Friday, November 26, 2010
3 years, issues unsolved - Review on the performance of current PPP government
Benazir Bhutto’s assassination in 2007 provided Pakistan Peoples Party heavy mandate that brought their government after Musharraf regime. The government that raised the slogan of ‘roti, kapra aur makaan’ failed to solve public issues. Although initiated notable steps and policies on national and international but practically failed to focus over issues related to a common man. The government may have benefited individuals or few institutions but a common man turned worst day by day.
Present Pakistan Peoples Party government has many achievements on its credit but these accomplishments couldn’t improve the economic, law & order and socio-political situation. The party successfully adopted the reconciliation policy with the allies and opposition parties. PPP took along parties like Mutthida Qaumi Movement, Pakistan Muslim League (Functional), Awami National Party, Jamiat Ulmae-Islam and others in various situations but again at many stages (as RGST) the reconciliation policy failed.
PPP opened their success book by resuming Chief Justice to his seat. It was the stage when PML (N) launched the long march with lawyers, here PPP took a wise decision.
The 18th amendment is another milestone in PPP’s tenure. The party described the amendment as the best constitutional thing happened since 1973 constitution and some called it ‘a historic development’. The 18th amendment included 95 amendments in the 1973 constitution; one of the prominent amendments was provincial autonomy.
The 7th National Finance Commission Award (NFC award) is also another feather in PPP’s cap. President Asif Ali Zardari signed the historic NFC award document in March 2010. The award successfully distributed financial resources among the provinces.
Development programs like Benazir Bhutto Income Support Fund and Benazir Youth Development Program emerged as great development ideas to bring positive change in the society. Benazir Bhutto Income Support Fund is one of the biggest poverty reduction programs ever initiated in the country while Benazir Youth Development Program trained more than 80,000 youths in different trades. Later on, both of the programs failed due to huge corruption.
The war of terrorism has put Pakistan into the state of war. The heavily armed militants have become active to destabilize Pakistan in different areas of the country. In PPP’s regime, Pakistan Army launched operations like Operation Raah-e-Rast and Operation Raah-e-Nijaat against the militants and killed/arrested many. As a result, 2.5 million people of the affected areas had to leave their homes. Government effectively managed the IDPs and sent them back to their homes after the operation ended.
The budget 2010-11 presented by PPP government brought good news of increment in the budget of Health, Education and Police.
But on the other hand, the condition of a common man turned worst despite of all the mentioned achievements of the present government.
The continuous price hike killed the common man. Daily raise in prices of Sugar, Milk, Petroleum, Pulses, utilities and other goods caused great pain to the public of Pakistan. In this government’s 3 years, the prices of many goods raised up to more than 100-200%.
The economic crisis is the worst face of Pakistan Peoples Party’s government. The government took excessive loans from global organizations which caused great damage to Pakistan’s economy. Pakistan right now is heavily in debt of World Bank and International Monetary Fund who are imposing their policies on Pakistan. The price hike and the rising taxes are result of IMF and World Bank’s policies.
Corruption is PPP’s gift to Pakistani public. According to Transparency International’s report, Pakistan has climbed from number 43 to number 34 in terms of corruption, Health, Education, Police, Ministries and even matters like Hajj became corrupted. Corruption of billions has been exposed in Benazir Income Support Program, Rental power plants project, Earthquake and Flood relief programs, land distribution etc.
Energy crisis has defamed the present government more than anything. In present government’s tenure, electricity load-shedding increased to a painful extent. Rural areas are facing load-shedding of 10-20 hours a day. On the other hand, the metropolitan and the financial hub of Pakistan has to suffer hours of load shedding everyday that is apparently causing severe damage to the economy.
Both the achievements and weaknesses of PPP government have been mentioned above. One reaches to the conclusion that PPP has failed to solve public issues and to provide relief to Pakistanis. The government has done nothing more than renaming Airports, roads and towns on the name of Benazir Bhutto, the REAL issues remain unsolved, public suffers.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Students to make Inter board's policies
Karachi: For the first time in history, an educational board had added student representatives in it's educational policy-making. Intermediate Board of Karachi has announced to form "Students-Educationists Syndicate" where the position holder students will participate in the policy-making of the board. Speaking to Common Room, Chairman Intermediate Board of Karachi Professor Anwar Ahmed Zai said that the syndicate comprises of 36 position holders of this year from all groups, 12 teachers and 12 educationists. Working together, they'll formulate the best policy and patterns". The position holder students were present at the ceremony. "Throughout our history, students were never asked what do they want. We have added the students in policy-making to get their direct feedback. Their participation will help us out in improving standards.", Chairman IBK added. He said that the current syndicate will remain functional till 31st October 2011, then the next year's position holder students will replace the current ones.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Rage against the social evils – Pakistani music fights back
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow defines music as the universal language of mankind. What expressed through music is the musician’s inside or around. Love, betray, patriotism and joy are emotions that are usually expressed through tunes. Hate, corruption, prejudice, war, riots, conflict, extremism and terrorism are the bad sides of society and unfortunately we, the Pakistanis, have witnessed them badly since our country’s inception. This is the time when one is concerned about his/her society and this is where the music depicts it too.
As music is simply human emotion, social issues music’s history is old too. Rage against the machine (An American band of 1990s) presented fiercely polemical music with heavy metal instrumentation. One of the greatest names of western music Michael Jackson also raised voice against prejudice.
In
Talking about Najam Sheraz, his song “Yeh baat kisay maloom nahin”(1996) is a curious song. The song highlights the deprived part of the society and how the “sarmaye ke bhookay sher” (capitalists / politicians) exploit them. This song was censored on national TV and the reason was its being against establishment. “Sona chahta hoon” (1
995) is a song where Najam sheraz wildly cried for Kashmiris. The one-of-its-kind screaming song was banned on national radio (reason: the lyrics and vocal performance was too wild for the youth).
Jazba, a band appeared in early 90s, were also one of the few musicians who raised voice against Indian aggression in
Another band likely to be mentioned here is Strings who have just came back with Atif Aslam in “Ab khud kuch karma parega”. It is a messag
e to Pakistanis to standup against terrorism and fear. Earlier, they’ve also done “Berut”, a song for Gaaza.
Karavan, the rock band of masters, also set a benchmark in social issues. ‘Rakh aas’ and ‘Yeh zindagi hai’ are the band’s social thoughts.
How can one forget the lahori band Entity Paradigm (EP) here? Kahan hai tu and Humain aazma represent youth and motivation while the aggressive song “Fitrat” questions the elite for exploiting people “Bol qabeel tu chahta hai
kya, uska haq ya ke uski dua?”… the lyrics are amazing specially at a place where he says “Kaghaz k tukray (money) to dikha jinhain jor ke tu bana khuda”. Tremendous stuff!!!
In 2007, when 
. This is where a young band ‘Laal’ raised up and followed revolutionary poems of Habib Jalib and Faiz Ahmad Faiz. ‘Meine us se yeh kaha’ and ‘Umeed-e-Seher’ are inspiring enough.
Money is everything, says the band Azal in song ‘Aisi Taisi’. The song with excellent music arrangement and strong lyrics depicts society running after money. It is voice of a rebel.
Socio-political satire can’t be unnoticed when talking about social issues. Shehzad Roy tops the list with ‘Laga reh’ and ‘Qismat apne hath main’. His lyrics are always strong 
and thought-provoking and through satire, he has successfully delivered his wakeup call. As a social activist,
A lot of other musicians have also attempted music on social issues but the ones mentioned above were the milestones in the industry. Music surely reflects what’s around in our society and Pakistani music does it well.
- Jibran
Monday, August 2, 2010
Dedicated to Air Blue crashed flight passengers
The plane i'm on is going slow
I look and stare down below
Something is wrong people are crying
I wondered if anyone was dying
I never saw anyone steering the plane
I wonder if the captain has gone insane
The plane is moving downward from the sky
I prayed to God and begged Him not to let me die
Everyones out of their seats yelling and screaming
I wonder if anyone here is a demon
I looked out the window,
we're close to being dead
I wish this was a dream and I could wakeup in my bed
But it wasn't a dream it was real life
I wish I had my really sharp knife
Then I could put this all to an end,
and I wouldn't have to take the time to mend
Soon enough we crash on hill
After that I couldn't hear a single sound
Everyone was dead, and so was I
I never wanted it to end like this, "I never wanted to die"
I look and stare down below
Something is wrong people are crying
I wondered if anyone was dying
I never saw anyone steering the plane
I wonder if the captain has gone insane
The plane is moving downward from the sky
I prayed to God and begged Him not to let me die
Everyones out of their seats yelling and screaming
I wonder if anyone here is a demon
I looked out the window,
we're close to being dead
I wish this was a dream and I could wakeup in my bed
But it wasn't a dream it was real life
I wish I had my really sharp knife
Then I could put this all to an end,
and I wouldn't have to take the time to mend
Soon enough we crash on hill
After that I couldn't hear a single sound
Everyone was dead, and so was I
I never wanted it to end like this, "I never wanted to die"
Friday, June 25, 2010
Novartis BioCamp - A milestone
The significance of Biotechnology in Pakistan was realized as far back as 1959 when the country’s first commission on Science & Technology emphasized the need of setting up research organizations. Pakistan’s educational system is growing up by time but what still needed to minimize the gap between Academia and Industry. The research conducted at our universities is rarely applied in the industry. Here, Novartis Pharmaceuticals took a step and initiated the first Local BioCamp in order to bring the students in direct contact with the pharmaceutical industry.
The 2-days BioCamp is an effort to bring young, talented and energetic students from diverse faculties and different universities closer to the field. 26 Students and researchers from different cities of Pakistan were evaluated and selected to participate in this exciting event. The participating universities were University of Karachi, HEJ institute, Baqai University, Ziauddin University, Hamdard University, University of Sindh, University of Punjab (Lahore) and Islamia University (Bahawalpur). On the other hand, two participants from media were also invited as participants’ i.e (Jibran T. Siddiqui, Health Reporter, News1 TV and Ovais Ahmed, Dawn News TV). Thus, Novartis succeeded to make a diversified combinatio
n of individuals from the areas of Pharmacy, Drug research, Molecular research and Health Journalism.
As a Health Reporter, I was a bit confused when called for BioCamp as I’m not a medical student. I had no idea if I would be able to understand the terms and discussions about an advanced discipline as Biotechnology. I was fortunate to have students like Muffrah, Shahid, Shahrukh and Hina in my group who belonged to different universities and had different specialities and skills. Throughout the conference, we worked
together. Preparing and presenting the marketing plan about an Alzheimer Test was a challenging task and we together accomplished to a satisfactory performance. Thank you guys! All the presenters did very well and their marketing plans (prepared in 90 minutes only) were excellent from any point of view. This will surely help them in future.
The BioCamp participants were very fortunate to be accompanied by the distinguished experts from various fields. Speakers like Dr. Iqbal Choudhry (HEJ Institute), Dr. Saifullah Khan (HEJ Institute), M. Khalid Yousuf (Novartis), Dr. Ahson Siddiqi
(Novartis) and Dr. Tasneem Farzana (NIBD) proved to be the best guiding stars. Moreover, sessions by Mr. Merajuddin (HR, Novartis) and Urooj Mazhar (School of Leadership), other feathers in the cap. Prof. Masood Hameed Khan (VC, Dow University of Health Sciences) spoke about BioTech at the inaugural ceremony and opened new doors of information to the students. Undoubtedly, the eminent speakers inspired the participants to create waves.
One of the most interesting parts of the BioCamp was the ‘Cultural evening’. All the participants were dressed up in eastern attire and performed one by one on the stage. These performances included Singing, speeches, poetry and dance. It was surprising the see the students performing so confidently on the stage. Maryah, Munazza, Omair and Shahrukh astonished me by their stage confidence, thumbs up! Ahmed Saleh attempted ‘Laal meri patt’ where the boys danced to the beats. My contribution for the night was an unplugged performance of Imik’s mellow song ‘Piya’. Some participants entertained the audience by humorous poetries that made everyone laugh out lou
d. Novartis family also delivered some exciting performances including the classic ‘Kabhi to tumko yaad ayengay’ by Dr. Ahson Siddiqi and a song performed by wife of a Novartis family member. Moiz’s stand-up comedy also brought smiles and refreshed the evening. Ovais Ahmed from Dawn presented a piece of poetry by Faiz and an extract from Pitras Bukhari with his skilled voice overs. Well done
The post-cultural evening gathering was the craziest moment. The participants sang and danced like no one watched J
What I learned from BioCamp was working in a team of different minds and utilizing their respective skills to achieve goals. On the other hand, BioCamp also introduced us to the modern trends of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Working together, the participants discovered their skills and talents and analyzed themselves in the context of SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats).
As a participant, I’m very thankful to Novartis who considered media as regular participant. This will help in bringing the three pillars Academia, Industry and Media closer and forming an effective triangle that works for social development.
I would like to thank people without whom this mega-event was not possible. Mr. Shabuddin, Mr. Merajddun, Mr. Khalid Yousuf and others from Novartis. Dr. Ahson Siddiqi remained as the guiding star and the prime mentor throughout the conference. He was physically and mentally present at each and every moment of BioCamp. Mr. Zia Anwer put tremendous effort in organizing the event while Ms. Tania Anjum proved herself a silent storm. I express special thanks for Zia and Tania for being dynamic, supportive and humble at the situations.
The two-day conference earned us great friends. As Ahmed Saleh said that the saddest part is that the night we turned great friends followed the day we left. Thank you Ovais for being a convenient room mate, Muffrah and Omair for being there at every moment, Hanna for bugging around, Ahmed Saleh, Maryah, Nayel, Munir, Sundus and Hanna for the late night fun and Munazza, Ali, Sajid, Kashif, Shahrukh, Shahid, Rakhshanda, Ayesha, Hina, Rabia and others for being there as shining stars. Wish you all best of luck for the future!
Congratulations to Ali Uzair and Hann`a Iqbal, who got selected for the International BioCamp in Basel, Switzerland. Best of luck mates =)
The Local BioCamp 2010 will remain as an unforgettable experience of my career. I hope the event stays as a milestone in our life and we implement the learning for a bright future.
- Jibran T. Siddiqui
The 2-days BioCamp is an effort to bring young, talented and energetic students from diverse faculties and different universities closer to the field. 26 Students and researchers from different cities of Pakistan were evaluated and selected to participate in this exciting event. The participating universities were University of Karachi, HEJ institute, Baqai University, Ziauddin University, Hamdard University, University of Sindh, University of Punjab (Lahore) and Islamia University (Bahawalpur). On the other hand, two participants from media were also invited as participants’ i.e (Jibran T. Siddiqui, Health Reporter, News1 TV and Ovais Ahmed, Dawn News TV). Thus, Novartis succeeded to make a diversified combinatio
n of individuals from the areas of Pharmacy, Drug research, Molecular research and Health Journalism.As a Health Reporter, I was a bit confused when called for BioCamp as I’m not a medical student. I had no idea if I would be able to understand the terms and discussions about an advanced discipline as Biotechnology. I was fortunate to have students like Muffrah, Shahid, Shahrukh and Hina in my group who belonged to different universities and had different specialities and skills. Throughout the conference, we worked
together. Preparing and presenting the marketing plan about an Alzheimer Test was a challenging task and we together accomplished to a satisfactory performance. Thank you guys! All the presenters did very well and their marketing plans (prepared in 90 minutes only) were excellent from any point of view. This will surely help them in future.The BioCamp participants were very fortunate to be accompanied by the distinguished experts from various fields. Speakers like Dr. Iqbal Choudhry (HEJ Institute), Dr. Saifullah Khan (HEJ Institute), M. Khalid Yousuf (Novartis), Dr. Ahson Siddiqi
(Novartis) and Dr. Tasneem Farzana (NIBD) proved to be the best guiding stars. Moreover, sessions by Mr. Merajuddin (HR, Novartis) and Urooj Mazhar (School of Leadership), other feathers in the cap. Prof. Masood Hameed Khan (VC, Dow University of Health Sciences) spoke about BioTech at the inaugural ceremony and opened new doors of information to the students. Undoubtedly, the eminent speakers inspired the participants to create waves.One of the most interesting parts of the BioCamp was the ‘Cultural evening’. All the participants were dressed up in eastern attire and performed one by one on the stage. These performances included Singing, speeches, poetry and dance. It was surprising the see the students performing so confidently on the stage. Maryah, Munazza, Omair and Shahrukh astonished me by their stage confidence, thumbs up! Ahmed Saleh attempted ‘Laal meri patt’ where the boys danced to the beats. My contribution for the night was an unplugged performance of Imik’s mellow song ‘Piya’. Some participants entertained the audience by humorous poetries that made everyone laugh out lou
d. Novartis family also delivered some exciting performances including the classic ‘Kabhi to tumko yaad ayengay’ by Dr. Ahson Siddiqi and a song performed by wife of a Novartis family member. Moiz’s stand-up comedy also brought smiles and refreshed the evening. Ovais Ahmed from Dawn presented a piece of poetry by Faiz and an extract from Pitras Bukhari with his skilled voice overs. Well doneThe post-cultural evening gathering was the craziest moment. The participants sang and danced like no one watched J
What I learned from BioCamp was working in a team of different minds and utilizing their respective skills to achieve goals. On the other hand, BioCamp also introduced us to the modern trends of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Working together, the participants discovered their skills and talents and analyzed themselves in the context of SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats).
As a participant, I’m very thankful to Novartis who considered media as regular participant. This will help in bringing the three pillars Academia, Industry and Media closer and forming an effective triangle that works for social development.
I would like to thank people without whom this mega-event was not possible. Mr. Shabuddin, Mr. Merajddun, Mr. Khalid Yousuf and others from Novartis. Dr. Ahson Siddiqi remained as the guiding star and the prime mentor throughout the conference. He was physically and mentally present at each and every moment of BioCamp. Mr. Zia Anwer put tremendous effort in organizing the event while Ms. Tania Anjum proved herself a silent storm. I express special thanks for Zia and Tania for being dynamic, supportive and humble at the situations.
The two-day conference earned us great friends. As Ahmed Saleh said that the saddest part is that the night we turned great friends followed the day we left. Thank you Ovais for being a convenient room mate, Muffrah and Omair for being there at every moment, Hanna for bugging around, Ahmed Saleh, Maryah, Nayel, Munir, Sundus and Hanna for the late night fun and Munazza, Ali, Sajid, Kashif, Shahrukh, Shahid, Rakhshanda, Ayesha, Hina, Rabia and others for being there as shining stars. Wish you all best of luck for the future!
Congratulations to Ali Uzair and Hann`a Iqbal, who got selected for the International BioCamp in Basel, Switzerland. Best of luck mates =)
The Local BioCamp 2010 will remain as an unforgettable experience of my career. I hope the event stays as a milestone in our life and we implement the learning for a bright future.
- Jibran T. Siddiqui
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Achievement: Pakistani students made a terrific car
Automotive industry is the sector that can bring economic boom in a country. In this industry, China tops the list by manufacturing 1
3,790,994 cars in 2009 while Japan and USA are next with 7,934,516 and 5,711,823 respectively. Unfortunately, Pakistan has still not appeared in this sector. Is lack of talent our problem? No.
Recently, a group of students from NED University of Engineering and Technology have manufactured a model car that gives 80 kilometers per liter petrol. These ambitious and hardworking students belong to Mechanical and Electrical Engineering departments and the team calls itself ‘WINMARK’.
The shining, attractive and compact car can grab anyone’s attention.
Winmark has designed the car to participate in the upcoming global competition by Shell in Malaysia which invites the students worldwide to design car with best mileage.
Speaking to Common Room, the team leader Haris said that all the cost has been contributed by the students themselves. They’ve worked day and night to bring the car from design to execution. “No organization has contacted us for full sponsorship yet. We’re students and we cannot
bear the full expenses of manufacturing and especially transporting the car to Malaysia for competition.” said Haris. He said that they’re representing Pakistan in a global competition and therefore need financial assistance for this.
Winmark member Ashraf says, “We’ve worked very hard to win and Inshallah if we do, we have plans to launch the car commercially. The car is economical, eye-
catching and safe so it would be an ideal car for anyone. Its body is made of fiber so its safe it meets any accident. We’ll proud if we launch a car from Pakistan.
Although these determined students have no financial assistance, they have talent, skill and above all enthusiasm to touch skies. Common Room wishes them good luck!
3,790,994 cars in 2009 while Japan and USA are next with 7,934,516 and 5,711,823 respectively. Unfortunately, Pakistan has still not appeared in this sector. Is lack of talent our problem? No.Recently, a group of students from NED University of Engineering and Technology have manufactured a model car that gives 80 kilometers per liter petrol. These ambitious and hardworking students belong to Mechanical and Electrical Engineering departments and the team calls itself ‘WINMARK’.
The shining, attractive and compact car can grab anyone’s attention.Winmark has designed the car to participate in the upcoming global competition by Shell in Malaysia which invites the students worldwide to design car with best mileage.
Speaking to Common Room, the team leader Haris said that all the cost has been contributed by the students themselves. They’ve worked day and night to bring the car from design to execution. “No organization has contacted us for full sponsorship yet. We’re students and we cannot
bear the full expenses of manufacturing and especially transporting the car to Malaysia for competition.” said Haris. He said that they’re representing Pakistan in a global competition and therefore need financial assistance for this.Winmark member Ashraf says, “We’ve worked very hard to win and Inshallah if we do, we have plans to launch the car commercially. The car is economical, eye-
catching and safe so it would be an ideal car for anyone. Its body is made of fiber so its safe it meets any accident. We’ll proud if we launch a car from Pakistan.Although these determined students have no financial assistance, they have talent, skill and above all enthusiasm to touch skies. Common Room wishes them good luck!
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