Children of a Lesser State

As I looked into the beautiful eyes of 5 year Sumbul lying on the hospital bed, I felt rush of emotions- love, anger, shame, anxiety and a feeling of indignity. She looked scared but serene, oblivious of the extent of the uproar this incident had created. But beneath that almost deceptive stillness, one could sense her discomfort. The doctors told me she was out of danger and will start feeling much more comfortable with passage of time. I told him that she was in severe danger and would start feeling uncomfortable with passage of time.

Such incidents happen around us all the time and most of them are neither reported nor noticed. Rape is the most psychologically violent attack on a human being. When the doctor told me that fortunately she was 5 years old and would not remember much as she grows old, I was aghast. I told him that these are the most important formative years of a child’s life and these scars will probably ruin her chances of ever leading a normal life until some special counseling and therapy are given to her throughout. He looked bemused.

Why we see such barbaric and violent eruptions in our society have roots in many areas. Poverty, illiteracy, deprivation are all causes of creating disbalanced societies. Sumbal was one of the siblings of a family of ten brothers and sisters. Most poor people have an average family size of ten to fifteen including grandparents etc living in one or two rooms. What sort of privacy or learning do you expect in this environment. Inter family rapes, incest or molestation are common. Most rapists or molesters become so as they are diagnosed as having been molested or raped themselves.

As poverty and illiteracy increases, so does terrorism and violence. Women are the easiest targets. The fact that Islam started with the movement of woman rights, as females were buried alive before the advent of Islam, is not really worth mentioning in our Islamic khutbas. Enlightened religious scholars on media need to portray this repeatedly.

At Government level, that is why it is important that instead of spending 12 $ billion on building up New Islamabad city and wasting money on steel and bricks, spend on education, spend on building human potential, spend on making people’s lives livable.

On social and individual level teach people around us to raise voices against injustice, create awareness on family issues and relearn and repeat the importance of human values of respect, of dignity, of integrity. No child is a child of a lesser God and we need to ensure equality, equity and opportunity to them to give them a chance of being that “human” God created them to be.

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PIA –Turnaround or Turnforme?

To most people these days P I A stands for (Perhaps It will Arrive). An airline that used to be in the top 10 airlines and has helped develop 35 international airlines including Emirates and Singapore airline has become a symbol of what all ails this country.

That it needs to be dealt with is obvious; that it needs massive surgery is indisputable; that there has to be a crisis management plan is inevitable; But to simply cut it into 2 parts and dump the rubbish in one and sell off the other is a plan doomed for expediting its nosedive.

Whenever you sell off an asset you must make it marketable by improving its productivity. What ails PIA is corrupt and incompetent leadership. What will happen by selling it off at this stage is that it is an asset that will only get you a highly discounted market value. If it is sold off to let us assume another airline, what will they do? They will give it visionary and competent leadership who will change its operations and make it viable. Why is not possible to do it before sell off?

The reason is the same as was during PPP tenure. Appointments are still not on merit. PML N appointed Shujaat Azeem brother of Tariq Azeem as advisor to PIA. This gave rise to a scandal of having his own company Royal Air Services being a beneficiary; Which provoked a Suo Moto from Chief Justice to remove him. Nargis Sethi’s appointment as Aviation Secretary has again been challenged by the court as totally without merit. Rashidullah brother of Mushahidullah has been appointed North American head to replace Yaseen friend of President Zardari.

The most alarming factor is that Prime minister Nawaz Sharif has said the privatization will be modeled on PTCL sell off to Eitesalat, which till date, has been termed as controversial. According to some sources PTCL was sold off at a discounted rate of 80% to its real value robbing off the exchequer of billions. Even the payment promised by Eitesalat was delayed consistently with constant compromise on terms totally favouring them.

The best turnaround plan would be to carry out an operation clean up at the top first. Bring professionals at the helm from other airlines, outsource certain skills not available, develop a culture of merit and performance leading to first cutting off losses and then going profitable before selling it off. The biggest example of this is Pakistan Steel turnaround that earned profits of 8 billion in 2008 under a competent leadership and as cronies were appointed it became a bankrupt organization. Without this PIA will be unfortunately known as Pathetic In the Air.

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'2012:A symbol of what can be ' published on Sunday,February 12, 2012 in Daily Times. Below is an excerpt of the article along with the link below.

2012: A symbol of what can be

By Andleeb Abbas

Date:February 12 , 2012

If a cricket team without a proper structure, system and support can do so much despite corruption and incompetence in its governing body, surely this country cannot be written off

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'2012:In search of money ' published on Sunday,February 05, 2012 in Daily Times. Below is an excerpt of the article along with the link below.

2012: In search of money

By Andleeb Abbas

Date:February 05 , 2012

The present state of cash crunch is almost unbearable as government borrowing touches Rs 50 trillion and the economic growth figure looks ever more dismal, giving rise to the spectre of where the money will come from to survive the next few months

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'2012:Managing by non-managing ' published on Sunday,January 29, 2012 in Daily Times. Below is an excerpt of the article along with the link below.

2012: Managing by non-managing

By Andleeb Abbas

Date: January 29, 2012

The hiring/firing style of management and governance belongs to the Stone Age. In an obsolete style, the ‘ruler’ would rule without accountability. This centralised hoarding of power is no longer valid in this open and global world

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