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.
Aggressive stance pays rich dividend
Following Indian Prime Minister Modi’s illegal and unconstitutional steps on 5 August 2019 changing the special status of {occupied} Jammu and Kashmir territory and imposing indefinite curfew being harshly enforced by almost nine lakh Indian security forces, Pakistan had quite rightly and justifiably adopted very aggressive stance which has started paying rich dividends gradually which is quite commendable indeed.
Prime Minister Imran Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi adopted aggressive policy on the foreign front using all forums to expose Indian hostilities, brutalities and gross human rights violations in the IoK and also persistent violations of ceasefire and resorting to unprovoked firing every now and then across Line of Control (LoC) killing innocent civilians including men, women and children.
In his maiden speech at the UN General Assembly last month, Prime Minister Imran Khan aggressively blasted India and highlighted the Kashmir issue which remains unresolved lingering dispute on world body agenda. Both PM and the Foreign Minister contacted world leaders of their levels extensively apprising them about tragic happenings in occupied Kashmir and criminal silence of international community at large.
As the Kashmiris on both sides of the LoC, Pakistan and the world over have observed another blackest day of their history on October 27 when Indian security forces had landed in Jammu and Kashmir territory in 1947, the international community, world leaders and the media in major countries are more aware about Kashmir issue , miseries of Kashmiris in a big jail and now they are talking and voicing their support for Kashmiris’ just struggle for securing their fundamental right of self-determination in accordance with their aspirations and UN Security Council Resolutions.
M Z RIFAT
Lahore
Pink tober
October is internationally celebrated as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Along the world we celebrate this as Pinktober. In this month, breast cancer is recognized by survivors, family and friends of survivors or victims of the disease. A pink ribbon is worn to recognize the struggle that sufferers face when battling cancer. People are urged to wear Pink Ribbons to honour survivors, remember those lost to the disease, and to support the progress that is being made together to defeat breast cancer. During every PINKtober, Pink Ribbon runs a nationwide 360 awareness and fundraising drive which includes youth activation, OOH, dissemination of IEC material, press conferences and seminars, pink illumination of landmark buildings, ATLs & BTLs and digital. The purpose of this campaign is to reach out to the public at large, spread our word and sensitize them to rise up to the cause of defeating Breast Cancer and reducing the female mortality rate.
HUDA ABID
Rawalpindi
Artificial intelligence
If anyone read the word Artificial Intelligence (AI), they start thinking like they come to office on their self-driven car where a robot opens their door. Entire services are automated without human presence. Your perception is very much aligned for AI in near future, but my question is whether we are adopting AI properly in Pakistan? Are we following ethical codes to use AI for improvement of human conditions? Before going further, I would like to discuss people nervousness on job replacement risk after AI implementation.
According to history whenever new thing came, it created new professions. AI is basically transforming the relationship between people and technology. AI is going to create an estimated 58m new jobs worldwide by 2022. AI is for supporting humans and sharing their work, improve whole supply chain process and eliminate the risks and errors.
AI opportunities are endless, it is all about handling basic data for analysis and forecasting. Pakistan is becoming a huge market for AI implementation. In the past two decades, Pakistan improved its security infrastructure like self-guided missiles, aerial warfare, surveillance camera, facial recognition systems are some examples of AI in Pakistan. If we talk about the public sector, they are far behind in technology adaptation. Massive work and focus are required to adopt and implement AI.
In my opinion, Pakistan should focus on the infrastructure for AI. Our private sector has already started working on primarily emerging technologies like Robotics, 5G Broadband, IoT, Autonomous Vehicles, 3D Printing etc. Public sector should collaborate with private sector to get knowledge for developing and implementing AI structure. In coming 5 years if ethic codes of AI are implemented, foreign investor will surely throng towards Pakistan to invest more in Pakistan to boost AI application.
MOBEEN SHAHID
Islamabad
Football:
Step son
I would like to highlight the issues which are being faced by football players. I may mention without hesitation that the entire nation has been beset with Cricketeria and no attention is being given to Football.
Pakistan ranks 201 out of 211 due to lack of international action since PFF crisis began in mid-2015. Our arch-enemy – India – stands at 101; is it not shame for us. Alas! Media is not giving any coverage to this anomaly. The Federation is involved in politics which ruins the game in country. I request the authorities concerned to kindly look into the issue and take some tangible steps for the promotion of Football in this State of the Quaid.
FAIZAN ULLAH QURESHI
Islamabad
PCB’s shocking decision
The Pakistan Cricket Board should not have sacked Sarfraz Ahmed particularly from the T-20 captaincy. The PCB has appointed World No 1 T2o batsman Babar Azam as the new T2o skipper. The PCB has made the decision in the backdrop of his overall performance. Before dismissing Sarfraz Ahmed from the T2o captaincy, the PCB must have seen some memorable records achieved by our team under his captaincy. Pakistan became the World Number One T20 side under his captaincy.
The Greenshirts won 29 of 37 international games which is almost 80 per cent of winning. The Sarfaraz-led team won consecutive T2o series and also whitewashed its opponent sides on five occasions in a bilateral series. Despite playing away from home, thanks to Sarfaraz we are still the Number One T20 side in the world. Being a cricket fan, I believe that the records made by our team under Sarfaraz’s captaincy cannot be underestimated. Although his performance as a batsman has not been impressive so far, the PCB should have not sacked him and he should have been appointed as T2o skipper till the next year’s ICC World T20 in Australia.
BILAL SHABBIR
Islamabad
