Pertinent Theme

You chose a very pertinent theme for your cover story. The appointment of a new army chief has the whole nation on tenterhooks and Pakistan is a democracy that is still groping to find out whether the civilians should call the shots or the army? It must be noted that right from the beginning when this country came into being, the army has had the upper hand. While Pakistan started out as a democracy, it soon had an army general as its defence minister and just 11 years after the country became independent, the same army general plunged it into a martial law in 1958. Perhaps, it is ever since that Pakistan has been a military-run state, sometimes overtly and sometimes covertly. In its 75-year history, it has seen four martial laws and it is still at a juncture where it cannot decide whether civilians should run the show or the military. Credit must go to the armed forces, nevertheless, that they have decided to leave governance to the politicians from now on. Let’s see how this plays out.

Muhammad Saeed Khan,
Peshawar, Pakistan.

Signs of the Times

One sees rather quite frequently these days that books and magazines are disappearing from people’s homes. You visit an academic, for instance, but you never find any books around. Even the barber shop or beauty parlour does not have any magazines and newspapers lying around while a TV set blares with all its intensity in these and similar places. Signs of the times, I guess!

Junaid Shah,
Karachi, Pakistan.

Real Democracy

If there is a lesson in democracy to be learned from anywhere, it is England. There a woman, who had been prime minister for less than 2 months, simply resigned because she could not deliver on her mandate. Her predecessor, Boris Johnson had to resign because he did not follow Covid restrictions himself though he imposed restrictions on the rest of the country. Now let us see how the new prime minister, the first coloured person to win this post, moves forward?

Hamid Butt,
Manchester, England.

Girl or the Goodies

The dowry and accompanying functions at marriages are still a common problem. With prices of everything shooting up, there is no let up in the way money is spent at organizing and celebrating weddings. In fact, the number of functions surrounding a wedding are also increasing, thus leading to a lot more expenses. The other day, someone remarked that when they went to see a girl at her house, they were entertained with three trolleys full of goodies! God knows, what the bride’s family did to entertain the dulha-wallas at the wedding!

Talat Abbasi,
Lahore, Pakistan.

Brave Journalist

Arshad Sharif was undoubtedly a brilliant journalist. It is surprising that when such a person dies, people from all over the country remember him/her in good words.
Unfortunately, political parties start doing politics over the dead body, and no real sympathies are shown for the departed soul and his/her close relatives. This is a sad truth of our society.

Engr Asim Nawab,
Islamabad, Pakistan.

To Build a House

Iam a Pakistani but I work and live in Doha, Qatar along with my family. For some time now, my wife and I have been considering building a house in Pakistan for our retirement years. We see so many advertisements on Pakistani TV channels of housing societies coming up, mostly in the Punjab but we have no means of knowing that if we make an investment in one of these societies, will it be a wise decision? We have tried contacting real estate companies but none of them sounded dependable. Can someone help?

Muhammad Saleh,
Doha, Qatar.

Backdoor Politics

The joint press conference by the heads of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) made a very important day in the political and constitutional history of the country because it was the first such occasion.

Unprecedented times call for unprecedented action, and the decision of the army leadership to allow the spymaster to publicly talk about each and every matter was truly unprecedented and carried historic value.

The fact that the ISI chief was able to peel off layers of falsehood, manipulation and populist posturing with such unhurried decency, marked by his cool and calm demeanour, was not possible for someone without the facility of facts being behind him.

The backdoor pleadings and populist bombast are no more a matter of conjecture. The facts have been laid bare by the spy chief. Let us hope that the negative propaganda would now come to an end.

Daman Ali,
Larkana, Pakistan.

Opinion

It is our responsibility to express ourselves. Blaming the other person for not listening or not giving heed to our discourse is unjust. SouthAsia magazine is an amalgamation of many factors which work in a synchronised manner. It is unbiased and rational and has a holistic approach. Moreover, it covers all contemporary issues in all spheres of South Asia and makes the reader cognizant. Opinion and book reviews are my favourite ones.

Sohrab Ali,
Karachi, Pakistan.

Addiction

Pakistanis have become addicted to television especially because of cricket. People don’t realize how much time they waste every day sitting in front of the television screen. They should utilize their time to do something productive such as reading newspapers, books and magazines to enhance their knowledge and vocabulary. It will enable them to learn new words every day and in the long run, it will definitely help them in their future career.

Zuhair Solangi,
Hyderabad, Pakistan

Good Content

Netflix has become a great platform for many students to improve their English-speaking skills. The students have a variety of shows and films to watch. It may change the mindset of many people and a habit of watching good content will become a daily habit and it will encourage others to do the same. These days, school teachers have started asking their students to watch specific Netflix content on important topics so that the students can learn something new each day.

Shazia Parveen,
Lahore, Pakistan.