Education the Quiet Revolution in Pakistan
It comes as a pleasant surprise to see the number of children that are getting educated in Pakistan. It’s not that any of the past governments have provided incentives to parents to get their children educated. It’s the people themselves, and especially those who were illiterate, lived on or below the poverty line that have gone about getting their children educated. They still have to face many hardships as in a number of rural places there are only primary schools for girls. Yet it’s heartening to see that parents have gone through the extra burden of getting their daughters education to continue. That’s why we see that the girls are doing better than boys at all levels of education. There are more lady doctors, engineers and other professional women today then there were just a decade ago.
However, be its boys or girls, the number of educational institutions have increased steadily. But Pakistan’s security and economic conditions are not growing at the same pace. Therefore the job market is shrinking and frustration among the younger generation is growing. This issue has to be addressed urgently. No government can afford to have an educated nation that’s not gainfully employed. An angry revolution by the unemployed youth will spell disaster for the country.
Politicians are too busy in playing their games of musical chairs and hardly bother to address the current and foreseeable problems that the country and nation will be facing. Once we get out of this ‘war on terror’ which has brought the country to the brink of ruin will we be able to provide security. This is a necessary ingredient for socio-economic development and needs to be addressed at once.
Related articles
- Pakistan Needs Women Education to Curb Population Explosion (zindadilpakistan.com)
- Defense of Pakistan or Defy Pakistan Council – New Entrants on the Political Front (zindadilpakistan.com)
Plight of Women in Pakistan’s Largest Province Baluchistan
There is a dirty war that’s been waging for a few years now in Pakistan’s largest province, Balochistan. In this war it’s the women of this province that are the worst sufferers. Mothers, wives, sisters, anxiously await the return of their husbands, sons and brother that have gone missing. Most of these men’s bullet riddled bodies have been discovered dumped on roadsides.
Balochistan is the largest and rich in mineral resources. Yet the majority of women of this province remains illiterate; suffer the highest rate of infant mortality and gender disparity. Although social customs and practices are blamed for their plight, yet it has more to do with the state’s discrimination against the women of this province. Every successive government has quietly avoided on addressing the issues of these women.
The government has blamed the Baloch men for this discrimination. However facts show that education, health, political empowerment, jobs, socio-economic development has been deliberately ignored by the governments ruling in Islamabad. Therefore the men of this province are not only to blame. Women of this province are discriminated against by the state.
Balochistan has the highest maternal mortality rate. The mortality rate in Karachi is 280 per 100,000 lives as compared to 750 for rural Balochistan. Moving on to education, which is vital for empowering women, Balochistan girls are not culturally barred from receiving higher education. The simple fact is that there are no higher educational institutions for them. Moving on to vocational training, the province boasts only one such center.
Article 25 of the Constitution, of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), entitles women to several economic and social rights, such as rights to food, social security, housing, education and healthcare. But implementation of these basic rights has been largely ignored. On this International Women’s Day, we should not forget the unfortunate and mistreated women of Balochistan.
Related articles
- United States Starts Challenging Pakistan’s Sovereignty by Interfering in Balochistan (zindadilpakistan.com)
- Balochistan Day to be observed (nation.com.pk)
- Balochistan: Pakistan’s other war (seeker401.wordpress.com)
Pakistan-India Water Dispute in the Making
After 64 years the government of Pakistan and its ‘water experts’ have become aware of the fact that soon in the future Pakistan may face severe water shortage. After the construction of Warsak, Tarbela and Mangla dam, the politicians and the provincial governments have remained embroiled in a dispute over the construction of Kalabagh dam. Pakistan inherited a canal water supply system from its previous rulers and not was done about making the country self sufficient in water. In fact, if we examine all the articles appearing in various newspapers it appears leaders and water experts were involved in a deep slumber.
On the other hand India has gone about making itself water independent. It has quietly worked at tapping all likely water sources and are building a vast water network that will provide water where needed. Secondly they have developed a monsoon water storage network.
Today Pakistan is yelling ‘not fair’ at the dams that India is constructing in Occupied Kashmir, and the world is hardly paying any heed to these appeals. Pakistan has decided to build a 271 meter high RCC dam in an earthquake prone area. Experts have said that this dam is dangerous, but those who have conceived and given the go ahead for its construction don’t realize the damage that can be caused by a 10 kilometer body of water hurling down from an altitude of 3,900 feet.
Its time Pakistan got a group of ‘water intellectuals’ together who can offer rational proposals to make the country water sufficient, and their proposals are worked on and not thrown into the dustbin. The International Court of Justice and any other international body will not support us and we only have ourselves to blame for the predicament we are in. The government will do well to rise above petty politics and get a consensus from the provinces on solving our water issues without depending on any foreign aid.
Related articles
- You: Neglecting Kalabagh Dam (nation.com.pk)
- You: Army must stop Indian water war: Nizami (nation.com.pk)
Pakistan Does Not Commemorate International Women’s Day
Today women in the developed world are celebrating International Women’s Day, and the majority of women in Pakistan are unaware of the fact that there is a day dedicated to them. Women in Pakistan remain largely uneducated and are not even considered to have any role in society. They spend their lives in misery and every successive government in Pakistan has done nothing for their social and economic uplift.
In the last few days one Pakistani woman through her own dedication and hard work won an Oscar for the best international documentary. There were very few people in Pakistan who applauded her efforts and the criticism over her receiving this coveted award far outweighed the applause. On the other end of the scale; a PPP female candidate for the provincial assembly was caught on camera slapping a female polling officer. Till today, the ruling party has not bothered to take any punitive action against their party candidate.
Women in Pakistan remain largely uneducated although they comprise fifty percent of the country’s population. They are made to work from morning to night as domestic servants, bonded labor, in the fields and in the homes, and they largely remain bound in the chains that our society imposes on them.
Although there are a number of NGOs working for women’s rights in Pakistan, yet their efforts have remained largely unnoticed. We as a nation need to make a collective effort to free women and give them their due place in society. One ray of hope that’s being witnessed is that women of the younger generation are excelling in studies and it’s hoped that they will help in freeing women in Pakistan. We hope that someday in the future the women of Pakistan will also celebrate international women’s day.
Related articles
- Women on road to equality (nation.com.pk)
- Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy Puts Pakistan on the Oscar Map (zindadilpakistan.com)
Defense of Pakistan or Defy Pakistan Council – New Entrants on the Political Front
There used to be a Lucky Irani Circus that used to move from city to city across Pakistan and perform a variety of entertaining circus acts. Children and adults used to await the circus to come to town and would troop of to see their show. One thing is for sure, they were genuine and entertaining.
After Imran Khan’s massive rally in Lahore, which was an eye-opener for other political parties a new political front named Difa-e-Pakistan emerged. A number of their leaders headed outfits that have been banned by the United Nations and with them there is a politician and retired army general whom the electronic media just love to have on their ‘Talk Shows’.
Most people and analysts believe that this band has been put together by the ‘establishment’. When referring to the establishment they mean the army. Of course the turnout at their rallies has also been quite impressive, but one fails to understand their purpose. Speaking out against America and India are their major rallying points. And then people in Pakistan do have a lot of spare time on their hands and for want of something better to do, attend any show in town.
Why does the ‘establishment’ want this team to go around spewing venom and hatred towards America and India is beyond logical thinking. If this is an attempt to stop Pakistan and India’s government from bettering relations and a way of using people to display their hatred towards Uncle Sam then they are far from reaching their objectives. Yes, the people of Pakistan want a stop to drone attacks, but has anyone made a real effort to do this? The government makes the right amount of noise, but that’s it, just noise.
Haven’t we seen in the past the botched attempts made by the establishment in thwarting a better future for Pakistan by their misadventures. It’s time the civilian government got their act together and disbanded these hate mongering groups.
Related articles
- Imran Khan – Emerging Star in Pakistan’s Political Arena (zindadilpakistan.com)
- Difa-e-Pakistan moot on 18th (nation.com.pk)
