Sunday, November 6, 2011

Slitting throats never a good proposition

Every year, on Eid-ul-Azha (3 days long annual Muslim Festival, starting in a few days, during which animals are sacrificed to please Allah), I feel as if I am living in one of the ancient civilizations, in which offering of blood was a way of pleasing the gods. I see potential Taliban in all kids who gather with joy and amusement on the nooks and corners of the streets to watch the killing of sacrificial animals in the open, with their helpless struggle and gush of blood spurting from their slashed throats. It is like a fun show for them --- but also a first lesson of slow beheading of living beings. No wonder one day some of them do the same to other humans...

http://www.viewpointonline.net/spectacular-bloodshed.html

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

The misguided priorities of Pakistani academics

 When one thinks of the grave challenges Pakistan has faced in the past three decades, Chemistry, Zoology and Urdu literature do not come to mind. One sees poverty, income inequality, food security, water shortages, infrastructure deficits, illiteracy, violence, wars, religious fundamentalism and sectarianism as some of the challenges that threaten the survival of the society and the State. It is hard to comprehend why academics in Pakistan would avoid focusing on the immediate challenges, but instead focus on subject areas where their impact will, at best, be marginal because researchers in Europe and North America have significantly more capital, infrastructural, and other intellectual resources at their disposal than their counterparts in Pakistan...

The misguided priorities of Pakistani academics | Blog | DAWN.COM
Enhanced by Zemanta