Members of Expressions Team:

Editor:
Qasim Ali

Sub-Editors:
Umair Awan, Waseem Abbas

Assitant Editors:
Mudabir Ali, Asad, Abdur Rehman, Sajid Shabeer

Reviewers:
Saweel Hameed Rathore, Asfandyar Unar, Chaudary Hamza Saeed, Maria Arshad

Publishing Coordinator:
Masroor Khosa

Assitant Coordinator:
Umair Fareed Wattoo

Designing Coordinator:
Zain Ul Abideen
Contents
"Chairperson's Message" ................................................................................................................. 4
Advisor’s Message ........................................................................................................................... 5
Editor’s Message .............................................................................................................................. 6
Editorial ............................................................................................................................................ 7
“RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTETH A NATION” ........................................................................................ 8
(STAND UP FOR PAKISTAN) .............................................................................................................. 8
Islam: Malformed meaning & a way forward ................................................................................ 10
World Government: The Pinnacle of Globalization ....................................................................... 12
Dilemmatic Foreign Policy of Pakistan ........................................................................................... 15
Geo political analysis of Syrian Conflict ......................................................................................... 17
Climate Change and the Future ..................................................................................................... 20
Appraisal of Panama Papers through prism of Capitalism ............................................................ 22
Extremism and terrorism in FATA: Challenges and Responses ..................................................... 24
The Era of Globalization ................................................................................................................. 26
Disparity in Education .................................................................................................................... 28
Culture exchange creates bridge between nations ....................................................................... 30
18TH Amendment: Analysis and Implications ................................................................................. 31
Pakistan flawed political culture .................................................................................................... 34
‘A major cause of bad governance, rampant corruption, and sham democracy’ ......................... 34
Political system of the Mughal Empire .......................................................................................... 36
Situation of Education in Baluchistan ............................................................................................ 38
Inspiration and Perspiration .......................................................................................................... 40
The Implicit and normal ................................................................................................................. 41
The Toilets ...................................................................................................................................... 44
State Repression in the Shadow of the Crescent Moon ................................................................ 47
“On Freedom” ................................................................................................................................ 51
Love Embraces All .......................................................................................................................... 53
“The Wandering Falcon” Jamil Ahmad .................................................................................................. 55
You are still breathing .................................................................................................................... 57
Mingling ideas ................................................................................................................................ 60

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A Prevailing Misery ........................................................................................................................ 62
My Heart is in the coffin ................................................................................................................ 65
SACRIFICE! ...................................................................................................................................... 67
The Burdens of Emptiness ............................................................................................................. 69
Live your day as if it is your last day .............................................................................................. 72
“There Is No I in Team Work” ........................................................................................................ 74
POETRY ........................................................................................................................................... 77
Eternal Satisfaction .................................................................................................................... 78
For my beloved .......................................................................................................................... 79
O’ DEATH .................................................................................................................................... 80
MOTHER; TO MAKE YOU STRONGER ......................................................................................... 81
-----Hearing you is healing-----.................................................................................................... 82
''JUST A DREAM'' ........................................................................................................................ 83
The Benevolent .......................................................................................................................... 84
LOVE ........................................................................................................................................... 85
Quaid-e-Azam Political Science Society ......................................................................................... 86
List of Office Bearers 2015-16........................................................................................................ 86
Quaid-e-Azam Political Science Society ......................................................................................... 89
Annual Report 2015-16 .................................................................................................................. 89

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 "Chairperson's Message"

Government college university Lahore is rich in culture and activities. Ravians are always
different who performs in teams as well as at individual level. What we make them learn is team
work and discipline. Quaid e Azam Political Science Society is among such forums to act as
launching pad for all and sundry. Writing skills really matter in life. People have brought the
revolution because of pen. Marx and Socrates are still alive because of pen and ideas. I welcome
you to come and join us. It is really fascinating to see Quaid e Azam Political Science Society
growing under such a visionary advisor Miss Sadia Rafique. I congratulate all the Expressions
team, especially the advisor and editor for such a fantastic work. In the end I invite all the
students to participate in this and become a part of the proud tradition. Well done and move on.

Dr. Khalid Manzoor Butt

4
 Advisor’s Message

A very warm welcome to all the new faces at the campus, three cheers for those who did it for
you. It is really good to supervise QPSS, a departmental society of political science department. It
has open many fronts to work at and proved the fact that dedication brings good end to
everything. "Expression" is a very productive work of QPSS. The editor of Expressions QASIM
ALI and his team went the last mile to make you people have glimpse of variety of ideas and
thoughts pegged down, from all corners of the university. This is a forum to make you people rise
and shine to develop your writing skills and sharpen them. We appreciate all to write because it is
never late to take the first step. We appreciate all and select the best ones. You can be best by
joining us. This is a place indeed a laboratory for you to learn, grow, acquire and seek. We tell
you the ways to move forward. I always support the good students and especially those who are
good in extracurricular activities along with curricular. These things make you learn team work.
Expression team is the first one. I am working with them and it was a nice team to work with. I
wish them good and welcome you all to work with us for Expressions.

"WELCOME TO EXPRESSIONS"

Miss Sadia Rafique

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 Editor’s Message

Expressing your expression for the “Expressions” ensures making you expressionist giving an
expression that how much has Expressions has been expressive to improve your expression to be
expressive. It is really an honor to work under supervision of my advisor Madam Sadia Rafique
and with my team, who have gone the last mile to tackle each and every thing with super hands. I
welcome you all on behalf of my whole team. It indeed was, is and will remain a vainglorious pad
to launch the people who have the courage to know and express themselves. It is really appalling
when student lots are shy of expressing themselves and we eradicate that shyness making your
pitch be heard high by all and sundry. Remember my dears, power of the pen is so mighty that it
can shatter the mountains, and it is beyond boasting. Develop the habit to write and we shall train
you. Come to us and join the venture to get expressed. Be voracious while giving your views, we
shall stand for you, and will make you the best, because we believe in the best. Once again, I
warmly welcome you all, who want to join and become a part of EXPRESSIONS.

Qasim Ali

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 Editorial

A vision or weltanschauung is an ipso factor for survival, the rest perishes. Law of heaven
proclaims virtue to be steadfast and cannot be shaken by tempest. The universe, is not a mere
fortuitous concourse of atoms, nor is obedient to merely mechanical laws, a moral order prevails
the Universe. Whenever in past, people flouted moral order and tilted towards irrationality,
nemesis overtook them. It is hard to thrive on land of tyranny and falsehood. It is undying
significance of this case of righteousness which finds imitable express in biblical proverb,

"Where there is no vision people perish"

This incited me to pen it down for all. Vision equals imaginative insight, at individual or national
level. Long range view of things, for sightedness, wider capacity, wisdom and nobility demands
intelligence to know and practice good and avoiding the mysterious virtue. A true vision
incorporates maximum good of maximum number, fortify utilitarianism. Such inspiration can
make individual self-less and brethren-loving. If Gold and Jewel along can bring all, Spain would
not have perished. If literature and art alone were enough, then what caused Greeks doom? If
power alone was enough, where is the Roman Empire? Goodness lies in people and survival lies
in ideals that it endorses so, a nation stands. It was lack of vision, on George's part to ignite a
dishonorable and infamous war, putting a deaf ear to Earl of Chatham’s eloquent voice and the
result was beyond measures. The pigment of skin continues to drive wedge between Negroes and
the white Americans because of no vision of ideals and so they possess a tumultuous history in
this regard.

A vision is a necessary thing at individual, national and international level; we should

possess a vision. A pure and glorious vision is needed to stand the test of time, a vision to do
welfare, a vision to spread education, a vision to promote peace. It is the vision that made
individuals and states legend. Pakistan should move forward with some vision. It should follow
ideals to stand good in comity of nations.

LONG LIVE PAKISTAN

Editor

QASIM ALI

7
 “RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTETH A NATION”

(STAND UP FOR PAKISTAN)

I stood up and campaigned for justice but was not applauded. I raised my pitch high for honesty,
was not welcomed by the expected three cheers. I chanted for honor, materialism loving goons
halted my voice. I campaigned for truthfulness, was not garlanded by moral bankrupts. These
four things are direly needed at individual and state level to make the world appear heaven that
we endeavor to make through rest of means. The world has witnessed various eras, primitive,
medieval and the present one. In all eras, colonial or post-colonial, medieval or modern,
democratic or dictatorial, monarchial or aristocratic, I find a relation between the Individual and
the Nation. Individual fosters a nation but individual and national moralities are not
synchronized. Races of world claim their superiority over others. Telling lies is condemned at
individual levels, but the states exercise it in an abominable game of misrepresentation and
intrigue under the guise of diplomacy where she is cheered up. Strong greed doesn't justify
plundering, but in wars it is legitimate. An individual is hanged for murdering someone, but a
nation murdering in cold blood is applauded and is dubbed victorious. As is the individual’s case,
so should be national to preach true righteousness, a calmer view demands this. These virtues
have been enshrined to some extent in international law to make nations civilized but I regret that
it doesn't have any authoritative sanctions. The stumbling block is, international law is three
hundred years old and human relation and International-relation have been as old as human
civilization.

Roughly speaking, four moral virtues truthfulness, honesty, justice and honor comprise
righteousness. All these appear as different shades of same reality. As we respect an honest
person, so should a state be to gather maximum respect. We shouldn’t play pretentious moves to
cheat others. An innate sense of truth shall make nations indebted towards you. Muslim states
were noted for it at same stage of life.

Allied to truthfulness is honesty, credit depends upon it. In sphere of trade commercial credit
depends upon commercial honesty and in polities it depends upon national integrity. In case of
treaty, we should honor it as a sacred law. These treaties shouldn't be considered a scrap of
paper. Callous disregard for other nations and riding rough-shod over international morality shall

8
lead them down. Rise and fall of great empires teaches us a lesson that the fall began when they
trample down their honesty as a nation.

No less important is passion for justice, blessed is the one who have hunger for justice. Citizens
should be treated equally, if we declare Pakistan a federation, we must be listening to provinces
and eradicating their grievances. The unequal treatments invite events like French Revolution.
Ruthless exploitation and emasculation of conquered people for perpetuating an alien rule are
examples of gross injustice. The world-politics today shouldn’t have been in such a sweltering
chaos, if nation have learnt fair dealing and justice.

Lastly, a nation should always behave honorably. If a code can exist for classes and individuals, it
should be there for the states. No prospect of immediate gain and materialistic advantages should
make nation forget their sense of honor. On eve of last European great war , Lord Grey said,
“We are participating in war against Germany, because English were honor-bound
by a solemn treat to come to rescue France”. They deserve applause, if they had only this
intention with no ulterior motives.

These four things should be ideals for nations. When fate of millions is concerned, disregarding
code of morality is more than a criminal negligence. My country, Pakistan should have all these
virtues because we are an Islamic state and all these teachings are driven from Islam. Respect
Pakistan, love Pakistan, strengthen Pakistan, and glorify Pakistan and do you share for it. I am
still raising my voice for all these parameters and one day it shall be heard.

Long Live Pakistan!

Qasim Ali

Political Science

9
 Islam: Malformed meaning & a way forward

This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have
approved for you Islam as your religion. [Maidah 5:3]

Islam with sublime and incorruptible beliefs, is a pristine religion _ a splendiferous gift from the
Almighty Lord. Prophet Muhammad foretold that this immaculate religion will remain, no matter
how many corrupt ideas may be floated to distort it. Islam is not mere a creed, nor does it
represent simply an edification of souls, or a refinement and training of human virtues but is
rather a harmonious whole that also embraces a just economic system, a well-balanced social
organization, a philosophical outlook upon life along with a system of physical instruction: all of
these flowing from the same fundamental creed of Islam and its moral and spiritual requirement.

The majority of the modern educated people, imbibed with the tools of skepticism, are entrapped
in a whirlpool of religious crises. Being unaware of the basics, they often used to sit on the leftist
bench, criticizing Islam. If Islam, according to them, is a complete code of life, then how it can
approves slavery, capitalism and feudalism- the system which holds that woman is half-man and
imprisons her within her household; which prescribes such comeuppances as stoning to death;
which lets its people live on charity; which splits them into different classes, some exploiting the
other; and a system which is such and such: how it is possible that such a system should even
hold its own today, let alone its survival in future? How can such a system even hold out in the
ruthless ideological struggle going on at present among different modern socio-economic
systems?

Now, if we heuristically analyze the genesis of this problem, that who these ‘educated skeptics’
are? And whence does their skepticism originate? The credit for this trauma, on one side of coin,
goes to European Imperialism and secondly the Muslims (in general) had not endeavored- what
Islam stands for? The evangelical and liberal attacks of Charles Grant and Lord Macaulay had
definitely served the imperialistic ends. The British ‘policy of necessity’ revolved around one
basic aim: strengthening their hold more and more on the Islamic world and safeguarding their
interests from being swept away by the true Islamic spirit of the Orient. The educated

10
‘intelligentsia’ of today depicts as such the culminating point of what the imperialists with their
political maneuvers in their respective colonies.

We can’t single handedly blame the aforementioned factor for this cataclysm: it could be a
catalyst and an external factor. But the main problem is with The Muslims not Islam. Evaluative
knowledge is based on cognitive one. The prevailing (general) environment is that those without
knowing the compulsory cognitive knowledge used to debate and evaluate the religious issues.
Secondly, the genesis of almost all societal ills, according to the educated intelligentsia, is due to
the so called ‘stakeholders’_ the religious scholars. As a result, we want to interpret the Quran
and Sunnah, in a manner that it confirms to the needs of our time; we want to bring Quran and
Sunnah to reconcile with our decisions. We first define need of time and then seek and made
interpretation of Quranic verses and prophetic traditions to confirm our pre-determined needs of
time. The misperceived assumptions pertinent to Islam have a disastrous sequel; our entire social,
political and cultural domain has led into dark abyss.

Back to Islam, with full zeal and enthusiasm, is the call of time. Our education system is in dire
need of doable reforms vis-à-vis improvements in curriculum text, applied research; research
journals, thesis and scholarly written articles should be encouraged in espousing ourselves from
syndrome of blaming Islam. The wider gulf between madrassa and formal educational institutions
should have to be bridged. We should channel our precious energies in exploring the inner core
and thematic message of Holy Quran. Almighty in surah Al- Maideh says, “O People of the
Scripture, there has come to you Our Messenger making clear to you much of what you used to
conceal of the Scripture and overlooking much. There has come to you from Allah a light and a
clear Book.”

Naseem Baloch

Political Science

11
 World Government: The Pinnacle of Globalization

Last three centuries, since the advent of industrial revolution, the international system has
witnessed rapid changes in the socio-political ideologies and the state structures; from
imperialism to colonialism, colonialism to nationalism, and recently, from nationalism to
regionalism. So the question is why such perpetual changes are befalling at the global level?
What is the key propelling force behind them? What will be the next international structure?

Before envisaging the future global political structure, it is mandatory to explore the current
structure i.e. nation-state system and globalization. Nationalists believe that nation state system is
based on nationalism which entails the feelings of oneness among the people of a particular area.
On the other hand, socialists and liberalists conceive a nation-state as a common market and
economic enterprise while nationalism is only used to accomplish the economic objectives. David
P. Berenberg, a renowned socialist said: “Nationalism is the cloak behind which economic cause
works”. There are two schools of thoughts within nationalism: Primordialism and Modernism.
Primordialists believe that a nation consists of the people having shared territory, shared heritage,
descent and shared history. Due to these factors, they possess the spirits of oneness and form a
nation. According to primordial concepts, nations precede states. On the other hand, modernists
conceive that states precede nations through “social engineering”. According to modernists, states
were created due to political and economic needs particularly for common accessible market after
the industrial revolution. People of these common markets are then unified through the common
institutions; such as common parliament, political structure, currency, education, social values
and so on. For instance: in the beginning of 19th century, Germany was scattered into 39 small
states. Prussia was the biggest among all of these. They all had economic barriers. A merchant
travelling from south to north or west to east had to pay duties on goods about 11 to 15 times
(about 5% on each). This practice made the prices of the goods almost double. As it was the
beginning of rapid industrialization in this area, all these states formed a custom union
(Zollverian in German) in 1834 under Prussian leadership to remove these barriers and become a
single economic unit, in other words, a single market. There were 32 different currencies before
1834 in 39 German states, which were reduced to 2 within few years. After becoming an
economic unit, all these German states were united through the railway lines for the quick
movement of goods. After that, a sense of oneness among the people was inculcated through
common political institutions, values, and education system. Eventually, a German confederation
was formed leading to the German unification in 1871. Within few decades, this sense of

12
nationalism in German people became so extreme that it led to the two world wars. Similarly,
America was not a nation historically but amalgamation of people from different nationalities,
particular Europe and largely England. However with the passage of time, Americans were
molded into one nation through “social engineering”. Pakistan is also no exception in this case.
Pakistan historically, was not a nation and probably is not a nation in strict sense. Punjabis,
Sindhis, Baluchs, and the Pashtuns are different people historically with different values.
However an engineered nation has been created through common economic and political ties.

It seems that the realists undermine the power of global political and economic institutions. They
say that the world government is an ideal concept and is not more than an illusion of insane. In
the last three centuries, all these socio-political institutions were created to serve the economic
objectives of global bourgeoisie class. Current wave of globalization is no exception; as it
emphasize on the free movement of goods and capital but not humans. Man is the principal figure
of not only society but the whole planet. All the modernizations, inventions, technologies etc. are
meant to serve the humans; but when it comes to globalization, we have the free movement of
everything but humans. It is therefore an “incomplete globalization”. However even it is
incomplete, this wave of globalization possesses the affinities to unite the whole world into one
unit. What we need are the same shared economic and political institutions, which played a
cardinal role in yoking people and crafting nation states. Increasing penchant of regionalism in
this century; such as European Union, African Union, ASEAN, and NAFTA etc. is another hope
for such development of world government. Zbigniew Brzezinski said: “This regionalism is
keeping with tri-lateral plan which calls for a gradual convergence of east and west, ultimately
leading towards the goal of one world government. National sovereignty is no longer a viable
concept”.

Global institutions such as United Nations, World Bank, International court of Justice etc. do
exist but they are not yet strong enough to enforce their will on the so-called sovereign states in a
strict way. However with the increasing pace of globalization, increasing interdependence of
people in all the spheres of contemporary social life, and increasing global issues like peace and
environment, there are high hopes that this surge of globalization would ultimately unite the
whole world into one unit politically and one market economically.

In the beginning of mankind, men used to live a selfish and brutish life, according to Hobbs, in
the state of nature. Later on, people congregated together into the society, then society
transformed into the nation and now different nations are coming together to form a global state

13
like a world federation. So, it appears that union of all the humans into one is a natural
phenomenon and the ultimate destiny of mankind. Eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were the
centuries of colonialism, twentieth century marked by nationalism, 21st by globalization, and
22nd century would be the century of one world government.

The tragedy of Realists is that they put too much emphasis on nationalism and claim that World
government is unnatural and impossible. The fact is, every international political system
including nation-state is unnatural and was artificially accomplished. There was only one natural
system and that was the state of nature, which proved to be enviable for peace and security. To
crown all, from the above analysis, it can be concluded that World government is not only
possible but inevitable.

“Our separation from each other is an optical illusion of consciousness”

Albeit Einstein

Altaf Majeed

M.A. POL SCIENCE

14
 Dilemmatic Foreign Policy of Pakistan

Recently, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Kingdom of Saudi Arab (KSA) on the
request of King Salman signed five agreements that would account $39 billion of trade between
the two countries. This is an historical development in the geo-politics and geo-economics of
Asia as KSA is empowering itself on economic and political grounds. On the contrary, India with
the support of USA wants to become an Asian Tiger and aims to compete with China as well. In
this new international political dynamics, Pakistan failed to anticipate its national interest.
Foreign policy of Pakistan, which is confused with the religious sentiments and personal interests
of political leadership, has failed to define its greater site. The realization of national interest has
been emerging among Muslims states from the past few decades. Every other Muslim country is
intending to protect its interests diligently and they have been considering every option either
religion or financial, to strengthen their ties with other nations. KSA awarded highest civil award
to Narendra Modi, the person who was involved in the Muslim genocide in Gujarat, 2002. Iran
where the American Embassy was burned down is now accepting the United States harsh terms.
All are occurring not in the interest of “Ummah” (pan-Islam) but for own national interests.

In 2014, KSA gave $1.5 billion to Nawaz Government as a gift, but with some hidden conditions
as it is rightly said that every relation in international politics is based on national interests. Soon
we witnessed this interest when KSA which considered Pakistan its strong military ally
demanded her intervention in Syrian civil war but Pakistan maintained armed neutrality on
rational grounds. This was a turning point for Saudi-Pakistan relationship. Iran emergence as a
strong state created panic among the Arab leaders and forced them to look for new defense
strategy which can be witnessed in the form of military alliance of 34 states, including Pakistan.
However Pakistan was not even asked for its consent in this new alliance. The basic purpose of
this force is to tackle and attack Islamic State (a terrorist organization which is chiefly working in
the Middle East). The alarming situation is that Iran was sidelined from this alliance. Pakistan
who holds one of the strongest army in the Muslim world is being dragged in this alliance and
Pakistan Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif was offered to become the supreme
commander of this coalition. The ideological and economic conflicts between Iran and KSA
promoted this alliance to some extent. Pakistan has the largest community of Shia Muslims after
Iran and approximately 40 million people of this community are inhabited in the country.

15
Involvement in this alliance means to open a new door for a dangerous civil war in the country.
Pakistan who already has lost thousands of its men in the war of terrorism cannot afford to be a
client state of KSA or Iran.

China, on contrary, is following the policy of ‘Soft Power’ (the concept introduced by Joseph
Nye) which intend to make the country economically strong and state increases its hegemony
over the world affairs by monetary investment in other countries. China “One belt, One road”
vision is also embraced in this context. China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is also part of
this greater plan. CPEC is a revolutionary agreement in the economic history of Pakistan that
would help the country in facing many internal and external economic and social challenges. In
return, China with $46 billion investment demands a stable law and order situation. A few months
back, Indian RAW agent was arrested from Baluchistan who was conspiring against CPEC. After
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi confessional speech about Indian involvement in the fall of
Dhaka, one thing is very clear that India always treats Pakistan as an antagonist state and never
gives up any chance to damage its economic and political stability. Unlike to India, who has
proved Pakistan a safe haven for terrorists diplomatically; Pakistan foreign policy is very weak
and incompetent against India dubious role. Unstable Afghanistan, who is hosting Pakistan
enemies with the Indian financial support, has been posing threats for economic development of
the country. Pakistan must find its vested interest in these great economic games and play pivot
role in them. CPEC has been considered a game changer for the region and will provide great
benefits for the economic and social betterment of Pakistan. Therefore, for the success of CPEC,
all the elements should be tackled by ensuring stable law and order situation in the country.

When comes to the international scenario, the dynamics has changed completely. Enemies
become friends and friends become enemies for their own national interest. Iran is tagged as
Indian economic sweetheart and KSA has been dealing with Israel, which is an ideological foe of
the Muslim World. A dilemma with Pakistan is that her foreign policy is on rational ground rather
on emotional and religious. Now-a-days, every country defines its national interest on the basis
of economic prosperity and doesn’t leave any chance to achieve it. So, it is in the best interest of
the country that foreign policy should be initiated for the prosperity and well-being of the people.
Lord Palmerstio, former British Prime Minister rightly explained international relation that:

There are no permanent friends and enemies, but only national interest in international relation.

Sarmad Rafi Kharal

16
 Geo political analysis of Syrian Conflict

Understanding Syrian conflict is like sorting out a maze. Syrian conflict is the longest offshoot of
the Arab Spring. Commenced in 2011, it is an armed conflict between Syrian President Bashar al-
Assad and the rebels who want to topple down his regime. The situation aggravated when Syrian
army used force against the protestors and this resulted into severe causalities. This use of
violence by government left no chance for the peaceful resolution of conflict. As a result the
number of rebels started rising and the protests turned into armed rebellion. Later on many
Islamists groups emerged on the board. Free Syrian Army and Al-Nusra Front start supporting
rebel groups and in 2013 Hezbollah group took the side of government. In 2014, ISIS became a
major threat and occupied north Syria. Involvement of regional and extra regional powers has
made the situation more complex in Syria. Now there are more than two stakeholders in the
Syrian Conflict. Assad’s government and opposition rebel groups are the main players but there
are other actors as well who have started taking either of the sides in the conflict. Assad seeks
support from Iran, Russia, and China. Iran fully supports Assad’s regime in Syria. On the other
hand; United States, Saudi Arabia and European powers support rebel groups against Syrian
government. Russia is providing military support to Syrian Army and bombing ISIL and other
rebel groups in Syria and US is accusing Russia for making the situation worse. Syrian conflict
has started a new kind of war in the world, in which Iran, the Syrian government, Russia and
China are on one side and the Western world, Gulf Arab and anti-Syrian regime rebels are on the
other side. But the trouble is ISIS, which is a common enemy of all the stakeholders.

Stake holders are of local and international scope. Local stakeholders are the internal players and
are divided into two groups; pro-regime and pro-opposition. Pro-regime are those stakeholders
who supports Assad’s regime in Syria. Syrian Armed Forces and Military Intelligence work for
the protection of Assad’s regime. They fight against all rebel groups with the support of Russian
and Iranian forces. Hezbollah is also a major stakeholder who supports Assad’s regime. Pro-
opposition are those revolutionary stakeholders who want to topple down Assad’s regime and
fight with the Syrian armed forces. These actors have different ideological conflicts with Assad’s
regime and since 2011 they are involved in a bloody revolution. Al-Nusra Front is the biggest
militant group who want to oust Assad from power. These rebel groups receive funding from
international stakeholders. ISIS is another important stakeholder against Syrian government but it
is not in alliance with other pro-opposition stakeholders. Presence of ISIL in Syria is a threat for
all stakeholders. Syrian conflict has divided the world into two blocs; on one side there are those

17
who support Syrian government and on the other side there are states that support rebel groups
against regime. Since the beginning of Syrian revolution, Russia is supporting Assad’s regime.
Russia claims that it only targets ISIL groups, but recent air strikes shows that Russian forces are
targeting other opposition groups as well. Russia has several economic and strategic interests
behind supporting Assad’s regime. Russia wants to retain its influence in the Syrian region to
control Tartous. For Russia, Tartous is the only access to the Mediterranean Sea in the Middle
East. Along with Russia, China also supports Syrian government but China has no direct
involvement in the conflict. Iran is one of the most reliable allies of Syrian regime. Iran whole
heartedly supports Assad’s Shia regime and provides financial assistance to Syrian government
and Iranian troops fight against rebellious groups. Syria has geostrategic significance for Iran, as
it provides maritime access to Mediterranean Sea. Hezbollah; a Lebanese Shia militant group
supports Syrian regime because ISIL and other Sunni militant groups pose existential threat to
Hezbollah. All these actors want to protect Assad’s regime in Syria.
On the other hand, the United States was the first international actor who wanted to topple down
Assad’s regime. The US vigorously provides assistant to opposition armed rebellious groups.
Besides the aim to turn down Assad’s government, US also want to destroy ISIL network in
Syria. Saudi Arabia has been a firm opponent of the Syrian government. Saudi Arab supports
opponent forces in Syria to counter Iran’s influence in the region. Moreover, Saudi Arab and Iran
are fighting Sunni-Shia proxy war on the Syrian soil. During Arab Spring, Turkey wanted power
transition in Syria to have a friendlier regime in its neighbor, but when the revolution failed, it
started supporting rebellious groups against Assad.
Syrian conflict has been prolonged for six years and multiple international actors have become
major stakeholders. Syria has become battlefield for proxy war and different international
stakeholders have political interests in this region. Syrian conflict has dragged the major powers
in sort of cold war in which USA, Turkey, and Saudi Arab are on one side supporting anti-
government forces and Russia, Iran, and China on the other side supporting Assad’s regime. The
major concern over here is involvement of Russia and US in the Syrian conflict.
With the lens of realist paradigm of international politics, it can be said that Russia must have
some geostrategic interests in Syria that’s why she wants to establish a friendly and pro-Russian
government there. Firstly, Syria is the only state for Russia, by which she can exert its influence
in the Middle East. Therefore, Russia is interested in having a pro-Russian government there.
Secondly, Russia has naval base at Tartous port and she wants to have unhindered access in the
Mediterranean Sea. Syria has geostrategic significance for Russia to have access to the
Mediterranean Sea. Thirdly, as a part of Grand Strategy, Russia wants to counter US influence

18
and favors Multi-polar system where no one power can dictate its rules over others. The Syrian
conflict is the most complicated issue of the contemporary time as different major stakeholders
are trying to pursue their national interest at the cost of innocent Syrian civilians. Syrian conflict
clearly proves that the world is anarchic. Furthermore, The United Nations which according to
liberals plays a role of central authority has also failed to resolve the Syrian issue. Local as well
as International stakeholders have strategic interests in Syria and their involvement has made this
conflict enduring. On the other hand, by keeping the offensive realist views, the United States is
projecting power in Syria for two purposes; first to topple down Assad’s regime, which is anti-
US, and to counter Russian influence there, and second to fight against ISIS which has now
become an existential threat to the whole world. So, under the theory of Realism, one can see the
use of power by US and Russia in Syria just to maintain their dominance in the Middle East.
Moreover, the Syrian Conflict is an ideological war. It is a war between Sunni and Shia
ideological groups. At first place, the local stakeholders who are pro-opposition are Sunni and the
one who are pro-regime they are Shia. On the other side, Saudi Arabia as international stake
holder is supporting its Sunni brethren against Assad’s regime and Iran being Shia power is
supporting Assad’s Shia regime. So, one can conclude that Iran and Saudi Arab are fighting
Sunni-Shia proxy war in Syria.
It is a war in which several external and internal stakeholders are involved and all of them
pursuing their strategic and political interests. The Syrian war could be seen from multiple
perspectives. It is a war of ideologies as well as war of power in which global powers are
involved. Syrian conflict has become a war between the two blocks. At one side there is United
States, Turkey and the Arab World and on the other side there is the Syrian government backed
by Russia, Iran, Hezbollah group of Lebanon and China. Now it is not a war in which all states
make their alliances, owing to the convergence of their interest against their opponent, rather a
war in which there lies hidden interests of all the stakeholders. Interest of all sorts are involved
whether political, economic, strategic or ideological one. The Syrian conflict has entered in a
phase where every stakeholder is trying to pull leg of the other stakeholder. It has become a war
with no near future peace. The crisis deserves a quick solution because the situation is getting out
of hand. Amidst the threats of terrorism, infrastructural losses and the refugee crisis, this is
quickly turning into one of those conflicts which have had devastating consequences for not only
the region but also for the entire world.
Mashriq khan
Political Science

19
 Climate Change and the Future

The debate of climate change and its impacts on different aspects of life has been ongoing for
many decades but it has now become a major concern for the global community. If this climate
change isn’t to be tackled and its effects aren’t to be minimized by the countries all over the
world, we could see a major change in the lifestyle of an individual along with the rise and fall of
societies all over the world.

The global economy is going to take a new pattern and we may probably see new economic
powers rising together with the fall of giant economic players in the present scenario. Today, the
world economic geography is organized according to the global climate that has largely prevailed
since the middle ages. However, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases' emission have
increased over the past few decades warming the globe at a faster rate. China and India are the
main players in this regard and both are major global economic powers. These countries depend
on coal based and thermal power plants for their ever increasing energy demands. Both of these
countries are obsessed with economic growth but they aren’t able to recognize the dangerous
facts that these global emissions along with rising temperatures may decrease their agricultural
productivity on a larger scale leading to malnutrition and starvation. On the other hand, as
developing nations, their attempts to lower gas emissions may lead to a decrease in their
manufacturing output and exports.

It may also be true that some countries may vote for climate change especially the countries of
the Northern Hemisphere or those near the Arctic Circle. The glaciers near the Arctic Circle are
melting at an advanced rate and countries like Russia, Canada, Greenland and those of
Scandinavia seem to enjoy it. They will enjoy an economic boom as more ice sheets covering the
land would be clear and cultivatable land would be available for a number of purposes. Farming
practices would be observed on those soils that have never been depleted by controlled
agriculture automatically increasing the food output with a surplus. Minerals, fossil fuels and
other natural resources beneath the surface of the earth would also be available for exploration.
Global warming may also favor these countries as warm waters would be available for efficient
trade.

Climate Change may also change the geographical and geological landscape along with
demography. The southern countries especially in the tropical or sub-tropical regions and those
near the equator may suffer from intense heat which may lead to large and permanent droughts

20
affecting agricultural output and destroying their economies. The rising sea levels may flood
lower areas and the unusual changes in the pattern of precipitation may also affect the lives of
individuals at the micro level and societies and countries at a macro level. Depletion of natural
resources with ever increasing population along with deforestation and extinction of wild life may
altogether change the world as we see and know it today.

Still possibly a theory but appealing to common sense, some scientists have discussed and linked
the accelerated rate of seismic activity all over the world to climate change. Everyone knows that
the glaciers all over the world are melting at a rapid pace. What people don’t consider is that due
to the melting of these heavy glaciers, pressure on the earth’s crust is released resulting in
earthquakes, tremors and even volcanic activity.

We can see possibly a change in global demographic structure all over the world. There would be
the rise and fall of civilizations along with the emergence of the new ones. Refugees from the
south would migrate towards the north which could initiate a global crisis. Wars may be
inevitable between countries over scarce resources leading to dissolution of former states and
formation of the new ones. For example, If Pakistan becomes warmer with the passage of years,
the high plateaus and fertile lands of Afghanistan may seem attractive and Afghans may see a
new guest at their front door. The possibility of nuclear Pak-India war over scarce waters seems a
reality in future. Although not widely discussed but still a good topic for research and debatable
by people of social sciences the changing social behavior of people towards other people in the
future under the umbrella of global climate change. The demographic changes and the refugee
influx would make the European and Western societies even more diverse than ever before and
would altogether evolve a new society, culturally as well as politically. However, the exact
consequences of it are still not that imaginable.

The impacts of global climate change can’t be realized to its full extent but it is evident that it
may be a win for some countries or a loss for others. In the upcoming years, we can imagine the
global politics and diplomacy largely influenced and based upon on it and countries all over the
world would be busy in protection of their national interests keeping in view all the possible
outcomes for their future generations because of this global activity. Truly by the start of the 22nd
century, we could see the rise and fall of nations and new superpowers.

Saweel Hameed Rathore

807-BH-PS-2015

21
 Appraisal of Panama Papers through prism of Capitalism

Eugene V. Debs was of the view that, ‘’ I am opposing a social order in which it is possible for
one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of
dollars, while millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives secure barely
enough for a wretched existence’’. Indeed, the pernicious parasite of capitalism has had
annihilated the social fabric of society by widening the gap between rich and poor. Unfortunately,
major proportion of the World’s population is floundering to make ends meet whereas the
heartless affluent class is cherishing Pina coladas served by starving local children. Undoubtedly,
the credit cannot be snatched away by anyone other than contemporary capitalist system. The
unprecedented leak of confidential documents known as Panama Papers unfolds the intricate web
of loopholes found in our capitalist saga. In other words, data gleaned from 11 million documents
has opened the clandestine door to the hush-hush world of offshore tax havens. As a matter of
fact, Piggy banks used by kids during infancy are an impeccable incarnation of these
contemporary OFCs. Moreover, these tax havens are low tax jurisdictions found across the globe
with sole purpose of tax evasion. Additionally, Top-notch Multi-Nationals and Billionaires use
theses jurisdictions to siphon off their illicit wealth to shelter them from complex tax procedures.
Undoubtedly, the trove of documents has exposed big names from East to West, spanning
individuals from every walk of life. According to the report of Tax Justice Network, the
whooping rich had parked $ 21trillion to their offshore accounts in 2012 and the unpaid taxes
were estimated to $ 280 billion. Unfortunately, such a massive tax evasion on horde of wealth is
tantamount to combined economic size of 61 countries of the world. Inarguably, Capitalism
coupled with globalization has had facilitated these tax havens which enable the rich to squirrel
away their money to OFCs leaving destitute at the mercy of God. Now it’s time to make an
appraisal of situation in Pakistan and the curse of Panama papers bestowed upon capitalist class
by International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Obviously, the Panama Papers fell like a
thunderstorm upon the ruling elite and jolted the walls of estates erected at the expense of blood
of poor. According to World biggest leaks ever, the Prime Minister’s children; Mariam, Hassan
and Hussain are embroiled in the tangled cobweb of tax evasion. Likewise, Maryam Nawaz is
reported as owner of Nielson Enterprises Limited and Nescoll Limited established in 1993 and
1994. Actually, it’s an irony that government demands timely payment of taxes from citizens
whereas scions of ruling elite themselves stash away their assets to evade taxes. Furthermore, the
leaks are not just circumscribed to family of Jati Umrah but have enlisted the names of mammoth
alligators that have created business empires through these illegal means. Take the case of Malik

22
Riyaz, Saifullah family, former heads of state, judicial personnel’s and men in khakhi. Indeed, the
societal stratification facilitated by capitalism has had enabled the opulent to relish the blessings
of free market and on the other hand has had hurled destitute in the desert of poverty. According
to the World Bank report, 702 million people across the globe are still living below the poverty
line and if we specify it to Pakistan; the results are overwhelmingly precarious. But, the important
question remained unanswered that what compels them to conceal their wealth in OFCs. The
answer to the very question is two-fold; the basic purpose lies in avoiding tax and the other leads
us to the source of money earned by these rich strata. So, capital earned by majority proportion is
not through legal means which constrain them to invest in these OFCs. In this way, corrupt and
black money accumulated by the elite class aggrandize the poverty level in the country and
capitalism works as a catalyst in the very process. To cap it all, there is a dire need to reinforce
the fundamental tenet of socialism in society to expunge inequalities across the globe. Otherwise,
world would witness myriad tales of rich who became richer by sucking the blood of poor.

Saad Rashid
Political Science

23
 Extremism and terrorism in FATA: Challenges and Responses

FATA is considered as one of the most dangerous regions of Pakistan regarding the issue of
security due to its shared border with Afghanistan. This proximity with Afghanistan is
detrimental to the security of FATA; therefore, it is often seen as global hub of terrorism. During
the early years of independence FATA was considered a peaceful region, but after Russian
aggression in 1979 the crisis situation started. After the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the
Durand line virtually ceased to exist with free cross border movement. Secondly, the tribesmen
share their culture and traditions with the people of Afghanistan and therefore, they give asylum
to the fugitives who are even bitter enemy for the regions as well as for the state. Thirdly,
numerous challenges are being faced by the people of Fata, but some important among them are
discussed here such as low literacy rate(24% male and 3% female), lack of proper educational
institutions, lack of industrial zones, lack of representation etc. All these factors cause frustration
in the people of Fata, therefore, more people have joined terrorist groups to fight against the state.
Fourthly, the people have often been exploited by tribal chiefs, political agents and religious
leaders. Finally weak administrative and political structures especially FCR Act (1901) has
virtually failed to control the situation.
On the other hand, in spite of burgeoning terrorism, the Army has launched many successful
operations against the culprits and now the operation Zarb-e-Azb has reached its final stage and
the return of internally displaced persons has started, but people still face problems such as
acquisition of watan card (which is mandatory for entrance to their homes), massive
unemployment, homelessness, poverty, deprivation and many serious ills in that area with no
compensation. Therefore, the people claim that they are badly treated by, both, Militant groups as
well as the Army. After the triumph of operation Zarb-e-Azb, there are more challenges for
administration and political Agents for equal allocation of their homes and shops which were
bulldozed during the operation. Military operation can be a short term solution to the problems of
security, but in FATA long term solutions such as reform in political and administrative
structures, devolution of power to gross root level, promotion of quality education, developmental
schemes, role of civil society etc., are paramount.
The social institutions, such as Jirga system, have also become the target of militant groups and
number of local leaders has been killed in this restless condition. The fear of suicide attacks,
military operations, militant groups, drone attacks and displacement of local people has led to
severe psychological consequences. It has also undermined the powers of political agents and

24
destroyed the agriculture sector, in which 70% people rely on agriculture for their income and
now they are unable to work due to unfavorable conditions. The agonies of Fata are unending and
the only way to secure Fata is to give more development opportunities to the people, especially
priority to the education may resolve this dilemma.

Muhammad Tahir

25
 The Era of Globalization

This is the Era of Globalization as people across the globe have become closer than ever before as
commodities and services that appear in a country can immediately be exchanged with the other
one.
Globalization is a term that came into popular usage in the 1980's to describe movement of the
people, knowledge, ideas, goods and money across national borders that has led to increase the
interconnectedness among the world's population, economically, politically, socially and
culturally.
Although globalization is often taken as an economic term, this process has many social and
political implications as well. Many in local communities associate globalization with
modernization (i.e., the transformation of "traditional" societies into "Western").
It is a process in which economic, political, and socio-cultural relations are established across a
long geographic distance. It gains its strength from the possibilities that opened up by
technological and strategically policies. It affects the economic business and exerts a wide range
of influence on society. The growth of the developing countries is the main cause of globalization
and it brings, both, opportunities and disadvantages to them.
Globalization makes developments in these countries. First of all, the development was, the
independence of each of these developing countries. The development in industry, economy,
culture and polity gives solutions to social problems. The most serious problem of all these
countries is unemployment, which leads to poverty, social crime, illiteracy, so ease in availability
of the, cheap, labor in developing countries that’s why the multinational companies always
employ the worker in host countries. The reality takes effect when the fears, ideas, actions and
reactions occur due to globalization. In a fully globalized society, borders are not supposed to
protect people, goods, and symbols. The world then becomes a worldwide network where the
borders fade away. A factor within globalization is consolidation. This is when globalization is
forcing to the companies that to protected home markets and compete with foreign rivals.
It is something that is acknowledged and then acted upon. When globalization is properly acted
upon, the political policies begin to effect economic strategies, which then effect social reactions
and so on. This process occurs at many different interconnected geographic levels.
Globalization is a reality that touches our lives and we can’t stop thinking about it. Some would
say that the world was as globalized, hundred years ago, as it is today, with trade and migration.

26
In the 1930’s depression, the Nations drew back from their international markets. But the rise of
the Western states to build and strengthen international ties in the aftermath of World War II laid
the groundwork for today’s globalization.
When the multinational companies cooperate with a country, they also bring their religion,
culture, and life style. Consequently the people in the poor country increase their stander of living
and get acquainted with new civilization. Furthermore, globalization also creates an aggressive
competition in industry. And for the progress in industrialization, fewer developing countries
cooperate with more developing countries to get new technologies and modern methods, for
employees, to get better output from industries. With these advantages, governments are
cooperating in Globalization, but not whole heartedly. The cooperation, between developing
countries and developed countries, opens a new window for the improvement of economy of
every country. Globalization has the potential to make societies richer through trade and to bring
knowledge and information to people around the world. Meanwhile, there are many other who
perceive globalization as it is contributing to the exploitation of the poor by the rich, and as a
threat to traditional cultures.
Globalization has impacts in the political arena, but there is not a consensus among social
scientists about the nature and degree of its impact on national and international politics. Some
political scientists argue that globalization is weakening nation-states and that global institutions
will gradually take over the functions and power of nation-states.
Other social scientists believe that while increased global inter-connectivity will result in
dramatic changes in world politics, particularly in international relations (i.e., the way states
relate to each other), the nation-state will remain at the center of international political activity.

Zain Ul Abiden Virk

M.A. Political Science

27
 Disparity in Education

It goes without saying that education is indispensable for the progress of country by leaps and
bounds. Education is not only to get a white collar job; rather it takes on the whole life of a
person, whether it is related to a job or of self-satisfaction. It has two main fold meanings. It helps
in earning a good living and also develops a sense of independence. While on the other hand it
has a process by which knowledge, personality, actions and attitude of individuals are formed and
adapted to the standards of the society.
Unfortunately in Pakistan the system of education is not as developed as it should be to keep pace
with progressing world. Still we have 46% literacy rate in Pakistan, out of which only 26% get
through primary education. Total number of primary schools in Pakistan is 163000 from which
girls have a share of only 40,000 (excluding private sector schools).
The major defect in our education system is the division between “Public Sector Schools”, which
are under governmental patronage, and “Private Sector Schools”. And more, the syllabus, system
of education, environment and facilities of these two sectors are not in line with each other.
Private sector schools are largely meant for the bourgeoisie because these are only affordable to
them. They have well qualified staffs who know how to polish the abilities of its students. While
on the other hand, in Public sector schools students are not even provided with basic
infrastructure like proper classes, building and furniture etc. Most of the students sit in open air
on their sacks.
When it comes to the teachers of these Public schools it worsens the situation. Most of the
teachers are not even matriculated. They were recruited many years ago when the value of
education was not much known. With the advancement in education they should be replaced or
trained according to new standards. Retirement should be given to those who are adamant to their
conventional methods of teaching. They cannot compete with teachers of Private sector schools
who are qualified, intelligent and are trained according to new standards of education.
In these conditions, how can a student of Private sector school, who is given every facility like
educated teachers, better educational environment and system, can be compared with a student of
Public sector school, who haven’t seen the basic facilities which should be provided to students
by every school, in his entire life? Would it be just to measure both these students at a same
scale? They can’t be equal, because they have different systems of education. Private sector
schools follow European system of education while in Public sector schools we still have

28
conventional teaching methods. Private ownership has made education a business, from which
they earn a lot of money without much labor and investment.
Even after 67 years of independence we are still unable to decide the medium of education in
schools. Private sector schools use English as a medium of instruction while there is no specific
language which is spoken in Public sector schools. It depends upon teacher whether he uses his
mother tongue or Urdu or English. We are still stuck in these basic problems of education.
This is not a deep rooted problem that we can’t tackle it. Government should take prerequisite
measures to solve this problem. First and far most step which government should take is the
introduction of “Universal Education”. There should be same syllabus and method of teaching in
all schools; either it is Public sector school or Private sector school. Student of Public sector
school can also perform well if he is given proper facilities. A true sense of competition can only
be achieved if there is same system of education for students of all classes. Same syllabus for all
students will also help students of lower class in not facing discrimination at university level,
where there is same system of education despite the fact that they have different background. A
student of Public sector despite all his hard work cannot compete with a student of Private sector
school, at university level.
Public sector schools should be renovated and students should be provided with ample
opportunities to polish their abilities. Conventional teaching methods should be abolished and
new methods should be reinforced. We only spend 2% of our budget on education, which is the
most necessary tool for progress. It should be raised up to 6% to 7%, at least to counter all
difficulties in this field. And awareness of self-education should also be created among people
especially in the lower class for whom education is only for rich.
So, reforms in our educational sector are indispensable otherwise the ship of education would
wreck midst the murky ocean. Education is, no doubt, the basic right of every citizen but the
incumbent government should also endeavor to ensure that it should be provided to all sectors of
society on the basis of parity. By the dint of universal education, a playground of same level can
be set for all the classes of society, either elite or poor. If we could not solve this problem then the
progress of the country will be a talk of another world.

Mohio Din Farhan

Department of English

29
 Culture exchange creates bridge between nations

Cultural exchange can play an important role to minimize mistrust; prejudice and can enable
people to create peace and harmony. Through this program, we can learn how to live in a
peaceful way? How to cooperate in the constructive activities rather than to compete in a
mindless contest of mutual destruction without thinking for local as well as global disharmony
which results In rampant chaos. Through cultural exchange program we can bridge differences
and that’s why we should try to expand human wisdom, empathy and perception.

Being a student, of cultural exchange program, it is not an easy thing and it is fact that language,
cultural changes, homesickness and time management are the few things which are the biggest
challenges that are being faced by each student. Cultural exchange students find it hard to
integrate into the local environment when someone even has the problem of language proficiency
too. But one should keep in mind that after sometime all these challenges become an opportunity
to broaden their horizon in each and every aspect of that very culture.
Personally I faced all these problems but I learned much more from foreign people by spending
time with them. Time management is the most precious skill one can learn from this program. In
America, actually time is money, everyone is concerned about his time that’s why they become
able to do every activity on time and hence this thing leads them to the success. Another thing
which impressed me there was the American education system. Teachers do not compromise on
any issue, and do follow the policy of university at any cost, which I experienced there. The next
thing which I would like to appreciate is the indiscriminative behavior of the people irrespective
of any caste, color or religion. People hear you very patiently and no one try to impose his
opinion upon you, which I have never experienced so far in my own community. There people
love your arguments, and do not criticize you directly, which is a major source of peace and
harmony.

In short, this program can play an important role in bridging the gap between countries. The
deteriorated conditions that have been created because of mistrust, prejudice and misperception
among the people of different areas can be solved by these cultural exchange programs.

Amin Marwat

30
 18TH Amendment: Analysis and Implications

The Eighteenth Amendment in Pakistan’s Constitution has made the Prime Minister, and hence
the parliament, stronger instead of the President by abolishing 58(2) (b) just as the Glorious
Revolution of 1688-1689 in England made the parliament stronger by abolishing the ‘Divine
Right of Kings’ and paving the way towards the constitutional monarchy by passing the Bill of
Rights in 1689. Just as the Bill of Rights ushered in a new era of democracy in England, the 18 th
amendment has promised the same. The 18th Constitutional Amendment has omitted the
Concurrent List from the 1973 Constitution thereby adding the legislative and administrative
responsibilities to the provinces. Through the passing of the Amendment, the steps were taken to
constitute a ‘participatory federation’ from the ‘centralized federation’ and now it is the duty of
the provinces to chalk out the projects and to address the people’s demands through making fiscal
discipline and well-orchestrated monetary policies at their own levels. Likewise, consensus over
the 7th NFC award was a historic milestone in the politico-constitutional history of Pakistan.

The Amendment met the long-standing demand of the Pashtun population of the NWFP to
rename their province by identifying it with the main ethnic group living in the area- Khyber-
Pakhtunkhwa.

Limits have been placed on the powers of the President. Time limits have been fixed for the
President to act on the advice given to him by the Prime Minister and his cabinet. President’s
discretionary powers to dissolve the National Assembly or to refer a matter to referendum have
been removed.

The amendment has several provisions to give more powers to the smaller provinces. The
constitution had created a bicameral legislature in which the Senate, the upper house, was to have
equal representation of all provinces. The amendment seeks to strengthen the Senate. The
membership of the Senate has been increased from 100 to 104, with the Prime Minister and his
cabinet will be responsible to both the National Assembly as well as the Senate.

The amendment strengthened Article 6 of the constitution that was originally inserted to deter
military takeovers. In the original constitution, any effort to dislodge a duly constituted
government was made a capital offence punishable by death. For the appointment of judges, the
amendment appoints a seven member Judicial Commission headed by the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court. The recommendations of the commission will be sent to an eight member

31
Parliamentary Committee with the authority to reject the nomination by no less than 75 per cent
majority. The concurrent list that gave joint responsibilities to the federal as well as provincial
governments has been removed. However, criminal laws, criminal procedures and the rules of
evidence remain subjects on which both Parliament and Provincial Legislatures can make laws.

The Council of Common Interests (CCI) has been greatly strengthened. It shall now be chaired by
the Prime Minister and meet at least once a quarter. There will be a permanent Secretariat,
comprising the Prime Minister, three Federal Ministers and the Four Chief Ministers. The list of
subjects that will fall within the purview of the CCI has been substantially expanded, including
some of the subjects that were on the abolished concurrent list. Some of the subjects which will
now be subject to deliberation by the CCI include major ports, electricity including generation ,
transmission and distribution; all regulatory authorities ; national planning ; public debt; census ;
legal, medical and other professions; higher education; and inter-provincial matters and
coordination. The federation will not be allowed to build hydroelectric stations in any province
without consultation with that province.

The Seventh NFC Award has established a number of financial milestones. For the division of
resources among the provinces, the federation has moved away from the unsatisfactory single
criterion of population to a multi-criteria award that includes poverty/backwardness, revenue
collection and generation, and inverse population density. Moreover, the Centre and the
Provinces have shown a spirit of fair play while addressing the financial matters of Baluchistan
and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

According to the new criteria set for the 7th NFC Award:

➢ The provinces would receive 56 per cent share of federal revenues, while 44 per cent
share would go to the Centre.
➢ As per the horizontal distribution among the provinces, the Punjab would now get 51.74
per cent, Sindh’s share will be 24.55 per cent, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa will receive 14.62
per cent share while Baluchistan will get 9.09 per cent.
➢ The distribution is based on 82 per cent weightage to population, 10.3 per cent to
poverty/backwardness, 5 per cent to revenue generation/ collection and 2.7 per cent to
inverse population density/ urban-rural area. The provinces’ share in the divisible pool
will increase from the current 47.5 per cent to 56 per cent in the first year and 57.5 per
cent afterwards.

32
 ➢ Sindh, Baluchistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa are happy to get greater shares from the
national divisible pool through the 7TH NFC Award. The Punjab has also shared more
with the smaller provinces by agreeing to reduce its share, previously basing the
distribution solely on population.

There cannot be any doubt that the 18th Amendment will have a profound impact on the way, the
country is governed and its economy is managed. If the federating units- the provinces - receive
additional powers as a result of the abolition of the concurrent list inserted into the 1973
constitution by its framers, it will mean transferring large amounts of economic authority to the
provinces. They will, for instance, have the right to manage labor laws; environmental impact of
development in both the public and the private sectors of the economy; generation of much larger
amounts of electricity; development of infrastructure; movement of goods and commodities
within their own boundaries and improving the level of education. This will happen only if the
provinces find a way of financing these activities. If they remain dependent on the central
government for funds, the autonomy promised by the amendment will remain illusory. There is
no doubt that the 18th Amendment to the constitution has taken a giant step towards instituting
political and fiscal federation in the country as the basis for improving the quality of governance.
Its success or failure would depend upon how those charged with policy-making decide to move
forward and make use of the opportunities made available.

Nadeem Abbas

M. Phil. Political Science

33
 Pakistan flawed political culture

‘A major cause of bad governance, rampant corruption, and sham

democracy’

Is Democracy the most rewarded form of government of the 21stcentury? In democracy the power
rests with people and is also exercised through the people. Democracy falls in to two major
categories:

1. Direct democracy
2. Indirect democracy

In Indirect Democracy people elect their representative directly and participate in the decision
making through them. The creation of Pakistan was a catalyst and largest demographic movement
in recorded history of the world. Despite being home to the largest religiously homogeneous
people, Pakistan has been striving in a precarious struggle to evolve a political system for its
linguistically diverse population. Such diversities have caused chronic regional tensions and thus
paved the way for the constitutional dead lock. Moreover the country has been ruled by the
military more than the democratically elected people. Regional tensions with India since the
creation of Pakistan have led people to believe that the military is the only capable institution to
safeguard the ideological and territorial boundaries of the country. Moreover the death of the
founder of Pakistan and trusted Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan left Pakistan political leadership
in the doldrums and in during this scenario army intervened in politics, making the people believe
that politicians are corrupt and need to be removed from the corridors of power. The political
culture of Pakistan is based on patronage groups and kinship. The political elite of Pakistan in
rural areas get vote in the name of kinship, biradari .The political parties are dynasties in nature
where only a couple of families have been ruling since 1970. In political culture of patronage,
regionalism, kinship, feudalism, corruption is unbridled. So the people give vote to their favorites
who after coming into power will stand by despotism, favoritism, and culture of corruption. So in
such a political culture, a vicious circle revolves around making the political system inefficient
corrupt. It may be concluded that democracy in Pakistan is only in name, practically it has failed.
There is no rule of law, there is violation of meritocracy, and the rights of minorities are not safe.

34
Additionally, there is lack of justice in the society. Unless a change in the minds of people and
leadership develops, this country will not take the roads of democratic norms which may lead it to
good governance. For Socio-economic development, collective efforts are needed both by people
and those who are at helm of affairs. According to Aristotle “democracy is the worst form of
government”. It is if the majority is uneducated and ignorant. It can be best if the society is
educated, responsive and politically conscious.

Shamsad Haral

Political Science

35
 Political system of the Mughal Empire

In the Mughal Empire, the government was separated into provinces, called Subans that were run
the same way as the central government with the four different administrative sections.

Mughal political structure had autocratic rulers whose power was based on military might and
religious authority. It had no navy, so all military power was based in army. Mughal princes
fought over the throne causing political instability. Empire was established by Babur, and he
created a mix of Persian, Mongolian, and Indian culture. He built an empire based on religious
toleration. Humayun turned the empire into an artistic nation, as well as a militaristic one.

However, Akbar established a form of delegate government in which the provisional governors
were personally responsible to him for the quality of government in their territory. He tolerated
the Hindus within his territory. He attempted to alleviate tensions between Muslims and Hindus
by incorporating Hindus into military and bureaucracy. He abolished tax on all non-Muslims. He
built a strong bureaucracy modeled on a military hierarchy, and split India into sections.

The heads of the administration all reported directly to the emperor, so they had to do their job
well, or the Mansab would lose their job, and possibly their life.

The government was very well organized. Each area was individually run and kept separate from
the other areas. The great ruler, Akbar, started a centralized government. A centralized
government was easier to control and administer.

The emperor was the supreme head of state, commander-in-chief of the army, and the chief judge
in all disagreements. Whatever the emperor decided could not be challenged. His main jobs were
to be responsible for diplomacy and foreign affairs.

The higher ranks of the government were mainly filled with "nonnative Muslims," but there were
still many lower positions and even some important positions filled by Hindus. These officials
were called "Zamindars" and received a portion of the taxes that the peasants paid for the land.
These officials were paid for their work at first, but later were given pieces of land, which were
farmed by the peasants.

The first Europeans to arrive were the Portuguese who established a monopoly over regional
trade in the Indian Ocean but did not look to expand into the subcontinent. By the end of the 16th

36
century the English and the Dutch had arrived and all 3 powers were competing for trading rights
in India.

When the English first arrived at Surat in 1608 requests for trading privileges were denied by the
Emperor Jahangir. This was at the hands of the Portuguese advisers who had already acquired
seating in the imperial court. The English needed the lightweight Indian cloth to trade for Spices
in the East Indies and in 1616 they were finally allowed to install an ambassador at the imperial
court in Agra. Three years later the first English factory was established in Surat.

Another factory was added at Fort William on the Hoogly River. From here the English ships
carried Indian-made cotton goods to the East Indies. They used them to barter for spices that were
shipped back to England. Tensions arose between local authorities and the English over the
payment of taxes and they were expelled from India after a war in 1686.

Meanwhile, the expansion of the East India Company was designed to seek guaranteed revenues
to pay for increasingly expensive military operations in India. Historians see it as a major step in
the gradual transfer of the entire Indian subcontinent to the British East India Company and the
British Crown

The English success attracted rivals like the Dutch and the French. The Dutch had abandoned
their interests to concentrate on Spice Trade in the middle of the 17th century but the French were
more persistent and established factories of their own. Under Joseph Francois Dupleix the French
began to compete successfully with the British. But this didn’t last long due to the fact. that the
refusal of the French Government to provide financial support for the efforts eventually left the
French with their single port at Pondicherry and a handful of small territories on the southeastern
coast. Clive began to consolidate British control in Bengal where the local ruler had attacked Fort
William and imprisoned the local British population in the Black Hole of Calcutta.

A turn of power came in 1757 when British force of three thousand defeated a Mughal army over
ten times that size in the battle of Plessey. As a result the British East India Company removed
itself from the decrepit Mughal Court. Less than 10 years later British Forces seized the reigning
Mughal Emperor and the British began to consolidate their economic and administrative control
over Indian Territory using the now powerless Mughal court.

Zain ul Abiden Virk

M.A Pol Science

37
 Situation of Education in Baluchistan

Education plays a momentous role in the prosperity and progress of a nation. It is that tool of the
society which enhances development, curtails social issues, sustains economic growth and
ensures peaceful life.

Contrarily, Baluchistan which is a significant province of Pakistan whose educational objectives

which were supposed to be obtained by the Government of Baluchistan could not be attained up
to now. While on the other side, the political leaders and other stockholders are hesitant to accept
the reality about the economic backwardness of the region. The Advisor for Education recently
claimed that poverty, unemployment and instability are the reasons behind the educational
backwardness but in fact educational backwardness is the prime mover behind these factors. Not
only in Baluchistan but all those areas across the country where people are uneducated are
inclined more towards illicit acts which is only due to lack of education.

24% of the total budget in recent years was allocated for education in which a big share has been
spent upon the salaries of the teachers. Furthermore, educational emergency has been declared
and article 25-A of the constitution was enforced. Despite all of these enormous efforts, the
outputs are unsatisfactory.

There are about 1.8 million children which are out of school in Baluchistan. Two out of three
girls are uneducated in Baluchistan. As a result, Baluchistan has the lowest literacy rate in
Pakistan. Absenteeism amongst the teachers is a common practice. The situation of education in
rural areas is more devastating. The curriculum and the text books are not qualitative and up to
the standard. There are no strict actions taken to deal with these problems. There is no
accountability of the teachers by the concerned authorities. Lack of schools, colleges and
universities, lack of proper infrastructure and qualified teachers augmented the educational
backwardness. The University of Baluchistan is the biggest university of the province which is
located in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan. This bewildering situation in the province has forced
people to send their children outside the province, principally those who can afford it. More then
32,000 students are studying outside Baluchistan, while the rests’ future is bleak and miserable in
this competing world.

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It is appropriate to voice on the issue of dismal education system in Baluchistan. Unluckily our
representatives have no care of others’ children because their owns are studying abroad and as
Bhutto once said to his friend, while replying to a question on nationalized education.

“Relax, my and yours children are not going to be studying here in Pakistan anyway”

Thus, in a nut-shell, political leaders and other stakeholders should pay full heed towards the
promotion of education in the province rather paying attention to minimize other social issues
because all of these are the product of lack of education. As a result education and instability are
inversely proportional to each other. Apart from this NGOs and the Central government along
with the Higher Education Commission should also contribute in a bid to jack-up educational
system of Baluchistan. Otherwise children and youth of this province will remain backward and
resultantly there would be upheavals and agitations.

AJMAL KHAN

39
 Inspiration and Perspiration

The often told tale of the thirsty crow may seem childish but strikes an emphasizing note. Even a
fragile bird inspires us to do something out of the ordinary. In our daily life, we come across great
personalities who have left their mark in respective fields. We humans always look for such
guiding figures so as to follow the path to glory and honour.

From the outset in life, we set in front of us certain ideals and heroes from different walks of life.
Then we try to copy them for achieving our earnest purpose. We try to imitate and follow the
traits. The pursuit of ideals determines the true spirit of purpose in face of the challenges. All the
great people were fired with the sense of purpose, they reached such an extent, and achieved such
glories that their followers tremble to follow their footprints. These are amalgamates of true
inspiration and perspiration. Anybody inspired by the trend setters or the seniors tries to imitate
their habits but feels like a coward and cherubic in dark whirlpool of incredible catastrophes.
Inspiration and perspiration are the two branches of the same road leading to the attainment of the
same goal.

If inspiration ignites then perspiration is the gauging factor, which illustrates its efficiency.
Inspiration is a power, a revolution, a passion, it’s not all about chasing ideals and it’s about love
for work and setting new examples and heights.

We may get inspired by anything; it can be a deed, which may result into a change in personality.
To gain anything commendable and everlasting strive hard and any shortcut will definitely result
in ridiculous failure. Perspiration and hard work have its own charm of sweating for a noble
cause. Sometimes the strain of hard work and repeated challenges results in the weakening of
purpose and thereby encourages the power of pessimism to set in. Here the blame is shifted to
fate. Instead of sweating and striving for the best the life, mechanism stops and rots like a
stagnant pool of water. However, if inspiration takes over men’s behavior and stance it will lead
them to astounding success. The fever of inspiration makes a man change impossible into
possible. In short it may be concluded that inspiration and perspiration are equally important if
any aim in life is to be achieved.

Arooj Khan

40
 The Implicit and normal

‘When will corruption end in Pakistan?’ My friend asked in extreme despair. He needed a one
liner answer, so I replied in asking another question: ‘When will noble castes of our society marry
in so called ‘mirrasis’ or ‘kami’ (those who are by caste servants& drum beaters)as normal?’ My
friend was thinking hard to find any connection between these two apparently non related
questions. I intervened, ‘look corruption is an illegal and disastrous monetary conduct which
takes place in different sectors of a society. It has the potential to become a norm, custom or even
institution. In Pakistan it is so common that it can be safely concluded: corruption is an institution
in Pakistan. It is like institution of marriage, which also occurs usually in our society. In any
society where some roles frequently repeat a pattern of activity to the extent that people think it is
normal, it becomes an Institution. ‘But what is common between ending corruption and our
nobles having marriages with so called ‘mirrasis?’ My friend asked impatiently.

‘Firstly, you have to understand the ‘Implicit mechanism of brakes and accelerators’ found in any
society. It means when people as a whole consider something unconsciously good or bad without
any sign boards to tell them to do so; when people as a whole consider something unconsciously
allowed or prohibited without any sign boards to tell them to do so, when people as a whole
consider something unconsciously praise-able or humiliating without any sign boards to tell them
to do so. This is done by ‘Implicit’ language in every society.’

‘Can you explain the ‘Implicit’ language of society little more?’ My friend asked me with
curiosity in his eyes ‘How ‘Implicit’ language of society does applies brakes on some activities,
which are bad in its eyes, and accelerate others which are good in its eyes?’

‘Implicit language of a society is actually the ‘Morality and Ethics of a society’. People may
boast of their good ethics of society, but the reality may be opposite. They may exaggerate in
poetry the hospitality and honesty of their society, but the reality may reveal that society is hostile
and full of deceit .They may boast their respect for women, but newspapers will show their
hungry blood hound eyes. Ethics of a society are unspoken. They are easily found in actions and
conduct of a society, but they are hard to be found in spoken words of a society. Often times the
popular literature and arts show exaggerated picture of ethics in a society, as a politician hides the
true nature of war in words of nationalism and glory, but an outsider can describe the difference
easily.’

41
“Doing’ not saying is the language of Ethics and Morality in Society. Ethics and Morality cannot
be expressed fully by spoken words. They are taught by actions and conduct. Children learn and
learn ethics from the actions of society implicitly until they become grown up members of the
same society. So, those reformers who want to reform society by speeches are talking to stones.
Like habits, ethics resist change as rocks to air. Reformers and religious scholars need hammers
and nails of exemplary conduct to chisel it slowly and gradually. By explicitly urging people to
follow some ethics, will result into further distance between people and those ethics. It is because
people hate to be told that they are wrong; they love to learn themselves by realizing implicitly.
Ethics of society are the collective unspoken memory of a society. It is unseen Driver of people’s
attitude; it applies brakes to society as a whole at sight of something ‘bad ‘or accelerate society at
the sight of something “good”. Now explain a connection between my question and your question
in the start?’ My friend asked me, still waiting for his first question to be answered. Although he
seemed to understand what the answer would be.

‘Look my friend, ending corruption is not the task of any government agency alone, until our
society as a whole does not consider it prohibited, as our society implicitly (or ethically) consider
the marriage between noble castes of our society and so called ‘mirrasis’ as prohibited. There is
no law of government which bars marriage between low castes and high castes, but our society
does this prohibition implicitly so effectively that no law mechanism can imagine it. Exactly on
the same mechanism western societies decrease the ratio of corruption. If someone of higher caste
does marry in lower caste, we consider it rare (not normal). Similarly, any evil found in our
society, such as corruption, cannot be eradicated until our society considers it prohibited
implicitly or the stage comes when someone says it is unusual.

‘Can you give me some more examples of real ethics of our society?’ My friend requested me
with keen interest in his eyes. ‘I am interested to know where we implicitly apply brakes and
accelerators as a whole.’ I laughed, and said ‘look, if some angry Pakistani throws dirt or ink on
our Prime Minister or Army chief face, everyone will talk of it for months or years that it is
impolite behaviour. The behaviour is unusual, and we normally respect our Leaders. People
implicitly consider the angry person’s act as big crime than thousands of people dying in
hospitals daily due corruption of Prime Minister or thousands of soldiers dying on border due
foolish wars started by Army Generals. We forget these crimes by saying that it happens or it is
normal.

42
‘Want to hear another example, see if a eunuch or hermaphrodite cry out in desperation for
having a National Identity Card or entry into his father’s home, where his brothers have banned
him because he will humiliate them. We laugh at his tiny demand of basic human rights. He does
not demand to be allowed to be a Minister or Imam of Mosque. Those are things beyond his
imagination. He is humiliated and bullied by everyone, because we implicitly consider them no
human species. We keep them at distance. His entire fault is that nature has domed him with
some mix traits in the womb of her mother. We normally feel humiliated in having a helpless
hermaphrodite brother, than taking pride in taking just one picture with wealthy Ministers who
are responsible for thousands of killings and rapes. We take such prides normally.’

‘Oh my God’ cried my hermaphrodite friend. He wept placing his forehead on my shoulder, when
I said, ‘don’t cry, one day you will be accepted in your family as a normal member.’

Muhammad Sarfraz

839-BH-PS-2012

43
 The Toilets

Hammad was a son of a land-record-holder from a smaller town in Punjab, Pakistan. He was born
with a clear throat, some really strong vocal cords and an endless craving for music. He wanted to
become a singer of note and fame. His father, being in contact with non-artistic, field-tilling land
owners and forceful commanding feudalists, had developed a demeanor similar to that of the
people he dealt with as his office demanded. He thought of art to be a business of the meek. He
was opposed to the idea of art being practiced by the noble ones. He thought of art stereotypically
to be an activity of the useless chunk of the society and a profession undertaken by some non-
serious, lower strata of the society which receive it hereditarily. This perception was generally
about art as a whole and particularly about the art of music.

It was a fine partially cloudy day of March. Cool breeze blew as Hammad strolled to the
playground of his high school after the classes were over. He usually used to sit on the benches
along the perimeter of the playground and meditate. He was a quiet and shy child. Shy; not
because he couldn't talk to people or that he had been nervous of getting indulged in
conversations. Shy; because he seemed so, because others found him shy. The reality was that he
didn't want to talk to people too much. He was naturally a quiet personality, enjoying the
calmness and its depth and the space it gave to his thoughts. He basically loved to sit and
meditate. And what came out of those meditations were symphonies that descended from his
mind directly into his heart. Emotions and symphonies mixed up in his heart and unintentionally
ascended to his throat. He was a great connoisseur of music. However, now the passion had
evolved to include singing along with listening to others' music. Today, the passion for singing
boiled at some greater temperatures and he got up from the bench he had been sitting for about 2
hours or probably more than that, thinking about music all the time. His lean legs carried him to a
nearby market of musical instruments which was known as "bazaar-i-moseequi"(literally the
market of music). He stood in front of a shop which displayed a board hung outside just above the
door that read, "to encourage music, we offer 50% discount". Hammad stepped in. He looked
around at the instruments displayed in a manner that gave the shop an exquisite ambiance of a
classical music studio. He enjoyed the atmosphere and was lost in it as a child gets lost in a play
land with so many swings and games to play around. He took up a guitar and asked for the price.
He was told a discounted amount which he could afford, so he bought it and went back home.

44
The next day was a holiday. Hammad brought out his guitar and started playing on it. The melody
he played was so sweet that his father got out of his room to listen to it in the TV-lounge. To see
the television set turned off; he was quite intrigued to see from where the melody was being
played. He tried to follow the waves of the instrument's warble and found himself out in the lawn
of his house where his son, Hammad, played on the guitar. The melody turned into a chaotic
hullabaloo as he saw his own son playing on the musical instrument instead of reading any book
included in his syllabus designed by the school where he went to study. He shouted impatiently,
"what the hell are you doing here?", and went on to snatch the guitar from Hammad. Hammad's
mother was cooking inside the kitchen when heard her husband hollering. She immediately came
out as she saw that her husband was shouting at her son. Hammad was in a state of confusion as
he thought of saying sorry to his father while trying to understand what mistake he had made. His
mother tried to pacify his father and asked him to go to his room. Hammad had thought of
himself to be free and at a liberty to do anything he wished to. But, he had been disillusioned
now. He came to understand that he thought he was free because he had been doing what his
parents and particularly his father had commanded him to do. To find himself bound by the
shackles of his parents' wishes; he cried. It made him to cry for a free Hammad he had thought
himself to be. But, it wasn't over yet. Hammad discovered that it wasn't only the music he wasn't
at liberty to enjoy or pursue as a career. He found that he wasn't at the liberty even to cry when
his father peeped in from a slightly opened door and yelled at him, "stop crying, you idiot! And
take out your books!", while Hammad just stared at his father with meaningful eyes. Hammad
went to his toilet to wash his face.

Inside the toilet, he cried and wept for as long as he wished to. Suddenly, he thought that the toilet
was the only corner in his house where he was free to weep as much as burden he had on his
heart. He thought that if his toilet could offer a safe and generous enough space for his catharsis,
why it would reject to offer him space to enjoy what he wanted to. So, he sang to his fill and
nobody was there to interrupt him. Now, it became a routine. Whenever he wished to sing, he
went to the toilet and the toilet always accepted him with an opened and ever wide heart.

One day, he went to the toilet in his school where he saw so many things inscribed on the walls;
something about sexual discourses and relationships, frustration of the impotent about not being
given a proper space by the society to live with dignity, abuses hurled by the apparently dull
students at the teachers who don't understand the psyche of the student deeply and easily resort to
torture, love words of a boy for his beloved to whom he can't approach in a conservative society,
and what not. He had seen all that graffiti so many times before, but now he was looking at it with

45
a new lens added on the eye of his insight. Having experienced a similar situation, he now
thought of those behind those inscriptions not as non-sense and idiots rather as victims. He saw at
the toilet not as a place which merely offered to clean up the physical crud of the people, but also
as a place that generously welcomed the people to let them get free of the spiritual and emotional
burdens which the society was unable to bear. He now thought of a toilet to be something more
than a toilet. He thought of it to be a generous catharsis cell and a confidential friend of all those
who were unable to find it in the society.

Umair Fareed Wattoo

Political Science

46
 State Repression in the Shadow of the Crescent Moon

Fatima Bhutto debuts in the literary world via her outstanding fictional work, The Shadow of the
Crescent Moon. It is not only a tale of a family dwelling in Mir Ali, a war troubled area on Pak-
Afghan border, but also magnifies the atrocities of state institutions. This piece of art reflects the
hardships of the people of FATA who are suffering since the independence of Pakistan. Folks of
FATA are between the devil and deep sea, according to author; because on one side they are
being suppressed by ARMY and on the other side are Talibans who are slitting the throats. So, a
plenty folk do not accept the stringent and self-made laws of Khakhis due to State’s myopic
vision and they do rebel. State, Islamic State of Pakistan, in order to crush this insurrection, use
various tactics in Mir Ali. These tactics, in this essay, will be discussed with reference to the
Loius Althusser theory of Ideology.
Loius Althussier, a Marxist philosopher, develops the concept of Ideological state apparatus. In
Marxist theory , state is thought of the first and foremost as the ‘State Apparatus’ , that is , as the
sum of the institutions- the government , the civil service ,the court, the police, and army and so
on. He further dissects his theory into two parts as Repressive State Apparatus and Ideological
State Apparatus. RSA encircles many institutions as Army, court and Police etc while ISA
consists of religion, education, politics and no representation at national level.
Fatima Bhutto’s The Shadow of the Crescent Moon gives the narrative of the dwellers of Fata
especially it gives them voice in literature in ENGLISH. This effort seems like a first rain drop
for the people who are voiceless. Writer shows that Army has been cordon off the Mir Ali and
inmates are always under the looming threat of the sniper’s bullet. Army seems as a top priority
to solve any issue in this troubled region. This is an illustration of Repressive State Apparatus. In
this book, Miss Bhutto jots down as “Thousands of them, in convoys of armored vehicles,
weighed down with garlands of assault weapons and hand grenades, flooded into Mir Ali. They
came in conquering battalions and in plain clothes (Bhutto 18)”.
To provide more proofs in fictional form, writer further narrates the suppression of state
institution as “Doors were broken down in the dead night, men were kidnapped from their streets,

47
women were widowed and children were orphaned to teach the town its important lesson: there
was no match for the ruthlessness of state (Bhutto 18)”.
Fatima Bhutto shows that not only Islamic State of Pakistan is involved in the canalization of Mir
Ali but USA forces were also given free hand. Protagonist, of the novel, Aman Erum asserts “No
yaar, they are not Pakis, I think they are marines or something”. Furthermore “14 killed as US
predator drones strike North West Frontier Province village of Banu”. These textual evidences
strengthen the view of Repressive State Apparatus extensively used by Pakistan to lock the voices
of its masses.
In The Shadow of the Crescent, state uses many other ideological state apparatuses to suppress the
raise of the native voice. For this purpose, inmates of Mir Ali are not allowed to elect their
representatives. In book, a politician, chief minister, is shown as an elected leader, who never
visited Mir Ali. Writer says “he was a political appointee; he had never won an election”. She
further say “ he had met many people who had been to Mir Ali who assured him that the people
there wanted nothing more to be a part of Pakistan”.
Fatima Bhutto, in chapter 17th of the book, unveils the venomous production of Pakistan; Taliban.
This terrorist organization forces people to live life according to its own ideology. To assassinate
people for this cause is no work for this group. In chapter 17th, a bevy of Talibs stops Sikander
and his wife, a Shia couple, and conversation begins as,
“You are a man of faith”??
“You fold your arms when you pray, driver??
Do you pray three times a day?? Then at the end of this chapter he asks “Are you Sunni or Shia?”
(Bhutto 174)
This shows that writer deliberately wants to depict the cruelty of religious sections rooted, during
Afghan-USSR war, by State of Pakistan. This is what Althusser calls Ideological State Apparatus.
On ideological basis, State uses various methods to squeeze the voice of natives of Mir Ali. Chief
Minister, a state representative, states as, “We will have many thousands of men from Mir Ali
serving in the nation army”, but narrator says, “the military had no such plans” and “Army didn’t
want men from these parts: they didn’t even have a recruitment office in Mir Ali”.
In summation, I would like to say that Fatima Bhutto’s The Shadow of the Crescent
Moon discusses the heinousness’s of State and its tentacles. It provides voice the people of
FATA. We do not have any narrative, before this book, in literature in ENGLISH that stands for
suppressed people of FATA region. We do have only what the ISPR or PTV news caster say.
Although it is a fictional work but Fatima Bhutto, once interviewed by Gulf News, said, “The

48
scenery or the description come from what I saw. So, though it is a fiction, The Shadow of the
Crescent Moon is not a fake story”
Rai Gulfam
English Literature

49
50
 “On Freedom”

“Stone walls do not a prison make nor does iron bar a cage”
Following these words of “Richard Lovelace” in correspondence to the phenomenology of
freedom, free will and free choice beyond the physical constraints, the conquest of each quest in
this regard follows perpetual quest. Prior to this ontological turmoil, the basic trauma preceding
freedom is Existence whereby strange processes interact in order to mechanize an unsolicited
stranger equipped with self-destructive weapons of consciousness. The miraculous being is
unable to sort out an appeasing criterion to identify its sole existence through the programmatic
consciousness designated by nature. Every encounter with the anonymous operational mechanism
spun back to its terrible nothingness with an overwhelming emptiness. The relentless sagacious
approach to examine Existence yields another scenario to ponder about the myth of freedom.
Freedom-the potency to act and exist congruent to the will of being-is the utmost essential
requisition to redeem oneself of all the coercive constraints and directions from any external
factor. It is actually the development of mental and physical capabilities in choosing the
paramount structure of actions on experiential basis provided by the automated happenings. The
notion pertaining to the absolute freedom of “transcendental freedom” defining captivated free
choices is still illusive as universal dispersants may have the freedom of self-adjustment or
instigators behind. A paradoxical dilemma reveals with the awareness that a” being” exercises its
freedom through conscious-self in pursuit of collective unconsciousness. The applicability of
consciousness has the momentum of neurotic activities in response to an external stimulus
.Collective-unconsciousness is an intangible bubble of instincts dragging human interests to act
accordingly. The systematized consciousness and the intrusion of collective-unconsciousness in
domain of human freedom over the allotted principles of nature clearly indicate that the known
form of freedom is slavish in nature. Anyhow if one may think of a desired horizon of free will
irrespective of the constant fluctuation in the notion of freedom, what will he freed himself from-
freedom from self, freedom from prevalent laws or freedom from all around? The point to be
noticed in this regard is the exclusion of freedom to decide one’s own existence. In short,
thinking of an absolute freedom in relation to the captivity in prison of natural laws is to stupefy
oneself.
It is evident that a man’s choices do not sprout out of himself as an origin but there are universal
causes preceding his desires. Regardless of this utter fact and our preconception to the slavish
freedom, man is still free to determine his free will and choices under his determined freedom.
Although the external transformation and occurrence of everything all around is filled with the

51
features of determinism but man has a rational capability to exercise his possible freedom in the
determined spheres. Man is free to decide his desires, inclinations and tendencies following his
awareness and experiential powers to sort out the best possible priority of the contemporary
scenario. Rene Descartes and Thomas Hobbes have entitled it as a “compatibilist freedom”.
Humans have freedom to define and redefine their social constructions. Although man is the
product of his social institutions where his freedom is being circumscribed but on the contrary
these institution bearing principles and norms are outcome of human rationale in accordance to
the existing realities affirming human freedom. Since every being is slave to the cryptic
mechanism of nature therefore the utility of freedom in context of humanity and the concerning
domains must be objective. In this perspective, all the social constraints, restriction and
impediments in the pathway to identify oneself are normative and self-constructed in the realm of
their structural foundation .There are certain moral obligations, cultural affinities and religious
stigmas which collectively effectuate human freedom in a particular direction regarding
lifestyle. At a broader level, evaluating the status of human existence and disclosure of his
freedom a person may be captivated physically but he is free to think according to his will. This
emphasis relates the first two lines of the essay that man is always free at spiritual level even if
imprisoned. Therefore we must know that freedom is our state of mind beyond all provoking and
appealing factors. It is not a fixed destination but a constant strife against the erroneous
foundations demeaning existence. On this level, freedom is purely a realization of a phenomenon
where rational-self has an involvement in dealing all determining influences. An extension in this
regard is provided by David Banach;
The self within its island of subjectivity is radically free in virtue of its radical individuality.
In the course of history, freedom has been regarded as” responsibility” where a free “being”
capable of making choices has to bear the consequences of one’s decisions afterwards. Although
the concept of freedom has always been a subject of misrepresentation but it must be a matter of
self-mastery as an end. Freedom is a freedom until it’s of no harm to others .In purely
individualistic terms, whatever one desires to get freed from must not be a case to curb freedom
of others as a contradicting position of his preachment for self .As a matter of consideration, solid
ground can be provided to have an inquisitive approach about the dilemma of Existence if “will
subjugation” is negated commonly.

Anonymous

52
 Love Embraces All

The Forty Rules of Love is written by Elif Shafak, a French born Turkish writer. She is one of the
most acknowledged author and feminist in Turkey. The Forty Rules of Love is one of her best
sellers. Her writings break down categories and clichés bringing out the multiple stories of
minorities, immigrants, women, subcultures and global souls. It is Shafak’s seductive, astute, and
heartwarming novel that radiantly revives the revelations of Shams and Rumi, and audaciously
illuminates the differences between religion and spirituality, disdain and compassion, fear and
love of life in our own violent world. She dropped Ella's story, with its preachy mystical musings,
and stuck to Rumi's crusade, which opens a window into a world Westerners know little about.
The novel brings together East and West, past and present, to provide a compelling and exuberant
account of how love works in the world. Each chapter begins with the letter "b". For mystics the
secret of the Quran lies in the verse of Al-Fatiha, the essence of which is contained in the word
Bismilahirahmanirahim (in the name of Allah, the Benevolent and Merciful), with the
quintessence of the word in the dot below the first Arabic letter, a dot that embodies the universe.
She tackles the issues in Islam faced by people today for instance the misinterpretation of
permission of beating one’s wives in Surah Nisa in the Quran and many others. The way some
Muslims are always ahead in judging other people, deciding for their actions is portrayed and
shattered beautifully. The writer unfolds two tempting parallel narratives - one present and the
other set in the thirteenth century, when Rumi encountered his spiritual mentor, the whirling
dervish known as Shams of Tabriz that together incarnate the poet's timeless message of love.

Ella Rubenstein is forty years old and unhappily married when she takes a job as a reader for a
literary agent. Her first assignment is to read and report on Sweet Blasphemy, a novel written by a
man named Aziz Zahara. Ella is mesmerized by his tale of Shams’ search for Rumi and the
dervish's role in transforming the successful but unhappy cleric into a committed mystic,
passionate poet, and advocate of love. As she reads on, she realizes that Rumi's story mirrors her
own and that Zahara like Shams has come to set her free. Actually, I adore all of the forty rules
cited by Shams but as I have to express in limited words so here is my favorite Rule of Love:
“How we see God is a direct reflection of how we see ourselves. If God brings to mind mostly
fear and blame, it means there is too much fear and blame welled inside us. If we see God as full
of love and compassion, so are we”

And the most adorable cite from Shafak is:

53
“A life without love is of no account. Don’t ask yourself what kind of love you seek, spiritual or
material, divine or mundane, Eastern or Western…. divisions only lead to more divisions. Love
has no labels, no definitions. It is what it is, pure and simple. Love is the water of life. And the
lover is a soul of fire! The universe turns differently when fire loves water”

I really like the novel and most of it is because of Shams of Tabriz, from his rules of love to his
strong personality to his love and belief on Allah everything was mesmerizing. From my point of
view by this novel the voice of Rumi speaks to more and more people around the world today.
His is the kind of spirituality that doesn’t exclude anyone. It is a very inclusive, heartwarming,
universal voice that puts love at its center. In an age awash with cultural biases, fundamentalisms
of all sorts, and clashes, Rumi’s voice tells us something different which is much more essential
and peaceful. The novel's style is a narrative one and the sweet blasphemy is really charismatic
but the narrative of Ella somehow adds some weakness to the novel. The writer nailed it in
narrating the sweet blasphemy the way it was shown from many perspectives sometimes from the
perspective of shams, sometimes a beggar, sometimes zealot or Rumi or prostitute or even the
family of Rumi. That really shows the picture of what was actually happening, the love of Rumi
for Shams and the hatred of the town's people and Rumi's family towards Shams. But the
narrative of Ella lacks the multiple perspectives. It is just from the perspective of Ella, if it was
from the point of view of Aziz or her children then the reader would have understood Ella's story
more clearly. Even though, Shafak is witty and often controversial writer, but should she chooses
to continue in this spiritual tone, I have no doubt she will defy Paulo Coelho's supremacy.

Sending much Love to all!

Fajeera Asif

817-BH-PS-2015

54
 “The Wandering Falcon” Jamil Ahmad

The book “The Wandering Falcon” is written by Jamil Ahmad. It was published in 2011, almost
four decades after it was written in the early 1970s. Many writers have written about this and
credited it with good words. Raza Rumi said that it is the finest book amid all other Pakistani
writings in English.

Jamil Ahmad has experienced the tribal life during his posting in that area. He has great
experience of tribal areas because he had spent a big part of his life there. Most of the people start
to wonder when they come to know that Ahmad wrote this book at the age of eighty years.

Ahmad has adopted a good method in writing this book. He has compiled nine short stories in the
form of a single book. All the nine stories depict different shades of tribal culture in tribal areas.
The protagonist of the book is also represented in a different way. The protagonist works like a
taxi more than a character of a book. He takes its audience and readers from one place to other
places as a taxi does. He has a tiny connection with stories. Ahmad has deliberately adopted this
method to describe the tribal culture. The main idea of Ahmad was not to develop a character but
to describe the tribal culture. One who studies this book, enjoys it and feel like that he is listening
a story from his grandparents. He may also feel that he is sitting in the gathering of people in a
village and one of them is telling about a culture and the ways of life of people somewhere in
Pakistan.

In the book Ahmad conveys the idea about life in tribal areas. He says, people living in the tribal
areas fight for life and struggle for living. In the first short story when a girl is drinking water, the
man patiently puts her away and drinks himself. He tells to people of other areas about the
hardships of tribal people. He tells how they cope with such hardships and struggle for living.
They sell their daughters for money. Once girl is married she never comes back to her parent’s
home. The main concern is to survive. People living in other areas have negative ideas about
tribal people. Ahmad simply highlights that tribal people are people like us. They are also
superstitious. In the story “The Sins of Mother” Ahmad tells about their dresses and behavior.
“The woman was covered from head to toe and once when her face was uncovered all the men
turn their faces away.” They also follow old traditions. They are not alien but have culture and

55
live their lives according some rules and regulations. It is another debate what kind of rules they
follow or which believes they have.

Ahmad explores the idea of ‘Sardar’ in tribal areas. They have honor for their Sardar. In the
chapter “A Point of Honor”, this idea is explored. A group of people are wandering in the desert
and hunting the rebels. They have their Sardar. They follow him even though he has very poor
eyesight. They know that he cannot see clearly and he can put all the men in danger with a little
mistake of his. Even he cannot handle his own camel. He turns his camel from one direction to
the other. When they reach at the court, the seven men ask him to speak from their side. He
speaks on the behalf of seven men.

In the same story, Ahmad conveys another idea. He says the breach among tribal people and
government and the other people is not because of tribal people but it is the because of
governmental problem. The seven men were executed because they came to negotiate. The
magistrate did not listen to them but only gave his decision and the officials executed them. This
is not just one case but many other files are closed in the same way. This is the reason why tribal
people do not believe in government and they have their own rules.

Tribal people don’t have loyalty or nationalism. They are fiercely loyal to tribal customs. They
live nomadic life and this is portrayed with the protagonist ‘Torbaz’. He wanders from place to
place. His life was disturbed with the partition. He lives border areas and wanders from one
country to other. Partition has created strict new rules of civilization which are incomprehensive
to nomads. New prohibitions for Pawindas are as if to stop birds or locusts from migrating. The
more interesting thing which Ahmad has highlighted is Kidnapping Season which starts in
October and ends in the winter. In ‘A Kidnapping’ one group kidnaps teachers and demands
ransom. In this way they get money through kidnapping.

In the whole book Ahmad has beautifully described the culture, their personal quarrels, and other
aspects of life. It is an amazing book to read about the culture and life of tribal people. One
person gets the local feelings of landscapes while reading the book.

Arslan Tarar

English Language

56
 You are still breathing

“You are still breathing. As long as you can still grab a breath, you fight.” The very first
dialogues of the movie “The Revenant” is thought provoking. The dialogue indicates that the
story is much based on revenge and to find redemption. The cinematography also includes; how
to live with nature and how to bear its upshots; more likely the icy rivers and the cold breezes of
the cold winter. Simply, I can say that it is the life between revenge and survival which is greatly
depicted in the movie.
Before going too far, I would like to give a brief historical background of the movie and the
origin of the word “Revenant”. The word revenant is derived from the French word “revenir”
which means “to return”- which other dictionaries would define it as “to return after long absence
or to return from dead”. After watching the movie, I realized that indeed it is a matter of returning
from dead but with different aims to achieve i.e. to seek revenge. The question of unflinching
survival story in the severe cold winter and wild forest is definitely the desire of the audience to
talk about. The Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez opted to circulate the same idea of life
between survival and revenge. To seek revenge Leonardo Dicaprio (Huge Glass) crawled about
200 miles (320 km) to kill the thrust of revenge and satisfied his deeds to bleed the blood of his
fellow mates who left him unarmed and without any food after the attack of grizzly bear.
A novel by Micheal Punke “the Revenant: the story of survival”, Man in the wilderness (1971)
and The Revenant (2015), all are based upon the story of unflinching survival of Huge Glass
during 1800s. Huge Glass from 1783 to 1833 was an American frontiersman, fur trapper, fur
trader, hunter and explorer. It is said that he was captured by the Pawnee people (Midwestern
Native American tribe) inhabited along the Missouri river (present day Nebraska). During his
captivity and living among them, he absorbed the very basics of their culture and traditional
values, and eventually wed a Pawnee woman from which he had a son (Hawk) as it is depicted in
the movie. The fictional character of the son and his death implies a strong message to strengthen
the spirit of revenge within helpless body.
The Rocky Mountain Fur Company, originally known as Ashley’s Hundred was organized in St.
Louis, Missouri in 1822 by William Henry. The employees were Huge Glass (Leonardo
Dicaprio), John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy), Captain Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson), Bridger
(Will Poulter) and Hawk (Forrest Good luck) and many more. They were hunting bison for pelts
in unorganized U.S territory and unfortunately they received a surprised attacked from the
Arikara or Ree (The Native American tribe), who believed that the Americans were responsible

57
for the abduction of Powaqa, the chief’s daughter. They ran off and many were killed, but Glass
and the captain, Fitzgerald and some others were successful in escaping from the island in their
boat nearby the shores. The chief of Arikara begin to trace them and hunt them down; it will be
appropriate to say that “When hunters are hunted then no mercy is expected”. Glass knows much
about the Arikara tracing capabilities and he advised them to leave the boat, and take the land to
reach their outpost, Fort Kiowa.
It is during this time; the Glass has been attacked by the grizzly bear and receives insufferable
wounds, and the story of unflinching survival begins when fellow mates left him alone. In a quest
to survive, glass endures unimaginable grief as well as the betrayal of his fellows, who let him
unarmed and without any food to eat.
“Can you hear that wind, father? Remember what mother used to say about the wind? The wind
can’t defeat a tree with strong roots. You are still breathing. As long as you can still grab a breath,
you fight. You breathe. Keep breathing. When there is a storm and you stand in front of a tree, if
you look as its branches, you swear it will fall. But if you watch the trunk, you will see its
stability.” The above dialogues, Hawk whispers in the ears of Huge Glass, shows that never to
abandon hope and life without hope is like a body without soul. The wind indicates the external
forces which constantly trying to eradicate the force of capabilities within the body but we should
root out every force of weakness.
During his quest to survive, he was helped by friendly Pawnee (Hikuc), whose family had been
killed by the intruders in their land; he carried out the old traditional treatment to heal his wounds
and provide him with bison meat. Eventually, after lying for one whole day unconscious, after
getting out, he found the hanging body of the friendly Pawnee, hanged by the French pelt hunters.
Interestingly, the Powaqaa the chief’s daughter abducted by French hunters is freed by the Glass
and rescues her from sexual harassment.
At last, he is able to reach the Fort Kiowa, the Fitzgerald knows that Glass is alive and he is here
to kill him, as a result, he stole the entire fort’s money and escapes. Glass in the company of
Henry, traces Fitzgerald to seek revenge and to bring him to justice. There happens a bloody fight
between Glass and Fitzgerald beside a river. Glass being victorious in such fierce fight can nearly
kill the Fitzgerald but he remembered the Hikuc words i.e. “Revenge is in God’s hand”. He
spares the life of his enemy but he was soon killed by the Arikara chief accompanied by his
daughter and spared Glass life.
A documentary “A world unseen” based upon approximately 45 minutes, uncover the lost Era
and its relevancy to today’s life. We are less capable to expose ourselves to the reality and nature.

58
The climatic change is vast because of human developmental and progressive stance in creating
appropriate environment to live their lives.

Muhammad Saad

59
 Mingling ideas

When you taught the mind many subjects and demanded to keep them away from one another and
to understand them in their own way, became a problem for the mind; it mingles them inevitably
and unconsciously. Religion, philosophy, and science, for instance, are taught to be entirely
different and unique in their own natures. But when the mind sees philosophy to be quite
theological and metaphysical, in its early days, and perfectly scientific in its later days, then they
are not any further that much easily separate; science requires philosophical potential to be
progressive (the recent philosophers believe) and philosophy, to be justified, requires science
witnessed in the recent philosophies. When the mind starts thinking about the reason how to keep
them separate, the word ‘reason’ comes to skeptical attention. What is reason? Some called it
critical, other cognitive that gives valid and true results and some even called it ‘developmental__
that it grows and is not fixed.

What is the reason of reason? How can reason be identified? If reason is a unit to judge ideas
with, then what is the unit itself? An abstruse and haphazard unit can never be a unit for
measuring… by the way it is said that rationality is not what emotionality is. But often reason
seems to be emotional. To say, ‘it really sounds rational’ is an emotional statement; the mind is
emotionally attached with the word ‘reason’. One would answer that ‘reason’ is self-justified.

Well. Which one reason: Utilitarian, Marxist, positivist, Aristotelian, platonic, Hegelian, religious
or scientific one? Or even American reason? Because American reason is different from all of the
rest; it justified easily the killings of hundreds of thousands afghan and FATA civilians! It
justified attack on Iraq and killings of countless Iraqis! It justified killings of Vietnamese. Some
believe that if reason is not morally justified then it is not justified. Now the word ‘morally’
requires attention. What is good is moral and what is bad is immoral. Again, paradoxically, what
is the rational ground of a code to be moral or immoral? One said that its judgments come from
one’s inner, another said that it is adherence to or disobedience to a tradition. Now what is
tradition? It is, defined most, a long-established or inherited way of thinking or acting, and one
said that it is an imposed ego of the nobles or powerful. Who, again, is powerful? Or what is
power? Which one power: Marxist, imperial, religious or technological power? Or even
American power? America has the power to easily make a law to be imposed on the world that
serves her best and deprive the rest. Like petrol and oil to be exchanged for dollar__ for which
she killed M. Kaddafi and Saddam Husain and for Vladimir Putin she gave birth to ISIS (all of

60
the three were against petro-dollar policy). One can say that power is that which regulates or
dominates like colonizer dominated colonized or man dominated women; this all is, one way or
the other, through power.

Now if power is the regulator and determiner then reason has no value. No. reason is the weapon
of powerful (it is witnessed). Powerful or so-called nobles make things rational or irrational. So,
then, is reason dusted? Yes. It is the powerful men who approved himself to be more rational than
women. Now if power, morality and rationality are mixed and supportive to each other like
siblings then the one who is powerful is both rational and morally right in whatever is doing.

I have deep rooted sympathy for the weaker and especially for women for they are being
imprisoned in the prison of these three heavy thorny bars: power, morality and reason. Shouldn’t
women have power to become rational and morally right? Yes they must have and for this they
have to attack religion, science, history, politics and even the so-called rational philosophy. But
for this they need a sword or, broadly, a weapon; what kind of weapon that can be? Surely it can
be, preferably, ‘reason’. No; reason is already in the hands of men. Then is that morality? No;
morality is in the hand of tradition and tradition in the hands of men thus morality is in the hands
of men. What, then, she can do? Either to become immoral to attack… or to get a long rest after a
sigh...? Nothing is to be answered, lest become the same dogmas for which the mind is confused.

Riaz Ali Khan

Philosophy

61
 A Prevailing Misery

It was hot. The sun was in no hurry to overlook the settled misery. Humans were “grazing” to
feed themselves up. They were wandering. The abandoned cursed land was unable to yield
anything. It was the most depressed area that he has ever witnessed.

The land was in a constant state of pray. The boy could not blink his eyes up. He began to ponder
upon the entire phenomenon.

Humanity...! Where are the humans? I cannot call these shadows humans because they are forced
to live a life bitter than animals. What else I do need to differ when I can see humans
“vanquishing” their thirst by standing by the skeleton of animal. Their life style is like that of the
abandoned slaves that are left in to the cradle of constant misery.

In the meanwhile, the poor motherland poured out its anguish by watching the boy pondering
alone.

I do not need your sympathy, boy. I just want to tell you that my inhabitants have labelled me
barren. In fact, it is not the fact.

You are barren, my dear. They are utterly right in saying so.

Oh come on...! Your eyes can deceive you, boy. The matter of fact is that I am ignored. I can still
yield them much more than they perceive.

Okay. Can you tell me something? What do you know about life here?

Life here is not easy at all, my boy.

“You know, life wanders here. Life surrenders here. Life does not tend to change. Many a people
come and go from here. A few are in my memories while the rest are in the galleries of forgotten
past. Life has its rules here. It can forget its inhabitant and hence he cools. Life here defines the
giving and living. Once life has to meet, then it has to get away. You can call life a teacher that
feature in the daily routine of the inhabitants.”

A pen in his hand, the boy said: Please add more... I will be highly grateful.

62
Yes, I was recounting on a lesson from the past that the mortal souls has taught me. I have
witnessed the deficiency of morality in my inhabitants. The downfall of a society starts when its
ethical values began to diminish.

Life is not to blame here, my boy! But the living shadows are responsible.

I can understand the phase, you are going through. Well, you are right at this point. I’ll like to
add more on one’s life phenomenon.

“You know, no one cares for the victim of rich and a joke for rulers. Struggle is his friend, work
is his companion. He is abandoned by his owns and blood ones. He live a life full of miseries and
sorrows. For a time, life abandons him, death rejects him. Yet, he is a victim of life and a soft
target of death. He demands nothing but food and shelter for his survival. But no one cares.

He is your poor inhabitant who is compelled to keep a check on his own breath. His hopes are
dashed and dreams are shattered. But no one bothers to care. Generations move on. No friends
but the miseries and bitter luck befriend him.”

A tragic role is played in his life by his own life and at the end; death accepts him with a loud
cheer when he is finally tired of. But again, no one cares.

Yes, my boy. It's a dilemma here. Once an official visited me for the purpose of boosting his
personality and gain more popularity. An inhabitant like you asked him, what is the key to
prosperity, Sir!

The official replied; simply construct the needless infrastructure which is enough to befool the
masses.

Sir! Why the basic necessities of life are not in your concerned list?

Good question. It is simple, man. I cannot risk my career. I deal with a pure business in which
maximum profit gaining is the only option to survive. I cannot afford your basic necessities. I am
not responsible if poverty finds its spot under the shadow of my so-called development. The poor
begs and finds his legal shelter under this projection of prosperity. I am just feeding them with
broken claims and promises. It is a healthy feed in this business. I like to "shift" the revenue of
masses and then curb their voices (by any means, possible). A perfect deal!

My inhabitant looked upon the sky to seek help. It was a sight; I cannot explain in words.

63
The sky noted the grief and said, I am not responsible, my beloved. The thing that matters is the
will of your inhabitants to mold the situation to their ease. I think that you do not know that your
destiny is in your hand. You have classified your race in many divisions.

In your categorized society, only a notable class enjoys the life with full luxuries. It is a class
which is by itself the ruler of the destinies of millions and is both "pious and noble" than any
other class in the world. It is a product of decades.

They are the rulers who have every right to use their masses for their own comfortable shelter
and the common people are left on the wrath of their own destiny. It is a matter of time that every
new face at the capital level proved to be even worse for the inhabitants of this particular land.

Motherland finished its tale by saying this; it has been the news of the time that this class is still
been busy in their merry making with no concern for the ruled.

Bulky tears came through the eyes of the boy. He was the witness of the intact misery now. The
tale was penned. The boy set himself up for the indispensable journey.

Behzad Ahmad Malkera

Department of Geography

64
 My Heart is in the coffin

There was a time when my heart was filled with love and brimming with joy; but, today my heart is in the
coffin. I asked it, "What happened to you? Why are you here?" He said, “I have silently watched my soil
turning white from red." I asked it what it means. It said “bloodshed is not rare." I questioned it again, "Okay!
I got your point but what is it that scares you to death? It replied, “It is life that scares me to death”.
The conversation continued and I affirmed that I knew life isn’t easy and that we shouldn't lose
hope. "Hope?” it said and laughed at me with a subtle tinge of pain that couldn't be seen but only
felt. "What do you think about the hope of a child standing penniless outside a shop eyeing a
candy? What about the hope of an unborn child who’s right to live is snatched from it even before
it is born? And what about the hope of a bride who is waiting for her groom to arrive but doesn’t
know that he won’t come because her father has failed to provide the dowry?"

I said, "Okay! I know that it is not easy to survive, but this is our world and we belong to it. We
cannot just let bad things happen unchecked. We will work hard. We will change the situation
and make this world a paradise for mankind." The glint of anger in its eyes showed me that it
detested what I said. It was angry at me for even thinking about the change of the world. It asked
me what type of revolution I desired. It asked, "Wasn’t the change that invention of nuclear
weapons brought with it, enough which has destroyed the mankind? Wasn’t the change during
and after both the world wars enough?"

I understood what it said but still I tried to convince it that still, there are good people in this
world who have fought for the mankind. They have fought the evil and have done nothing but
good. It stopped me and asked, "If there are so many good people in this world then why cruelty
is ruling? Why are there hatred, hunger and thirst? Where do all these good people vanish when a
child of just three or four has to work hard in order to have a meal? Where were they when a
father killed his four daughters because he can’t feed them? Where do they go when a girl of only
ten is given away to a man of twice her age as bride? And where do they go when a poor is forced
to feed on the remaining biscuits of a rich’s pet?" I was astonished. I was shocked but still I
wanted it to live. I wanted it to beat inside me. Therefore, I told it that it doesn’t matter what
happens. I know that this world is full of darkness but there is always a day after every night,
there is always good after bad, delight after sorrow. We can paint this world with the colors of
joy.

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“Joy?” it exclaimed. It asked that how will I bring the joy in a girl’s life who is raped by her own
father or brother? How will I bring smile in the face of a boy whose parents were killed in front of
him for a couple of crisp notes? How will you change this world where the life of a dog of a rich
is more luxurious than a poor’s mother. How will you bring peace in a world where lack of jobs
leads to suicide; where bombing, target killing and street crimes have become part of our daily
routine? And that in today's world stepping out of your house is like stepping in a circle of death.
I told it that death ends every misery in this world; but, it stopped me and said, “No! Death is not
the end of misery but start of another one. No one in this world is safe even after death. Haven’t
you seen how the body is molested and how our organs are sold? Survival in this world is like
crossing a bridge-less stream of fire, fire that never calms and the width that never ends."

"You don’t know life yet”, it said “you don’t know how it tests. You will bleed to death and even
your blood will be sold to the demons of this world by the angels of this world." I was so scared
that I confessed, “This place is hell”. To which he said that come with me I will take you to a
place better than here and from then till now my heart is in the coffin.

Harram Malik

931-BH-STAT-2015

66
 SACRIFICE!

Mom! I want to sacrifice like they all do”, cried little Ahmed excitedly

Well see! There is a way we can think of, you can always do that by giving up your desires in
order to fulfill someone else's, honey. Can't you? "

Will you sacrifice if you have to fight with giants and crooks and be a hero like all the army
guys? His voice filled with appetency this time...

And now she could see it clearly. The time has come; there have been times when she had
thought about it over and over again.

To her immense frightfulness, she saw the giants, they were armed, and they were locked in a
combat. They were killing ....children!

Her sweaty face trembles as she sees the sight, her heart refusing to believe. Her eyes, wide
opened looking incredulously what the sight outside her office window had to offer. With each
gunshot, her heart ached.

"No , No , No , no, NO , YA ALLAH MADAD !"

They say to wait! ...TO WAIT?

It was 16th December, 2014. The darkest day of the history has begun. Army Public School is
witnessing horrendous annihilation. It might be the end of time ...It might be the last day of the
Earth?

Tahira Qazi's heart beats fast as she hears shrieks, moaning, brutal shots filling the air. They're
her children. Her Ahmed...!

She gets up, though she can't feel her body at all. It’s as though an invisible sword has cut her into
pieces. She holds anything that comes her way to take support, her mouth working furiously as
she recites the name of the divine power.

Her school, her home appears devastated before her. The ground had turned into a pool of blood!
The green had now turned dark red. Her eyes caught the sight of a chart with words scribbled:

“Lab peatihaidua ban ketamanameri

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ZindagishamakiSurat ho khudayameri...."

The words got blurred as she read further. It wasn't for her vision blurring out but the chart paper
that was now covered in blood. There were little bodies lying on one another .shivering from head
to toe, she makes her way to the ground and now she sees it.

“DON’T KILL ME!

They were going to kill another Ahmed

The world seems to have gone quiet and motionless .Everything had stopped working. The only
thing that mattered was saving Ahmed.

" Mr Ahmed Qazi what would you say about your mother who has given a fair representation of
bravery today while she died saving the lives of kids and in order to do that , sacrificed her own?"

Sacrificed! Yes, it was just another lesson by his mother who was trying to teach her what
sacrifice was .She would come any moment, he thought.

But it was not truth. She will never come, nor will she teach him another lesson but a last lesson
he did get was that of his mother's extreme courage and success. And that was a lifetime lesson!

"Tahira Qazi, Mother of the nation who sacrificed for the nation"

Ahmed read and reread the word “sacrifice”

MARRYAM SULEMAN

LITERATURE DEPARTMENT

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 The Burdens of Emptiness

Emptiness has to be filled; otherwise it burdens, it burdens the souls.

Darkness, loneliness, incompleteness and grieve become fate of such souls. And one feels like a
‘fettered spirit’, which is unable to live up according to its own wishes. Such kind of feeling
erodes one’s personality.

Human beings are born free, they have got the right to enjoy their lives as they want, but the
fettered spirits can’t.

One has to be ‘free-spirit’ in order to enjoy a ‘bird-like’ freedom, that he at times fantasizes
about.

Nietzsche, a German philosopher writes on ‘Free-Spirit’ as:

“A ‘free-spirit’- this refreshing term is grateful in any mood, it almost sets one aglow.”

He further says that, “a man of such destiny basks in a special fine sun of his own, with a feeling
of bird-like freedom, bird-like visual power, bird-like irrepressibleness…”

The above lines say it all. A ‘free-spirit’ never complains, it is just grateful in every state, be it
happiness or pain, because it is enjoying an inner satisfaction, which makes a person feel light
like a bird flying freely in the sky and its freedom is irrepressibleness.

Moreover, such souls attain maturity and completeness in them.

Nietzsche also talks of ‘gay spirits’ with whom one may talk and laugh when one is disposed to
talk and laugh.

But the question is… how such spirits are born?

“The great liberation comes suddenly to such prisoners, like an earthquake: the young soul is all
at once shaken, torn apart, cast forth--- it comprehends not itself what is taking place.

An involuntary onward impulse rules them with the mastery of command, a will, a wish is
developed to go forward…a mutinous, willful, volcanic-like longing for a far away journey.”

But this vitalizing process of becoming, Nietzsche cautions is rife with struggle and difficulty-
something he considered essential to fulfilling life.

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What makes the souls realize that they are fettered is their “Existential Loneliness” or “Existential
Malaise”.

Existential loneliness is a concept in existential philosophy and psychology. This sense of

emptiness and void is really a problem within each person, not a lack of meaningful relationships,
but are very familiar with beliefs about loving relationships, so we often believe that our deep
deficiency is an “Interpersonal Problem”.

But existential loneliness is deeper than either.

Actually, it is hollowness that can’t be filled with other people--- no matter how close, warm and
fulfilling our relationships might be.

Existential malaise is found in:

a) Incompleteness of being, lack of wholeness

b) Primordial incompleteness of self
The yearning we feel is real, it comes from the depths of ourselves, and love is not the answer to
this existential yearning.

Interpersonal loneliness is temporary, when our relationships improve, this emptiness improves.

Existential loneliness affects every dimension of existence. We feel incomplete, inadequate in

everything. In fact, we are in a great need of existential freedom.

Here’s a quote, “I really miss myself sometimes. I haven’t seen him in years.”

This sense of hollowness disturbs and distorts one’s personality. If there is not something positive
to be filled, negativity fills the space. But it never cures the patient rather erodes his personality
gradually.

The most common problem of such distorted personalities is pessimism--- the cankerous vice.

To bring out one’s potential, could be the solution to this existential dilemma.

As Nietzsche says, “Become master over yourself, master of your own good qualities, acquire
power over your aye and no and learn to hold, and withhold them in accordance with your higher
aims.”

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One must achieve the level of ‘self-actualization’ for the realization or fulfillment of one’s talents
and potentialities, especially considered as a drive or need present in everyone.

The process of ‘self-actualization’ makes one capable of thinking positive, to see in the darkness
and to listen to the sound of silence. Who practice ‘think out of the box approach’ becomes far-
sighted and creative. Then, curtains are lifted up. And one can see what was unseen before. Also,
the person becomes able to see broadly and gets panoramic view of everything. He starts to feel
satisfied and becomes appreciative creature.

Through this way, one gets autonomous in thought and action, intellectual strength and daring,
desire and ability to pursue the truth,

“No one can build you the bridge on which you, and only you, must cross the river of life.” –
Nietzsche

Amna Sehar

M.Phil. Pol. Science

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 Live your day as if it is your last day

We, human beings think that death is a certain thing in an uncertain and cynical way. No one
wants to die because everyone fears the fire of hell. Surprisingly, everyone wishes to go to
Heaven but still does not want to die first. This is intrinsic randomness in human behavior.
“Live your day as if it is your last day.”
I heard this quote somewhere and pondered for a while in silence. When I became familiar with
this idea, it was very pleasing. This principle or philosophy of life is one of the possible solutions
via which we can take our country on the track of development very soon.
Let us all ask ourselves that what if it is our last day? Our answers will be extremely positive
because we all yearn for heaven and its price is good deeds and a balanced-life. I believe it’s a
basic principle that can change our perspective and widen our horizons. This idea is not quixotic.
We are making our utopian land a dystopian nation for future generation through unwise
decisions.
I will now briefly shed light on the pros of this principle in our life.
Sometimes I feel our rulers and leaders have become sadists and ironically their subjects do
penance for their wrongdoings and still subjects show pacifism as if they have become
masochists. Let us assume that our Leaders and Rulers, who have epicurean tendencies and who
always, try to be indifferent to their vagrant subjects, start to believe that it is their last day. Will
they ever fleece their country and subjects, of whom they are servants, ruthlessly? I believe the
answer is No, because they want taste the relish of Heaven. Our working class seems to be
surprisingly trying to ingratiate their bosses more than their Creator (God). We have become
extremely obsequious towards worldly relations.
How about Businessmen who need nothing but money in general and handsome profit in
particular and whose thirst for money is unquenchable. If they act upon this principle there will
be equal distribution of wealth. Recently we saw that everything that we consume or use from our
breakfast to dinner be it cooking oil or detergents or spices or anything, is a replica of original
brands with unoriginal fillings. Making cooking oil from intestines of dead animals is a simply
inhumane thing to do. Copying original products with lethal chemical formulae and using rotten
ingredients for manufacturing of edibles is horribly wrong. If they fear that it is their last day then
I believe they would never, ever do it again.
Procrastination, which is inextricably attached to us, and other social vices are aftermaths of our
attitude of putting off today’s work on next day. If all of us suppose that today is our last day then

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all the undone things can be done today and no one can say I will do it tomorrow because we are
unsure of tomorrow and we want to live today as happily and fairly as we can. This insensitive,
irresponsible and non-serious behavior can be overturned literary overnight.
To sum up, what I believe is if we all follow this principle then we can all be worldly more
successful, spiritually pious and ascetic, morally strong, educationally practical, religiously
unflinching, linguistically less profane, socially gregarious, professionally unparalleled,
economically sustainable, politically stable, environmentally ecstatically seraphic and the list
goes on and on.

Kamal Uddin Hunzai

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 “There Is No I in Team Work”

This phrase is often used to remind not to work alone but together with others in order to achieve
a common goal. Groups which require team work to be successful are medical and surgical
teams, sports teams, school and educational, commercial scale teams selling a product, hazmat
and the military. In all these teams there is a common task that each group is striving for. It is
likely that the above phrase comes from sports when groups of players come together as a team to
accomplish a specific task. The oldest writings of this saying yet been found come from 1960’s
Daily Review newspaper mentioning a particular rule that a pitcher named Verron Law from the
Pirates baseball team made,

“It is refreshing to see St. Joe realize that there is no I in teamwork”.

The phrase reminds the team members that they have to work together rather than being selfish. It
means that the team as a whole is important, not the individual member. The word ‘team work’ is
plural and is achieved when a group of people work with cooperation, coordination and
collaboration in interest of a common cause. People in work places perform team work by
combining individual talents and skills in pursuit of a unified goal. We are slowly moving away
from individual projects to team based projects in an attempt to boost growth and innovation. An
individual has his set of strengths and weaknesses but when a group of individuals come together
they are able to eliminate their weaknesses and enhance each other’s confidence. Great success
can be achieved by an individual but even higher goals of success can only be attained by
working as a team. This is the power of teamwork.

Author, Michael West states, “The most effective work teams are groups of people embedded in
organizations, performing tasks that contribute to achieving the organizational goals. They share
all over work objectives. They have the necessary authority, autonomy and resources to achieve
these objectives.” There are many different scenarios where team work is effective and at times
necessary. Whether there is completion of open heart surgery, winning NFL Championships,
creating the ever higher scales of a product, eliminating Ebola or protecting our country.
Maximum results in each of these are not just attained by individual work rather by coordination
of individuals working as a team.

By combining the strengths of team members, new heights of success are attained. Team work is
a fusion of three elements- collaboration, compromise and cooperation. In a team there is bound

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to be friction because of differing viewpoints. However, people come to a compromise to prevent
the downfall of a group. In team based sports such as football, hockey and cricket etc., we witness
team members leaving their personal differences and clashes, with each other, behind and
working towards a common goal, to defeat the opponent team.

It is true that no one can break a bundle of sticks but one can break a single stick easily if it
remains no longer a part of bundle. Similarly, it will be difficult to defeat a team because “union
is strength”. It is true that ‘united we stand divided we fall’. So, victory or success is only
possible when individuals put their differences behind and work toward a common goal. It is like
a picture puzzle made of several pieces. Each puzzle piece interlocks to the other piece. However,
picture is not clear unless all the pieces are not at their proper places. When joint efforts move in
the same directions it can be symbolized as a bee hive. All of the bees work together to create a
honeycomb for themselves. In a war, we notice the same phenomenon. Solders do not think of
their glory and fame when fighting for their country. They put their nation or country before their
own self. In history books and reality, we have always seen the victory of teams and the downfall
of individuals. A group of great scientists can invent new weapons and can carry out advanced
scientific researches. But for this they need to be united, eliminating their differences. There
should be a continuous flow of men of science, experts and technicians from science institutions.
They, together, can do a lot to have common scientific research and promotion of scientific
education. They can hire services of other people as well but for that they themselves should be
united. There must be cooperation in economic field as well. One nation must possess common
industrial and trade policies. A nation’s political policies must also be based upon collaboration.
The policy makers should support each other, for example, all Muslim countries should support
Pakistan’s policies over the dispute of Kashmir. In recent years the Islamic world was with Arabs
in their struggle against Israel and to a much greater extent they have been successful in freeing
Muslims of Israel. There should be cultural contacts within a nation. The people of a nation
should learn and use a common language. There should be free exchange of scholars, writers,
teachers, scientists and students. The radio, television and films should also play a positive role in
uniting the people of a nation putting behind all their religious and ethnic differences.

This is the beauty of team work. Unity enhances strength and prosperity of a country. Those very
much opposed to us can think of taking advantage of our internal weaknesses and differences. It
then becomes necessary for us to get united as a nation and to make ourselves really strong. We
can develop this kind of unity within a country by eliminating religious and racial differences. We
all should form a team that is limpid of all discriminations. In a team no one is superior and

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inferior, and that is what every religion teaches. A team should omit lingual, regional, racial, and
cultural variations. Every member must be provided with equal opportunities and rights. One
must not be discriminated as this might become a cause of conflict between team members.

In short, people should work together for a greater national unity. The representatives of a team
should hold discussions with their management and among themselves as well in order to omit
the dissimilarities and contrasting viewpoints. We also learn more innovative lessons from St. Joe
and Michael West. Persistence at demonstrating team spirit and good sportsmanship can open the
eyes of many politicians and common men as well who are indulged in individual pursuits. This
can compel them to begin to see each other for who we really are instead of our stereotypes. For
sure, this will result in amazing successes and prosperities. It is hard to realize that there is no “I”
in team work. If we realize it at once, a team would never fail or lose its ambition.

Arslan Ahmad

English Literature

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POETRY

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 Eternal Satisfaction

The sun rises with new expectations.

Promising me with new hopes!
A bright new day with new anticipations!
A bright new day with new slopes!

Struggling for the achievement of my aims;

increasing my efforts to secure satisfaction.
Destiny confirms my claim.
Heavenly rewards me with subtraction.

Disappointed with the cost!

Unsatisfied with my gains!
Wondering for the lost!
Asking for my pains!

The world is astounded at my success.

However they cater for their own.
Jealousy develops with progress.
Making them crave for their loan

People are blind of God's trade.

They are only interested in more.
Can’t they learn what I had paid?
Mere loneliness which I abhor!

Asking my meaning for satisfaction;

I answer with confirmation.

To God lays complete satisfaction.

Achieving it through transformation

Saweel Hameed Rathore

807-BH-PS-2015

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 For my beloved

She knows that I love her so she inflicts pain;

she stands in the window and half removes curtain

Her eyebrows like flying wings up in air

I fear lest she hide them with silky hair

I intended to wait till she offers a clue

to give a clue, ladies never have to do

Dared to tell her the stormy pain of my heart

but refused, lest she infer it as a manly thirst

Her unprecedented beauty really captivated

I fear lest the speedy time make it abraded

God would have created her, I swear, with full attention

Lest one fall in her love, shouldn’t see and has prevention

Whether this is my love or her attraction

but, my words are not mere adulation

Our bodies, I predict, can be perished

but my love will never be vanished

Whether they are liked or hated by me

who often talk to her and to her they see

But it is to be believed: to any one once she allures

from seeing her again and again, one can’t precludes

Riaz Ali Khan

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 O’ DEATH

O’ Death come to us;

And take us away

Life is replete with pains;

Only you can relieve us

O’ Death you are the redeemer;

For both of us encaged

Life is like a prison;

O’ provide us the escape

We are the two souls;

Come to mingle us in one

O’ Death you can do so;

As you can soothe our pains

As the desert seeps the water;

Miseries are swept by you

O’ Death comes to us;

And take us away

Kiran Akbar Khan

MS Clinical Psychology

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 MOTHER; TO MAKE YOU STRONGER

You mended my hair, and took me school

You buried my follies and made me acquit

And when I got caught, you stood by me

Still I cheated, being thirsty, at midnight
Still you got up, not making any excuse
So well I slept, been annoyance for you
So well you managed, not sleeping whole night
The love you deserved never came to you,
But agonies and fears, miseries and distress
Found your way, thus never kept you alone
An escape you tried, a commitment you made
Dejection you met, every time you walked
Then regret you felt, on decision you made
Cruel were the moments you tried to conceal
You did to a level, but your eyes, pooling with tears
Pictured your sufferings as clear as crystal
In these six years, I remained aloof
From the hard times you went through
Your son now mend his hair by own
Also shrewd enough to hide his follies
Though hard it is but to say, my MOTHER!
A little more time to the distance we are at,
I will join with happiness to settle in your heart
Lost smiles will retrieve to make you stronger
It’s all coming your way as retribution of your efforts
You will see, my MOTHER! This world would be at your disposal

Mudabir Ali
Political Science

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 -----Hearing you is healing-----

When I heard your voice in my silence

Like music everything got amusement

There in silence everything found dancing

Here within me a separate world emerges

As I heard your voice in my silence,

Just like a soul it made me conscious

Then the wounds healed by the words

And the silence brimmed-with the voices

Everything possessed some possessions

Even the silence got voice in the silence.

Muhammad Waqas Mehsud

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 ''JUST A DREAM''

A night filled with stars it is,

You’re dreaming a beautiful lie.
No sooner your eyes open a bit,
That dreams of yours then die.
A kind of dream you wished to prolong,
Keeping in your eyes for long;
A dream that nearly sent you above;
Something you yearned to live and love.
This dream got your eyes gleaming,
Making you wish to sleep again.
Fire within, your eyes craving-
To dream that one dream again.
Thou hope and flame- your eyes had,
You know some wounds can never fill;
Something’s just go and don't come back,
Neither the unreal dream will.
Your eyes await, your heart waits;
Till night be no longer black.
Cause it was just a dream of-course
And dreams do not come back.

Rubab Zehra

Biotechnology

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 The Benevolent

Neither You hide, nor You show

But still there You are wherever we go

Even if we err, there is nothing to bother

He loves us seventy times more than our mother

Those who love You, You love them back

But still they have to pass through some test

Even if they fail, it’s not the last lorry

They still have the option of sorry

And when we look up to You for help in need

You are here there and everywhere, indeed.

Hamza Saeed

Political Science

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 LOVE

Love is the feeling which comes and never goes

Sometimes it makes your cry and at others you glow

Love just happens and is not selected

I highly doubt if there is anyone unaffected

It takes you to new heights

Long days and endless nights

Be ready for love, it can be tortuous

Beware of love, it can even be torturous

Like the feathers of a dove, it hides our fouls

We don’t have to worry as it sees no moles

For all of its pros and cons

Love is still among the necessary tones

It may disappoint you for all it’s worth

But never be afraid to sit on this berth

Hamza Saeed

Political Science

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 Quaid-e-Azam Political Science Society

List of Office Bearers 2015-16

President Sardar Ali Shah

General Secretary Hazrat Shah Kakar

Vice President Abdul Karim Lashari

Joint Secretary Sardar Baksh

Executive Council Muhammad Umair Awan

Haider Hayat Khan

Amna Niaz

Sumail Hanif

Imdad Hussain Thebo

Amir Raza

Muhammad Sarfaraz

Yukiko Ban

Kaleem Haider

Umair Farid Wattoo

Deputy Secretaries Mashriq Khan

Imdad Ullah Ujjan

Sana Baloch

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Additional Secretaries Muhammad Zohaib

Arooj Khan

Nadeem Zehri

Assistant Secretaries Nizam Baloch

Mashooq Ahmad

Roshni

Stage Secretaries Kinza Aftab

Touqeer Kazmi

Naeema Siddiqui

Office Secretaries Abdul Wahid

Salman Marwat

Mishal Arif

Ruhma Jamil

Frazia Imtiaz

Finance Secretaries Asif Nawaz

Chaudhry Hamza Saeed

Waseem Abbaas

Tayyab

Allah Nawaz

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Press Secretaries Aaqib Ali Khan

Umair Javed

Sajid Shabeer

IT Manager Sannan Ahmad Virk

Information Secretaries Syed Hasan Hadi

Sarmad Rafi

Event Managers Zahid Hussain

Shakeel Ahmad

Hidayat Ullah

Rizwan Farooq

Muhammad Yousuf

Nimra Butt

Safi-ur-Rehman

Gohar Ali

Photographer Ameer Fateh

Chief Coordinator Saweel Hameed Rathore

Ambreen Sher

Coordinators Amna Hassan

Sarmad Wali Khan

Muhammad Umair

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 Yadullah

Chaudhry Daniyal

Hasan Bilal

Samia Zafar

Umair Iftikhar

Arsam Tufail Butt

Imtiaz Ali

Asad Raza

Quaid-e-Azam Political Science Society

Annual Report 2015-16

Quaid-e-Azam Political Science Society, one of the most active departmental societies of GCU,
has various ventures and off shoots of its own. This society, even though a Departmental, works
in collusion with all the students of the University.

QPSS includes a movie club, a study circle, arranges lectures by eminent scholars and interactive
seminars, and last but not the least, a yearly journal with the name ‘Expressions’ is also published
by QPSS. We also manage any event that is conducted by the Department of Political Science.

In this report, I shall discuss each venture of QPSS one by one.

Interactive Lectures

• Interactive Lecture by Mr. Nazeer Hussain

Date: Monday 28th March 2016

Topic: Changing Security Landscape of Middle East and Implications for Pakistan

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Dr. Nazeer Hussain, Professor at the school of Politics and International Relations in Quaid-e-
Azam University Islamabad, highlighted the dynamics of changing security landscape of Middle
East and its effects on Pakistan.

• Interactive Lecture with Commodore (Retd) Naveed Ahmed

Date: Wednesday 6th April 2016

Topic: Maritime Overview of Pakistan

• Interactive Session with US Counsel General Zachary Harkenrider

Date: Friday 6th March 2016

US Counsel General Zachary Harkenrider gave us an explanatory lecture on US elections.

Worthy Vice Chancellor also joined the session.

• Celebration of International Women’s day

A wonderful event in connection with International women’s day was celebrated by QPSS on
14th march 2016. Honorable guest speakers among the members from Punjab government were
invited to address the value of Women in our society. In this regard, Society also arranged a
“WALK” to mark this day.

The QPSS Movie Club

The movie club of QPSS began 4 years ago. The idea to form this club was in fact that education
must be integrated with media tools and movies which every student enjoys and then students be
brought back into the realms of academics and must be indulged in discussions, debates and
present their arguments on the themes and issues shown in the movie. This activity was favored
by the students to a great extent. The movie club this year had a very active season. The movies
played were selected from diverse fields and were chosen on the basis of the provocative and
debatable issues they presented.

The movies actually help students with a lot of things. As the discussions mostly include students,
it gives a great cooperation with each other to all the students and they learn from each other’s
ideas. It helps improve speaking and listening skills of students regarding English language. The
movie club has taken an initiative to bring in the English Language through movies.

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The Movies that were shown and discussed this year include

• INVICTUS

This movie aimed at the political struggle of Nelson Mandela and his efforts to eradicate the
racial differences between Blacks and Whites in Africa. Rugby game was used as a tool to unify
the races and paved the way for a peaceful heterogeneous society. The movie created a sense of
mutual respect, tolerance and acceptability for humanitarian values.

• IN THE NAME OF FATHER

This movie enabled the students to analyze the role and functions of Law enforcement agencies
and the corresponding activist groups. The movie created a better understanding of the political
tactics behind these sorts of political tensions.

• MAALIK

This movie was screened in Bukhari Auditorium where students from all over the campus drawn
themselves to the power of the Pakistani Political thriller movie. The movie aimed at creating
Jingoistic feelings along with other themes of Love, Loyalty, and Honor, family, Value, idealism,
Courage and dignity against all odds. The movie received high popularity.

The Study Circle QPSS

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who
cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn”. Alvin Toffler

Study circle is the one of the bodies of Quaid-e-Azam Political Science Society that is arranged
weekly. It is a platform where students from the whole university come and participate in literary
discussions. This circle is aimed at developing, speaking and listening skills among the students.
Also, the students get attached with the debates not only on political science but also on rest of
the disciplines, including contemporary world politics. It is an environment where students are
encouraged to agree on many disagreements. In the academic year 2015-16, we enlightened the
students on many discussion topics and arranged a series of lectures by Prolific Scholar Dr.
Ishtiaq Ahmed on various topics. The most noticeable topics included,

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• Reversing Development: How European Colonialism impoverished large parts of the
world

Discussed through several instances the extractive institutions that underpinned the poverty of
various territories were imposed by the same process which fueled European commercialism and
colonial expansion

• The Concept of an Islamic State in Pakistan

Dr. Ishtiaq Ahmed explained the very concept with reference to his doctoral thesis

• Understanding the partition of Punjab in the context of partition of India

Partition of Punjab and immigrants issues was highlighted.

• Preconditions for Peace between Pakistan and India

The guest speaker focused on two main issues while contextualizing the debate: "the terrorism
menace and the unresolved Kashmir dispute

Expressions

QPSS has an annually published journal for all the students of the university. It is for the students
to express themselves as the name suggests. The expressions allows’ the students to work with
their creative energies and come up with ideas to write about issues in their own unique way. The
editorial board of Expressions is selected through an open for all test and then they work with
their best abilities and produce a magazine is distributed free of cost in all the students in the
university. As we have to publish it with sponsorships that means the number of our copies is
dependent upon the sponsors.

Students working in the expressions team work tirelessly and learn a lot as to how a real
magazine is printed. It gives them huge experience for their future practical lives.

This year, by the grace of God, we shall issue our fifth edition of "The Expressions" loaded with
creative writings.

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