Thursday 23 January 2014
Wednesday 22 January 2014
Friday 17 January 2014
Sunday 12 January 2014
Friday 10 January 2014
Bravery acknowledged
Pakistan is fighting war against
terrorism and extremism and rendered huge sacrifices. Fighting war on terror,
few incidents of bravery from individuals surface when people set example to
fight against terrorism by sacrificing their precious lives. In one incident of
such nature happened in Hangu, a young student Aitzaz Hasan sacrificed his life
and saved the lives of hundreds of other students. Aitizaz reached school late
on Monday morning and was not allowed to attend the morning assembly as
punishment. He was standing outside the gate with two other schoolmates when a
man aged 20-25 years approached the Government High School Ibrahimzai in Hangu
and said he was there to take admission.
It was during this conversation
that one of the students spotted a detonator and Aitizaz’s schoolmates ran inside.
But Aitizaz stood his ground and got hold of the bomber who then detonated his
vest. There were nearly 2,000 students in the school at the time the attack
occurred. Later in the day, the bombing, which was the first
suicide attack at a school, was claimed by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Father
of Aitizaz said that he would not cry on the death of his son as he has saved
hundreds of mothers from crying for their children.
The principal of the school, and
social activists appreciated the Aitizaz’s bravery and believed such a great
lose could not be described in words. Attacks on educational institutes and
killing innocent children is not only against the teachings of Islam which preaches
the lesson of peace but also such gory activities are against the humanity and
no civilization or religion of the world would allow it. Almost 24 hours passed
but neither the federal nor the provincial government functionary has visited
the family of Aitizaz but on the social activists kept putting pressure on the
authorities to acknowledge the martyrdom of Aitizaz but also he should be
awarded with some top civilian honour. Teenage activist Malala Yousufzai
announced she would give Rs0.5 million to Aitizaz Hasan’s family and called on
the government to bestow the highest civilian award on him. Ultimately Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif approved bestowing of Sitara-e-Shujaat, a high civilian
award for bravery – upon Aitizaz Hasan, which he truly deserved. This act of the government not only would
appreciate the bravery of Aitizaz but also would motivate the others to stand
strong against the brutality of extremist.
Indeed, Aitizaz will live as a hero forever, but it is a pity that our
children have to fight this war and we can no longer let this continue. Authorities must make sure the security of the
children, so they are not only fallen heroes but also become living legends.
Wednesday 8 January 2014
Pakistanis not allowed
Racism is being condemned all over the world and all the
countries under the banner of United Nation are working to curb this ill from
the world. It used to happen in the past that people used to fight wars over
the hint of a thought that they are superior from the other races. Apartheid in
South Africa
and other parts of the world can be seen as an example of fights between whites
and blacks, in which former used to dominate others with the sense of superiority.
It was shocking news that a Frech restaurant ’La Maison’ is functioning
right in the heart of capital and operates on a no-Pakistani allowed please
policy. No Pakistanis are deemed safe to enter unaccompanied into La Maison,
the restaurant that operates this policy.
Other than the fact that it is remarkable Pakistanis in
their own country are treated as unwelcome in local establishments, what is
even more surprising is that the justification offered is that the owner is only
trying to protect belief of locals as French style of cooking that uses wine
and food was not halal and even pork was served. If the management,
headed by a Mr Phillipe Lafourge, is so keen to protect the religious purity of
the belief of all Muslims, why they could not put a sign outside restaurant that
Muslims be aware halal food was not being served.
It is strange that Pakistanis having dual passports were
being welcomed but Pakistanis having green passport are not welcome. On this
point Mr Lafourge’s response has been to mention the diplomatic enclave, saying
strict entry requirements exist there too. It can be seen a nice try to justify
the blames spreading racism but it reality it is not because this restaurant
was functioning not in diplomatic enclave but it was functioning in sector F-7
of the capital. Instead, La Maison is on the ground floor of Lafforgue’s own
residence in Islamabad ’s
posh F7-1 neighborhood and enjoys no embassy connections that would extend it
diplomatic privileges. There isn’t even a display sign outside the restaurant.
Overall making judgment that who can dine at a restaurant,
based on the colour of one’s passport is a fairly disgusting practice. The restaurant
must think about what the policy really implies; that a person with a foreign
nationality somehow deserves to be served unquestioned, while Pakistanis are to
be treated with caution, and only allowed entry with a foreign passport-holder
as a guarantor. The only thing a passport is valid for is to determine one’s
nationality, not to get a chance to get a nod to eat from a restaurant.
According to police sources, they recovered huge quantity of
illegal liquor from 'La Maison'. The raid was carried out by the police with TV
camera crews in tow. The police charged Lafforgue with "unlicensed
alcohol," a crime in Pakistan . Police
official said that they received complaints about the restaurant, practicing a
colonial-style ‘Dogs and Indians Not Allowed’ policy in the middle of Islamabad , serving only
foreigners. One such incident happened in 2009, another French restaurant 'The
Cordon Rouge' hung a "foreigners only" sign, which was later removed
after protests.
Authorities also take the matter seriously and such restaurant
and other establishments must not be allowed to operate inside Pakistan where
Pakistanis are not allowed. Authorities must change the policy, or shut the
place down because Pakistan
is for Pakistanis. The foreigners need to understand that they are guests in
the country and they must not behave like the masters and it is not a colonial
period and they must take care of the sentiments of locals.
Tuesday 7 January 2014
Three Pakistani women changing the world
On Monday Forbes released
its ’30 Under 30′ list
for 2014, in which the business magazine recognises 450 young game-changers
across 15 different fields. Good news for the readers is this; three Pakistani
women who they believe are changing the world have been included in the list. One
of the most well known face among the three is Malala Yousufzai, others are
Shiza Shahid and Khalida Brohi. Malala
is considered to be in the list for her efforts to raise strong voice for
girls’ education. She is credited with co-founding the Malala Fund and also on
the list is her co-founder Shiza Shahid who is also the CEO of the Malala Fund.
The third young Pakistani woman on the
list is 25-year-old Khalida Brohi. Brohi was only 16 years old when she
witnessed the honour killing of her friend. This experience motivated her to
found Sughar, a non-profit organisation, which empowers women by providing them
with six-month courses on business and crafts. Sughar aids village women in
starting their small businesses so that they become more financially
independent.
Ignoring the rights of workers
Almost all the segments of life
effected severely due to the energy crises. Industrial sector was one of the
hard hit because of the energy shortage but some of the problems could be
solved just there is need to change the mindset.
Despite of the good news that Pakistan made
goods have easy access to the European Market, some of the American firms have
denied to do business with Pakistani firms not because these firms could not
fulfill the orders on time but they are unable to provide proper environment or
friendly atmosphere to the workers. But just because we ignore a problem, does
not mean it will go away, in the past International community has raised voice
against child labour working in some of the manufacturing factories in Pakistan
and up to some extent work was being done to eliminate child labour but a lot
more need to done.
We can read about the sad
incidents of a factory catching the fire which resulted the great lose of
precious human lives. One of such incident happened in Karachi
last year; a factory fire in Karachi killed 257
people, similar incident occurred in Lahore and a shoe making factory caught fire
and hundreds of workers were burnt alive. The Walt Disney Company, a large US-based
media and entertainment conglomerate, has decided that not only will it stop buying textile goods from
Pakistan itself, but will seek to have Pakistan placed on a
list of countries with which it and other companies that buy Pakistani textiles
will no longer seek to do any business. It is alarming news for the
manufacturing industry of Pakistani businessmen that if international market
would raise the issue seriously then all the efforts to hard earned easy preferential
access to the European market could go in vain.
There is no doubt that the textile
industry is essential to the health of the Pakistani economy, not only the
business community but also the government must take the issue very seriously
and make sure that there is no more ignorance towards the rights of workers. On
worker safety, the government must draw the line. There cannot and should not
be any compromise on the lives and safety of Pakistani workers. As for the
textile industry itself, it should look upon the cost of worker safety as an
investment in protecting its current market share. We must not become a nation
of ostriches, burying our heads in the sand every time we face a problem; we
must put all the efforts together to solve the issues, especially the one which
are putting bad name to out beloved country.
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