Baba Rehmatay- From Chief Justice to Chief Executive: Tilting at the Windmills?

[To understand the context of this post, please read At What Cost! Why Compute Economic Costs of Faulty Political Decisions]

What is the constitutional role of CJP? To act as the Chief Justice who arbiters when there is a constitutional conflict between law passed by parliament and executive decision making, or is the CJP role to assume powers of the Chief Executive and start controlling  the executive decision making?  Given the recent intrusion into the executive policy making, Baba Rehmatay through an indiscriminate use of the the suo-motto powers, appears to be morphing from the role of Chief Justice in to the role of Chief Executive? Is CJP responsible for framing  (i) sugar policy, (ii) health policy, (iii) salt policy, (iv) education policy, (v) water policy, (vi) drugs policy, (vii) milk policy, (viii) media policy? Is CJP the framer of investigations policy, procedures and schedules for JITs, and NAB, is he the final approver of executive appointments, and determinant of hiring policy? The news reports below, quoting the remarks and observations of CJP, indicate that he is on a mission. Is the mission extending beyond the constitutional boundaries of judiciary? Ignoring the circle of influence and control over courts makes his attempts to address the myriad of issues in his circle of concern, resemble more like "tilting at the windmills" by Don Quixote as explained in
Covey's First Habit Advice to Chief Justice of Pakistan.

Metro/trains vs hospitals vs schools: Where to Allocate Meagre Resources

[To understand the context of this post, please read At What Cost! Why Compute Economic Costs of Faulty Political Decisions]

Metro/trains vs hospitals vs schools vs dams vs energy vs other infrastructure projects?

Allocation of resources to infrastructure projects and measurement of their comparative benefits is a political decision and should be decided  by people not elites. Why?

Sir Najmul Hasan of IBA and How to Determine the Extent of Your Success in Life

Yesterday, during my PhD class with students I was trying to explain the complexity of real world and how models (and theories) help us in making sense of this complexity by focusing on a few concepts and their relationships. The discussion moved towards perception and reality and from there to this phenomenal lesson by Najmul Hasan Sb about how to determine the extent of our success in life. Sir Najmul Hasan did his MBA from 1955-57 as part of the first batch of IBA, Karachi offering the very first MBA program outside North America in collaboration with USAID and University of Pennsylvania. He served as a faculty member of IBA from 1969 till 2006.

Sir Najmul Hasan of IBA. Photo taken for NIC card in 1972-72 

Artificial intelligence vs data science - A Parallel between Chomsky's Cognitive Science vs Skinner’s Behavioral Science

AI is facing the same challenge today from data sciences that was faced by Chomsky’s Cognitive Psychology when it confronted Skinner’s Behavioral Psychology in early 1950s. The basic issue is whether “intelligence” can simply be understood by observing the input-output relations over a black-box representation of the mind? Is the success of Google data science in predicting outputs usefully from deep statistical analysis of big-data of billions of similar input-output relations a sign of artificial intelligence? Does accuracy of proving its machine generated conjectures through big data analytics can actually replace the need of humans to do science, i.e. to develop hypothesis, design experiments, observe results and develop theories? This talk focuses on some of the questions raised by Chomsky about the recent advancements in AI and draws parallel with clash of Cognitive Psychology with the Behavioral Psychology in the 1950. This talk would illustrate through this parallel the need for AI to understand and develop the internal representations of how humans intelligence work.

Constitutional Solution to Curb Horsetrading in Pakistan

[To understand the context of this post, please read At What Cost! Why Compute Economic Costs of Faulty Political Decisions]

Massive horsetrading of votes took place during Senate 2018 elections.  PTI and MQM Senate seats were lost. Do you know what were the two signals that triggered  horse trading in Senate elections 2018?

• (1) The stringent regime of secrecy implemented by ECP signaled the voters to cross party lines without divulging their affiliations to their party heads. This led to their wholescale defections. The regime threatened action through agencies.
• (2) Signal by DoN godfathers to declare all PMLN candidates to be independents.

Unfortunately the godfathers' calculations misfired as majority turncoats emerged from PTI. However, PMLN voters, contrary to predictions, held their grounds and retained their loyalty.

Difference between a Political Leader and an Employee

What is the difference between a leader and an employee? To become an employee you need to appear in an interview. However, unlike employees, a leader has no need to appear in a job interview or have his application processed by an HR manager. People elect the leader not some HR manager or unelected elites who want yes-men. It is election not selection. 
Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for 28 years in jail as a terrorist, and yet became the leader of people immediately after his release. Infact forceful removal of a leader creates a greater attraction for him. 
Recent senate elections show that ZAB and BB are still stimulating the hearts of people decades after their killing.

Problems of Psychometric Labeling (MBTI-DISC) and Imprisoning People in Artificially Constrained Boxes

Psychometric scales in the hands of psychologists and HR professionals are playing havoc with the lives of people. They are misdiagnosing and being used for purposes that were not the objectives of their design. Use of a test to determine the current state of a person's perception and thinking is one thing and to use it for projecting and predicting the future of that person is quite another thing.

A few years ago I was introduced to MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) which consist of tests that try to fit a person in one of the sixteen boxes as shown in the diagram below. It took me several days after my first introduction with MBTI,  to understand why I felt a troubling unease with the model. MBTI idea is to help the managers identify the box in which a person belongs. He is assigned responsibilities and tasks that are only suitable for that box. Once boxed-in, the HR makes the person believe that he belongs to that box and tries to build strategies within and around that box.

MBTI Boxes in which to fit the human behavior

Smoking and Childhood

The closest I had ever come to smoking was when I was 6years old when my neighborhood friend introduced me to the dried branch of "turai" (torai,  gourd). It has perforations that allow to be lighted and smoked. Did smoke that for a few days. Got caught,  and somehow my mother logically convinced me to never go near to it again.

Are All Politicians Corrupt in Pakistan? Mythical Narratives Designed to Support Rule of Dictators

[To understand the context of this post, please read At What Cost! Why Compute Economic Costs of Faulty Political Decisions]

All politicians are corrupt? This sweeping generalization is a narrative used and popularized by supporters of neocolonialism to justify the rule of un-elected elites on one hand,  and on the other hand to demoralize the people,  and keep them in a perpetual state of powerlessness and hopelessness.

Conference Marketing and Promotion-Where is the "conference" in a conference!

Conference Marketing and Promotion: Where is the "conference" in a conference?

Marketing and branding of a conference depends upon its value proposition for its participants. Currently value proposition of most conferences is often every thing except the "confer" part of the conference, which means exchange of ideas and discussions. Typical value propositions of existing conferences include (i) site seeing, (ii) establishing contacts, (iii)  "presenting" papers, (iv) citing conference papers in CVs and research profiles, (v) making money, (vi) gaining promotional mileage, etc where exchange of ideas does not happens except as a side-effect. One-to-many presentations by a paper reader who is totally glued to and dependent on the slides and with no eye contact or engagement with the participants has downgraded the value of conferences. Typically, research paper presentations are only attended by other paper presenters who keep on leaving after their presentations till a time comes that the last presenter is addressing an empty hall. They disappear for site seeing immediately after their presentations. Any discussion and exchange of ideas that do take place happen on the sidelines when participants bunk the conference sessions. Challenge for marketing and promotion of a conference is to establish clearly its value proposition and work on ensuring that worthwhile discussion and exchange ideas takes place during the conference sessions. Panel discussions is often a mechanism to engage the participants and the speakers in interactive discussions but this seldom happens because the moderators are often ill-equipped to catalyze a worthwhile energetic exchange of ideas. The challenge for marketing and promotion of a conference is to ensure the catalyzing of deep discussions about the major issues of the conference themes. This talk would focus on the challenge of connecting the marketing and promotion of a conference  with its content and its value proposition.

[Keynote Speech at IEEE mini POCO 2017, Sep 19, 2017, Organized by IEEEP, CIIT, HEC, Falettis' Hotel, Lahore.]

How Neocolonialism Keeps Developing Countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan Perpetually Destabilized

[To understand the context of this post, please read At What Cost! Why Compute Economic Costs of Faulty Political Decisions]
The analysis of the recent NewYork Times article about Afghanistan indicates that think tanks in USA have worked out all the options for Afghanistan. All these options perpetuate destabilization for the long term which is the actual objective of the policy. Endowment based think tanks and the area study centers spread across universities war game several options, and present a list of options to the President of USA. Whichever, option the president selects, all end up at the same goal; keeping developing countries perpetually destabilized. These options are flexible enough and can be quickly morphed from one option to another as the situation dictates. If all else fails, direct occupation a' la Iraq is always an option.  The un-elected elites installed in such countries become simply a pawn in the machinations of the neo-colonial powers to protect their vested interests and their lives. They are herded into a direction where they can not but follow the desires of the neo-colonial powers. Those that try to pull a fast one, such as Saddam or Gaddafi or Gen Zia are made a spectacular example for the rest to remain in line. The picture below shows how sheep are herded in the direction wanted by the shepherds. Similarly, people of developing countries are driven through the course selected by the neocolonial powers through the shepherds that consist of unelected elites (judiciary, military, dictators, gangs,  extremists) through an option that can only end in a single result: Chaos. The objective is never to give the people a choice to select their own destiny by perpetually keeping them off balance,  and destabilized and fighting for their survival. Hence, none of the developing countries have a functional democracy,  and are perpetually in the survival mode of existence.

What Options Gen Musharraf had after 9-11 when US threatened to send Pakistan to stone age?

[To understand the context of this post, please read At What Cost! Why Compute Economic Costs of Faulty Political Decisions]
I often come across people who consider that Gen Musharraf's U-Turn after 9-11 was the only alternative that the dictator had in the face of the threat from State Department official to bomb Pakistan back to stone age if Pakistan were to refuse to cooperate. A dictator general finding himself running out of ideas and options is typical of his training where he can only see lose-win or win-lose situations. The dictator generals trying to safeguard their illegitimate rule are pathologically incapable of thinking out of box and contemplating options that may exist outside the win-lose or lose-win box. On the other hand,  politicians never run out of ideas even when their backs are to the wall. I personally think the fake commando general could have done several things, but in his false bravado and enclosed in his limited coterie of advisers he took the easiest way out. I think the preferred option would have been that he should have announced elections,  transferred the power to an interim government and told USA that such decisions require consensus. He would have gained several months of time for Pakistan. Getting a political consensus from politicians is hard especially when backed by the military. They would have started bickering and playing politics. The pressure would have thus passed. Turkey did a similar thing when USA tried to pressure Turkey to give land access to US forces for invading Iraq. They referred the case to parliament that conveniently ruled out the possibility. This is Politics 101.

How to Measure the Quality of Your "Parental Relationship"

Quality of "parental relationship" :
اپنے بچوں سے  تعلق قائم کریں قبل اس کے کہ کوئی اور ان سے تعلق قائم کرنا شروع کر دے ۔

Following parameters indicate quality of your relationship is NOT good and you need to be concerned if:

Parental Concern about Economic Future of our Child

I often see parents excessively worried about the economic future of their child. They are often projecting their own insecurities and their own inadequacies on their children despite a huge difference in their situation as a child and their child's current situation. Their over-worrying about the economic future of child belies their faith and eeaman in Allah as Raziq. In their eagerness to protect their children from any adversity that they may face in future, they destroy their confidence, numb their creativity, and kill their enterprising skills which are the very skills required for survival in the unpredictable future. This post explains the misconceptions in this regard.
[Presented at ERDC Seminar on Economic Future of Your Child at KSBL, January 28m 2018]

An Indecent Obsession: Of War and its Futility

Reflections on "An Indecent Obsession" a movie and book by Colleen McCullough (author of "Thorn Birds" which I read in Pakistan around 1985-86). This is a page from my diary written on September 25, 1987. I was 25 and this was my first semester at UT Austin, and was residing at Riverside Apartments.
-------------------
For the first time after reading the "Purple Plain" by HE Bates, I again experienced the trauma, shock, feelings and tragedy that are associated with war. Lest we forget! It has been a long time since World War 2 which was around 20 years before my birth. Somehow, I think I feel or may be I imagine that I can feel the experience of what it is like being in the war, and witnessing its sufferings; all that dying, all the misery, and the in-consequence and futility of it. But wars are a real permanent feature of life. War has always remained a permanent feature of life. I think it is long overdue for our generation.

The sufferings, joys, and determination associated with it. How does it ruin the normal human beings, or make them or break them. What one feels and experiences in education  in itself. All our efforts, our preconceptions, and our business, and our longings and wishes seem pointless and meaningless. We love and suffer. Our associations seem to us to be permanent but they are simply our illusion. What is duty, morality, love. Every thing gets mixed up in the war. To come out of it unscathed, normal human being is really a tribute to the determination of man and his resilience. All dying and futility till you realize there is "All Quiet on the Western Front"!

To Kill a Mockingbird: A Personal Journey

I was around 10 when I saw the movie "To Kill a Mocking Bird" on PTV in 1971-72. That was the time when I didn't focus on the dialogues but used to only concentrate on the emotions and feelings depicted. We didn't have access to Internet or magazines with briefs about the programs or movies being shown on the PTV. There used to be a flyer but often it only listed the titles but not details. However, I could sense even at that early age that what I had seen is not a typical run of the mill movie, but I had gone through a tremendous and profound experience. It would be a decade later when I would find out about how much acclaim the movie had won through a book that I issued from the American Center library. This was an attractive pictorial history of cinema and from there I discovered that this movie had won the Oscar for the best picture in 1960, and Gregory Peck had won the Oscar for the best actor.  One of his three roles that made him my all time favorite actor (the other two were in Roman Holiday and Guns of Navarone). I also read the book on which this movie was based around the same time. The book and this movie had a tremendous impact on me as described here:

• See also: How West Teaches History (through Movies) and How We have Forgotten: A Nation that has No History, has no Future !

What is Meant by Rigor of PhD Research

The rigor with which your hypothesis are tested and the methodology that is pursued differentiates a PhD from an MS/MPhil [1]. A PhD is held to higher standards of meticulousness and scholarship which becomes evident from the rigor of the analysis of conditions, constraints, variables that influence the experiment, and may have an impact observations, and use of established theories for justifying their inclusion or exclusion.

Is Justice Munir's Doctrine of Necessity Dead or Alive?

Is Doctrine of Necessity dead and buried as proclaimed by Supreme Court in its decision of March 2012? Wherein it stated that "deciding cases on the basis of likely consequences will mean reverting to the malignant ‘doctrine of necessity’ that has been buried by the people with their valiant struggle" [1].
Or, is doctrine of necessity alive and kicking?
On November 27, 2017, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui proclaimed in his censure of military that “Everyone should know that there are no followers of Justice Munir in the courts anymore,” he said, referring to the former chief justice who gave legal cover to the dissolution of Pakistan’s first constituent assembly." and simultaneously "Justice Siddiqui raised many eyebrows when he remarked that he could be assassinated, or may end up joining the ranks of the missing persons, but it was his duty to speak the truth" [2]. However, the same day, Lahore High Court was quick to commend the role of military in saving the country from a huge catastrophe [3]. The difference in opinion is very much clear from a comparison of censure by Justic Siddiqui of IHC, and appreciation by Justice Qazi Mohammad Amin Ahmad of LHC about the military role in the Faizabad Dharna and its removal. It is clear that the judges are split on the issue of Justice Munir's Doctrine of Necessity. LHC judge feels that the role of military is justified at the altar of the necessity of saving the country from a huge catastrophe. Whereas, Judge of IHC is concerned about whether the letter of the law is being followed or not.
[To understand the context of this post, please read At What Cost! Why Compute Economic Costs of Faulty Political Decisions]

Last Emperor of China and Mughal Empire of India

I always recommend people to see "Last Emperor" movie about Pu Yi, who was the last emperor of China. His rule was only in name and restricted to only the Imperial Palace (Forbidden City). The movie won nine Academy Awards including that for best picture and best director in 1987. 

It depicts how Britishers manipulated the emperors of China in late 19th and early 20th century. The plight of an emperor restricted to just the palace, not allowed to meet the people or even to peep outside the palace is so poignantly depicted. It evoked an eerie comparison with our history of 1750-1857, during the twilight of the receding control of the Mughal Empire in India. Last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar was also confined to his palace (Lal Qila).  His rule was only in name and its jurisdiction was limited to only the Lal Qila. The broader narrative of the two last emperors needs to be compared. Pu Yi and Bahadur shah zafar were both captives of their palaces. Both may have wanted to do some thing for their nations but were raised singularly unequipped to take over the emerging challenges. China was the action replay of subduing several proud nations with illustrious history including that of India. Bahadur Shah Zafar met with an ignominious death in exile in late 19th century. 

Yearning to do something but utterly powerless. How British colonial masters destroyed the pride of nations subjugated by them.

Why I am a Faculty Member

Why I am a faculty member:
(1) Meeting a student who graduated a long time ago and who comes over and tries to make me recall  him and his batch. Then reminds me of one of my lesson that he remembers to this day and that has changed his life.  This is the great fulfilling experience that can never be gotten elsewhere.
(2) Company of youth keeps me focused on future and gives me hope for the future. Reason I am an optimist.
(3)Aspirations of youth keep me young as I help them achieve their visions. Gives energy
(4) Youth keeps teaching me new things, dealing with new ideas, and how to innovate.

Narratives Designed to Dishonor Popular Choice and Support Neo-Colonialism

[To understand the context of this post, please read At What Cost! Why Compute Economic Costs of Faulty Political Decisions]
There are several narratives that have been fed to the masses to serve the interests of neocolonialism in developing countries. Neocolonialism enables the super-powers to maintain their hegemony on developing countries during the post-colonial world through dictatorships and kingship. The narratives are crafted to serve the political and economic interests of super-powers through exploitation of  resources and people of developing countries.  Primary objective of these narratives is to rob the power of decision making from the people, and to stultify the evolution of democratic aspirations and to stop the growth of self-governing and self-improving institutions. These narratives help in  perpetually destabilizing the developing countries   by supporting dictators, kings, or autocrats, and creating turmoil through civil strife or wars,  and installing weak unrepresentative heads of governments. These meta-narratives enable the neo-colonial unelected elites to maintain their hegemony on the resources of the country in the service of the super powers. Here is a list of 10 top major Neo-colonialism Supporting Narratives that have promoted political instability, rule of dictators and un-elected elites in Pakistan since independence and have stultified democratic evolution: 

Colonialism: White master exploited the poor people.
Neo-colonialism: White Master + Black Master together exploit the poor people.

Recollection of an Unforgettable Recitation of Majaz's Nazr-e-Aligarh

Today on Facebook I saw a video of some old students of Aligarh University reciting the official anthem in New York with a great deal of energy and lilt. This brought a recollection of a day in 1990s when I was dusting the bookshelf of my father Syed Ahsan Hyder and picked "Aahang", a collection of poetry by Majaz.  My father was an aligarian of 1930s, and a contemporary of Majaz, who also used to frequent our family gatherings at Masood Manzil, hostel of our family in Aligarh, where several of my father's cousins and relatives used to stay and study at Aligarh University. My father picked up the book, took out the poem  "نذر علی گڑھ"  and started reciting it in such a beautiful manner that its rhythm and fondness still resonates in my mind. He would sometimes do this in times when he was in "vacant and pensive mood". I can still see him vividly deriving so much pleasure  from the recitation. The recitation was full of fondness of memories of an era long gone, a time well spent, friendships often recounted. I could see this recollection bringing to him that "bliss of solitude" which is associated with time and experiences associated with cherished memories. To me this recollection fills my heart with pleasure and sways with the emotions and aspirations and ethos of that time. 

How to Create Love for Poetry: A Tribute to Sir Ghalib Raza of ICB

Over the last 25 years as I desperately try to connect my students with the joy of reading and poetry, at universities and at schools , I realize the worth  of what Sir Ghalib Raza was achieving in my school days. He was making us "feel" the poetry, not "understand" it. Poetry is meant for "feeling" the emotions which are being expressed by the poet. You kill the poetry by trying to "explain" it. This is the story of how Sir Ghalib Raza imbued love of poetry in me and other students. He would not make us labor with "explanations"  but would rather focus on evoking the "feelings". He knew that once a loving association is developed, understanding will follow naturally in good time. He would enjoy reading the poetry immersed in the emotions being expressed. He loved poetry and he infected us with that love.  Thank you, Sir Ghalib Raza, for cultivating in me this love for poetry and literature.

My association with Sir Ghalib Raza started on the wrong foot. I was in class 8th at Islamabad Model School for Boys (now ICB), in G-6/3, adjacent to the famous Covered Bazar (which was razed a few years ago). It was first or second week of the new term. When Sir Ghalib Raza entered the class most of the students were talking to each other. He may have noticed some disturbance in the class, and he thought that I was the one making it, and the first thing he did was to come and slap me. I used to be a really quiet student at that time; always very careful not to get on the wrong side of any teacher. This  was my first time in life being slapped, and I cried. When I reached home, I was still disturbed and shared my perplexing experience with my mother. My mother arranged a meeting at the school a few days later. She met with Sir Ghalib Raza, and discussed the issue. I think the matter was resolved amicably and Sir Ghalib Raza's attitude towards me changed drastically. Of course, I never gave him an opportunity to be cross with me ever again. He would later on always call me as Irfan-e-Hyder, and I think he was the only one who called me with this twist that actually improved the meaning of my name.

• See also: Why People Hate Poetry? Because Schools have Taught them to Hate Poetry!

I can still recall his athletic built, his fair complexion, his hazel, brownish-green eyes. He was among the smartest of the teachers at the school, looking specially dashing in his Pakistan flag color blazer with Pakistan emblem indicating his participation in an international event where he had represented Pakistan. We could see him in the morning conducting fitness exercises for the male and female teachers. Exercises for teachers included jogging, stretching, warm up, etc. I learned to copy many of these movements during my early morning exercise regime at my home, and still seem to repeat these movements when I exercise. Several year later, I would learn of his romantic, colorful and adventurous side of his handsome personality.

From that 1975-76 session, I recall his love for Urdu poetry. He seemed to have in his memory immense poetry related to every conceivable situation which he could recall effortlessly. His recitation was correct,  balanced and amazingly wonderful and without accent. I still recall his explanations of poems and "ghazals". They were less about pedantic details, critical appreciation of the style, or focusing on form or measuring the meter. They were more about beautiful and emotional evocations with copious references to  excerpts from romantic poetic works emphasizing a relevant theme.

I recall vividly three of his recitations in class that were delivered in his distinctive style. First one is from the ghazal of none other than the most romantic of Urdu poets, Shair-e-Rumaan, Akhtar Shirani: 

mai aarzo-e-jaaN likhon , ya Jan-e-aarzo ​

tu he bata day , naz say emaan-e-aarzo ​

I later discovered its beautifully fluent rendition by Munawwar Sultana. Whenever, I hear the song, I can see Mr Ghalib Raza reciting it teht-ul-lafz.

The second piece was no wonder, again from Akhtar Shirani:

tā ḳhuld-e-barīñ le chal! 

ai ishq kahīñ le chal! 

sansār ke us paar ik is tarah kī bastī ho 

jo sadiyoñ se insāñ kī sūrat ko tarastī ho 

aur jis ke nazāroñ par tanhā.ī barastī ho ​

I now come to his wonderful rendition of a  poem of which only two verses had remained stuck in my mind for the last over four decades, I vaguely remembered that the poet was Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi. The two beautiful ashaar were:

Maang ki tarh seedhi sayyaarain, teRhi leekhoan say kutnay na paaen

and

mein in chatanoan peh bethi tujh ko dohay sunaati rahoon gi;

The poem related to a young wife looking at her husband tilling the soil of the fields as she carried the lunch to him at mid day, and waiting for him to join her on a rock nearby. The way Sir Ghalib Raza recited the poem deeply immersed in the scenery and engrossed in the imagery depicted in this poem is a treat for me till this day. I can visualize him reciting the poem each time I think about that class session way back over 4 decades ago in 1975. I can see his face red with emotions. I can see him in his trance actually living the situation of that young wife of the tiller singing for her husband. In that moment his emotions and feelings were felt by us in a transmission that connected him to the hearts of all the students. I can still visualize him standing there in front of the class reciting the poem. I don't think I understood at that time all the meanings of the verses or the depth of emotions and messages. But I experienced the feelings that he was feeling and expressing in his ecstasy. In that moment, I fell in love with poetry. I enjoyed it then and I enjoy that experience now whenever I think about it.

I had been searching for that poem for a long time. My Sargodha Board Urdu textbook of 1976 is long gone and forgotten except the couple of ashaar that I found stuck in my mind. Today I had the great fortune of having Mr Hammad Rasheed, a lover of literature and poetry, some how pulled out the poem from Internet. It is actually by Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi:

 تھپکی : ایک کسان عورت کا اپنے شوہر سے خطاب 

I was waiting for this information. I am now completing this post which had been lingering in my draft folder for years. Thank you Hammad Rasheed Sb. for reconnecting me with the poem and that experience. The context of the two couplets that had been stuck in my mind for so many decades are now again much clearer, and what a pleasure it is to remember and recall that experience of his rendition:

جھٹپٹے تک ابھی ہاتھ تیرے

ہل کی ہتھی سے ہٹنے نہ پائیں

مانگ کی طرح سیدھی سیاریں

ٹیڑھی لکیروں سے کَٹنے نہ پائیں

میں یہاں اِں چٹانوں پہ بیٹھی

تُجھ کو دوھے سُناتی رھوں گی

اپنی آواز کی تھپکیوں سے

ہاتھ تیرا بٹاتی رھوں گی

The full poem is copied at the end of this post to highlight how poems highlighting the feelings and emotions should be used for kindling love of reading and poetry rather than dry analysis and dead erudition.

• See also: How Education System is Promoting Non-Readers and "Functional Illiteracy": Top Ten Reasons

Mr Salman Siddiqui, a renowned academic, often says that if you want to make people hate poetry ask them to explain the poem or paraphrase it or explain the style, or explain the context. Poetry is not about context or analysis. Poetry is about emotions and feelings. 

I think this is so true. Our curriculum and text books prefer explanation of poetry over feelings and intellectual analysis over heart felt emotions. Instead of developing interest in poetry,  the analytical approach of critics teach us to hate all those poets whose life events we were forced to memorize and "tarz e kalam" that was thrust down our throats. We could not understand those sentences and therefore hated pedantic explaining of details that we found in no way connected with the emotions that the poet was actually feeling, experiencing and then expressing. No wonder most of us hate poetry to an extent that we have stopped enjoying it and have even started hating Urdu itself. 

• See also: How Education System is Promoting Non-Readers and "Functional Illiteracy": Top Ten Reasons

Later I learned about his romantic life that was full of adventure. He had passion and was romantic. As someone said: Poetry is an infectious disease.  It can not be taught.  It can only be caught.  And it can only be caught by someone who already has the disease. 

• See also How Language Acquisition is Made Difficult for Children: Eight Lessons from an Urdu Acquisition Case Study

تھپکی

See Also: 

• A Formula is Worth a Thousand Pictures: Dijkstra vs Buzan's Mind-Maps
• Anti-National Language Policy leads to Rule by Rich and Corrupt Elites
• Capitalist Transactions Replacing Traditions and Values from Istanbul to Makkah
• Georgia - Lesson in Preserving Language, Religion and Culture
• How Education System is Promoting Non-Readers and "Functional Illiteracy": Top Ten Reasons
• How Language Acquisition is Made Difficult for Children: Eight Lessons from an Urdu Acquisition Case Study
• How Schools Teach Students to Hate Reading: Mass Creation of Non-Readers 
• Managing English Teaching Outcomes in Universities: An Experiential Learning Case Study of ESL/EFL
• Most Effective Way of Cutting a Nation from its History and Ideals - Imposing a Foreign Language
• Why People Hate Poetry? Because Schools have Taught them to Hate Poetry!
• How to find "Buzurg" and "Wali" of Allah
• Importance of Literature in Law: A Case Study of the Panama Case Supreme Court Judgement
• Mukhtar Masud's Awaz-e-Dost and Love for Literature and History
• Sad Ending of Abdullah Yousuf Ali - the Translator of Quran
• What Legal Questions Perry Mason would have raised in SC Panama Case Disqualification of PM - New!

Why Dictator Generals are Weaker than Civilians Rulers in Withstanding External Pressure

[To understand the context of this post, please read At What Cost! Why Compute Economic Costs of Faulty Political Decisions]
There is a widespread "myth" that what Pakistan needs is a "strong leader" (a savior on horseback) who will come and conquer all our issues and problems in no time. There is a mythical belief that Pakistan is stronger in withstanding external challenges and pressures when ruled by military dictators than when it is ruled by the civilians. This post describes a tale of two encounters that belies this myth. First is the situation arising from India's nuclear explosions in 1998 when a civilian was the prime minister and the second is the situation arising after 9-11 when a dictator was in power.
As can be seen from the comparison of the two situations, a civilian PM was better able to withstand the US pressure than a military dictator who made a u-turn on a single call for Assistant Secretary of State. Whereas a civilian PM did not buckle under intense international and US pressure, a military dictator easily submitted to all the demands in no time. Analysis of these two situations can help us in understanding why neo-colonialism requires dictators and monarchs in developing countries; rulers who can easily be brow beaten into submission. Neo-colonial demands are difficult to achieve in a civilian democratic (even a sham) dispensation. Developing a democratic consensus among large diverse populations is messy and takes a lot of time. However, dictators provide an easy way out for getting the things done by the powers playing the great game.

Doctrine of Necessity from CJ Munir to Judge Khosa: Role of Judiciary in the Service of Neocolonialism

We need to compare the Doctrine of Necessity version 2.0 of SC Justice Khosa (2017) which states "To do a great right, do a little wrong" with the Doctrine of Necessity version 1.0 of  SC CJ Munir (1954) which states "Necessity makes lawful that which is unlawful". As per SC decision of March 2012 "deciding cases on the basis of likely consequences will mean reverting to the malignant ‘doctrine of necessity’ that has been buried by the people with their valiant struggle" [1]. It is clear that both version 1 and 2 are relying on the "likely consequences" emanating from a "great right" and "necessity". Since 1954, Doctrine of Necessity Version 1.0 has been responsible for sending home 15 prime ministers, imposition of 4 martial laws, and slapping of dictatorial rule of over 35+ years. Effectively over the last 63 years, the doctrine seems to have only served the interests of neo-colonialism, and has neither served any great necessity or delivered any great right (see Costs of Justice Munir's Doctrine of Necessity: 4 Martial Laws and 35 years of dictatorships). As per the comments of Justice Khosa and Justice Ejaz Afzal, Panama Case Judgement would be remembered for decades and centuries. Hence, the questions raised by Doctrine of Necessity version 2.0 are  (i) How many PMs will this decision depose? (ii) How many martial laws will it germinate? (iii) How many years of dictatorial reign will it perpetuate???
[To understand the context of this post, please read At What Cost! Why Compute Economic Costs of Faulty Political Decisions]

Myth: Government Universities Cost Less than Private Universities

This post explores the myth that Public Universities Cost Lower than Private Universities. I think the average cost per student per year of a public university is much more than that of a private university. Given below is a preliminary analysis. A more detailed analysis is required.
2005-2006 Analysis of Public sector universities indicates that:

• HEC funding per student (2005-6) ~ Rs 75 k 
• Additional fees paid per year per student
• Typical fee: ~ 25 k (For universities like KU) 
• Exorbitantly: ~ 150 k (IBA, NUST) 
• Total Average cost per year = 100k – 225k 
• Land acquisition and capital investment through PC-1s and other external funds would be extra and would amount to hundred of millions of rupees of funding per year to each public sector university.

Private Sector HEIs in 2005-06 in Karachi were typically costing a student less than Rs. 100 k. Mind you these universities took not a single penny from the tax money collected from the poor!

[2012]
In 2012, the average cost per student per year had climbed up for many public sector universities to over Rs. 200k. Whereas, many private sector universities in Karachi had fees around half. Remember, this would include operational costs as well as capital costs. Whereas the Rs.200k per student per year operational
costs of public sector universities does not include capital and development costs, which is an additional tab to be picked up by the poor taxpayers.

[2015-16]
According to the budget documents Rs 79.5 billion has also been earmarked for Higher Education Commission (HEC) including Rs 21.5 billion under the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) and Rs 58 billion on account of current expenditure, showing an increase of 13 percent as compared to Rs 51 billion earmarked for 2015-16. [1]

The amount comes to around Rs 200k per student for on-campus students of government universities. Please note that this does not include the land grants and other allocations. This is directly from the federal budget.

The per student cost of a government university must also include the cost of all the officials of all the ministries responsible for making the government universities work. This cost should also include:

1. Cost of HEC personnel, administration, staff and operational costs responsible for calculating, approving, sanctioning, monitoring of any funding requirements for the government universities.
2. Cost of all the accreditation bodies for Engineering (PEC), Business (NBAEC), Computer Science etc. I think currently there are over ten such bodies and many others are in the process of formation. Their operational costs must be computed and distributed over the public universities. This function in US and other countries is typically performed by independent professional bodies with little or no tax money involved. 
3. Cost of Ministry of Finance, AGPR, Planning Commission and other ministries responsible for disbursements of operational budgets, pensions, sanctioning and monitoring of PC-1s and their funds, decision making etc. 
4. Cost of provincial departments and Governor secretariat's responsible for sanctioning of leaves, appointments, projects planning etc. 
5. Cost of all the capital investments through land allocations, grants, funds through other government agencies. 
6. Cost of all the USAID and development funds loans and advances along with their interest payments

You add up all these costs and you will find out that the total cost per student per year, can come out to be at least ten times the per student cost of the private universities. Please note once again the private universities are not using the tax money of the poor people.

Now the justification of all these costs is on the basis of social equality and equal opportunity for the poor people of Pakistan. There are two major arguments:

• There are many public universities whose fees are much more than several private universities. This should not be allowed. Example, IBA's cost is Rs 150k per semester which is much more than most private sector universities. 
• Why can't the government calculate all the money that it is spending on the public universities divide it by the number of poor students that it wants to support and give that as a hardship scholarship vouchers to the poor students. Let the poor students shop around for a university that would let them study with that voucher. I think this may be a more equitable distribution of money. It would then be channeled to the more efficient universities who can give the best quality for the least amount of money. This is how the market dynamics play out. 

Consider this: Before HEC (2002-03) a government university like IBA Karachi's fee was Rs 24k/sem, and new startup private universities were charging around Rs 40k/sem. After HEC's advent today the government IBA fee is Rs 216k/semester, and new private universities are charging from Rs 4 lacs/semester to Rs 6lacs/semester. What is happening? This is the impact of not counting the costs. HEC effectively has become an institution that has raised the entry barriers and has reduced access to both the private universities and to the government universities. More on this in a later post.

References:

[1] Report

This write-up is an extended rehash of the ideas presented in a talk on "Five Major Myths of Higher Education" made at the CIO Conference, March 2009 at Sheraton, Karachi. See another link.
Presentation originally made at CIO Conference, March 2009 at Sheraton, Karachi.
The links and write-up below is an extended rehash of those thoughts:

Myth #1: Our backwardness is because we lag behind in Science and Technology
Myth #2: There is mushrooming of Higher Education Institutions in Pakistan
Myth #3: Impact Factor research measures real impact
Myth#4: Myth and Fiction of Government Universities Costing Less than Private Universities
Myth#5: Bigger infrastructure (land, building, equipment) means better education
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See Other Posts on Higher Education

Essential Orientation for Teachers and Faculty Members
Power of Word in Value Based Education: Discriminating Truth from Falsehood
Myth: Government Universities Cost Less than Private Universities
How Readers are Created. Ecosystem that Produces Readers
How Schools Teach Students to Hate Reading: Mass Creation of Non-Readers
How to become a Life-Long Learner: Mission of Developing Life-Long Learners
Why Students Avoid and Stop Taking the Course of Some Teachers: 7 Top Reasons
Why Educational Experiments are "Doomed" to Succeed?
Abuse of Presentation Slides in Classrooms: Ban Powerpoint Presentations
What Students Expect from their Teachers: Roles and Responsibilities of Teachers
Who Fails when a Student Fails
A Formula is Worth a Thousand Pictures: Dijkstra vs Buzan's Mind-Maps
Testing/Grading vs Motivation: A Variation on Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle for Academics
Why Project Based Learning? An Experiential Learning Case Study of Language Teaching
13 Myths of Schooling and Education: Resources
Why Education and Why Higher Education: Leadership in Life and Society
Why do our graduates want to leave the country? Curriculum's Relevance to Social Impact
Truth about Attention Deficit Disorders (ADD/ADHD): Reasons and Revelations
Fairness in Grading: A Lesson by the Great Dijkstra
Problems with Bloom's Taxonomy: Impact on Curriculum and Motivation of Students
Education as Tazkia: Is a child like a clean slate?
How Parental Judgments can Shatter a Child: Self Fulfilled Prophecies 
Which Field with Great Scope Should My Child Choose: There is always a room at the top
Learning Problems: Top 9 Questions to Answer Before You Run for Help
Who is educated! - Iqbal's View
Can Grades and Degrees Measure the Success of Students?
Myth: We are Backward because we Lag Behind in Science and Technology
Beauty is Our Business - Mathematics, Excellence and the Great Dijkstra
Syllabus- Coverage is Enemy of Understanding
School Discipline vs Prison Discipline
How our Curriculum Design (from Simple to Complex) Insults the Intelligence of a Student
Subject Compartmentalization vs Holistic Learning: How to align with natural process of learning of a child
Why this current urgency about visions and entrepreneurship
Bell Curve Evaluation of Students: Islamic and Secular Perspectives

How Readers are Created. Ecosystem that Produces Readers

How can we create readers and an ecosystem where readers can thrive. How do we make reading a contagious disease when our educational institutions from schools to universities have become mass producers of functional illiterates [1]. Universities complain that they are getting intake that has studied English for 12 years but have no reading comprehension and no expression. The employers are complaining that graduates coming out of the universities can not even write a single page of correct English. This is a dismal situation. How come we are producing functional Illiterates who are defined as people who know how to read but are not readers, and those who know how to write but are not writers! How can we reverse this?

How Literature Review of a PhD Dissertation Presents the State of the Art: Synthesis vs Listing

Quality of literature review is what majorly differentiates a PhD Thesis from an MS Thesis. The qualitative difference is in the digestion and synthesis of the existing work into a framework on which your research contribution and sequence can stand. This synthesis of existing work in the topic area should itself be worthy of a publication. Digestion of the existing papers is represented by a list of factors or parameters that you have identified on which you can compare and and contrast the existing literature. Not all parameters are relevant to all the papers. Hence, parameters are separated into different subsets. For each subset, a table can be constructed through which papers relevant to the subset parameters can be compared and contrasted. Analysis of these parameters provide you with the explanation of the gap or the problem area which is then articulated in the form of a problem statement.

Facebook Encourages Unethical Behavior: Metaphysics of Social life based on Lies, Ignorance, Bigotry

Why social media has become the primary source of fake news. Why people in social media communities are likely to become extremists, bigoted, and unlikely to hear or see content that is against their beliefs. Technology is not value neutral. It comes with its own baggage of values. Facebook, Whatsapp, twitter have enabled the technology that gives voice to the baser instincts of humans. It has provided a platform for mass dissemination of lies, fake news, slander, false allegations, lampooning, extremism and bigotry by removing the social costs of these vices. It has disconnected the responsibility of the people from their speech and behavior. Identities of person who have been complicit in the generation of fake news and slander are now hidden. People who started the rumor are no longer easy to identify, trace and track. There is a need to do research on the metaphysics of social media: Lifestyle of social media determines its own metaphysics, which creates its own intentions and generates its knowledge as described in the post  From Lifestyles to Metaphysics

How Schools Teach Students to Hate Reading: Mass Creation of Non-Readers

Schools are producing graduates who know how to read but are not readers. They have become non-readers (functional illiterates) because the schools have taught them to hate reading! 

Functional Illiteracy

Schools typically use a curriculum and methodology that consists of senseless and meaningless worksheets and exercises which the students are forced to do repeatedly, continuously and ad-nauseam. And, when they resist, they are punished with F-grades, labeling and humiliation. These meaningless tasks and exercises and their resulting punishments teaches the students to hate reading and convinces them that ALL reading is so tedious, so boring, so frightful and accompanied with so much punishment that it is inconceivable that reading can ever be pleasure and fun. This is how we are producing non-readers, who believe that reading books is unreal, irrelevant, and disconnected with the challenges of life. We are in fact producing functional illiterates. 

Life Long Learning vs Sacrificing Interest
at the Altar of Technique Mechanics

How to become a Life-Long Learner: Mission of Developing Life-Long Learners

This is the first orientation of new students of IoBM over the last 23 years, where our founder president, Mr Shahjehan Karim is not present. He left us for the hereafter last month. Inna lillahe wa inna ilaihi rajioon. He worked tirelessly all his life to make a world a better place. This institution of IoBM is a testimony to his vision, his mission and his aspirations. One can talk about his achievements for hours. But, today at the Orientation for New Students,
I will focus on one single point; the mission and purpose of IoBM. Mission of an organization is the reason d'etre of why the organization exists. One can see in the following mission statement, Mr Shahjehan S Karim's love for learning, love for the youth, and through them his hopes and aspirations for the future: "The mission of the Institute of Business Management is to foster a learning environment where students are motivated to make learning an on-going life-long process. "
[Aug 26, 2017]