My Beloved, 'Fallen Tree'

The Fallen tree at SZABIST was cut down on 28^th of November’2010. It was said that they chopped it because of the complaint of the students regarding cleanliness and lack of seating area. The tree was very old, approximately 100 years or more than that. Promises were made by the SZABIST student council and the administration of SZABIST that benches with shades will replace the area.

Fallen tree was one of the trees of SZABIST 100 campus. It was different from all the other trees at SZABIST. A tree that majority of the student loved. It was called the fallen tree because it grew sideways.

The brutal murder of the tree was a shock for the entire students of SZABIST. The only thing I liked about SZABIST was the fallen tree and they chopped it away. It seems as if the administration and the student council have only looked at one side of the coin, neglecting the importance of trees.

Whatever we say or do, will not work now because our beloved tree is not with us anymore. I believe that the administration and the student council of SZABIST must promote democracy and must discuss such issues with the student of SZABIST, before actually practicing them.

Labaik Allahuma Labaik

The Hajj is the annual pilgrimage to Makkah, Saudi Arabia. It is currently the largest annual pilgrimage in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so. The Hajj is a demonstration of the solidarity of the Muslim people, and their submission to God.

Every year millions of people perform Hajj. These are not only Arabs put people all over the world go to the Holy city to perform this noble task. It is said that those are blessed who are able to go to the Holy city of Makkah.

Every year many people from Pakistan also leave for Makkah to perform the blessed pilgrimage. But the tragic event that happened with them this year was heart breaking. The people who went to the land of Saudi Arabia through the government Hajj scheme was left alone after reaching their. They were not provided with food or shelter. They we not even provided with tents while performing Hajj, added to this was the rain. The people faced very difficulties while performing Hajj, but despite all this the government doesn’t seemed to care about them. It was later the government of Saudi Arabia that figured this matter out and helped the Pakistani people.

The government of Pakistan must act responsibly; after all it was their people who were left helpless in another country. But thanks to the Saudi government who didn’t left them alone and helped them.

Its Their Job to be Responsible

A few days back a news that was being discussed everywhere was about the Chief Minister of Balochistan, Nawab Aslam Raisani. His photo was published on face book and perhaps on other sites as well, where he was sitting with a girl, with his head on her shoulder.

People and even the news media without any confirmation started spreading this news. The girl was labeled with disrespectful names. It was later found that that girl was the Chief Ministers daughter. The point that I want to make here is that we must not blame anyone without knowing the whole truth. Even if the girl was not her daughter even then it was the Chief Minister’s personal matter and the media or the general public is no one to interfere in any body’s private matters.

The purpose of media must not be to earn money but to convey the truth to the people, but it seems as if the media have forgotten its real task and is only there to earn money. The news media may act responsibly because its one mistake can lead to great problems. As in this case the family faced so many problems.

Aslam Raisani’s fans created a page against this photo and they want to remove this photo from face book with the stupid title. Yes the publishing of the picture is not an issue, but showing the wrong concept is an issue.

Cheaply Dressed Women

The Pakistani media has forgotten the ethics and morals of our society. At many places it seems as if the media is forgotten that they are representing the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a country that was achieved at the name of religion. Being free doesn’t mean that one may forget their cultural and religious norms.

The Pakistani media have started airing vulgar programs, the Mathira show being a prime example. Mathira is the host of an indecent show on Vibe channel. After all what she do is that she dresses cheaply and uses indecent facial expressions during her calls.

Mathira is definitely a very naughty girl. In her, a small time television channel has their biggest hit. People tune in to her show for entertainment. Callers call in and flirt with her and she flirts back with them.

Few days back there was an article in ‘Express Tribune’ named as ‘Say no to Mathira: Ban vulgarity not art’. This article mainly discussed that how the Pakistani channels are promoting vulgarity.

I believe that it is time that the Pakistani media realizes that they are representing the Islamic republic of Pakistan. And the media is representing our country worldwide, and they are responsible for making a positive image of Pakistan in the world.

The True Spirit of Eid Al-Adha

Eid al-Adha, the festive of sacrifice is an important day celebrated by the Muslims worldwide to commemorate the willingness of Hazrat Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Hazrat Ismail as an act of obedience to God.

The meat is divided into three parts to be distributed to others. The family retains one third of the share, another third is given to relatives, friends and neighbors, and the other third is given to the poor & needy. This act of sharing would increase love among the people.

 The rates of the animals were always high. But this year the rates went very high, mainly due to the flood that hit Pakistan and a large number of the animals died because of the flood. But people still bought animals in order to perform this noble task.

But with the passage of time the meaning of this noble task has been changed. Before it was done to make Allah happy and to practice religion, but now it is done merely for show off. People give millions of rupees to buy expensive animals even though they know that it is not worth it, but still they buy it only to show off. And the meat which was supposed to be shared among the people is stocked in the refrigerators for future Bar B Q parties.

Have people really forgotten the true spirit of eid al-Adha? I think it’s time when we all may realize that it’s not the how we celebrate it but the true essence is when we celebrate it the way our Prophets did it.

An Inspirational Men

E.O.B.I (employees old age benefit institutions), was established in 1976, and its main purpose was to give benefits to the retired people. In the beginning it was only concerned with the people who earn 1000 rupees or less/month, but as the policies kept on changing, now it is also consider the people earning minimum wages, i.e., 7000/month. E.O.B.I makes sure that the employees when retired does not faces any financial problem. Apart from retiring it also helps the workers who had been disabled, during or after work. But the main thing is that the workers need to register with E.O.B.I, in order to get those benefits, after retiring from job.

Director E.O.B.I, Mr. Hanif Baloch a very jolly and kind person. He belonged to a poor family living in Saleh Muhammad village. His father had a small shop in the village. “It was my struggle and hard work that helped me to reach at this place”; said Hanif Baloch. Hanif Baloch acquired its early education from a small school in the village. He did his graduation from Government Science College, and was enrolled in for the degree of M.B.A in I.B.A (Institute of Business Administration). After completing his M.B.A he went to U.S.A, on scholarship, and acquired the degree of M.P.A (Masters in Public Administration), from the Kennedy school of government.

According to him the major problem in Pakistan is, that the workers are unaware of such benefits, hence they do not register themselves with such institutions, therefore are deprived from such benefits. He also mentioned another institution, which is known as Service Social Security Institution, this institution is concerned with the financial solutions of the workers during their job period. He again and again focused on the point that they must be aware of these institutions, so that they register themselves with these institutions in order to enjoy the benefits that these institutions give.

Mr. Hanif  Baloch also mentioned that the government fund them to a certain extent. It is usually private institutions that are funding them. He mentioned that it makes their job very difficult when the government is not funding them enough. He also mentioned that the E.O.B.I also helps the families of the retired worker at times of need, for example when they suffering through diseases or at times of the weddings of the workers family members.

He said that the youth of Pakistan is very energetic. They must utilize their qualities, and must continue their struggle for a better life. He also said that to lead a better life one must work hard to become a better person.

Spirituality or home for Drug Addicts?

The places that were meant to be blessed and were meant to spiritual are shows a different picture now. Yes the shrines. The shrines that were considered to be places of spirituality are now considered to be the homes of the drug addicts.

Lets us take the example of the Shrine of Abdullah Shah Ghazi. A place which is never empty. You go there any time you will find huge amount of people there. People all over Pakistan including interior Sindh and Balochistan also go there. Special arrangements are made on Thursday’s as a huge amount of people from different places comes there.

But it is hurting when you see people sitting inside the boundary of the shrine are using drugs. Not only this shrine but you can see it going on all over the shrines in Pakistan. Drugs are very easily available at these shrines. It is really hurting to see that these drug addicts don’t have any respect for the people resting in the shrine.

I think that the government of Pakistan must take this matter in their hands and take some initial steps regarding the shrines, as the use of drugs at shrines is disrespectful as well as dangerous. The thing that triggers me all the time is that how can someone use, sell and buy drugs so openly? It’s time that the government show some responsibility in this regard and work towards ending such unethical acts.