Author: Stuart White

The struggle for the soul of the Mekong River
21Aug By Stuart WhiteNo Comments
Opinion

The struggle for the soul of the Mekong River

In June of this year, a Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) report ranked the Mekong Basin as the world's most productive freshwater fishery, accounting for over 15% of global annual freshwater fish catch. Meanwhile, researchers at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) estimate that the contribution accounts for a quarter of the world's freshwater catch. This inland fishery is critical to the food security of tens of millions living in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, and is fuelled by the Mekong River's natural flow cycle.Typically, the Mekong transitions like clockwork around July from the dry season period of relatively low flow to an extreme wet season pulse bringing floodwaters that nourish the entirety of the basin.Each year, this flood pulse drives water from the Mekong up
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Let us rise
19Aug By Stuart WhiteNo Comments
Opinion

Let us rise

“No one is above the law and every citizen, including the state, is subservient to the rule of law and the supremacy of the Constitution,” said the chief justice of the Islamabad High Court in his verdict on the kidnapping of senior journalist Matiullah Jan in broad daylight on July 21.The court held that the case of kidnapping was a challenge to the federal government and public office holders. “They have to demonstrably show that there is a political will to put an end to impunity for crimes against citizens and to protect journalists from harm for exercising the right to free speech,” said the chief justice. “Abduction or enforced disappearance of any citizen is one of the gravest offences,” he lamented.It is heartening to note that the reaction from civil society, media, diplomats, pol
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European governments mustn’t stay mum over Baloch Journalist’s death
19Aug By Stuart WhiteNo Comments
Opinion

European governments mustn’t stay mum over Baloch Journalist’s death

It’s the same every time, the story breaks out, gets written and advertised for at least a month before it disappears from the radars of the press. The story starts with a body dumped into a river. The body of a Baloch journalist, Sajid Hussain.Unfortunately, it is not uncommon to find mutilated dead bodies, in various stage of decomposition and beyond recognition dotting the roads of Balochistan; it is part of the nefarious ‘kill and dump’ policy of Pakistani intelligence agencies highlighted many times by human rights organizations, both national and international. But this time, there was a twist in the usual plot.Sajid was dumped into a river, but the river was in Uppsala, Sweden - the place where he had fled to and asked for political asylum. “His body was found on 23 April in the Fyr
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Abrogation that led to integration
17Aug By Stuart WhiteNo Comments
Opinion

Abrogation that led to integration

It’s officially been a year since the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) was stripped of its special status and bifurcated into two union territories. The abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A on August 5, 2019 was one of the most talked about legislations of the 21st century across the globe, with every big player in the global state of affairs expressing concerns about the emerging situation in J&K, post abrogation.The move was highlighted by every big media house in the world. Reporters and media houses were trying to get information from the ground in J&K, but the information blockade controlled the outflow of information from the region.The media blackout, which was considered as a violation of human rights including the right to information, basically acted as a damp
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How erstwhile J&K discriminated between Muslims, non-Muslims
17Aug By Stuart WhiteNo Comments
Opinion

How erstwhile J&K discriminated between Muslims, non-Muslims

In the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Hindu and Sikh refugees arriving in the valley from Pakistan during India-Pakistan partition were always considered outsiders and were not given the status of "Permanent Residents" under the J&K state legislature. However, the same legislature enabled the Muslims to return from Pakistan and become permanent residents.Enabling Muslims and disabling non-Muslims can thus be a correct summing up of the intent of successive state governments. Under these laws, contained in Part III (Sections 6 to 10) of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir Constitution, there were provisions enabling Muslims to return from Pakistan and obtain the status of being a permanent resident (PR).It can be said that the definitions of PRs were meant to welcome those Muslims wh...
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Those who lived in J&K but were never considered citizens
17Aug By Stuart WhiteNo Comments
Opinion

Those who lived in J&K but were never considered citizens

Hindu and Sikh refugees living near India-Pakistan borders, better known as West Pakistan Refugees (WPRs) left their homes in Pakistan decades back during the 1947 partition. However, the word Pakistan never stopped chasing them.Generally, domicile is understood as the status of being a lawful permanent resident in a particular jurisdiction. A person can remain domiciled in a jurisdiction even after he has left it, if he maintains sufficient links with it. Now, apply this definition to Hindu and Sikh refugees who crossed over into areas in Jammu from adjacent areas of Sialkot and other areas which became Pakistan.These refugees had entered Jammu, which became a part of India, in 1947. They didn't maintain any links whatsoever with Pakistan, from where they had barely escaped. They thus los...
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China, the artless dodger
17Aug By Stuart WhiteNo Comments
Opinion

China, the artless dodger

Indulging in aggressive behaviour along the Line of Actual Control with India might have brought immediate tactical territorial gains to China, but it has lost a lot more strategically in terms of trust and goodwill. Beijing's responses have also reinforced the fact that its leaders are perennially unrepentant.This is evident in the comments that come from China over the border confrontation on 15 June in Ladakh. Four days after the clash in which both sides suffered lost their soldiers’ lives, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said, "China hopes that India will work with us, follow faithfully the important consensus reached between the two leaders, abide by the agreements reached between the two governments, and strengthen communication and cooperation on properly managing the curren
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President Xi’s long game: Time to measure what the world is dealing with
14Aug By Stuart WhiteNo Comments
Opinion

President Xi’s long game: Time to measure what the world is dealing with

Over the last six months, President Xi Jinping has become China’s Supreme Leader. The July 15 issue of the Chinese Communist Party journal, Qiushi, has declared that it is the highest duty of all Chinese to “safeguard the core position of General Secretary Xi Jinping”. It then goes on to say that “to safeguard the core position of General Secretary Xi Jinping means only Xi Jinping and no other individual.”In short, there is no other leader and no power-centre other than Xi.It took many years for Mao Zedong to dominate a party that he had literally built and led to victory. Even then, at the height of his power, he was still compelled to share authority at times with others like Liu Shaoqi and Zhou Enlai, and PLA Marshals Zhu De and Ye Jianying.President Xi Jinping, on the other hand, appea
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Second-class citizens of Sindh: Women
11Aug By Stuart WhiteNo Comments
Opinion

Second-class citizens of Sindh: Women

The incidents of honor killings in Pakistan’s Sindh are no less than gruesome horror stories – women burned, shot, strangled, drowned, decapitated in cold-blood every year. One such case came to limelight on July 4, when Sindh police discovered a severely beaten body with the disfigured face on Indus Highway. Initially unrecognizable to police, it was finally found to be of a 24-year-old married girl, Waziran. Her father and husband accuse each other of her murder. A joint investigation team (JIT) has been set to investigate the incident. According to local witnesses, the murder was carried out in the name of honor.Marks on the body show that Waziran was pelted with stones and repeatedly hit with a wooden stick. Waziran is another innocent soul that has lost her life to the menace of honor
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Success story: There is a reduction in terrorist recruits after Article 370 abrogation
11Aug By Stuart WhiteNo Comments
Opinion

Success story: There is a reduction in terrorist recruits after Article 370 abrogation

Shopian district in South Kashmir has been home to a number of terrorists over the years and Tariq Mohand, a carpenter from village Heff in Shopian district was one of the victims of the terrorists who abducted him the evening of July 8, 2018, tortured through the night and killed him.His body was recovered from a nearby village next morning.Tariq was the cousin of a terrorist named Bilal Mohand who was killed in an encounter in May 2018. He was buried in a normal graveyard in his village. Villagers had huge resentment against the gruesome act and the terrorists were condemned unequivocally.Two days after killing him, the terrorists labelled Tariq as a “martyr”. His body was exhumed four days after the murder and buried in the “martyrs’ graveyard” of the village. His family, including his
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