Reflections

The Palestinian Israel conflict is in the news again. It can be said to be the single crisis that initiated the clash of civilizations and was the seed for all the dissatisfaction and unrest in the Muslim world. Yet, few people tend to understand that the conflict has multiple dimensions which is what has made a resolution so elusive. The first dimension is territorial. Due to the Balfour Declaration of 1917, an Israeli state was created for the Jews in the heart of the Muslim world. The proponents of this argued that this is where an ancient Jewish civilization used to live but then none of the modern states geography has been carved keeping mind where ancient ancestors lived. Judaism came before Christianity and Islam so its current followers cant have the right to choose territory base don their initial place of inhabitance simply because their religion preceded others. With that logic followers of all ancient religions should be given their original place of dwelling as...

Whenever terrorist incidents happen, such as the one that happened on London Bridge a couple of days back, conversations start happening to understand the true underlying reasons & motivations. When it come to explaining Muslim terrorism, there are various theories and often the people most confounded by such flagrant acts of barbarism are the Muslims themselves because they are completely unable to relate to the act themselves. A non Muslim would have so many unknowns in his mind that he would not be able to reach ay conclusion. But a Muslims, thinks of the injunctions of Quran and sayings of the Prophet (PBUH), & then fails to understand how the perpetrators are linking their act to Islam. Below Hadit is just one example of the many you can find that forbids Muslims to harm Women and Children in a war. "It is narrated by Ibn 'Umar that a woman was found killed in one of these battles; so the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) forbade the killing of wome...

Pakistan has always had the potential to be a regional power. However, Years and years of economic and governance decadence and the lack of an independent foreign policy has brought us to a situation whereby Pakistan is completely isolated in terms of International relations and our reputation is seriously tainted as a sponsor of state terrorism. As the world is going through an oil shock, the financial muscle of Saudi Arabia has severely deflated and our great benefactor cannot help us too much anymore. On the other hand, Iran has stabbed us in the back, and is actually colluding with India to weaken Pakistan, as was evidenced by the capture of the Indian spy in balochistan who'se base was in Iran. Afghanistan has been hostile since independence and its alliance with India has been becoming stronger. In this context, the final nail in the coffin has been the joint statement in US post Modis visit that indirectly blames Pkistan for supporting terrorism and lays the foundation of jo...

 I was just watching a series of lectures on Khan's Academy on Evolution. From the very start I had somehow believed that evolution is a continuous process whereby the entire generation of a specie undergoes small incremental modifications in traits in order to be able to adapt to the environment better. However Khan explains evolution as "survival of the fittest" which leads to more reproduction of the genetic makeup of the particular specie which has a genetic edge in terms of survival.  So, if humans needed to stand upright inorder to survive, then amongst apes, due to natural variation that is present in all members of a specie, there would be an ape which due to its genetic makeup was able to survive in a slightly better way as compared to the rest of the apes. Over many generations, this ape's posterity would be growing at a faster rate as compared to the offsprings of the other apes and eventually there would be a time when these apes who stand slightly up...

There are 120,000 registered mosques in PAkistan and another 120,000 unregistered mosques. Also, there are 25,000 registered Madrassahs and perhaps as many unregistered ones. All combined, these would be having almost 100% coverage of the area of Pakistan. Now, lets imaginate a scenario. Its 2023; 10 years from now. The US after having withdrawan from Afghanistan in 2014 never looked back. Vested interests continue to channel resources into TTP so as to achieve their respective strategic objectives. The Taliban over the course of these years have increased their suicide attacks manifolds, having obliterated the State of Pakistan and having spread terror in each and every Pakistani's heart. Moreover, they have established complete hegemony over KPK running their own government. Also, over these 10 years, TTP increased their contacts with the Imaams of the mosques channeling their funding and influence to these mosques and madressahs all over Pakistan to drive their pseudo Wahabi ag...

Wow ! Just saw the 2nd last episode of the final season. This has got to be one of the most brilliant television series ever. Distinctly remember that scene in the first season with the chemistry professor Mr White saying to his students, "Chemistry: it is the study of change…It is growth, then decay, then transformation.” And thats the word that sums up this series:  transformation. Transformation of character ! “My wife is seven months pregnant with a baby we didn’t intend,” Walt explained in Season 2. “My 15-year-old son has cerebral palsy. I am an extremely overqualified high school chemistry teacher. When I can work, I make 43,700 dollars per year. I have watched all of my colleagues and friends surpass me in every way imaginable. And within 18 months, I will be dead. ” From being that loser of a chemistry teacher, who gets humiliated by his boss at what is his second job at a car wash, to becoming the methamphetamine kingpin of Uni...

Its so fascinating looking at the american economy bouncing back. It was all but done with in 2009. The subprime crisis had prompted everyone to think that the age of US led capitalism is over and the age of state capitalism is here (with state owned firms such as Petrobras, Gazprom, China Mobile, ICBC and even Emirates airlines growing the fatest). There was such intense opposition to the state bailing out the ailing automobile and financial firms with the popular slogan "private profits and public losses". Quarter after quarter unemployment data kept getting worse. But here we are again. US growth seems to have stabilised at 2% and unemployment at 7% is on a downward trend. Its really a matter of a few months when the FED would start sucking out excess money from the US economy (by stopping buying treasury bonds) the anticipation of which has already started strenthening the dollar and shaking emerging economies such as India and Turkey which had been benefiting from the i...

Dear Mr. Prime Minister Being at the helm of affairs of a country such as Pakistan will often put you under criticism for various things. However, I’d like to point out one aspect of our country which you can proudly point out in most forums. I realized this when my cooks husband had an accident and suffered multiple fractures in both legs around 2 weeks back. Incapable of affording treatment and unable to get it from any government institution, he is living a limp and painful life. It just made me realize that if there is anything such as a true capitalist state, its Pakistan ! This is a country where you are COMPLETELY on your own and where there is absolutely no government intervention in your life. If you dont somehow rigor it out and make a money, rest assured you WILL die of hunger. People will bicker about how pathetic the tax to gdp ratio of the country is, but no one really pays taxes. And in line with the true spirit of capitalism, the vanishing communal values and gro...

Just watched the Adnan Rashid Bannu jailbreak video and dont know whether to be in awe of TTP audacity in how they executed this successfully or whether to deride the gross ineptitude of our police and millitary to have let such a thing happen. They knew how important and high profiled the Talibans commanders they had in custody were and to have anyone other than the best guarding this prison was nothing but stupid. I know that the TTP fighters under the spell of their ideology are prepared to give their lives when planning such an operation but then the security forces should be capable of accepting these lives. If someone tells me that our millitary cannot fend off a couple hundred fighters having just AK 47s, rocket launchers and grenades (even mqm activists have this kind of weaponry !), id be very very concerned about our our frontiers that they are expected to protect. Its just poor management and bad planning that has allowed the 2 Kandahar prison breaks, the Bannu prison break ...

My first elections and it got me thinking critically of democracy. Pretty much like how one questions one's faith from time to time. And it wasnt just me who voted for the first time. So many others expressed their reservations about the process of election and how susceptible it is to influence. But the bigger reservation was on the system itself. Democracy! Rule by the people, of the people, for the people. But what if the people are an uneducated lot. And what if these illiterate people really dont know as to what it is that will make their lives better other than guarantee of continued supply of food. What if this unaware lot has accepted their state as fate. What if they just want status quo and they are so hopeless and disillusioned that they dont expect and want change. Would such a nation have the judgement to choose the people who would be actually best for them? Plato answered the above question in the negative. According to him, "true democracy is the right to...

This has been the first time i have closely observed the electoral process and i cant help marvelling at how smart MQM as a political party is. As a colleague remarked once, MQM has been able to do what Zionists have been able to do in Israel. Just like through decades of lobbying and campaigning, the Zionists have been able to equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, MQM has been able to label anyone who is anti- MQM as being anti-urdu speaking. To be compared with the conspiratorious Zionists is actually a complement here and during 2013 elections, some of the moves of MQM has really left an impression on me. Another extension of this strategy has been the keeping of media and "anchor persons" constantly under pressure by complaining of their bias against MQM. For starters, the way they rigged the Karachi elections on May 11 is quite amazing. To have pulled off the act of ensuring that literally hundreds of polling officers wouldnt show up on the polling day in suspec...

Its just sad. Status quo again. Deja vu of the musical chairs that happened in the 90s. The disappointing performance of pti, yes disappointing, has popped the bubble that the urban voter is for non dynastic politics. It has dispelled the impression that we as a nation crave for idealism. The inkling that pakistanis will rise above ethnic lines to vote for parties based not on which ethnicity they represent but rather their stance on NATIONAL issues has proven to be a pipedream. The hope that a ballot box revolution will transform pakistan overnight has vanished. There will be no germany type hyper nationalism that will convert pakistan into a regional power despite all odds.  Pakistan will NOT rise from its ashes like the phoenix. How foolish were we to believe that facebook represented urban Pakistan. It will now be another five years of small incremental changes. The struggle of Imran Khan has been so long already that by the next elections, he will be 65 years of age. And...

India has twice the number of millitary personnel as compared to pakistan. It has a defence budget of $ 39 bn whereas pakistan has a $ 5.4 bn budget. India has the 4th largest airforce in the world. With 1500 aircrafts, it is definitely one of the world's bests. My point is that pakistan can not beat india in a conventional war. Similarly, it cannot millitarily push india out of the kashmir it has occupied. India is happy with status quo as far as kashmir is concerned. It intends to sit on the issue (well, it simply says that there IS no issue) till eternity. Moreover, India's clout in international relations has constantly been growing. Infact india today has the support of some nations in its claim to a permanent Seat in the UNSC. Obviously being the worlds largest democracy and a BRIC nation witha middle.class larger than the population of united states has obviously helped. On the other hand, pakistan's image internationally has really suffered because of the "...

This has to be the most cliched and over discussed topic in our society. But such is its prevalence, intensity and menace that there can never be enough discourse on it. There are clearly three types of terrorism that currently grip pakistan. All three stem from concocted interpretation of islam and are somewhat linked to each other. One is the "jihad" against pakistan government for Participating in the US war against terrorism. Another is the demand for promulgation of "sharia" (read "hijab and beard regulations" because thats all that sharia means to them). And third is the sectarian terrorism targeting shias. The most dominant motive right now is the first one: jihad against pakistan government. The main demand here is that pakistan government stops operations against fata millitants, ceaseslogistics support to Nato and disallows drone attacks. The US presently has 66,000 troops in afghanistan but sometime in 2014 they will just have 10 % of these le...

Investment in a brand is like any other investment. An organization either has enough cash in its kitty to be able to invest it in building the brand quity or the organization borrows from the bank. The ultimate objective of any investment is to generate return. How much the required rate of return is varies from market to market and form environment to environment. These are times of economic recession. Even the BRICs are now coming to around 7% GDP growth (with the exception of Russia which itself is heavily dependent on International Gas prices). Recessionary times are the true litmus test of marketers. Getting growth and developing market and categories are not easy. These are times of high interest rates in Pakistan with the discount rate being 10.5% and 1 year KIBOR at 12%. This means that an organization investing in the brand could alternatively invest in the risk free Banking sector and obtain a 12% return with the principal intact. So the investment in the brand should resul...

ECONOMIC SECTOR Poverty % The % below poverty line in Pakistan is actually much less as compared to other countries as per Unicef figures below. Similar income profile countries Regional countries Pak. Sudan Ghana Laos Nigeria BD India Srilanka Gdp per capita (ppp) $ 2787 2726 3083 2659 2578 1693 3694 5674 % below poverty line 23% 47% 30% 34% 64% 50% 42% 7% Internet users 17% 0 9% 7% 28% 4% 8% 12% Gini’s Coefficient As mentioned in earlier sections the report, the Gini’s coefficient is an indicator of the level of inequality in the society. Again surprisingly, similar to the poverty level%, the gini coefficient of Pakistan (as per CIA published figures) is amongst the best when compared to either the similar income countries or the regional economies. The worst in this list are Nigeria, Sudan and Srilanka where the Gini’s coefficient is between 0.44 and 0.49 Similar income profi...