Policy Solutions for Internet Infrastructure development for Pakistan

Technology infrastructure and public policy face many challenges in the developing world, but it also provides some leniencies for development that gives developing countries such as Pakistan over the developed countries.

To advocate the development of technology infrastructure, Pakistan must approach problems dynamically, that should not be limited to the private sector only. Business markets, local culture, literacy, and economic benefits should be combined to address the development. Only then Pakistan may be able to answer questions such as, 

How to efficiently collect data?

How to create a business environment using technology infrastructure?

How to create data literacy in Pakistan and connect the community?

There are many internet service providers in Pakistan, mostly limited to urban areas. If the government or one private internet provider dominates the development of internet infrastructure in various regions of Pakistan, the national agenda and development may be slowed. The approach has to be the other way around, the development of internet infrastructure which is the foundation of technology infrastructure today and it must target retail competition. Combining the two must be seen as a long-term goal. Deploying infrastructure is step1 while maintenance and upgrading are step2 that should be based on factors such as data usage, data privacy concerns, and basic human rights surrounding the development. 

In 2021, Internet connectivity is at the very bottom of technology infrastructure, there are many public and private stakeholders linked to the development, phone service providers, electricity, private housing schemes, local cable operators, and of course politics are all main players. All of these players have to be working together or at least in one direction.

Part of my research on internet infrastructure development in Pakistan from the public sector’s point is to involve existing electricity infrastructure in Pakistan. It connects better with the public on literacy as well as on deployment and maintenance. Internet technology must first connect with the middle class of Pakistan defined on economic grounds. Only then will Pakistan be able to transition into addressing problems related to data transmission, applications to run on data, type of data, analytics to run on the data (All of which is interconnected and must be considered while deploying the first step of the internet infrastructure). For a country like Pakistan, this seems possible in terms of demand for internet usage yet it requires investment in federal research that addresses each problem individually and collectively.

Another aspect of internet infrastructure development is to differentiate between incentives of the public and private sector for long-term policy deployment. In cities like Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Rawalpindi 5G internet technology is debated in academia as well as in the private sector. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority plans to deploy 5G internet in limited parts of urban areas by 2023, providing 10 times faster internet than 4G with a tested speed of 100 Mb/sec. This is in the trial phase and services will not cater to the middle class, markets, or industries. Basic infrastructure development must provide the platform for the deployment of advanced internet technology such as 5G. 

5G internet access in Pakistan through the concept of the smart city seems good in theory and by no means I discourage the introduction of 5G in Pakistan but if we consider the digital economy of Pakistan and the cost of 5G towers and data usage seem impractical and not an immediate need. Countries like Germany are far more developed than Pakistan also struggles to deploy 5G technology in all parts of the country. The technical aspect of 5G internet infrastructure struggles to address problems such as signal penetration, internet communication devices, and its effects on humans are still not addressed and need to be researched further and is not an immediate concern for Pakistan either. Our primary concern must be connecting remote areas of Pakistan with the internet using ‘Optic Fiber’.

Where and how to start:

Pakistan is developing its highways efficiently, connecting small cities and nearby villages. Railroads that have not been upgraded the same way must be used to deploy optic fiber lines. 

Tax incentives must be provided to the private sector willing to invest in internet infrastructure to deploy optic fiber, this will also take pressure off from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) that works closely with the biggest mobile connection and internet providers in Pakistan like Mobilink and PTCL.

We must involve international stakeholders from China, the US, and the EU to invest in the spread of optic fiber lines across railroads and highways in Pakistan. This way Pakistan will be able to attract foreign investment opportunities for economically stable countries.

Data privacy and Human Rights surrounding data usage should not be forgotten but it must be based on realistic grounds. It should be debated but should not be a hurdle for the development of the internet in the country, in no way these concerns should slow down the development and access of the internet.

We must also suggest how the government can fund such development. It has to be taxed, which is a long pending concern for all past governments, tax collection is not effective in Pakistan, bringing people into the tax bracket is one of the primary concerns of the government of Pakistan. Technology literacy and advocacy should surface in the mainstream media and telecom industry. People need to see the use of internet technology beyond entertainment and consumerism. All basic needs of the people of Pakistan are directly related to the use of technology from healthcare to business markets. Although the internet is playing a basic role in building effective communication, it is needed to attract investment in the country and Pakistan must ride this wave and that's why it should be developed the same way as we develop roads, hospitals, schools, etc.

Setting up agendas needs serious discussions and targeted research on internet infrastructure development in Pakistan to address our basic needs by 2031.

Israel vs Paletine and (Islamic Republic of Pakistan)

For few days, Israel and Palestine issue is hot again and many countries with Palestinian ex-pat communities or religious affiliations have started political point-scoring over this long and pending political issue. Pakistan is at the forefront of this issue YET AGAIN. Mr. Shah Mehmood Qureshi the Foreign Minister of Pakistan managed to meet the Palestinian Ambassador to Pakistan Mr. Ahmed Jawad AA Rabaei today to discuss the matter in detail and ensured their FULL support. But before we judge/support this traumatic situation in Palestine we must look at ourselves as Pakistanis and IF we are even capable of doing anything AT ALL to bring down the violence. What we lack is a realistic approach and maybe just maybe we might want to consider the following.

FEW POINTS TO CONSIDER:

• Pakistan is on the verge of economic collapse, (IMF and most economists consider Pakistan economically collapsed already) nobody takes poor countries seriously and they NEVER will.
• Pakistani politics is NOT educated on the subject either, religious slogans work very well within Pakistan but don't mean anything on global platforms.
• Pakistan does not have ANY strong allies who share the same sentiment about Palestine (not even Turkey, because they recognize Israel and do not recognize Palestine given that their borders are shrinking).
• Pakistan is using Palestine to yet again promote their Islamic brand to the world to welcome more extremism within the society as well as a global image, which even Palestinians do not agree too.
• Pakistan is unable to support Palestine financially or politically AT ALL.
• Diplomatically and economically strong countries understand the position of Pakistan and will get distant from Pakistan, which will affect the common men in Pakistan.

People of Pakistan love to follow Islamic trends (constantly infatuating Islamic revolutions) at the hands of uneducated mullahs who can't even spell economics, but are led by them, world and educated Pakistanis take that as a joke, while we feel like heroes by posting Palestinian flags on our social media or chanting slogans over protests.

Palestine needs support no doubt, but it needs and educated support not something that is based on dumb emotions. Say goodbye to ANY foreign investment that probably might have come to Pakistan and welcome inflation because all rich countries including our BFF China and Saudi Arabia are not supporting Pakistan, which is incapable of fixing similar problems in their own country (So who are we fooling?).

Please think rationally, Israel and Palestine is an old conflict that can ONLY be solved by these two countries (any external support will make this matter more complicated), just like the issue between India and Pakistan can ONLY be solved by India and Pakistan alone. We need to mind our own business (literally) and focus on strengthening our future and economy. We should also support humanity through practical means (funding mostly) not infatuated ones (based on slogans), that only exist in our minds and has NEVER produced any success but we love failing don't we.

Hope it makes sense.

Digital Abusive Communication - a way forward in Pakistan's Development ?

The digital age in underdeveloped, extreme poverty, and social chaos ridden Pakistani society has pros and cons. One of the biggest cons is 'foul language' that nobody acknowledges and everybody suffers from as well. Yet we must understand some hard facts that led Pakistani society and communication here. These reasons must be considered to address this problem of 'online heated abusive arguments'.

Pakistan has not hit its Political Puberty

Pakistan is not a politically mature country. People barely understand the basics of politics and social theories. Pakistani public at large doesn't even know what 'Human Rights' are, or must be. Pakistan's media and public figures (who struggle to understand politics and social theory themselves) expect the masses to understand the extremely complicated and exploitative political and social structure. If any random political or social argument in Pakistan gets structured around rich and uneducated political figures, rather than political or social logic, how can we expect exploited uneducated extremely frustrated, struggling to survive in poverty masses to refrain from showing that off in abusive language (this is a fact not a justification). 

Frustrated and Exploited Masses

This frustrated public is exploited for DECADES by two parties, one that is supported by academics and media on ideological grounds (Pakistan People's Party - PPP) and the other is supported entirely on elitest culture (Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz - PML N). It is ok to support these parties as an individual but just because you support them on some grounds doesn't exclude you from the social construct of Pakistan. There are repercussions of your ideological or political support. As a journalist or opinion-maker one cannot choose to NOT be part of the immature politics of Pakistan). One's denial of this fact is the reason why (Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf - PTI), a third party won the elections in 2018. Which is also denounced the cause of abusive language in the digital age, PTI defeating ALL seasoned politicians, and the opinions of seasoned Journalists suggest otherwise. Pakistan's elite academics and media reject and do not understand the cause of PTI's popularity among young masses and though PTI has unsatisfactory performance it still remains very popular showing what connects better with the public. If PTI solely relied on conventional media to gain popularity it would never be able to mobilize society like it did in 2018. 

No sense of direction laid out in Conventional Media

Our media and journalists don't educate masses over politics, nor do they educate or upgrade their own understanding of politics. The majority (if not all) journalists are very rigid often inflexible to accept anybody's opinion constructively. Conventional media has become a group of somewhat influential people catering to the needs of rich elites in politics and the private sector [establishment]. Media and journalists choose to extend their support based on like-minded political ideology and are NOT seen as neutral critic ANYMORE. Their work is highly influenced by the well being of their career supported by different political groups in society. This process had a very strong stake in our conventional media and politics some decades ago but social media took that away from them and media or journalists completely missed this. Conventional media under the same conventional business model stands incapable of gaining the trust of the masses and fails to represent the interests or sentiments of the masses. If the Jung group (biggest media conglomerate of Pakistan) had a comment or feedback section that was as easily accessible to masses the way social media is to people today we could easily see the same abusive language as a tool of mass communication. 

Social Media a Numbers Game

Social media reduced the popularity of journalists as opinion-makers and provided the public with a broad choice of opinions as well so nobody's opinion matters unless millions share that opinion (Numbers talk). Now even a 12-year-old on the internet has the power to compare opposing political views on social media eliminating conventional opinion-makers in media and politics. The young Gen Z develops opinion by educating itself on social media and see conventional media and opinion-makers as biased and equally clueless. Masses on social media DONT have access or interest in conceptual politics, economics, and social science-based peer groups around them. So masses are educating themselves on social media by comparing opinions hence the chaos and hateful reactionary comments. 

Is Abusive Language a New Phenomenon? 

Let's be real: This abusive language is NOT a new phenomenon in Pakistan, it's a culture that always existed in Pakistan. Foul language is a reality of uneducated and exploited society and has ALWAYS been a major element of public communication in Pakistani society (journalists who are supposed to be whistle-blowers for such uncomfortable truths don't highlight such realities because of their political support), I fail to understand how come they are not aware of this fact if journalists were not aware of this, they must be seriously disconnected to society). Due to social media, abusive language ONLY got digitized publically. There are no gatekeepers in Pakistan to give direction to such communication. Hence the conventional media is losing popularity fast, their opinions have less impact on society today than it had few decades ago. People form opinions via comparisons and debate on social media rather than following seasoned journalists and media houses. This makes them inclusive while media houses seem distant and noninclusive the way it has ALWAYS worked in Pakistan. Conventional media should argue this observation if they want to stay relevant by 2030. Abusive language is a reality we must accept first to initiate a change. If you lived long enough in Pakistan you will know how well versed we are in general (women and children included) and what we are dealing with.

How we perceive opinions in the Past

Let me give you an example: Authors like Nadeem F Paracha, used to be popular in the 90s for his satirical (طنزیہ) features. A lot of people saw him as a fresh cool voice in conventional media. Seasoned journalists used to celebrate his work like pop culture and Paracha also enjoyed the attention in his small group of people who read English Dailies or respected English Dailies.  Yet he continued to get disconnected from the masses. Paracha used to mock political personalities candidly (in English) and he got a free pass because conventional media had control to suggest what they allow and what they don't allow (just like any other institution in Pakistan). Masses also followed the same pattern as Paracha did. Paracha did not respect his opposition politics or personalities (around which politics revolve in Pakistan). He opposed them by calling them names all the time. But since he had a good command of English, conventional media celebrated his style of writing. Paracha or conventional media both did not foresee the evolution of opinions in Pakistan through social media. Today Paracha can be seen complaining about abusive and طنزیہ comments he receives from his shrinking audience as he fails to form opinions shared by the masses. If opinions are in Punjabi or Sindhi or street slang anywhere in Pakistan, those same (طنزیہ) features become unacceptable to some higher logic that is hidden behind journalist's social image among media community and never by wit or logic. Hamid Mir is another good example he used to be the biggest name in Pakistan's conventional media landscape and his opinion mattered A LOT in the 90s. Now even a child has access to his EXTREMELY nonsensical news reports and widely known as لفافہ Journalist by the masses, thanks to his many digital footprints.  Mir is not respected for his opinions anymore as he also struggles to keep his social integrity among the masses as his audience shrinks rapidly. Many journalists from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s are no longer relevant as social media comparison of abundance of content took away their credibility right under their nose. 

Conventional Media must EVOLVE and embrace modern technology

Newspapers don't have a life of one day anymore. It's the social evolution of freedom of expression in an uneducated and politically immature society. Unfortunately,  condemning abusive language DOES NOT address the problem, protesting or banning social media platforms due to foul language will only make you lose your audience on social media (it's a numbers game and conventional media are not educated on the usage of technology either). 

How do we communicate among ourselves?

Everybody commenting on social media is communicating the way they do in real lives, on the streets, with their friends and family and that is making seasoned journalists and politicians and everybody else EXTREMELY uncomfortable. Nothing escapes a digital foot-print NOTHING goes away anymore and mistakes you make publically are punished in Pakistan's digital transformation. If you are a public figure and made a mistake 10 years ago, u can still be held accountable for it ten, twenty years after and it WILL affect ur credibility, regardless of who you are. 

The only Inclusive Political Debate 

This abusive language is the only voice that seems to affect the establishment, monopolistic journalists, political and social elites and they are helpless because they did not expect social media to outsmart them with abusive language and it will go on because NOBODY has control over it. You can fight it but angry abusive masses will win in Pakistan. If we take this to a global level even the strongest most influential people in the world cant tackle this SOCIAL MEDIA ABUSIVE SLANG. West faces the same problem, trolling Trump, Putin, Merkel, Modi goes FAR beyond what we face in Pakistan it's just that masses in the West are more politically and socially mature and we must address the issue to make sure Pakistan gets politically mature to have a political dialogue. 

What seems to be a Realistic Demand?

We cannot demand exploited, poverty-ridden, uneducated, and politically immature masses of Pakistan to be responsible and civilized for their choice of words. It is IMPOSSIBLE, they are victims and outcome of exploitation that we see masses express on social media platforms. Expecting a  smart political rebuttal still shows up every now and then, which is no less than a miracle, and that gives me hope. .... seriously do you think the masses in Pakistan are capable of civilized social and political arguments?   if your answer is Yes, ill be surprised by your judgment and you probably need to spend more time on the streets of any town in Pakistan.

Political Landscape revolves around Personalities rather than Social Issues

Our journalists talk ONLY about personalities and they accept it as a political reality of Pakistan, I don't understand why do they reject abusive language as a social and political reality of Pakistan? Conventional media has not been a smart teacher. Media in Pakistan is incapable of talking about real issues with an intention of educating the masses. Seasoned journalists are incapable of producing well-documented smart intellectual content that is open for the masses and then we expect extremely frustrated and exploited masses to respond in a civilized rational manner. Quality content does not exist in Pakistan, personality-based 'he said, she said' is ALL that happens in political debates, seasoned journalists follow the same ' he said, she said ' approach while glorifying their journalistic careers to gain authenticity, but it does not work in digital age and communication as a major influence, it is only making people more frustrated and masses agitate to what they hear on TV or read in newspapers on social media. It seems to grow fast and conventional media practices don't seem to do much about it. Everyday political and social elites appear on TV defending or cashing on what they said some time ago.

Some Take-Aways

• Understand how the digital age is shaping the world and start planning accordingly.
• Accept the masses as they are, that is a democratic approach. Know your audience.
• Create interesting, progressive, logical, and politically correct content for the masses yourself, IF you want to do something about the abusive trolling online in political arguments there is no way you can expect a change to come by itself.
• Move away from conventional approaches, you will achieve nothing with the conventional approach.
• Try to be flexible while sharing, reading, and writing opinions online.

Analysis of Saudi Arabia’s aid to Pakistan 2019

Analysis of Saudi Arabia’s aid to Pakistan

By

Rahib Raza Malik

15.03.2019

Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, University of Erfurt

Introduction

Saudi Arabia is not a democracy led country and democratic processes are not followed in terms of giving away bilateral aid. The system can be seen by some as a less complicated process whereas by others it may be more complicated for the same reason that it deals through private channels. Due to which a lot of important data on Saudi Arabia’s aid does not get public and people may not have a concrete information about it. The limited information i n floating in public spheres through some local and foreign news sources and academic research may not be enough to conclude yet based on the outcome we can outline structures that are followed around bilateral aid between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
The information on Saudi led aid has regional scopes and motives of the royal families in Saudi Arabia, this could be in the shape of development aid to religious aid. This paper discusses motivation, reasons and sources of aid and interests Saudi royal families. Saudi Arabia has been long supporting Pakistan and vice versa through aid and government related collaborative actions, these relations have lasted decades and have managed to evolve on different grounds, it often has more to do with military activity and or exchange as well (Riedel, 2011). As of 2018 Pakistan has a crippling current account deficit. The current account deficit is more than US$18 billion (S$24.9 billion) and some of the problems directly affecting the economy are fewer exports, fewer tax collections, unstable political cloud and religious extremism surrounding Islam. All of these factors affect the situation where government would look for financial aid from its allies. Saudi Arabia has similar interests towards Pakistan so it may see Pakistan’s current situation as an opportunity by investing into such areas through bilateral aid for better gains. As of 2018 Pakistan’s foreign reserves are sufficient to cover less than two months of its imports but later it may need other plans, this is a similar economic situation since decades that is why bilateral aid has been a key factor for strengthening economic situation of Pakistan.
Pakistan recently approached the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as well for a bailout in October 2018. A team from the IMF arrived in Pakistan in November 2018 to discuss a potential loan which was also sanctioned that also added more confidence among allies like Saudi Arabia to invest in Pakistan too. Although, IMF will be looking for assurances through structural reforms in Pakistan’s government and impose austerity measures. Another important aspect to focus on from Saudi Arabia’s interests in Pakistan has a lot to do with military alliance working independently or under Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism (IMAFT) as well. Pakistan is one of 41 members at the Saudi-led Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMAFT) that provides the most number of soldiers and cooperative measures. IMAFT was launched by the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, in 2017 and deals with a lot of military aid that may not surface the public spheres or media because both countries keep these details confined to confidentiality. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held a ministerial meeting of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC) and Pakistan being one of the strongest armies in Islamic states would lead the way that is of huge value to Saudi Arabia.
In November 2018 Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah general supervisor of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief) told at a seminar in University of Warsaw that total foreign aid given by Saudi Arabia to 79 different countries has been $84.7 billion from 1996 to 2018 (Arab News, 2019). Although Pakistan is not among the top 5 countries Saudi Arabia gives financial aid to as per the statistics laid by Saudi Government in 2018 shows that Pakistan is the 7th in receiving aid from Saudi Arabia but 2nd when it comes to projects.

In 2017 total aid Pakistan received was 1270.41 million USD as per OECD stats and aid in 2018 shows that almost half of the aid to Pakistan comes from Saudi Arabia. That makes Saudi Arabia a very strong ally of Pakistan (OECD, 2019). Various news sources have been asking the newly elected government about the conditions but government spokespersons kept telling the people that there are no special regulations setup for Pakistan regarding aid from Saudi Arabia. The actual deal was not revealed by the government but assured for non-regulated fund. Previous governments in Pakistan never answered such questions in public space either.

(To read the full paper please write to me)

How Germany helps students to fund their studies

German universities are considered one of the finest in the world. Many of which qualify and compete within the top 100 universities globally, these institutes are categorized into two separate bodies we know as public universities and private universities. Yet all of these institutes follow rules and accreditation criteria set up by DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service).

Many universities in Germany have no tuition fee for students, yet they realize that a lot of local and international students might not even be able to cover the traveling and living cost of on monthly basis. In order to deal with such scenarios DAAD provides funding through a range of organizations and public offices in Germany. In order to fund more students every year either through funding or through inception of increased number of students within the public universities that don’t have any tuition fee.

The reason why DAAD keeps funding more students every year, depends on the annual cycle of students taken in each year. German educational cycle depends largely on updated research. Most of the grants associated with DAAD strictly fund academic research that always open more doors to both students as well DAAD. Every year DAAD offers financial support to over 130,000 highly-qualified young and experienced researchers for international research annually. The only criteria they set is if the students has already been to Germany for any academic purpose/s.

Funding highly qualified students to come to Germany for academic purposes gives you enough to sustain your ground in any profession you apply to. Apparently DAAD keeps looking for private organizations that work closely with academia and research. These funding bodies often ask the university for good resource that would help them decide if they should be investing money in this regard. Although the city registration center has already created quite a skeptical of getting registered in multiple ways, DAAD scholarships cover all of it, they not only allow deserving students to pay the upfront semester contribution fee along with other things too. So your entire work that you enjoy doing lets you earn money through it as well. DAAD tries to get students onboard that wishes to get an actual international experience without any cost at least till now, since they even pay you the cost of living which is between 750 EUR to 1000 EUR, this amount covers almost everything for the new students in masters program.

DAAD would be starting their new session, this year in the mid of October, for more details click the link below: 

https://www.daad.de/deutschland/stipendium/en/

We need to teach empathy to our children towards animals

Animals are treated poorly across Pakistan, where poachers pose a constant threat to wildlife, animals in our national parks and zoo also face physical and psychological health issues, the domestic or farm animals live in poor conditions too that nobody talks about as if the issue is non-existent to them. Every year these animals catch horrible diseases that we dont get to hear about until we lose a significant number of these poor animals. Even our stray animals face a constant neglect and cold bitterness from the society. It seems that the only fortunate animals in Pakistan are ones we consider pets and in many cases pet owners also face constant criticism.

Pakistan has a geographic location that breeds a lot of exquisite animals for centuries, since Pakistan is blessed with fertile land; we humans were not the only ones who thought it would be a nice idea to call this place home, animals thought so too. Provided that majority follow Islam that has been very clear about the ethical treatment of animals yet we pay no importance towards their suffering inflicted by us.

Eid ul Adha (Biggest Islamic Festival of Pakistan) celebrated each year brings horrible inhumane videos to social media. Many disturbing videos stormed on Facebook last year on Eid. We have seen amateurs butchers physically abusing and torturing animals that are suppose to be sacrificed in the name of God, we also saw some people struggling to control a bull ending up shooting it multiple times as it desperately tries to run away from death all scared and screaming (all within closed walls). Despite of many local bull fights we have seen that people are least bothered about the remains of these animals either if the abuse was not enough already. That further causes threats to stray dogs, cats and birds too.

If we want to see how nice we are to animals all year we should visit our local chicken or meat shops or markets. Our local chicken and meat shops show the ignorance and cold bitterness that we feed our families on and it exists on both sides of buying and selling. We never complain why the poor chicken is left to struggle in agonizing pain from slithered throat thrown in a blue plastic drum and why all other chickens get to see the butchery patiently waiting for their turn in a stinky unhygienic cage full of flies and their own excrement. We are so used to seeing this violent practice that we have stopped considering it a problem at all, even if Islam stands against it we still dont care. Islam forbids all such violent and ignorant acts, we can’t let the animals see or hear the sacrifice.

Our children learn and pick up things by watching us, if they see their elders treating animals with cruelty, disgust and hate, they would follow their footsteps in Pakistan. The way we treat animals in Pakistan feels like a psychological disorder and this endemic needs to be treated NOW. People are taking their frustrations out on poor animals and we as a society dont see this is as an alarming issue. We have seen a poor donkey beaten to death in a political parade held by supporters of a ruling political party, some raised their voice but were not loud enough to be heard by the majority and they dont care either. This can only be fixed if we teach our children to love animals; children should not be imposed with a thought of hating an animal just because it is an animal.

Last year we saw Stephen Stacey from Portsmouth, England taking internet by storm for shooting and uploading a video of a cat put in microwave oven to be cooked alive. Courts were alerted and Stacey was taken away immediately while people in England aggressively condemned his act and demanded that he should be given an extreme punishment for his disturbing act while being tested for his mental condition as well. Whereas in Pakistan even the most sane voices stand least bothered towards such violent and disturbing acts of violence against animals.

Some people themselves have taken initiative to raise awareness for animal rights but the threat we face today needs to be addressed by the government so the ethical and moral treatment of animals would be ensured. Dr. Asmah working as veterinary specialist has been an active animal rights advocate in Lahore and has been raising stray cats and dogs at her house without any external support, ‘it breaks my heart to see poor animals in pain, so I do what I can, I have 7 cats and 4 dogs, I treat them like my children and the love I get back from these beautiful souls is priceless that makes all my efforts worth it’ she said.

Anybody violating animal rights and safety should be seen in Pakistan as Gunah e Kabeerah (gravely sinful act in Islam) so the religious majority will be change their minds about animals. It needs to be condemned by all citizens to show that we still have conscious. Any animal abuse should be made punishable by courts and other concerned authorities. This will all come into play IF we teach our young generations in schools/homes to love and respect ALL animals.

The softer they will be towards animals the better, I hope this madness stops soon.

Not an Activist any more

I wonder why the world sees ‘activism’ free of universal equity. Sure activism can be constructive, progressive or and often misleading, disruptive and destructive just like any other social or political theory. It is imperative for the activists to explain ‘activism’ across a moral and intellectual code that aligns with progressive and rational thinking instead of imposing their views using violence and destruction. The fair use of logic to substantiate a change in society is often rejected over an emotionally charged activist state of mind. As long as it doesn’t demonize all other practices of supporting an idea over rationality and reasoning, activism doesn’t seem to offer any other way of reforming its own fundamentals.

Where exactly does activism go out of hands or completely fail? Who decides the failure? Who will reform it if required, to be fair I think activists may only consider its own eligible enough to answer such questions. So far I doubt that activism may embark on answering these questions as it may go against them on social and moral grounds.

As soon as we acquire a college degree we begin to politically and socially define ourselves and others. We begin to use labels and supporting ideologies of our chosen influence/s to identify different roles in society. Thanks to our institutes this transformation of an unbiased student into a self proclaimed politically correct torch bearer of justice often takes pride in supporting activism. If the influence doesn’t stop there ‘Media’ steps in and shows us how glorified it is to become a peaceful or violent protestor over the many causes it can find to engage you. Our media and educational institutes often win the fight and they never really fail either since the failure always leaves more causes to turn you into an activist as it is prerequisite for survival for the activist notion.

Over the years activism has been gaining immense heroic attention without deploying any boundaries of social and moral values. Harbored by the media it is portrayed as a revolution every time that loses track of conclusion while our educational institutes continue to fuel it by turning more students into activists, who would not use any other means of proving a point besides protesting and wanting to over throw all other systems working in a society. Media and educational institutes are working side by side as counterparts without defining or following universal (social or moral) equity for activism.

While our institutes provide a limited exposure to carefully filtered ideologies, our media advertises it by showing us diverse activists as role models today. Preying on masses of self righteous freedom fighters the activist regime turns unbiased students into rigid extremists who don’t welcome a difference of opinion or rational thinking. With variable causes to offer there will always be one for every one from religion to animal rights, from political reforms to environment, from women rights to health care it seems as if the only solution is activism. The notion finds its way into using all forms of media from getting ‘likes’ on social media to viewership of television networks and newspapers and following the cool role models like Emma Watson and Beyonce.

                                   

Activists would use the same tactics of communication such as advertisement, propaganda, brand ambassadorship, PR campaigns, violence and man power to impose a narrative on masses. Yet when corporate sector, government, armed forces or any other institute uses the same tactics to perpetuate a political or social influence these activists demonize the act of using these tools. They would hold themselves superior to all other aspects by calling them authoritarian, white supremacists, fascists, capitalists, racists, and many other political slurs that fall out of context on rational grounds as set up by the international law that governs them. It’s funny since activists pretend they want to follow the law, you would often find them quoting the law but you may rarely find them obeying the law. The cherry picking of laws allow them to feed their denial that activism is working for the betterment of society and while treating the problem they often become the problem, that disrupts the harmony of many innocent people, which they never hold themselves responsible for.

Any act against these activists also lands you in trouble on social, political and emotional grounds of course and allows the self righteous ‘Media’ to have more juicy content to promote their act. Activism is never really held accountable for the horrors and intolerant acts of violence it promotes. Sure you may have seen some activists getting arrested and fined for their acts but that is only treating the ill and not the disease. The so-called whistle blowers or watch dogs chanting revolution and idealistic outcomes do everything to turn a rationally thinking person into a rigid activist who works in masses and loses the individuality.

Every system ever suggested or implemented in society needs exploration and reforms; there isn’t any society that has concluded a reason that could turn a city of men into a city of God. If more activists would be willing to take active rolls in rational discussions instead of being political pawns on a chess board we may have a shot and fueling our society with progressive outcomes.

Losing Urdu Fast

Years have passed our Urdu language has stopped creating words and expression of life. Urdu’s focus on adapting influence from foreign languages has been far greater than its native influences, which have been progressing towards a dying culture and expression of self for the speakers, writers or other representatives. This tragedy can be felt through numerous instances of lacking or lacking the use of words and expressions in Urdu even if they existed or not.

How many of us are able to express ourselves in Urdu? Knowing that only a handful of people associated with the language might only be the ones left with such expressions and would really know their language. According to the popular myth often taught in our institutes is that “Urdu is a camp language (زبان لشکری or lashkari zaban) because of its presumed origin in the army camps of the Mughal emperors. That is where Urdu met its ancestors such as Arabic, Persian, Turkish, English, Sanskrit and Hindi. Historical evidence rejects this presumed origin of Urdu and we are left with another counter argument that the word ‘Urdu’ is of a Turkish decent and it literally means ‘lashkar’ or ‘army’ or ‘army camp’. But if we look deeper through cultural and social grounds we learn that cultural conflict and societal associations have been the basis of false historical grounds of Urdu and the loss of Urdu language till today.

Interestingly, there is hardly any language in the world that has not absorbed words from other languages but they have survived the cultural domination. English, being most ‘open’ of them all, has, according to David Crystal, borrowed from over 100 languages, but nobody has ever associated English as a subordinate to other languages, since it has retained its social, cultural and literary value.

Mir Amman (1750-1837) was among the first who presumed that Urdu is a camp language originated in Shah Jehan’s reign when he named a bazaar Urdu-e-Moalla, and that was never questioned in our textbooks till today and words stopped evolving ever since. The practice of enriching Urdu slowed down for the next few centuries, till the freedom movements of 1857 and 1947 drove the language into a cause. The overwhelming freedom movements established Urdu as what we know it today, the language was solely associated with Muslims of India only. Urdu was denied its cultural value by the people of subcontinent till it was run over by press. The dialect was largely under the influence of a political stance as socially empowering tool for the Muslims of India and not as a culturally evolving dialect.

This has been the basis of our lost interest in the language. The few existing literary grounds focused on an expression largely associated with the partition of India and the political turmoil it carried, the other influences existed as a dying poetic plea that generations refused to carry forward. The institutes of India and Pakistan also failed to establish the need for Urdu’s progression by touching the hearts of people. The obsolete curriculum was the final blow to the language, since other social influences like theatre, art, science, literature were never really taken up as a reforming element by the flag bearers of Urdu language. Deprived of historical accounts we still fail to rule out the political influence on the language almost entirely on our society. We still know Urdu as a camp language while ignoring poets like Ameer Khusrow who died in 1325 who had been composing poetry in Urdu, way before the Mughal era that began in 1526 after Babar’s success at Panipat. Khusrow’s life explained Urdu exactly like a chapter that was torn off from a book, he highlights the idea that only the interested students may take up as a conscious affiliation towards the language.

A language takes centuries, even more, to evolve. It is a slow, long, constant, complex and natural process. A language ‘invented’ to serve a specific purpose doesn’t last centuries. Only a cultural influence holds the strength to carry a language through centuries of evolution. Many such artificial attempts have failed among nations trying to communicate with each other. Esperanto, a language formed with the basic roots of some European languages, died despite its early success. That’s where British stepped in and did the job for us.

Muslims came to India as traders, conquerors/soldiers and as sufis/mystics. Out of these traders and conquerors learnt a handful of Urdu to communicate with the locals and being most dominating and authoritative leading power. The fate of the language rests in the historical account, the language needs to be treated like a language and not as a social cause. Associating a language with a socio-political cause takes away the prestige of any language. Urdu speaking people in Pakistan still lack that and fail to realize the product they have become.

The tragedy of losing a rich dialect is a loss of rich culture, if we replace مصنف with ‘authors’ people will not be reminded of Muhammad Hussain Azad, Syed Ahmed Dehlvi, Chiranji Lal, Imam Bakhsh Sehbai, Hakeem Shamsullah Qadri.

 

A Performer's Status

Status and statures determine how you would be treated within bordered subcontinent.

During the first week of 2017 social media was stormed by sad mourners on the tragic death of Mr. Om Prakesh Puri. Om Puri an Indian actor, performer and a household name, known for his long list of acting talents in films like Aakrosh, Arohan, Ard Satya, Machis and many more glorifies his journey to becoming a superstar. Puri’s iconic contributions had not just earned him a good financial status but also a global recognition. Puri’s work has earned him highest awards in India during the very recent years of his acting career that motivated him to become a global sensation appearing in multiple British, American and Art films.

While around the same time across the border there has been another artist not known for grand awards, but for some other reasons that her equally big in Pakistan. She never got any awards not because she didn’t deserve any but mostly because we as a society don’t know what to value and how to award it. It took us over 70 years and counting to appreciate art, something our neighbors learnt a long time ago and they even shared it with us, yet we somehow lost it or refused to accept it. She is Nusrat Aara an actress known for her iconic antagonistic role in the most famous children’s play ever called ‘Ainak wala Jin’.

I concluded that we are not just divided by a border but against an understanding that we lack as a society.

Nusrat Aara was known for her role as ‘Bil Batori’. Her acting gave children the worst nightmares back in 90s when she became a household name for retaining an iconic position on TV screens. It was next to impossible to imagine that an artist irrespective of a meek media industry would end up living a nightmare herself. Sure it’s common for artists to fail and just lag behind while the world sways away but her story goes beyond that failure that we can practically rationalise.

The same day when Puri passed away social media was mourning on his tragic demise, a newspaper in Pakistan published an article that Nusrat Aara was found paralysed and begging on the road near Data Sahab a shrine she was forced to call home.

Having met Puri twice on literary festivals in Lahore that he used to attend quite often, Puri cherished love and enjoyed stardom not just in India but also in Pakistan, where media industry is still struggling to exist. People in Pakistan adored him too. People used to wait in lines to meet him, demanded autographs and pictures with Puri. Something that Aara missed out on all her life and we grew up and forgot about her as a performer. A quarter of that appreciation might have changed her fate. Nusrat Aara was bigger than Om Puri back in 90s but lacked status because of a weaker media. Yet Puri was mourned and Aara was not even noticed while she struggled to feed her stomach. With that part I think I might say it was not just the media industry’s fault entirely who brought Nusrat to this shrine, it was us too, since we didn’t develop good enough heart to appreciate art without a status that everybody wants to have a link with.

Her story reminded me of ‘Andy’ from Toy Story who also grew up and left Woody and Buzz in the adeck, we could not forgive him for doing that and till the end of the movie we kept thinking that this boy didn’t deserve Woody and Buzz. Yet we left not a toy but a human being who made us laugh and who completed our childhood. She is not the first artist who is meeting a similar fate, Muna Lahori (Zakoota Jin), Babbu Baral (actor/comedian), Murtaza Hassan aka Mastana (actor/comedian), Muhammad Farooq aka Ladla (actor/comedian), Majid Jehangir (actor/comedian), Mahmood Khan (actor/comedian) all died crying for help and mercy, all of them ended up on the road while lived to making us laugh. These and many other artists who made us laugh were not even close to earning our concern and sympathy when they needed the most. Since appreciation is a lost cause eventually these performers were treated like disposable bags that carried valuables to home, but when it reached home valuables were locked and bags were discarded. Eventually even these artists stopped begging for work and ended up begging for food and we kept appreciating arts in bigger arenas.

But its not all dark we still love art and we love to laugh on shows like Fifty Fifty, Feeka In Amreeka, Ainak wala Jin and so on. They will remain in our access on Youtube but in real life we have nothing to appreciate or own as a society. May be it is because we have learnt to appreciate art through status and statures, that others define for us. If an artist from a renowned last name like ‘Sethi’ would be advertised we would instantly make it huge in Coke Studio. We would be updated with his Twitter posts and over glorified skills, but in a much bigger surrounding we may even mourn over a loss of an artist like Puri, and every other wall will be sharing his post and dialogues and their concerns about his epic journey.

But our love for art pretty much slaps us as a society who continues to ridicule their artists, performers, athletes that we have disposed over the years all in the name of status. If Nusrat Aara would have had a last name of Sethi, Jehangir, Hashmi, Maqsood, Chaudhry, she would have been hosting a morning show or organizing intellectual debates in public spheres. She would not have even been close to getting an actual nightmare of finding herself sitting on the stairs of the shrine of Data Ali Hajveri begging for food. This says a lot about us and our society that we will continue to live in. She has unfortunately made a mistake for choosing a life of a performer in Pakistan. 

Yet we love art and performances that adds up to our intellect, pride and our positivity.

Some points to consider while distinguishing Muslims and Islamists

Before I begin to write this I want to express my intention behind this article. As a cultural Muslim, I like to check myself in regards to my beliefs and understanding based on my observation, research and experiences. I have tried not to be biased, but as a human I may have made some or many errors. That I leave to the readers to conclude with their comments and criticism.

Now to begin with

                                Muslim                                                                    Islamist

Believer of 5 pillars Namaz, Rozah (Fasts), Hajj, Zakat and Jihad	Believer of Sects based 5 pillars of Islam like Wahabi, Deobandi, Shia, Barelvi etc
Forms and follows his beliefs based on his/her perception mostly associated with emotions, fear, customs, history and values	Follows and spreads beliefs of his religious leader/s, without any room for acceptance of belief that contradicts the overall notion (it could be family, social political groups as well as the religious groups of Madaris)
Accepts other religions in existence but not in beliefs, relevance or alternative and holds his/her beliefs as the most superior	Doesn’t accept other religions in terms of existence or beliefs, and considers his/her own beliefs as the most superior
Not an Activist at heart	Activist
Holds history  and culture as important aspect of belief	Holds no or low priority to history and culture
Extremist views that can lead to anger and violence on accounts of God and Prophet/s	Extremist views in regards to God, Prophet/s, Caliphate, Imamat, Sahaba, Pir, Ameers and Religious leaders
Believes in creationism (try to relate creationism with metaphysics and science without scientific research or proof and/or evidence – their relevance is self-conceptualized and emotionally driven)	Creationism is the only truth they know as told by their religious leaders
Submission without rational, logical explanation. If something contradicts with the science they may reject a proven fact in contrast to their beliefs	Total submission no questions asked and no answers required
Believes in Authoritarian rule, but accepts social liberty on grounds of universal human rights and education unless shirk or apostasy is in context	Believes in Authoritarian rule and do not accept social liberty on grounds of universal human rights and education

We want our women to be funny ... but

It’s weird to start an answer with a question, but situation calls for it. Who’s the funniest woman you know? Or is globally seen as funny? You do need some time to actually answer that right, but try asking that same question for men, and you would actually have more answers than you think you had. Ellen’s show would be a no match to the generally offensive male humor you see on South Park, Beavis n Butthead, jay n silent bob n so on. Legendary comedians like Jim Carrey, Martin Lawrence, Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers, Robin Williams all the way up to the silent reformist Charlie Chaplin. The global idea of funny from men to women somehow ducks down women contributors by huge numbers and even ages.

The prevalence of depressive disorder in Pakistan is at phenomenal rate of 44.4% as per the most recent poll conducted 6 years ago, that’s how updated we are, (25.5 percent in males and 57.5 percent in females) according to eminent psychiatrist and Pakistan Association for Mental Health (PAMH).

Causes can diversely vary from severe financial and housing difficulties, large number of children and literacy in the background of social adversity were particularly closely associated with depression percent in both the genders. Taking a non-empirical approach I wouldn’t compare men or women’s mental stability or instability for all the things they do or they don’t in regards to humor. Keeping both external and internal factors constant for men and women, somehow men still stand out as the funnier gender. With merely 750 trained psychiatrists in Pakistan and most of them based in urban areas like Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta, it is a lofty task to treat such a huge number of patients as well. In women's case even liberal movements could not trigger a recognition for sense of humor and women are still not funny. What is the excuse here people?

Comedy is not about happiness. It’s more about exaggeration and creating a situation that can transform even the darkest and most sadistic issue to be worthy of a gag. Sense of humor has the ability to simplify complexes into stupidity or wisdom while being hysterical. It’s also about maturity and the ability to understand things on a deeper level and feel the hidden gags in tragedy. But that’s not how women see it or adapt it and they still have a hard time learning it. They still get offended on things way more than men they would always find humor to be offensive, dirty, racist, sexist, chauvinist and so on. Ofcourse it’s not the same for all the women, it’s a general observation.

Men perceive humor with an approach of 'darker the better', 'more offensive the better', 'sometimes more abusive the better' and ofcourse 'the dirtier the better'. It’s not that women don’t know that, they can even identify it but they are unable to originally create it and epic for it. It always works on women when it comes to men's sex appeal. After falling for the looks the second thing majority women would look forward to in a guy would be his ability to be funny and use comedy.

Unless we’re talking about the feminist sadists that have a problem for every solution would not be the case. We want our women to be funny, men still think they deserve funny women. Men’s idea of funny women is not somebody who’s cracking jokes all the time, men can actually give liberty to that. Their idea of funny women would be the one who could enjoy or understand their jokes the same way as men would. Most of the married men evolve into sarcastic hilarious characters because their lives had shown them such epic levels of depression that they end up with an attitude of ‘FUCK THIS SHIT’. We don’t see women developing that very often. Sure they would have faced their fair share of depression but they turn sadist more often. Men somehow have the tendency to face these troubles and yet be a part of a comic movement.

The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), the core body of Pakistani doctors, says: “It is alarming to note that a big proportion of our population is suffering from psychiatric disorders, principally depression. The prime reason for this problem may be considered the overall economic, social and political atmosphere of our country.”

It’s not men who associate women with sadism or tragedy. Women just have tendency to enjoy sadism way more than they would enjoy comedy on their own. All men know this as a fact you want to get a girl just make her laugh, because she can’t do it on her own. Even a feminist dude would understand this while a feminist woman might jump out of the crowd yelling 'that’s not true' one can only reply to her with a smile followed by “sit your ass down, you dry delusional mind-fuck you wouldn’t know".

Feminism just didn’t help make women funny. Instead it made women angry which is why they don’t get along very well with sense of humor. Feminist women have the tendency to somehow relate to tragedy and sadism, way more than normal women would and they are force feeding it to the society turning women angrier and less funny. This idea is prevailing all over the world now, no matter how privileged a woman would be she can always choose to be a victim and spread sadism further in society oh and it’s so not funny. Men want their women to be funny they crave that. But women just don’t get it and its getting worse.