Does Pakistan need a Turkish leader to succeed?
It is remarkable what a leader, committed to serving the nation he believes in, can do to a country’s fate. Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a case in point. When he came to the helm of affairs in 2003, Turkey was at the periphery of economic development in Europe. A continuous stand-off between its civilian leadership and the military did not help matters either. After coming into power that year, Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AK) made Turkey a real success story in the economic realm, providing an excellent example of how institution-building and well thought-out public policies can translate into ...
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Don’t deny – defy dyslexia
The day Steve Jobs died my son came home from school and asked me: “Can I also please be dyslexic like Steve?” Dumbfounded I stared at him as he rambled on about Steve Jobs, about Mac and how “awesome” it was. Technological icon Steve Jobs left behind a silver bitten apple, a legacy of hard work and most importantly a realisation that learning differences are a gift – not a stigma. The problem Nobody truly knows the origins of learning differences. The spectrum is wide and deep, ranging from low attention span, weak memory, speech problems, auditory issues, literacy and numeracy challenges, vestibular and cognitive development and social interaction to behaviour issues ...
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What to learn from the series against England
The Pakistan vs England series has finally concluded in the UAE and as the records state, we managed to beat England 3-0 in the Test series. However, England were good enough to beat us 4-0 in the ODIs and also 2-1 in the T-20s. Sadly, the latest defeats have spoiled the show for us big time. The losses have undoubtedly exposed our batting line up. If we look at the stats, we owe the Test series win to our spin bowling and the England side’s inability to play our bowlers. But here is what we have been doing in the batting department ...
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LUMUN: Students learn the truth in a language they can’t debate in
What’s the point of debating if the person opposite you can’t understand a word you’re saying? In my previous piece, how at model United Nations (MUN) some kids were shaken by the sheer scale of competitiveness – a rampant obsession with coming first across the country. This is why events like these, which bring together such a diverse group of people from across the country, are so useful. You can glean so much from the way people interact, or in this case, don’t. I’m going to talk about the Lahore University of Management Sciences model United National (LUMUN) again, because this ...
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What Ijaz Butt should learn from Steve Jobs
When I first told my friend that Ijaz Butt should learn from Steve Jobs, he told me I had totally lost it; comparing a legend with Ijaz Butt. I also felt a little stupid for saying that, but then I realized that it actually was true. A few nights ago all over the internet, the biggest news was that Steve Jobs had quit from his post as CEO of Apple Inc. He left the company with a short letter, an excerpt of which is: “I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet ...
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Rural education: Eight reforms we need now
Educational institutions are the breeding ground for any civilization. Illiteracy is the mother of all evil and ignorance leads to exploitation of the weak, and injustice in the society. The pertinent question: Why is the current breed of politicians so ignorant about the pitiful state of government-run schools? The simple answer: They know that their presence in the assemblies and their luxurious lifestyle is only possible because of the illiterate masses who vote for them. Education, especially in state-run institutions, has deteriorated. I belong to a very remote part of Sindh and have had the opportunity to observe the devastation of society personally. I have ...
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Riaz wanted to learn English
It was almost 11 years ago when I stopped my car at the Teen Talwar traffic light to be greeted by the usual herd of beggars, windscreen cleaners and newspaper sellers. One of the newspaper sellers, Riaz, a total of four feet in height, asked me for a lift to the Marriot signal. Irritated by the commotion around me, I chose to ignore him. Rather than moving on, he boldly walked in front of my car, locked eyes with me, stuck his teeth out like President Asif Zardari would, if he stared at the sun, and performed a mini-break dance ...
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Naval base attack: When will we learn?
Pakistan has a habit of not learning from its mistakes. We are stubborn and arrogant, and we scoff at others when they tell us we’re wrong, and let’s not forget, we believe our armed forces are brilliant and unstoppable. In 2009, ten terrorists managed to enter the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi and killed 11 soldiers and two civilians. The terrorists were dressed in army uniforms when they entered the base. Fast forward to two years later – More than ten terrorists enter PNS Mehran, the air support base of Pakistan’s Navy, and destroy two air surveillance aircrafts worth $36 million each. Once ...
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Classroom corruption: Time for teachers to learn a lesson
A nine-year-old girl’s face flashes in my mind. The girl was beaten black and blue by her teacher who had accused her of stealing Rs500. Some would say the girl is ‘lucky’ as she did not sustain grievous injuries unlike many other victims. But no child who face a teacher’s abuse is lucky enough to escape mental anguish it causes. Students have been known to be punished so badly that they lose their eyesight for crimes as minor as not learning their lessons or misbehaving. Teachers: are you reading this? Things might be different in elitist schools for the privileged, where only qualified teachers ...
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A Liberian story of liberation
Martin Luther King Jr was not the only dreamer, there are others too; people who turn their dreams into reality. One such woman is Leymah Gbowee, who led the women of Liberia to end war in a thoroughly non-conventional but highly replicable way. The war in Liberia was vicious, far worse than even we – living in a land of suicide bombers – can imagine. Even the women of Liberia had taken up arms to fight in the civil war, killing sporadically, and it was Leymah who united them against their dictator Charles Taylor. Dressed in white, the women gathered to besiege ...
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