. MARKETING & SALES The smallest country in South Asia, Bhutan took another step forward when it Shiraz Khanji went to the polls in September and October and elected a new party ‘Druk Nyamrup CIRCULATION & COORDINATOR Tshogpa’ or the ‘Social Democrat Party’ to head the national government until 2022. Aqam-ud-Din Khan In October, a major political development took place in the Maldives when its people voted out the former president Abdullah Yameen, owing to his dictatorial approach EDITORIAL & BUSINESS OFFICE throughout his Presidential term. The archipelago is now back on the democratic 20-C, Lane 12, off Khayaban-e-Ittehad, Phase II path and Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the new President of the Maldives, is all-set to Extension, DHA, Karachi - 75500, Pakistan Phones: 92-21- 35313821-24 pursue his political agenda to turn the country into a modern state. Fax: 92-21-35313832 Bangladesh is also ready to hold general elections on December 30. Politics Website: www.southasia.com.pk in Bangladesh have been polarised between the two major political parties: the Email: [email protected] Bangladesh National Party (BNP), headed by Begum Khalida Zia and the Awami League, led by Begum Hasina Wajid, who is also the current Prime Minister. Hasina’s MIDDLE EAST rule is fraught with severe irregularities and she has relentlessly been pursuing a REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE political vendetta against her major opponents, particularly the BNP and the Jamaat-e- Pirana Advertising JLT Islami, to the extent of rendering them non-existent in the forthcoming parliamentary PO Box 486207, 1704, Level 17, HDS Tower, elections. Despite the fact that the Awami League has an edge in a one-sided political Jumeirah Lake Towers Cluster F, Dubai, UAE match, it would not be a mean achievement for the Bangladeshi people to exercise Phone: +97-14- 4508309 Fax: +97-14-3688487 their electoral power to help democracy get a foothold and be even more effective Email: [email protected] for the general public. In India, general elections are to be held in April or May next year to constitute the 17th Lok Sabha. This will give the Indian people another opportunity to exercise their constitutional rights and to choose a leadership to steer the country towards growth and development. SouthAsia is published every month As a whole, the current period can be described as the most crucial era for South by Syed Jawaid Iqbal for and on behalf of Asia, wherein new governments are being formed and a new leadership is emerging JAWZ Communications (Pvt.) Ltd. through democratic means, thus offering the poverty-ridden region of more than and printed by Union Graphics, Karachi. 1.5 billion people another opportunity to learn from its mistakes and become a Views expressed by the contributors are prosperous and developed part of the world. not necessarily shared by the editors. Published since 1977 as Thirdworld, the magazine was re-launched in 1997 as SouthAsia. Syed Jawaid Iqbal Editor in Chief EDITOR’S MAIL The credit must go to the Homegrown Chief Justice of Pakistan, Hungry in Asia Water Crisis Mian Saqib Nisar who rose to the occasion and took According to the latest notice of the imminent report by the Food and water crisis. It is high time Agriculture Organisation for the Pakistan government (FAO), nearly half a billion to address the issue on a people in Asia don’t have war-footing. sufficient means to feed themselves. Housing the to Yameen’s authoritarian Syeda Bushra Saeed, largest population of the style of governance that Karachi, Pakistan. hungry and the starved, resulted in whipping up Asia can be referred to as a political chaos and law sheer example of dichotomy and order disruptions in a Clueless since the region seems country that is supposed poised to become a global Congress to be a traveller’s paradise. power, giving less regard I hope the Maldives will India is heading towards to the lives of its people be able to revive its ailing parliamentary polls in April bereft of food, clean water tourism sector under the next year but the Congress and the rest of the basic new government and the Party has yet to get its act amenities of life.