Mr. Imtiaz Gul, Executive Director CRSS, represented the center at the 17th International Women and Law Enforcement Conference (IWLEC), held in Cairns, Australia. Themes such as women role in peace and security in an international context, benefits of gender responsive policing, gender imbalance, social and political discrimination within the institution, response to offence against women, mainstreaming of women voices against excesses through effective women policing will come under discussion at the conference. Mr Gul’s topic of presentation was Understanding Women, Peace /Freedom in Contemporary Pakistan where he discussed issues such as domestic violence and abuse faced by women in Pakistan. Mr Gul, while giving various examples and cases of prominent public figures, also argued how a controlled radical narrative in the country demonizes successful women. He further argued that despite social and institutional limitations, countless women have defied odds and rose to prominence and in the process also became part of the inspiration for pro-women legislation. Change to plight of women will come only gradually, he underscored, through collective efforts. Mr Gul concluded by arguing that only empowerment and liberties for women can unleash their true talent and energies in the society. The IWLEC 2017 is a five day conference held in Cairns, Queensland, organized by the The International Association of Women Police (IAWP) and the Australasian Council of Women and Policing (ACWAP), and supported by the Queensland Police Service (QPS), inviting almost 1000 leaders from across 60 countries advancing women in police services across the globe.

BUFFETED by strong economic headwinds, which have gathered momentum since the insane demonetisation exercise of last November and made more fierce by a poorly designed change in the national taxation system, Indians have had little time to worry about what else is shaking their republic. Perhaps they feel the tremors but are as yet unaware of how seriously the pillars of its democratic traditions are being rocked. When everyone from IT-sector geeks to traders in the country’s most prosperous hubs see their livelihoods evaporating it’s difficult to focus on such things as the wellbeing of institutions that have been the bedrock of its democracy. What the anarchic demonetisation exercise did, apart from reducing the country’s GDP by one per cent and sending the economy into a tailspin, is to undermine the Reserve Bank of India, which has long been lauded for its independence. That reputation now lies in tatters after it was forced go along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political gamble. Of more serious concern is what is happening to other institutions such as academia and, most worryingly, the armed forces. Take the curious case of Lt-Col Shrikant Purohit, which the previous government had highlighted as an instance of saffron terror. Purohit was released on bail by the Supreme Court last month after spending nine years in jail. His case is important because he is the first serving Indian Army official to be accused of involvement in an act of terror. The Modi government is chipping away at the institutions and traditions that define the republic. Purohit was arrested in 2008 as one of the conspirators in the Malegaon bomb blast, which killed seven persons and injured 100 in a town known for its Muslim weavers. What is unnerving is the silence of the army. The army has made no official statement but ‘sources’ were quoted as saying he would remain under suspension but would be attached to a unit. For the ordinary person, it is difficult to fathom how an...

According to a report issued by Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency in August, Xi Jinping in addition to his role as Party Secretary, President, Chair of the Central Military Commission, and of about half of the all-important Small Leading Groups which co-ordinate policy, is also China’s “Story Teller in Chief.” This is evidently not a formal role. But nor is it a completely metaphorical one. At a Politburo meeting convened soon after the new leadership was appointed at the 18th Party Congress in 2012, Xi reportedly told his colleagues they needed to “tell the China story.” Around the same time, more publicly, he said that China needed to have a more activist stance about its role in the world. The era of the silent, almost supine Hu Jintao leadership, where the world went into deep angst about what China’s intentions were and no one in the elite leadership in Beijing bothered setting these out, was over. China was now in the mood to tell the world what it believed its story was. Part of this story, it is now clear, was to assert parity with its key international relationships, and get rid of the idea from the Deng Xiaoping era that China was biding its time and simply keeping a low profile. With the United States, Xi asserted a “new model of great power relations” while meeting President Obama in Sunnylands in 2013. With the European Union, the second largest trading partnership, he declared the two were, despite their manifest differences, “civilizational partners.” Through these new frameworks, the world had been learning that China was in the mood for equality, not deference. And nor was it going to be branded as assertive or pushy. As the world’s second largest economy, Beijing felt it was simply taking up its rightful place. Unsurprisingly, the region where China has had the greatest challenges in spelling out its new story is the one it inhabits. Despite their clear areas of conflict and complexity, the U.S. and E.U. story were relatively easy to nail...

According to a report issued by Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency in August, Xi Jinping in addition to his role as Party Secretary, President, Chair of the Central Military Commission, and of about half of the all-important Small Leading Groups which co-ordinate policy, is also China’s “Story Teller in Chief.” This is evidently not a formal role. But nor is it a completely metaphorical one. At a Politburo meeting convened soon after the new leadership was appointed at the 18th Party Congress in 2012, Xi reportedly told his colleagues they needed to “tell the China story.” Around the same time, more publicly, he said that China needed to have a more activist stance about its role in the world. The era of the silent, almost supine Hu Jintao leadership, where the world went into deep angst about what China’s intentions were and no one in the elite leadership in Beijing bothered setting these out, was over. China was now in the mood to tell the world what it believed its story was. Part of this story, it is now clear, was to assert parity with its key international relationships, and get rid of the idea from the Deng Xiaoping era that China was biding its time and simply keeping a low profile. With the United States, Xi asserted a “new model of great power relations” while meeting President Obama in Sunnylands in 2013. With the European Union, the second largest trading partnership, he declared the two were, despite their manifest differences, “civilizational partners.” Through these new frameworks, the world had been learning that China was in the mood for equality, not deference. And nor was it going to be branded as assertive or pushy. As the world’s second largest economy, Beijing felt it was simply taking up its rightful place. Unsurprisingly, the region where China has had the greatest challenges in spelling out its new story is the one it inhabits. Despite their clear areas of conflict and complexity, the U.S. and E.U. story were relatively easy to nail...

"The Islamic Museum of Australia was built about three and a half years ago. The project began over seven years ago. Basically, the whole family as well as a number of volunteers from the community got together with a vision of trying to reclaim the narrative on Islam. A lot of what people say and hear in the media is very negative and a number of individuals were concerned about that negativity becoming so prevalent...," Ms. Sherene Hassan, a board Member at the Islamic Museum of Australia speaks to CRSS. https://vimeo.com/233849876