A u r a t M a r c h

they all belong to a robust patriarchal background, they have no apprehension with the rights of women, they don’t care how brutally women are being treated in this country, and they are the honourable devotees of Islam and the defenders of Islam let me scrutinize their thoughts The most conspicuous issue they have with the Aurat march is slogans

Most of the time they come up with the most famous slogan of Aurat March mera jism meri marzi (My body my choice) It is a slogan used in Aurat March to grapple with the issue of sexual harassment forced marriages marital rapes and reproductive choices which is a health issue Any sane individual will not find this slogan unmannered but people with obscenity in their minds will impede this slogan to the bed only

AC C O R D I N G to the Global Gender Gap index report, Pakistan ranked as the fourth most dangerous country for women, 153/156 for women empowerment 145/156 for economic participation and opportunity 135/156 for educational attainment and 143/156 for health and survival If you search anything about gender discrimination in Pakistan you will uncover this country vying in the last row

Still people dare to question the Aurat march which is the only substantial non-governmental and non-profit organization working on women s rights in a country where women aren t considered equal citizens and be murdered, raped, and thrown acid on their faces for the lanky inconvenience or no convenience at all

On the 8th of March, people marched to demand fundamental women’s rights which are their essential human rights I have followed the Aurat march on different social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to see how it has proceeded Usually I ignore the videos of different Youtubers who deliberately try to cover the March to ask nonsense questions of the participants to mortify them

They come with the agenda of an anti-Aurat march

They consider themselves a journalist even though they are not but they believe that any person with a camera and mic is a journalist But journalism has morals but these so-called YouTubers do not have basic etiquette But this time I give it a shot and decided to watch their videos to know about their opinions regarding Aurat March

There are a few things that I noticed in all of them;

This insane populace believes that when they go home and wished for to have sex with their wives they should not be halted no matter what They are not fond of hearing No and when they hear No they end up doing marital rapes, domestic violence, or most often beheading their wives and burning them But if we look at the chronology of this slogan it emanated from men during feudalism who were enslaved by their masters

Today it is the slogan of feminism so men shouldn t consider it controversial because it was started by them Another thing which they come up with is that Islam has given women all the rights then why are they marching?

To answer this Yes Islam has given women rights but have you let them practice those rights? What I notice in them is that they have only read one thing from the entirety of Islam and that is women should cover their bodies I ask them, when have you seen women roaming naked on the streets?

Not being biased, I have never caught a glimpse of any woman wandering unclothed on the streets and I know you too haven’t So it is a baseless allegation that women do not cover their bodies Anyway wearing jeans and a shirt isn’t considered a stripped dress code but the religion of some insane people comes under threat when they see women wearing these attires their Islam doesn t come under threat when Zainab was raped when Noor Mukdam was brutally murdered mullahs doing sexual activities with the children with Quran in their hands and recently man killed his wife because the tea wasn t good

Yes, where were you then who preach Islam every year in the Aurat march? Aurat march isn t a threat to Islam or any other religion It is a baseless assertion that people who participate in this march aren’t religious Peo- ple from different religious beliefs can participate in this March and they will be treated equally in March

It is a citizens voice quelled citizens of the country due to the stronghold of patriarchy in the country These citizens demand equal rights not less not more Another argument that they come up with is that Aurat March nurtures homosexuality

First of all, homosexuality exists in all parts of the world and it is a reality It has a long history

Secondly scientific evidence supports the idea that homosexuality is a natural and intrinsic aspect of human sexuality rather than a choice or learned behavior

In 1979, Zia introduced the Hudood ordinance which introduced strict laws and punishments for crimes

However, these laws primarily discriminated against women and it had made it difficult for women to repor t sexual assault

Research has shown that sexual orientation is tenacious by a complex interplay of genetic, hormonal, and environmental factors But if you carefully witness the Aurat march it supports the rights of the people It has nothing to do with anyone s personal relationship The patriarchal social structure is so potent in this country that it is indeed strenuous to smash free of all the agents of this structure who are frequently being the reason for remorse for themselves and the country

Patriarchy has never let them thrive in their evolution period It has a definite link with the policies of General Zia who is not alive today but the country is still suffering in every realm because of his rigorous policies

Zia boosted a hidebound and patriarchal version of Islam in this country and it has curbed the participation of women in public spheres

In 1979 Zia introduced the hudood ordinance which introduced strict laws and punishments for crimes however these laws primarily discriminated against women and it had made it difficult for women to report sexual assault If they report them they become the victim of character assassination and ended up being avenged even for their rapes Aurat March is a ray of hope for the women of this country who are continuously being mauled since the inception of Pakistan This movement is very peaceful and not misunderstood It is only misunderstood by the populace who fear the pre-eminence of women As long as we continue to march, our voices will only grow louder, our movement will only get vigorous, and the destiny we dream of, where women are truly free, will only get nigher And remember, the Aurat March is not just a oncea-year event; it’s a powerful reminder that women’s rights are human rights and they deserve to be acknowledged esteemed and protected every day

The writer holds a degree in International Relations and he tweets at @usama 1599

W h y d o s o m e p e o p l e g e t a d d i c t e d a n d o t h e r s d o n o t ?

Scr oll a n I r u d h k a l a

MoScow TiMeS d m t r y g l u k h ov S k y

Th e trial in absentia of exiled Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky began in a Moscow court on March 21

Glukhovsky has been charged with spreading deliberately false information about the Russian army over his outspoken criticism of Russia’s war in Ukraine This is his open letter to the court addressing the charges against him

We need the law to protect the weak from the strong and to protect the strong from the temptation to target the weak We need the law to hold criminals accountable and to prevent new crimes To eradicate the worst in humans and to nurture the best

There is nothing more important and precious than your life Your life belongs only to you and to you alone No one has the right to take it away from you No one has the right to hurt those you love And no one has the right to order you to kill an innocent person

If a law is passed that forces me to kill the innocent, my duty is to break this law If a law is passed that forces me to cover up the murder of the innocent I must violate this law too If a law is passed that forbids me from telling the truth about others killing the innocent I am not obligated to abide by it

It s irrelevant if the murderers are our own s o l d i e r s I t s i r r e l e v a n t i f t h e y w e r e f o l l o w i n g orders issued by their commanding officer or by the commander-in-chief A soldier killing an innocent person is a criminal In fact, he is worse t h a n a r e g u l a r c r i m i n a l a s h e i s b a c k e d b y a n e n o r m o u s o rg a n i z e d f o r c e t h a t t h e v i c t i m i s helpless against Cases of torture, rape and extrajudicial killings have all been documented in Ukraine

The bodies hands tied behind their backs with the white ribbons that Russian soldiers order Ukrainian civilians to wear have been exhumed These are facts

This has already happened You cannot ban the truth You can only try to conceal it in order to carry on with your killings torture and rape with total impunity

T h e w a r a g a i n s t U k r a i n e i s t h e m o s t d estructive and dehumanizing thing that has happ e n e d t o R u s s i a i n r e c e n t m e m o r y Wi t h o u t reason or cause, my country invaded the territory of our neighbor that we used to consider a b r o t h e r l y s t a t e I t s e n t o u t t a n k s t o s e i z e t h e U k r a i n i a n c a p i t a l I t s e n t p l a n e s t o b o m b U k r a i n i a n c i t i e s I t r u i n e d c o u n t l e s s h u m a n lives It razed dozens of cities and settlements to the ground It occupied Ukrainian lands and called them its own with utter disregard for international law

This war has no justification Its horror and senselessness are too obvious But the people who ordered the invasion Vladimir Putin and his close circle cannot back down as they are the real criminals and they are afraid of being punished for their crime Russia is now ruled by force alone This breaks people s backs bends the law and steamrolls the legal system to allow the authorities to continue breaking the backs of the weak and bending the law to their will This is why Russia is introducing anti-human laws T h e y f o r b i d u s f r o m c a l l i n g t h e w a r a w a r : w e a r e t o l d t o s a y s p e c i a l m i l i t a r y o p e r a t i o n instead This is done so that they won t have to b e h e l d a c c o u n t a b l e i n f r o n t o f t h e i r o w n c i t iz e n s a b o u t h o w m a n y U k r a i n i a n s h a v e b e e n k i l l e d f o r n o t h i n g ; a n d h o w m a n y R u ss i a n s l o s t t h e i r l i v e s i n v a i n To s i l e n c e a n y o n e w h o d a r e s s p e a k o u t To s e n d t h e m t o p r i s o n f o r 1 0 o r 1 5 y e a r s

They forbid us from calling out the state s lies and from seeing the truth There are even laws forcing us to say that proven facts are deliberately false information They have allowed the killings of the innocent They ordered us to cover up their crimes to free criminals To encourage criminals to kill again

Those in power are giving us a crash course in how to believe that unimaginable evil is normal, even welcome They are trying to force us t o a b a n d o n o u r b a s i c m o r a l p r i n c i p l e s , w h i c h w e h a v e b e e n t a u g h t f r o m c h i l d h o o d b y o u r parents They are forcing us to get used to lies and murders

There is a reason for this ban on speaking the truth and this demand to proclaim lies in public

The reason is to rid a new generation of Russians of any self-respect To break their dignity to make them give up on themselves in fear of unfair punishment and to make them renounce their moral code

The war against Ukraine is the most destructive and dehumanizing thing that has happened to Russia in recent memory

But, unable to dehumanize Ukrainians, the Russian government is dehumanizing its own citizens The scale of destruction in Ukraine can be seen with the naked eye, even from space While the destructive processes launched by a government obsessed with self-preservation in the soul of the Russian nation in the very fabric of our society are unseen for now they threaten the very existence of Russia itself

In order to save themselves the Russian government is destroying its once beautiful and prosperous neighbor But it is also destroying Russia my homeland There is nothing I can do to stop it, but I cannot stay silent I am confident that I am telling the truth by exposing the crimes of the Russian army in Ukraine I am confident that the Defense Ministry and the Russian leadership are lying and have been lying for some time in an attempt to justify this terrible senseless war I am confident that I am not the one committing the crime against Russia and its future here they are There are certain laws that no one must ever abide by And I won t adhere to them either

Dmitry Glukhovsky is a journalist and author of the bestselling dystopian novel Metro 2033 and its sequels

Th I S chapter takes up a frequently asked question: to what extent are the processes involved in the initiation and maintenance of addiction influenced by genetics and to what extent by the environment? In general there are three types of genetic evidence which can tell us whether an illness is hereditary or not

These are:

1 Family Studies: If the occurrence of an illness is higher in the first-degree relatives (parents siblings children) of a person suffering from an illness as compared to the seconddegree relatives (cousins, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces), who in turn have higher rates as compared to the general population, it is strongly indicative that heredity has a role to play however, close family members also share the same environment and so family studies alone may not be enough to prove that heredity is responsible for addictions any more than shared environment For example if the parents drink chances are high that bottles of whiskey or vodka may be lying around the house and be easily available to an adolescent Chances are also high for the parents to be more tolerant of their child taking a sip once in a while than in a family where everybody is a teetotaller So how do we know if the reason is the parents genes or their permissive attitude?

2 Adoption Studies: If children who are adopted soon after birth show a higher incidence of addictions when they grow up than the members of their adopted family and that incidence is more like the incidence in their biological family, it would mean that genetics plays a more important role in causing addictions than the environment If the opposite is true, one would be correct in concluding that environmental factors are more important in causing addictions than genetic factors

3 Twin Studies: Identical twins share genetic material which is the exact replica of each other while non-identical twins genetically speaking are like regular siblings When both members of a pair of twins suffer from the same illness they are said to be concordant for that illness If concordance rates for an illness in a series of identical twins are much higher than concordance rates in a series of non-identical twins it is safe to assume that in the causation of that particular disease, genetic factors have a major role to play since the environment during early childhood is the same for both sets of twins

In the case of addictions, family, adoption, and twin studies all show that an individual’s risk for addiction tends to be proportional to the degree of genetic relationship to a relative with addiction Various genetic studies have shown that addictions have a moderate to high hereditability A safe estimate would be that at least 50% of the burden of causation is shared by genetic factors and the rest by social and environmental factors such as the availability of drugs and stress

A significant view on the shifting balance of genetic and environmental influences has been obtained from the developmental perspective The Virginia Twin Study in a series of publications revealed that in early adolescence the initiation and use of nicotine, alcohol, and cannabis are more strongly determined by familial and social factors like permissiveness and availability, but these gradually decline in importance during progression to young and middle adulthood, when the effects of genetic factors become the maximum

As a broad rule, environmental and social factors like easy availability and social sanction are more important in initiating drug use at a young age and genetic factors play a more important part in determining who eventually becomes addicted and who does not Simply put if a drug is available during adolescence and parental controls lax there are more chances of a young person using that drug but not all of them grow up to be addicted to those drugs To a large extent genetic factors determine who does and who does not

The moderate to high heritability of addiction disorder is paradoxical because addictions initially depend on the availability of the addictive agent, and it is the individual s choice to use it or not The availability of addictive agents is determined by the culture, social policy, religion, economic status and narco-trafficking, and it changes across time and place

Thus, the Twin Studies on addiction indicate that under particular societal scenarios, genes play a substantial role in causation of addictions like other complex diseases such as obesity diabetes cancer and coronary heart disease addictions are strongly influenced by genetic background but also by lifestyle and individual choices however what is inherited is a generic addiction trait not the propensity to develop addiction to a specific drug or behaviour In a genetically predisposed person which drug or behaviour the person will get addicted to would depend totally upon access permissiveness and the environment

One summer, a couple of years back, a young man was brought by his parents and twin brother to my outpatients clinic for treatment It was a nuclear family unit, which was a part of an extended business family living in connected houses and involved in wool trade in the downtown part of the city

The patient was in his late twenties and had been using heroin for several years he had been admitted multiple times to psychiatry and addiction treatment units at various city hospitals each of these admissions had resulted in remissions lasting a few weeks to a couple of months Repeated questions by the resident psychiatrist about history of addictions in any other members of the family was met with indignant denials

This of course is possible but here we had the patient s identical twin sitting right next to him whom the family swore was totally unlike his brother – highly responsible an ideal son and utterly devoid of any addiction

I sensed that the young man (the ideal twin) had something in his mouth As things unravelled, it came to light that he had been using tobacco for even longer than his twin brother had been snorting heroin And a dentist’s warning one year back after he discovered a suspicious patch of discoloured mucosa in his mouth had made no difference Also the father had been drinking half a bottle of whiskey every day for over 15 years even after a diagnosis of inflammation of the oesophagus

None of them were considered by the family to be addicts since alcohol and tobacco were not thought to be addictions

Also the patient s uncle the father s brother had left home at the age of 25 without telling anybody and was gone without a trace

After 15 years a neighbour had spotted him in an ashram adjoining a temple in haridwar with a group of ganja-smoking sadhus, whom he was living with This indicated a mixed behaviour and drug addiction When the family went to see him, he had met them cordially but refused to go back home saying that he was happy where he was however, none of these three members of the family were considered to be suffering from an “addiction” like the young man with heroin use They were not even considered fit to be mentioned in the context of addictions even after being specifically asked about addiction in any other family member

As for me looking at the family afresh provided me with the possible genetic connection between the patient s heroin addiction his twin brother s advanced nicotine addiction his father s alcoholism and his uncle s behavioural and cannabis addiction

MiAn ABRAR C h i n A

CHINESE President Xi Jinping on Sunday reiterated China s commitment to opening-up in a congratulatory letter to a high-level dialogue forum that saw the gathering of officials from international organizations, global executives, and economists, sending a strong signal to participants that the nation will continue to create new opportunities for a world that has been derailed by regional conflicts and disturbances

Coming as fears about a spillover effect of the Silicon Valley Bank failure send fresh shudders through the markets, and growing protectionism and geopolitical conflicts are casting a shadow on the already weakening global economic recovery, the three-day event, China Development Forum (CDF), marks a rare and precious global dialogue platform for global elites to settle concerns and seek for growth in the unprecedented changes ” observers said Xi said in the letter that at present momentous changes of a like not seen in a century are accelerating across the world, regional conflicts and disturbances are frequent and the global economic recovery is sluggish The facilitation of a global economic recovery requires consensus and cooperation he said according to a report from the Xinhua News Agency

He noted that China will remain committed to its fundamental national policy of opening to the outside world pursue a mutually beneficial strategy of opening up, and continue to create new opportunities for the world with new advances in China s development China will steadily expand institutional opening up with regard to rules, regulations, management and standards, and will work with all countries and all parties to share the opportunities from its institutional opening up, Xi said

Chinese Premier Li Qiang will meet with foreign representatives attending the forum on Monday Lu Hao Chair of the CDF 2023 and President of Development Research Center of the State council said on Sunday morning indicating the nation’s emphasis on foreign investment

Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, who read Xi’s letter at the opening ceremony of the CDF stressed that China will advance opening-up and share market op- portunities with the world in a keynote speech on Sunday In an apparent move to brush aside foreign misunderstanding of China’s policies Ding emphasized the importance of establishing a new development pattern, explaining that China aims to foster a more open dual circulation economic model involving both domestic and foreign markets rather than a closed domestic loop

The CDF 2023 themed “Economic Recovery: Opportunities and Cooperation is an annual event hosted by the Development Research Center of the State Council, China’s Cabinet It is the first major conference to be held in the country after the conclusion of the annual two sessions The 2023 meeting also marks the first time this event has been held offline since the epidemic outbreak in 2020

US says no indication Russia has moved nuclear weapons

The United States has seen no indication that Russia has yet moved any nuclear weapons, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Sunday, after Moscow announced it would station tactical nuclear arms in Belarus

President Vladimir Putin s announcement on Saturday that Russia would station tactical nuclear weapons in neighbour and ally Belarus sparked condemnation from international bodies and Ukraine which Moscow invaded last February We have not seen any indication that he (Putin) has made good on this pledge or moved any nuclear weapons around ” Kirby told CBS’s Face the Nation With fears of a nuclear war rising since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, experts believe that any strike carried out by Moscow would likely involve smallsize battlefield weapons called “tactical” as opposed to strategic high-powered long-range nuclear weapons Kirby said, however, that Washington has “seen no indication he has any intention to use nuclear weapons, period, inside Ukraine The United States monitors the situation daily he added but that so far there was nothing that would cause us to change our own strategic deterrent posture ” Putin said the deployment was similar to moves from the United States which stores such weapons in bases across Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey an analogy western allies called misleading Russia is due to start training crews on pril 3 and plans to finish the construction of a special storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus by July 1 Kyiv on Sunday said it was seeking an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council over the announcement The NATO alliance branded the move as dangerous and irresponsible ” EU threatens new sanctions on Minsk if Belarus hosts Russian nukes On the other hand, the EU s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Sunday that Brussels was ready to impose new sanctions on Belarus if Minsk were to host Russian nuclear weapons

“Belarus hosting Russian nuclear weapons would mean an irresponsible escalation and threat to European security Belarus can still stop it, it is their choice The EU stands ready to respond with further sanctions ” he tweeted Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Saturday his country would station tactical nuclear arms in Belarus Putin said the deployment was similar to moves from the United States, which stores such weapons in bases

A booster for world China s economy is seeing a strong rebound which matters for the country itself and matters for the world ” said Kristalina Georgieva managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Sunday during a panel discussion at the CDF 2023

Georgieva said in a statement the IMF sent to the Global Times that the robust rebound means China is set to account for around one third of global growth in 2023 –giving a welcome lift to the world economy

And beyond the direct contribution to global growth, our analysis shows that a 1 percentage point increase in GDP growth in China leads to 0 3 percentage point increase in growth in other Asian economies, on average – a welcome boost,” Georgieva said

“The world is in trouble And in times of trouble there is one thing that is always very positive – dialogue and communication We need more of this,” Denis Depoux, Global Managing Director Roland Berger told the Global Times in an interview on the sidelines of the forum on Saturday

It is very important that right after the two sessions this dialogue can take place in place in person with many people coming from overseas Meeting with Chinese leaders both government leaders and corporate leaders to exchange and to bring back a common understanding of the situation and the way forward, Depoux said

The CDF is seen as an opportunity to introduce China s economic policies to the world and shore up confidence across the global economy Kang Yong chief economist at KPMG China told the Global Times across Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey an analogy western allies called misleading

With fears of a nuclear war rising since the invasion, experts believe that any Russian strike would likely involve small-size battlefield weapons, called tactical as opposed to strategic highpowered long-range nuclear weapons

The Ukrainian foreign ministry accused Russia of breaching its obligations, and of undermining the “nuclear disarmament architecture and the international security system in general

It called on all members of the international community to convey to the criminal Putin regime the categorical unacceptability of its latest nuclear provocations

In the interview broadcast Saturday Putin said the move to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus was nothing unusual”