by Insaf Professionals Forum - Islamabad Issue: 1 - December, 2013

About Insaf Ki Awaaz

Insaf Ki Awaz is a literary journal with the primary objective of showcasing Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's enigmatic and resilient professionals and youth. The journal publishes both creative and critical arguments and oers a wide range of interesting articles including inspirational stories, youth centric awareness drives, educational and welfare oriented articles, interviews, and proposals for a progressive future, especially for Islamabad.

Message from Imran Khan

It gives me immense pleasure to know that Insaf Professionals Forum Islamabad is launching a monthly journal to keep people updated about the issues of Islamabad, Rawalpindi and adjoining areas. The journal will cover views and ideas of PTI well wishers, party workers and supporters. I wish IPF all the best with this initiative and would like their members to continue working for raising awareness about dierent issues and also recommend their possible solutions. Thank You Imran Khan Chairman Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf

Interview with Mr. Asad Umar

Senior Leader, Policy Head of PTI and MNA from NA-48, Islamabad
stance on drone attacks, the war on terror, militancy and terrorism in general. Some of the important excerpts of this interview are shared here: Q: Why did you join PTI and not any other party? Asad Umar: PTI is the only political party in Pakistan which can bring about fundamental change, which is what Pakistan needs. The problems of Pakistan cannot be solved any longer by tinkering on the edges, you need fundamental reform and for that you need vision, you need leadership which has courage and which is ready to take on the vested interests which control Pakistan. IPF- Islamabad team had an informal discussion and interview with Mr. Asad Umar, member of the IPF-Islamabad advisory board. Mr. Umar often takes out time to guide us regarding IPF activities and helps us realize the goal of helping PTI in an effective manner. His help and motivation to IPF has been invaluable in facilitating the launch of this important newsletter to highlight different issues and to share different contributions and articles from our members and non-members alike. It was a candid discussion in which he talked about his recent interview on Khalid Dars comic Darling Show, his vision about PTI, IPF and Islamabad, internal systems within PTI and gave his views regarding the perception that PTI has a one sided Q: What is your vision for IPF and Islamabad? Asad Umar: IPF should provide the technical and professional inputs which are required to formulate policy and to shape the views of the leadership of PTI, so when the views are founded on good analysis, good research, they are obviously much more impactful and the chances of them creating a positive impact on the society is much greater. That, to me, is the role of IPF. About Islamabad, we have a number of plans which include linking Islamabad to the global network to make the city an economic hub like in Bangalore and Dhaka.An important plan is to devolve power to village councils, we need to empower the people of Islamabad. Islamabads dynamics are different from other places nearby and therefore we need to have a proper political system in place where the citizens of Islamabad are politically, financially, administratively empowered. Not only they will be able to deal with the day to day problems that we talk about in the city, like current issues of even drinking water not being available, which is a shame, but also more long term plans like the vision for Islamabad, how it should be in the next 25 years. This can all be done once we have a proper local government system in Islamabad where the citizens of Islamabad are empowered to do required development and management of the city. Also, given the current location and institutions here, wed like to make Islamabad a global city of knowledge. We also want to increase the percentage of children receiving vocational training to 20% to 25% and would like to have the best vocational skill development system in Islamabad. Q: How has the experience been in the last 18 months since youve joined politics and do you think you have been able to achieve what you hoped for in these last eighteen months? Asad Umar: I am satisfied with the opportunity Ive had to make a contribution and I think it has been a very exciting eighteen months. The party in the general elections, due to often discussed reasons,

Editor: Sulaiman Malik

Layout & Design Strategy: Salman Burki

by Insaf Professionals Forum - Islamabad Issue: 1 - December, 2013

was not able to get the kind of mandate that we needed to bring about change in all of Pakistan, but other than that I think it has been a tremendously rewarding journey and a fantastic experience. Q: Sir, with your joining the party and experience, do you think proper mechanisms and systems can be introduced and made effective in the Party? Asad Umar: The party grew so rapidly after October 30th last year, that even in the best of organizations, you would then have some growing pains in terms of institutional development and that is what happens in even fast growing businesses. They expand rapidly and institutional development lags behind and it takes some time to catch up and kind of the same thing happened with PTI, particularly as there was a general election which came up. However, holding of the intra party election was a major step in that direction and now further institutionalizing of PTI is in process. I am quite confident in the next year or two years you will see PTI becoming more and more institutionalized in its character. Q: Which areas do you think work is in progress as far as mechanisms are concerned? Asad Umar: Specific things for example are, there is an ideology council which has been approved, which is supposed to formally put together content in terms of what the ideology of the party is and will develop training programs through which all the cadres can be trained. The second thing which the CEC has approved, is the grievance handling and disciplinary committee, because youre hearing a lot about how there isnt enough discipline in the party and there isnt an effective procedure for accountability and dealing with peoples grievances when they arise so that has been approved by the CEC also. Another example would be the Central Finance Board which was created so there is a formal Finance Board which looks after all the financial matters and similarly a formal fund raising committee was created. So, for different areas you will see more and more institutionalizing taking place. Q: How do you think government of Pakistan can provide jobs to millions of jobless youth? Asad Umar: What we want to have is a trade and investment led growth, the big opportunity in Pakistan will arise if we can bring peace to the region and the biggest, most high profile commitment that PTI has is towards achieving peace. If you can achieve peace in the aftermath of American withdrawal from Afghanistan and if Afghanistan settles down and our tribal areas and KPK become peaceful, then it opens up the entire central Asian market and thats a tremendous growth driver that can come out of there. Similarly, we are supportive of improving trade relationship with India as part of our overall improvement of relationship between Pakistan and India. If you look at the history of the world, never in the history of mankind have so many people been lifted out of poverty as has happened in the last fifty years in east Asia, China, Indonesia, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand. All these countries have seen remarkable growth and this has been primarily driven off the back of increased trade, so that is one aspect that

we want to emphasize and the second issue is investment. Investment has really collapsed in this country and by restoring confidence in the government and by opening up the economy and by attracting in particular the overseas Pakistanis, we want to bring back the investment into the country, so we get strong GDP growth. Whenever weve had high periods of growth its always been high aid flows or loan transfers to military governments during periods of regional crises, with all the political baggage that comes with it, that is not sustainable growth, and obviously we need investment growth in the economy before we can create jobs. Q: What do you have in mind to stop brain drain, educated people going out of the country for better living and environment? Asad Umar: We have to create jobs and create a system. There are two parts to it, first, equip people with the right skills, for example we are not investing anywhere close to what we should for vocational and technical skills. There are far too many kids going into general education and therefore not having the skills the market demands and so not being able to get jobs. So there is that part of it and to create a system, where economy is growing, where investment is coming and its a system which is based on fair play and merit so that people have confidence that they get a fair deal and a fair chance. Optimism and hope returns among the youth of Pakistan and thats how you get them to believe in the future of Pakistan. It is more than just getting a job; it is recreating and reigniting that faith and belief in the future of Pakistan for people to stay here. When I was a young professional we had opportunities to go for jobs which would pay much higher salaries outside, but you stayed here because you believed in the future of the country and you said if Im going to stay here, I will have a great future and obviously there is no place like home. So if I can be happy, prosperous, and peaceful in my own home why would I go anywhere else? That belief in the future and that hope is to be reignited. Q: Why PTI CEC and Core Group dont have enough youth representation, while we bank on them for votes? Asad Umar: We do have youth representation in the CEC, you can argue it is not enough, but remember that all of these positions are elected positions and when these elections were being held not only was the youth allowed but was encouraged to contest. In KPK, the youth vigorously participated in the elections and for the highest positions, not just for the small youth positions but for highest positions for the president of the province. So its a democracy based system and in the end whoever won, ended up in the CEC. Q: Why isnt the PTI leadership grooming new leaders who would like to work for the party and lead instead of relying on seasoned politicians just like other parties? Dont you think we are becoming a conventional party? Asad Umar: Majority of our members in the KPK assembly of PTI, except for a couple of seats, are all new faces and have never been in the assembly before, so this statement that we are relying on

traditional and seasoned politicians is not based on facts. Also, more than 30% of our seats in KPK were given specifically to youth. Majority of our candidates in other provinces like Punjab were also all new faces and approximately 30% of the tickets were given to youth but we didnt win that many seats from Punjab. Q: According to many people, PTI can appeal to both right wingers and leftists/liberals because of its centrist and balanced views and is the right party to unite people. Do you think, with PTIs current stance on issues like the American war on terror, drone attacks, conducting talks with the militant outfits, an office for the Taliban and a one sided anti American stance, PTI is becoming another rightist party just like JI, JUI (F) etc.? Asad Umar: PTI in its economic manifesto today is more progressive than any major political party in Pakistan, with very tangible, concrete plans to transfer resources from the elite to the masses of Pakistan. This is the heart of the PTI economic program. How PTI will try to convert Pakistan into an egalitarian society is by throwing a massive amount of money in education and the single biggest chunk of educational funds will be going to girls education because education gives you skills and empowers you to come out of poverty on a sustainable basis. Massive health expenditures push you under the poverty line so this safeguards you from going under the poverty line. The biggest single increase in expenditure will be on mother and child health, and the mother and daughter health in particular, never before has any Pakistani party come remotely close to making the female as central a part of its development priorities as PTI has and in concrete terms with actual facts and figures. In one month the KPK government has enrolled 75,000 girls in schools which is a tremendous achievement and work is still in progress. About trade relations with India, we have been the key speakers in the Aman Ki Asha initiative. Both Mr. Imran Khan and I have continuously stated that the relations need to improve on high priority. Our foreign policy stand categorically states that we want a good relationship with the west and a working relationship with America. Our manifesto says in writing that we will not allow anybody to violate the sovereignty of Pakistan and we should not allow the soil of Pakistan to be used to violate the sovereignty of anybody else. In terms of peace, we are against army operations whether they are in urban areas in Karachi, or in Baluchistan as there are innocent casualties. We support the Kashmir issue, but we oppose any violent means to settle the Kashmir issue. What sort of liberalism is that which supports army operations, or death and destruction? PTI does not believe in labelling people right, center or left as that really does not matter. Please note that every single party of Pakistan has signed the APC to have dialogue with these militant outfits. PTIs stance has been the same on both drones and engaging for talks to give peace a chance if it can work out. It has been agreed in the APCs, by all the parties including PPP, MQM, ANP, PML N, so why is PTI only being blamed? PTI has always condemned terrorism and its different manifestations, and the outfits at different times and by name.

Editor: Sulaiman Malik

Layout & Design Strategy: Salman Burki

by Insaf Professionals Forum - Islamabad Issue: 1 - December, 2013

Pakistans brain drain; why they want to leave. Do we know or do we Care?

Dr Muhammad Ismail Ramay
I would rather work in an alien environment than struggle my way in Pakistan and receive no recognition or appreciation in return. I paid for my own education; the government didnt provide me with any compensation, so why should I do anything for the government for free? I speak on the behalf of all the other doctors here; none of us would stay in UK if we had an opportunity to leave. While politicians are busy fighting on TV talk shows, what everyone fails to recognize is that soon Pakistan will have no good doctors left and they will only have themselves to blame. These are comments of a Pakistani doctor working in Wales, England. The question is have we created jobs for doctors here? Have we built any hospital in public sector since 1980? And what have governments done to BHUs (Basic Health Units)? efforts to create jobs, institutions improve their working environment, and promote professionals from within for top positions and pay accordingly, Pakistan will continue to be disadvantaged by the brain drain. Educated unemployment is very high and salary levels for skilled professionals are often kept forcibly low by governments to maintain an egalitarian income policy.In last 2 years, a couple of universities in Islamabad terminated services of 20 highly qualified senior level professors for salary reasons. Fifteen of them were holding PhD degrees from developed countries and had left the country and now are part of education cities in UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar. At the beginning of this year FIA advertised posts for inspector and sub inspector, 72,000applications were received. After a question in the then national assembly about appointment letters, the interviews were postponed. Last month, hiring for the special task force to fight terrorism was in process and 500 candidates were caught cheating. Nobody knows what happened next? An estimated 1.2 million job seekers are entering the job market and there are no jobs. A current minister retorted on a TV talk show before May 11 elections, our workers are getting impatient, they want jobs, and we must win these elections. Imagine what is he going to do about merit? Jobs are usually for sale under corrupt political mafia or available through political contacts rather than merit. This fuels anger against the system and leads to Pakistan's professionals leaving the country. While the danger of the brain drain to Pakistan is clear, a big part of the problem is that there are not enough opportunities offered to the country's highly skilled professionals. Industries are being shut down and no new jobs are being created, forcing many IT professionals and engineers with reasonable experience to think about leaving the country for better opportunities abroad which can match their qualifications and experience and pay them accordingly. Pakistanis all over the world have an interest in their homeland, just last year they sent home approximately $13 billion in remittances. While this revenue is vital to the countrys foreign exchange reserves, its the expertise of these expatriates that is needed, just as much as their money. The absence of highly qualified doctors, engineers and scientists is playing havoc with the long-term economic growth of the country. If Pakistani Government is serious about controlling its alarming brain drain, it must provide better job opportunities that compensate professionals based on their skills, talents, and experience. It must stop quota allotment of jobs to MNAs and MPAs. It must take action against those who sold government jobs in the last 5 years, must enforce merit, and double its funding to HEC so that universities dont terminate professors for salary reasons.The government must also stop dumping its workers into already over-crowded PIA and Pakistan Steel Mills. Otherwise, Pakistan will continue to lose its skilled professionals to other countries where benefits and opportunities are plentiful and a merit-based system is established.

Currently around 7 million Pakistanis live abroad, and according to previous interior minister, 1.7 million Pakistani left the country illegally from 2009 to 2012. This does not include those who are caught without any travel documents at Taftaan (Pak-Iran border) and sent back home, to try another route to reach Turkey or Greece. Has anyone seen National Geographic video documentaries about conditions of Pakistani asylum seeker camps in Greece? Perhaps yes. Does our government hold any short or long term plan to create jobs within Pakistan? People leaving Pakistan head for any country in Europe preferably Spain or UK. There has been a continuous brain drain from the country. Not only qualified professionals and university graduates, but even semi-skilled or unskilled workers want to leave Pakistan in search of better job prospects, with as many as 50% saying they would never come back. Official estimates of Pakistans Overseas Employment Corporation are that close to 36,000 professionals, including doctors, engineers and teachers, have migrated to other countries an unofficial estimate puts the number closer to 45,000. Until the government makes concentrated

Why I Love Islamabad

By Dr. Nadir
Having been raised in Karachi until graduating from medical college in 1990, I could never have imagined that at some point in my life, I would be migrating to Islamabad. The faint memory of Islamabad I have from my childhood is of a guest house where our family stayed for about four days and all I wanted to do was to listen constantly to the cricket commentary covering the test series between Pakistan and England in 1974. My second visit to Islamabad was not until 2007 when after exhausting all my options of migrating to Karachi from US, I decided to give it a shot in Islamabad. Very quickly, I fell in love with this beautiful city! After spending about two decades of my life in the US, I wanted to use my skills and training to improve health care in Pakistan. After acquiring a job at Shifa International Hospital, I found temporary housing in a guest house located opposite to Shifa and started exploring Islamabad. Blue area, Jinnah Super, Super,

and the area around I-8 Islamabad were my hide outs. Being a morning person, the first thing I noticed about Islamabad was that I did not have to fight humidity in Islamabad as much as I did in Karachi during my run. Karachi has pretty much uninterrupted heat starting from March till end of November at least, whereas Islamabads summer is short, lasting from June through September. Better still, summer was frequently interrupted by rain which actually cooled things off.In comparison, Karachis brief showers, if they even happen in July, were followed by intense humidity-you take a shower and you drench in your shirt again needing another shower! Finally, Islamabads mornings are a lot pleasant because compared to Karachis morning;dry heat in Islamabad compared to the moist heat of Karachi. The winter turned out to be even sweeter. It actually was cold in Islamabad, but not like Chicago where every bit of the city is covered by snow for about three months and the sun in hiding causing winter blues. Islamabad experiences a few days of near zero temperature, but no snow and the sun is out almost daily even during

the winter. It is not very difficult to experience a snowfall in Murree at only a 90 minute drive. To top it off, I ate the carrot halwa about three times a week at Fresco during winter and savored every bite of it. One day the owner told me to take off my jacket before eating carrot halwa as it will warm me up. I dont know if it was psychological or something else but I did well without the jacket that particular night! I had seen a bit of the world by 2007 and I found Islamabad to be a beautiful city compared to many other cities I had lived in the US. I arrived here in July

Editor: Sulaiman Malik

Layout & Design Strategy: Salman Burki

by Insaf Professionals Forum - Islamabad Issue: 1 - December, 2013

of 2007 and was amazed with the green pastures of the city. During my run in I-8, I would change paths to discover the dense forestry, spread all over the surroundings. Some mornings were really hot, but most were very pleasant in the summer, particularly after rain or during rain when a sweet smell was prevalent. I hiked the trail in Islamabad leading up high in the Margalla hills and enjoyed the work out. Compared to Phoenix hikes, Islamabad Mountains are softer and greener and certainly very much worthwhile to hike, like the Phoenix Mountains that

I used to hike frequently as well. The view from the top of the hike in Phoenix from the squaw peak mountain is breathtaking, and although I did not go all the way up to the top in Islamabad, I am sure that completing a hike and enjoying the final view in Islamabad would be as rewarding as it used to be in Phoenix. Another difference I observed was that traffic was a bit more orderly in Islamabad compared to the chaos in Karachi. I could always find a parking spot in the blue area where I frequently dined and in Karachi it was certainly a pain in the neck to find a

parking space. I could even walk after having dinner in blue area and felt safer in the city. Whenever, I travelled from Karachi back to Islamabad, I could breathe better because of so much less pollution in Islamabad. Many people spoke of a lack of life and activity in Islamabad which I found untrue. Jinnah Super was always humming with life in the evenings and although shops closed earlier in Islamabad, I did not mind as I like to go to bed early anyways. All in all, I liked Islamabad to the point of buying an accommodation here which was not very cheap.

RIGGING IN ELECTION AND ECP

By Sulaiman Malik

With the on-going scrutiny of nger prints by NADRA for general elections, it has become obvious that the public mandate was stolen. This will result in loss of public condence in the electoral system of Pakistan. This alone is the biggest blow possible to democracy. However its a relief that at least NADRA is playing its role in bringing transparency to the electoral process or exposing the lack thereof. All the constituencies that have had their votes veried by NADRA, have proven major discrepancies so its a national issue rather than a regional or provincial issue. It seems the only Government body that is interested in transparency with regards to elections in Pakistan is NADRA. Meanwhile, the only political party interested in transparency seems to be PTI. KP Assembly has been debating biometric local body elections for the past couple of weeks. It seems that the only hope for transparency in future elections is the initiative of KP Government to hold rst ever biometric local body elections in Pakistan. This would serve as a successful model for future general elections as well.

KHANNAPUL ISLAMABAD TRAFFIC JAMS

By: Hafeez Ahmad
Trac jam has become a persistent problem at KHANNAPUL in Islamabad, particularly due to the single lane bridge and generally due to encroachments on the bridge and along its sides. The motorists have complaints about the establishment of illegal transport stands and fruit / vegetable stalls on both sides of the bridge. When the trac over the bridge is jammed, the motorists start going the wrong way, causing the trac jams at Missile Chowk signal at the Islamabad Expressway. This results in causing hindrances to the ow of trac going towards Airport and Rawat.

Clean Islamabad Project

By Mrs. Naureen Ibrahim
Islamabad, the city itself, is proof that when we want to, we can do things right. We can make a city that is planned and beautiful. However, on a global level one of many dierences between us and the developed world is - cleanliness. Despite being a Muslim country, our society barely reects "cleanliness is half of faith." It is important that we, the citizens of this beautiful city take some responsibility to preserve this beauty and work together to make it even better.Public service is not restricted to government partisans; everyone needs to take an initiative to make a collective eort to keep the city clean. Most of us ensure that our homes and cars are in impeccable condition, but keeping clean should not be limited to personal space. In most developed countries cleaning the area surrounding your house is a requirement by law, keeping in mind they have to face severe weather conditions that we are generally exempted from in Pakistan. CDAs role in keeping the city clean is insucient; there are various street corners with huge garbage cans overowing with rubbish, lack of supervision/regulation of emptying these garbage cans and plastic bags are seen ying everywhere.It is time that our energy is harnessed to bring a change around us. We can dedicate a few hours once a week to engage in a cleanliness project for a clean and healthy environment. The emphasis here is on volunteer work but we rst need a structure. Volunteers from each sector will be allotted streets in their own vicinity which they will be responsible for. Each sector will have a supervisor to regulate the task of cleaning. A particular day(s) will be decided on which volunteers will carry out this activity and once a week supervisors will monitor the streets in dierent sectors to ensure that things are going according to plan. It should also be recognized that many households have green areas surrounding their houses which should also be developed and maintained. For example, if there is a chunk of land in front of your house that belongs to CDA, you should voluntarily develop the area; plant some owers or maybe even a tree; this will not only be a feast for everyones eyes but also have a long term impact towards cleanliness in the city.Let us start with this humble cause which can be followed by bigger goals - as the famous John F. Kennedy quote states, ask not what the country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country.

ITP has conducted a couple of surveys under supervision of SP (Trac) to identify various points in the area where trac ow is not smooth and trac jams are quite usual. However, no concrete steps have been taken so far to overcome the trac problems. There is an urgent need to build a new 2 way bridge or yover to enable smooth trac ow across the bridge. The trac turning towards Airport and Rawat from KHANNAPUL needs to be disciplined in a way that it does not disturb the ow of trac towards the Airport and Rawat on the Islamabad Expressway. The illegal transport stands across the two sides of the bridge should be demolished. Also, the encroachments shall stay away from the main road and the cooperation of venders in this regard would play a vital role for smooth trac ow.

Editor: Sulaiman Malik

Layout & Design Strategy: Salman Burki