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.
VIP’s protocol
A common man’s day starts with a problem of road jam due to crossing of judges and other bureaucrats. It seems like only VIPs have the right to live and the rest of the public is inferior to them. This colonial practice has added more to the grievances of a common man who gets his salary cut even on account of being a few minutes late at his workplace.
Early in the morning children go to school, officials rush towards their offices and labour is in haste to catch their work. While everyone is distressed to reach their destination on time, there seems to be a police man standing on the roads, suddenly they come in the middle of the road and caution them to stop, the entire public crowd stops and traffic gathers quickly. After passing a government plated car, traffic becomes halted and it wastes 10 to 15 minutes and, sometimes, half an hour for everyone.
This is heinous and against the citizen’s rights. For the sake of one person who is called a public servant and serves the nation: creates hurdles for the same public. Hence, this should not be practiced as everyone remains in haste at the very beginning of the day because this halt for VIPs causes more anxiety.
SHAZIM HUSSAIN
Larkana
Climate change 2.0
Pakistan is one of the countries severely affected by climate change. Despite contributing to less than one percent of GHS emissions, it is worst hit by the catastrophe of the climate crisis. With each passing day, the situation is getting worse, spinning out of control to tackle. The US, EU, China, Germany, France and India are the highest carbon contributing countries.
It is estimated that approximately 40 billion tonnes of carbon emissions head their way to the atmosphere annually, causing ozone layer to deplete, rendering us prone to harmful ultraviolet radiations of the sun. Around 2.5 tonnes of carbon emissions in our atmosphere have made our globe least livable. The figures are scary, calling for concerted efforts from national and international entities to surmount the challenge of mitigating the scale of carbon emissions.
Since the climate issue is the most pressing concern in the 21st century, its causes should be discussed in depth. Apart from carbon emissions, movement of tectonic plates has dealt a severe blow to our globe. Due to this movement, deadly earthquakes take place. The earthquake in 2005 is considered to be the deadliest one in the history of Pakistan, claiming thousands of lives. The other detriment movement of tectonic plates pose is the eruption of volcanoes. When volcanoes burst out, they release a lot of harmful gases adversely affecting our atmosphere. Also, due to this eruption, surrounding areas and its people remain largely affected. People either lose their lives or get displaced.
AAMIR ALI
Shikarpur
Drug tests
This refers to news dated 22nd July 2023 published in news papers which read that the Islamia University of Bahawalpur (IUB) has announced that it will conduct drug tests of all its employees including VC in the backdrop of the arrest of the university’s Chief Security Officer who had in possession of sex pills and objectionable videos of students and officials.
In view of the growing incidents of such nature in almost all universities and educational institutions of the country, this decision of IUB is a welcome move which must be acknowledged/appreciated. Time has come to purge all institutions particularly educational institutions from people involved in drug trafficking and other immoral activities. It’s shocking for all of us that even in schools, pupils have easy access to the drugs with the assistance of some staff members without any check.
Likewise, there are so many cases reported by the media where even women employees are harassed and intimidated by their male bosses (using intoxicants) at work places forcing them to maintain illicit relations otherwise they are victimized in the shape of dismissal, removal from service and transfers to far-flung areas etc. Such incidents cannot be allowed to persist in our institutions any more to save their credibility and prestige.
I, therefore, appeal to the PMSS to order immediate drug test of all employees of the federal and provincial governments, autonomous bodies, corporations and educational institutions in particular to ensure the elimination of drug users at work place and it may be made mandatory under the laws that at the time of initial induction in service every candidate must go through drug test otherwise they may be refused jobs and even after one or two years drug test may regularly be conducted to run the institutions by morally upright people .
TARIQ MAJEED
Hyderabad
Unwavering courage of a woman
I have watched with heavy heart and teary eyes the unprecedented rise of anti-Muslim hate crimes and hate speech. Unfortunately Islamophobia & Anti-Islamism is growing globally with the media playing a big role in that, whether it is a Quran burning incident in Sweden, Iraq or Hijab ban in France and other parts of the world.
Amidst the ongoing events of hate speech towards Islam and Muslims, a 25-year old Nouhaila Benzina is making history as the first woman to wear hijab in Women’s FIFA World Cup, out of the 736 players, Benzina will stand alone as the sole wearer of hijab, yet her impact off the pitch will resonate with millions around the globe.
Representing Morocco, Benzina will not only demonstrate inspirational leadership among her fellow athletes but also confront the challenges that hijabi players have faced in the past. She fearlessly sends a beautiful message to the whole world by illustrating that devotion to faith, preserving personal identity and nurturing one’s love for football can co-exist harmoniously.
Not only Muslim, but no one should be under attack for their beliefs, which is basic human decency. Keep doing what is right. Provocation and inciting hatred will only cause escalation of violence and brutality from all sides, thus we should respond to such Islamophobic mindset in a way that will not reinforce it, but rather disarm and silence them with kindness.
UNZILA TAHIR HUDA
Karachi
Box letter
Power tariff hike
Recently, the federal cabinet has approved the hike in tariff of electricity on residential consumers up to 7.50. Is this a pragmatic approach to meet the losses? Surely not. According to the revealed data, 17 per cent of electricity is to take by theft and another 17 percent are line losses. It is, without any iota of doubt, unwise to put more and more burden of losses and of theft to those who are vigilant to pay their electricity bills. Sadly, the frequent hike in price may encourage more stealing if the theft will leave remained unchecked. Therefore, it is the need of time that the electric power- related authorities should adopt two-prong pragmatic approach; firstly, to put strict check on electricity theft and make them accountable and secondly, to equip the system with modern technologies in order to minimize the line losses. By doing so, authorities will be able to ease the sufferings of people and move towards sustainability.
ENGINEER BILAL AHMED
Sukkur
