Muslim Pakistan Research Articles

КАШМИРСКАЯ ПРОБЛЕМА: МЕЖДУНАРОДНО-ПРАВОВОЙ АСПЕКТ

A complex of political, economic and military-strategic problems arose on the territory of the former Principality of Jammu and Kashmir, which were accompanied by serious violations of human rights. The basis of the Kashmir dispute is the incompatibility of approaches to solving the fate of the Principality on the part of secularist India and Muslim Pakistan. for which the religious principle applied during the partition of British India in 1947 was identified with the ‘theory of two nations’. In the context of the first Indo-Pakistani conflict,Maharaja Hari Singh informed the Viceroy of India of the decision to join it, provided that article 370 on granting special rights to Jammu and Kashmir would be included in the text of the Constitution. The situation in Jammu and Kashmir is characterized by instability, movements of pro-Pakistani separatists, which caused three Indo-Pakistani wars. The issue of the situation in Kashmir is being discussed in the UN Commission on Human Rights, in human rights organizations, including Islamic ones, which insist on holding a plebiscite in Kashmir in order to ensure its citizens the right to choose between India and Pakistan. The Government of India has decided to actually liquidate the state and divide it into two union territories: Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, which come under the direct control of the center. The country’s leadership believes that the measures taken will contribute to strengthening the constitutional order of India, equalizing the rights of states and union territories.

Exploring Nation and History: An Analysis of Chaman Nahal’s Selected Novels

The struggle for Indian independence spanned nearly a century and was an epic endeavor. The winds of change that swept across the Indian subcontinent after the 'Sepoy' Mutiny in 1857 left lasting imprints on the political and social landscape. The Indian nation had to overcome centuries of lethargy, transcend religious, caste, and provincial divisions, and move forward on the path of progress. This transformation occurred with the onset of the Gandhian movement, which disrupted established political and social norms, introducing innovative ideas and methods. Mahatma Gandhi's relentless pursuit of freedom marked significant milestones such as the non-violent non-cooperation movement of 1920-22, the civil disobedience movement of 1930-31, and the Quit India movement of 1942. The non-violent non-cooperation movement triggered an unparalleled awakening, shifting Indian nationalism from a "middle-class movement" to a widespread emotional movement. An exploration of Nahal's fiction reveals his alignment with the humanistic tradition pioneered by Anand in the thirties and carried forward by Bhabani Bhattacharya and Kamala Markandaya in the fifties and sixties. Nahal's themes encompass tradition versus Westernization, spousal relationships, internationalism, East-West interactions, satire on anglicized Indians, the three phases of India's epic struggle for freedom, the partition of India into India and Muslim Pakistan, and the resulting agony for millions on both sides of the border.

Caste in Muslim Pakistan: a structural determinant of inequities in the uptake of maternal health services

The failure to reduce maternal mortality rates in high-burden countries has led to calls for a greater understanding of structural determinants of inequities in access to maternal health services. Caste is a socially constructed identity that imposes structural disadvantages on subordinate groups. Although a South Asian construct, the existence of caste as a structural social stratifier is actively rejected in Muslim Pakistan as a regressive symbol of Hinduism. In this inimical context, the possibility of caste as a driver of maternal health care inequities is not acknowledged and has, therefore, remained unexplored in Pakistan. The objective of the present study is to quantitatively assess the variation in the use of maternity services across different caste groups in Pakistan. The research also contributes to methodological innovation in modelling relationships between caste, mediating and/or confounding socio-economic factors and maternal health service indicators. A clustered, stratified survey sampled 1457 mothers in districts Jhelum and Layyah. Multivariable, multi-level (confounder-adjusted) logistic regression analysis showed “Low” caste mothers had higher odds of landlessness, no education, working in unskilled occupations, asset poverty, no antenatal care and a home-based birth with an unskilled attendant compared to “High” or “Middling” caste individuals. Despite the important role of caste in patterning socio-economic disadvantage, its indirect causal effect on maternal health care was predominantly mediated through mothers’ education and household assets. Our findings suggest a need for group-specific policies, including constructing schools in low-caste dominant settlements, affirmative action with job quotas, redistributing agricultural lands and promoting industrial development in the poorer districts.

Invisibility not invincibility: Pakistani women and the lack of career ascendance

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of gender in the relationships between employee’s work experience and their chances of obtaining a job promotion.Design/methodology/approachFive hundred middle to lower management Pakistan employees from service industries were surveyed. Measures used to obtain data included work experience, job promotions and gender. Gender was dummy coded. Moderation analyses via SPSS was used to investigate the moderating effect of gender in the relationship between employee’s work experience and job promotions.FindingsThe results indicated that work experience was positively associated with job promotion. However, the results indicated that gender fully moderated the relationship between work experience and job promotion. Specifically, female employees were less likely to get promoted compared to male employees despite having similar work experiences.Research limitations/implicationsDrawing together the human capital theory, social role theory and cultural factors, this study highlighted the socioeconomic/cultural barriers’ impact on Pakistani women’s career ascendance.Practical implicationsThere is a lack of empirical evidence about career ascendance among Pakistani women. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to conduct and provide empirical evidence so that relevant agencies within Pakistan can develop more gender-equitable promotional policies and processes.Originality/valueThis study responded to the call for more empirical investigation of career ascendancy among women in developing countries. While this issue has been discussed in many developed western countries, there is a lack of empirical evidence in Muslim Pakistan.

Islam’s role in Bangladesh–Pakistan Alignment against India under the BNP’s Rule

This article engages with Bangladesh’s policy of seeking alignment with Pakistan, pursued by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government in different tenures from the 1990s on. In this endeavour, the article takes into account the BNP’s politics of Islamic identity as a key variable of analysis. This identity factor tacitly presents Bangladesh, Pakistan and India as ‘Muslim Bangladesh’, ‘Muslim Pakistan’, and ‘Hindu India’, respectively. It frames ‘Muslim Pakistan’ as a mutual ally of ‘Muslim Bangladesh’ and shares with Pakistan a view of ‘Hindu India’ as the enemy-other. It operates in foreign policy through domestic politics in Bangladesh, wherein for the BNP, being anti-Indian is synonymous with being pro-Islam. It is claimed in this article that this politics of Islamic identity draws Bangladesh into an alignment with Pakistan, dragging Bangladesh into Pakistan’s own conflict with India.

The respectable courtesan: Malka Pukhraj, music and the postcolonial nation

Abstract Within the spirit of tracing continuities between an occluded past (Hindu-majority India) with the present-day nation of Muslim Pakistan, this article examines Malka Pukhraj’s memoir, Song Sung True (2003), which weaves a narrative of courtly and classical music and folklore traditions of early twentieth-century Indo-Pakistan in her performative work. As a classically trained female singer of India and Pakistan, Pukhraj enacts a tale of gender, class and ‘respectability politics’ that poses a challenge to traditional norms at one level, while paradoxically working within/even accepting some of these same norms. Her work can be read as a Pakistani-style ‘queer’ performative monologue that allows her to signify a persona as a singer and a woman at a particular historical juncture in India and later in Pakistan. And that resists fitting in to a monolithic definition of any of these constructs.

Micro syndrome in Muslim Pakistan children11The authors have no proprietary interests in relation to this article and its content.

To date, Micro syndrome has been reported in only three children from one family. We describe an additional 14 children from 11 families. Retrospective case series. Fourteen children from 11 families attending one of five British hospitals. The following features were documented: pre- and postoperative eye findings, electrophysiologic analysis, systemic abnormalities, development, neuroimaging, genealogy, geographic origin of family. We expand and modify the description of ocular and electrophysiologic findings in Micro syndrome. The eye findings of microphakia, microphthalmos, characteristic lens opacity, and atonic pupils were the presenting feature in all infants and were the most reliable diagnostic signs in the immediate postnatal period. Cortical visual impairment, microcephaly, and developmental delay were not always detectable initially; they developed in all children by 6 months of age. Microgenitalia were a useful diagnostic clue in affected males only. Therefore, eye features were more consistently useful in determining diagnosis than dysmorphology or brain imaging. The families of all the children originate from the Muslim population of Northern Pakistan. Inheritance is likely to be autosomal recessive. Micro syndrome usually presents to the ophthalmologist, who may be able to make the diagnosis on the basis of characteristic eye findings combined with ethnic origin. Initially, the nature and severity of nonophthalmic features are not apparent. Early diagnosis of the underlying condition is important to guide management of the cataracts, glaucoma, and developmental delay. It is helpful for the family and medical staff to be aware of the low level of vision that develops despite optimal ophthalmic intervention. Genetic counseling extending into the wider family is particularly important in view of the high rate of consanguinity.

Pakistan's Foreign Policy: An Analysis of Pakistani Fears and Interests

Every country pursues her foreign policy in accordance with her national interests. These interests depend upon a number of factors like cultural and historical traditions, geography, economic and political objectives. But in this medley of interests there often is an overriding objective which is not based purely on rational considerations. Every country has a ruling passion in her foreign policy. When one calls it a passion, one is not suggesting that this is something entirely emotional or irrational. It may be based on genuine fears and hatreds which have accumulated over the years and which may be intertwined with material and religious considerations. Pakistan is no exception to this. Indeed very few countries were born in an atmosphere surcharged with intense illwill and mutual hatred as Pakistan was in 1947 as a result of the partition of the sub-continent. Almost every action of Pakistan can be interpreted as being motivated by fear of India. She complains that India opposed her very formation and that her policy of intense hostility continues unabated. India, both in manpower and material and military strength, is vastly superior to Pakistan. Before India's border clash with China, even with the aid Pakistan was receiving from the United States, her armed forces never exceeded more than one-third of India's strength. After sixteen years of Pakistan's independent existence, and even after India's humiliating defeat in the border clash with China, Mr. Nehru in an inter. view declared that Indo-Pakistani confederation remains our ultimate end.' Similarly, Pakistan alleges that India has been promoting subversive activity in East Pakistan and that in the event of a military conflict her first and relatively easy target would be East Pakistan. American aid to India has only accentuated Pakistan's fear in the sense that a well. equipped Indian army meant for China in the North-East Frontier Agency would be so positioned as to be able to wheel round swiftly to attack East Pakistan.2 Thus, Dawn in an editorial observed: If the main concern of the Christian West is the containment of Chinese Communism, the main concern of Muslim Pakistan is the containment of militarist and militant Hinduism.v3 One may find all this a bit exaggerated, but the fact remains that Pakistan joined the various defense pacts with the United States largely to protect her interests against the future aggression of