Is ban on wedding meals a credible law?
THE raid on three hotels on Club Road in the capital last Sunday and the subsequent registration of cases against nine people for violating the ban on serving meals at marriages raise the question: how effective has the ordinance banning meals been in reducing ostentation at wedding functions?
Passing a strong law like banning the serving of meals at wedding functions in hotels and wedding halls does not automatically make it effective. There are at least two other essential components to making the law effective.
For one thing, the industry concerned, in this case the hotels, motels and wedding halls, must comply with the law. Secondly, the law should be enforced against all who fail to comply, and not only against a few violators.
But neither is the hotel industry complying with the meals ban, nor is the law being enforced across the board.
In fact, non-compliance is known to be widespread. Practically all hotels and wedding halls in Islamabad have continued to serve multi-dish meals at marriage receptions since the Supreme Court reactivated the ban on food at marriage functions in November 2004 by striking down a 2003 Punjab government law allowing one dish to be served at such ceremonies. (The Supreme Court had ruled that the earlier federal law — the 1997 Marriage (Prohibition of Wasteful Expenses) Ordinance which first banned the serving of meals at wedding functions — overruled the later provincial law.)
To date, enforcement of the meals ban law also seems to have targeted only a very small number of selected violators. When the Islamabad administration finally decided to take action against erring hotels on 15 May — two weeks after issuing a warning to 42 hotels in the capital about violating the meals ban — only three hotels were reportedly raided, whereas it is known that many other hotels also did not heed the warning and were still serving food at marriage functions. In one hotel on Club Road which was not raided, a four-dish meal together with several salads and sweet dishes were being served at a wedding function there on 15 May.
Such weak compliance by the hotel industry plus poor enforcement of the ban by the authorities undermines the credibility of the law banning meals. The fact that many hotels are openly violating and breaking the law without suffering any consequences makes a mockery out of the ordinance, no matter how well intentioned it was meant to be.
Besides, having a meals ban law which is clear to everybody who attends wedding functions that it is not being enforced, only makes the government lose respect in the eyes of the public.
One argument in favour of the meals ban has been that it allows those who cannot afford to serve lavish food at marriages to use the ban as an excuse to “save the family honour”. But in Islamabad at least, the violation has been so open and widespread with meals being served at practically every wedding function held outside the home, that very few people actually believe that they can “save the family honour” and “get away” with not serving food to guests at their son or daughter’s marriage by simply quoting the existence of the ban.
Although the meals ban at wedding functions is supposed to benefit the less privileged sector of society, in reality it does not — for two reasons. Firstly, having a wedding function in a hotel with or without meals does not make much difference in monetary terms because the hotels usually charge heavily for usage of the hall in case meals are not served.
Secondly, the less privileged sector of society usually have their wedding functions in their homes, where meals in any case are allowed to be served under the law. On the other hand, lavish wedding meals served in the sprawling homes of the privileged class, which is legal according to the law, go against the very spirit of the ban.
Strangely too, apart from the law banning wedding meals, no other step seems to have been undertaken to complement the ostensible desire by the government to curb ostentation at marriages. If the government was really serious in curbing ostentation, it should have implemented several other complementary strategies at the individual, family, or school level.
For instance, there could be school-based programmes that teach young people how to resist social pressures to have lavish weddings.
The target should not only be lavish wedding meals, but also lavish clothes, jewellery, makeup, dowry, etc. Similar programmes and advertisements about curbing such ostentation should also have been aired over the electronic media.
The lack of such an overall anti-ostentation strategy, plus the enforcement of the meals ban at whim, suggests that violators are only being taken to task either for political reasons or because they are not influential/do not have the right connections.
Thus, it is high time that the government reconsidered the law banning meals at marriages and did either one of two things. It should establish a separate enforcement division in the concerned ministry (not the ministry of interior) to monitor compliance by making periodic on-site inspections to all hotels and wedding halls, respond to all non-compliance of which it becomes aware of, and thus take violators to task through the courts.
Or it should retract and do away with the ban altogether if it finds that it simply cannot enforce it due to lack of cooperation not only from the hotel industry but also from the very people for whom the law was supposedly enacted to benefit.
Rules being violated with impunity
Recently, a costly piece of land measuring 47 marlas in the downtown has been allotted to a retired serviceman at a throwaway price where a CNG station is being built. Belonging to the Punjab government, the land was acquired by the Pakistan army for setting up a remount depot and breeding of mules. Later, this site was given on lease for a long period to a private person for setting up a nursery which was got vacated by remount depot authorities on the grounds that it was required by the army. However, it was allotted to Colonel Sarfraz Khan (retired), who is now establishing the CNG station there under the title of Auto Fuels Associates (AFA).
Initially, the DCO had refused to issue the NOC to the AFA on the ground that the plot had not been commercialized and it did not fulfil the conditions of a minimum 60 feet wide front on as much wide road.
It appears, however, that the administration has yielded to some pressure because it has issued the NOC to the retired colonel. The permission letter to use this land for commercial purpose was accepted in defiance of army rules and regulations. No letter could be entertained unless it was routed through the Ministry of Defence for seeking official permission for the change of status of the land allotted for military purposes.
On the direction of the Punjab industries secretary, the Faisalabad DCO was forced to do the needful on the ground that since it was a corner plot, the shortage of space on the front on the main road was compensated by its front on a small road.
After the grant of the NOC, the area was immediately cordoned off giving the impression that some important construction work was going on. As the side road leads to the ISI offices, no body ever suspected that a private CNG station is being built till its steel boundary wall and canopy appeared.
According to the policy, the DCO cannot issue an NOC on a piece of land for establishing a CNG station till the fulfilment of certain requirements. The minimum size of the land must be one kanal to be located on a road of minimum 60 feet wide while the minimum front of the plot should also be 60 feet. It must be declared a commercial plot after paying commercialization fee and approval of the CNG building plan from the TMA (City).
In this particular case, these conditions have not been fulfilled either. This corner plot has a front of over 60 feet on a side road while its front on the main road is only 49 feet. Hence, no citizen of Pakistan is entitled to an NOC in such a plot. But the AFA has obtained the NOC. Moreover, neither the commercialization fee has been paid nor the plot commercialized.
It is learned that about a dozen applications are pending with the DCO for the issuance of NOCs. Despite their failure of meeting the requirement of a 60 feet wide front, these applicants have also started piling pressure on the DCO for allowing them to build CNG stations without commercialization fee.
Apart from it, an unhealthy activity of installing CNG stations in congested areas, especially residential areas, has started taking its roots. The TMA, the district government and other agencies concerned responsible for ensuring scrutiny and fulfilment of all legal requirements are content with issuing NOCs merely on payment of commercial and other dues.
There is a mushroom growth of CNG and petrol stations in congested areas like Ghulam Muhammadabad, Jinnah Colony, Gulberg, Samanabad, Madina Town, Civil Lines and Peoples Colony. Residents of these localities demand that the Punjab government should evolve a policy to check the conversion of residential areas into commercial ones.
Europe’s summer of discontent
It is shaping up to be a summer of discontent for Europe’s top leaders. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, French President Jacques Chirac and and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi face an array of political and economic woes set to cast a dark shadow over the entire European Union for months to come.
The crushing defeat of Mr Schroeder’s Social Democrats in last weekend’s regional polls in North Rhine-Westphalia - the latest in a series of election debacles suffered by the ruling party over the years - has forced the rattled German leader to seek a vote of parliamentary confidence vote on July 1, to be followed by new national elections in autumn.
France’s Chirac is braced for a ‘no’ vote on the EU constitution on May 29 _ a move that could bring EU policymaking to a standstill and also put the bloc’s planned expansion to include Turkey on hold for several years.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faces tough EU questioning on the state of Italy and its finances.
Complicating the EU landscape further, the bloc’s presidency during the second half of the year falls into the hands of Euro-sceptical Britain, whose leader Tony Blair has just seen a devastating loss of a parliamentary majority.
Of the list of headaches facing the EU, policymakers in Brussels are especially tense about a French referendum on the new EU treaty set for Sunday.
With opinion polls repeatedly showing that a majority of French voters will reject the EU constitution, the fear in Brussels is that the 25-nation bloc is headed for an unprecedented turmoil; and more bickering among its members.
The new EU treaty is needed to streamline decision-making following last year’s European expansion to include 10 new members. The constitution will allow the EU to have a first-ever foreign minister and a permanent president to chair EU summits.
It also allows for more qualified majority voting and gives a more powerful role to the European parliament.
But the constitution is not just about speed and efficiency. The EU is hoping for a much-needed confidence boost; and proof that the union is drawing closer to its citizens.
That goal, however, is unlikely to be achieved.
Quite the reverse may occur. Rejection of the treaty by a founding member of the union will cast doubt on Europe’s credibility and inject uncertainty into the bloc’s entire political future.
Foreign diplomats expect the EU to turn inward, a move they fear will have repercussions on developments in the Middle East and nuclear talks with Iran.
The internal impact of a French no will be especially damaging for a series of upcoming decisions, including the negotiation of a new financial blueprint and further EU enlargement. French voters are believed to be mixing up concerns over Turkish membership of the EU with discussions about the constitution.
If France votes against the treaty, it is unlikely that President Chirac will give the go-ahead to opening entry negotiations with Ankara on Oct 3 as planned.
Others argue that the EU’s ultra-liberal policies have made it incapable of standing up to competition from China in the textiles sector.
There is also growing concern that a French rejection will hit the credibility of the euro, making investors wary of putting funds in the EU.
By turning its back on the treaty, France will quite simply trigger a ‘political breakdown of the EU’, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said recently.
ONE VOICE: “Europe is stronger when it speaks with one voice,” German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said last week as he urged French voters ‘not to leave the other Europeans in the lurch’.
The EU constitution was painstakingly negotiated for almost two years and then signed by the bloc’s leaders in Rome last October. But it must be ratified by all 25 EU states before it can be implemented.
So far, seven countries have approved the treaty — Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.
The process is under way in Austria, Belgium and Germany.
The ratification can be either through parliamentary approval or as in the case of France and the Netherlands, through public consultations.
Officials have warned if France or any other EU country votes against the treaty, negotiations on a new constitution will have to begin from scratch. And no EU government has the appetite for resuming such a tedious task.
No ‘great’ short stories?
THE Azad Khayal Adbi Forum held a meeting last week to discuss the present-day Urdu short story. Unhappiest at the state of affairs was the forum’s driving spirit, Sarwar Javed, who talked of the “fall of the short story”.
He read out a paper contending that no great story had been written for two decades. “Yes”, he said, stories were being written, and some of them were even tolerably good, but there had been no great ‘afsana’.
“What do you mean by ‘great’?” someone asked. “Now, it is not for me to define greatness,” Javed said, but referred to Ashfaque Ahmad’s ‘Gadarya’ (shepherd), which was still read with deep interest.
Great stories were written when there was a memorable event or a crisis confronting a nation, someone said. In reply, Javed pointed out that the country was passing through major crises — social, national and economic. Our institutions had failed to encourage the writers’ community, and while one could see brave individual efforts, there was no progressive literary movement to influence or shape popular attitudes. ‘Jadeediat’ had come with some fanfare, but it was not a movement, only a ‘rujhan’, a trend, and nothing more.
The digest phenomenon was also cited as a major sinner in the decline of the short story, but a couple of speakers pointed out that some very good stories had been published in the digests. There was a ‘thehrao’, a pause or plateau, in creative writing, but people were continuing to write, and that itself was encouraging.
“But what is the worth of what is being written?” Javed interrupted a speaker to ask.
Elderly poet Sadiq Madhosh said rising commercialism was one cause of falling literary standards. “The story writer is no more a full-time writer.” Short stories, some of them excellent, were being written in Sindhi, Pushto and many other languages in the region, but Urdu writers had failed to produce anything of note, Madhosh pointed out.
Prof Afaq Siddiqui in his presidential discourse contended that at present ‘a hundred times more’ literature was being written and we should remain hopeful that a golden period of literature was not far away.
A POETRY collection by Zebun Nisa Zebi has been launched under the aegis of the Academi Adbiat Karachi. Mohsin Bhopali in his presidential comments praised the verses presented in the book, “Teri Yaad Aati Hey”, and admired the poet’s bold approach towards life.
Zebun Nisa Zebi, a former information officer with the Sindh government, also writes short stories and columns.
Poet Naqqash Kazmi recalled his long association with the poet and said she was as bold in her expression as some senior progressive writers such as Meraji, Krishen Chandar and Ismat Chughtai.
Ali Hussain Jamali and Gulnar Afreen admired the poet’s vision, intellect and broadmindedness. Prof Khayal Afaqi praised Zebi’s choice of issues confronting the common citizen and presenting them with a sharp sensibility. Another poet, Raashid Kundi, recited some of Zebi’s poems that he has translated into Pushto.
LITERATURE for children was the subject at the launch of a children’s book last Friday. Masud Ahmed Barkati was in the chair and reminded the audience that currently around 50 magazines for children were being published. Barring some exceptions, most of them were of no worth.
He recalled past decades when Sufi Tabassum and Ibne Insha were writing verses for children and Ashraf Saboohi was popular among young readers. The books found in the ‘anna’ libraries in almost every mohalla had kept children fascinated and encouraged the reading habit among them.
But the cause of decline in children’s literature was not clearly defined. The ‘anna’ libraries have given way to video shops, and this may be one strong reason for the decline of the reading habit in children and the poor quality of literature for children, one speaker said. Both readers and writers had to some extent lost interest in writing and reading. Another reason and a quite obvious one is the attitude of national institutions towards writers and poets who are being ignored and shabbily neglected by the authorities. Take just one example, that of the eminent storywriter A. Hameed, who has been writing only for children for many decades without any major award or recognition at the national level. Whereas national awards worth lakhs are given for books in various literary categories, children’s books are honoured with a reward of just Rs10,000 by the National Book Foundation.
The way our children are being treated by national institutions can also be seen at almost all stations of Radio Pakistan where in the past, children’s programmes were managed and conducted with much care by national personalities. At present, children’s programmes at almost all stations are arranged most casually. TV channels are doing no better, despite their colour and razmataz. What is needed is a general change of attitude on the part of literary organizations, who should go out of their way to promote good books and magazines for the young.
DUE to the rising cost of production and tough competition in the printing and publishing industry, literary journals are facing serious financial problems.
Editors of many literary monthly papers and journals — Zaheer Akhtar Bedri, of the monthly Farda, Shafeeq Ahmad Shafeeq of Peshraft, Kiran Singh of Pehchaan and others — held a meeting recently, presided over by Shakeel Adilzada of Sabrang Digest, to thoroughly discuss their problems and seek to work out a solution.
They said they were sad to recall that journals like the monthly Afkar with a standing of around 60 years were allowed to die due to lack of official patronage. Efforts must be made to protect the remaining journals and keep them alive.
The meeting was held by the Sindh Academic Literary Magazine Association.
THE University of Karachi has honoured Dr Mohammad Ali Siddiqui, noted literary critic and writer, with the degree of D.Lit for his academic work done at the Pakistan Study Centre of the university. The centre in recent years has published Dr Siddiqui’s books on Sir Syed, Ghalib and Iqbal.