Tag: #dawn

  • Bahawal Victoria Hospital bans jeans, bangles, rings in hospital premises

     Newly hired medical superintendent of the Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH) Dr Muhammad Younus Warraich has banned jeans in the hospital and made dupatta or scarf mandatory for the women medical officers (WMOs) and paramedics, Majeed Gill reported for Dawn.

     The new dress code has been introduced reportedly by the new head of the hospital to ‘preach Islam and reform the society’.

    A notification signed by Mr Warraich, titled as, DRESS CODE RULES IN B.V. HOSPITAL BAHAWALPUR PREMISES consisted of two categories of ‘ALLOWED’ and ‘NOT ALLOWED’.

    The letter gives the list of the dresses, which are not permitted in the hospital. It includes “jeans/tights (but only with knee-length shirt), high-up trousers/capri above ankle, tight fitted clothes, see-through clothes, heavy/tacky bangles or rings, sleeveless/half sleeves clothes, heavy make-up (especially dark lipsticks), untied long hair, high heels (making loud sounds and turning heads of everyone), extreme hairstyles (especially high buns like the hump of camels), low neckline (front and back), nail paint on long nails, slippers and anklets (Pazaib)”.

    The “ALLOWED” category includes, “shalwar kameez or trousers with long shirts, dupatta/scarf, minimal jewelry like studs/tops, simple ring, or a chain with locket, sleeves below the elbow, lab coat (compulsory in hospital premises), maternity gowns/suitable dresses (during antenatal period) and scrubs with long sleeves that can be folded for females”.

    It is notable that the code looks to be mostly women-centric.

    Talking to Dawn, Mr Warraich confirmed that lab coats and maternity gowns during operations are now necessary on the hospital premises along with dupatta/scarf with minimum jewellery for women medical officers. Explaining the move, he said the step had been taken to preach Islam, promote religious values and reform society.

  • A hero for our times

    A hero for our times

    Just a few days before I. A. Rehman left us, we had been speaking about him at a journalism event – the second Razia Bhatti Memorial lecture at the IBA’s Centre for Excellence in Journalism (CEJ). Rehman sahab had been the very first speaker in this series – he spoke at the inaugural event, in 2019, and at this year’s lecture he was mentioned not just in that specific context but also as a beacon of hope in a country that is becoming increasingly intolerant and authoritarian. In his opening remarks, the IBA’s head Dr Akbar Zaidi called Rehman sahab “one of the greatest pillars of journalism, democracy, human rights that we have in Pakistan today.”

    And then, as Akbar Zaidi continued, he articulated the unspoken fear all of us had: the fear of Rehman sahab no longer being there – “One of the greatest pillars of journalism, democracy, human rights that we have in Pakistan today …and hopefully we’ll have for some years to go.”  Alas, that was not to be, because two days later Rehman sahab had exited with his usual quiet dignity.

    Two weeks later we are still having the memorial meetings and the tributes for him because, for so many people, the passing of I. A. Rehman is a devastating loss. This sense of immense bereavement is due to the fact that he was one of the sanest and bravest people working for the cause of democracy and social justice in Pakistan. 

    During his years as a journalist, he stood firm on principles and was part of the team of which set up and ran the Independent Azad in 1970-71. Then there was Viewpoint and then there was his support for Newsline — a journalist-owned publication, Newsline was headed by first Razia Bhatti and then Rehana Hakim and was founded by the team of journalists who left The Herald in 1988 when PHPL management asked Bhatti to leave. Rehman sahab was a staunch supporter and a regular contributor to the new magazine unlike some other contributors (unnamed here, but you know who you are) who didn’t want to risk the wrath of the Dawn group by writing for us. Mohammed Hanif who joined the magazine in 1989 summed it up succinctly in a recent tweet recalling: “When Razia Bhatti sent I.A. Rehman a cheque for his first contribution to Newsline, he mailed it back with a note: You can start paying me when you make your first million. Newline never made a million and Rehman sb never stopped writing.”

    At the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), he continued to fight against oppression and along with Asma Jahangir, Aziz Siddiqui and so many other lesser-known heroes, he was able to create a credible organisation that documented and raised awareness of human rights violations in the country.

    Much has been written about Rehman sahab over the past fortnight and the shared grieving has been somewhat cathartic yet the sense of loss persists. The void he leaves behind him is very great. Rehman sahab was a key part of the bulwark protecting rational and democratic thought in Pakistan – and indeed in South Asia. His passing has weakened the fortification that helped movements for social justice, human rights and constitutional reform to survive. He led the way in these efforts and he was so highly respected because he also walked the talk: he lived life simply and treated others, regardless of their social class or age, with consideration and generosity. He never wavered from the pursuit of peace and reason and his writings are truly remarkable for their clarity and intellectual depth. 

    He was one of the Titans who kept the flame of social justice movements alive, a flagbearer and a key leader in the fight against dictatorship and tyranny. Over the decades he stayed the course and continued the struggle despite all the tragedies and losses along the way, some of them very close to home. One that I remember was the murder of his nephew — the heroic lawyer and human rights activist Rashid Rehman in Multan in 2014; Rashid Rehman had been the defence lawyer for a young academic accused of blasphemy and he was shot and killed in his office after he had refused to give up the case despite receiving death threats from militant groups. 

    But despite all the losses, the injustices and the cruelty all around, Rehman sahab remained steadfast in his attempts to make the world a more just and compassionate place. 

    Truly he fought the good fight.

  • Dawn sacks Lahore resident editor as layoffs continue

    Dawn sacks Lahore resident editor as layoffs continue

    Amid staffers’ protests against its policy of retrenchment and pay cuts, Dawn on Thursday sacked Asha’ar Rehman, the newspaper’s Lahore resident editor.

    His sacking was the first from the editorial department in Lahore, after the managers laid off 24 employees in November, including cleaners and security guards, reported JournalismPakistan.com.

    It said the staff felt uneasy following the editor’s termination and sensed more layoffs in the days ahead.

    Rehman had joined Dawn in February 2007 from The News on Sunday, where he worked as an editor. He was on the launch team of The News. Earlier on in his career, he had stints with the Kuwait Times and the Frontier Post.

    Dawn also laid off several employees at other centers earlier, prompting protests by the workers’ union and the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ). The paper has also slapped pay cuts.

    The Dawn union held the protest in Karachi on Tuesday. The journalists warned the newspaper management against any further layoffs and cuts in salaries and benefits. They also asked the government to protect journalists’ economic rights.

    Earlier, the employees held a similar protest outside the Dawn Islamabad office.

  • Dawn in trouble ‘for suggesting Shireen Mazari got FIA official sacked on daughter’s call’

    Dawn in trouble ‘for suggesting Shireen Mazari got FIA official sacked on daughter’s call’

    English daily Dawn has landed in hot water “for suggesting that Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari got a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) official removed from office on the call of her daughter, Imaan Mazari”.

    As per the details, Asif Iqbal of FIA’s cybercrime wing had registered an FIR against singer Meesha Shafi, actor Iffat Omer and seven others for their alleged involvement in a vilification campaign against singer Ali Zafar.

    Iqbal, who often uses his social media to share details of different cybercrime laws and punishments, was removed from office after a tweet mentioning Section 20 of the Prevention of Electronic Media Crimes Act (PECA) 2016.

    A notification by FIA director (cybercrime wing) announced the suspension of assistant director Iqbal soon after the said tweet.

    “Service of Muhammad Asif Iqbal, assistant director/senior investigator (BPS-17) cybercrime reporting centre Lahore is hereby placed under suspension with immediate effect till further orders,” read the notification without any reason, prior warning or show-cause notice.

    Dawn had quoted an official source as saying that Iqbal was suspended on the basis of the tweet.

    It wasn’t later that Twitterati, including prominent ones, started alleging that some influential person in Islamabad was behind the sacking.

    Amid the claims and the subsequent report by Dawn, hashtags ‘#JusticeforAsifIqbal’ and ‘#SackShireenMazari’ started trending on Twitter.

    “Dawn sunk to new lows by publishing a maliciously motivated incorrect news story about how I had an FIA cybercrime official suspended after my daughter tweeted,” Shireen Mazari said soon after.

    “FIA put out an immediate rejoinder to the Dawn story but some are bent on maligning and character assassination,” she added.

    Meanwhile, her daughter tweeted that she will be serving a legal notice to Dawn for insinuating her involvement in the removal of the officer.

    “[I] have nothing to do with this and to publish a false story implicating me is unacceptable. This false story resulted in vicious online abuse and this reporter should now come to court with evidence,” Imaan wrote.

    FIA, on the other hand, has issued a statement saying it suspended Iqbal for acting as its “unofficial” spokesperson.

    “Assistant Director Asif Iqbal was suspended and issued an explanation for maintaining a private Twitter account bearing cybercrime wing Lahore. He was acting as a spokesman for the cybercrime wing on his own accord without permission which is against disciplinary rules,” a statement posted by the wing’s spokesperson read.

    This provided yet another little twist to a rare case where the agency had sought to discipline one of its own staffers.

  • ‘Bilawal wants to overthrow Imran’s govt, but doesn’t know how to’

    ‘Bilawal wants to overthrow Imran’s govt, but doesn’t know how to’

    Senior journalist Asha’ar Rehman has said that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief and heir of the late former prime ministers (PM) Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto’s political dynasty, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, wants to overthrow the PM Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, but doesn’t really know how to.

    In his column for Dawn, Rehman wrote:

    “Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has his task cut out for him. In Lahore, on one of his ‘I am around’ visits, he made no secret of his express desire to get rid of the Imran Khan setup. Only he did not know the objective could be achieved. The resultant frustr­ation had him asking the journalists he came across in the most imaginative old Punjab capital about ways and means to dislodge the target. Seriously? Is it the journalists’ job to decide who should stay in power and who should be removed and how?”

    He went on to say that the PPP chief “was on a planet of his own” and thought he was justified in exploring avenues that would fast-track the “unwanted PM and his equally suspect team out of power”.

    “He [Bilawal] does hasten to add that his methods will ultimately have to be within the democratic ambit, but besides this, the PPP chairman has little by way of a plan which will free his countrymen from the yoke of the current rulers,” Rehman stated.

    Adventurous, unprofessional souls among journalists who might be enticed to advise Bilawal on ways and means to remove this government might be inclined to suggest an opposition alliance, he wrote, adding that the pundits insist that so long as a comprehensive alliance is missing, PM Imran “has no one to fear — not himself”.

    “Obviously, this is one reality that BBZ [Bilawal] or his guru in practical politics, Asif Ali Zardari, would be aware of. Then why would the PPP chairman try and act so frank at the risk of sounding so empty?” Rehman stated further as he wrote about the PPP’s failure to make up its mind regarding the alliances it should or should not form in order to survive outside Sindh and send the PTI government packing.

    The write-up by the veteran journalist comes after Bilawal, while speaking to a group of senior media persons on Wednesday, made it clear that his party would not become part of any undemocratic move to oust the PTI government.

    Bilawal had said he would continue to fight economic injustices in the country, and expressed hope that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Shehbaz Sharif would soon return and play his part as the opposition leader.

    He had maintained that “elected, not selected, representatives” could resolve issues of the people, and the PPP would continue to highlight the “economic slaughter of the poor” under the PTI government.