THE Commons At Vintage Park in the Houston suburb of Spring, Texas, is the kind of apartment complex you can find all over the United States.

The sedate twoand three-storey apartment buildings are surrounded by trees and manicured bushes. There is plenty of parking for residents and a measure of extra security, in that the entire complex is gated. Only residents or those with the gate codecangain access.

None of this was enough to protect Sadia Manzoor. A Pakistani-American woman, Sadia worked as a teacher. On the morning of May 19, she was getting ready for work. Also in the apartment were her mother, Inayat Bibi, and her four-year-old daughter Khadija. Within minutes, all of them would be dead. That morning, Sadia`s estranged husband, also a Pakistani-American, barged into the apartment and opened fire, killing his ex-wife, his young daughter, and his ex-mother-in-law. Then he turned the gun on himself.

Since the murder, it has been revealed that Sadia had filed for divorce from her husband because he was abusive towards her and their daughter. The divorce had gone through, and Sadia was trying to build a new life for herself, her mother and her daughter. Having wrangled her way out of an abusive relationship, Sadia did not know that the time when an abused woman leaves a man is the most dangerous moment in her life. According to the US Department of Justice, the time when a couple separates is the most lethal moment. An abused woman is 500 times more at risk for violence, according to some estimates. Many abused women are hurt or killed during this window of time as the abuser begins to realise that he no longer controls them. In Sadia`s case, it seems that her former husband had decided that if he could not keep his family, then there would be no f amily.

Then there is the other story of two Pakistanorigin sisters from Spain. A day af ter Sadia Manzoor and her mother and daughter were slain, the two sisters Aneesa and Arooj Abbas were murdered in cold blood in Gujarat. According to reports, the sisters had been forcibly married to cousins in Pakistan a couple of years ago and were trying toget a divorce. When their in-laws and their own family learned of their intentions, they were tricked into returning to Pakistan. Here, they faced torture and abuse. The six men who have been arrested in connection with the murder include two of their brothers and an uncle, amongst others.

These are harrowing and tragic deaths. Both involve abused Pakistani women living in diaspora. Both involve men who, on finding out that they could not exert complete control over their victims, killed them. Sadia Manzoor`s murdererkilled himself, so he cannot be punished for the mayhem he unleashed. The suspected killers of the Abbas sisters have been arrested, but it`s unclear whether they will actually be punished. The general routine in cases involving the death of abused women is to make arrests while media attention is on these cases, and grant bail to the suspects as soon as the attention wanes.

The stories also illustrate how living in countries like the United States or Spain or any other Western nation exposes the masculinity crisis that confronts Pakistani men who migrate to other countries. In Pakistan, control over women is complete. Such is the normalisation of violence against women in the country that no one is bothered even when they know a woman is being abused.

Otherwise incessantly nosy Pakistanis are experts at looking the other way when it comes to abused women. One of the cruellest depredations of a hyper-patriarchal society is that even women, whom one would expect would support their own,smugly blame the victim.

Such all-encompassing dominion over women is not available to men in other countries. Pakistani men living in diaspora in this or that Western country suddenly discover that they can no longer exert complete control over the women in their family.

Relationship dynamics change when their wives discover that it is not very difficult to obtain a divorce. In Texas, as in other American states, a divorce is granted if either party wants it. Legally, at least, no one can force a woman to continue to stay married to a man. Unlike in Pakistan, a husband`s consent is simply not required to obtain a divorce. Some men, like Sadia Manzoor`s killer, cannot believe that they no longer command their f amilies in the way they used to.

It is important for all Pakistani women to learn from the stories of Sadia Manzoor and the Abbas sisters. The three women had been trying to live a life free of abuse; a life where they could make their own choices. Their lives were destroyed because of the male ego: their killers` insatiable desire to control transformed into a desire to kill.

Such was the bloodlust of Sadia Manzoor`s killer that even a four-year-old child was not spared.

According to their autopsy report, the Abbas sisters were severely tortured before they died.

Women leaving abusive relationships need to take the threat that they face very seriously. Sadia Manzoor may have been doing just that by living in a gated apartment complex. Unfortunately, it was not enough to save her and her small family. The lesson is clear: the raving and ranting abusive man can easily transform into a killer. Brothers and uncles can undergo similar transformations, egged on by their lurid desire for complete control.

Lurking beneath the thin veneer of normalcy, all abusive men are potential murderers of women; aided and abetted in their plans by conspiring f amily members, misogynistic laws and societies that choose to look the other way when men kill. • The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy rafia.zakaria@gmail.com

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During the last few decades, we have witnessed amazing developments in various fields of science and technology. Some of the most remarkable developments are in the field of biological sciences.

Let us first turn to the functioning of our own brain. With about 100 billion neurons, and with each neuron communicating with some 8,000 other neurons, it represents the most complex object of our universe, according to current knowledge. Thoughts are not ‘abstract’ as many would imagine but have a material existence. They are composed of various molecules that are stored in the brain. While much has been discovered about where the thoughts are stored in the brain (hypothalamus) but the precise mechanisms of thought storage and recall are little understood.

Our researches during the last two decades have revealed that the storage of thoughts may be in the form of patterns that are formed by the folding of glycoproteins, and logical processes may be considered as the inter-relationships of these patterns. These exciting discoveries are embodied in over 20 US patents and have led to the discovery of exciting potential drugs against epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease that are undergoing clinical trials.

With ageing populations, the prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases is increasing exponentially and there is urgent need to address this issue so that the elderly populations can live longer healthier lives. The understanding of how the human brain actually works and the genes responsible for the development of various parts of the brain will also allow the manipulation of human intelligence, improvement of personality traits and the control of criminal tendencies that are linked to certain genetic factors present in some individuals.

A fascinating area under development is that of electronic chips that can be interfaced with neurons. This can allow the transfer of information between chips and nerve cells through Brain-Chip-Interfaces (BCHIs) in one or both directions. Indeed, devices that can interface with the neural system have already been developed for therapeutic purposes. For instance, patients with Parkinson’s disease can have a device implanted in their brain that can send electrical impulses to control tremors and improve motor control. Brain implants are also under development to help persons suffering from paralysis to restore hand movements.

Thoughts of patients with severe spinal injury can be translated into text using a brain implant with a high degree of accuracy. Elon Musk has formed a company, Neuralink, to develop Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs). Such devices, once implanted in the human brain, will allow thoughts of completely paralysed persons to be converted into actions, such as typing, manipulating a joystick etc, just by thinking about the action.

Another area of biology that is undergoing rapid development is that of gene editing. This technique allows specific changes to be made in the DNA sequence of a living organism. Gene editing technologies can be used to modify the genetic structure of plants to increase yields, disease resistance and drought resistance. They are also being explored to address genetic diseases with limited success.

While new plant or animal species could take thousands of years to develop through the process of evolution, it is now possible to develop new species in the laboratory through targeted genetic interventions in a matter of months, if not weeks. This has opened up new horizons in agriculture and animal husbandry. The ethical and social implications of this rapidly evolving technology have been the subject of much discussion, as it has the potential to alter human intelligence as well as personalities.

Another rapidly developing area is that of 3D printing. Originally used for producing small plastic objects, it has now been developed to produce all sorts of materials including 3D printing of entire houses, metal objects including guns, food (chocolates, pizza etc), cars, drones, customized clothing exactly fitting body specifications, or a 3D printer itself. Even parts of living kidneys and livers can be printed by multiplying living cells in a tank and spraying them into the exact shape, layer by layer, through a 3D printer.

A major problem facing our planet is that of water for agriculture and for drinking. With global warming, there is now a severe stress in countries such as Pakistan that are predicted to be among the worst affected. The advent of nano technology, and the development of nanomembranes and various nanomaterials promise to provide cost effective solutions to global water shortages. Nanotechnology involves the preparation and study of materials that have a size of a billionth of a millimeter. At this size, the materials exhibit strange new properties, which are finding large scale applications in electronics, drugs and drug delivery, energy, environment, sensors, diagnostics, textiles and a whole range of other fields.

Pakistan’s first dedicated research center on nanotechnology, the Latif Ebrahim Jamal Nanotechnology Center, was established within the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS) at the University of Karachi by Aziz Latif Jamal through a generous donation of the Husein Ebrahim Jamal Foundation. It is working on the development of various nano-pharmaceuticals in close collaboration with the Dr Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, established by Ms Nadira Panjwani within (ICCBS) through the generous grant of the Dr Panjwani Foundation.

The ICCBS is a leading research center in the Afro-Asian region and has been designated as the UNESCO Center of Excellence, the WHO Center of Excellence, The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) (Italy) Center of Excellence and the OIC Center of Excellence. Over 100 German scientists have been trained in this institution over the last few years and it is the only research center in the developing world where advanced countries send their faculty and students for research. It is focusing on new and emerging technologies such as nano-pharmaceuticals, advanced genomics, gene editing, neurodegenerative diseases, antibiotics resistance, and regenerative medicine including stem cell technologies.

It is important for universities in Pakistan to focus on the new and emerging technologies so that they can prepare our youth for tomorrow’s world. An excellent beginning in this direction has been made with the establishment of the Pakistan Austrian University of Applied Science and Engineering in Haripur which will have five postgraduate research centers of excellence in fields such as Artificial Intelligence, Mineral Resource Engineering, High Speed Railways Technologies, and Advanced Agricultural Technologies. Eight foreign universities, three from Austria and five from China, will offer their courses in this unique university.

The writer is former minister, and former founding chairman of the HEC. He can be reached at: ibne_sina@hotmail.com

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Constitution being a law organic in nature continues to evolve according to the dictates of times

In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court of Pakistan while interpreting Article 63A created history in the constitutional development of Pakistan. The decision will have far-reaching effect on the evolution of the political system towards elimination of politics of opportunism sine quo non for the smooth functioning of democracy.

Article 63A was inserted into the Constitution with an intention of the authors to prevent horse trading thorough the exercise of party discipline.

Article 63A places an embargo on a member of National Assembly or Provincial Assembly to go against the party and can be declared disqualified, if he or she being a member of a Parliamentary Party composed of a single political party in a House resigns from membership of his political party or joins another Parliamentary Party. Most significantly, in case of a vote of no-confidence, votes or abstains from voting in the House contrary to any direction issued by the parliamentary party to which he belongs, in relations to — (i) election of the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister; or (ii) a vote of confidence or a vote of no-confidence; or (iii) a Money Bill or a Constitution (Amendment) Bill; he may be declared in writing by the Party Head to have defected from the political party, and the Head of the Parliamentary Party may forward a copy of the declaration to the Presiding Officer. However, under proviso before making the declaration, the Party Head shall provide such member with an opportunity to show cause as to why such declaration may not be made against him.

Upon receipt of the declaration, the Presiding Officer of the House is under an obligation to refer, within two days, the declaration to the Chief Election Commissioner who is then required to lay the declaration before the Election Commission for its decision thereon confirming the declaration or otherwise within thirty days of its receipt by the Chief Election Commissioner.

In case the Election Commission confirms the declaration, the member shall cease to be a member of the House and his seat shall become vacant. But, after the decision, any party aggrieved by the decision of the Election Commission may, within thirty days, prefer an appeal to the Supreme Court which shall decide the matter within ninety days from the date of the filing of the appeal.

The issue of floor crossing cropped during the vote of no-confidence against Prime Minister Imran Khan amidst anticipated fear of defection from the ruling party. The reference was filed by the President of Pakistan asking the question: Can defected parliamentarians be allowed to vote? Will defected MPs’ vote be given equal weightage? Can defected MPs be disqualified for life? Other measures that can be taken to curb vote-buying?

Reiterating the spirit of Article 63A of the Constitution, Supreme Court held that the dissident members of a parliamentary party cannot cast votes against their party’s directives. While deliberating on the issue the court also interpreted that Article 63A of the Constitution could not be interpreted alone. Therefore, this was taken in juxtaposition with Article 17 of the Constitution providing right to every citizen to form associations or unions, and the right to form or be a member of a political party. Elaborating this right, the Supreme Court declared: “The pith and substance of Article 63A is to enforce the fundamental right of political parties under Article 17 that, in particular in the legislative arena, their cohesion be respected, and protected from unconstitutional and unlawful assaults, encroachments and erosions. It must therefore be interpreted and applied in a broad manner, consistent with fundamental rights of the collectivity (i.e. the political party) and an individual member thereof it is the former that must prevail. The first question is answered accordingly.”

In response to the first and second questions raised in the reference, the top court’s majority judgment said the votes of the defected parliamentarians would not be counted.

In response to the third question regarding the disqualification of members, the top court rejected the PTI’s plea, saving the lawmakers from permanently being barred from the Parliament. This was left to the parliament to legislate, if need be.

In this judgment emphasising the importance of political parties, the apex court considered it to be imperative for democracy, just as fundamental rights are to be protected.

The immediate impact of the judgment has been the de-seating of the 25 members of the Punjab Assembly putting the office of Hamza Shehbaz as Chief Minister in limbo by declaring that “the casting of votes by the respondent in favour of opposition candidate is a serious issue and worst form of betraying the electorate and party’s policy.”

Looking from the perspective of a firmly rooted democracy, political parties are the nucleus around which other institutions revolve, providing strength and vigour to the political system. Political parties, being at centre stage of a political system, represent the hopes and aspirations of the people. Besides in a democracy sovereignty belongs to the people solidified in the political parties.

These political parties being repository of the will of the people, not only provides blue prints for governance but also threads diverse sections of population into a single whole called nationhood. Thus political parties in national parties are the steel frame of the foundation of a modern state. In the context of Pakistan, through this medium, the people from Karachi to Khyber have been bonded together by agreeing to the progmrames of the political parties in pursuit of political power.

Unfortunately, our country remained riddled with malaise of floor crossing, weakening political parties and undermining democracy in the process. This opportunism also encouraged horse trading, adversely affecting the sanctity of the ballot. This process of abandoning political parties, reflecting politics of opportunism has also been a big obstacle in establishing genuine democracy.

No doubt, Constitution being a law organic in nature therefore continues to evolve according to the dictates of times. The Supreme Court of Pakistan has interpreted those articles by strengthening the institutions and adding morality to politics, thus dispelling the impression: end justifies the means.

This can now safely be said that the judgment will go a long way in stabilising democracy by preventing politics of opportunism in the country.

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