Sunday, October 19, 2008

Incidence of post traumatic stress disorder in Pakistan

My day started with reading an article in daily dawn by dr.Amin Gadit,about the incidents of stress disorders in karachi. Street crimes such as mobile and valuable snatching bieng very common, another reason is road traffic accidents, lack of security by police personnel, kidnappings for ransom,internet crime,non availibility of medical and judicial care for rape and sexual harrassment,all these lead to a sense of insecurity for the average common citizen.The attitude of the responsible persons like the main officer incharge of police is complacency and sense of lording over and corruption.The mayor of the city now known as nazim of Karachi, in his excitement,enthusiasm,and niavette, wants to do so many things himself(to give credit to his political party etc),instead of making a board of advisers purely voluntary citizens ,technically and intellectually experienced to plan policy, direction, action issues and make teams to devolve authority and bring about actual performance change in initiatives taken.He has done many things for the city and bieng youg can do still more.The first priority should be law and order. Police reforms need to be implementd.More educated officers with a clear sense of direction and non-political profile should be inducted on a n emergency basis .Their absorption into becoming amoebic and complacent should be checked by the citizen advisors under a regular monitoring progarm.These citizen advisors are a plenty, people who have done voluntary work in related fields and already know the issues and their solutions. The interior minister incharghe should make sure that such persons are inducted on a regular basis.The police promotion and monetary benefits should be linked to the situation of law and order under their direct jurisdiction,the citizen advisors performance monitoring report etc.Only this way their complacency in handling thes isues will be checked.Power centering control under one man like the mayor/nazim should only be to the extent of coordination,communication and overall management.The thana culture/attitude should be totally discouraged.A prominent human rights lawyer pointed out in his tv appearance the dire need to do away with this suffocating culture. This much needed change will only come about if the police and the people in power own this change. The fundamental rights should be prominently displayed on the boards of police stations .Both lawyers and human rights groups should use propaganda mechanisms such a
stv and print to educate groups to their rights and use of laws pertaining to their use in greiviences. Often the individuals donot know whom to approach . The nazims office should ofer helpline for such complainents.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Random thoughts for today

New morning ,old feeling ,what is depression ? According to statistics every fourth person in Pakistan is suffering from some form of mental illness.With a population of 160 million this comes to 40 million which is a major burden on our society both in economic and social terms. Productivity in all sense,economic, intellectual,social relationships, healthy evolution of societal groups, their interactions all suffer.The literacy rate in Pakistan bieng very low this burden shifts to all groups in our country may they be social such as family,economic such as labourers,artisans, farmers,special gender groups such as vulnerable groups of children,women,old and infirm.The lack of availibility of health care including access ,infrastructure,trained personnel such as psychiatrists,psychologists, family medicine specialists trained in psychiatry all enhances the health poverty cycle. All this translates into a vicious cycle of poverty,frustration and violence. In order to find the rudder in a sinking ship, the affected find solace in justifying violent behaviour as some form of religious duty.This is a form of trying to build self esteem.I see all forms of violent behavior in our society directlty linked to poverty, illiteracy ,and mental health problems.The funny part is this that the most educated, influential and politically powerfull groups are behaving in a most base a nd corrupt way.They truly lack vision, character,are corrupt,insincere to the core,tryig to follow a lavish lifestyle and education which is not purpose built..Most of the research papers are plagerised.Only the resourcefull and sycophants with false and almost no values get into the higher education systems.The results of all the excercises in development framework are excercises in futility as most of the funding usually by World bank,Asian developmement bank USaid is totally wasted.All the social sector programs either fail or are rolled back incomplete.Latest scandal o f the GAVI AIDS,Tuberculosis, program failing is a case in point. I may be sounding very bitter but this is the stark truth.As regards the talibanisation factor this is not so much an ideological war a s much as it is linked to poor social sector development,poverty and total lack of social and judicial access to justice to the common man.Bad luck for Pakistan that 9/11 fell at a time when our cauldron of injustice,poverty,total lack of opportunities for ordinary folks,some 160 million of them was boiling to a pont of no return in this Hamletian body.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Stray Thoughts For Today

Hi today started for me in this roller coaster rider country with editing my hubby,s new article series about development in Pakistan.As usual thre was a lengthy newspaper survey of what is happening here.Now that I have decided to write my blog I have to find topics close to my heart and find some willing readers.Topics will include women issues,health,jokes,critique on art, people and of course some poetry.From politics I will make some chutney both national and international...maybe a birds eye view of famous issues like American presidential elections...The Futility of all the economic excercise and the financial soap suds in the US balcony...tripping...falling crashing...now some for tomorrow bye.