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.
Choice of career
Presently, the choice of a career has become a strenuous task. It is a decision which determines the future course. In the past, the choice of career was not significant. It was certain that the son of a carpenter would become a carpenter, an oilman would train his children in his own craft, and a businessman would leave behind his business to his children. In this way, the world went on smoothly and very few persons were asked about the choice of career. Straightforwardly, now everybody worries about career that he/she follows.
The career is determined by a number of factors. Majority of the children follow the career chosen by their parents. Mostly, parents are seen to force their children to take that field which is chosen by them. Actually parents always make their children to effectuate their dreams which were not possible when they tried.
Likely, the children neither can consummate their dreams nor their parents. It’s high time to come over to old thinking and let the children select whatever they want to be and give them freedom to fulfil their own dreams.
MAHJAN RAHEEM
Turbat
Economic disparity
People lose some part of their freedom in order to be the part of any Nation-State, in return they get peace and security provided to them by their respective governments. The government levy taxes on its people to provide them with the basic necessities of life. Unfortunately in developing countries like Pakistan, things do not work out as they should be. Here, the gap between the rich and the poor has widened beyond limits.
The poor, besides a proper house and education, do not have access to even the fundamentals of life, i.e. water and food. They die either due to malnutrition or their deteriorating health conditions in addition to many other reasons which are directly linked to their financial conditions. While the rich get education in the best schools of the country, the poor are restrained to the government schools or low fee private schools where quality of education is not that good; while the rich can enjoy health facilities of better hospitals of the country as well as abroad, the poor are stuck with government hospitals which mostly have inadequate facilities even in urban areas what to talk of rural areas. Under the IMF’s austerity measures, inflation has reached an all-time high in Pakistan. As of January 2020, inflation stood at 14.6%, the highest it has been in nine years; the poor taking the brunt of it the most. While the country is going through trying times, in 2019, the government gave away Rs 20 billion in tax relief to the wealthiest class, which was 40% of the tax collected from the middle class.
KAINAT ZEHRA
Karachi
Glacier marriage
During my work, I came across an interesting but embarrassing topic as a Muslim. There is this practice going on for years in Gilgit-Baltistan, which is pure superstition and as a Muslim I was quite shocked to know about this. It is known as Glacier Marriage.
The people there celebrate it as human marriage. There is a male glacier and a female glacier. The male glacier is called ‘po gang’ while the female glacier is called ‘mo gang’. Male glaciers are grey in colour, having a lot of debris, meanwhile female glaciers are shiny white or blue. The male glacier gives off little water and moves slowly, while a ‘female glacier’ is a growing glacier that gives off a lot of water. This process is about grafting glaciers to create small new glaciers to increase water supply for crops and in some cases to sustain micro hydro power.
Grafting a new glacier requires a piece each of a “male” and “female” glacier weighing approximately 35 kgs. Villagers carefully pack these pieces in some coal and barley hay to keep them safe from warmer temperature and put them into a chorong. Then they transport it to the designated place and cover them with the mixture of mud, ash and charcoal and close the site with heavy stones. On this occasion, villagers also organise special prayers and sacrifices, usually animal slaughter which is customary in Muslim celebrations. After ten or 12 years, these efforts are supposed to birth a glacier.
This whole process is very meaningful and sacred for the people of Gilgit-Baltistan. But as a Muslim, I find it really weird to see such practices going on in an Islamic state. But we can conclude that it is the result of illiteracy and ignorance of people because people don’t prioritize educating themselves and their generations and are just satisfied by following their ancestor’s practices. I hope you’ll give me a little space in your newspaper so that more people can learn about thus practice.
SHARMEEN FARASAT
Karachi
