One of my friend who is encourging me to write on issues facing Pakistan met me last evening and remarked that in my last post i only gave problems and have not given solutions.. Well for him before he give his comments i would like to say that in my last articles titling " chronicles of a death foretold " I said that I plan to write about the future of Pakistan in 21st. century and have raised some questions whose answers he is searching before he starts writing .
Wednesday 30 January 2013
Chronicles of a Death Foretold
I am no writer ,trained as scientist having spent all my life as a business manager--turned businessman, my vocabulary of English is limited to explanation of the result of my laboratory work or writing business letters, preparing feasibility reports and writing office memos. However, what is happening in the country and being encouraged by few friends who have more command over written English , I have started writing in my blog.
I have worked over forty years as a business manager from Ayub -to-Bhutoo-to Zia to Benazir to-Nawab Sharif to Musharaf eras , have did business in highly regulated economy -to so called socialist economy to mix economy and i am still working as businessman in what i call economy anarchy. I have seen civil servant working as civil rulers, i have seen cronies of military rulers , political rulers going around as brokers.
I never held any national level position or i was never exposed to national policy making process but being person who was always interested to know what is happening and why certain national level decisions are made i kept in touch with people who were involved in national decision making process . However , Bhutoo through one Dr.Kibria made me member of Pakistan Appropriate Technology Commission, Nazar Abbas Siddique when he was Secretary Education put me on Ministry of Education advisory panel, Nawaz Sharif appointed me member, Economic Self Reliance Committee under Prof.Khursheed ( may be Nawaz Sharif confused me with my brother-Humayun Mufti). Kamal Azfar as Governor-Sind made me member of NED University Senate.. Knowing my background friends specially some retired civil servants always insist that i should write all good and bad things i have seen but i always tell my friends that i am no historian to write all this as history for future generation to learn, So I tell my friends ,using Chaudry Shujat famous words MITY PAO ( may be he means bury the past because after burying a body people put mitee on the grave )
However, i have started this blog to write about the future. I have been in search of some subject . People are talking about the need of economic , education, health care, police / civil service, political , agriculture and so many structural reforms. People are talking about rebuilding of the institutions. I always wonder that if all these structural reforms are made and all destroyed institutions are rebuild, We may find educated and trained people to manage the structural reforms and institutions but will these people be equipped with moral and ethical values?
. I have been resisting writing even about future but today ( wednesday,30 January 2013 ) daily News published four articles ,one by Dr. Yaqub, others by Ahmed QureshI and Hussain H.Zaidi and Farrukh Saleem. Reading these articles on different subject but reading them in one sitting really compelled me to start writing in my poor English what i feel is needed .
The subject i want to write is about preparing Pakistan to survive in highly globalized & rapidly globalizing world in 21st. Century . I have many questions in mind , first question is who will lead us into 21st. century ? . Our democratic minded political scientists, so called intellectuals in media and present discredited politicians say that if democracy is not interrupted ,after 5 or 6 elections corrupt politicians will be eliminated and honest political leadership will evolved.. My second question is; can Pakistan economically survive under the leadership of corrupt political leadership . My third question is from where the new breed of honest political leadership will come from ? Lets assume 4th election after 2013 election takes place after 20 years , which means if a child is of 15 years of age ,he will be a voters and a candidate for contesting the election. My fourth question is those children who are 15 years of age are correctly nurtured by parent at home , by teachers in schools ? A child form impression which later determine his personity at the age between 6 -7 years Do parents and teacher of today behave as role model for our children ? Do our parents tell children what is right and what is wrong ? . Do we teach them what is morality and what is ethics ? If a child of a rich family hears his parents saying that every one can be bought over and with money one can get away with murder. If a child is growing seeing master -servant enviroment at home , if parent dont tell child that there is nothing like servant i.e., cook is doing a professional job and is paid for cooking , sweeper is doing a job and is paid for doing a job, a driver and Chuukidar are doing jobs and are paid doing those jobs and master --servant relationship is phenomena of uncivilized world.
. If we, as parents , our teachers in schools do not play our role to correct these and such very basic causes . , I dont know how even after 5-6 elections ( after 20 years ) ,we can have honest political leadership. Even if we design and implement most modern education, economic, agriculture, police , health, judicial reforms and rebuild all the institutions and put them under corrupt , immoral and unethical people ,what good all these efforts will be ?
However, i have started this blog to write about the future. I have been in search of some subject . People are talking about the need of economic , education, health care, police / civil service, political , agriculture and so many structural reforms. People are talking about rebuilding of the institutions. I always wonder that if all these structural reforms are made and all destroyed institutions are rebuild, We may find educated and trained people to manage the structural reforms and institutions but will these people be equipped with moral and ethical values?
. I have been resisting writing even about future but today ( wednesday,30 January 2013 ) daily News published four articles ,one by Dr. Yaqub, others by Ahmed QureshI and Hussain H.Zaidi and Farrukh Saleem. Reading these articles on different subject but reading them in one sitting really compelled me to start writing in my poor English what i feel is needed .
The subject i want to write is about preparing Pakistan to survive in highly globalized & rapidly globalizing world in 21st. Century . I have many questions in mind , first question is who will lead us into 21st. century ? . Our democratic minded political scientists, so called intellectuals in media and present discredited politicians say that if democracy is not interrupted ,after 5 or 6 elections corrupt politicians will be eliminated and honest political leadership will evolved.. My second question is; can Pakistan economically survive under the leadership of corrupt political leadership . My third question is from where the new breed of honest political leadership will come from ? Lets assume 4th election after 2013 election takes place after 20 years , which means if a child is of 15 years of age ,he will be a voters and a candidate for contesting the election. My fourth question is those children who are 15 years of age are correctly nurtured by parent at home , by teachers in schools ? A child form impression which later determine his personity at the age between 6 -7 years Do parents and teacher of today behave as role model for our children ? Do our parents tell children what is right and what is wrong ? . Do we teach them what is morality and what is ethics ? If a child of a rich family hears his parents saying that every one can be bought over and with money one can get away with murder. If a child is growing seeing master -servant enviroment at home , if parent dont tell child that there is nothing like servant i.e., cook is doing a professional job and is paid for cooking , sweeper is doing a job and is paid for doing a job, a driver and Chuukidar are doing jobs and are paid doing those jobs and master --servant relationship is phenomena of uncivilized world.
. If we, as parents , our teachers in schools do not play our role to correct these and such very basic causes . , I dont know how even after 5-6 elections ( after 20 years ) ,we can have honest political leadership. Even if we design and implement most modern education, economic, agriculture, police , health, judicial reforms and rebuild all the institutions and put them under corrupt , immoral and unethical people ,what good all these efforts will be ?
Friday 11 January 2013
HOW VERY TRUE
Is there an imaginary cutoff period when
Offspring become accountable
For their own actions?
Is there some wonderful moment when
Parents can become detached spectators in
The lives of their children and shrug,
"It's their life", and feel nothing?
When I was in my
twenties,
I stood in a hospital corridor
Waiting for doctors to put a few stitches
In my son's head and I asked,
'When do you stop worrying?'
The nurse said,
'When they get out of the accident stage..'
My Parents just smiled faintly
And said nothing.
When I was in my thirties,
I sat on a little chair in a classroom
And heard how one of my children
Talked incessantly, disrupted the class,
And was headed for a career
Making license plates.
As if to read my mind, a teacher said,
'Don't worry, they all go through this stage
And then you can sit back,
Relax and enjoy them.'
My Parents just smiled faintly
And said nothing.
When I was in my forties,
I spent a lifetime waiting
For the phone to ring,
The cars to come home,
The front door to open.
A friend said,
'They're trying to find themselves.
'Don't worry!
In a few years, they'll be adults.
'They'll be off on their own
They'll be out of your hair'
My Parents just smiled faintly
And said nothing.
By the time I was 50,
I was so tired of being vulnerable.
I was still worrying over my children,
But there was a new wrinkle..
Even though they were on their own
I continued to anguish over their failures,
Be tormented by their frustrations and
Absorbed in their disappointments..
And there was nothing I could do about it.
My Parents just smiled faintly
And said nothing.
My friends said that
When my kids got married
I could stop worrying
And lead my own life.
I wanted to believe that,
But I was haunted by my parents' warm smiles
And their occasional,
'You look pale. Are you all right' ?
'Call me the minute you get home'.
Are you depressed about something?'
My friends said that
When I became a Grandparent
That I would get to enjoy
The happy little voices yelling
Grandma! Grandpa!
And now I find that I worry
Just as much about the little ones
As my big ones.
How does anyone cope
With all this Worry?
I stood in a hospital corridor
Waiting for doctors to put a few stitches
In my son's head and I asked,
'When do you stop worrying?'
The nurse said,
'When they get out of the accident stage..'
My Parents just smiled faintly
And said nothing.
When I was in my thirties,
I sat on a little chair in a classroom
And heard how one of my children
Talked incessantly, disrupted the class,
And was headed for a career
Making license plates.
As if to read my mind, a teacher said,
'Don't worry, they all go through this stage
And then you can sit back,
Relax and enjoy them.'
My Parents just smiled faintly
And said nothing.
When I was in my forties,
I spent a lifetime waiting
For the phone to ring,
The cars to come home,
The front door to open.
A friend said,
'They're trying to find themselves.
'Don't worry!
In a few years, they'll be adults.
'They'll be off on their own
They'll be out of your hair'
My Parents just smiled faintly
And said nothing.
By the time I was 50,
I was so tired of being vulnerable.
I was still worrying over my children,
But there was a new wrinkle..
Even though they were on their own
I continued to anguish over their failures,
Be tormented by their frustrations and
Absorbed in their disappointments..
And there was nothing I could do about it.
My Parents just smiled faintly
And said nothing.
My friends said that
When my kids got married
I could stop worrying
And lead my own life.
I wanted to believe that,
But I was haunted by my parents' warm smiles
And their occasional,
'You look pale. Are you all right' ?
'Call me the minute you get home'.
Are you depressed about something?'
My friends said that
When I became a Grandparent
That I would get to enjoy
The happy little voices yelling
Grandma! Grandpa!
And now I find that I worry
Just as much about the little ones
As my big ones.
How does anyone cope
With all this Worry?
Can it be that parents
are sentenced
To a lifetime of worry?
Is concern for one another
Handed down like a torch
To blaze the trail of human frailties
And the fears of the unknown?
Is concern a curse or is it
A virtue that elevates us
To the highest form of earthly creation?
Recently, one of my own children
Became quite irritable, saying to me,
'Where were you?
I've been calling for 3 days,
And no one answered
I was worried.'
I smiled a warm smile.
The torch has been passed.
To a lifetime of worry?
Is concern for one another
Handed down like a torch
To blaze the trail of human frailties
And the fears of the unknown?
Is concern a curse or is it
A virtue that elevates us
To the highest form of earthly creation?
Recently, one of my own children
Became quite irritable, saying to me,
'Where were you?
I've been calling for 3 days,
And no one answered
I was worried.'
I smiled a warm smile.
The torch has been passed.
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