Guest Post by Naveed Siraj

Anwar Maqsood belongs to a Pakistani family that has made huge contribution to civil society. Either through social activism or conscious efforts through Television, Anwar Maqsood has articulated and defined the ethos of modern pakistaniat. So what better place to express my admiration for his latest work than Pakistaniat.com.

Anwar Maqsood is hugely popular these days thanks to “Loose Talk�, a comedy show on ARY. Indeed this is the facet of his personality for which he has earned fame. That of a leading writer of comedy shows & television presenter. But he is a far better writer of serious prose than he gets credit for.

One often hears people describing how their lives were impacted or shaped by a piece of literature; a verse or a play. For me, it was a PTV long play by Mr. Maqsood called Daur-E-Junoon aired in 1986.

Mr. Maqsood’s siblings Fatima Surraiya Bajiya and Zehra Nigah are blessed with God-gifted genius especially the latter whose poems are replete with social and political content. Faiz sahib, it is said, insisted that Zehra Nigah recited her poems in taranum whenever he visited her home in London in the late 70’s. What can be a greater compliment?

Adil Najam

October 8 will mark the one-year anniversary of the horrific earthquake that hit Pakistan and parts of India and Afghanistan in 2005. Much has changed in that year. But not enough.

We at ATP have written a few times about the need not to forget what happened on that day and, more importantly, to not neglect what still needs to be done (here and here). We should have done more. Whenever I look at this picture, this child’s eyes seem to be saying to me: “You should have done more. You all should have done more.�

Owais Mughal

Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan has recently released the university rankings of Pakistan. The rankings are generating so much interest that I am receiving four to five emails daily with people forwarding me the same link to HEC’s ranking web page. (Scroll down to see rankings and details).

I am kind of disappointed with my alma-mater, NED University of Engineering and Technology Karachi, ranked at number 10 out of the 13 Engineering Universities of Pakistan. The photo to the right-below shows few views of NED University.