Education will be the solution to all our cricketing woes
Education is not just filling the bucket and ticking the boxes. It’s how a person is groomed, his personality developed and the learning ability instilled. It’s easier to teach a well-educated person tricks of the trade because he has developed a habit of picking up things quickly. The mind has been trained to adapt to different situations accordingly. Such qualities determine the development of a cricketer as well and can foretell whether that individual will be successful or not as a person. But that’s not all education does. The strength of decent education goes well beyond the development we just spoke of. It ...
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International aid and development are not synonymous
With the groundbreaking Oscar win of Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and its appreciation in Western audiences, the implications of foreign funding for ‘development’ in Pakistan have been brought to the forefront. The documentary, ‘Saving Face’, highlights the oppression of women in Pakistan and is bound to attract ‘development projects’ which aim to facilitate women’s rights. The term ‘development’ is most commonly understood as a process of social, cultural and economic growth of a country or area perceived as ‘traditional’ rather than ‘modern’. With this premise two points come to mind. The first question raised is that should a society be injected with a ...
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What Pakistan and Southern Sudan have in common
This is written on a billboard on a road in the capital of Southern Sudan: “9th July, 2011. Our long walk to freedom. 2.5 million lives paid for our independence.” Southern Sudan’s proclamation of independence is a result of a peace agreement that was signed between the rebel group, Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) and the government of Sudan after more than three decades of civil war. It gave the SPLA the right to govern Southern Sudan for six years. After six years a referendum was conducted in January 2011 in which people were to decide whether to stay a part of United Sudan or become independent. An ...
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Arab Spring: What now?
The buzzword in the Arab world nowadays is ‘change’. There has been a shift from criticising the Israel-Palestinian issue to protesting against internal state hegemony. The Arab Spring is not over yet. Tahrir square is protesting again. Tunisia and Libya are both unsettled and there are ever more crackdowns across Syria. King Hamad of Bahrain will be addressing his nation today. And, women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) have taken to the wheels. Historically, this change, among others, was due. Socio-economic development in the region and the unjust polarisation of economic wealth across the spectrum, in the Gulf ...
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Foreign aid: Shahbaz backtracks on a bold move
Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif jumped on the populist pedestal and declared with much fanfare that the Government of Punjab would reject foreign aid to strengthen the nation’s sovereignty. In a poll on The Express Tribune website 74 per cent of the respondents voted in favour of the proposition. Apparently there are votes to gain by taking a tough line, and breaking the begging bowl forever. Imran Khan is another politician who has repeatedly stated that our dependence on foreign, particularly American aid has forced us to cede our sovereignty. Pakistan should reject American aid to regain our honour. If only it was that simple. Two ...
Read Full PostPower and perception: Is Pakistan losing the PR war?
Over the past week the possibilities of soft power, and the limitations of hard power, were on display. On the April 29, 2011, the royal wedding galvanised a global audience. The pomp and pageantry, archaic rituals, curiosity and relevance of the global archetype of a commoner marrying a future king, insured that Britain was able to showcase its best china. Now, the British economy is barely growing. Unemployment is on the rise, taxes are up, benefits are being cut, the gap between the rich and the poor is widening and real incomes have actually fallen over the past few years. However, ...
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Tech for thought: The geeks have overcome
My phone today is exactly as powerful as the brand new computer I bought 12 years ago. It is not just processor power; we have come a long way with Internet connectivity as well. The Internet speed I get on my mobile phone today is faster than my dial-up internet speed ten years ago. Terrorists, militants and fundamentalists have obviously not slowed down the advent of technology in Pakistan. I can order books online from Kitabain.com and pay on delivery. I can buy anything else on homeshopping.pk and beliscity.com and do the same with nearly anything except groceries. It may not matter ...
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Failed projects and infringed human rights
The CDA has been going through a tumultuous period since the incumbent government came to power, with budget surpluses disappearing amid overly ambitious revenue projections, delayed projects and overlapping organisational roles following the inception of CADD and the PM’s task force on Islamabad. The latest cockamamie scheme was to replace the light bulbs in streetlights around Islamabad with LEDs, based on the argument that it would save money in the long term and reduce the strain on the national electricity grid. The phrase you must spend money to make money goes back at least 2,000 years, and the civic body appears ...
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The Chai Party Manifesto of Pakistan
The recent rise of the TEA Party in the US has made me realise how important alternative voices are within main stream politics. The fact that a bunch of people who were angry at government policies started a protest movement that eventually became a viable political force in elections is an amazing achievement. It made me wonder why we don’t have something like that in Pakistan. Rather than whining and crying over the stupidity of our rulers, why not put forward an alternative agenda? I present to you, the Chai Party Manifesto: simple things that need to be done on ...
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Govt vs NGOs: Recognising good work
As most of us move on with our lives, the struggle for our country’s IDPs is far from over. With pressing issues such as which of the Muslim leagues (N or Q) are more loyal towards the incumbent government, our media has conveniently deemed the floods non-newsworthy. And the government’s attitude is no better. However, it is the non-governmental organisations (NGO) of our country that need to be lauded for their consistent efforts to reach out to the IDPs and provide them the support and counselling they require. Recently, the head of Indus Resource Centre shared how a simple statement by an ...
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