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.
Can you
hear the drums of war
On Friday, Imran Khan gave an historical yet thought-provoking speech at the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly. Millions of people are appreciating his words as they create an impact on the audience. His speech comprised several social and international issues that need immediate attention from various countries across the world.
Mr. Khan started his speech with the immediate threat of climate change which affects the entire world. However, a critical aspect that he pointed out was how the rich countries need to be more active in terms of minimizing their carbon emissions. As per Mr. Khan, the poor countries suffer the most, including Pakistan being an agricultural country that relies on glaciers which are melting too fast. I believe Mr. Khan’s attempt to focus on this issue was indeed important given the recent Climate March. It reflects on the fact that Pakistan and its people are aware of how climate change is affecting everyone.
The second point in consideration of the speech by Mr. Khan was global corruption and money laundering being critical issues that make a poor country poorer. As per the speech, rich countries in the West are acting as tax haven for most of the corrupt. Mr. Khan highlighted that Pakistan has significant debt to pay due to money laundering and lack of access to the plundered money. In my opinion, this part of the speech was an indirect attack to other political parties in Pakistan which have formerly ruled the country. While it was vital to let the people know about the graveness of money laundering, it just added to the extra time Mr. Khan took for his speech.
SYEDA ALINA ZAIDI
Karachi
Social media has adverse effect on study
Social media, though considered an addiction, is in the use of every child. No doubt, there are many positive effects and as well as there are many negative effects of it. As the positive effects one can give the example of educational groups in Facebook and WhatsApp which are a great source of information for the students because by the help of these groups a student can be linked with other students from different countries. But there are lots of negative effects which are; being in touch with it for unlimited time, watching useless status, pictures and videos, doing unnecessary discussion and giving your precious time to it.
Obviously, if a student is using social media then he/she is doing the above mentioned activities which are the root cause for wasting the time of students and if the students waste their time with these meaningless activities then absolutely, they can’t focus on their studies. Furthermore, just think for a while if there isn’t social media then how will you spend your time? Surely, you will start reading because you have nothing else to do so, by all aspects it is clear that social media has adverse effects on the studies of the students.
In addition, according to a report using phone, laptops and tablets at night before bed is linked with poor quality sleep. And it is the truth that sleeping late can effect the study of the students because without maximum sleep of eight hours a person will not be able to pay attention to his/her studies. Once and for all, I request all the students to make yourselves far from social media during your studies because the time of study will not come back but social media can be used at any stage of life. So, I suggest all to make yourselves far from social media during study.
AMREEN SHOUKAT
Via email
Rights of minorities
Extremism in Pakistan is growing day by day. The religious extremism is making the life of people miserable. The destruction of the Hindu temples and destroying their property is a worrisome situation for the State. The State needs to take some action against those extremists who are hiding behind the curtains of religion and politics. The murder of Namrata is an alarming situation. Still we have not seen any progress in the murder case. The accused must be punished. The Ghotki violence is another example.
The aggression against the minorities must be stopped. This can push the society to the next level if any action is not taken. There are some steps of genocide and we already have landed on the second step. The role of social media cannot be denied. A policy should be made by the government irrespective of religion and geographical region that equality must be made among the people. The Constitution of Pakistan provides rights to the minorities and the State needs to ensure them.
OMAR SHAHKAR
Islamabad
Teachers Day
Every year 5 October is celebrated as Teachers Day internationally in order to give honour to teachers who build futures. It is celebrated to highlight the role that teachers play in providing quality education at all levels. This enables children and adults of all ages to learn to take part in and contribute to their local community and global society. Once Alexander the Great said “I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well.” All successful people, as well, believe that there are vast contributions of teachers in their victory.
Respecting teachers should be our goal because it is the Teacher who remains a teacher as a road remains a road but makes you reach your destination. It is not a problem if you are poor and cannot give them precious presents but you can obviously give them at least respect. Respect is what they need. If we want to make Pakistan really a unique country in the comity of nations, we need to respect teachers because without them— history has been the witness — no nation can progress and prosper.
WAQAR MOOSA
Kech
Dussehra
Dussehra is actually the festival of the Kshattriyas. But all Hindus observe this festival with great joy. Traditionally, in Indian culture, Dussehra was always full of dances, where the whole community mixed together, met and mingled. But because of external influences and invasions over the past two hundred years, we have lost that charm today.
Otherwise, Dussehra was always very vibrant. The Vijayadashami or Dussehra festival is of a tremendous cultural significance for all of us who live in this land – irrespective of caste, creed, colour or religion – and should be celebrated with gaiety and love.
JUBEL D’CRUZ
Mumbai, India
Suffering of older persons in Zimbabwe
I have diligently taken this opportunity on International Day of Older Persons (1st of October 2019) to raise concerns and awareness of the sufferings of old people in Zimbabwe. Their pensions were cancelled, devalued or eroded by inflation of which many of the pensioners heavily depend on them. Old people cannot even afford to buy basic things like clothes, food and pay household bills.
Many elderly people have health issues associated with growing old and getting treatment and medication is a daily struggle. They are unable to buy essential items such as bread, meat, eggs or milk. Further, they cannot regularly buy petrol, diesel, soap, toothpaste or cleaning material. The ZANU PF government and the President should revive the economy urgently and give dignity to the older people in Zimbabwe as these people cannot afford to migrate to South Africa, Namibia, USA, UK and Canada like what the young and energetic are doing.
TAPIWA MUSKWE
London
HIV programme
This is apropos the news item ‘Rs 1bn endowment fund approved for persons affected by HIV/AIDS (June 6). I think this decision needs to be reviewed, because this might end up like Sindh Chief Minister’s Hepatitis Control Programme which failed because of embezzlement. Patient’s tests were not properly done, while the efficacy of drugs was not maintained. One of the major reasons for the failure of the hepatitis programme was the non-availability of drugs.
Likewise, malaria and tuberculosis control programmes met the same fate. TB could not be controlled because proper dose of drugs were not taken by patients, while at least six months of medication is needed to control TB. Patients do not complete their treatment and stop taking medicine after a few months. Additionally, drugs’ efficacy is also doubtful.
To overcome such issues and make the HIV/AIDS Control Programme a success, the authorities concerned should launch a portal for a rehabilitation found for the HIV/AIDS programme. Patients will be registered online through this portal application. This portal application should be in Urdu, English and Sindhi.
SIKANDAR SAJJAD
Larkana
