T.V addiction is perilous for children and no one is willing to prevent children who constantly watch T.V. Due to this, they are badly affected physically and mentally. Furthermore, it makes unreal to the other activities and experiments of life. It is only wastage of time similarly to drug and alcoholic addiction.
To conclude, watching T.V brings destructions in children’s lives so parents should restrain children from it.

Ghazala malik (Hub)

Education is the basic rights of every individual. Unfortunately, in Balochistan, the illiteracy rate of girls is on the top. In rural areas, there is no concept of females’ education as educational facilities are not provided to them. No doubt, females are very powerful if they get education, they can change the shape of the world. Females are essential part of our society without them even a home is incomplete. She can be a mother, a sister, a wife or whosoever but she makes the entire home shiny. If they get education, they make the complete country well highlighted across the world. Therefore, I request the government to facilitate females to get education in their native places.

Mahnaz M.B
Turbat

By: Shubeen Fida,

Once upon a time there were two friends named Arwaah and Kandi. They were also best friends and neighbors. Arwaah and Kandi always played together and sometimes they used to travel to Mirani dam from Dasht as they lived in Dasht and Mirani dam was close to them. They used to go there every morning.

One day while they were going to the dam, they saw a book kept aside. They picked the book up and opened it. The conversation began between Arwaah and Kandi. Arwaah said, “I wish I could read this book.”

At the same time, Kandi added, “You are right, we have no school and we are also children.”

“Maybe that is why we are poor.” She stated trying to grasp the reason behind no girls’ school in their town.

Arwaah took the book and went home. An hour later, she went to her mother and asked, “Why isn’t there anyone to teach us?” Her mother was surprised and asked in counter, “Why are you asking about this today?”

Arwaah handed over the book to her mother and replied, “I want to write such a book, but why can’t I write? This author is a Baloch woman and our dress is the same. If she can write, then why can’t I? Mom, I want to be like her.”

The book had the picture of the author, who was a Baloch woman, on its cover page. She was Karima Baloch, the courageous Baloch woman who was exemplified as the ambassador of Baloch women.

Her mother, trying to cover all her words in one sentence, replied, “You can be like her but there is no school for poor people like us,” she continued with disappointment, “and I cannot afford to send you to the city for an education.”

Arwah understood everything, wiped her tears before falling down and silently went out from the room.

Education is necessary for everyone and everyone should be given equal rights to get education. Sadly, women have to go through no or not facilitated schools in most of the villages and towns which results in most of women as out of school. According to official government reports, also furnished by the Alif Ailaan, only 76 percent women in Balochistan are out of schools.

Published in Daily Makran Times

Iran Border is the main part for the citizens of Balochistan to earn and feed their children. But, they are compelled to leave this work because of the government policy. Since November, drivers are restrained to work in border. Due to this, they are facing several circumstances such as nonavailability of water and food. Though they pay a huge amount to the force still they are stopped to work there. I request the government to allow the people to work and get financial support for their survival.

Seema Shakeel
Turbat, Kech

Published in Daily Makran Times

People have already been miserable due to the four waves of COVID-19 which have effected the all departments of lives. Now, omicron in Pakistan is alarmingly increasing which if not gets solved, will worsens the situation. The Omicron variant is spreading like wildfire in the metropolis with the positivity ratio increasing to 10pc and infection rate rising steeply from 50pc to 81pc within a week. Daily total tests across the country remain below 50,000, which means the number of actual Covid-19 positive patients could be much higher. Recently, in Karachi cases are terribly increasing and the people are concerned. The hospital are full of patients and lack other beds for the patients. However, patients are not being treated as their population is so high.
The government needs to be concerned regarding this issue and enforce new rules so that the people get protected. The authorities should vaccinate the people as vaccinated people do not get much hurt. And force people to wear masks and keep physical distance which are the basic key to be protected from this dreadful disease.

Murwarid Basheer
Awaran

Published in Daily Makran Times

Heavy rains beat the seaside urban areas of Balochistan, delivering streak flooding, with Makran division being the hardest hit with dividers of various houses falling or being covered by water.Because of serious downpour, many private designs in Quetta, entire Makran including Turbat, Gwadar and different areas have fallen.Various Balochistan urban communities, especially those along the beach front strip were hit by the principal significant rainstorm of the colder time of year. Many homes from Dasht sides and Gwadar were totally immersed by water.

Hence, local people were moved to more secure regions by helpful organizations, and attempt to remake connect courses in these networks has started.

The government should be more concerned about the problems of the effected ones and facilitate them.

Mehran Nasir (Turbat)

Published in Daily Makran Times

My elder brother loves me a lot,

He supports me in every situation,

My elder brother is my world,

His love cannot be described in words,

He guides me all the time,

He is my superhero.

Abdul Qadir (Turbat)

By: Muneeb Maqsood

Balochistan, Pakistan’s richest-in-resources province, vociferates with a growing ratio of illiteracy – especially in higher education section. The province merely owns nine universities which cannot succeed to accommodate the whole students of a hundred and sixteen (116) inter and degree colleges in the newly introduced BS programs. Sadly, the annual budget also allocates less resources in the education sector indicating how the federal and provincial governments offer less priority to education.

Recently, the Pakistani government announced to donate eleven billion rupees to Kabul (Afghanistan) for the establishment of a university on the name of Allama Iqbal. It is although a good gesture to support Afghanistan in such crises with the fall of Kabul and emergence of a new government, but it is even more heartbreaking to see the most resource-generating province of the country getting the least bit of attention towards the primary need for development – a good education.

A major flaw in our education system is a lack of required universities to place in the college graduates of the whole province. Some divisions [Rakhshan and Nasirabad] still require universities where students would continue their education further. Makuran, a division sharing borders with Iran, consists of two universities (University of Turbat established in 2012 and Gwadar University established at the end of 2021). Kalat has only two universities, Quetta has four and Zhob has one. In contrast with solely nine universities of Balochistan, Punjab has sixty-eight (68) universities, Sindh has fifty-six (56) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwaa has forty-one (41) universities. Given a population of 12.34 million people and considering the resources which the province possesses, nine universities cannot satisfy the need of the residents of Balochistan.

Consequently, we have observed certain numbers of protests, rallies and sit-ins demanding for the rights of the province; Maulana Hidayat Ur Rehman’s thirty-two day sit-in tops in the list considering his list of demands for the rights of Gwadar’s residents under the banner of “Gwadar Ko Haq Do” (Give Rights to Gwadar) movement at the end of the previous year. The demand for a full pledge university for Gwadar was one of their leading demands including other reforms in the education system.

Unfortunately, the people of Balochistan were always compelled to derive on roads to ask for their basic amenities despite its worth in resources. Education, on the other hand, is believed to be a useful tool to change the fate of any nation, but Baloch are thrown into a dark ditch for whom education has only become an option and not an imperative tool. Ghost teachers, fragile teaching methods, lack of infrastructures, dysfunctional schools and long distances of educational institutions (due to scarcity of educational institutions) further encourage the people to make it an end to their children’s education and look a job for them in an age when they are to have the pens and books. Resultantly, Balochistan’s 67 percent boys and 76 percent girls, according to a report of Alif Ailaan, are out of schools.

Provincial and federal governments need to look for ways to establish more higher education opportunities for the residents of Balochistan and take the province along the road to prosperity. On the other end, the royalties for resources, as promised by the then federal government, should be increased and spent on development schemes; China Pakistan Economic Corrdior must be a welcome initiative only if it can benefit Balochistan in one or the other way. If the situations do not get timely attention from the concerned authorities, things may get worse in the coming time. Government has to think of long-lasting strategies for Balochistan.

Published in Daily Makran Times

By: Mehrullah Akhtar

Grandma asked me, “My cutest beta, why don’t you take time and come to see me? You know that I am old and it is a tough task for me to come in your home to see you.” I replied quickly, “Mom, you know I am very busy with my study and works.”

Tears shed from her eyes and she said sadly, “OK, my son, you need to know, I am all time worried to think about you and I don’t feel relaxed when I don’t see you. Negative thoughts start wandering in my mind whether my son is doing well or not and what is he doing?”

I smilingly said, “My lovely mom, now you need not to be worried about me because I am not a child and I can take care of myself very well. I know what is right and what is wrong.” “My son, though you are not a child but to me still you are a child till the last breathe of mine,” she replied softly.

Before I left my grandma, I said her farewell and started my walk toward my home. When I was about to take my 1st step, she asked me to wait and listen her words, so I did. She called me near her and asked me to sit beside her.

She suggested and advised me, “My son, you don’t know about the world because yet you have not experienced anything. You should take care of yourself, I want you to be protected, happy and successful. I hope you mark my words in your complete life. When someone says something to you, listen it carefully. If he tells you to do something, don’t directly do it. You should think whether the person’s said words are beneficial or he wants to take undue advantages of you.”

After taking a long breathe, she said once again “You should live your own life, don’t live the life what people want you to live. My last suggestion to you is that you should respect and behave in a good way to your elders, relatives, friends and teachers because your behavior defines who and what you are. Your words describe what kind of family you belong to. If you respect someone wholeheartedly, you get the same respect from others and from Allah the Almighty. Apart from this, you will be admired by everyone around you.” I replied with a smile, “OK mom, I will do the same and don’t be worried about anything.”

While starting my walk toward home, my eyes opened, I directly came to know, it was a dream with hundred lessons. When she was alive, I didn’t take time to visit her and never listened her. Today this is the reason that I am not happy with my life. If I had listened to her same words which she told me in my dream, today probably I was a successful person in this world.

I never respected my friends, relatives and teachers. Even I didn’t listen to their words whether they were saying about my goodness or not. After the dream, I realized the immense mistake of mine which I had done. We need to look after our grandparents when they are around us and we need to listen to their precious words because they have experienced the world, they know many things and know better than us. The words of theirs can lead us toward a life which we want. We need to take time for our beloved ones. As well as, we need to listen what we are being said and we need to know that our each act defines us and takes us away from our beloved.

Published in Daily Makran Times

Reviewed by Sana Samad

The book “Twilight in Delhi” written by Ahmed Ali has been considered one of the most well-known works of Pakistani literature written in English language. This book discussed about the Indian Muslims jihad against Christianity when they thrived to conquer India which caused merciless killings, untold bloodshed and violent chaos. In the novel, the author brought the love story of Asghar and Bilqeece but it showed a great sense of lost means lost in identity. Due to the conflict between Indian Muslims and Western culture, people became the victim of double consciousness. The colonized people were unable to follow their own identity as they started adopting western culture.

The novel also described a clash between Mir Nahal and Asgher. Mir Nahal was the follower of Muslim culture but Asgher was completely strange, he loved western culture, wanted to be modernized like western people and was inspired by the Western culture. Due to this, Asher was victimized by double identity in the novel. He was confused and stuck between these both cultures. Through following Muslim culture, he could not fulfill his desires and if he followed western culture, he could not receive the love of his parents.

Undoubtedly, Asgher loved western culture, so he bought shoes and clothes belonging to western culture. Unfortunately, his father disliked these things and said, “You are again wearing those dirty English boots, I don’t like them, I will have no aping of the Farangis in my house. Throw them away!” Mir Nahal was very emotional seeing his son following western culture and he hated it as much as he called them “Farangis”. Despite these, Asgher didn’t listen his father and wished to enjoy his life through following western culture and desired to be same like them.

The younger ones belonging to Indian culture system were so respectful to their parents that they never went against them. But Asgher was completely different, he crossed the limit and he dreamed to enjoy his life with his friends who were out of Muslim culture. He loved a girl namely Bilqeece but his father refused and warned him to no think of marrying her. Seeing this, tears came out from Asgher’s eyes and said, “Death is much better than this life. I ….”

Asgher became stressed and desired to die. After a lot of struggle, he succeed to marry with Bilqeece but she was an eastern girl who wasn’t aware about western system and couldn’t do the things according to Asgher’s will. Due to this, she faced bundle of problems and said “If you keep loving me a little, life would not be so miserable.”

In the novel, the problem of double consciousness was experienced by Asgher and Bilqeece as well. It created harmful effects on culture, identity of colonized people and conflict between the loved ones.

Published in Daily Makran Times