Honoring Shaheeds, Ali Kuli Khan, Harris Khalique, Adib Rizvi,

Pakistan turned 62 yesterday. No less than fifty per cent of approximately 160,000 state-run primary schools in the country are without a boundary wall, toilet facility or electricity, only 22 per cent girls and 47 per cent boys complete primary schooling, 30 per cent of total children of school-going age receive secondary education, 19 per cent attend higher secondary schools and finally, tertiary enrolment is less than 5 per cent of the eligible age cohort (17-23). Yet again, a policy is announced by the Federal Ministry of Education, titled ‘National Education Policy 2009’. Harris Khalique

Student volunteers, after attending Independence Day celebrations at their respective schools, also participated in a programme organised at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) on Friday.Speaking on the occasion, SIUT head Dr Adib Rizvi appreciated the effort of all SIUT student volunteers and said that if people learnt to share, they would certainly solve many problems in the world today. He voiced his belief that the youth, 64 per cent of the population, would now go on to fulfil the incomplete dreams of his generation. Adib Rizvi

Force and violence is never a recommended option to solve problems but a civil war is truly tragic. Unfortunately, Pakistan these days finds itself in just such a bind and numerous young lives have been needlessly lost; the title of this ‘article’ derived from Allama Iqbal’s famous poem is a suitable caption for paying homage to the valour and devotion of the country’s brave young lions who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the defence and honour of their beloved Pakistan. The least that we, as a grateful nation, can do is to honour them and empathise with their families and friends. This humble endeavour has been inspired by some compassionate and noble Pakistanis, like Hamid Hussain (a doctor residing in the USA) and Cols Shahid Shahur, Arif and Tahir Mahmood who are already doing good work via the Internet and the ISPR. I have taken the liberty to draw heavily from their “material” and after some minor editing with the desire to give it further prominence through the national print media for which I turned to Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, Editor-in-Chief of The News, whose response was expectedly most generous. Ali Kuli Khan