Pakistan my Lalaland- reels for acute oil and gas shortage

Article: Sidra Shahid

It’s eight in the morning you are getting late for the class, you have to pick up a friend, and guess what?? You car is running out of oil and gas. The first thing you wanted to do in this situation is to bang your head and the second would be probably to let it be, get gas for your car, pick your friend, hit to the university and go into the class where the teacher is ready to hit you and when you are ready to utter something, she pounces upon you n say, “don’t expect that I would allow you to get in the class, take your excuse with you and get out of the class”. And you are left with the emotion of hopelessness on your face. You feel like the most unlucky person in the world and you wanted to shout loud that, “God why me?” and the devil in you pricked you and say, “Hey! Chill out dude! Get a life… roam around and get a puff with your friends… what are you sighing for??? You are out of the class man! You are surely better than other guys. Stand out and fly... You are a free bird.” And you as usual say thanks to respectful Mr. Devil stand up, tug your shirt out, Make your hairs spikier, and call your close chum and say, “Hey dude! What’s up? I am waiting for you at the sheesha lounge, be there in five minutes.”

Most of the people among us would face the second situation, well! Perhaps every one, obviously who would actually hurt himself??? “The precious us”. But in the current situation in our country when getting oil and gas for your car is as difficult as getting food for a deprived, you have to wait for the hours in the long queues at the stations to get the gas or oil for your car, and you don’t get late for the class as you don’t even get the chance to hit at your universities or schools, and both the situations go in vain. Since few months Pakistan is going through the shortage of natural gas and petrol. And recently the government cut short the supply of oil and gas and it was recently posted on the Pakistani blog (the Pakistani spectator) that 380 CNG stations have been closed down by the authorities in NWFP and Punjab. People are so upset and they are simply dumbfounded at this and wondering what they would do?? They can’t go to schools, offices, businesses, and universities. Patients are dying due to the absence and dearth of ambulances, which has been a victim of gas shortage. And not only has this, with this news the Pakistan got the free gift of “high petrol prices”. According to the local channel news reporter, the prices of the petrol are doubled, and profiteers are cashing it on this situation.

Sui northern gas is saying that they have cut the supply short to the stations because they want to facilitate the domestic users. But according to the TV and newspaper reports this is all very false, because the domestic users are also getting very little supply of gas. In one of the show of the local radio station, “FM 95 Punjab rung”, the radio jockey reported that; in the rural areas of Punjab the Sui gas is only available for specific time every day. Thus, the life of a lay man is totally on stake. From the business man to a rickshaw driver, everyone is facing the crisis through the scarcity of gas. A Lahori rickshaw driver, who started driving rickshaw after the prime minister’s rozgar scheme, said about the present situation that, “it’s very difficult for a poor person to endure in this condition. I couldn’t pay my bills, school fees for my children, house rent, and I don’t even have money to bring something for my family to eat because I am not able to drive rickshaw due to the gas shortage. In this situation what else could we do rather than attempting suicide??? What else could we do rather than blaming the government??? The slogan “roti, kapra, makaan” is really taking our lives away.”

The actual reason behind the oil shortage was that the PSO, with the permission of government stopped the supply of oil to Total, Shell and Caltex. The other reason was the flood situation in Pakistan due to which the oil refineries in the premises of Punjab were not in the working process and that results into the shortage of supply of oil.

But there is another end towards the story, the Pakistan defense revealed that the real issue is not the gas shortage; in fact these rulers are diverting people’s attention from the American war. America is conducting drone attacks in North Waziristan on every day basis due to which thousands of people are killed and thousands of people are forced to lick the dust of misery and hopelessness. People there are forced to live in the open, in the extremely cold weather. Government is actually creating one crisis after another just to drive the attention of Pakistanis from the American interference in Pakistan. Hence its “danger to democracy”, rhetorical drama that our government trumps up at times while sometimes it plays havoc with people’s lives through different situations like load shedding of gas and electricity just to make people busy with their own problems.

Watching the two ends of the situation the only thing that would come in everyone’s minds is that, what our government actually wants from us??? They want us to pay taxes for their international holidays and then in result are severely beaten by the intense crisis situation??? The present situation shows that the Pakistan due to the crises and negligence of government is on the verge to be shut down, and then there is no need for anyone to attack us as we ourselves with the help of our beloved rulers are leaping back towards the Stone Age, living with the candles, and we will die our own without any kind of military attacks.

But this is not the time to back down, at least not right now; there is too much at stake… our country need us all. Its sounds of help are echoing everywhere that we always ignore. But this is the time to wake up, to listen to the call of our own country and to realize every Pakistani the wretched reality. It is fine to go late in the class, having no electricity and wait hours for your turn to get petrol and CNG. But it is not right to be dispersed this is the time to get united because being a nation together we can fight through the crises and can conquer.

Sidra Shahid
BBA II
Sec: H
o9u0309

A wakeup call.

By Arshia Azhar.

Revolutions have had revolutionary effects on countries, nations, groups and empires. It is evident from history that a nation cannot live under tyranny or adverse conditions for long and that the rulers who are not able to govern properly ultimately have to face the wrath of their people in the form of a revolution. In Pakistan the conditions at the moment are adverse and challenging for the people. Ever since the democratic government has taken charge the numbers of suicide incidents in the country have increased. An ordinary person who earns eight to ten thousand a month is hardly able to feed himself and his family thrice a day. To make the matters worse governments’ inability to control price hike has made the situation even worse. Such has been the performance of this government that people now want the previous government of a dictator back. The last two and a half years have been characterized by corruption, inefficiency, political war between the two major parties, foreign tours which are good for nothing, lack of development, poor getting poorer, rich getting richer and last but not the least lack of security for the people. In such a situation the people of Pakistan have to come out on the roads and fight for their rights. The lack of their participation in politics as mentioned in the previous articles has led to this situation so this the right time to correct the past mistakes and revive the glory of Pakistan and its people. No or little accountability has made the politicians to take this nation as granted and do whatever. They know that come the next elections we will be in the parliament again. This sort of thinking needs to be changed and it is obligatory for us to make them realize that whatever they are doing is wrong. I am not of the view that each and every politician is corrupt; it is our system that is corrupt. It is a shame for us to be the 32^nd most corrupt country in the world. Other countries don’t trust us anymore; the fact that the foreign countries and organization gave their donations to the non-government organizations instead of the government of Pakistan after the floods is very derogatory for us. It is a dilemma which has to be changed. People around the world consider Pakistan as a failed state because of our internal conditions and situation.

In order to change the current scenario of our homeland we need a revolution. A revolution led by a group of people who know regarding how to lead this country. The people of Pakistan have to come out of their nutshells and fight for their due rights. The political system has to be changed; corrupt politicians should be sent to jail and proper accountability has to be held. We have to set an example for everyone, an example that does not give anyone the strength and courage to do wrong to his country ever again. Pakistan has all the ingredients to be a successful prosperous country. The available resources, labor and talent is unmatched; need of the hour is to polish it and utilize it in an efficient manner. It is true that we as a nation have not played our role properly in the development of this country. This is the time to correct our mistakes and do something for this country that has given us a lot. Go ask the Kashmirs’, the Palestinians’ about independence and they will tell how badly they need it and how much they have suffered just because they don’t have freedom. It is sad that my generation and my parents’ generation forgot what our forefathers did to get this piece of land. Their sacrifices have been forgotten totally. We need to try our level best to turn this Pakistan into a Pakistan of Quaid-e-Azam and the only way to do this is revolution. The Muslims of the subcontinent brought a revolution in the region by getting independence from the British; we need another revolution to make Pakistan a strong country that can face any external threat bravely.

"I Was a Woman, Now I Am a Ghost"

Article: Sidra Shahid


The 18th and early 19th century consisted of an agricultural society wherein the family worked as a unit, each contributing to the growth and prosperity of the unit. Education and healthcare was provided within the home. Every member of the household was engaged in a skill that would enhance their economic viability. These values were an integral part of their life and their success was measured by how industrious they could be.

Along with industrialization, the 19th century brought with it a change in the family as a cohesive unit. Outside influences directed the course they would take. The home was no longer the core of economic production, but was now the catalyst whereby all labor was forced out.

Education and healthcare institutions became the guardians of the children. Classes began to form and independent families were no longer the norm but, rather, the exception. The age of the independent family has been replaced with an emergence of families in poverty, despair, loneliness, and frustration.

Groups of women have been dangerous in the past, among them Pakistan’s suffragettes of the19th and 20th centuries. Some men and women alike that opposed their right to vote abused them. Just as disturbingly today, some women are abused in more ways, starting as early as infancy when they are molested, raped, belittled, beaten, burned, neglected, starved, and thrown out. Further, because of peer pressure and spousal abandonment, many women fall victim to drug addiction, alcoholism, unwed pregnancy, cult lifestyles, homelessness, poverty, prostitution, and suicide.

Incidences of sexual assaults against children have risen when compared with previous decades, and children are increasingly kidnapped by family acquaintances and strangers instead of close relatives. Yet thousands of sex offenders are never sentenced, in part because their victims are people within their circles usually family members and these children are pressured with threat or shame not to press charges.

With compassion rather than condemnation letting women relate to each distressed, awaken from the deep truths to share that she had kept within herself for a long period of time that prepared her to be dynamited out of rut. Our God is a God of miracles, and this is a somehow a miracle happening right now in the lives of these desperate, terribly abused, totally lost women. Not only does the Lord save, He washes white as snow and sends the washed ones out to witness for Him.

 I am always struck by the strong social expectation that we all seem to hold -- when faced with a crisis, no one will step out of their comfort zone to offer help.

 Meet Shahista physically, verbally, and sexually abused in childhood, as she makes a desperate bid to rise out of the mire of drug addiction and prostitution. How did she find God? One desperate day, after hearing about the Lord, she opened the front door and asked God to come in and be her best friend and walk with her forever. And the miracles began to happen.

 Meet Hajra who went to Data Darbaar (Dargaah) yet was betrayed by the parents who took her there. The forces of darkness reached out to claim her and drive her into deathly desperation. She tried suicide, alcohol, drugs, sex, and an abortion. When nothing else helped, she called unto the Lord, and from then on, no matter how dark the way became, God continually reached out until Hajra stumbled into His arms and her miracles started.

 By observing some of the much needed facilities that should be provided to women are not being provided and they do not get a chance to express their feelings, this all opened my eyes to the injustice and hopelessness that many suffer in this society. I believe that everyone should at least be given a fighting chance to not only survive, but to thrive. 

Feudal, police officers and soldiers are found culpable of the rape of more than hundreds of women in the towns of our country. Why they are not being charged of such in hummable activity? If someone reaches the court somehow, she is not given a chance to proceed within the court and is declared as an abnormal person blaming a respectable person of the society whose face is covered with his good deeds and character. This Demonstrates that the most dangerous people "count it all joy" by looking at the bigger picture. They do this with an unshakable faith that all will be well, no matter what circumstances look like at this moment. Such people have come through the fires of hell in one piece and have survived, No, they have prospered. Now they spread the good word of hope, and this is the lesson of life that if we know it, then we can achieve it, and then we will facilitate it for others.

Center in the courts have begun serving lengthy sentences in the provincial capitals yet a good sign of hope but the speedy trial and sentencing by a mobile court is a welcome sign of a new commitment to ending impunity for sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Pakistan.

 So many people around us are broken in one way or another. Many elements in the stories of these females will strike a familiar chord. That may be unnerving, or frightening. But woven through every story, on every page of their life, is the truth of God's grace and a steady, unmistakable sense of hope. These women progressed from broken vessels, to women dangerous to themselves and others, to heroes boldly dangerous for God and His promises for healing, deliverance, and truth through salvation.

Many of the children I met in village here in my home town had been shunned from their families, abandoned, orphaned, and left to wither away. One particularly horrifying story was of a girl from the orphanage who had been buried alive on top of her deceased mother because no one in the community could take care of her. A brave little boy heard her cries, dug her up, and carried her in his bicycle basket to the door of the Sisters. I believe that much needs to change in the world- from corrupt politics to greed to overindulgence to priorities in life. I also believe that it doesn't happen overnight and that it is almost never easy. 

Regardless, I want to try to live by the words of Mahatma Gandhi- "Be the change you wish to see in the world." 

Domestic violence against women in Pakistan has been worst and vulnerable since the origin of the country. Some of the issues which I have observed through my insight struggle are the social and cultural reasons for violence against women, the ways in which the women are victimized, the extent of this violence and its implications for the victims and society at large. It is often seen that some of the major reasons for violence against women include treatment of women as objects and property, legitimization of cruel practices through tradition and misinterpretation of religion, and patriarchal nature of society that enables men to reinforce their social power through subjugation of women. While around 80% of Pakistani women are reported to face some form of domestic violence every year, horrific crimes such as honor killings, acid burnings and marital rape are also quite common.

There are several absurd practices such as exchanging of women to settle tribal disputes and selling them to pay off debt, which depict the treatment of women as commodities. The violence against women goes unchecked because of an unjust legal system that leads to unfair settlements and custodial violence against women. The brutalization and torture of women has several negative impacts that start with the continuous fear and feelings of worthlessness among the victims. Large-scale mistreatment of women forces economic backwardness on them and creates widespread gender-disparity in the country. 

My first encounter with the real state of women was back in school times when I returned back to my hometown to meet my parents. A story from some of the relatives and of an aunt of mine in Arifwala came to our house once, sobbing and weeping. I was playing football with my brother in the backyard as she sat there and explained to my parents how her husband had beaten her and kicked her out of his home. She seemed to be in serious pain, yet she was not bleeding or anything. What she said was or what she wanted to say that I could read her eyes was that, “I remember so many things I want to forget. I remember once upon a time I was a real person, and then I was a woman. Now I am a ghost."

The source of her pain was heartache. She was sobbing, and I could not help but stop playing to watch her. She said the word talaaq (divorce) time and again. Every time she said it, she cried louder. This idea of divorce must have been her tormentor. It appeared that she did not want to be divorced; whatever that meant was unclear to me at the time. Later on in the day, I asked my Mama what was wrong with auntie. Mama said I would not understand it. Eventually, my aunt went back to her husband’s home to live there for good. 

More than a decade down the line, I now understand things a little better. My aunt’s husband had no excuse to treat her so badly. After all, he could just have ended the marriage if he did not want to be with my aunt anymore. But why did he kill her each passing moment, every day, with the same threat of divorce and physical torture?

Because he knew that she would have no place in the society as a divorced woman that she would have no means of financial sustenance. My aunts own family would despise her. Today, her husband has a second wife, a “sokan” for my aunt as it is called in Urdu. Her husband divides his time between the two wives. He treats the sokan better because she is younger and more beautiful. His actions have no legal implications, only moral and ethical ones that do not bother him. My aunt has four children, and lives with her husband pretending that the other woman does not exist. This is an unfair compromise, but my aunt has no other choice if she wants to survive in the patriarchal society. 

But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Living with someone who suffers from such a pathetic behavior would have definitely made her a stronger person and it has made their relationship stronger. It has also taught her that she can’t base her self confidence on how he treats her or how much he compliments her. She is a strong woman with lots to offer and now, she embraces that!

Any of such stories, recorded as chapters of women’s life, could stand alone as an important film and represents the sense of courage, velour and hope as well as a sense of redemption that prevails within the minds of such women. I would be deeply honored to say that “He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior”. 

Though the overall picture is quite bleak for women in Pakistan, there are some rays of hope through isolated cases in which society has supported victimized women and the legal system has dispensed justice. Overall, this is a manifesto for improving the plight of millions of battered women in Pakistan who deserve social justice.

Sidra Shahid
BBAII
Sec: H
09u0309

Pakistan's President- Asif Ali Zardari

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjyuhBmt64w&feature=mh_lolz&list=HL1308845068

Sidra Shahid
BBA II
Sec: H
o9u0309