Sonya Syed

So Sindh government has finally announced Children Drama Industry Ordinance and the Sindh Actor Royalty Ordinance to protect the rights and well-being of children working in the entertainment industry. Since the law is announced by the Government of Sindh it will only protect children in Karachi, as there is hardly any entertainment work carried on in other areas of Sindh. It is a nice step but more of it seems to be purely for marketing purposes before the elections of 2024, because till yesterday the above laws were not available in draft/ bill forms on the Sindh assembly’s website. Then what else is interesting that both these laws would be introduced as ordinances, consequently they would be only valid for 120 days thereafter these legislations will need approval of majority of “ ELECTED ” members of parliament.  What an irony? At one end Sindh govt. is introducing laws to protect rights of our children but on the other end Sindh assembly's entire elected members of oppositio

I feel certain heaviness in my mind, thought process is not what it used to be. Yet I don’t want to sound sad or depressed. I want to be hopeful in the midst of the darkness that seems prevalent in Pakistan these days. Worst economic news is coming from every direction, we all are struggling with apprehensions and insecurity regarding the future and our government /power circles are apparently unaffected and living in a bubble of denial. Since the political ousting of former Prime Minister Imran Khan the political instability, role of Military and Civil establishment is so badly exposed that it is impossible to be remain naïve any more .    So what am I supposed to do? Worry, panic or go crazy with stress- honestly I don’t have the luxury to lose control over myself even for a bit. With all these frightful happenings I chose to take one deep breath, then another breath and another. A word called “Faith” suddenly pops out in mind. But what does  faith  means? I am a Muslim so I have fai

Today my heart is shattered and broken into pieces; every piece is hurting and giving pain. The leader who was appointed after so many of prayers may be ousted from his office. Yes I am talking about Prime Minister Imran Khan’s removal after voting on the no-confidence motion given by the opposition parties. This no-confidence motion is provided as our constitutional right; however it is being used for every other purpose which the constitution makers never even dreamt off. Lots of negative politics, foreign interference, corruption cases and fear of losing power are the main aims for this no-confidence motion. While on the other hand, millions of people like me are in dismay and melancholy apprehending what is in store for the citizens of Pakistan. As difficult it is, we have to accept the reality and face whatever is to come with the hope that tomorrow the sun will shine erasing the darkness of night.  With war in Ukraine where the entire country is going through so much destruc

  Today I am deeply saddened and lost for words at the passing away of  Mr. Sohail Muzaffar. A lthough my teacher, my mentor and a wonderful soul Mr. Sohail left us for his  heavenly  abode in February 2021. The most painful thing is that I just came to know about his news few days ago when I tried to call him for some advice. He wasn’t picking up the phone so I checked his facebook to contact him and from there I came to know of his passing away. Every day I thought about calling him but one thing or the other happened and I kept postponing my call; for almost a year I have not even looked at my facebook account. Yet I always found solace from the very thought that he will be fine and some fine day I will call him or probably pay him a surprise visit at his office and then we will gossip about the latest happenings over a cup of coffee.  All these plans only remained in my mind, for years I made plans but never acted on them. Today I am at lost for any words, I wish I would have cal

Finally Sindh govt is taking a positive step to reform our Police Rules,  FIR (or the first information report) which is lodged by a victim or by their relative or even by a citizen was enough for police to make an arrest without collecting any concrete evidence or conducting full investigation. Our law makers must have had good intentions when they made this law; however, this FIR has been a nuisance and was used or more appropriately abused by powerful and ill-intentioned people to falsely trap innocent people and suspects in the vicious chakra of crime. Recently in Shahzada Qaiser Arfat v. The State , Justice Syed Mansoor Ali of the Honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan observed that having power is one thing but using this power with proper justification is a totally different ball game (Article 4(1) (j) of the Police Order, 2002 and Police Rules, 1934 gave power to police under Section 54 of the CrPC to make an arrest without a warrant).  According to the above judgement no p

Its hours past midnight, I can’t sleep, my mind refuses to quieten- I have tried meditation and present moment exercises, all failed. Noor Mukhadam is revolving in my thoughts, she was found brutally murdered at a residence in Islamabad by the suspect Zahir Jaffer.  I desperately want to put the onus of this crime on Noor so that I could be over and done with it. I want to justify the trauma and the fear of her death by saying that it must have been her fault, she must have said or done something to infuriate Jafer. It is always the woman who say or do something that hurts or irritates a man to such an extent that he would just behead her. Is it really the truth, I wonder? More than half of Pakistan’s population is based on women and every time she says or does not say something; does or does not do something which makes a man so angry that he hits her, or molest her or burns her, or kill her. And it all seems justified, of course it is her fault. If she is molested at a bus stop,