By Zubeida Mustafa
THE villages of Sind are experiencing a new awakening. The people — both men and women — in rural areas of the province are developing a keen awareness of their deprivation and backwardness. Gone are the centuries old fatalism, complacency and submissiveness of yore. The people now want a change and more significantly they are prepared to work for it on a selfhelp basis. Continue reading A new stirring in rural Sind
By Zubeida Mustafa
THE PICTURE of the health sector as it emerges from the Federal Bureau of Statistics recently released report bodes ill for the country’s economic and social development.
This sector has traditionally been one of the most neglected ones although the state of the people’s health has a direct bearing on productivity, economic development and the cost of providing medical cover.
It is patent that the output of a sickly population is low as compared with that of a healthy people — more man-hours are lost because of illness, more people are required to maintain a given level of production and the expenditure on providing Continue reading FBS survey:Health cover inadequate
By Zubeida Mustafa
IS the International Women’s Day on March 8 to be dismissed as one of those occasions for the annual round of rituals and rhetorics which come to nought? The cynics are quick to point out that fiery speeches notwithstnding, the plight of women continues to be as dismal as ever.
True, the struggle for equality of status and the emancipation of women in Pakistan still has a long way to go. Women have not be accorded the basic rights or given the social recognition that are their due as human beings. They have not been integrated in the mainstream of national development. Hence Continue reading Women’s rights: Greater awareness than before
By Zubeida Mustafa
Universities are the future of the nation. The gloom in the university today looks like a forecast for the future of the country.
Nothing sums up more poignantly the state of affairs at the University of Karachi and its ominous implications for society as these words uttered despairingly by an eminent educationist.
What should be perturbing is that the death-like stillness which has pervaded the campus in the last few weeks since it was abruptly closed for an indefinite period in mid-January has become a normal pattern of university life in Karachi. The NED and the professional colleges have not escaped the malaise of frequent unscheduled closures either. Continue reading Empty corridors
By Zubeida Mustafa
“A major factor which accounts for the inability of Pakistanis in Canada to adjust to their social environment is their inflexibility and intolerance of anything alien and attitude of moral superiority. Since they have been taught that they must not eat pork or drink wine, Pakistani Muslims are inclined to regard a person who does so as necessarily evil.
But it is wrong to judge people or assess their character on the basis of, their eating habits and lifestyle. This only creates a gap between the immigrants and the locals which makes life more difficult for the Pakistani settlers.” Continue reading Pakistanis in Canada an isolated community