Climbing up things will not make you PM anymore.

 The weekend was going all boring and suddenly we had our news channel screens flashing tickers and footage of a man who had climbed up a cellular tower in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. Mostly, people climb up towers when their families to not accede to their demands to marry the girl of their choice, the notion has been adapted from the India Blockbuster “Sholay” in which Dharmindar threatens to commit suicide if the girl he wished to marry did not accept his proposal.

However, the man who climbed up the tower did wish to marry someone, he had a grand scheme of things cooking in his mind. He wanted to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan and even claimed to cure all the ills which have beset the country including alleviation of financial crisis within a span of six months. Little does the poor soul know that the nation has already selected a man who climbed up a container a few years ago, he also claimed to turn around the moribund country in a hundred days and he also was as ambitions as him but the problem is that the nation is already regretting its decision and is not in the mood of doing the same thing again , we have finally understood the gist of Einstein’s words, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”. So tower man we are sorry!!!

The writer can be reached on twitter: @murtazakazi1

Science and religion

As one reads books like “A brief history of time.” By Stephen Hawkings he thinks that science has answer to everything and slowly starts to adapt science as his new religion and believes every commandment of science as final verdict.
However, when he spends some more time in this state and reads more about the fickle nature of science only then it dawns upon him that even science is not able to answer all the questions. Likewise, Mr Stephen Hawking once gave an idea of some sort of super power behind all the laws of physics and creation of this universe but in his final book “Brief Answers to the Big Questions “which has been published posthumously on October 16,he states that “There is no God. No one directs the universe,”.

When the greatest mind present amongst humanity until recently can change so often how can an average folk rely on something which itself is in it incipient stages and changes direction every now and then.
Just like the game of Snakes and Ladders science has answers to every little detail on the process of formation of earth to solar systems, nebulas to galaxies but when it reaches the 99th box of Big Bang it falls back to square 1 by leaving an unanswered question of how Big Bang occurred in the first place out of nowhere. Consequently, in a face saving attempt we are told that all these phenomena are governed by the laws of physics at a larger scale, so calling God as laws of physics does not change much of the reality.
A hundred years back no one would have imagined that a pocket sized device would help humanity connect to each other but today we are not only doing that but we can also see each other on screen of that device.
Science can tell us how things happen but it is religion which tells us that why things happen. The detrimental impacts of moving away from religion can be seen today, those who have lost faith in religion have made this world their one and only abode and to make life better here they are going to any limit without fear of any punishment hereafter.
Although all of the above discourse does not mean that science is against religion or we should turn a blind eye to it
The writer can be reached on twitter: @murtazakazi1

'Art as political weapon'

One of the most powerful antiwar artworks in the world is Gurenica by Pablo Picasso,the monument panel is display in Madrid, Spain .It was created in 1937 in Paris in response to Spanish civil war. This war begins in 1936 when group of right-wing Generals launched military coup against the legally elected government of 2^nd Spanish Republic. At significantly military  disadvantage,this government realize heavily on cultural forums to ensure its defense, and that’s why Guernica comes in.Pablo Picasso paints Guernica in response to commission by the government for large scale mural painting which is meant to be center piece for the Spanish pavilion in the 1937 world’s fair. This was the golden opportunity for the government to really to get international support for its cause .Before 1937 Picasso kept out of politics,the Spanish civil war really is the  catalyst for his  political engagement and Guernica is his first manifestation on the world stage.

Picasso was eager to show his support for the republic but he really struggles with findings a subject.For him, art is political weapon and he finally find an inspiration when he reads news in the French press of the bombing of the Basque Village of Guernica on April 26, 1937.  This was particularly atrocious crime in Spanish civil war. Guernica was the spiritual capital of the Basque country and it had absolutely no military or strategic importance and its was bombed by the Nazist and fascist aviation at the behest of nationalist forces on marked day to ensure maximum number of civilian casualties.

 Picasso upon learning news about this bombing embarks on the series of carefully cataloged and dated preliminary paintings and drawing that ultimately added in his master piece. Guernica is simply representation of tragedy and devastation of bombing on larger scale through several main characters a horse ,a bull, a warrior and several women including a woman holding a dead child and these characters  are inspired by various sources including Spanish culture.

The utopian state

There is a country which is witnessing exponential growth in every sector. Inflation that once marred the economy is almost in check, while citizens have reposed their trust in institutions, with mega projects like dams being built from charity collected across the globe. Once a stagnant country, is now rising like a phoenix from its ashes. The country alluded to in the lines above exists in a parallel universe we all know as social media. However, sometimes the radiation of events from this proverbial universe affects our real world too, and right now this is happening in Pakistan.

The prevalent scenario can aptly be elucidated with the help of a term from Psychology called “Illusion of truth”. The technique was effectively used by Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels who said, “Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth”. 

The tool and its usefulness has impressed the incumbent government so much that they have also embarked on this path to gain easy political millage, but the problem is that they assumed it was an elixir that could cure any problem they might encounter. However, they need to be told that too much use of the same legerdemain can also desensitize the masses, and rather than doing any good, it has started to work against them.

So the ludicrous streak of sensationalism manifested itself with ‘helicopter-gate’ that started a new debate in the country regarding per kilometre expenses of a chopper flight. Rather than ignoring the information minster’s naïve claim, the intelligentsia joined their heads together to solve this mystery. Those who never got more than 50 percent marks in mathematics went to the extent of deriving complex theorems on social media to prove their point for, and against, the claim.

Then it was reported by a senior journalist that our Prime Minister refused to take the French Premier’s callSupporters of PTI were on cloud nine that at last they had found someone who does things the way he likes, and does not bend over backwards like the previous leaders. A few days down the line, it emerged that it had I fact only been minor officials who were trying to schedule a call for an appropriate time which was convenient for both leaders.

Giving false hopes based on false assumptions will only create a utopian state on social media. Things need to be set straight, otherwise the ultimate losers will be the people of Pakistan who have given PTI the right to govern the country.

The writer can be reached via twitter: @murtazakazi1

Illogical Logic!

It seems the government and specially the Prime Minister are on a mission to crack jokes. One after another the farces do not seem to stop and with every passing day statements from the top brass of government do not stop and the whole chain of command becomes a joke.

The famous streak of putting forward ideas and figures which are grotesquely bloated manifested when Fawad Chaudhry Minister of Information told that Prime Minister’s chopper costs 55-60 KM/L. now the extent has reached new proportions, on the completion of 100 days of the government the Prime Minister came up with a unique idea of raising chickens and bulls to help the economy grow.

 Later on he quoted Bill Gates in his tweet and tried to defend his stance, but little does he know that Gates and Malinda foundation merely spent 40,000- 200,000 dollars on this project out of the 50 bn dollars allocated for all the projects and the program has already failed in Africa.

Well, this does not end here the new endeavor in which the government embarked was the demolition of the wall of Governor house Lahore. Someone tell the Prime Minister that bringing the wall will cost us and so will erecting the new fence. Let us hope that the Prime Minister will act sensibly which is something that can only be hoped for !

100 Days..

How to be a great Leader?

The founding father of Pakistan Mr. Mohammad Ali Jinnah said that, “Think a hundred times before you take a decision, but once that decision is taken, stand by it as one man.” When Mr Jinnah uttered these words neither he had a fully functioning bureaucracy nor such expertise as the country was yet in its incipient stage. But still these lines tell us Mr. Jinnah emphasized on the importance of contemplating on things way before we start to implement the plan.

Now our Prime Minister has come up with his new verdict that those who do not walk back on their words are not considered to be true leaders, he further went on to give examples of Hitler and Napoleon that it was their obdurate nature that lead to their failures. But little does Khan know that. We the people of Pakistan pay billions of rupees to the employees working in various departments and it is their job to improvise strategies and plans which should vet over issues and any sort of repercussions.

It seems the Prime Minister thinks he has the acumen and mental acuity that all the personnel combined in all the ministries do not possess and takes decisions after consulting his spiritual healer come wife which leads him to eat humble pies time and again.Rather than taking U-turns again and again khan should revisit what Mr.Jinnah said.His over confidence will not run the country but well worked on strategies would.

The writer can be reached on twitter @murtazakazi1

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