Happy Birthday Khadim-e-Alla!

by Majid Tamoor (@MajidTamoor)

So I pick my pen just a day before 23 September to pay a tribute to a one of the greatest administrator I have ever come across! I am writing about Mian Shehbaz Sharif sb! Just in the starting I would like to wish the Khadim-e-Alla of Punjab,Happy birthday! There a lot of reasons that provoked me to right a special blog for Shehbaz Sharif sb!

Shehbaz Sharif sb has been a true inspirational leader for the youth and the other age groups aswell. The man is great and upright when it comes to service and leaves no stone unturned to serve his people. Since he has come in power his government has faced many challenges but he have faced them like a true warrior and produced good results for the country. The picture below is one of the reasons to go for the man:

The man is there for his people and in the times when the people needs him the most. To his success in the Punjab govt are projects like:

1. Incentives for students (PEEF,forgein trips for students )
2. Daanish Schools
3. E-youth initiatives ( a visionary policy that will help education in Pakistan)
4. Ashiana Housing schemes
5. Land record system , when others only talked he devised a powerful system to stop land grabbing!
6. Labour colonies
7. Ramazan Bazars
8. Innovation Punjab
9. Vocational training for 50 thousand people
10. Punjab disaster management
11. Solid Waste management
12. Mass Transit bus system
13. Foreign Direct investment (Chinese investment in foton buses and and Turkish investment in solid waste management and rapid transit bus system)
14. Better education facilties (47000 more students inducted in primary schools and 72000 recruitment of teachers on merit)
15. Model Villages
16. Solar panels (in villages and for less privileged)
17. Industrial estates in Rahim Yar Khan 
18. Better healthcare facilities (hospitals established in Bahawalpur,Rawalpindi and etc)
19. Establishing IT labs!
20. And lastly all his projects are on MERIT!

And a lot more to his credit as a remarkable and inspirational administrator! Despite being in the govt only in Punjab , Shehbaz Sharif sb has acted like a national leader and helped other provinces in the time of need.Let it be NFC award or the flood affected areas; CM Punjab is always there for his country.One must not forget his efforts for controlling the dengue epidemic. He was there on roads to spread awareness and is now praised by the Sri Lankan experts for his remarkable steps to eradicate dengue!

Apart from his political career what inspires me about Shehbaz Sharif is his great brother Mian Nawaz Sharif sb! Both have been ,proved, great asset to the country! Other than that Shehbaz Sharif sb is very unconventional in his style and I call it the CM style! Look at the picture below:

From watching few of his interviews with his family I came to know about that he is always busy in serving the public and gets less time to be with his family . Below is a picture of CM with his grand daughter:

The picture speaks so much for itself.Just like any grandfather the CM eyes are shining seeing his granddaughter happy and you can see them dreaming for the little angel!

In the end now putting it up as Shehbaz Sharif sb says;

“My people are my family”

I feel proud to be wishing the CM Shehbaz Sharif sb and somewhere in the corner of my heart feel safe as I know he is the CM who is always around for his people.He has not been in good health but was there for his people.Doctors advised him rest but he was with the public! Good to have you around Shehbaz Sharif sb.Its good to see Shehbaz Sharif sb always there for his public but I request the Khadim-e-Al;a also to look after his health.I wish Shehbaz Sharif sb good health and long life this birthday.And yes ,InshAllah, there are a lot to come! God bless Shehbaz Sharif!

NO to Imran Khan’s Change – My 8 reasons

2013 is going to be the election year in Pakistan. There is a lot of political hip hop in Pakistan at the moment. Pakistan People’s Party has been in power for a record 5^th time in history of Pakistan and have ruled us in last five years. Looking at the inflation, unemployment, war on terror impacts on Pakistanis and especially the energy crisis in Pakistan, PPP has failed miserably in governance. Imran Khan has become a self proclaimed messiah of the doomed nation in the mean time. I have impartially considered him to see if he deserves my vote, and the answer my analysis as a layman brings forward is a big NO. Here are my reasons to say No to Imran Khan’s Change.

• Imran Khan a rolling stone???

Pakistanis have loved Imran Khan deeply. There were slogans like “Lion of Pakistan, Imran Khan, Imran Khan” in the 1980s which I remember from my childhood. What was the back ground? Did Imran present the country’s budget? No. Was it some meeting with a foreign delegation for future direct investment? No. Was he involved in preparing the country’s defence plan? No. Then what was the source of love and respect he gained? Oh now I remember. He was a sportsman. One of the best ones in his field. He is from a family of cricketers, and he has spent 45 years of his life becoming an expert in Cricket. One fine day he decides to sort out the social, legal, governance, health, poverty, employment and defence related problems of Pakistan and that makes me laugh. A person who has all his life’s experience in Cricket considers himself better for running a country? Too optimistic and kiddish. Is Imran a rolling stone not? Who will gather no moss?

• Imran Khan’s language-do I want my representative to speak like he does nowadays?

Not at all. With power comes responsibility. This is especially true if you are an elected member of national assembly. A person who ridicules his opponents (well till the time they remain his opponents) with language not worthy of it, how will he treat the people if he ever comes in power? What happened to the decent Imran Khan we knew? Or was the “Finally “I” managed to win the world Cup” speech is just his nature? His language is most definitely my reason of NOT voting for him.

• Imran Khan’s focus-why is it adjusted on Punjab only?

One major thing that makes me believe Imran Khan is not a good choice for my vote is his extreme focus on Punjab. An unbiased review of the performance of all 4 provinces in last 5 years will prove that Punjab Government has launched a lot many projects for public benefit in comparison to the other 3 provincial governments and the federal government put together. In Punjab the 2010 floods were tackled much better in terms of relief in comparison to Sindh where flood water of 2010 is still standing in some low lying areas. Im sure Punjab can be run much better than this, but in the given circumstances it still happens to be the most well managed province in Pakistan. Why Imran Khan is NOT concerned about any other part of Pakistan? The people dying in target killings daily in Karachi are not Pakistanis? The Hazara shias being killed in Quetta are not Muslims? The people killed by Taliban and other extremists in KPK are not Humans? Why is his concern and criticism only focused on Punjab? Makes me believe Imran has no plan for Pakistan. Whatever he is planning is only for Punjab. This makes him unfit to get my vote as premiere of Pakistan.

• Imran’s politics is too bookish

Pakistan is a complex socio-political region. We are not simple people to deal with. There are forces like religion, economics and social pressures of very different kinds that shape our daily lives. I find Imran Khan’s solution to our problems very bookish. Who in his right senses would claim he would end the war on terror on his first day in office? Or that he can root out corruption in this culture within 9 days?  This society is no Europe or USA. Imran seems to know very little about the nation he claims to be the savior of.

• Imran’s followers and their “holier than thou” attitude

Something is wrong with Imran and his followers. I searched for information myself but couldn’t find any information related to how Imran Khan earns. Also, it looks like he never filed a tax return all his cricketing life. Amazing is the fact that Imran still points out others for not paying taxes. What can you think of a person who does not follow a rule, but wants others to follow? I do not want a person with this double standard to be my leader. Imran’s followers have every right to like him, but no right to disrespect other leaders. They follow Imran and use foul language. They go to the level that they declare you a non patriot if you don’t like Imran. Is Imran some kind of “farz”? No. And this attitude is trickling down from his own person to his followers. He considers himself better for no reason and after committing the same mistakes others do, he screams at top of his voice what others are doing. Again. Kiddish. Again, NO!

• Imran’s zana case, and allegations on SKMH funds misuse

Being a Muslim do I really want a playboy of his youth to be my leader? No. Imran had an illegitimate daughter borne to Sita White. The kid in now in guardian custody of Jemima James, Imran’s ex wife. Though the court in USA has declared her to be Imran’s daughter where Sita White won the parental rights case against Imran, Tyrian Khan’s eyes are enough proof of her being Imran’s daughter. Being a playboy all his life, he has had a lot of illegal relationships out of wedlock with a number of women. The story does not end here. Imran Khan proves himself to be a hypocrite when he points fingers at others for looking at a woman. A recent press conference where he demanded from Nawaz Sharif the PML (N) chief to confirm if he has been loyal with his wife is something disgusting. This s disgusting not because of the cheapness of question, but because of the fact that the cheapest of all playboys is asking the question! Imran, a hypocrite-NO to him yet again!
Recently Khwaja Asif from PMLN has brought forward this issue of funds of zakat from SKMH being invested outside Pakistan. The information comes from the audit report of SKMH, so it cannot be a scam. SKMH is a great initiative by Imran Khan which he achieved by th support of all Pakistan. Doesn’t we deserve an explanation about this funds misuse? No explanation till now. Zakat funds CANNOT be used for investment. I have been donating to SKMH till this issue came to limelight and no one has ever asked me at SKMH collection booths about the money if it is zakat or not. The funds received are thus a mix of zakat and other donations and cannot and must not be misused. Imran can betray the people who stood by him for making this hospital a reality. Imran can take the credit of winning the World Cup alone when it was a squad of 16 who did it. Imran can betray his mother’s name in SKMH scams. Is he trust worthy then? NO.

• Imran has no plan but allegations and statements only

Whenever I have tried to see Imran Khan’s point of view from a neutral point of view I have always found he has no plan. He knows nothing about how things work in Pakistan. All he can do is bringing forward more and more allegations. This style of work might be good for a Star Plus daily Soap but Pakistan for sure needs better workable plans. He brings forward allegations, claims to have proofs, never brings forward the proofs. So, is it all a hoax? Looks like that other wise he would have shown something-anything which can be considered as a proof in last 15 years. Indecent attitude- A big NO to Imran Khan.

• Finally, Imran’s Team and his Change

Since we started having general elections in Pakistan, we have seen Kasuris, Tareens. Legharis-What’s new then? Where is the change? Just that we have to vote for the same person under a new party name and that is all? A Kasuri we have had in parliament some five times and now he is being introduced as a CHANGE? Imran Khan really considers Pakistanis to be idiots, isn’t it the case?
So, what do I say to a rolling stone, who uses indecent language, is focused only on one province out of four, offers bookish solutions, with a proven zana case and SKMH funds allegation still carries that “holier than thou” attitude, is all about allegations and no proofs and promises to bring change by bringing back all so familiar faces to the national assembly-A big NO!
Imran Khan does not deserve my Vote. That’s my analysis. I respect everybody’s views. Respect mine as well.

Majid Tamoor

Published in Saach.TV and TFT
http://www.saach.tv/2012/08/30/no-to-imran-khans-change-my-8-reasons/

Brain Drain in Pakistan!

When one hears this word, they surprisingly mistake the meaning to a serious disease and many go to  the extent by calling it a disease which affects the memory. Well I believe although mistaken but the intensity is same as of major disease. Pakistan , sadly, is greatly affected by brain-drain. So, what is Brain-Drain? Brain-Drain is actually the loss of skilled intellectual and technical labor through the movement of such labor to more favorable geographic, economic, or professional environments.
Countries like Pakistan, Russia and India are facing problems of brain-drain. Unemployment, population explosion and corrupt political systems are main reasons for migration of skilled workers from Asia. In countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh etc graduates, post graduates, experienced and skilled professionals are not getting enough opportunities to develop and succeed. So with dreams of development these professionals leave their native country in search of better future. This brain-drain is a great loss to the developing countries.
A highly skilled workforce is the key to the development of a knowledge economy. Countries that have invested massively in their human resources have been able to establish high-technology industries with the resulting stupendous impact on their respective economies. The quality of higher education, availability of world class R&D (Research and Devolpment) centres and an environment in which innovation and entrepreneurship can flourish are essential to wealth generation and poverty alleviation.
Pakistan has since its creation never really invested in the field of R&D centres and this now has become the need of time. Most of Pakistani students going abroad for higher, or specialized, education every year, very often never return to their homeland. Though Pakistan has a number of institutions for higher education, various students prefer going abroad. Many experience a good lifestyle and then prefer settling there which in the long run has damaged Pakistan in growing economically as well as socially.
Other reasons that contribute to brain-drain in Pakistan are
1.   Economics reasons
In addition to several legitimate political reasons including peace and security for himself and his family, another reason is economic; such as job satisfaction, academically progressive environment, better pay and service conditions.
2.   Lack of financial and academic reasons
The lust for better life and higher education is a strong reason behind the brain-drain from Pakistan. There is no doubt that more and better opportunities in the US and UK are one of the attractions to moving there. No good institution for research and doctorate level and post doctorate level is available in Pakistan.
3.  Role of political will in the prevention of brain drain
The political instability let the people leave the motherland for a better future with some prediction. There is a dire need to assure the manpower to remain present in Pakistan. A diplomatic solution should be given a priority to resolve conflicts rather than going to let the people do what they want.
4.    Lack of higher education Institutes
Science and technology is an area that is not fully exploited by the Pakistan resources. A less budget sliced away for education is the reason in leaking the higher studies which trigger the brain-drain.
This is just the tip of the iceberg and a lot more reasons  are there.For the balance of power and for the staggered development of the world, it is very important to stop the phenomenon of brain-drain. This will help a particular country to use all local skilled citizens for development and proliferation. But to hold these skilled workers at Pakistan, it is also important to provide them enough work opportunities and living facilities. For this purpose the government of Pakistan believes that developed nations should help developing countries with necessary money and resources but this is not all right! Government should draft policies which ensure a better future to every individual and improve the living standard of people. The government should try to rectify problems mentioned above with good policies so that each and every human of this planet can have good standard of living and each and every nation can introduce itself as a developed nation.


Majid Tamoor
http://www.saach.tv/2012/08/29/brain-drain-in-pakistan/