Adil Najam

Reportedly Hollywood super-celebrity and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador Angeline Jolie is so impressed with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani’s “good looks” that she things he should pursue an acting career in Hollywood!

According to the same reports, Angelina Jolie thinks Mr. Gillani is doing an “even better job as Prime Minister! (I guess we now know how she would would in our ATP Poll).

Faris Islam

In order to really understand the magnitude of what has happened, we need to look at the numbers and what they really signify. This became much more real to me when I read the recent news in Dawn about a press conference where Umar Amal, a UNESCO official describes exactly what this flood will mean to the children of the flood:

• Five to six percent of all the schools in Pakistan – 9,780 government schools in total – have been either partially or fully damaged by the flooding.
• This translates into between 1.5 to 2.5 million students, with the UN Children’s Fund saying that over ten million children – including 2.8 million under the age of five – have been affected.
• The officials also believe that once the tally of private schools that have been damaged is added in, the number will surge above the 10,000 mark.
• In addition to these damaged schools – 2,700 of which are fully damaged – another 5,563 schools are still being used as relief camps according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

UNESCO points out the tremendous costs of the flooding on the education sector – reinforcing how hard our recovery will be and how crucial it will be for the heart and soul of Pakistan. The statistics are sobering, the reality heart-wrenching and the need more dire than ever before.

Adil Najam

Once again it is the season of silly-talk in Pakistan. There are rumors. There is chatter. There are theories. And there is endless discussion. Supposedly ‘change’ is in the offing. But, then, change is always in the offing in Pakistan. If, indeed, change is coming, what would you prefer? What would you like to see happening?