All posts by Zubeida Mustafa

Always on the road

Archive Edition, Books, Education, Environment, History

By Zubeida Mustafa

MUNIRA GULZAR wanted to be a nurse when she passed out of school. Instead she became a teacher and has loved every minute of it. Those were the times in the early fifties when most girls did not dream of a career. But to young Munira it was inconceivable that she should not work. So even before she had completed her education she started teaching in a school. Since her family was very conservative, there was so much opposition to her taking up a job. But determined as she was, she managed to persuade her father to let her work. Continue reading Always on the road →

A scholar and a gentleman

Administration, Archive Edition, Constitution, History, Information, International Politics, Islamisation, Media, Notable Personalities

By Zubeida Mustafa

Has Pakistan been reduced to such a hopeless state that even the most creative and prolific of intellectuals have run out of ideas on how the country can be redeemed? Hopefully not. But a meeting with Professor Khalid Bin Sayeed provided no reassuring answers. It left me wondering how Pakistan will be saved from certain disaster and who will play the role of the savior. Continue reading A scholar and a gentleman →

Fits and Starts

Archive Edition, Health, Mental health

 

Waiting for their turn

By Zubeida Mustafa

According to experts from WHO, nearly one out of ten people in Pakistan suffer from mental illness at one stage or another in their lives. It is estimated that 14 million people in the country and 1.2 million in Karachi need psychiatric attention. There are only 200 psychiatrists and 3500 hospital beds to take care of these patients.

Appalling figures no doubt. They, however, do not tell the whole story. Since psychiatric conditions are not major killers they tend to be ignored. Yet the fact is that out of the ten leading causes of disability (in terms of the number of years lived with disability) five are psychiatric disorders. They are debilitating and account for a tenth of the disease burden in all societies.

Continue reading Fits and Starts →

Commission Report too good to be real

Archive Edition, Culture and the Arts, Islamisation, Justice, Women

By Zubeida Mustafa

The women of Pakistan have received the best gift they could have wished for on the golden jubilee of the country’s independence. A commission headed by the Supreme Court judge, Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid, has presented a report to the government on the status of women. If its recommendations are accepted and implemented it would be like a dream come true. But will that happen?

Continue reading Commission Report too good to be real →

Let there be light

Archive Edition, Health

By  Zubeida Mustafa

For four years an eye hospital has been functioning quietly and unobtrusively at Nagan Chowrangi in New Karachi. Not much fanfare attended its opening in July 1993. No political dignitary was invited to grace the occasion. Even today not many people know about the existence of this hospital, except for those who benefit from the services it offers nearly free of cost.

Continue reading Let there be light →