Surviving children of Sahiwal Toll Plaza police encounter

Pakistan today is seized with the terrible, deeply disturbing rape of a young mother by 2 men on a Punjab motorway last week, with people across the nation calling for the public hanging of the rapists. Indeed the culprits need to be apprehended and given exemplary punishment. But is a public hanging the answer? Our Prime Minister and his cabinet seem to think so, with the PM also calling for a bill to be passed for castration and public hanging of all rapists.

As one year ends and a new year dawns, our attention is drawn to 3 things – a review of the year just ended, predictions for the New Year, and defining of our hopes and aspirations for the year ahead of us, for our country, for our families, for our own self, personally and professionally.

Edhi’s Bheek Mission

Pakistan celebrates its 70th (platinum) anniversary of independence this year. So, who do you think is the greatest Pakistani ever, living or deceased, in our 70 years history? You decide your own criteria for evaluation and give it deep, dispassionate thought. And once you have decided on a person, please take the trouble – it will only take a few seconds, and write down as a comment on this post, your selected greatest Pakistani ever. No need to go into your analysis or reasoning. Can you please definitely do this? And if you can share this post, even better, as we will then have an even larger response. I am sure you will be as interested as I am to see the results of this informal opinion poll!

And so all attention is focused on coming Sunday night for the final of the Pakistan Super League 2017 between Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmis, with both teams having strong support. Bob Bhai is with the Gladiators, and if you want one reason for this, the reason is Sarfraz. Gutsy, inspiring, fighter to the last ball. A thinking captain who does not yell at his players like Afridi used to, and does not go off into deep somnolence on the field as Misbah tends to, taking nothing away from him otherwise.

1. CRICKET
So we got clobbered by New Zealand in the first Test, after doing so well against the West Indies in UAE in all 3 formats – Test. ODI, T20. One more Test to go in New Zealand and then the team travels to Australia, who incidentally are not doing so well at all against other teams generally.

So the verdict is in and the Green Shirts have finally taken off to India for participating in the T20 World Cup. How desperately we want them to do well! But folks, if you really love the game of cricket itself, please watch the T20, no matter which teams are playing, for the sheer delight of top class batting and bowling and fielding coming from teams such as Australia, India, New Zealand and South Africa.

Kashmir Solidarity Day, or Kashmir Day as it is better known, has been observed on 5th February every year since 1990, to express ‘solidarity’ with Kashmiri brethren in their struggle to resolve the Kashmir dispute according to UN resolutions. What I cannot fathom is why it is a public holiday? How is the cause of Kashmiris served by 184 million Pakistanis taking the day off?

How do you decide who are the truly extraordinary individuals this country has produced? Can there be an objective set of criteria to evaluate the scores, even perhaps hundreds of people, who may come to mind, if we consider all Pakistanis from our day of independence to the present?

10 amazing facts you might not know

Sometimes people, in any country, simply do not know enough about their own country, and are pleasantly surprised, even embarrassed, when a foreigner tells them something amazing about their country. I dare say this can be expected, if simply because there is always so much more to know!