Zauq-e-Aagahi, Quresh Pur and PTV's role in Inspiring a Generation of Knowledge Seekers

Once upon a time on PTV we used to have quiz competitions of the highest order. I grew up with many such programs that made me look up to the contestants as the wizards of knowledge. Unfortunately today on TV we find nothing except crass, gross, coarse and vulgar competitions like programs where they are competing on everything except knowledge. These so called competitions have promoted lust for money and has encouraged people to perform any wild and vulgar act just to gain a gift for which begging and stooping low becomes the order of the day. They have any thing except inspiration for pursuit of knowledge.

Exemplary Inspirational and Collaborative Leadership - Dr Hasan Sohaib Murad

Today (Sep 10, 2018), with the departure of Dr Hasan Sohaib Murad for the hereafter. I lost a mentor, a guide and a trail blazer who exemplified what does it mean to be an inspirational leader. Inna lillah e wa inna ilaihi rajioon. A loss that seems more acute because I could have learned much more from him than what I did. Here I relate my observations about his achievements as a great collaborative leader, an inspiration for all those who met him, and my learning from him.

"Skin in the Game" Public Service Reforms in Pakistan- A Proposal

The fastest way to reform the public sector is to bring the bureaucracy's skin in the "game" of changing the bureaucratic structures and increasing the efficiency. Unless the decision makers are themselves going to feel the adverse consequences of their decisions and hurdles they would not be willing to make positive changes in improving the efficiency and reducing the long term costs of their decisions. Here are some of the reforms that will expedite the change in bureaucratic structures and efficiency for the better by involving all ministers and grade 18 and above officers (VIPs). (i) All ministers and grade 18 and above bureaucrats must be forced to get medical treatment only from government hospitals. They must be compelled to use the same process, same queues, same medicines, same wards and same food that is being given to any other patient. This is being implemented by Indus Hospital and even SIUT for all patients irrespective of the status or affiliation of the patients. (ii) Similarly, all ministers and grade 18 and above bureaucrats must be forced to get their children enrolled in government schools and universities. This should be done with a provision that no two VIPs are allowed to go into the same school till all the schools have at least one VIP. The latter provision would force all schools to be upgrades instead of a few reserved for VIPs. (iii) Similarly, such provisions could be designed for all other public services using the parameter of average case disposal time. (iv) For example, to reform AGPR's pension process, the VIPs should not be allowed to get their pension process approved in a time period less than the average time taken by other pension applicants. (v) (vi) Similarly, to expedite the passport or CNIC application process, the VIPs should not be allowed to get their application process earlier than the average time taken by the people. (vii) There should be no special protocol for any VIP of any stature whether from judiciary or intelligence or military. VIPs should be entitled to that security which is available to common people. (viii) To improve the public transport service, all grade 18+ officers must be forced to travel via public bus services or Pakistan Railways to their nearest destination irrespective of the nature of their work. No official cars should be allowed on routes where public bus service or railway service is available. All air travel should be banned for the VIPs. (ix) Similarly, disposal of cases of serving judges and other VIPs should not be done earlier than the average time of disposal of all cases at a particular stage (trial court, high court or supreme court stage). (x) For Police Reforms, no VIP's case should be taken out earlier than any other applicant in the queue. The procedure must be the same for everyone. Any exceptional call that is received by the police on any mobile number of office number must be visible to all the public. One can then work out other such processes for all the other public services.

Flight from Bedar when Hyderabad Deccan fell to Indian Invasion in 1948

This post describes my maternal family's flight from Bedar Hyderabad at the time of the annexation of the Nizam-ruled princely state of Hyderabad Deccan by Indian forces in September 1948. 

See podcast of my mother's sister Arsalan Khatoon who was among the group that had to run empty handed with her mother, brothers and sisters. 

https://soundcloud.com/citizensarchive/arsalan-khatoon-podcast

"Operation Polo is the code name of the Hyderabad "police action" in September 1948, by the newly independent India against the Hyderabad State.  It was a military operation in which the Indian Armed Forces invaded the Nizam-ruled princely state, annexing it into the Indian Union. At the time of Partition in 1947, the princely states of India, who in principle had self-government within their own territories, were subject to subsidiary alliances with the British, giving them control of their external relations. In the Indian Independence Act 1947 the British abandoned all such alliances, leaving the states with the option of opting for full independence. However, by 1948 almost all had acceded to either India or Pakistan. One major exception was that of the wealthiest and most powerful principality, Hyderabad, where the Nizam, Osman Ali Khan, Asif Jah VII, a Muslim ruler who presided over a largely Hindu population, chose independence and hoped to maintain this with an irregular army recruited from the Muslim aristocracy, known as the Razakars." [Wikipedia]

See also:

• Sardar Mamoo - Reliance and Tawakal on Allah- Life is to give and not to take
• Traditions of Ramadan: Reflections of Past Ramadans for Rekindling
• Role Model of Forthrightness, Calm and Resourcefulness: Daud Khaloo
• Sardar Mamoo - Reliance and Tawakal on Allah- Life is to give and not to take
• Smoking and Childhood 
• Recollection of an Unforgettable Recitation of Majaz's Nazr-e-Aligarh
• Ethical Standards for writing Recommendation Letter: A Deputy Commissioner's refusal in 1943
• Family Tree of Sadat e Nehtaur: A Case Study of Compilation of Social History
• Edhi, Old Home and our Bari Bi
• Rememberance of the Loved Ones and Life
• Remembering East Pakistan: We look before and after, And pine for what is not
• Computer Revolution and Moore's Law: A Personal Journey
• Companions of Hajj: Dekh mera Zauq o Shauq (Yearning and Passion)
• Pursuit of Excellence vs Guzara: How to teach excellence through everyday examples
• Of Achars, Chutneys and Halwas: A Lifestyle Getting Lost Through Branding and Mass Production
• Secret of Happiness: One Simple Rule
• How Language Acquisition is Made Difficult for Children: Eight Lessons from an Urdu Acquisition Case Study
• Of Jungles, Streams, Berries and Wild Pink Flowers: Costs of Commercialization of Islamabad
• How to find "Buzurg" and "Wali" of Allah
• How to Sprinkle Happiness Around You: Javed Bhai (Dr Zaeem Jafri) – A Jolly Good Fellow
• Ansari Sb: Khawjgan e Chisht Ahle Bahisht
• Rauf Mamoo - How to Make People Feel Special and Close

Essential Orientation for Teachers and Faculty Members

Essential Orientation for Faculty Members, Teachers and Facilitators embarking on a journey to understand experiential learning and weaning away from the conventional mode of teaching. In my opinion this is the minimum level of understanding required by teachers of schools and universities.To maximally gain from this material, watch the following videos and read the following blog posts. Then write your reflections by connecting the ideas to your experience or observation.

Videos

• Sir Ken Robinson: Changing Education Paradigms
• Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?
• Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution!
• Angela Duckworth: Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
• John Hunter on the World Peace Game
• Diana Laufenberg: How to learn? From mistakes
• Sam Richards - A Radical Experiment in Empathy
• Kiran BirSethi teaches kids to take charge
• SugataMitra's new experiments in self-teaching
• Cameron Herold: Let's raise kids to be entrepreneurs
• Arvind Gupta: Turning trash into toys for learning
• Kathryn Schulz: On being wrong
• Deb Roy: The birth of a word
• Patricia Ryan: Don't insist on English!
• Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are by Amy Cudy 
• Parhogelikhoge by Dawn News Channel
• Alan Kay shares A powerful idea of ideas
• Play is more than Fun 

Essential Blog Posts

These are the essential blog posts from my blog at syedirfanhyder.blogspot.com:

• How STEM and Learning is made difficult
• Why Project Based Learning? An Experiential Learning Case Study of Language Teaching
• How Language Acquisition is Made Difficult for Children: Eight Lessons from an Urdu Acquisition Case Study
• Subject Compartmentalization vs Holistic Learning: How to align with natural process of learning of a child
• Problems with Bloom's Taxonomy: Impact on Curriculum and Motivation of Students
• Education as Tazkia: Is a child like a clean slate?

See also:

For the list of all my posts on School Education, click here

For the list of all my posts on Higher Education, click here

For the list of all my posts related to PhD and Research, click here

Suo-moto judgment for Criminal Cases vs Summary Military Trials (Kangroo Courts)

I would like to invite those interested in law and constitution to comment on this post. Here I am looking at the role of Suomoto Judgment in criminal cases and cases related to corruption. I think suo-moto was originally conceived in the constitution for constitutional cases and constitutional rights cases that require immediate action where general interest of people is being violated.

How suo-moto cases of supreme court
compare with summary military trial courts

How to be a Change Leader and a Job Creator

[IoBM Orientation for New Students Sep 1, 2018]
As I look at your beaming faces, your youthful energy, and your ambitions for shaping the future of our nation and our dear country, I am filled with hope. I am sure that our future is destined to be better than our today. It is also welcoming to see that "change" and "job creation" are among our top national priorities today. Today I would like to share with you how you can be a change leader and how you can be a job creator.

Technical Analysis of Helicopter Cost Debate for PM Imran Khan Travel

Recently Pakistan's information minister's claim that the helicopter ride of PM Imran Khan costs Rs50/km became viral on social media and caused a lot of posts debunking and defending with humor and exaggeration. There were also claims that the cost is Rs 30/km and not Rs 50/km and led to cynics doing all sorts of projections on the basis of these costs leading to outrageous conclusions leading to start of public transport service, parcel service and food service. Here is a technical analysis of this helicopter cost debate requires cost accounting, financial management and strategic management concepts as well as some common sense.

How to Sabotage Change (Tabdeeli) by Turning the Focus from Output to Input

Change Resistance from bureaucracy against IK's "tabdeeli" agenda through very clever manoeuvre by taking IK's eyes off the ball (output). By opening the Pandora box of holidays per week, Sir Humphery (of Yes Prime Minister serial fame) or equivalent senior bureaucrat in the IK's clique had turned the debate away from "output" measurement and towards "input" measurement; no one wants to know how much input (#days, #hours ) bureaucrats are giving per week. People n PTIans do not want to know whether bureaucrats are inputting 5 days or 6 days per week, or whether they are inputting 6 hours or 8 hours per day. This is input measurement. They want concrete measurable output. #jobscreated, #homes constructed, #cases resolved by courts, reduction in #kidsdropouts from school,... People want "output" not "input".

Traditions of Ramadan: Reflections of Past Ramadans for Rekindling

This is a time to reflect on our traditions and culture of Ramazan. I am wondering how many of Pakistanis are still experiencing these. There are some disturbing posts on FB and also through some of my interactions with others that inform me that it is not only time to reflect but also to rekindle these traditions through a conscious sustained effort. We can no longer take for granted some of these traditions wherever they are continuing. Here I reflect on my life and learning over the last 55 years with many of these traditions

How Long Pakistan has been Under the Corrupt Rule when Imran Khan Tookover

Only RAW agents or traitors can claim that IK has inherited 30-70 years of corruption in Pakistan. At most there can only be 10 years (2008-18) of corruption because by 2008 Gen Musharraf through his 9 years of most clean anti-corruption dictatorial rule had eliminated ALL corruption. During this rule, Gen Musharraf had completely obliterated corruption,  which was accumulated during bloody civilians' corruption infested rule during 1988-99. Pl note that by 1988, ultra-patriotic Gen Zia's anti-corruption martial law of 11 years had completely cleansed Pakistan from all the corruption that only ZAB must have accumulated during his 1971-77 rule. Of course ZAB corrupted a Pakistan that he got completely corruption-free. Pakistan was cleansed of all corruption through tireless n sustained efforts of two ultra-patriotic dictators Gen Ayub n Gen Yahya. Gen Ayub n Gen Yahya's rule spanned 14 years from 1958 to Dec 1971, through which they obliterated corruption accumulated by the bloody civilians since the inception of Pakistan. These patriotic dictators achieved this through angels descending from heavens and by 1971, by 1988, and by 2008 they had left the country pristine and blemish-free from any crime n corruption. Hence, all n every bit of corruption that exists today ONLY occurred during corrupt rule of ultra corrupt bloody civilians over the last 10 years.

• How Corruption is being Eliminated in Pakistan since 1950s: Corruption as a Ruse to Maintain Status Quo

Ghaus e Buner (Swat), Syed Ali Tirmidhi's Descendant Syed Akbar Shah of Sathana

By Muhammad Shafi Sabir

Tazkara Sarfaroshan e Sarhad: Syed Akbar Shah of Sathana

One of the most vocal and active resistance leader against the Sikh Regime's injustices was Syed Akbar Shah of Sathana. He belonged to the family of Ghaus e Buner, Hazrat Syed Ali Tirmidhi also known as Pir Baba Rahmatullah Alaihe. In tribute of Syed Akbar Shah, British Historians have this to say: "The death of Swat's Ruler Syed Akbar Shah on the 11th of May 1857 was a good omen for our Government. This was the day when news of the war of independence had reached our offices in Peshawar. If he were alive by this time, then the political scenario of the Frontier would have been much different."

• I want to explore links of this lineage with Syed Hasan Tirmizi in my Family Tree of Sadat e Nehtaur: A Case Study of Compilation of Social History One of the objective of this post is to stimulate some researcher to find the link between the two shajras with common ancestors in Tirmiz.

Market Value vs Cost Declaration of Properties in Tax Returns

Why variations in property value declarations in nomination papers?
Do u know property is declared for tax purposes at its purchase value, also known as book value? 
500yds DHA plot bought in 1990 for (say) 3 lacs is declared at 3 lacs, not its current market value which can be 3crores!
Rationale: Will you pay tax every year for property value appreciation? What if your property depreciates? Will you ask for tax credit? What scams will this fluctuations and adjustments may cause? What about fluctuations in stocks?
Hence, capital gains tax is only levied at the time of sale of the asset, when sale price is subtracted from purchase price. The difference becomes capital gains, and is taxed as Capital Gain Tax.

Property or land will be declared as per purchase value as well as current value in Election Commission assets declaration both, but only purchase value (at the time of purchase) will be provided in Election nomination papers. Also there is only property tax no wealth tax as of now, but we need to submit wealth statement with tax returns, property tax is provincial tax not federal.

As per IFRS and GAAP all properties supposed to be disclosed at cost or market value which ever is lower. Any depreciation needs to adjusted in balance sheet, but not enhance in the market value. So it should be at cost.

Neocolonialism and Indian Agenda for Pakistan

Neocolonialism and Indian agenda for Pakistan consists of the following points that they use their stooges in Pakistan to promote:

1. FATF restrictions on foreign trade. Further throttle whatever exports remain. Check!
2. Convert CPEC from "game changer" to "game over" (in progress)
3. Convert Positive sentiments into negative sentiments for outlook on Pakistan's Economic Progress. Check!
4. Change the election discourse from competition on development to competition on muck throwing (libel, slander, invectives). Check!
5. Stultify growth in domestic sectors by stopping investments in high growth industry and real estate sector. (in progress)
6. Convince world powers that Pakistan is not a democracy and is being controlled. Check!
7. Keep Pakistan perpetually destabilized and perpetually developing and perennially in ICU, and for ever dependent on WB, IMF,.. .
8. Make provinces fight against each other. Create conditions where people turn against state. (in progress)
9. Stop urban centers from becoming lively and engines of growth and keep them as ghettos that are dirty, violent, and unlivable.
10. Stop and stultify the vibrant and emerging social sector and government partnerships in health, education, poverty alleviation and environment.

Dr Muhammad Mahmud of IBA: A Self-made Industrious Faculty Member

Dr M Mahmud expired early morning of July 12, 2018. Inna lillah e wa inna ilaihi rajioon. May Allah reward him with the best of abodes in the hereafter. Aameen. Allah blessed him with 27th Ramazan night to start this journey.

He was an alumnus of IBA. His association with IBA started in 1967-68 in the accounts section and extended for over 40+ years. At the time of death, he was associated with IoBM as faculty and professor of finance and accounting department. He had been at IoBM for the last several years, and had also been HoD of Accounting and Finance department. As Dean, I found him to be diligent, conscientious professional who would take all his responsibilities seriously.

Dr Muhammad Mehmud (d. 2018)

Is Pakistan under a Judicial Martial Law? CJMLA parallel with CMLA

What is common between Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA) and a Chief Judicial Martial Law Administrator (CJMLA) or a Chief Executive Martial Law Administrator (CEMLA)?
"A creeping coup has taken place against the authority of the civilian government. The coup has taken place very quietly before the election," Mr Farhatullah Babar said in a seminar [1]. "It is different from the martial law of the past, with two resulting outcomes: the civilian government exists, but has no authority; press freedom exists, but journalists have no freedom."

This "creeping coup" is defined by this post as a Judicial Martial Law, a term which was formally demanded by Shaikh Rashid [2] on March 23, 2018. Despite pretensions to the contrary by the Chief Justice to have burred the Doctrine of Necessity [?], the scope creep of suo-motto notices across all organs of state and government demonstrate otherwise. This post argues that currently we seem to be under a Judicial Martial Law because the scope-creep of suo-motto has gone beyond the limits of the constitution and is now exhibiting the prominent distinctive attributes of a conventional army led martial law. The common attributes shared by the two versions of martial law include arrogation of the powers of the three pillars of the democratic state into a single person along with usurpation of the constitutional rights of due process of law and freedoms, specifically the right of expression, and a travesty of justice through an arbitrary and discretionary application of law and constitution through selective judgments that are contradictory to each other. 

Express news of March 23, 2018

Lesson from Decade of Development of Dictator Gen Ayub Khan: Development without People Representation

Do we want to build yet another big dam without building consensus among all the affected provinces? Do we again want to forget the disastrous consequences in our history when development projects were steamrolled without people's consent? We see in our media yet another drive to hammer the benefits of Kalabagh Dam (KBD) while relying only on technical feasibility data and completely ignoring the real reason for opposition, namely, the trust-deficit of the smaller provinces as explained in the linked post. This post reveals the reality of Gen Ayub's construction of seven dams during 1960s, which is being used to heap accolades on the role of dictator in Pakistan's development. The use of this approach in support of KBD is again going to be a recipe for disaster and alienation if we fail to  understand that "a nation that forgets history is forgotten by history!" Our history tells us that development projects of the 1960s, which were forced down the throat of the people without their representation, had led to disastrous results. The case of seven dams built in West Pakistan during 1960s which is being promoted on the social media as a great gift of dictator Gen Ayub Khan to Pakistan was one of the greatest disservice done to Pakistan. The naive dictator, caught in the spell of his neo-colonial handlers, may have been hoodwinked into believing with good intentions that "big" development projects benefit the people. However, the grandiose development projects ended up confirming the suspicion of Bengalis of East Pakistan that they were being disenfranchised by West Pakistanis. The development was a ploy and its visible concentration only in the West, was only designed to benefit the West Pakistanis. This feeling of injustice and disenfranchisement exploded when Gen Yahya, another military dictator from West Pakistan, refused to handover the power to Awami League, the political party from East Pakistan led by Shaikh Mujeeb that had won the 1970 elections. This led to mass protests in East Pakistan, followed by a brutal army operation, which finally culminated in secession of East Pakistan in 1971 as Bangladesh.

A Tribute to Cricket for Spearheading my English Language Acquisition - Sports and Language Learning

I often see parents worrying about language skills of their children. A closer look at the hobbies of such children will indicate that they are not passionate about any hobbies especially sports. Here I would detail the role of cricket in spearheading my English language acquisition.  As my interest grew, with cricket and started following the cricket there were some milestones.

The book that I read in 1980s

[Work in Process]
Coming soon

Role Model of Forthrightness, Calm and Resourcefulness: Daud Khaloo

I can still hear the distinctive sound of Daud Khaloo's Java motor cycle coming from afar in 1970s calm and quiet  Khawaja Nazimuddin Road portion of F-6/4 of Islamabad near China Chowk. It was the time when Shahrah-e-Quaid e Azam and the adjoining buildings  now known as the Blue Area had not yet been constructed, nor were there any high rises on Khawaja Nazimuddin Road.  The putt-putt of the Java motorcycle would announce his coming with Good Beti (Khala Jan) from the small bridge near our house in those clear, serene times of Islamabad. My mother and father would start issuing instructions on hearing this announcement to prepare for their reception.

Jawa motorcyle like this was brought by Daud Khaloo from USSR

Sardar Mamoo - Reliance and Tawakal on Allah- Life is to give and not to take

"Shah M Mubeen ur Rehman known in the family as Sardar was my ماموں  and veteran of wars of 1965 and 1971 (Baluch Regiment) and passed away with metastatic cancer in 1992. He along with his brother Shah M Ismail, served as رضا کار during Hyderabad Indian army action in 1948 and narrowly escaped death at the hands of Indian military. His older brother Shah M Farid ur Rehman was also a volunteer and was martyred during the migration following the partition of India, when the train he was travelling in was cut and the passengers were lynched by the mobs. His body was never found. An acquaintance who was sent to search for Farid Mamoo reported that he saw a body matching the description of the jacket that he was wearing.