Pakistan 2011: Khwahishoun kay naam

Posted on January 1, 2011
Filed Under >Adil Najam, >Owais Mughal, About ATP, Photo of the Day
18 Comments
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Owais Mughal and Adil Najam

From all of us at Pakistaniat.com, and on behalf of all our readers too, we wish these two children in the photograph a wonderful New Year and a prosperous and peaceful 2011. May all their cherished dreams come true. May their fondest hopes bear fruit. May they always be filled with wonderment. May their fantasies become realities. May their realities be strewn with smiles.

We dedicate our new year post this year to the hopes, the dreams, the khawahishaat, the aspirations of not just these two children, but of all children, and indeed of all Pakistan. Yours and our own. May this be the year defined not by the pall and disdain of our fears, but by the sunshine and enthusiasm of our hopes. Aameen.

Once again – and for the third time in a row we are using a photograph by one of our favorite photographer Umair Ghani to welcome in the new year. Last year (2010) we used his mesmerizing portrait of a young girl with steely resolve in her eyes to make the point “that – for good or for bad – our future will be what we ourselves will make of it.” The year before that (2009) we used his photograph – not unsimilar to this one – of two shoeshine boys and their playful smiles (muskarahatein). Part of the prayers we had jotted for those two children can be repeated again for these youngsters, and indeed all of Pakistan:

May the sullenness of the world they inherit never keep them from enjoying the simple pleasures of life. May their fears be few and their enthusiasms be great. May all their aspirations be high. May all their hopes be fulfilled. May their futures be defined by the heights of their potential and not the constraints of their circumstance. May they rise to the challenges of their times better than we have to ours. May they create for their children a world better than the world we created for them. Beta, jeetay raho aur hastay raho.

We, of course, do not know what these two children in the photograph are thinking. But we look at the picture and wonder that maybe they are whispering their deepest hopes – their fondest khwahishaat – into the ear of the pigeon. And it is that thought, maybe itself fantastical, that inspire us to place this picture as today’s post. A testimony to all of our hopes, all of our aspiration, humari sabb khwahishoun kay naam. May 2011 be the year when our favorite wishes for Pakistan will finally come true.

Do tell us, dear readers, what are your fondest wishes for Pakistan for 2011, and beyond.

Pakistan Daylight Savings Time ChangeATP New Years News: This may not matter to most readers, but as of January 1, 2011 – literally a few hours ago – Pakistaniat.com’s internal clocks are synced at Pakistan Standard Time (PST). This means that all time stamps – front page, post date stamps, time notations for comments, etc. – will now be at PST. Earlier these were automatically set at US Eastern Standard Time (EST) since that is where the blog had first been established. A few readers had, rightly, suggested that we change this to PST, and eventually once we figured out how to do so it was a matter of a small little switch – but it did take some time to find out exactly what to do that switch that would make the change without affecting all the past posts. We are glad to report that the change is now made and the blog beats to the same ticks and tocks as our passions.

18 responses to “Pakistan 2011: Khwahishoun kay naam

  1. Ali says:

    I wish that my country Pakistan free from religious specially Islamist extremist. These Islamist extremist brought my country on this stage where there is everywhere death(murders),no law and order situation.From last 32 years that I spent 32 years in Pakistan and I have seen religious murders,religious haterd,bomb blasts in mosques. I wish that Pakistan beecomes that Pakistan which Quaid Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah wants it to be.

  2. Munazza Afzal says:

    The picture reminds me of hope in adverse circumstances.I hope this is also true for the future of Pakistan.

  3. HarOON says:

    Wah. Glad you are on Pakistan time now. I guess that means posts will now always be late :-)

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