UIIT Open House 2011: Why it becomes our national duty to participate in this event

It has been a long time but way back in 2005 when I joined National University, FAST, Islamabad, I never realized that in the next half decade, I am going to meet people who will gradually change my perceptions and views to such an extent that it may be difficult for me to even realize myself after just half a decade but it happened and I am so glad and honored that it did. One of the things that I learned in FAST (despite it being an upscale, private and upper class oriented institute) from my mentors and teachers like Dr. Aftab A. Maroof, Dr. Anwar m. Mirza, Dr. Rauf Baig, Sir Arif Khattak and many more that it actually is beneficial to rise above your self and look at the broader national interests as the advantages derived out of this approach can ultimately transcend to yourself as well in a more satisfying and honorable manner. The names I cited above may not be familiar to many as they don't appear in self appreciation filled columns of national dailies. Neither does electronic media consider the spicy enough to invite them in their talk shows. Frankly these gentlemen don't bother about such things as well. They believe in serving the way they deem fit and that is sufficient for them.

The purpose of writing all this tale is to familiarize you with the circumstances which have caused me to write this blog. In 2009, I joined University Institute of Information Technology, a small, almost non existent centre of IT and CS education in a grand Arid Agriculture University of Rawalpindi. The institute seemed as misplaced in an agriculture university as a camel on north pole. On the eve of my joining UIIT, a lot of voices around me were telling me to reconsider my decision based on some "hard" ground realities. But UIIT had a special attraction for me.

This institute was perhaps the only place (and still is) of IT and CS education where a child of a poor man didn't need to dream of some OSP or "financial help" to get quality education. Where anyone from anywhere in Pakistan could get admission provided they met the open merit criteria (remember the transparent test fiascoes happening all around these days...in UETs and NUSTs). This was the only place where 80 percent of students winning admission never needed to lower their ego to keep their education going. And remaining 20 percent always had financial situation available. And by the way those 80 percent students were also not of upper class background. They belonged to lower and lower middle class of the society. And this particular institute nurtured them to compete with all the other students coming from such trendy instituters. This institute, in my opinion, is a treasure for whole Pakistan where 1400 students get a chance to acquire best CS and IT education for as low as 8 thousand rupees and maximum high of 20 thousand rupees per semester. This was my motivation to Join UIIT and same was true for several others. It was our way of returning to society what it bestowed upon us. And we have been very happy with this decision.

One more way in which we have been trying in our own way to help these students is by conducting annual Open House event since 2009. In this way, we have been successful in presenting these students to the software houses where even the name of this institute was previously not known. Today, we are proud that in these events, we were successful in sending many talented students to these organizations. This has been my pet project at UIIT and conduct of the event every time has been like a dream come true.

And the same time has again approached. UIIT Open House 2011 is going to be held tomorrow, 27th July, 2011. We have again put our best effort to use in making the event successful. We have displayed the best projects, collected the best research work and made the best arrangements possible to make the event a truly memorable experience. Now, it is up to you to stand up and make your contribution. We expect you to come forward and visit us. Appreciate the talent of the students. Ask your friends in influential places to visit us and induct suitable students in their organizations. Make these students realize that Pakistan value talent irrespective of your background, ethnicity, region etc. Show to the world that we are a nation of 180 million people and everyone of these 180 million people is going to shoulder everyone. That is how nations evolve and that is how our nation will evolve finally.

We live in times of opportunities. We have missed many opportunities as a nation in the past. When we were young, we always lamented those who let the opportunities pass. Today, we have the power. We can grab this moment for our nation. The only question is...Shall we also let it pass? I hope I know your answer but still I am afraid of our history. Best of luck for those who have promised themselves to support us in this initiative.

Death Note from a Nation...Sorry I am the one to say this but I guess we should start saying this now

Death Note from Pakistan...Death Note from me and Death Note from you as well...You can also call it a condolence message sent from a dead to itself....You may not like it (infarct you definitely won't like it) but You can't avoid it either...We have been in a state of denial for not just past 70 years....that is belittling the history...we the residents of region called Sindh (Indus...yes I buy that ideology that we are Indus people not Indian people) have been in this state of denial for centuries...But someone has to talk and we need to do a lot of honest straight forward talking amongst ourselves if we want a true Pakistan for ourselves and our children. We need a constructive dialogue and a new social contract...so here goes my death note...

Sialkot brothers was a big news and then we agreed that it was totally fine to kill the way they were killed because they were supposedly murderers...For us...Salman Taseer murder was a big news and then it was totally fine to kill him the way he was killed because he was supposedly blasphemer.......Innocent girls and boys in Jamia Hafsa complex first indoctrinated in absurdly wrong interpretation of religion by one and then murdered in the name of national security by other and what happened to any of those culprits? So many killed by militants in the name of religion in Swat and then so many murdered extra judiciously in the name of national interest...How many dead bodies recovered from Green Chowk of Swat but just a news for us...a means to spend our evening busy lamenting others so that our own faces remain hidden...., Kharootabad, Baluchistan, Lahore, Karachi everywhere.......So many innocents murdered in the name of religion and retaliation against injustice in suicide bombings and blasts and it was just a news for us...So many killed in the name of national interest, international brotherhood, classified operations etc and it was just a news happening far away from us...for us same story happened everywhere...it has always been the same...a good news...an excellent story for our greedy ears...a means to keep our evenings busy.....a means to hide our ugly face behind corrupt politicians and generals....we ourselves remained the same corrupt, dishonest, dual thinking, hypocrite, trigger happy, conspiracy loving people always blaming others....have we ever thought that no matter how cruel and callous any other is...how big an enemy of ourselves we have become?

Have we ever realized that we as a nation are so corrupt, insensitive and hypocritical that perhaps we are nothing but a source of embarrassment both for our religion and our national founders? Have we ever realized that these politicians, these bureaucrats, these generals are nothing but a mirror of us and are treating us this way only because we can't stop them? We can't stop them not because we are not strong....but because we ourselves are equally corrupt? Shall we ever realize that change doesn't come from top? Whenever, we try to bring change from top, it is just momentarily (even if it comes) and nothing more than charisma? Shall we ever understand that only lasting change will come from within us? It will come from bottom and it will only come if we start facing the truth with honesty. Shall we ever realize that we have been left with very small time to correct ourselves? We have lived as National Security state, Guardian of Islam and caretaker of interests of superpowers for decades...Isn't it the time that we need to transform into a social security state...A state not asking for people to withstand it...A state helping people to withstand their lives with honor and dignity...Have we ever realized that this state did not become a national security state by itself? We, the people made it so instead of a social security state. We desperately loved to teach everyone in the world a lesson and see what we have done with ourselves?

Shall we ever learn that history doesn't remember perished nations by the deeds of their corrupt leaders? The history remembers perished nations just as perished nations....It is our destiny after all...and it definitely can't be made by the way we are trying to build it.

And finally...about the question "Then what is the solution?"...Please don't do this to yourselves....You know the solutions and solutions are not french revolution or Chinese revolution or this and that revolution...You know the solution...do you have the courage to adopt it as well? Difficult question to ask as it requires action from 180 million people...not to change governments but to change ourselves

Express Tribune: 10 troublesome traits of the average Pakistani by Sohail Anwar

1. An average Pakistani behaves as he is told to by the establishment and/or the biased media. We do not cherish golden rules like ‘do the right thing’. Instead, we follow a de-facto rule, ‘my staff, my cattle’ An average red blooded Pakistani thinks that whatever he can get his hands on without reprisal is his property and he has full rights over it – this applies to his wife(s), children, land, cars, official post etcetera.
2. An average Joe in Pakistan will never own up to his mistake(s), because if he does, that will be an anathema to his whole family.
3. A Pakistani would do almost anything in the name of Islam, such as kill someone on simple hearsay, but will never extend his religious charity or piety for the common good of society or for women’s rights.
4. The average Pakistani has acquired the mentality that everything should come to him rather than the other way around, especially when it comes to changing a government by coming out on the streets and just letting the government know that enough is enough.
5. The average Joe in Pakistan knows what his constitutional and legal rights in civil and criminal matters, but does not know the duties that come with it and also how to exercise these rights in a responsible manner.
6. The average Pakistani will know the problem and also the remedy, but will never move an inch to solve it unless he is convinced that his interests will also be served in the process. Also, he will never try to stop a heinous crime unless the victim is his sibling(s), parent(s) or any close relation.
7. The average man believes that corruption is his right, in pursuit of happiness. The drug barons and most of the public servants of Pakistan are a practical example of this.
8. The average Joe’s idea of patriotism is messed up. It starts and ends with his native territory. If a native of Punjab believes that making a Seraiki province is a conspiracy against Punjab, he will stick with it, even though it may hurt Pakistan in the long run.
9. The lucky Pakistani who is sitting on a high post would lean towards nepotism – substituting meritocracy with nepotism has become an integral part of our culture.
10. Our idea of administration of justice is obnoxious. We bribe clerks and court officers to drag a six month case for 100 years. If the offender is powerful and the victim is helpless and less resourceful than the offender, the society favours the strong and not the weak. In the villages, women are property, which can be exchanged or violated just because a male member of a tribe did something wrong.

Express Tribune: 10 terrific traits of the average Pakistani by Tehmina Khan

1. Our warmth: I was halfway through the journey on a PIA flight back home from Toronto and the lady next to me, who was a complete stranger, said in a gruff/indignant/too-assertive-to-leave-any-room-for-argument tone of voice:

“You haven’t eaten throughout the journey, eat your dinner.”

So a lot of people, especially of the Western individual-is-might mentality would consider this rude or nosy but it really warmed my heart. A random stranger caring about what I eat is touching.  I mean, really – who does that? A sweet, motherly Pakistani aunty on a PIA flight, that’s who.

2. Our sense of humour: Yeah it’s inappropriate, kooky, nonsensical, illogical, and sometimes plain outrageous (not to mention incredibly politically incorrect), but it is our sole surviving mechanism through these incredibly hard times.
When I went to work the day after the raid in Abbottabad that launched the latest round of condemnation of our beleaguered country, a co-worker said to another:

“My condolences, I heard they shot your good friend Osama. What a tragic way to die.”

It was totally random. The co-worker at the receiving end blinked, was slightly confused, and delivered a bored comeback and went back to work – just one exchange in a series of silly exchanges that tickle the funny bone and make it easier to get through the tough challenges that face us.
3. Our passion: For food. For lawn. For bargaining. For cussing out news anchors. It is everywhere. Observe it and absorb it. Some people complain about the ‘boisterousness’ of the Punjabi people, but it was such a soothing balm after spending a stretch of time doing my Bachelor’s in the West. People are decidedly mellow there (to the point of being eerily unresponsive).
4. Our levity: Somehow the true gravitas of a situation is lost upon us. Heart attacks? Failing you’re A-levels? Root canal? Survived a suicide blast? Just observe the reactions of those around you (after the immediate aftermath of intense care and concern, of course).
It can drive you nuts when you are trying to extract the appropriate amount of sympathy and concern, but in the long run having these things brushed off changes your perspective.
Nothing is insurmountable, nothing is terrifying.
We’re pretty brave if you really think about it. Of course, you could replace “brave” with less flattering adjectives, but I’ll go with brave!
5. Our wisdom: We have a rich, ancient, and deep-rooted culture that is the opposite of superficial. Well, superficiality will always be present, of course, but I’ve noticed a depth of soul that seems to spring from our very soil (if not the people). Pay attention the next time someone offhandedly cites a Punjabi mahavra. I love such mass-scale, non-esoteric, indigenous nuggets of wit and wisdom. I mean, just the other day I saw this written on the back of a rickshaw:

“Sajjan koi koi, dushmun har koi.”

I laughed, and then I thought about it. Funny yet thought-provoking and from such an unexpected source.
6. Our stamina: Not physically – we really could do with bolstering ourselves in that arena!
I mean our stamina for things that are not necessarily fun. When our grandparents are sick, we are by their bedsides. When it’s time to study, we buckle down and study. That is a remarkable trait in everyone but especially for the young. The West is troubled with the “rebellious teenager” stereotype, but it isn’t that rampant here – quite the opposite actually.
7. Our earthiness: We are not high-maintenance; we will make do with almond oil in our hair instead of fancy products. We’re happy to wear local-artisan created kola puris. And now it is actually fashionable to be “environmentally friendly” and go for “organic” products. Yeah, we’ve been doing it for generations.
8. Our culture: I’m commenting on our culture of making sacrifices for our parents’ happiness. My friends choose their majors to make their parents happy. We have to suck it up and paste a smile on our faces when we are dragged to random people’s weddings. This ties in with our ‘stamina’ but it is our culture that snuffs out the “me, me, me, only me” monster (of course some people are impervious to this and still run around spouting that as their mantra).
9. Our talent: ‘Jay’s Toons’ on Facebook, anyone? Coke studio? Olive handmade soaps? With all the challenges these people face, somehow, their talent and genius slips through the cracks of the obstacles that are there. I can only imagine where we’d be if we actually had proper platforms and monetary incentives.
10. Our festivity: No need to elaborate. When it’s time to celebrate, we know how to do it. Good food, merry people, and our homeland – the combination is very joyous if you stop to think about it.

Is there any other country more beautiful than Pakistan? And Higher Education Commision

And is there any other nation as cruel as our nation about itself? This is the question that has been circling my mind unusually frequently these past few days. I bet many amongst those who will be reading this blog travel quite frequently within and outside Pakistan. And I am also very much sure that all of them realize why this question is haunting my mind so much. That is because the same question haunts them too.

Unfortunately, haunting don't matter really unless we have cures for these nightmares and that is exactly what lacks. We have the questions but we are really not ready to speak the answer which speaks itself within ourselves but we are not ready to even listen to it let alone speak aloud. I, like many others, have heard the answer and spoken it many times. Is there anyone who is willing to own it?

Just travel around and see what we are blessed with. We are blessed with rich fertile plains, exuberant weathers, exotic customs, flowing rivers, snow capped mountains, wonderful locations, natural resources...we may be downtrodden but we are still envy of the earth. Can any other nation be more fortunate? And these are just the very insignificant blessings of God almighty upon us. The biggest blessing for our nation is 180 million rugged, content but highly intelligent people that God was so generous to give to us. Has anyone amongst those reading it ever thought that out of these 180 million, you were the chosen ones, you were one out of a million whom God gave the opportunity to excel in your lives. You excelled and there is no problem with it. But did you return the favor? To day my question is not towards the Corrupt politicians, self centered bureaucrats, news hungry media journalists, ruthless feudals, aimless military and visonless judiciary. We talk a lot about them...that has become our pastime. For us the whole malaise lies with one person or a bunch of persons and that is absolutely wrong thinking. That is not the answer that you hear within yourselves. That is not the cure. These are but just a reflection of ourselves. My question is to all of us. What have we done to ourselves and this gifted land that was given to our ancestors as a reward of their sacrifices. Mind you, our ancestors, not the ancestors of these greedy folks I just mentioned above.

We, the nation is also corrupt. Anyone, in any position is behaving dishonestly in everything that we do daily. We scream about injustice, lack of governance, corruption etc but resort to same things when we are confronted with same dilemma without any hint of conscience. We are ready to earn money through any source possible. We buy the items from market which were supposed to be for flood and earthquake victims. We force young children to do domestic labor in our homes. We bunk our classes, we don't teach what we should, we don't struggle, we find shortcuts, we break lines, we give bribes, we accept bribes, we grab lands, we invest in shady deals, we don't have courage to elect honest people, we tolerate foreign invaders in the name of liberty, we tolerate terrorists in the name of struggle for religion, we impose our ideology upon others, we don't speak out for the truth, we celebrate the killings....the list is endless...We, the nation's chosen ones are rotting ourselves.

And this is the answer. This answer speaks within ourselves, we don't own it. The answer was told centuries ago by our prophet. The answer was again and again reminded by our own scholars. The answer is written everywhere but we have become so blind to it that it even surprises us when we are confronted with this answer. We were the chosen 10, 20 million people of this land...educated, employed, bright etc etc. God almighty and this nation invested so much in all of us. Will the remaining 160 million not ask us what we owed and what we returned? Are not we as much culprits as all those greedy, power hungry so called stakeholders that I mentioned afew paragraphs above? Don't we deserve to be punished?

I again ask all of us (including myself)....have we ever looked in the eyes of the children on street? How bright, how full of life, how intelligent they are. They are scattered everywhere. They are our children. They did not choose their parents and neither did us. They did not choose their nation and neither did us. But we got the fairer deal which they did not. We still whine but they don't. They need very little from us. They don't need Grameen banks, KASHF foundation, Alkhidmat or even EDHI and Shaukat Khanum from us. All they need from us is for us to be honest and to be forthright. Are we willing to do that?

There may be many amongst us who may be thinking that this doesn't apply to them. They are very honest. They preach good. They are practicing Muslims. They studied with dedication and found job on merit. They have achieved everything through belief in God and their effort. However, I will still say, you (myself included again) are not honest and you know I am saying truth. Move beyond your personal self. Preach good, become unbiased, struggle to become good citizen not just a good self which suits your personality. Become balance, become moderate. Don't impose and don't be budged. Don's accept anything wrong because it suits the mindset that is close to you. Think of this nation and what really really suits it.

Higher Education Commission was and is one such moderate success story where some people like us thought and made efforts to bring some good changes in their domain of work. Hats off to Dr. Atta ur Rehman for his vision. He worked under a dictator but none can doubt his sincerity and passion for Pakistan. He brought meaningful change literally in Pakistan. Quality of education improved significantly. Quality research emerged. As a nation, we were for the first time exposed to highest level of international research within Pakistan solely through his efforts. Today more than 10 thousand Pakistanis are serving in various universities all around the world as a consequence of his and HEC efforts. Within 10 years, HEC has been able to change international landscape which was once occupied by Indian scholars but today, they have to compete with scholars from Pakistan. I know from personal experience that South Korea and Italy prefer Pakistani scholars and scientists over Indian scientists due to their intelligence and breadth of knowledge. I don't this this is a trivial feat. Then look at the quality of studies and research improvement within national universities. It is easy to sit in an easy chair and give talks about so called fictitious research. Matter of the fact is that the only group who worked tirelessly in this past decade to bring any meaningful change in the society was academia and the students. The teachers went back to their class rooms and labs and students followed them. This was also mainly due to efforts of Dr. Atta and his team at HEC. They improved infrastructure of national universities. Brought the idea of sponsored research projects. Encouraged the concept of rewarding the ingenuity. Today, there is at least some awareness of conducting meaningful research within the universities. Many think producing PhDs was actually a non achievement and I can simply laugh at their small sightedness. Each PhD produced by HEC made at least ten internationally reputable scientists and researchers know about the potential of Pakistan through participation in international conferences, journal publications in their highly cited journals, thesis evaluations and finally thesis defense. If one PhD scholar supported by HEC was able to make ten influential scientists of the world know about Pakistan and still, we were not able to take advantage of it, is it the fault of PhD scholars and HEC? Or, it is a grim reality check to all policy makers of this country about how pathetic their planning has been that they have absolutely ruined the ten years struggle and effort of these motivated researcher in utter disregard to national interest?

HEC is not perfect. It is again a mirror of us. It may have committed several errors and misdeeds which should be investigated. It is after all run by humans like us. It should be answerable to public accounts committee like all other watch dogs. But the way, HEC is being used for political mileage, the way academia is being ridiculed by ignorant policy makers, headline greedy media anchors and those few politicians who have no vision of themselves (I am speaking about all those politicians who are either opposing HEC in the foolish tone or even supporting it without any logic only to gain sympathies) is devastating. As memebrs of academia, I am so proud of the fact that we never craved for media limelight. We always preferred to perform our duties without any wish to be recognized. That is moral strength of our tribe. Being part of this community, I stand proud and say that we, the scholars, the teachers, the researchers and finally HEC did much better than many other of the chosen ones. We are proud of our effort and we won't let anyone snatch it. The issue of devolution of HEC has been used for political point scoring. No one is against devolution amongst us from academia. It is good but it should be streamlined and core concerns such as curriculum, standardization, infrastructure, verifications, oversight should still remain with a totally autonomous, answerable and independent Higher Education Commission.

It has become a very large blog today but there were so many things on my mind. In the end, I will just like to say that it is spring here in Pakistan and is not going to last very long as summer is approaching. Take out that car, jeep bike of yours....travel along GT road...look at all the colors of Pakistan, absorb them within yourself. Stop at as many roadside dhabbas (cafes) as possible and share their smiles and joys of this spring. Stand up for Pakistan. Here is a beautiful new presentation by STRINGS called "Mein to Dekhoon Ga" which translated roughly into "For sure, I am bound to witness". A superb work, a heart touching wish and a mesmerizing prayer. Feel and enjoy. Take care of yourselves and your families.