The emerging lexicon of 'emergencies and violence' in the name of religion such as 'khooni chowk' 'Fauji Taliban' etc., trigger the urgency for redefining our education system, our belief and value systems, what we mean by civil and political society in Pakistan, a nation born out of an imperial colonial dispensation. The call for action from our fellow citizen Zubair Torwall from Swat in his moving piece 'From Swat - with no Love", in the Opinion section of the News, January 8, 2009, must have made many of us jump out of our inertia, depression and our defensive silence. The imagery of 'khooni chowk' does not merely conjure surrealistic symbolism of bodies hanging without heads strewn across wires and trees, but is a reality that many children, youth and adults encounter in what was once a 'people friendly' city and valley. The notice to girls' schools /education institutions to shut down by the 'taliban' will run out on my mother's birth day January 15th. This is another chilling thought. It is ironic that I am bestowed with the responsibility of a vice chair for emergencies and girls education by the UN Girls Education Initiative (UNGEI) for the region? I have often asked my peers in Kathmandu, what does this title mean and what do you want me to do under this role? To date I have not found a very clear cut response, whilst I must admit that I too have resorted to the 'convenience of subservience' syndrome waiting for the 'UNGEI Donor community "to define". Why?

As I write, reflecting that my mother's birthday is now synonymous with the shutting down of girls' schools in Swat, where my dearest friend the accomplished, Professor Shaheen Sardar Aii hails from, and that one innocent pleasure of celebrating and rejoicing a grand lady's life has been taken away, it is because of my and our own inertia. Zubair, if you do not mind my direct conversation in this piece with you, may I also let you know that I belong to a group called 'Child Rights Movement' a coalition of over 20 civil society organizations and to this day we have not quite sorted out protocols for launching a collective offensive for child rights? Isn't it ironical that over 200 girls schools have been torched and closed down in Swat and FATA due to violence by the Taliban, but we, the civil society are still arguing about when and where to cast the first stone? Are we a movement or not, are we a collective or not? The cacophony of 'civil society' mounts, and the political society, in the form of, talibans, the citizens groups, such as the angry workers of Faisalabad or the irate citizens on the streets protesting load shedding or shortage of petrol, flour, water, etc., is mounting its pressure to confront the state through more active transactions both democratic and extra democratic for doing what they think is correct, particularly in the absence of an effective state, both government and governance. The time is running out for the civil society for its 'development, pro-poor, rights based' charade.

That brings us to two major areas of rethinking and action points. 1) Post colonial societies are plagued by the traditional 'elite exclusivity' of its 'civil society groups'. The latter being an output of the modern nation state co-opted with the state to stand by its creation in 1947, making compromises for its early weak beginnings, prolong its hegemony in collusion, even when the state was perverse and sick; so we need to unpack 'civil society' as we understand its indigenous origins, operations and actions, and not in its current 'western interpretations', of civil society, as groups 'standing apart from the state'. 2) What is the anatomy of the emerging political society of the non-elites who feel disenfranchised and victimized seeking increasingly to occupy political space for interactions, confrontations and transactions both democratic and, in our case, anarchist as well? We need to do this very fast, to decide whether we can be by your side at the vigil in khooni chowk and by the girls who will stop going to school on January 15th , or be a part of the celebrated two year movement for the restoration of a ' corrupt judiciary' as an institution, or the protestors against the Israeli blood bath in Gaza. We need closure so that we can find the courage to protest the blood baths and widespread social and personal erosion within our own 'nation state'? We have to do our thinking and make our choices now, so that we can stand by you my Friend, for as long as it takes, to wash away the stains at Khooni Chowk and restore its original life giving name 'grain chowk'. My mother would have opted for the latter position.

Baela Raza Jamil
A concerned citizen
January 9, 2009
Can be reached at itacec@gmail.com