Articles and letters may be edited for the purposes of clarity and space. They are published in good faith with a view to enlightening all the stakeholders. However, the contents of these writings may not necessarily match the views of the newspaper.
Sialkot incident
What happened at Sialkot vegetable and fruit market on May 2, 2021 was profoundly embarrassing for the entire nation.
Needless to say, it has badly tarnished the image of country in the comity of civilised nations.
I say so, because horrible incident, besides the national media, was also conspicuously flashed on the BBC Urdu service.
Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan, Special Asst. to the Punjab CM Usman Buzdar could have avoided the highly demeaning and unfortunate episode that took place at the Sialkot vegetable market on May 2, by maintaining her cool and by resorting to official ways of dealing with such situations.
And, the official way was to report the dereliction of duty, if any, on the part of AC Sialkot Sonia Sadaf to relevant authorities, which in this case should appropriately have been the Chief Secretary Punjab.
The presumptuous Sialkot vegetable market incident cannot be legitimised under any norms of civilised behaviour.
One sincerely hopes and prays that our political leaders would make conscious efforts in particular, and people from every strata of life in general, to ensure that such detestable incidents don’t happen in future.
In conclusion, I urge Prime Minister of Pakistan to take immediate cognisance of the unfortunate Sialkot incident, and order an urgent inquiry into the whole affair.
FAZAL ELAHI
Islamabad
Covid and our responsibility
The Corona virus, which somehow affected everyone’s life, continues with its intensity all over the world. The death toll from its devastation in neighbouring India is rising.
In Pakistan, it’s also affecting lives with its full intensity and lethality. The death toll and active cases are also on the rise.
Government and relevant agencies are doing their job well and in such a situation it is our duty to fulfil our responsibilities and ensure full implementation of SOPs i.e. wearing masks, sanitising and washing hands repeatedly, avoid shaking hands, hugging and crowded places.
Also take proper dosages of vaccine when it is available, ensuring personal protection and safety of others so as to avoid maximum damage. With full trust in God we would be able to come out of this crisis soon.
UROOJ MUQADAS
Rawalpindi
Water scarcity
Through columns of your newspaper, I want to bring into notice water woes being faced by residents of North Karachi. For past six months, we’ve been facing acute water shortage.
Water is being provided to our area on weekly basis and that too at quite low pressure. This is causing great deal of inconvenience to all of the residents.
The summer season is at its peak and therefore demand of water is increasing with every passing day.
Sadly water availability is decreasing and has currently reached a stage where not enough water is provided for necessary family chores.
Despite our perennial complaints no efforts have been made by concerned authorities to improve water supply situation.
ALMAS SHAIKH
Karachi
Unemployment
Unemployment is a very serious issue not only in Pakistan but also in the whole world. In Pakistan hundreds and thousands of people are out there who do not have employment.
Besides, problem of unemployment has become quite severe in Pakistan because of growing population and demand for jobs.
Unemployment is obviously root cause of many evil and crimes. The young people who do not have any job or any source of income ultimately become indifferent to right and wrong and vices of all kinds are natural out come of unemployment.
The first thing for any government to do is to reduce unemployment by adopting proper planning.
The education system of Pakistan should be managed in such a way that training and technical institutions are established where skills programmes are offered.
MEHLUB M AKRAM
Karachi
Bangladesh turns fifty
Bangladesh turned 50 this year with a robust success story. Entire world admire their remarkable success in economic development and social transformation, which they brought within a short period of time.
Infrastructure development, modern tech in agriculture and ready-made garment industries considered being drivers of economic growth that generate billions per year.
This success story of Bangladesh carries many lessons for Pakistan, because it was born out of war in 1971.
However, transparency of taxes, accountability and following actual mean of politics lead them to a real growth in economy which is 5.1%, while our beloved country Pakistan’s economic growth is stagnant at 1.2% because here politics is like a musical chair, where every politician wants to be in good books of establishment to gain and enjoy power.
SAMEER UMRANI
Karachi
Dowry issues
Dowry system is an evil practice that still exists in Pakistan. It is an act of discrimination against unmarried girls, whose values are defined based on the prices of their respective dowries.
It is an example of greed and selfishness and is a great curse, especially for parents who belong to lower middle class.
Dowry creates imbalance in status of women and it affect women mentally and physically Dowry is also a cause of endorsing greed and conflicts in the society.
Majority of people are involved in dowry system whether they are educated or illiterate. People should refuse to marry when dowry is demanded or given.
Banning this tradition leads to happier life because it is big source of stress among parents of girls. Also it’s not an Islamic tradition.
Women become mentally affected as they are tortured by in-laws for not bringing enough dowries.
So many girls in Pakistan stay unmarried because their parents cannot meet such demands.
WARISHA REHMAN
Karachi
