Speakers’ Corner

This is apropos Ayesha Hasan’s article in the speaker’s corner regarding the appalling conditions that women have to cope up with while travelling in public transport. As I have often travelled in public buses myself, I bear witness to what she says. Surely, her resilience is commendable.

Whether you like it or not, the majority of my compatriots are stalkers and voyeurs. Not to forget, we hold a distinction when it comes to ‘the most porn watched over the internet’. Primitively, such loathsome acts in public buses or elsewhere are not unusual. Although the CM’s efforts are in earnest to rid the unfortunate women of their trepidiations, it is yet to be an antidote to such presumptuous acts.

Probably, if we tend to civilize ourselves at first, and then inculcate a sense of responsibility and reverence towards the opposite sex in our later generations, will we have an edified aur courteous society.

Premier being issued the contempt of court notice

 

                  I, along with many other of my compatriots were flabbergasted when the premier was issued a contempt of court notice. Notwithstanding the premier’s heedlessness of the orders of the country’s highest courts, the Supreme Court exhibited an inexplicable patience for two long years.

                       It appears that Mr.Gilani has mastered the art of deception. In his tirades on the floor of the house, he would pledge to uphold the Supreme Court’s verdicts but when it came to implementing the orders, he would brazenly shrug off the whole matter. In his four long years of premiership, he could not muster the courage to write to the Swiss authorities. Only if he had heeded to his conscience’s call by complying with the esteemed Supreme Court’s orders, he surely would have steered his government out of this quagmire.

                      Gilani or no Gilani, it is imperative that the Supreme Court’s order regarding the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) is complied with. The prevalent sham democracy and the way the Parliament is orchestrated by the President himself, is nothing but a facade. If democracy continues being manipulated and hampered by the ruling elite, I fear that the populace would soon be weary of it.

Letter to the editor – FACE-OFF!

These days, there is a hullabaloo in the power corridors of Islamabad regarding an ominous face-off between the all-powerful military establishment and a callow, feckless executive. The recent infamous tirade of the premier in the Parliament clearly stunned the opposition and much of the political pundits alike. Ostensibly, the government’s ‘wait and watch policy’ has been transformed into a pugnacious one. The cat is out of the bag. Besides, the government has nothing to loose.

Four long years of unscrupulousness, jobbery and false promises—they have savoured every moment of it. Primitively, they seek an escape route now. Better to be remembered as martyrs than a bunch of phonies. But election time is drawing nearer. It is time to go back to the electoral and face the music. PPP would have to seek the public’s approval in their constituencies, notwithstanding their inability to rid the masses of famine, power shortages, gas shortages, unemployment, staggering numbers of suicides and what not!

Ergo, the best way out would be to share their burden of guilt with a third party. A scapegoat… And so it seems, it is the military’s turn this time. In the past the government had lamented the court’s intervention as an excuse for all its follies and their lack of concentration on the allegedly focal issues (citing the NRO and the mammoth corruption charges as a trivial affair). This time they’ve decided to confront the all-wise, the all-knowing, ‘the mighty military establishment!’

Enraged….

A few days ago, while I was skimming through the newspaper, one peculiar piece of news caught my attention. The headline read “Desperate suitor throws acid at girl”. After I managed to read the entire news, I felt nothing short of disgusted. The incident involved a suitor who decided to punish the victim by throwing acid over her face. In the past, he had sent over marriage proposals twice but her parents had refused. Reason? The parent’s were of the view that their teenage daughter was too young to get married.

According to Zarin’s family, the incident occured when they visited their old neighborhood in Sarjani Town (Karachi). Zarin’s grandfather accompanied her. While on their way, they suspected that someone was following them. To be on the safer side, they decided to seek refuge in Erum’s house (Zarin’s friend).

After a while there was a knock at the door. Both Erum and Zarin, unaware of their doomed fate opened the door. Kamran, the moron offender threw the acid right then and there. His intended target was Zarin but Erum came in to her rescue and held Kamran’s hand, thereby sustaining 25 per cent of the burns whilst Zarin suffered 15 per cent of burns. Both the girls’ faces and foreheads were burned. Kamran, after accomplishing his sinister task fled the scene.

The girls were rushed to the nearby hospital where Zarin was treated and sent home as her burns were minor. She owed a lot to her friend as it was Erum who the doctors had said would take 40 days to recover and she would have to undergo a surgery as well. Fortunately, Kamran was picked up by the police and brought to the police station where he confessed to the crime. He blantantly stated that Zarin’s parents were to be equally blamed for this horrific incident.

All the words in the world would be inadequate to describe 'an acid burn victim's' despair.

Seriously, the guy was nuts. He had stated that the girl’s parents had fixed her  marriage with another guy a year back. But seriously, does that give you the right to actually burn the girl’s face with acid? The more we condemn such barbarous and maniacal acts the better it would be for the society as a whole. We as a nation have not only become economically bankrupt but our moral degeneration is also on the rise as well. The society appears to be numb to such horrendous acts. The fact of the matter is that in a society where famine is rife, where collective suicides are being committed at a staggering rate, where corruption has spoliated all the major institutions of this country, thereby leaving thousands unemployed, do you expect that our society at large would be flabbergasted by events such as these? I seriously doubt it!