A Mechatronics Engineering student from Air University, Islamabad. He enjoys writing about politics, the youth of Pakistan, fiction stories, sports mainly on football and some religious issues.

The unthinking Majority- Serj Tankian

Uneducated democracy- Serj Tankian

Listen to these songs if you have the time!

Democracy is the rule of majority, and the majority of the people is ignorant, therefor Democracy is the rule of the ignorant, bound to be bad- Maybe Aristotle?

Hmm….Democracy is the best revenge, a vendetta by the people for the people, in our particular case!

I do not understand what they are boasting about. I’ve had two friends turn to the dark side because they offered them cookies…internet cookies. For shame….for shame! Now let us consider how the offering party came into possession of said cookies. They were bought from people’s tax money, the tax money that we pay. What tax you say? Well, the same tax you pay when you top up your mobile account. The tax that gets deducted on every transaction we make, every withdrawal and deposit in the banks, every payment of utility bill, and about 46 rupees per liter on Petrochemicals.

0_0 <—–<your face right now.

Income support programs, give us fish for a day, but do not teach us to catch fish. Three thousand only get raashan(goods for domestic usage) for a few weeks for a small family. These support programs are from your pocket, these support programs are from my pocket. Has the sun ever asked you to thank it  for its sunlight? Well there were people like you who worshiped the created in the stone age times for the bounties they conferred upon them. Are we idiots, because it was not apt that time that these bounties were from Allah. They did what made sense? Does worshiping these filthy two timers righteous in anyway!?

Its like a man stopping at every checkpost and thanking the sepoy there for not asking for a bribe. What dignity what character…bravo chillad bhai…bravo!

They gave us motorway, they gave us the atomic bomb, they gave us bhuttoism, they gave is Islami nizam in Pakhtunkhwa….along with a 10,000 loan ready for every child born in this wretched country of ours. What are we to be thankful of. Its the case of a hundred onions and a hundred kicks. Its a vile abomination to think that we have been blessed with these khairkhuwahs. Industrialists, and feudal lords will never make the peoples strong. Who will run their mills, who will pick up cotton in the scorching sun, who will be there to satisfy the urges of their offspring? Who will they fool?

The problem is not democracy, the problem is us!

Figuring it out still. Keep figuring it out go into the polling booths, cast your vote and come out from there still in a hazed state of mind, and suffer again for five years. A very good night my foolo comrades!

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Just a glimpse of Karachi!

It’s about all the random and usual scenes we view on the streets of Karachi, these are the pictures on my way to office and back, long drive and outing on the regular roads, things that we are least bothered to remember… but we love our Karachi 

The post Karachi Karachi Hai appeared first on Ideas Evolved.

The author is currently pursuing a degree in Engineering from Air University, Islamabad. He likes analyzing things and giving his perspective on them.

A political leader, once appointed by the people to a position of power, is responsible for creating and improving upon issues pertinent to improving the lives of the people who entrusted him or her to that position of power. He or she is also responsible for taking these matters to a higher level of administration if and when required and to improvise innovative policies required for and improved governance. This position is not merely a position of power, it is also one of the most respectable occupations and the elected person is thus- rightly- considered a prosperous national servant.

One of the most interesting enigmas is the process prior to the actual acquisition of this seat: that by which such self titled ‘servants’ of the people are selected. This process is referred to as the “democratic” process by which each member of the community is given the option to mark on his/her favorite person’s electoral symbol.

The outcome of this exercise is that, theoretically, the “winner” i.e. the person with the most votes, has been chosen because the populace feels that he is the best choice for the position. The process consists of following phases:

Phase-1: Pre-Poll,

Phase-2: During-Poll and

Phase-3: After-poll.

In this article the objective is to provide the hypothetical analysis about each phase from the perspective of a common Pakistani.

Phase-1: Pre-Poll

The pre-poll is the phase where the political entity reforms its social contacts by attending photo ops such as funerals, marriage ceremonies; prayers and dinner parties etc.  The party member interested in the seat in question will, in this context, manage to explain his or her party manifesto, highlight the burning issues, and vouch that his or her party is the final choice to pull out the nation from its current state of anarchy and mayhem.

At this stage, he or she will explain that the best method to do that is to erode the corruption and incompetence of the incumbent authority figures currently in power by providing the references to the various cases and by implying that his or her party manifesto is the only hope to prevent additional disaster for Pakistan.

The party member will profess his fidelity and explain how his party has suffered, faced different democratic perils, and how each time, the opposition has curbed various ongoing projects that his or her party was responsible for- and that would have succeeded to improve the lives of the general populace had it not been for the unnecessary interference of the opposition- and the incumbent government.

Similarly, the opposition has the same sentiments of how the government has been bolstering the administrative discretions in order to block projects which the opposition believes could have been in national interest.

Phase-2: During-Poll

Phase 2 is short and interesting as the voter receives the higher level of importance and protocol from the member cronies. For instance, the use of vehicles, vans, cars, rickshaws and mini buses are common to take the voters in the polling stations.

The party member’s cronies will now also begin preparing various slogans that revel in the ineffectiveness of their candidate’s counterpart.  In other words the members of each political party will attempt to hide their own incompetence by putting all their efforts into  placing all manners of allegations of corruptions and vitiated governance on the previous govern authorities and on the opposition.

Phase-3: After-Poll

Phase 3 is what the voter and the contesting party members have actually been aiming for- it is the actual epoch in the life of both voters and the winning member (servant). And that’s where a lot of small, subtle changes occur.

They needn’t all be cases of good men turning evil though. For instance the winning candidate may now begin to feel that the party manifesto that brought him into this winning position is not, in fact, in the best interest of the nation. He may feel that, despite the allegations of corruption (that he had proved during the election campaign) the other party is not as bad as he previously thought. He therefore deems that he can develop and serve his constituency better by joining the counterpart regime. Such ideological rejuvenation forces him to leave his now obviously incumbent association. Of course that’s just one case- and a pretty rosy picture at that, but it is in fact one of several situations that may occur.

So, do we need to obliterate such culprit system that is based on the personal goals?

The answer is no, because the democratic system works like this. The ominous speculation is that the same members are going to rule the system for the next five years or more. Well, alright. Let them. Let it happen and let’s allow our leader to check the temperament of the peoples.  Let the people bear the brunt of the clashes of these politicians. Let them observe, first hand, how our political leaders fight each other and how they sit and work together. Let them witness various forms of corruption and one day these frustrated peoples will come out.

That day will be the ‘day of judgment’ and will be a day of staggering revelations for the political elite. The peoples will have their own court and the decisions will be made on immediate basis. Or, to use the oft quoted and misquoted lingo of the day- that is the day when our “revolution”, our “glorious spring”, will finally have arrived. But for now, my friends, we vote!

The post The Three Phases of Democracy appeared first on Ideas Evolved.

By Mariam Saeed Khan, our ambassador at Next Generation Pakistan

Why is the word becoming increasingly popular day by day? Why is load shedding getting the fame? Why are all the parties playing “paid-content” advertisements?

All these questions occurred into my mind while switching through television channels for an hour. After that it was all “black”. No light. And then my inappropriate love for the past government increased. It is increasing with the number of hours people have to deal with while working or sleeping. With the dead batteries of UPS, the generators rusting for those of you who have the perk of having them. I wonder what would happen if I just happen to cross a political figure with all the luxuries provided by the people taxes at the moment? I would definitely not meet that figure if only he/she comes up to me and ask a simple courteous question “How have you been with the load shedding era?”  To this I prepared a speech. Simple to understand for their little brains that knows how to smell the love of money and bloodsucking out of the veins of people that work hard more than they do.

Checklist

 1) I have become a murderer of mosquitos; thanks to the last government.

 2) I have become immune to the load shedding era. But still say “How can they do this to us?!”

 3) I pray more for the ill-will of our government that is equal to my prayers for me and others.

 4) I have given all my major exams of life without the pleasure of having the electricity for a constant heartbeat of heart.

5) I have been lately singing Naya Pakistan.  INSHALLAH

6) Almost everyone on Facebook changed their cover photos to “My name is .. and my vote is for Imran Khan”

7) For the first time I wished that I would shift to my university. Why? Because the pleasure of having electricity thanks to the expensive fee rate increasing and the diesel generators is a blessing in disguise.

8) Whether it is “Parha Likha Punjab” or “Kitne Bhutto maro gaye –Roti Kapra Makhan” or “Zardari Zardari hai” or “Metro Bus banawale” this time it is for “ Balaa” . He deserves a chance to be tested.

9) Pakistan Votes, Chal Parha, Lolz Studio,Next Generation Pakistan and DJuice “Khamoshi ka Boycott” all going for one stance  : Voting Campaign.

10) We the generation of 90s would do anything to make a change inevitable in the line of blazing one vote difference stance for a new party.

11) Quiad-E-Azam would not return but neither would the old ever hopeful parties.

12) I am still writing this while the midnight two hours load shedding is taking place.

13) For the first time Pakistanis living abroad would be able to vote. ECP *Thumbs up*

14) Did you read Former General Musharraf’s news? Lolz moment.

15) I solemnly swear that I would VOTE.  I would let everyone know that I would not be updating my status or complaining about load shedding but I will be outside at the polling station.

16) Please make sure that all the working classes from low to high, whether CEOs or drivers, know actually KNOW who they are voting for the next FIVE Years. Single day load shedding increasing if PPP/MQM/PML N/Q comes into power, a lot of things in a magnified way would test our will to kill or bail out.

17) We have survived bombs, drone attacks, corruption, load shedding and worst in the modern era turned into Stone Age era. What else is left? 11^th May 2013

17 points in a form of modern era speech addressed to the big guns and the youth of Pakistan. I have no agenda but I am here to make my voice heard for the love of change. Text right now to see whether your vote is registered or not. Come on! 

The post In the Line of Vote appeared first on Ideas Evolved.

Hareem Khan is a 16-year-old who loves writing and is looking forward to write a whole lot of articles for the sake of fun.

“Don’t underestimate your worth by comparing yourself with others.” 

What with the constant load shedding, bomb blasts, corruption, not to mention the jolly good Government we have; what can students do besides keeping their fingers crossed and hoping for that one day on which Pakistan will be free from all types of ratty corruption?

We fail to realize how truly talented the youth of our country is. The students have brilliant ideas, time and capacity to develop innovative and cutting edge projects, and yet few of these ideas actually see the light of the day. This is because those who want to pursue such things don’t have the confidence in their universities to actually help develop such projects.

Keeping in mind the current situation of the country, Aspirants and the British Council Global organized the Engineering Entrepreneurship conference on 27^th of April. This seminar was conducted in the Arts Council of Pakistan in which various speakers gave their point of view in entrepreneurship and its ups and downs. The speakers included Talha Iqbal from the School of Leadership; Mohammad Jibran Nasir (a Lawyer by profession, who is contesting in these elections as an individual contestant from NA-250 PS-113), Dr. Ayub Khan (Senior Manager at General Tyre and Rubber Co. Pakistan), Abdul Haq (Founder/President Edvolution) and Aasia Farooqui (who works at British Council Pakistan and is a Training manager at ECDI).

The purpose of this conference was to focus on the various talents of the participants and not only to encourage them, but also to improve their intellectual skills, creativity, social awareness and knowledge. So at the end of the day, every participant had something to think about and a promise to fulfill.

Students from different universities all over Karachi attended the event and discussed the issues raised there, promising themselves to become better Pakistanis. Despite the fact that there was an unexpected strike the very same day, the participants still managed to attend the event. Since the theme of this conference was “Engineering Entrepreneurship”, each of the speakers urged the students to bring out the best in themselves and, rather than merely waiting for the bright future of Pakistan, to be the bright future of Pakistan.

The conference ended with a concert was arranged by Aspirants which energized the participants tired from the day-long workshop. This conference turned out to be a success considering the uncertain conditions of the city and despite the fact that there was an unexpected strike the very same day, the participants still managed to attend the event. That says something about their potential and commitment, doesn’t it?

Special thanks to the British Council Global Change Makers and Aspirants for organizing the event and to Ideas Evolved Publications for being the online media partners for this conference.

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When you look at yourself in the mirror, do you hate what you see? Do you wish you could change every part of it? Or at least, some part of it?

“What is wrong with my stupid face”, you think. And then you think about those pretty girls with photogenic faces, petite bodies, fair complexions, beautiful features and wonder how fate could be so cruel. Why do they get to be beauties and you, the inferior and-  clearly- the ugly? That’s what you think,don’t you? Time to snap back to reality beautiful.

You must have come across a lot of status updates, posts, pictures, quotations ad the like saying: ‘You’re beautiful’…its the inside that matters..blah blah’, right?  The thing about beauty is, a lot of people misunderstand it, beauty isn’t something physically appealing, or a pretty face. Beauty is an impressive personality. This whole system is messed up, with people too insecure about how they look instead of what they are. Sometimes, it gets so out of hand that they just start losing who they are because of the self pity of not being able to win the race- that stupid race of who has the pretty face.

People say looks don’t matter, but they do- for the first 30 seconds. When you look at a person,you can pass a simple remark about how they’re pretty or not-so-pretty (either out loud to the person next to you or to yourself), but the second they open their mouth to talk, that’s when the real judging starts. That is when people start judging, and that is when you show who you really are, how you talk to people, that’s kind of the only thing people judge you on, that and looks (for the first 30 seconds, that is).

Now if this person is extremely good looking, they come stand by while you’re talking to the person beside them, this is when you temporarily judge them, then they say a simple ‘Hi’ and roll their eyes at you and start talking to someone else, did that temporary judgement go down the drain? I bet it did.

Scenario no. 2, this person (who may not be very good looking) comes around and you immediately think something harsh about them, (or if you’re trying to be polite, you think nothing), while you’re talking to the person beside them, they stand there and smile at you. If so much as spare them a glance and they greet you and engage in some polite convertion with a ‘hello, how are you? My name is ____, what about you? Okay, hope you have a good day! Thank You’, then BINGO.

Looks are just this temporary little fantasy that do not matter longer than those 30 seconds, all you have to do is be beautiful on the inside. One is only a victim of insecurity when you’re not beautiful on the inside because at the end of the day you can not impress everyone, even with the best of looks- nobody can! But no matter how harsh this world is, impressing the heart is what matters. If you feel very insecure sometimes, just stop and think! Think how it is Allah who has created you- and how could His creation not be beautiful? It’s our own fault, if we don’t see it.

Don’t let the insecurity get the best of you. Don’t degrade yourself. Don’t lose confidence in yourself, because the only person you can actually count on in this world is yourself, and you must make yourself strong enough to be countable. Anyone would prefer you over  some fake beauty queen with a forced accent and a bitchy attitude (even though they may not say it out loud) because you’re better than them.

You’re better than that. You’re better than them.

You’re beautiful.

The post Hello, Beautiful. appeared first on Ideas Evolved.

The author is a psychology major and feels that it’s her obligation to spread positivity.

“You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy.
So let them go, let go of them.
I tie no weights to my ankles.”
C. Joy Bell C.

You have to fight with yourself sometimes. You may feel like drowning but you still keep holding on.

People lie- they always do. They will take advantage of you, they will break you, they will tear you into pieces and you will keep on collecting those pieces, will keep trying to put those pieces into the same arrangement they were before.

But once broken, those pieces and that arrangement aren’t going to be the same that they used to be. Damage has been done. You’re changed. You aren’t the same one you were before and you start to live in that damaged way. You hold on those grudges for several years. Your personality changes into several kinds, the vengeful one, the fragile one, the arrogant one, the deep and wise one, and the wounded one.

You cover up things by lying, by hiding so that no one could see how broken you are. But you have a choice- the choice of what you want to be with yourself. Do you want to be brutal by keeping those memories and failures in your heart? Or do you awaken the warrior within you to fight with everything that kept on damaging you?

It’s all your choice.

We all have a choice indeed!

The post Let’s move on appeared first on Ideas Evolved.

Fariha Ejaz deeply enjoys writing and sharing her thoughts with the rest of the world. She is an ambassador at Ideas Evolved who loves to write for fun.

I have been through a lot in my life. Problems, depression and drama.

I handled everything well- all those hurdles that came in my way, I never let them get to me. I never let them move me towards the wrong path. But then came I came across the word “love” in my life.

I never believed in love. I thought was only a myth. That it only happened in movies. Girls running after her guy with her hairs blowing with the wind making her look like an escaped retard. It all seemed meaningless and funny. Romance was never my thing. Critical analysis of romantic novels and movies was my thing.

It all seemed unreal to me. How could anyone think of giving away her life for someone who didn’t care about her (or him)? I found the one who claimed that he or she would give his or her life for a loved one a hypocrite. The only effect love songs had on me was that they used to make me sick. Depression because of love, pain because of love, it was unimaginable for me. It seemed stupid that a girl would write her lover’s name on her hand, that a girl would take pills for someone. Stay up all night crying for someone who was oblivious of your feelings? Why? I couldn’t imagine leaving everything behind for someone, knowing that that person didn’t care about me.

Life is good without love- mine is. I am free of any sort of drama. I, unlike many others of my age, don’t roam around like a “dukhi aatma”. I am young. I live to enjoy life not to mourn it. I don’t only survive in this place, I live to the fullest.

Love love love. This is what we think about. We consider our life incomplete without a majnu.  Somehow, love of parents and friends is not enough for us. Getting involved in things such as love in young age especially teenage may seem very attractive to our generation. But in reality it isn’t.

For all those teens, especially girls, you people should just forget about this lovey dovey thing. Life is much better without it.

Trust me.

The post The “L” Word appeared first on Ideas Evolved.

The author, Khawaja Ali Zubair, is majoring in Accounting and Finance from LUMS. He also writes Op-ed for Daily Times.

The jungle has no law. It has no logic and no opinion. It however has a reality and a set pattern: the strongest and the cleverest have the most favorable odds of survival. The society encapsulates these two words under the title of the fittest. In short, jungles are governed by the hidden creator and the probability theory of survival.

Before the existence of modern societies, the world was one big jungle and the fundamentals of law were yet to evolve. Each creature had a probability of survival, which itself was governed by the traits the creature possessed. Man had the best probability of survival because it was the smarter than any other and could dominate beasts which only had strength and no advanced cerebral direction.

Some time passed and the man decided to do away with the beasts. He cut down the jungles and created a safer society based on the principle of non-autonomous living. The beasts and animals left and man was alone now; alone and happy, to itself and to its collective society.

Some more time passed and man realized that there was beast inside which was a part of his own existence. He was sad now and more afraid than ever.  The evil was within and the consummate annihilation of that evil could only be achieved by the consummate annihilation of the man.

But of the men, one was wise. He was gifted beyond others and his logic was supreme. He called for a grand societal communion and with his guidance, the man-society wrote down the books of laws (which could not be violated). Alongside, the man-society acknowledged that if these laws were broken, then the inherent evil and animalism present in man would be let loose and subsequently, defeat the entire purpose of cutting down the beautiful trees and exiling the dangerous beasts.

The man-society was happy again and then followed a time of prolonged peace. Societies dispersed, permutated and evolved; these law books now became enforced by a strong societal centre, usually institutional, which served as guardian to the law. Modern societies began to refer to these law guardians as courts, tribunals and jirgas.

But there was one society whose law guardian became weak, and consequently some of the animalism and evil present in man was unleashed. This was because of two certain citizens whose respective avoidance of loss and incurring of exponential gain, was premised on the violation of the law books. These two men grew strong and reigned in complete ignorance of the vision of their elders. The never realized that they were going back to the jungle and in their fold, dragging along many others, the first of whom were their victims.

Such two citizens exist in every society but in my misguided country, I find horrid permutations of these two types. One reason for these permutations is the availability of eclectic enforcers of law, both official and unofficial. Another relates to the prevalence of different sets of unharmonious law spheres, which are based on agendas, not conscience and never logic. I wish not to say more, but rather depend on my fictional allusions to dispel my message.

William Shakespeare once wrote, “Lawless are they that make their wills their law”. My country and my people walk on a path no different. It is high time we look around and realize that there are many trees, growing all around us, all over again.

The post The Law of the Jungle appeared first on Ideas Evolved.

Musa Ahmed Bajwa is currently a second year student at York University Toronto.

It is amazing what a difference having no difference makes. By looking at everyone with the same lens from which one likes to be seen for themselves–that’s what humanity is all about. That is what I learned from a conference I attended last week called “Global Issues Network”. GIN started as a high school initiative, to gather the brightest, most knowledgeable students from high schools around the world, to a different high school where they would work together to create “SAP’s” sustainable action plans, for local problem which have a global impact.

This year Benjamin Jance, a sophomore at New York University in Abu Dhabi decided to hold GIN in a diverse style. He collaborated with University students and High school Students, a brilliant idea; it was implemented with extreme precision.

Allowing minds of varied capacities to work together led to an amazing experience, not only did it let the university students see through the eyes of an upcoming generation, it allowed high schools students the experience of a lifetime.

This conference was not just about the world’s problems, it was about the problems that each of us brought with us, individuals of varied nationalities and races. Looking at global conferences or organizations, which cater to individuals holding high stature in life, those conferences rarely end on a positive note.

Global Issues Network was special in this regard; it was amazing to see the connection that everyone made with each other. The delegates, the facilitators to the keynote speakers and organizers. GIN was a place where people like H.H. Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Ali Al Nuami, a.k.a “The Green Sheikh”, who may seem so unapproachable is as humble as someone can be. Where delegates like the Merriweather brother’s win everyone’s hearts through their music, Individuals like Paula (NYU Abu Dhabi Freshman) helps her team through her kindness and creativity, where local Emirati students like Khoula, helps other delegates better understand the Emirati culture and the feeling of ones they have with everyone.

GIN was not only about global issues, about how to solve those issues rather it was about a far complex problem. The problem of human connections, the Humanity that seems to be lost in the world today, the principles which we learn as youngsters but somehow lose them, lose that selflessness we learn through our parents.

The “ISSUE” that GIN helped me realize was that we are all human beings, we are all similar, and the only difference is what we create ourselves. GIN acted as a catalyst within me to understand what I have been taught since my childhood, “We are all but humans”.

This has really changed who I am and helped me steer myself towards being a better person. The three days spent during GIN were amazing, no one spoke of national, racial or any kind of grudges. I truly cannot thank enough everyone who organized and participated in GI, from the caterers who made amazing food, to the keynote. How they have enabled me to think beyond borders is just brilliant. The individuals I would like to thank most is my parents, for instilling in me believes which have shaped and made me who I am today.  I would also like to thank and mention my teammates, Luis our facilitator for making us work hard towards our goals, Paula for helping to me believe in myself, Isabel for showing that age is not comparable to how much knowledge one withholds, Khoula for helping us better understand the Emirati culture and Otto for being the person who was the core of our presentation. Thank You All. I hope that the relationships we have formed would become more than just “Networks”.

In the end I would like to share a quote of Hazrat Ali ibn Abu Talib (A.S.): “A man has two brothers, one in his religion and the other in Humankind”.

The post Human Connection appeared first on Ideas Evolved.