Social Media – Monster Controlling Minds

Being a Mommy is the most incredible thing that happens to any woman. Giving birth to a child completes Womanhood. Every Mom wants the best for her children in their lives. Bringing up this blessing of life supports and motivates the Woman to go on, in the corner of the heart Mom knows what her children are and she knows that they will make their way.

Apart from academic responsibilities Children while growing up develop lot of interests like playing cricket, hanging out with friends and must not forget computers.  They find computers more credible and compassionate. They serve their quality time on computer either studying or playing games. Children find computers as their comfort zone and they create their own fantasy world around it. They even accumulate their savings to upgrade it.

Social Media, Online Games and many other Social Networking sites attract children and introduce unknown users of similar interests. They often find new friends without knowing who is behind the screen tricking them. Although Social Media is an incredible medium for interacting around the world within seconds, but it does have some horrific negative aspect too. They are always online communicating with friends sharing news, photos, videos in fingertips which make them feel wanted and socialized.  

As a parent specially of teenagers who are experiencing the world their way, have to make sure their children do not spend too much time on engaging internet activity and they must keep a close eye on their happenings, just to make sure their communication and interaction with friends is ‘open’, most importantly parents has to be vigilant just to keep their children safe. Teenagers mostly get impressed by exciting stories and glamorous lifestyle, which is sometimes alarming which led to personality disorder in their upbringing.

Influence of Social Media has played a significant role in our society. It has become a necessary part of our lives and symbol of social status as well. Behavior of children is affected; social media sometimes becomes a pied piper for children. The desktop on study table or a smart phone has replaced the role of parents & overtaken children’s mind. They direct what to do and what not to do which is such an amazing metaphor which controls one’s life and parents are unaware of it. Literately it’s a devil which is along with their children 24/7. Cell phones and excessive use of internet constantly exert its power in every way it can, on the other hand parents are compassionate who trust their children. So no matter how much they care or want to make them safe, the love they give their children and the independence they offer them as a child is total in their hands.

Social Media has become an instructor in our children’s life, teachers refers them to research and do their work by the help of internet, friends suggests they can find updates of their interests like music, movies etc. Surprisingly, as parents us ourselves allows our children to be groomed by this Monster.

Being a teenager is an incredible confusing world, pierce becomes very very important and it doesn’t matter how close you are to a parent and how great your parents are, as you start becoming more independent you look to others either of your age or a little bit older to direct you in your journey.

As a family quality time with own children, communication and elucidation about their interests is what Parents must practice. Love and affection can replace every gadget. It’s round the clock job of Parents to a friend of their children and guides them in every step of life.

HAVE WE LOST THE WAR?

It was shocking to hear that schools & colleges of Pakistan except Sindh are closed for 03 days either it is because of extreme winter or due to security measures. Whole Pakistan is under a continuous threat & chaos. More off Schools under jurisdiction of Armed forces were closed in Sindh as well. 

On one hand these Politicians, Elected Governments & even Armed Forces claims that National Action Plan is resulting in a promising manner, then what was the reason of shutting down educational institutions in country.

Being a concerned Parent and law abide citizen it’s my fundamental right to know that my children who goes to schools or colleges are safe. I would not like to stay under constant fear that my children aren’t save. Closing schools was the surprising option of this ‘failed’ Government who are helpless against bunch of idiots who keep threatening our children and playing with the careers of our future.

After 16/12 the APS horrific incident, measure were taken to involve on educational institutions throughout Pakistan. Rs.7.5B was allocated on Security Plan for Educational Institutions in the province of Sindh, unfortunately the plan is awaited for execution.  

More to add Karachi being the mega city of Pakistan and students from all around the country as well as from the parts of the world comes here for better education; Rs.83M was allocated for the security plan which remains in files since February 2015.

It is loud and clear that there are many chances of security breach in educational institutions, never been an easy task. Governments need to take parents into confidence and must curtail the chaos and panic. Social Media is the fastest way circulating such messages or posts, even Governments can’t control it.

It’s a huge responsibility of Governments, Educational Institutions, Law Enforcement Agencies, especially Parents has to own such situation as together we can win this war. It’s such a shame that Madressahs are open and schools are closed. How come the children who come to these Madressahs are safe? National Action Plan is failure? Funds allocated for Security Plan in educational institutions spent? Are they trying to sabotage the educational system of Karachi only? Or we already have lost the war. 

Happy Birthday QeT Altaf Hussain

Growing up in Karachi is overwhelming and splendid feeling, apart from any other city of Pakistan. The most educated, learned and cultured city of Pakistan.

Politics of Pakistan has been funny in a way that when it comes to democracy only feuds & wealthy run the country to strengthen their businesses and middle knowledgeable class neither respected nor appreciated.

Altaf Hussain born to Mr.  & Mrs. Nazir Hussain was amongst educated and dignified families emerged as most powerful and brightest political personality in Pakistani & International politics. The honorable leader’s knowledge with unique political thinking of introducing / empowering middle educated class into Pakistani politics. The glory of constant movement APMSO (The then - All Pakistan Mohajir Students Organization) established in the year 1978 by Mr. Hussain is still shinning under his leadership.

The empowerment of middle class is the basic purpose of the movement, which turned into the MQM come forward as the third powerful party in politics of Pakistan. MQM, power of middle class sophisticated families from Urban Sindh has been playing important role with ability to produce genuine politicians. It is a universal truth that where there is good evil is always present.

Early this year there are ‘unseen’ forces that have been are using all necessary means to crush MQM. Years have passed but 1992 operation repeated again on MQM. Many of their workers are missing, arrested on false cases and many been killed in extra judicial custody.

MQM is a healing force and Mr. Hussain is a miracle hand for the people of Urban Sindh. MQM Workers / Supporters / Well Wishers believe that MQM is the only challenge to the status quo in Pakistan. Under the brainpower of Mr. Hussain & love from the people, MQM is still shinning as brightest star in political history of Pakistan.

September 17^th, we embrace a great leader and his sacrifices for his people. This day, we do not only celebrate the memorable birthday of Mr. Altaf Hussian but we celebrate who we are, how we got there & where we have been. No matter how strong, bigger, faster & well equipped our opponents are & how ‘best’ they are presented on visual & print media. They know it too Our Great Leader is miles apart & many of our friends (who died & those who are arrested) will not be able to celebrate this event, but they will be watching and they will be gritting their teeth with every roar of the slogan ‘Jiye Altaf Hussain & ‘Jiye Muttahida’. In addition, for this crucial & difficult time we have to trust Allah & stay united, as this is how we shall be remembered and Insha’Allah grab the glory.  

Happy Birthday QeT Altaf Hussain.

Our Children – Our Future

It was routine morning in a private school of Patel Para, Karachi. A boy from 10^th grade kills his girlfriend and committed suicide in fear of expected failure in love. These teenagers became the victim of Bollywood Industry who has already done a lot of damage in Pakistani Culture. Mentally, physically & socially teenagers in Pakistan are attracted towards the exciting, glamorous & electrifying world of Bollywood Movies / Dramas. So does NavRoz adopt and shot Fatima then took his life just to save the so called ‘LOVE’ as portrayed in Bollywood.

We as a society all are responsible of this tragedy. Hopelessness & worthlessness may create such feelings that lead to mental state of ending one’s life. In our society teenagers are neglected & caught up in that grey area between the adulthood & childhood. They are treated as ‘you are too young to understand such things’ & ‘you are too old enough to take care of yourself’. Insecurity is developed in clean mind resulting ‘my family doesn’t understand me’. We expect & pressurize our teenagers to fit socially, perform academically & to act responsibly. There’s always conflict between rules & expectations set by others to teenagers, as they themselves going through phase of sexual identity & being independent.

In my view parents of both victims must have never expected that their children will execute such act. Apart from their responsibilities they should have talked to their children, comforted them, and dealt the situation in a healthy manner. Warning attitudes of teenagers aren’t any attention seeking tactics; it’s environmental, social, mental & physical anxiety that they are going through. Discussion about suicides or death in general, or sentences like ‘I won’t be a problem for you much longer, nothing matters, it’s no issue, I won’t see you again’ are be noticed with full interest.  

Although it’s useless to write all such things because Navroz & Fatima are no more. My words or such writings can’t bring their lives back, but whoever reads it will definitely think what part we can play to end such happenings. To avoid such unfairness keep healthy relationship with your children, friendly teachers can play part and on whole promote Pakistanism, Pakistani values and its morals.

Hoping we will all play a responsible role to save our children – Our Future. 

Real Challenges For PLMN

PMLN is governing Punjab since the last 3 decades. Despite of corruption, frauds & exploitation, PML Nawaz Group has managed to survive in Pakistani Politics somehow. Instead of focusing on Education, they focused on distributing Laptops & building motorways to rum their Metro Buses. PMLN as claim to be the champions of democratic system, have failed to deliver a proper schooling structure which resulted in formations of Madarssas. Being poor & with religious background Parents eventually admit their children in Madarssas with the sense that their children are in safe hands.

The body of a 6 year old boy named Moin was found hanging on the rooftop of a Mosque in his own neighbourhood. The boy was kidnapped and then raped by none other than the Mulla of the same mosque in Green Town Area Lahore.

A 5 year old girl was found in critical condition after being kidnapped & brutally raped in eastern City of Lahore. http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/5-year-old-girl-brutally-raped-in-pakistan-in-critical-condition-police

Kidnapping, Rape, Children being kept as sex slaves has become practice in most of the Punjab. http://www.khaleejtimes.com/article/20130916/ARTICLE/309169959/1028

With the discovery of more than 400 videos recorded and more than 280 children involve in the largest child abuse scandal in the history of Pakistan happened in Kasur, Punjab right under the nose of PMLN Government. Victims are said to be under the age of 14, who were forced to perform the felonious act and were being filmed to blackmail the families and in return receives money.

Regretfully, many of the accused are bailed out including a local MPA & Police Officer. After the vicious carnage of APS Children in Peshawar, it’s yet another slap on Shareef Government. They are answerable not only in front of APS Massacre Affectes but every single teardrop shed from the eyes of the parents of Moin, APS Children, Kasur Child Sex Abuse Case or any other such incident registered or unregistered.

  

The Crime Statistics of Punjab Police is much on high side rather than any province of the country.

But despite 1/3 of majority in NA & being supreme power the PMLN Government has failed their supporters / voters yet again. But PMLN is doing their traditinal politics by using media, judiciary and paramilitary forces and crushing other middle class representative parties and small provinces. Their emphasis should be to solve real issues which are happening every day in Punjab otherwise they might not be able to maintain their trust on their well-wishers. But currently their focus is to crush Altaf Hussain's political leadership. Is it possible to crush a leader who represent the metropolis of Pakistan.

PMLN Government's only threat is Altaf Hussain & MQM the only middle class liberal party in entire Pakistan, as if all snags will erase if they prospered in finishing MQM. Karachi has the most powerful elite and educated class all over the country. Even on the ongoing operation against the MQM, they have managed to survive and still stand with head held high. We do not see such brutal stories of kidnapping, rape, gang rape, child abuse, or children being abused in Mosques or Madarris. MQM has always delivered when it comes to its voters / supporters. But PMLN should stop fabricating manipulated stories against Altaf Hussain or MQM, and focus on such inhumane acts happening in Punjab. 

Shariqa Ahmed

Twitter: @Shariqa_Ahmed

Incredible Karachi

 

Karachi the most talked subject on media and negatively presented city of Pakistan, luckily the only city of Pakistan who has survived in every situation. People talk that Lahore is meant to be ‘Zinda Dil Waloan Ka’ but its only Karachi who has proved to be the Open Hearted City for entire Pakistan. Karachi is not biggest city of Pakistan but in my view Karachi is Pakistan, if Karachi sprints so does Pakistan.

Karachi is resilient city; despite of political, social & environmental changes people of Karachi are alive & very much optimistic towards their city. City of 2.5 million people means 12% of Pakistanis live in Karachi only. Best Universities / Colleges are blessed by this city, we have the best brains are refined here of entire Pakistan.

Even though the law & order situation this city faces, the property value of Karachi increases day by day. Although many of young guns chose to leave Karachi for safety & better living, but they return their earnings & invest in Karachi because such hazards have still not damage the economy of Karachi. People here are very confident regardless of anything this city will always remain the reason of prosperity of Pakistan. Being from Karachi, must represent & show the bright side of our city. There is so much that this city is doing & must give a shut up call to whoever give a picture of negativity of this city.

Almost 0.6 million people from Pakistan comes to Karachi, why? If the law & order situation is so dreadful then why such numbers migrate to Karachi? That’s the proud moment when I like to describe that Karachi plays a motherly role in Pakistan economy, it saves, protects & bring up the populace of whole Pakistan. People from all over Pakistan comes to Karachi for employment, question is why do they come here? For the past years we haven’t seen any new Universities, Hospitals, and Industries etc. Failure of other provincial Governments including Sindh proves that people choose Karachi for betterment in their lives. Karachi offers them employment, security & improved source of revenue.

It’s sad to say that almost 60% population returns back to their local places when usual holidays are declared. Remaining those 40% citizens who are basically from this city has to bear the damages which are left behind by non locals. Damages done on infra structure especially on roads are caused by the trawlers, huge trucks which have no local numbers plates and are not from Karachi. Such heavy vehicles do pay tax from they came from but ruins the roads here.

I personally blame the irresponsible behavior of News Media, just for point scoring they emphasize on negative news from this city. Such badness is found in every mega city all across the world, but no one shout out loud their own weaknesses as our news media does. Surprisingly, we see the rising drama, film & fashion industry in Karachi only. Karachi has become the core of private films since the last 5 years.

Huge number of donations & aid are collected from this city for the victims of any incident. Affected citizens from natural disaster either flood, droughts, earthquakes or from terrorism await support from Karachi; because they trust Karachi will send the aid in their critical time. Despite instability of law & order condition; open dinning for the needy in various parts of the city from 2 to 3 times a day is witnessed. This city is never shortened by ambulances, doctors & staff if any disaster occurs. People grieve over situations but international exhibitions, festivals, conferences; ceremonies do take place on their due dates.

Regardless of 60/40 % of quota system, Karachi is not receiving its due share. It’s not irrelevant to say that development / maintenance comes under Provincial Government, but we don’t see any genuineness & sincerity towards the betterment of this city. The only thing people like to do is to blame one another, in fact if they use such abilities for the improvement of our city, Karachi will be another international hub for South Asia.

Even with target killing, extortion, ongoing operation etc etc there is life full of color exists somewhere inside every Karachiet. People of Karachi aren’t afraid of any chaotic situation, they stand unite and fight such state of affairs with bravery. Karachi is our home; we have kept it alive and with hearts, will keep lights on top of the world.

I am Pakistan

Throwing garbage from windows, spitting on roads / buildings, telling lies to each other, pointing fingers on others, etc has become a part of very day life for us now. Pushing each other while getting lined up for namaz, fear of losing slippers while in Masjid, and use religion as shield to hide behind it is the saddest part in our society. Irresponsible driving, crossing roads blindly despite of pedestrian bridges, uneven parking shows the mental level of distressed society.

As humans & Pakistanis we have stop trusting each other, honesty & trustworthiness has been lost in our lives. We forget promises we make & lose loyalty. We are not reliable and ultimately lose credibility between words & actions. Alas being human reputation is at risk then faces criticism all over the world.

It’s really sad to see that if any of the children is scold by teachers; parents dishonor the teachers & that step encourages the child to repeat that act. Sense of pessimistic authority is developed & as time goes by it becomes part of habit resulting in generating irresponsible & rude individuals. Character building starts within the home & it should be parents’ supreme responsibility to teach their children how to respect elders.

Building a civilized society is a collective responsibility of every human being. Parents, teachers & elders should teach children how to treat others better than they treat you. Be open and tolerate differences, deal peacefully with disagreements & anger in good manner. Must treat others the way we want them to treat us.

We are accountable of our actions; if we do good there is no way that will catch a bad return. We have to be fair not with own selves but in general, governments, people ruling the country. Rulers take oath that ‘we will work honestly and sincerely and be remain faithful and loyal to the Government of Pakistan’ But?  Chaos in Pakistani society is just because we within ourselves have lost our integrity, commitments and competency of being loyal & faithful. We aren’t open-minded to others fault be do take advantage to humiliate to least level. We get jealous of others achievements, satisfy ourselves on wrong doings.  

Through this blog, just wanted to send the message to all fellow countrymen, that we can make Pakistan a best society by starting today from ourselves. Being parents we are role models to our coming generations. We can teach our children the importance to being honest, caring & building personal morals.

Generate and sustain trust, demonstrate respect, responsibility, fairness & caring behaviors are the foundation of a decent society. Small things can create miracles, be cooperative, share information, be a good neighbor, protect environment, be a law abiding citizen, exhibit civic duties, forgive others, help the needy, express gratitude are just simple common things which are in Holy Quran & taught by Holy Prophet (PBUH).

Think before act, act with self discipline, and be consistent with decisions made, don’t lie to your people. Because there is a system which is controlled by Allah Almighty, no one and nothing is hidden from Him. On the Day of Judgment everyone is answerable in front of Him. So fulfill your responsibilities, instead of hating each other, give respect, caring, forgiveness & love a room to be accompanying us our lives.

Let’s make ourselves proud, our ancestors proud, our Quaid-e-Azam proud with Allah Almighty’s blessings.  Pakistan Zindabad.