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.
Medical emergency
The world is facing perhaps the most serious pandemic since 1918, which has afflicted almost the whole country. In such times, people of Pakistan and government with all its state institutions must understand that they have to be seen facing up to the challenge, instead of relying upon international aid. All civil, uniformed and private medical facilities must pool their resources to serve the people, who are inflicted by this terrible virus that has humbled superpowers and developing countries across the globe. Almost every private hospital has been given land to build their facilities on subsidized rates along with tax rebates etc. Common sense demands that patients hospitalized for other medical ailments should preferably be housed in specific hospitals while those suffering from COVIT-19 be housed in separate civil, military or private hospitals to contain the spread. Nothing is more important than people of Pakistan and it is their health which will determine fate of this country and also its national security and interest. For too long, the fate and destiny of people of Pakistan has been in hands of those who have no stakes in this country. While we face this challenge, we must never forget that when natural calamities like earthquake, flood etc ravaged this country, international relief supplies meant for those suffering ended up being sold by retailers and even stores like CSD. Eve n today ND95 f ace masks, presumably donated by China are being sold by street vendors in posh housing societies like DHA. While we seek Almighty Allah’s (SWT) forgiveness and blessings, we need to come down hard on elements indulging in hoarding of essential food items and medical supplies. The government and its institutions, tasked to regulate and curtail such irregularities, cannot be absolved of their responsibilities. MALIK TARIQ ALI Lahore
Only love can save the world from the pandemic
This year, Good Friday was observed and Easter was celebrated amid the Coronavirus pandemic which has spread like wildfire throughout the world. Truly, the world is suffering, even as Pope Francis said he doesn’t know whether the pandemic is God’s anger on His people because of sin. But he mentioned that it was surely nature’s response. Jesus too suffered on the Cross and died and was later resurrected. By his passion, death and resurrection, Jesus showed he cared and loved the world. Easter is a time to reiterate God’s promise to us — that we have a relationship of friendship with him. It is time we realise that only love has the power to get us out of this deadly situation. JUBEL D’CRUZ, Mumbai, India
It’s never too late
Things are not about our average life or how long will we live! It’s about how much we live everyday, the productivity of the day and progress in our goals. Most of us are getting old and still don’t know what are we good at and what is our passion? So, it is not late even yet to find it. Because, it’s never too late and it is never about your age, it is just about us being passionate enough to have a new start. Sometimes we know the skills at which we are good at but, we are not able to make it our profession or pursue it as a career. Sometimes they are expensive, or may be time taking, or will give us less profit or low earning and we had to quit them. The moments at which we sit alone and think about those small doll’s wardrobe, color pencils, paint brushes or whatever we enjoyed to do. It is the time you get up and start working on those incomplete projects, everyone can spare an hour or may be two from their busy schedules. If you want to start a degree or a new job, just do it! Don’t waste time, once think about it in detail and after making a decision never give it another thought. Everyone has his own span of time. If your juniors in school are now earning more than you or your class fellows have completed their education and you still haven’t … then it’s absolutely fine. They are living their clock and you have to live your’s, this can never be compared to anyone. Life is not a race stop running after each other, focus on yourself and never stop trying. MUQADDAS AMIN Rawalpin
Pakistan and terrorism
Pakistan is a unique case study for countries suffering from menace of terrorism. However, the isolated segments do keep on propagating their ideology through various media platforms and a few seminaries. However Pakistan is moving towards a violence free society through a dedicated strategy. It needs to be told to the world that Pakistan has defeated terrorism in all its forms and manif es tations . All se c ts , ethnicities, age groups and gender have been targe ted without any discrimination reflecting that terrorists don’t belong to any sect rather they promote anarchy and chaos. DAESH has not been able to establish a foot print in Pakistan and only splinter groups relate their propaganda to ac hieve inte rnational re levance. None of their acts can be justified in the light of Qur an and Sunnah. Their spo nsors and planners are present in neighboring Afghanis tan and India. Paigham-e-Pakistan fatwa by 1000s of muftis and ulema clearly describes acts of terror un-Islamic and forbidden. Nowhere in religion, JIHAD justifies killing of innocent citizens or destroying their properties (an act which was forbidden even during active war). Pakistan security forces are protecting the faith, culture, values and lives of fellow citizens and will never give up their right to forcefully evict any terrorists, irrespective of their aim / propaganda. WAQAR AHMED Islamabad
Condition of hospitals
I want to draw the attention of the authoritie s c onc erned through your esteemed newspaper about the bad condition of hospitals. Majority of both public and private hospitals in Karachi seem to be ill-prepared to deal with the potential outbreak of Covid-19, as neither do they have adequate facilities for Corona Virus Test, nor they have sufficient number of beds, ventilators, trained doctors, paramedics and personal protective equipment to deal with the pandemic. It is responsibility of the State to provide basic health fac ilities to its people. In Pakistan, the health sector is so poor that nobody wants to go to the government hospitals except those who can’t afford private medical facility. The health services have never been the priority of any government in Pakistan. The current situation of the government hospitals is becoming worse day by day. The government should immediately take necessary steps to improve the overall situation. AREEBA SHAHID Karachi
Pakistani youtubers promoting vulgarity
Dear editor! I am writing this letter about pakistan youtubers who are promoting vulgarity in pakistan. Today social media is playing an increasingly more important role in the life of society because users spend a lot of time online and they view social media as an important source of information about issues which users are concerned with. YouTube being one of the mainstream social media, allow users to share their videos live, create their channels and share their views etc. As in Pakistan there are many channels on YouTube that are creating content for their viewers. There are some channels that are promoting obscenity on their channels, they say that they create funny videos but, in their videos, they use abusive languages and other vulgar content to get views. They believe “if they will promote obscenity that’s how they will earn money”. They think that this is the only way through which they can attract more traffic towards their channels and can earn money. So, according to the research most of their viewers are young children, they see their content and are diverting themself towards vulgarity which is spoiling their future. As YouTubers use vulgar images and abusive languages in their videos, so YouTube does not apply Age restriction on their videos. PEMRA should take strict action against these all YouTubers those who are promoting this obscenity and spoiling the young generation. M HAMZA EHSAN Rawalpindi
Sugar scandal
This refers to the report submitted by FIA on sugar and wheat industry. Many personalities from the ruling and other political parties have been named involved in the artificial sugar and wheat crisis. By creating this artificial sugar and wheat crisis they earned millions of rupees from subsidies they got. Now Prime Minister Imran Khan must take action against these people punish them and recover money from them so that it can be used for buying ventilators and protective equipment to combat coronavirus. MOMINA HUSSAIN Rawalpindi
A crisis within a crisis
The coronavirus pandemic is one of the worst health crises in a century. It has already infected over 14 lakh people worldwide and killed over 80,000 worldwide. The pandemic has forced almost everyone to lock oneself up inside his/her homes, mostly due to the lockdowns announced by the authorities. The mental wellbeing, however, was overlooked amid a desperate fight to keep the virus in check. This pandemic is taking a toll on mind too. Pakistan is in great need of a toll free helpline to help people stay sane and stress free during this dire time and to deal with psycho-social problems faced by people in the wake of the Covid19 outbreak. ISHRAQ ASHRAF Islamabad