The Tall claims of increasing literacy rate is not a debatable issue, what’s debatable and equally alarming is the fact that we are producing uneducated literate men. The problems of this nation are not created by illiterate people but those who are literate and yet uneducated and without an iota of competence.

The disturbing truth about Pakistan is the unquestioned actions and atrocities of everyone and anyone which culminates into the violation of constitution on one extreme and jaded behavior by the masses on the other. This is a silent violence that’s as virulent as sweet poison. We must not squabble about retaining or losing our nuclear arsenal because we have this No-Asking thing in our blood which is more potent for devastation of this nation. Its like a gun which backfires.

We Will Ask- appeals to every Pakistani, living anywhere on face of the earth to start asking about whatever is and has been affecting Pakistan. From the wrongful use of street lights to the illegal and predatory actions of the Civilian and Military leadership, everyone should ask about everything. Because I know as much as you know that Change and Revolution will be brought about People not the leaders. For us it’s a distant dream seeing our leaders resurrecting the air of equality and goodness. We intend to galvanize the people not for violence but educated arguments and necessary actions. The lesser mortals calling the shots have made the hope of change very unsexy.

We will ask__ about every crime committed under the guise of necessity.

We will ask__ about every illegality.

We will ask__ about everything that affects our countrymen.

We will ask__ till the last breath

We will ask__ till the last drop of blood inside us

We will ask………

FROM GROUND ZERO TO GROUND ZERO

In the quest for political creativity the strong is always more creative than the weak.

Scene 1: Sept 11 attacks. The Giant WTC becomes a Ground Zero.

scene 2: The naked Hegemony of Afghanistan.

Mini Break: The intellectual author of the book In the line of fire goes for a disgraceful exit with his tail between his legs. 

Scene 3: Black man walks into the white house and still no clue about the No.1 and No.2

Intermission: Pakistan became the silent statue to attract global excoriation__ the safe havens for terrorists__the nation-state whose nationals are terrorists. The rationale of the world becomes so bogus when it comes to understanding the reality of Pakistanis. 

          The nation-state has been ubiquitously pregnant with domestic imbroglio and is very anti-Islamic because of having multiple fathers. But then this political quagmire is as old as the stars, with changing covers. The world knows it full well that this God forsaken nation is creative enough to carve out new ways to forget history–an entity that must be considered as a pedagogue.

Scene 4: “In America we change faces not policies”. some facts are so potent and self-fulfilling. Perhaps the CHANGE means to have a strong eye-sight in order to look beyond Iraq and visualize Afghanistan and NOW more vividly Pakistan.

    Pakistan, although has not been declared a terrorist state yet but has been branded so very aggressively. The world never needs an official proclamation to feel something. marketing does the difficult part of convincing minds. Hitler has very rightly said, the stronger the lie, the more people will believe it. But our hopes are still high and why shouldn’t they be when senator John Kerry is trying his best to ensure smooth supply of largesse every year to the civilian Government. This is what America has always been doing__putting money in the hands of our leaders which benefits only them as opposed to what the Russians and the Chinese have done for us which benefited the entire country. But then myopia is in our genes.

     But I am quite sure Senator Kerry will have to rethink his efforts about the said legislation or who knows he might change its nature and fine tune it to fit it to the composition of the receiver. This shift won’t be a problem because after all Change is what they believe in. . The CIA who was so fond of ISI during the 80s, now accuses it (ISI) of cheating on it (CIA).

     Our leaders are so full of empathy that they are working day and night to satisfy America that the assignment is well done. Even our talk show anchors, let alone leaders, have no inclination to generate some audacious words from the analysts about our soft stance to Indian allegations. Perhaps this country was created with the ideology of appeasing everyone outside Pakistan. Whatever it is, its great entertainment.

     The world is giving a hard stare to Pakistan exactly as a headmaster of a school looking angrily at the scared and guilty little boy who has not done his homework. Our people are so hapless. Their voices get mingled in the noise created by the blame game of the politicians, hurling opprobrium at each other. They came to the political scene with the promise of resurrecting democracy but it requires no clairvoyance to see that they are creating a new definition of democracy__period after jackboot dictatorship for the preparation of the next time when TVs will go off for an unspecified duration. 

END: repetition has no ending, there is always a next time.

I refuse to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me. My intellect and cognizance do not live in the shackles of FACTS and FIGURES. My reason is the Reason itself. That makes me a human, distinguishes me from all the other creatures.

Socrates drank the cup of Hemlock, Musa plunged into the fire. These pious men have long passed away but have we forgotten the ideas. Man can be caught, can be killed, man can fail but ideas do not die, they do not bleed, they live. The only wealth in this world is an idea. Its the lesson of being able to  reason and not agreeing to agree with the prevailing rule and system that these men left behind. But we have left no stone unturned to allow the dark forces to rob us of our reason. What a farce !… I want to wake up one morning and look into the mirror and find the human i should be. Too much water has flown under the bridge. I guess we are waiting for the dust to settle down which is vacillating by the ubiquitous atrocities of the enemy. How can i ignore that we have the ability to brush the facts under the carpet. Collectively we can do wonders. Let me take liberty with the 3 most beautiful words which are WE THE PEOPLE. I want to make them WE THE HUMANS…..We can Reason.

It’s the story of a school boy who woke up one fine morning and after saying prayers and doing breakfast with his family of a matriculate father, an illiterate housewife mother, a college going brother and a school going sister and brother. He broached about quitting education. The father was miffed and argued. He told his son that he is giving them education, food, living–a reasonable life just by doing education till matriculation. The father tried to convince his son not to quit education because education is the key to earning and making decent income. The son tried to convince his father that he will start doing business and will sell mobile phones since these days they are selling like hot cakes. The father’s mind was empty for further arguments or reasoning.

I am completely flabbergasted to realize that education is for making money. I am far from agreeing with this. The very word education bears different meaning for me. We truly need a paradigm shift. I guess the son’s reply was very relevant because making money was the only concern and expectation of the father from education. Grooming the personality and equipping yourself with the arms needed for becoming a civilized and suave citizen should be the main purpose and expectation from education. I know many illiterate people in Peshawar who are rich but not educated. One would never want to be in their company.

The country is full of uneducated people. You can’t stretch your leg without poking one in the ass. I blame the people not included in the young generation but the ones who are parents in the current times. I am a lecturer in a university and I mostly spew the importance of making a confident and suave personality in order to galvanize the students to become the opinion leaders, to be able to build a personality which will convince not only the old-fashioned parents but also those who are suffering from the 4 GPA syndromes. GPAs are not indicators of true talent, in fact a higher GPA is an indicator of incompetence for me but not a single day goes by when students make requests and stop at literally nothing for getting good marks.

It hits me in my bowels every time i see the so called intellectuals praising the Graduates of LUMS and IBA. As if that’s not enough to tickle one’s nerve, the big fishes of companies in Pakistan are only hunting for the same graduates. One must know that LUMS and IBA hire professionals for teaching from Europe and US who work in those peculiar financial organizations and Banks where policies are not made or created but only followed. These so called Bankers are not creative at all because they are trained to obey. They are well mannered because they have no chutzpah originating from true competence.

The best contribution they can make in the nurturing of the so called great LUMS and IBA graduates is to reproduce their own self. The same cycle goes on. They are creating what is needed. No employer wants a father but an obeying dog. They (professors) create in harmony with what they (students) should do. As a ramification there is a dearth of creative bankers. This must change if we but want a change. Evolution comes with pruning and motion. Organizations and systems become impregnable only with the proper human resource. With not truly competent people working, collapse is inevitable.

The lack of freedom of feeding your capability and using it creatively flies in the face of true essence of education. Not a single Sunday goes by when I don’t see companies advertising jobs in The News and Dawn asking for MBAs from LUMS and IBA with GPA more than 3.0. Is GPA really an indicator of ability?

I had a chance of interacting with the students from LUMS. They were not better than students from NWFP in any regard but they only had a big brand name-LUMS which is a juggernaut of incompetent people from the inside and is only erected to produce good followers for the Local Big Industry. It’s garnished very carefully and artistically to make it known as the one University with which competition is touching impossibilities.

I have a vigilant eye on the youth of NWFP through my English Youth Talk show The Debate on Khyber News channel. Having said that let me say it, the talented people from NWFP can truly give bloody noses only if but competition is conducted on egalitarian basis.

“Ordinary people are extremely disappointed. The problems of daily life have wiped out the high hopes they felt during the election,” said Imran Jan, who hosts a public-affairs talk show on the independent Khyber TV channel. In his village in the North-West Frontier Province, “we are having no electricity for 14 or 18 hours a day, which kills you when the temperature is at 37 degrees” Celsius (99 degrees Fahrenheit), he said.

“

We,  on earth are more concerned with the outcomes than the roots. We feel not an iota of imbecility to cry over the snobbery of rich and the resentment of poor.We are always accepting the pride of intelligence being awarded so generously and with a modicum of gumption as a result of the opprobrium we throw at the individuals but not the systems.

We need to hit the right target….First of all we need to clean the lens of our dirty and blurred camera with which we are looking at the world..