Sajid Opines

Out of School Children

2024-04-27T20:01:00.004+05:00

Education is a basic human right. Article 25A of the constitution provides for a free and compulsory education provision for children of five to sixteen years of age.

For this, government has established government schools. Although the quality of education being provided in government schools is questionable, however, that is not the focus or discussion here.

The more alarming situation is almost 26 million children are out of school.

These children have not attended school in life or have been dropped.

That means a whole generation is deprived of the pearls of education. Yet, our elite politicians are preparing for more universities.

They should rather utilize their energies on making plans for admitting these children in schools and try to address the obstacles that deprive children of education.

Afghan Refugee Crisis

2024-04-17T09:10:00.002+05:00

Pakistan had been the home of millions of Afghan refugees who had fled their home country in different waves.

The first major influx of Afghans came due to Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

Similarly, the second major influx came very recently when Kabul fell to Talibans.

To host these refugees, Pakistan did receive aid from international organizations.

Although there were voices from the society against these refugees due to conflicting social values, but all was good at least at the state level. Things started to change when the relationships between Pakistan and Afghanistan worsened when Taliban government took the reins of power.

Initially, Taliban take over was celebrated in some quarters in Pakistan.

The arguments being presented to justify the deportation of Afghan refugees are the increase in the number of terrorist attacks in Pakistan. Authorities claim that the people involved in many attacks were Afghan nationals.

The second and less talked about argument is the burden on economy. These claims may have their fair share in the reality of things, but the actual reasons are strategic ones.

Pakistan had been pursuing the case of Tehrik e Taliban Pakistan hideouts in Afghanistan since long but Afghanistan had been adamant and did not take any significant action.

So, as a last resort, Pakistani authorities have decided to take this route to pressure Afghanistan government. And all this is despite international criticism.

Impacts of Petrol Price Hikes

2024-04-03T22:20:00.002+05:00

Petrol prices are updated twice a month in Pakistan and per liter price is same across the country.

Much of the inflation in the country is due to rapid increase in the petrol prices in recent months.

The fluctuation in petrol prices is determined by various factors.

When the per barrel price of petrol increases in the international market, due to whatever reasons, the cost of petrol increases in Pakistan as well.

Similarly, when the Pakistani rupee depreciates as compared to dollar, petrol price increases because petrol is dealt in dollars.

In the same way, the price of petrol in Pakistan is a mixture of components and the major component is petroleum levy, an indirect tax to raise extra revenue.

In the recent past, the government had to remove the subsidy on petrol and increase the petroleum levy due to IMF conditionality.

That said, the increase is petrol prices results in huge inflation in general.

Obviously, the first impact is direct which is increased petrol price for vehicles.

The second impact is increase in fare prices for public transport.

Third is the increase in prices of goods and services as the per unit cost of every good increases, which they have to transfer to consumers for their profit margin to remain intact.

Fourth, the cost of energy also increases.

All these impacts can be seen in Pakistan in real time. In fact, the entire economic system is impacted due to petrol price. And Pakistan cannot do much because we are dependent on imported petrol so much.

NOTA Option in Elections

2024-04-02T20:39:00.004+05:00

NOTA (none of the above), a choice given to students, mostly in almost every exam. It gives students a chance to record their answers if they think none of the given options fulfill the answer to the question.

Sadly, such an option is not available when one stands on a polling booth.

On one hand, it is necessary to vote to lessen the chances of rigging, on the other hand, one does not gets heard if the candidates available on the ballot paper does not deserve the support of the voter.

In the absence of such an option, all one can do to manifest one's protest is to vote everyone, so that the vote is cancelled and the ballot paper is wasted.

But, doing so only results in canceling of the vote. One does not get heard.

In case of NOTA option, more votes on NOTA means people no more trust the current lot of candidates.

History of the Changing World Order

2024-03-30T20:11:00.002+05:00

World order is a term used in international relations terminology to denote the aspect of an international system where certain states enjoy the perks of spheres of influence.

Historically speaking, before the first world war, the international system was multipolar in nature, which means, there were several states that enjoyed significant spheres of influence.

In fact, multipolar world order continued till the end second world war.

Afterwards, the world turned bipolar with United States and Soviet Union as major powers.

It was after the fall of USSR that the world turned unipolar.

However, the US could enjoy unipolarity only for a decade or so.

Now, experts believe the world is again turning back to unipolarity.

US China Rivalry in a Nutshell

2024-03-29T20:02:00.002+05:00

Till 1990s, there were only two poles in the global power corridors: The mighty United States and the Soviet Union.

But after the disintegration of USSR, there was only one pole left and that was United States.

She enjoyed the global supremacy and there was no global power to match its influence.

However, soon China was to challenge its authority and influence be it economy, military power, allies or any other diplomatic aspect.

China has now a growing influence in Middle East, Africa and even Latin America.

With the recent rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, US's influence in Middle East has further declined. US is making every effort to contain China through new allies in the form of India and renewed agreements with other states. However, for the time being, nothing seems to be working.

Iran US Realtions

2024-03-14T22:13:00.005+05:00

Iran was once an ally of United States of America as long as Iran was taking its line and as long as it was aligned with US foreign policy.

But after the Iranian Revolution of 1979, everything has reversed.

The revolution was itself based on anti-US sentiment. Before the revolution, the elites of Iran were living a luxurious life while the general public was suffering from various ills including inflation, unemployment etc.

Currently, Iran and US are not in good terms and the relations had been down since the revolution.

Recently, the reasons for hostility have further increased.

Iran backs militant groups in certain Middle Eastern countries which are anti-Israel. US is against the Iranian efforts to get nuclear status. Furthermore, Iran is the only state in Middle East that is extremely against Israel.

Role of Judiciary

2024-03-06T23:50:00.003+05:00

Institutions are the backbone of any country. If institutions are strong enough, there is no need to rely on personalities.

However, the situation is different in Pakistan. The role of institutions is very controversial let alone strong enough.

Ideally, of the three pillars of the state, the legislature should be the supreme, however, there should be checks and balances. But that is not the case.

The only powerful body is the military establishment. The second in hierarchy is judiciary which usually acts as the supporting organ. Whether it was Bhutto's case in 1970s, Nawaz Sharif in 2018 or Imran Khan in 2024 or any other, it has taken the same line as that of the establishment.

This needs to change and the sooner it happens, the better.

Judiciary should be partial and decide matters purely based on law and the constitution of the country.

The Fate of Prime Ministers in Pakistan

2024-03-04T19:10:00.000+05:00

It is said about history that 'History Always Repeats'. However, history could not be so predictable anywhere else than in Pakistan.

Anyone who is aware about the power games in Pakistan knows that the big boss has always been the military establishment and politicians are only used to give a civilian face to the government. At least mostly if not entirely.

Interestingly, no prime minister in Pakistan has completed the five year term in office and no PM has ever escaped to roam free after being ousted.

Some were assassinated and their commission reports were never pursued or were never made public.

Almost every PM faced jail terms due to whatever dubious charges were alleged.

In 2018, it was Nawaz Sharif and now it is Imran Khan. Somehow, politicians are themselves to blame, because they never follow the civilian supremacy route. If they do so, they are replaced with alternatives and the cycle repeats.

The Debate Over Presidential System

2024-03-02T15:07:00.000+05:00

Pakistan is a parliamentary democracy. A parliamentary democracy is a system where public chooses their representatives and those representatives then elect the country's prime minister. In such a system, prime minister is the head of the government.

Although our constitution has defined the form of government for us, but still few people think a presidential system is better.

The debate over presidential system and parliamentary system is not new. Very recently, PTI in its tenure had intensified this debate through its ministers and social media. Their is argument is not an academic one.

They argued that a presidential system would empower the president more than a prime minister in a parliamentary system. They went on to elaborate that a prime minister is susceptible to manipulation from the electables but a president would not be so. Their argument is simply a manifestation of their desire to see president Imran Khan more assertive than prime minister Imran Khan. They do not see the consequences of such an amendment to constitution on a broader level.

The problems with presidential system in short are not because of the system at large but its implementation in Pakistan and the consequences. A presidential system in Pakistan would mean that populist leaders like Imran Khan would bypass all saner minds. Secondly, removal of such leaders would be near impossible. All these problems would be a reality only because we do not have strong institutions here and the checks and balances for the various pillars of a state are significantly missing.

Ichra Bazar Incident

2024-03-01T20:30:00.005+05:00

In an unfortunate event, a girl in Ichra Bazar was surrounded by a mob of religious zealots. She was accused of having being involved in disrespecting religion by wearing a dress, which they perceived to be Quranic verses or so.

The truth is far from it. The dress she wore had no such verses on it, rather it was simple Arabic language.

Such dresses are common in Arabic world. And Arabic is their language just like we have our own languages. Religion has nothing to do with it.

Fortunately, she was saved by a brave woman police officer.

This incident is yet another addition to the already lengthy list of blasphemous cases against people without any solid proofs.

Many people are not fortunate to come alive from such situations. For example, Mashal Khan, Sri Lankan manager, Salman Taseer etc.

The state needs to come harder on such people who misuse the name of religion.

Feudal System In Sindh

2024-02-29T14:19:00.005+05:00

For more than a decade now, Pakistan Peoples Party has been ruling Sindh. The party members are mostly feudal lords who enjoy unlimited power and influence over the poor masses.

The hold of feudal lords on significant resources naturally gives them the means to influence the political system or even be part of it.

The Pakistan Peoples Party is not even in a mood to resolve this issue. Even if it tries to do so, there would be huge consequences.

However, the youth is increasingly in the process of awakening. They have realized that without shunning this feudal system, a just society is impossible to imagine.

Unfortunately though, their voice is increasingly is been suppressed by the elders of their family. The elder know full well that questioning the powerful elites is similar to striking your head to a wall. The elders, however, have also realized that the powerful elites have destroyed the province.

If the youth continues to empower itself with knowledge, feudal system is bound to end, although that may take a few more decades.

Advent of Artificial Intelligence

2024-02-27T13:45:00.003+05:00

Although, there is no denying that many people in Pakistan still do not have access to internet or they do not have smartphones due to whatever reasons. However, it is also true that the presence of internet is affecting us all.

The most obvious example of this is absence of recreational activities at traditional 'Otaaqs'.

People in villages may not be using internet, their colleagues have moved on, leaving them with little social circle.

Similarly, people in Pakistan may think that there is still a long way to go for Artificial Intelligence to show its effects on us, But that is not true.

Students have already started using AI tools in their educational journey.

In fact, AI is going to revolutionize everything around us. It may take another decade or so, but what is sure is that there is no going back.

Although, AI would not entirely replace humanity and takeover, but it will certainly affect us.

If we are to stay relevant in the age of AI, we have to make sure that we continuously keep learning and keep updating our knowledge and expertise. AI is certain to come, we have to adapt accordingly.

Fake News and Social Media

2024-02-25T17:47:00.002+05:00

Social media is everywhere. Anyone with a smartphone is using at least one social media. The reach of social media is so massive that organisations have setup their own social media pages.

With so much benefits, it has its fair share of negative points that should be mentioned here.

The one most commonly cited problem with social media is that it is a breeding ground for fake news. It has become very difficult to control the spread of fake news.

In case of traditional media, which used to be the only source of information, there were lesser chances of a news turning out to be fake. The primary reason being mechanisms of checks and balances in case of traditional media.

The editors make sure the authenticity of the news item. That said, there were still chances of traditional media being the spokesperson of the government.

Social media is different. There are no checks and balances for whatever is published. Moreover, the news breaker could be anyone, with or without journalistic knowledge.

Educating Girls

2024-02-23T18:54:00.002+05:00

Pakistan's population is roughly evenly divided between the two major genders i.e. Male and female. On this basis, it is beyond comprehension how could a nation flourish with half its population domesticated. Meaning that, the tradition of men working in offices and women staying back to look after the household matters.

It is this tradition that reinforces the concept of educating men only. This is because, if the women are destined to stay home, then why bother wasting resources on their education.

There is also a religious reason behind not educating girls, but that is not a significant proportion of the problem. The culprit is patriarchy.

If the society is not willing to educate girls, it is the state's responsibility to come forward and lead from the front. Because it is state that is bearing the brunt of the economic losses for not educating for girls.

Climate Change And Pakistan

2024-02-21T22:21:00.000+05:00

If the humanity has any significant survival threats in the 21st century and which is beyond direct control of individual states, it is that of climate change.

It is the test of humanity to cooperate at such a global level to mitigate the threat of total destruction.

Pakistan is one of the most vulnerable nations due to the effects of climate change. We are among the ten most vulnerable nations to be exact. This is despite Pakistan being the least contributing country to green house gases. We contribute less than one per cent of green house gases.

The devastating rains of 2022 are not a distant reality. What is more, there is serious lack of awareness for the effects of climate change. Hence, we heard people in Pakistan calling it an "Azaab" from Allah.

Pakistan is already ground zero of the repercussions of climate change.

What we can do is to push for climate justice and climate reparations.

Social Media Blackouts in Pakistan

2024-02-20T22:29:00.003+05:00

Social media has been denied access to users in Pakistan for 'N' number of times.

The reason, always all the time, is to restrict the unwanted voices against the ruling party or the current establishment.

The victims are same, all the time.

This is what happens when every branch of the government machinery is headed covertly or overtly by a military person.

All they know is on and off policy, as they learn in their training years, when to stop and when to march forward.

They do not realize that our economy is hurt when they block internet access. They do not understand that someone working as a freelancer does not earn due to their stupidity, because what they know is that their salary will be transferred in their accounts well on time.

Pakistan's Security Mindset

2024-02-19T22:14:00.002+05:00

Pakistan emerged as state on world map with many vulnerabilities. One of those was 'security'.

So, from the very beginning, we started seeing everything from the security perspective.

Initially, the security perspective was confined to our foreign policy, but gradually our entire society have developed a security mindset.

Our media cannot report on matters of security unless allowed. Our film industry cannot make movies that characterize men in uniform except when ISPR is itself involved.

What is more, each and every organization in Pakistan is hesitant to share data with the public.

Even if a researcher wants data or want some kind of interaction with any organization, it is hard to get that data. The reason being security of the organization.

We need to move on, and come up with better solutions for security concerns without restricting the public of the information they need.

Pakistan's Population Problem

2024-02-18T19:47:00.002+05:00

As it is said, excess of anything is bad, so is the case with population. In other words, we can term it 'over population'.

When power of a community was muscle based, bringing in more lives was preferable, as more muscles meant more power (may be).

But now, when the power has shifted to brain, there should be no motivation for increasing the quantity of lives.

Rather, the focus should be on increasing the quality of lives. Anyone with a basic knowledge of economics or even a slight share of common sense would know that resources are limited.

With limited resources, there could not be a good justification for unlimited users of those resources. Coming to the Pakistan's case, we are the fifth largest country in terms of population.

Population may not have been such a big issue had we not been grappling with a myriad of issues. We have unemployment issue of even educated people. Our economy is not stable. Our education system is outdated. We lack resources to educate our young generation.

We have politicians who lack the capacity of policy making. Somehow, we could have better managed these issues had we been able to restrict our uncontrolled population growth.

With all these prevalent issues, there is no reason to increase the number of people living in a certain area.

These people would be useless to work anywhere in the fast changing world where robots or whatever name they are given will be common in our daily lives.

Educating Generation Z

2024-02-17T20:23:00.001+05:00

Generation Z is referred to people born in a range of certain age groups, especially those who are born after 1996.

The behaviors and attitudes associated with Gen Z are different as compared to the ones before them.

The people born in this age group are digital natives by birth. They do not have to learn how to operate social media handles and how to navigate a website.

In sum, they are more independent and autonomous than their elders.

Hence, to educate them requires a paradigm shift. The age old tradition of considering students as 'Tabula Rasa' or empty minds is not going to serve the purpose.

The modern day classrooms should be places of discussion and mutual learning and not just copy and paste platforms.

The early we learn and realize this, the better to produce productive minds.

Lawlessness in Kashmore

2024-02-16T20:36:00.003+05:00

Kashmore has always been famous for dacoit culture since time immemorial, or at least since when I personally started comprehending things around me. This time frame is around 2009 onwards. Back then, I failed to understand when my friends or teachers used to ask me about dacoits, and I would divert them by saying that these things happen in the riverine areas and not in city.

Kashmore is being ruled by feudal lords belonging to Pakistan Peoples Party, as is the case with entire Sindh. They have been in power for more than a decade now.

Given this context, there is some kind of a hidden relationship between dacoit culture and the perpetual lawlessness in Kashmore. It appears just when the feudal lords feel that their uncontrolled power is being questioned by various factions of the society, the lawlessness situation increases in intensity and frequency.

Take for example the recent lawlessness situation, when people belonging to Hindu community were made hostages for want of money, as well as the incidents of robbery at gunpoint. When people started protesting against lawlessness, and demanded army operation, Sardar Saleem Jan ordered his followers at his residence with guns. It appears, this was a message to all that to solve problems of Kashmore, he is the only power to be consulted. This shows that the lawlessness situation was a created one.

Decline in Voter Turnout

2024-02-15T21:25:00.000+05:00

Voter turnout is referred to the percentage of people who actually voted on a certain polling day out of the total eligible voters. A higher percentage of it indicates a higher degree of faith in the democratic system. The more the faith in the system, the better for democracy.

Although voter turnout has not been so good in Pakistan, but the continuous decline of it is worrisome. It has declined for the third consecutive term from 55% in 2013 to 52% in 2018 and eventually 48% in 2024.

It seems no political party nor even an institution is worried about this situation. We do not see a discourse going on to explore the reasons why some people do not vote. Besides, lower turnouts open the gates for ballot box stuffing and rigging in favor of a certain party.

Reflecting on Pakistan's General Elections 2024

2024-02-14T21:36:00.001+05:00

Pakistanis voted for their favorite leader/party for national as well as provincial assemblies on February 08. These polls were already delayed due to the finalization of census data. Before almost every general election, there is crackdown on a certain political party, this time it was PTI. Experts call this pre poll rigging. Simply put, the party which mismanages its relations with the military would be on the target list and every trick would be applied to discourage the winning probability of it. This time, PTI members were picked, made to announce their departure from the party by addressing a press conference or giving an interview. Some were even put in jail, again and again. Their electoral symbol was snatched from them through a controversial supreme court decision. Their websites were denied access through public networks and their virtual rallies were continuously disrupted by internet shutdowns across the country. Despite all this, PTI backed independents won more seats than the parties that were given free hand. This was a message from the young voters to all traditional stakeholders. Indeed, democracy is the best revenge.

Policy Inconsistency in Pakistan

2024-02-13T19:56:00.000+05:00

At cursory level, it seems our rulers are not competent enough to formulate pro people policies. They do not seem to be qualified enough to lead us and so the argument that people provide is to bring forward some learned people at key positions. But, we have had learned people at key positions in both elected as well as military governments. What is more, we have also seen some good policy decisions in our chequered history. The reason we have failed to progress at a desired rate is that we continuously fail to be consistent in our policies. A good policy in one government is not followed with the same zeal and sometimes even completely discarded in other government. The reason they do this is because the credit to continue with the policy will not go to their government. There is also a reason why each successive government repeats this cycle of stupidity. The reason being, policies are not formulated with consensus but composed and imposed without much debate. And hence, the incoming government does not find it significant enough to continue with the same policy. Not only that, if a policy has much public acceptance, the incumbent government just renames the policy so to gather support without losing sense. The lack of consensus building during policy formulation is because the parties do not see each other as competitors competing for the public support for doing good work in terms of governance, but rather they rank each other as who is more loyal to the military establishment. Therefore, they do not give a damn about opposition parties. Unfortunately, we the public is suffering much due to their game of thrones.

Elections in Pakistan

2024-02-12T19:05:00.001+05:00

Elections are a vital part of any democracy. It is a process to dilute the power accumulating in few hands. It makes sure that people who are governed are heard in true faith. It enables the people of a state to show their wrath for those who did not govern them well in the preceding years. However, elections in Pakistan do not serve this function well. The prime reason is the interference of military establishment in favouring a certain party over others and creating obstacles in the way of certain other party. This means elections in Pakistan do not reflect their true essence. People are not given free hand to decide their rulers. If politicians were given free chance to fight each other electorally, we could have evolved a better democracy over time. However, nothing has changed.