September 28, 2017 – Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

September 28, 2017

Finding the real Ali Zafar – II

The singer-songwriter and movie star talks to Instep about social media, the emergence of his brother Danyal Zafar and his penchant for writing poetry.

Ali Zafar is having an eventful year. Currently in the news for rightly supporting Pakistan’s most popular female star – who is in the eye of a storm for appearing in what remains an innocuous image – Zafar is otherwise content with the way things are shaping up. He’s shot for his first official Pakistani film, Teefa in Trouble, that is presently in post-production stage. He also enjoyed a decent run on the recently concluded tenth edition of Coke Studio with ‘Julie’, ‘Yo Soch’ and ‘Uss Rah Par’. He has also partnered with iflix Pakistan as their ambassador for Pakistan.

In this conversation with Instep, the singer-songwriter and movie star shines a light on his take on social media, the upcoming Teefa in Trouble and matters pertaining to poetry.

Instep: Why was Teefa in Trouble shot (partly) in Poland?

Ali Zafar (AZ): We wanted a slightly different architecture and there’s a different feel to it. Upon exploration it became apparent that Poland was meeting all of our requirements.

Instep: What genre does the film fall under?

AZ: You can call it romantic/action/comedy. It has all the flavours. It has romance, song and dance. It has a substantial amount of comedy but it also has substantial action. See, our audience wants everything, like a mixed plate or a buffet. That said, there is nothing senseless in the film.

Instep: We’re living in the age of Facebook and while it has helped artists in connecting with fans directly, it is also true that it has led to invasion of privacy to a degree. It has created keyboard warriors who unleash hate and troll and harass. Artists are also scrutinized in horrifying fashion. How do you deal with it?

AZ: Negativity is a form of energy and it has to come out somewhere. As a society we are enveloped to a great degree in negativity due to various reasons including social and political ones. People have to take out this negativity somewhere and so the Internet has become a tool. The way they express themselves is through social media and they have a voice. Everybody has a voice, which is a good thing. However, people also need to understand that every thought has the power to manifest itself. So thought become words and words become action. Hence, we should think and speak positively. Only by reciprocating negativity with positivity and love, meditation and prayer will we find solace.

Instep: On one hand, Danyal (Zafar) clearly has a following as has been established by the strong numbers that followed his debut appearance on Coke Studio. But, on the other hand, there is the accusation that his appearance on the production was not based on merit alone but was a ‘parchi’ entry. What do you say to that?

AZ: When I started out and ‘Channo’ became a hit, so many people spoke ill of me and called me a one-hit wonder. My point is that whenever you are greeted by success and you become an overnight star, two things happen. One, you get a lot of love and two, you are criticized. It happened to me but to counter it you should take the positive criticism and not let negativity affect you.

Danyal, too, has taken the same approach. When you know what you are from inside and you know the truth, then you are not afraid of anything. Like when I came with ‘Channo’, I knew that I was more than a one-hit wonder that many were calling me. And it’s been 14 years so the way you prove yourself is with work. Similarly, Danyal will have to prove himself through his work over the years. I would say that what you saw of Danyal in that one song (‘Muntazir’) was not even ten percent of his talent and what he can actually do. At the same time, his journey will be his alone. During Coke Studio 10, he himself had sent them the demos. They heard the demos and auditioned him and then he was given a song and that too was a duet. Now that song is number one and is ahead of all other songs, that’s his kismet.

Instep: How do you go about making music when approached for projects like Pakistan Super League? Do you go by a brief? What about personal songs?

AZ: I completely compartmentalize it. If I’m commissioned to do a song for PSL, I will make it while keeping in mind the fact that the song is supposed to play at the stadium and on TV. It has to connect with all those who are watching the match. I know that I have to write a song that people can sing along to so I go about it accordingly. If it’s something personal then I’ll make a ‘Jhoom’ or a ‘Julie’. In the case of the latter, it speaks about love and compassion and how material things don’t matter. It is a message through which I want to tell people to not run after fame or money. Everybody’s chasing it blindly but actual happiness lies somewhere else. So in my music I want to echo that sentiment. Recently I’ve been writing poetry and posting it so people become a bit more attentive towards literature. You can’t detach from all of it and just spend time on Facebook. You need to connect and reconnect with all the knowledge and wisdom that is so readily available to you.

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September 28, 2017

Spare the young ones

EVER SINCE the law-enforcement agencies (LEAs) stumbled upon the fact that high-grade universities are also producing terrorists, something that the underprivileged citizens have known for years, they have been in a state of panic and are prescribing cures that cause much apprehension in well-informed circles.

The first reaction of the LEAs to the discovery that a suspected terrorist had been attending a public university was to conclude that they should have a record of all the students in the country, from school-going children to those attending higher classes at universities and other institutions. All those who know what an entry in police records means were alarmed at the blatant threat to students’ basic rights.

Then a police official came up with a far more perverse proposal that the authorities should watch and report the formation of any group on campus and also keep a watch on students who start regularly performing religious rituals and on female students who ‘suddenly’ take the hijab. This could easily lead to the hounding of students who might be forming groups to study together or to discuss problems they face in classrooms or in hostels or who wish to get together for singing or merely to share jokes.

Keeping watch also means spying on fellow students which is bound to lead to harassment and blackmailing of innocent students and corruption by various administrators involved in student affairs.

Besides, these preposterous suggestions are based on the same flawed assumptions that have prevented the whole anti-terrorism drive from achieving any significant breakthrough, namely, concentrating on catching radicalised students instead of tackling the factors that go into the making of educated, and in many cases highly educated, terrorists. When we refer to students in higher classes at colleges and universities we mean young girls and boys in the 19- to 25-year age bracket; no section of the population has been so consistently neglected as them. The youth policy drafted many years ago expired before being implemented. And the ongoing crackdown on NGOs is preventing the latter from conducting youth-related activities. Indeed, the youth are rarely mentioned in official schemes for the people’s socioeconomic advancement.

Amongst the few official documents in which the youth are mentioned is the one used to launch the Pakistan Vision 2025 — and it admits that “a large set of Pakistani youth is dissatisfied, frustrated and in a state of disarray due to low education levels and large-scale unemployment. This has led to serious social problems including drug abuse, crime, mental disorder, terrorism and religious fanaticism”.

What is being done to solve the problems mentioned above? Is Vision 2025 still valid? The programme depended on five enablers: shared vision, political stability, peace and security, rule of law, and social justice. Are these factors of progress in place? Is the goal of increasing public expenditure on higher education from 0.2 per cent of GDP to 1.4pc and raising enrolment from 1.5 million to 5m still being pursued? Is a state that appears to be in greater disarray than the youth capable of realising its grandiose schemes?

You don’t have to look very far to find out why the youth are frustrated. Look at the big gap in enrolment up to the secondary school level and higher levels. As much as 40pc of the population in the 19- to 25-year age bracket cannot dream of higher education, and employment opportunities are declining or are not increasing significantly. The Economic Survey does tell us of programmes for training the youth in useful skills and that 100,000 young women and men will be trained in 2017-2018 and 2018-2019. These figures are subject to verification by independent evaluators and in any case they compare poorly with the demand.

Another cause of the youth’s frustration is the disadvantage that the less privileged girls and boys face in accessing quality education and better jobs. As a study by Sahe and Alif Ailan last year showed that those going to the most expensive private schools got more rewarding jobs than those attending low-tier private or government schools. It is easy to calculate the size of the dissatisfied hordes.

We may also take a look at activities/ plans that have the potential to curb young persons’ radicalisation. The government claims to have incorporated the Sustainable Development Goals in its vision, While all the 17 goals are relevant to the youth’s progress the more important ones from their point of view are: SDG 3 (good health and well-being); SDG 4 (quality education); SDG 5 (gender equality); SDG 8 (productive employment — full and productive employment and decent work for all and equal pay); SDG 10 (reduced inequalities) ;SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities); and SDG 16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions). One should like to hope that work on realising the SDGs is proceeding briskly and more efficiently than was the case with the MDGs, though the indications so far are not encouraging.

The National Action Plan to fight terrorism too has several components that deal with youth’s radicalisation but here again the emphasis has been on liquidating terrorists while their production continues unabated. The quasi-religious seminaries have become more defiant and more aggressive. Apart from producing militants, the climate of extremism, intolerance and violence promoted by them affects students and other young persons across the land. Further, the growing element of militancy and jingoism in state rhetoric is unlikely to foster peace and reason.

In this situation, students have to be won over with love and affection instead of being hounded. They need to be brought together instead of being dispersed; and engaged instead of being cast aside. Instead of turning over the campuses to the police, we must again make them centres of scientific learning where students are free to challenge conventional wisdom and to try and make the impossible possible. A campus ruled by fear will only produce another generation of morons.

Dawn

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September 28, 2017

4,312 chikungunya cases reported in Sindh alone: health deptt reported

KARACHI: Sindh during the current year has registered 4,312 cases of Chikungunya against 405 in 2016, said a report issued by provincial health department.

The officials concerned as well as seasoned professionals talking to APP attributed the situation to absolute disregard for adequate and safe disposal of garbage and rampant negligence towards sewerage and sanitation.

Acknowledging that Karachi is the worst hit, senior professionals reminded that there was strong connection between the disease and poverty.

Almost 100 per cent of the registered patients were cited to fall under the category of low income groups, mainly the slum dwellers who were not only the most vulnerable but the ailment also left serious implication on their wage earning capacities. “Chikungunya, a mosquito borne is rarely fatal, however, its associated morbidity is immense,” Professor and section head, Adult Infectious Diseases, Aga Khan University Hospital, Dr Bushra Jamil said.

High fever, joint pain (in lower back, ankle, knees, wrists or phalanges), joint swelling, rash, headache, muscle pain, nausea and fatigue are identified as its manifestation.

According to the provincial health department report three Chikungunya induced deaths were reported last year and six during the current year.

Dr Tahir Hasan, a senior epidemiologist said death rate of Chikungunya virus is less than one per cent while the ailment itself is also largely self-limiting.

“It lasts for two or three days, however, after-affects are often damaging as the affectees continue to complain of piercing pain and ache for quite some time,” he said.

The professionals were of unanimous opinion that people must protect themselves from the mosquito bite with equal attention towards eradication of their breeding points.

There was said to be no specific antiviral drug treatment for Chikungunya and that there were also no vaccine available, at the commercial scale, to prevent the ailment. Despite being largely benign, the doctors said possibility of associated complications can not be ignored and these could range from eye problems to kidney problems, skin conditions, bleeding, and hepatitis etc.

Business Recorder

September 28, 2017

City Council demands Rs500bn package for Karachi uplift

KARACHI: The city council on Wednesday passed a resolution demanding that the Sindh and federal governments immediately sanction at least Rs500 billion as a joint package for Karachi’s development.

“Karachi is a huge metropolis. It badly needs to rectify its dilapidated infrastructure [so that] people of the sixth most populated city of the world can be provided with basic civic facilities,” said the resolution passed by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) council at its general meeting at the KMC building.

The meeting, which was presided over by Deputy Mayor Arshad Vohra, passed nine resolutions of which eight were passed unanimously.

The resolution demanding Rs500bn from the provincial and federal governments for the city’s uplift was tabled by Junaid Mikati of the Jamaat-i-Islami. Fellow council member Hanif Memon seconded it.

It was passed with a majority as some members did not show their hands. Those members belonged to various parties, thus, not any particular political party opposed the resolution.

Other eight resolutions, all passed unanimously, pertained to fumigation in the city; repairing and maintenance of fire brigade vehicles; rehabilitation of a road from Gulbai to PAF Base Masroor Gate No 1 near Hawkesbay; providing funds to union committee chairmen from the fund meant for uplift of city neighbourhoods; approval for recommending award of contract for entry fee at Beach Park, Gulshan-i-Jinnah and Hill Park to the parks committee for further review.

Mr Vohra said work on 168 schemes in the city would begin on Oct 15. He said the KMC funds were being provided to union committees; however, the metropolitan authorities were engaged in carrying out patchwork on various large streets of the city.

Karamullah Waqasi, parliamentary leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, said everything including resolutions meant to be tabled in the council should first be given to the relevant committees to make them presentable. He said the performance of the district municipal corporations was better than the KMC’s.

He said the union committees were powerless despite the fact that their chairmen and members had to face their constituents, day in day out.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Aman Khan Afridi said the population of stray dogs had alarmingly increased in the city meriting immediate attention of the municipal authorities.

Mohammad Amir said Karachi was the revenue engine of the country, yet it was not being given the funds for the uplift it deserved.

Habib Hasan echoed the same demand, citing that the city should be given resources matching its population.

Advocate Arif Khan said all the departments of the municipal bodies should be free from corruption.

Firdous Naqvi of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf said the council members should be aware of the contracts being awarded by the parks and other departments.

Asif Siddiqui said the house should raise voice for restoration of the octroi tax, which had been KMC’s key source of revenue.

Comrade Jiskani said entry into the Beach Park should be free for public.

Hanif Surti, Waqar Tanoli, Kulsum Shama, Abdul Majeed, Tajuddin, and Fazal-ur-Rehman also spoke.

Estate official suspended

KMC officials said it was brought into the notice of Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar that a deputy director of the estate department had issued challans of 20 shops in Korangi-4 without his approval and “received huge sums while taking advantage of his posting” in return.

Mayor Akhtar suspended the deputy director and ordered an inquiry to investigate his ‘unauthorised and illegal’ actions. “No corrupt practice would be tolerated in the KMC and whoever is involved in such things will be immediately removed from his post and have to face strict action,” said Mayor Akhtar in a statement.

Dawn