Page 4 - Pakistan Link - February 1, 2019

P4 – PAKISTAN LINK – FEBRUARY 1, 2019 OPINION
Pakistan Link n By Mowahid Hussain Shah Choice

he great saint of Delhi, Haz-
Advisory Board rat Nizamuddin Auliya,
Dr Sohail Masood Tmaintained that whom one
President chooses to associate with has a
Arif Zaff ar Mansuri profound bearing
ArifMansuri@PLpublications.org on the direction
and destiny of life.
Editor Choice is des-
Akhtar Mahmud Faruqui tiny. And choice
afaruqui@pakistanlink.com has consequences.
Editor Urdu Link & Bureau Chief (Pakistan) Ayub’s choice to
Shabbir Ghori mentor Bhutto set the st ag e
urdulink@yahoo.com for his own downfall in 1969.
Resident Editor Urdu Link Yahya Khan’s choice to hold general
& Director Video Operations elections in December 1970, allow-
Anwar Khawaja ing Mujib to contest the elections
akhawaja@pakistanlink.com under the separatist 6-points plat-
form, precipitated the secession of
Manager Sales & Advertising East Pakistan and the emergence
sales@pakistanlink.com thereby of Bangladesh.
Bhutto’s choice of Zia as Army
Regional Offi ces
Chief proved, in eff ect, to be tying
the noose around his neck. Nawaz
YKKB Sharif’s choice of Musharraf to be
ykkb03@gmail.com Army Chief triggered his ignomini-
ous ouster and later exile to Saudi
Sacramento, CA
Sacramento@plpublications.com Arabia.
Musharraf’s choice of Kayani
San Fransisco/Bay Area, CA to succeed him as Army Chief is one
Sanfrancisco@plpublications.com he publicly came to rue. oft en, actors are prone to cut loose skill set of sound decision-making. of a tainted Hillary instead of the
900 years ago, when King Hen- from the apron strings of directors. Too oft en, the desire to be relatively unblemished Joe Biden to
New York, NY
Newyork@plpublications.com ry II of England chose his friend over-smart trumps common sense. carry forward his agenda as a Dem-
Becket to be the Archbishop of Can- PM David Cameron Over-smartness is dumb. Many a ocratic nominee in the 2016 Presi-
Houston, TX terbury, it set in motion a chain of played Russian roulette decision is taken in the dark, surrep- dential elections, in eff ect, paved the
Houston@Plpublications.org events which led to the assassina- titiously, without it being weighed, path of Trump to the White House,
tion of Becket, right within the Can- with Britain’s future vetted, and subject to critical scru- thereby undermining Obama’s lega-
Phoenix, AZ terbury Cathedral. well-being by holding tiny and reconsideration. Th ere is cy.
Phoenix@Plpublications.org
Many of these choices were a self-damaging a lack of impulse control and inad- Th en, too, in 2016, PM David
Ontario, Canada driven not by merit but by the illu- referendum on Brexit. equate realization of its side-eff ects Cameron played Russian roulette
Ontario@Plpublications.org sion that hand-picked guys would and repercussions. with Britain’s future well-being by
prove to be pliable tools, under Its aftermath imperils President Ayub later rued dis- holding a self-damaging referen-
Letters to the Editor the misperception that they would the integrity of the patching a Gibraltar force to In- dum on Brexit. Its aft ermath im-
be indebted and beholden to their dian-held Kashmir, in that he felt perils the integrity of the United
Readers are welcome to express their opinion United Kingdom with
in these columns. Please keep your letters benefactors. Benefi ciaries turn on fi ssiparous trends he should have formed a counter- Kingdom with fi ssiparous trends
brief and to the point. Letters without full their benefactors. syndicate to evaluate that decision, already fl aring up in Scotland, while
name, complete address, and a daytime already fl aring up in
phone number will not be published. 14 centuries ago, Hazrat Ali which ignited the September 1965 also aff ecting the border of British
Also, copies of letters sent to other news- had warned to beware of the mal- Scotland, while also war. By electing Modi as Prime Northern Ireland with the Republic
papers are not encouraged. Letters can be
mailed, faxed or e-mailed to the Editor at ice of those who benefi t from one’s affecting the border of Minister, India has renounced the of Ireland, apart from travel, trade,
the Pakistan Link Headquarters address largesse. nonviolent humanism of Mahatma and migrant implications.
listed below.
Pakistan Link (ISSN 1074-0406) is pub- Th e yen for the placement of fa- British Northern Ireland Gandhi, opting instead for the sav- Th ere is a tendency to over-at-
lished weekly for $85 a year by JAZ LLC, vorites is oft en driven by self-inter- age bigotry epitomized by Hindu- tribute events to conspiracies there-
DBA PL Publications, LLC. est as if the chosen ones would pro- It also goes to show how underes- tva. by avoiding the hard task of fi guring
Periodical postage paid at Anaheim, CA tect and respect the selectors. But timated has been, historically, the In America, Obama’s choice out that, at the core, are bad choices.
and additional mailing offi ces.
POST MASTER: Send address changes to
Pakistan Link, P O Box 1238, Anaheim, CA Biased Schooling
92815 n By Moeed Yusuf exercise in socioeconomic screening
The management has the right to refuse Washington, DC as they are about judging prospective
to print any advertisement, news, article,
letter or any other material. In case of students. By doing so, they uphold
any errors in advertisement the manage- n Jan 12-13, Lahore hosted the unsaid elite consensus on keeping
ment will not be liable for more than the
amount paid for the advertisement to the the third edition of the the non-elite out of these privileged
Link. OTh inkFest, the ‘Afk ar-i-Ta- surroundings.
Advertisements in Pakistan Link are
placed in good faith. The newspaper is not aza’, that brought together a galaxy Th e elite’s exclusive focus on
responsible nor endorses the contents of of Pakistani and in- private education is also responsible
any advertisement. In case of a frivolous
lawsuit, the plaintiff will bear the total cost ternational intellec- for the breakdown of public-sector
of the suit, including but not limited to the tuals. Th e man be- schooling. Just a generation and a
Link’s costs and the attorney’s fees.
hind the show was half ago, public schools produced the
one of Pakistan’s crème of Pakistan. What happened?
Information for leading young his- Simple: the elite gave up. Once the
torians, Dr Yaqoob
elite had found a private sector al-
Subscribers Bangash. And a fi ne show it was ternative for their kids, public sector
The printing of Pakistan Link is unfail- — combining literature, art and education was doomed. Th is is how it
ingly completed by Wednesday every
week and its copies are handed over to analysis on a wide array of histori- works in every sector in the country
the mailing house for prompt dispatch cal and contemporary topics. Th e fault is in our education extremely poor or zero education. — from police stations to hospitals to
to the subscribers. The Link should To me though, these events are system. By creating a playing fi eld in While Mahmood focused on public toilets. If the elite do not use
reach its destination on time if there is
no delay at the post offi ce. If a delay is about far more than just their con- the education sector that is biased to- the absence of a national curriculum SCHOOLING, P24
occasioned it is in no way attributable tent. In fact, they oft en provide in- wards the elite, the state has ensured as a major reason for the lack of a
to the performance of Link’s manage-
ment. In case of delayed receipt of Pak- valuable data points about the pluses that an overwhelming majority of common frame of reference for kids Views and
istan Link or missing issues, please con- and minuses of our intelligentsia, kids in the country either never go to to unite around, there is a deeper is- opinions ex-
tact your local Post Offi ce and submit a
“Publication Watch” form. and indeed, our society. school or receive such poor-quality sue that may be responsible for this pressed by
I was seized foremost by the in- education that they remain misfi ts outcome: the silos that kids from dif- authors and
augural address by the Federal Edu- for such gatherings — in fact, for ferent socioeconomic backgrounds contributors
PAKISTAN LINK cation Minister Shafqat Mahmood. virtually everything in the modern and schooling systems operate with- in articles,
Th e theme of his talk: injustice in
in. Broadly, there are four parallel
world.
Headquarters our education system. Mahmood Not for a second should one ab- education systems: public, non-elite letters, opin-
ion pieces,
P O Box 1238, Anaheim, CA 92815 implored the participants not to for- solve the state for the mess the edu- private, elite private, and madrasaas.
Tel: 714-400-3400 reports, ad-
Fax: 714-400-3404 get the elephant in the room — the cation system has become. Successive Th e private elite schools, represented vertisements, etc appearing
E-Mail: Editor@PakistanLink.com all-too-apparent elitist undertones of governments (civilian and military) by the majority of participants at the in Pakistan Link and Urdu
gatherings such as the Th inkFest. made conscious choices to depriori- Th inkFest, are the only ones able to Link are their own. Th e paper
I know that Dr Bangash and tize education. Funding for the sec- prepare their students for modern neither shares nor endorses
Pakistan Offi ce others tried hard to attract a diverse tor has been so abnormally low that economies. But they are also respon- them and thus should not
42 Rehman Court crowd. And yet, they were only par- even if every penny allocated to it sible for maintaining an apartheid be held responsible for the
Plaza Square, Off M. A. Jinnah Road tially successful. Th e fault was not was spent effi ciently, we would still between the haves and have-nots. views/opinions of the writers
Karachi-74400, Pakistan
theirs. be left with millions languishing with Th eir admissions tests are as much an & advertisers.
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