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August 21, 2020ZAHID Ali SHAHBlog

To commemorate the victims of violence based on religion or belief, every 22^nd of August is globally celebrated as the International Day to show a worldwide support for its innocent victims.

The bond between religion and humanity goes back to the very beginning of time itself. Ever since the dawn of humanity we humans have always found a particular set of ideas and beliefs, acts and practices, to be an anchor for our sanity. As such, from the ancient days till today they give meaning to our existence and are indeed an integral part of every society. Consequently, every religion strives to keep intact the morals and conscience of its followers, and by doing so it attempts to make them realise their responsibilities to themselves, to their societies, to the world at large, and indeed to their faith in God. So it is that If anyone transgresses the limits prescribed upon them by their faith, they not only commit treason against their own faith and religion but also against their very own kind; which in effect, tears apart their conscience, their humanity and make them despicably condemned in the courts of man and God alike.

No matter who we are. Muslims or Christians, Hindus or Jews, our religions teach us tolerance and humility, and on pain of severe penalties, they require us to respect and value human existence in its entirety. However, it also raises a question that if all religions preach peace and harmony, how is it that innocent blood is splattered across the pages of human history and is spilled by those who sincerely claimed themselves to be faithful followers of their respective religions? The answer is simple but bitter. For it requires us to acknowledge the significance of our own roles in such happenings, and needs from us the courage to own our own responsibilities in such matters.

To begin with, according to many sociologists since the beginning of time religion has remained and it shall continue to be one of the most powerful institutes of a society. As a result, it has the power to channel peoples energies into creating a better, brighter versions of themselves in establishing a world of wonders and prosperity. For every religion in its essence serves humanity and aims to make this world a better, more secure place to live in. At the same time, its influence can be employed to manipulate the blinding devotion of its followers into becoming the deadliest of weapons to do the bidding of those who have the audacity and the cunning to be their manipulators. For instance, there are politicians who play on people’s emotions to strengthen their vote banks. There are religious leaders who forget that they are merely humble guides to their people in a quest to serve God in good conscience, and mislead their people into committing actions which contravene the very ethics and morality of our mutual existence which only bespeaks their own ambition. And finally, there are those who are manipulated amply because of their ignorant attitudes towards understanding the truest essence of their religions, towards realising that every religious devotion needs to be steered by an honest faith in divine wisdom and by a clear understanding of our respective religions.

In essence dear reader, greed and ambition, sloth and ignorance, are what cause such incomprehensible violence in the name of faith and God. In order for us to have interfaith harmony in our societies, it is essential that we ourselves take the initiative and endeavour to comprehend the actual teachings of our respective religions, and faithfully abide by their injunctions. Also, it falls upon us to do all that we can to minimise the general prevalence of materialism, and in effect of greed and ambition. In doing so however, we owe it to ourselves that we take into immense consideration the legal and social conformities of our societies. Let’s not deceive ourselves anymore! Let’s not play the blame game anymore and own the fact that if we tend to follow a religion, we need to mature our religious grooming and become true followers of our Religion! Let’s be the end to all such violence!

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August 19, 2020ZAHID Ali SHAHBlog

Every person who decides to stand firmly against the troubles of his/her life and endure its consequences is a hero of his/her own story. Even more heroic are those whose initiative is not only limited to their own selves but also undertakes to provide help and relief to as many people in need as they can. It is precisely to celebrate and honour such silent heroes that every 19^th of August is celebrated as world humanitarian Day.

The day is designated as the world humanitarian Day in memory of the 22 people who lost their lives in 19^th August 2003 bombing at Canal Hotel in Baghdad Iraq. These 22 people also included the Chief humanitarian in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello. Their sacrifices, like countless others in the cause of serving humanity, compels any conscientious person to acknowledge the fact that in times of crisis the boundaries of caste and creed, race and religion, cultures and countries, our only to be recognised as distinct marks of our identities and nothing else. For no matter who we are, from which part of the world, regardless of the ideology we support, if any 1 of us is in pain and suffering from anything which can be dealt with, the only boundaries need to be considered are of being a person, a part of humanity or of any alien species. And since each and every 1 of us share the same bond of humanity, it is but natural that we understand the loss and anguish of any 1 of us as indeed suffering for all of us.

For instance, the death and devastation caused by the Covid19 pandemic have shaken the entire world to its very roots. Interestingly, it has also revealed many unparalleled heroes of our time. Such as the doctors who have repeatedly put their lives at stake to battle and subdue coronavirus, those patients who have endured its agony to emerge as battle-scarred veteran warriors or to attain the nobility of martyrdom, and those non-profit organisations who have tirelessly spent all their resources to minimise its socio-economic damages to our societies. All deserve to be appreciated and saluted as the heroes of humanity. In Pakistan HDF alone has managed to provide for 5000 below the poverty line families in its regions. Not to mention that there are many other such organisations at work to achieve the same purpose. Additionally, upholding their humanitarian values, many volunteers of varying ages, teenagers, young adults, adults, stepped forth to provide their assistance when and wherever required.

In essence dear reader, world humanitarian Day not only serves to appreciate such unsung heroes of our time but also stands as a reminder to all of us that in our individual capacities we all have the potential to be heroes of our own lives as well as of others. All that it takes is an ironclad resolve to brave the stormy seas of our lives with a placid smile on our faces and an enduring heart to survive its turbulence, to have a heart and broadening our scope of understanding to own every person as a part of our own individual existence. For as John Donne so aptly puts it in his poem:

“No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend’s were.
Each man’s death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.”

Written by Talha Masood

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August 13, 2020Abdullah KamranBlog

What is worse for the planet’s poor: death by starvation or contagion? Because there is no other alternative in a world of plenty, they should not become a thorn in the flesh of the rich, more specifically, their lungs. That toxic air has already blackened them is beside the point. The middle class is slightly better off, albeit only for a short time. To return them to work, a paternalistic state can mull over offering its older population as an oblation at the shrine of stock exchange; at any cost, the spiky wheels of neoliberal economy must not come to a halt. One after the other, healthcare systems of the most affluent countries in history have been decimated by an influx of patients and shortage of medical equipment whereas stockpiles of smart bombs and fighter jets rest pointlessly in their repositories. From their aerie lodges, the Marie Antoinette(s) of twenty-first century gripe about mandatory social distancing after a surfeit of Netflix and cake. Covid-19 has unleashed a spectrum of collective torment on the human race unprecedented in a generation but thankfully, very few are acquainted with its components in entirety. Suffering is never welcome and we are neither Syria nor Kashmir. However, the pervasive desperation in our societies brings home comparable privation of disparate multitudes and defilement of Mother Nature by Homo sapiens. It is our orientation in the following months that will determine the legacy we leave for posterity.

The only denominator is humanity: –

A lot of us are guilty of frivolously disseminating ‘Made in China, won’t last long’ tropes about the novel virus and castigating PRC’s political system and food preferences at the onset. It goes without saying that investigation into the conception of this pernicious pandemic must be high priority – censurable state practices, once ascertained beyond doubt must be called out and where possible, human and monetary losses indemnified. However, nothing warrants racist backlash against Asian-looking people in the West soon after Covid-19 went ‘viral’. Within a few weeks, China recovered and marvelously so with relatively low body count and little propagation outside Wuhan. Before long, epicenters shifted elsewhere and hyper-nationalists and religious zealots found familiar targets to vilify. Sunni Pakistanis were quick to attribute the dispersal of infection to Shia pilgrims travelling back from Iran before waking up to another potential source: Raiwand. In India, Muslim preachers were vehemently reviled as ‘super-spreaders’, conveniently overlooking the marches and cow-cola parties organized by Hindu supremacists and attended by hundreds. Farther in the land of Enlightenment, doctors in a television program unabashedly suggested to experiment the corona vaccine on Africans – as if they were lesser humans or their lives did not matter.

Revolutionary fervor prevailed over the dire needs of Iranian population as the Khomeini regime repeatedly declined international assistance and Trump administration refused to ease sanctions. Neglectfully behind time at home, the leader of the sole superpower vacillated on the global front too.

Consequently, the first fatality of a post-Covid-19 order must be divisive politics and the dogmas charging it. Alongside the arrant ineptitude of populist leaders, the pathogen has debunked their ‘us vs. them’ portrayal of national and international life. Barriers scream out their futility in an air they cannot split. The Great Wall of China could not contain the microbe in its precincts and robust immigration controls failed to impede its ingress into the United States of America. Every nation for itself until you are neck-deep in a crisis you are unable to subdue on your own and invoke divine intervention. But mosques have closed their doors so have synagogues, temples and churches.

Priests who dubbed the contagion as God’s wrath at growing homosexuality tested positive for the virus in due course. A similar desolation envelops the Jerusalem, Vatican, Varanasi and Mecca and their devotees. As people of varied geographical, ethnic, economic and political cultures fall prey to a singular SARS-CoV-2, the only celestial intercession has descended in the form of medical practitioners who have been working indefatigably without protective gear, risking their own lives in the process. In the United Kingdom, children of immigrants hold on to the trenches as Cuban doctors traverse continents to alleviate the burden on fellow practitioners. Pandemic has yoked Palestinians and Israelis in a similar quandary as the psychic bars between Russia and Europe crumble and they rush to console one another. Other rescuers who are stepping up to the challenge by donating safety and sanitary goods, respiratory aids and comestibles are temporal beings so are the law enforcers, soldiers, volunteers, journalists and essential workers toiling around the clock to ensure the well-being of fellow citizens. At once, the plight and offering of persons are not colored in hues of race, gender, wealth or doctrine. Humanity is the only ideology that offers salvation. Although, the death-dealing, financially denuding pestilence has indiscriminately affected vast swathes of the globe, the ensuing course of action has varied considerably, especially in countries headed by empathetic and accomplished women. Eschewing xenophobic rhetoric, partisan politics and crony capitalism, these states proactively managed the crisis by methodically locking down cities, assembling requisite medical services, prolific testing and announcing economic relief measures for individuals and businesses in need. This is markedly different from strongmen at the helm temporizing, shutting down the entire state on a few hours’ notice, playing down the disease as flu and cautioning countrymen to be prepared to lose a loved one on way to achieving herd immunity. Just as policy responses to a common predicament diverge, so does the capacity to withstand it.

Inequality breeds vulnerability: –

It is rather facile to reaffirm the now hackneyed instruction to wash one’s hands with an alcohol-based sanitizer for almost twenty seconds several times in a day, cleanse surfaces, confine oneself to home and maintain safe distance from other humans. All is well for the well-off unless they are unwell. Across the glass towers are communities that do not have clean water to drink or running supply for household use and they number in billions, concentrated mostly in Asia and Africa. Many have never seen a disinfectant in their lifetimes and can barely afford it. Therefore, a natural ritual such as deterging hands may not be so trouble-free for a humongous section of the population – no water or soap, water and no soap, soap and polluted H2O. Millions of families dwell in housing units sometimes as meager as a single room in shanty towns and squalid urban quarters with no proper sewerage system or healthcare facilities. In many countries, jails have open toilets and are overcrowded. Hospitals are scanty, inadequately provided, under-staffed and burdened beyond capacity. Teeming with rodents and fetid odors, these are breeding grounds for contagion much less the environs to curb its transmission. Much like cleanliness and social distancing, limitation to home is also no less an amenity. The shelter-less have no place to seek refuge and 820 million are already hungry. Almost half of the world’s population earns barely enough to feed themselves for a day and cannot subsist without going to work regularly. If these daily wagers go out, they are susceptible to disease and would starve if they do not. At times the sole breadwinner, they are only a hospital bill short of plunging into extreme poverty.

Despite lending backbone to the economy, blue collar workers and there are many of those in vital services – from the janitor to salesperson – continue to labor long hours for paltry wages, no paid sick leave or job security in perilous conditions. Who is to blame for their inability to abide by safety protocols – the destitute or the overarching system that moderates their circumstances? Many others may be able to stockpile on grocery and the coveted hand sanitizer but for how long? Funds may exhaust in some weeks or months; small and medium businesses may not be able to outlast closure, leaving no substitute for the unemployed tens of millions.

It goes without saying that the organs of the affluent are as susceptible to Coronavirus as that of the impecunious but unlike them, they inhabit spacious, well-supplied compounds in salubrious neighborhoods and can call for medical assistance at home. Capital cannot buy immortality as yet. True. Irrespective of financial status, the emotional toll of losing a loved one is profound – in this instance, aggravated by inability to bid farewell and appropriately inter. But the rich have holdings that can sustain them for years without having to worry about discharging their utility and assorted bills. Indeed, monetary repercussions of the virus have also jolted the coffers of billionaires and conglomerate firms but these losses amount to a tiny fraction of their colossal wealth and a submissive state will readily step in to ameliorate the damage because these entities are too big to fail. Contrast it with the too trifling/expensive to save outlook taken towards enterprises of lesser influence and citizens with limited means. They form the majority and are compelled to select between equally appalling options. This disparity in living conditions precedes the pandemic which has only made its grisly ramifications a bit more palpable. It is imperative to recognize that the debilitating and cyclic inequality that robs billions of meal, sanitation, health, education, opportunity and dignity is not ineluctable. Over the last three decades, governments have actively exacerbated this divide by under-taxing giant corporations and levying disproportionate dues on the working class. While the rich continue to innovate to evade their liabilities, spending on vital services such as education, healthcare and social security has been ruthlessly pared and privatization has reduced these fundamental rights to luxuries. That just 1 per cent owns two times more wealth than 6.9 billion people is obscenely unfair and must be atoned for through progressive taxation that redistributes resources to those in the bottom stratum. A universal basic income may have sounded like a radical idea in the past but the cataclysmic virus has unequivocally revealed the pressing need for a living stipend for all. The earth is our shared home and as such must be equally livable for its inhabitants.

The continued survival of our species is inextricably linked with the environment: –

The 2002-04 SARS epidemic broke out from China and so has the Covid-19. While the latter is purported to have started in Wuhan with the consumption of bats or pangolins kept in insanitary conditions alongside other wildlife, the former passed on to humans from civet cats in the Guangdong province. Both of these maladies can be traced to the wet markets of the Middle Kingdom which openly trade in ‘anything that flies except a plane and anything with four legs except a table’. These infamous bazaars take in a variety of bizarre species from wolf cubs and monkeys to turtles, serpents and frogs to placate the culinary preferences of citizens for whom feasting on exotic animals has become a status symbol. Besides being ideal birthplaces of zoonotic infections, these markets are operated in horrid conditions – terrified, sick and injured beings jumbled together in the abattoir and slaughtered in filthy, merciless ways. With no welfare laws in place, terrible atrocities are committed against marine and terrestrial creatures. This is detestable. Moreover, despite solid evidence of the public health menaces posed by live animal markets, it is criminally negligent on part of the Chinese government to continue to permit these contagion incubators to function long after the SARS outbreak. Therefore, Beijing should not only apologize for jeopardizing the lives and livelihoods of billions but must also be rigorously pressed to make lasting changes to its treatment of fauna. That said, it is time to assess our own dietary habits not only out of compassion for animals but because our insatiable appetite for meat is deleterious to our health and that of the planet. Millions of square kilometers of forests have been cut for grazing pastures and industrial livestock worsens the greenhouse effect because methane gas emitted by ruminants during digestion is twenty-one times more damaging than carbon dioxide is to the atmosphere. In addition to sparing us from cancer, obesity and varied ailments of heart, cutting down on meat consumption will also positively impact our soil, air and waters – apparently, they have found a breathing space in recent months.

This spring is unlike any other we have seen in years. The novel virus holding humans captive in their abodes has enabled other species to reclaim their habitats and also give an occasional knock on our doors. Anthropogenic noise has given way to blustering winds and chirping of birds in clearer skies. As brown belts of pollution subside, mountains shrouded by smoke for decades have become perceptible. Life is flaring up in limpid waters; mercury is falling, animals are rejoicing and wild flowers blooming. Over the Arctic, the biggest hole in the ozone layer has closed. But the good news about the revival of the planet is accompanied by enormous agony and foreboding. It took a deadly virus, hundreds of thousands of fatalities and trillions of dollars in business losses for an inhalation of benign air. And this fresh aerosphere may turn out to be nothing more than an interlude when normality is restored and humans return to their rapacious ways – indeed, double down on carbon-releasing exploits to make up for financial losses. However, it is erroneous to presume that environmental protection and economic development are mutually exclusive. For years, climate activists have vociferously advocated for a Green New Deal and been ridiculed by naysayers as alarmist and fanciful but if ecological conservation is further delayed, pandemics and extreme weather events will become a way of life displacing and debilitating large populations, depleting resources and deluging economies. If anything, our present predicament must impel us to make lasting changes to our production and consumption patterns. These include a transition off fossil fuels and investment in renewable energy, smart buildings, clean public transport and digital infrastructure, abstaining from animal-based diet and food wastage, recycling waste and restoring forests. Prudent management of nature is indispensable for the survival of humans in the post Covid-19 world.

We cannot shirk from our collective responsibility: –

The Civil War President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln is reported to have said and aptly so that we cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today. Teetering on the brink of extinction, there is no tomorrow for our generation because we have been procrastinating perilously on discharging our duties of today. The repercussions are palpable. One loses count of the liters of innocent blood that have drenched the soils of religion, nationalism and civilization. In the cornucopia that our world is, the exchange rate of sweat is awfully low. Between the affluent and impoverished, white and black, men, women and the intersex, humans and their animal cousins, the divides are egregious and cleavages sealed with oppression. The powerful traffic in the inalienable rights of the great unwashed with impunity. As rising sea levels, pandemics and a warming terra firma reveal, the license for sucking the planet dry has become void and oppression works out its own destruction. History is replete with premonitions and so are our airwaves nowadays. Indeed, there is no silver bullet to undo centuries of vandalism of the earth and maltreatment of its inhabitants. But the silver lining in the ominous clouds of catastrophe is that we are all capable of making a difference. Our thought, word and action are not devoid of substance or meaning. Every choice matters and it falls on us to ensure it is the right one. This is very much like information; the blizzards of fake news that can fog logic, entrench biases, foment chaos and induce complacence or credible data that can back up policies, foster understanding, generate awareness and lead the way to amicable solutions. Same is true for money that can be used to manufacture weapons to kill or spent on meeting the necessities of the multitudes. Empathy and enterprise are the basic tools in the survival kit for the new world. We cannot afford to continue to overlook the structural barriers that extinguish the bare promise of a dignified living for millions. While governments and international institutions cannot be absolved of their shortcomings, we cannot depend entirely on them to repair this debilitating system. The harmony we seek to manifest begins with billions of us taking small steps such as sharing meal with a neighbor, contributing to a child’s education or an elderly person’s medical bills, recompensing our helpers fairly, being conscientious about our shopping and dietary practices, educating oneself to vote wisely and use nature’s resources sparingly; speaking a kind word or raising voice against injustice, spreading knowledge or a smile. Most importantly, it entails divesting oneself of prejudice and respecting every life irrespective of its origin or ostensible status. We have been sitting on the fence for far too long. It did not help then, it won’t help now. The contagion of indifference and powerlessness must be eliminated for good.

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August 4, 2020ZAHID Ali SHAHBlog

Friendship is a bond that is kept alive by the warmth of one’s love for one’s friends, and by the extent of one’s devotion to its affinity. It is as strong as is the love of the friends for each other, which nurtures it, and as binding as is their devotion to each other, which sustains it. Today however, most of us are taught that friendship is merely one of the many beautiful and ideological phenomena that one simply experiences as a part of one’s life. Something which gradually loses its charm as one grows up to enter one’s practical life.

Most of us find ourselves concurring with this belief in our later years. As life progresses, we begin to believe that our busy routines, our more than hectic schedules, our work-load, and our familial duties do not allow us to have the luxury of spending time with our friends. Time and again, we tell ourselves and our friends that due to our overwhelming commitments, it simply escapes our minds to call our friends back, to send a courteous reply; explaining our being busy, or just to inquire after their health in a few words. Such self-deceiving lies belittle our friendship, and eventually, it becomes a fragile bond, whose frailty is unknown even to those bound by it. Consequently, every thirtieth of July is globally celebrated as World Friendship Day, so that we could appreciate the delicate significance, the ocean deep mystery, the rock hard strength of the sincerity of this wonderful relationship.

Dear friends, there is no bond as precious as an honest friendship. While it is true that honest friends understand each other and tend to remain friends, even across the ever-widening gulf of time, it cannot be denied that some of us let our friendships dwindle into the shadows of time, Let them be consumed by our ignorance to the laws of courtesy, and our unconsciously growing indifference. Under the burden of our other obligations, we forget that to be remembered by somebody, to be a confidant for someone, and to be acknowledged as special for another person is to be greatly honored by them. For just as we are bound by the constraints of time, so are they. But their love and devotion, loyalty and dedication to our shared relationship is such; that even against the swift flow of time they still manage to cling-on to their, our friendship. Keeping in touch does not require much. All it takes is a few words spoken in even fewer minutes. Every now and then we can talk to our friends on call, inquire after their health, and ask them what have they been doing lately? And if a friend reaches out to you, return their calls and messages in kind. If you are busy, tell them curtly but kindly that at the moment you are occupied, and that you would call them later. And make sure, you do. True friends understand each other. They wouldn’t mind. For they know that you would keep your word.

Such small but considerate gestures become the very soul of our friendship, and guard it against the erosion of time, something that we seem to have taken to be an inevitability. And if we are not capable even for such small gestures, then we and we alone are responsible for murdering a part of ourselves which is a mark of our humanity.

If we do not protect our friendship from such an erosion, then we truly deserve the sad but expected consequences of our carelessness as is expressed by Charles Hanson:

Around the corner I have a friend,

In this great city that has no end;

Yet days go by, and weeks rush on,

And before I know it, a year is gone,

And I never see my old friend’s face,

For Life is a swift and terrible race.

He knows I like him just as well

As in the days when I rang his bell

And he rang mine. We were younger then,

And now we are busy, tired men:

Tired with playing a foolish game,

Tired with trying to make a name.

“Tomorrow,” I say, “I will call on Jim,

Just to show that I’m thinking of him.”

By Talha Masood
Assistant Communication Officer, HDF

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August 4, 2020ZAHID Ali SHAHBlog

Why? Because this is Pakistan!

Patriotism is the spirit which sustains our passion to serve our nation with the knowledge that its land is our home, its people are a family, and thus are we honour bound as its dwellers to guard its honour and to leave no stone unturned in the cause of its prosperity. Sadly however, the fact is that when immorality and corruption takes root in a society as a social norm, such concepts are eclipsed by a general despondency towards such ideas as too idealistic to be practical or too childish and sentimental to be considered seriously. As a result, even when somebody is brave enough to recall their duty towards their nation and feel their patriotism stirring within them, they are told that they should abandon their churlish beliefs and think beyond their fairyland to realise that social disintegration, moral decadence, and political instability are just ways of our country and as such should not be tampered with, otherwise we ourselves would get burned. Eventually, our patriotism fades into a disinterested apathy and we lose faith in ourselves and in the virtue of our nation.

So it is within our own beloved Pakistan. Notwithstanding those who dare to publicly proclaim their pain and unease over the societal regression of our country, if you listen closely to what you hear in our general discussions, you would come to know how dismissively we react to somebody violating traffic rules, someone who does not wish to comply with the queueing policies, or indeed even to the news of those who murdered another person then got away with it. More or less every time, with a different phrasing, you would hear the same comment again and again that “it happens because this is Pakistan.” Consequently, there are those amongst us who are willing to abandon their own country and settle abroad, and be done with their problems as a Pakistani. Then there are those who do not wish to leave their homeland but neither do they have a desire to actively contribute to its betterment, keeping in view the unprofitable outcome or the impracticality of such a venture. And finally, some of us work indeed to bring about changes for the better but only achieve a cultural mutilation of our own values, for they, like many others have also lost faith in ourselves as a nation and in effect in Pakistan to be anything in its own right. How is it that in the name of maturity and grown up thinking we deem it necessary to abandon ourselves? Why is it that only by forsaking most vital part of our identities can we be compatible to our own society and to the world at large? Is it really so? Or have we just forgotten that each and every Pakistani owns this beloved land as their own and is responsible for its ruin or its well-being? Pakistan is not merely a piece of a bordered land but a will which can only be sustained by our belief in its existence, a will which every Pakistani carries within him/her, to be expressed as an honest and hard-working student, a most upright and trustworthy employee, and above all as a standard-bearer of our cultural uniqueness and our values as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

So let’s turn the tables over! Let us own our responsibilities as Pakistanis! Let us become the beauty and the nobility of its white and green flag! Let us shine forth as the life of its crescent moon and the brilliance of its ever radiant star! And why? “Because This Is Pakistan”!

By Talha Masood
Assistant Communication Officer, HDF

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July 28, 2020Abdullah KamranBlog

According to WHO “viral hepatitis is the 8th highest cause of mortality globally and was responsible for 1.34 million deaths in 2015, a toll comparable to that of HIV and tuberculosis. Globally, approximately 257 million persons are chronically infected with hepatitis B and 71 million with hepatitis C.  At this rate, an estimated 20 million deaths will occur between 2015 and 2030.” Consequently, to equip us all with sufficient knowledge and awareness to deal with this threat, every 28th of July is globally dedicated to understand the causes, prevention techniques, types and treatment of hepatitis.

In the world of medicine, hepatitis is also known as the silent killer. It is an inflammatory condition of the liver which is usually caused by viral infections and can be self-limiting or lead to fibrosis (scarring), cirrhosis or even liver cancer. Owing to the fact that there are other factors which can cause hepatitis in a person such as autoimmune diseases, wherein a person can spend years unaware that their bodies have developed antibodies against their liver and are slowly but severely damaging it, it has been termed thus as a silent killer. By the time the patient begins to struggle with its complications, in many cases it is already too late by then.

Prior to understanding how exactly does hepatitis infect us, let us first determine the functional significance of liver in maintaining our health. “The liver regulates most chemical levels in the blood and excretes a product called bile. This helps carry away waste products from the liver. All the blood leaving the stomach and intestines passes through the liver. The liver processes this blood and breaks down, balances, and creates the nutrients and also metabolizes drugs into forms that are easier to use for the rest of the body or that are nontoxic. More than 500 vital functions have been identified with the liver.” (Liver anatomy and functions, Johns Hopkins medicine) as a result, hepatitis is not only caused by viral infection but also by poor personal hygiene and or an altogether unhygienic environment, by the consumption of excessive alcohol, and overuse of antibiotic drugs, and by any edible item which burdens and eventually harms the functioning of liver.

“There are 5 main hepatitis viruses, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E. These 5 types are of greatest concern because of the burden of illness and death they cause and the potential for outbreaks and epidemic spread. In particular, types B and C lead to chronic disease in hundreds of millions of people and, together, are the most common cause of liver cirrhosis and cancer.

Hepatitis A and E are typically caused by ingestion of contaminated food or water. Hepatitis B, C and D usually occur as a result of parenteral contact with infected body fluids. This common modes of transmission for these viruses include receipt of contaminated blood or blood products, invasive medical procedures using contaminated equipment and for hepatitis B transmission from mother to baby at birth, from family member to child, and also by sexual contact.

Acute infection may occur with limited or no symptoms, or may include symptoms such as jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes), dark urine, extreme fatigue, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.” [World Health Organisation WHO)

In essence, Pakistan being a third world country has to often struggle with the provision of proper healthcare facilities. As a consequence, every year there are 150,000 new cases of hepatitis in our country. The role that we can play as individuals to supplement government’s efforts to curtail and prevent hepatitis, and to assist doctors in treating its infected patients, is to become the moral strength of such patients. For although mental stress and anxiety are not directly contributory factors in causing hepatitis, doctors agree that they certainly threatens success of the treatment by further weakening patients immunity. So let us take this opportunity to include in our daily, weekly, or even fortnightly schedules, a visit to a hepatitis patient and freshen up their struggles by dispelling their dejection. Let them know that everything is not doom and gloom! that their suffering would surely, by the grace of the Almighty, soon come to an end!

By Talha Masood
Assistant Communication Officer, HDF

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July 22, 2020Abdullah KamranBlog

“To vanquish the shadows of poverty and destitute, our souls need to be purged of greed and ambition, to be cleansed by a baptism of fire and empathy, devotion and sacrifice.”

In the wake of Covid19 pandemic the already debilitating economies of many Third World countries such as our beloved Pakistan have witnessed its poverty stricken inhabitants to have grown in number. Some of those who recently found employment were struck of the strength with their employers excuse that they would not be able to afford their wages, while others whose fortune merely consisted of daily wages were once again ushered into a blood chilling battle for their survival against hunger and the crushing weight of feeding their families as their bread earners. Reportedly, there were those who lost this battle and had to end their lives to escape their guilt and suffering, and there are still others who are fighting tooth and nail to hold on to what they have, to cling on to their dear lives in the hope of better times to come. Fortunately, there are those of us who stepped forth to do whatever they can for such people to survive these trying times.

However, while such people have shown their souls to be the material of heroes, a general idea prevails which subjugates the spirit of donation and limits it to monetary funding and financial assistance only. When in reality our resources do not only consist of our wealth and other monetary assets. Do you not think that we also have our intellectual as well as other physical resources to contribute to this cause? For instance, those of us who think that their qualifications or other expertise can supplement the efforts of those who are committed to poverty alleviation as their mission, can always approach such people and suggest innovative ideas or otherwise donate their services as their charity. For the scope of donation need not be narrowed down to only money or other material resources. The elderly and other retirees can contribute their time and experience to guide and shape many poverty alleviation movements through their advice. Adults and young adults can voluntarily offer their skills and services to further the cause of establishing even a single person or his/her entire household. Our energetic youth can always invest their excessive energies into mobilizing masses to cater for the needy, and eventually to help create a society where every heartthrob with the desire to be the guiding hand for those who need somebody to pull them out of their misfortune. With your leave I would venture so far as to even believe that our children can also be taught, without encumbering their education, to lend their playfulness and revive the innocence of those other children, who in appearance are of their own age but in experience, are shouldering the burdens of many adults to live through their poverty stricken childhood purity.

In essence dear reader, the ability to feel another’s pain and suffering, there will to devote your time and money, your thoughts and expertise into relieving others of their sufferings, constitute to be the sole of every donation. So Let us take this opportunity of this coming EID to acknowledge the fact that like Ebrahim and Ismail (peace be upon them both), there are those who willingly sacrificed their lives for the love of their God, who is the benefactor of the entire creation, thus donating their own shares into benefiting others. Let us take inspiration from them and become examples in our own stead of being others benefactors in any way we can!

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July 15, 2020Abdullah KamranBlog

Covid19 pandemic has greatly influenced the dynamics of our daily lives. Education and socio-economic structures across the globe have severely suffered so that people of all ages have had to undergo a tremendous shift from their previous lifestyles to a life under the rapidly changing situation of Covid19. However, among all these age groups youth, in terms of productive skills has been damaged the most. Keeping in view the importance of such crisis, UN has adopted the theme of “Skills for a Resilient Youth in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond” to be celebrated on 15 July the world youth skills day.

 This pandemic has greatly disturbed the transition of such youngsters from student lives to their practical lives. Consequently, in addition to the fact that they have not only been demoralized by such bleak prospects, their unemployment has also dealt a severe blow to the economy of their respective nations. For instance, 64% of Pakistanis are younger than age 30 and 29% age between 15 to 25. The increase in their unemployment not only raises their chances of a downward social mobility as individuals, but also makes them a major contributory factor in Pakistan’s poverty. Nevertheless, it also suggests that if By innovative thinking and perseverance this adversity were to be changed into an opportunity, our youth can be provided a chance to become saviours of our nation from an economic collapse.

Owing to the fact that in the wake of the subsequent precautionary measures there has been a sudden shift to an IT oriented culture, many organisations and institutes have had to convert all their data from hard form into its soft copies. As a result, it has been seen that to save time many of such organisations hired or dispersed reasonable amounts of stipends to data entry operators. Similarly, some educational institutes who could afford, hired many fresh graduates simply because of being proficient in their IT skills. Also, people with motivational speaking abilities have also been in demand lately. Organisations and institutes employed them as an attempt to boost the morale of their employees or students to work with integrity from their homes. Some of such speakers also capitalised upon this opportunity for their self-employment and have made YouTube channels and are generating a reasonable amount of income to support themselves and to contribute in their domestic economies.

Even so, an overwhelmingly large number of our youth still remains unemployed. For some, it is because of the pandemic crisis but for many others it is due to a lack of strategic planning in formulating academic policies which would also help students in developing vocational skills along with their academic accomplishments. As a result, when fresh graduates or other skilled young adults go out in the market to sell their services, they are either rejected because of their inexperience or suffer a disheartening attitude owing to a lack of proficiency in their skills. Consequently, in order to resolve this crisis as a nation, let us not forget that no one is a born expert. If we do not pave a path for the skill development of our youth and give them a chance to learn through experience, who will? If every time they are turned down because of their inexperience, how would they ever be adequately experienced to be eligible for an employment.

So let us stand firm on this stance and provide opportunities to our children, our siblings, all our friends, to develop different sets of skills along with their academic careers!

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July 7, 2020Abdullah KamranBlog

In the wake of Covid19 pandemic and its resultant complications, humanity has had a chance to rediscover itself. Some of us have generously extended our hands to support others in the best way possible within our limited resources, while there are those who have capitalized upon others’ misery for their own material gain. Consequently, playing upon the desperation of Covid19 patients, many recovered patients have started charging to donate their blood plasma which is believed to be helpful in treating coronavirus Thereby establishing themselves as a sad and sorry outcome of their survival for the world.

However, before examining the perspective and reasoning of such individuals, let us 1st understand how and to what extent the blood plasma helps a Covid19 patient. “People who have recovered from COVID-19 develop natural defenses to the disease in their blood (antibodies). Antibodies are found in part of the blood called plasma. Plasma from blood donated from recovered patients, which contains COVID-19 antibodies, can be used to make two preparations. Firstly, convalescent plasma, which is plasma that contains these antibodies. Secondly, hyperimmune immunoglobulin, which is more concentrated, and therefore contains more antibodies.

Convalescent plasma and hyperimmune immunoglobulin have been used successfully to treat other respiratory viruses. These treatments (given by a drip or injection) are generally well-tolerated, but unwanted effects can occur.” (Cochrane.org) nevertheless, according to the same research while there is a high probability of its being effective for many Covid19 patients, studies have not yet been able to conclusively suggest that it most certainly works to increase the survival or the healing chances of all Covid19 patients. As a result, it should be acknowledged that charging money in lakhs for a contribution which has no guarantee of its effectiveness is not only highly unethical but a cruel exploitation of those who are already struggling to cling on to their lives.

Even so, where such actions can never be justifiable, I would urge you to kindly reflect that in some cases at least they merit an understanding from you, which helps in condemning only the vice and not its perpetrator. For instance, should we not feel pity along with our indignation for a father who sees such a moneymaking contribution as an opportunity to buy some respite of a few days or a couple of months for his and his family’s poverty stricken lives? Would it not mature our understanding of those who commit such actions out of greed, just to fill their already bulging pockets and of those who do it out of their obligations to take care of their families, or to make an attempt at breaking free from the shackles of their poverty? Such a reasoning gives you an insight to why anyone would take advantage of another’s suffering. It does not however, change the fact that to exploit another’s pain is a sad and distorted expression of human nature.

In essence dear reader, I appeal to your kind compassion and to your considerate wisdom to play your part in strongly condemning this sales purchase of blood plasma, of burdening necessities or, selfish impulses. I beseech you to contribute to the best of your ability in reducing poverty from your neighbourhood, your city, your country, and in effect from the world.

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June 25, 2020Abdullah KamranBlog

In the shadows cast by the morbidity of Covid19 and its subsequent complications, today all of us find ourselves grappling with a whole different level of pains and difficulties. As a result, Covid19 has not only presented itself as an international crisis but has also wreaked havoc upon our individual lives. Fear and frustration, stress and confusion, are those conflicted emotions which require our immediate and fullest attention, to be addressed as not only a minor inconvenience but as a major threat to the socio-psycho dynamics of our normal lives.

Generally, with some exceptions, we Pakistanis are indeed a social people. As such, our lives have always been revolving around nurturing our ties with others. May we be children, teenagers, young adults, adults, or elders of our communities, we possess an unconscious inkling as a society to cultivate new relations and expand our social circles. So naturally, with Covid19 precautions in place, our social lives are experiencing a torturous change, which is severely damaging our emotional well-being. Consequently, even those of us who vainly deem ourselves sufficiently well-versed in managing the lockdown situation and other such precautions, we find ourselves struggling with the burden of our stresses and anxieties, to the effect that without our knowing it, we have begun to bend beneath the oppressive weight of the increasingly depressing atmosphere.

Such an unconsciously undertaken emotional strife is bound to take its toll upon other aspects of our lives. Those of us who are studying or working online are facing rising frustrations at our virtual offices and universities, and are stressing out due to a lack of discipline in managing our respective works from home, while others are engaged in a Mortal Combat against the life-threatening pressure of their economic recessions, hunger and poverty. More alarming is the fact that reportedly there has been a gradual but steady increase in the number of lives claimed by either the fear of being infected by Covid19 or the depression caused by its subsequent strenuous circumstances.

To cap it all, our stress levels are unknowingly increasing, and are dealing out debilitating blows to our psychological and physical health. However, according to many psychologists the key to unlock the doors of self-imprisonment caused by such mental conditions is well within our reach. It simply requires us to have faith in ourselves, in our own ability to rise above the storms and emerge victorious out of such trials of our physical and emotional strength.

For as human beings we have indeed been blessed the ability to adapt and evolve according to the changes we experience. So if you just look around you, you would come to know that where there are reports of an increase in people giving up upon their lives and families and letting their lives be consumed by their depression, there are also stories of those heroes who, not only perceive their sufferings as a trial of their faith and endurance, but as an opportunity to present themselves for others as symbols of hope and perseverance. Let us become 1 of such people and think beyond our own survival! Let us teach our children, our family and friends, that to sustain our own emotional health we need to become an other’s strength to battle his/her stresses! Let us break free from our chains of morbidity and inaction by becoming each other’s strength, and by lending each other our moral and emotional, physical and financial resources to survive these troubling times!

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