Independence Day

So we had Pakistan independence day go by on 14th August and now Afghanistan independence day which is on 19th August. I really do not understand the purpose behind these celebrations. Like firstly let us learn what does Independence mean. It basically means to be free from any outside interference and being able to rule to country according to how the people want it to be run.

In the past nations were part of a colony and therefore all matters would be dealt with by the colonising power. Therefore those nations were not independent. But in the modern era we see that Pakistan and Afghanistan are not in fact independent.

What is the other part of independence day? Celebrations of course. Now what is their to celebrate again in these two nations? Everyday we hear of killings in Karachi, by the dozens. Nobody in the country is able to stop this or even bother to try and apprehend the criminals who are responsible for this. Everyday many people are dying. Poverty is on the increase and their a real lack of development. There is high corruption and the list is endless. How can somebody who is a citizen of Pakistan celebrate while having all of this happening in the background. Yes we should continue our lives, just live when a close passes away you continue your life. But the nation has regressed rather than progressed and still you celebrate this? Isn't that ironic....

In Afghanistan there is even more less to celebrate due to the presence of foreign soldiers and deaths by the hundreds. Then if we look at the poverty it is even more depressing if we were to look at the figures. The country might have progressed in terms of making the rich richer and the corrupt people into business tycoons. But the average Afghan has not gained anything. In Kabul I saw on the tv the other day people are still walking a long way to get just drinking water. If we list all the negatives it clearly outweights the positive which is going on in both these countries. Yet we still find a way to celebrate. Some may say we should be optimistic but I saw we should be realistic and also compassionate. Imagine a poor person dying in front of you and you make a concert in front of him where people are enjoying themselves, but he is starving at the same time. Nobody is there to feed him, but they are ready to celebrate and claim that we love our NATION. That is the biggest fraud. Love of something is not measured by how many gifts you give or by how many flags you wear or colouring your face and shouting out. It is measured by your actions.

Did you feed the poor? Did you help those who are suffering? Did you bother to tell people where is the country going? Or you just say I love my country and that is going to help matters go forward.

This reminds me of Milad Un-Nabi. It is a celebration of the Prophet (saw) birthday. In Muslim countries you would see lights around houses and people lighting fireworks. Is this ISLAM? Or is this copying others? Do you think to show your love of the Prophet (Saw) you need to celebrate his birthday in such a manner. I am sure that if we didn't celebrate his birthday but instead followed his SUNNAH and footsteps, maybe we wont go to hell. We will maybe closer to getting into paradise because the Sunnah is indeed more important than a birthday. We get our priorities wrong! We take rituals to be more important than the core of the beliefs. Love Muhammad (Saw) by following him, love your land by protecting it and honouring by what Allah has told you to do in HIS land.

If you are a good muslim following what Islam tells you, the land will prosper and so will everything else. It doesn't matter if you don't celebrate these occasions. Let us look at our actions and instead maybe will find a reason as to why our people are in such a position that they are today. We should be asking for forgiveness and seeking protection from the punishment of Allah, because we have left what he wanted us to follow in order to be prosperus in this world and the next. It is not a moment of celebration for muslims but a time for comtemplation. There isn't any good news coming out of any muslim nation at the moment....

What to make of the London Riots

As we all heard and saw was truly something out of the blue. Nobody has seen riots of the kind in London, where people went on a rampage burning down shops and looting. It kinda reminded me of the scenes from Iraq when Americans toppled the regime, everybody went on a looting spree. But obviously you cannot compare the two, but it seems like at the lower level of society there is a similar desperation. We may not see it on a day to day basis, but the poverty in London/United Kingdom is quite bad. Even with benefits people are struggling to get through the day. The youth who were involved in the riots mostly come from broken families, where they don't have any father figure in the house. These council estates are really bad for young kids as all kinds of things happen there. You have drug dealers hanging around, you have bad influence all around and the kids can easily get sucked into that bad company and be affected. The single mothers wouldn't be able to make much of a difference as they wont be able to control their kids. This leads to hopelessness on the part of the kids and they dont really have an aim in life. They just hang around on the streets looking for something to do. So it doesn't come as a suprise to be honest that the society of United Kingdom is crumbling. We would talk about 3rd world countries and think how on Earth people over there could carry out disgusting acts, but now it has come to the western developed world also. With inflation and economic problems they are also facing extreme challenges.

Out of all of this what I can say is that British soldiers are out there in foreign lands trying to change nations, which cannot be changed. They lose their soldiers on a daily basis and waste millions of Pounds. Imagine if they didn't spend that money on war and rather spent it on their people. They wouldn't be having any problem. One English guy was saying they should bring back those troops and they could look after the country, it would make the place more safer! One other point to note is that muslims were not involved in these riots. For so long, muslims were the targets. Everytime muslims would be labelled as not integrating in society and creating problems for the nation. There were debates on the Burka and all kinds of issues. But they failed to tackle the real problems. Their youth are living lives which don't seem to be getting them anywhere, except ending up in carrying out crimes as an occupation or a hobby. Those youths are more of an issue than whether a woman wears a Burka or not. How much money was lost in these riots? Yes we should understand the reason why it happened, the same way we should understand what makes people carry out violent attacks around the world. Everything happens as a reaction or reason. So no matter how bad the acts are you have to understand it so that it don't happen again. Cure is better than prevention. If you can cure easily, why worry about wasting enery and resources on prevention??

A great speech about Day of Judgement

I can't stop listening to this lecture and watching this video...It is really thought provoking and is such a powerful message. It makes you realise that life is temporary. We always need a reminder that we all have to die one day. It is so obvious even the non-muslims and every human knows they will die one day. But it is not thought upon, that what will happen once we die?? Nobody ever truly wants to ponder on this. But once they do, they will realise that it is really not known. By not known I mean in general the human beings, really cannot comprehend what will happen to them after death. Some may wish to joke about it and some may think that after death there is nothing. But this is just an attempt to brush asides one's purpose in life. We do have a purpose and if you think about it deeply there MUST be a purpose in life. It all comes back to the basic belief of a Creator. There are signs of the Creator and there are even signs of Day of Judgement. This universe does have an end point and this is even mentioned in Science. Anywayz just listen to this speech. It is only 4 minutes, but the actual lecture is 53 minutes long. You can decide to watch them both.....


Here is the 4 minute clip:

Click here to listen to the full 53 minute lecture!

The state of Hospitals in Pukhtunkhwa

There are like two major hospitals in Peshawar, Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) and Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH). As I am in my 4th year, we spend like 3 hours in KTH going to different wards every week and learning new things from the Doctors. Recently we had to go to the Orthopaedic ward, which was so congested. It was unbelievable, usually people with broken legs and broken arms come to this ward. Yet there was no sitting place for them. They would be held by someone else and waiting outside for their turn. It must be quite painful for the patients. I took a picture so you can just try to understand what it is like. I think the hospital administration have totally neglected this ward. Like at least people should have a place to sit....

  The medical wards are not as bad. Then when you would go inside one of the rooms on the left, there would be an Orthopaedic specialist surrounded by 5 Junior Doctors who don't have a clue about Orthopaedics. They were as clueless as we were. Patients would fill the room and the Junior Doctors would just ask silly questions and just waste time doing the wrong things. It was just pure chaos. If you complain about these things people will just tell you, that you should be grateful we even have a hospital. No doubt the Doctors are facing difficult with low funds. But at least there are things you can do which does not require money. Changing your attitude requires no money. They say if your educated people are having these bad qualities, what do you expect from the illiterate people. I have seen that illiteracy is a major problem but then at the same time as a Doctor you have principles. If an illiterate person comes to a hospital in England, no matter how much he annoys the Doctor he will have to comfort him and he will definately not be allowed to get angry or abuse the patient. It is quite common in the hospitals in Peshawar to see a Doctor shouting at his patients and even swearing at them.

I have to say there are however quite a few Doctors who go out their way to help the needy and do extra work although getting no extra pay. With the lack of resources they have done a great job and service to the people. It would be great to see these kind of Doctors in every ward and every hospital, then we would see a revolutionary change in the health system despite under funding from the government.

Tour of Peshawar

It is very difficult to explain in words what Peshawar is like, in terms of how it looks....So I took a video starting from Hayatabad till near Saddar.

A glimpse into the life of a Kabari Wala

I have spent some time making this video about a Kabari Wala. For those who do not know what this is, well Kabar means junk or unwanted goods. In Peshawar usually poor people who are Afghan refugees shout for Kabar and they get unwanted goods from houses. Usually they collect broken goods or tins or toys or anything they can later sell. They then go and sell it for small amounts. This person who I made a video about does this kind of job in order to feed his family. He has goats as well so he goes to empty plots in Peshawar where weed and plants have grown. He cuts it and takes it with him so that he can feed his goats.

I came across this guy in front of our house while he was cutting some plants. I decided I will take a video of him because he seemed very friendly and funny. I wanted to show what he goes through and also to show how tough these people are. No matter what hardships they are going through he looked very positive and at the same time happy. This video doesn't show his life in great detail but it was just a glimpse. I took the time to put subtitles as well so other people can understand as well....So check it out...

Summer holidays

I am back home in London, away from the 45 plus degrees of Peshawar, away from the load shedding which would sometimes mean only 12 hours of electricity in a day and so I am able to recharge my batteries. I passed my 3rd year of MBBS which was a big relief as the 3 subjects (Pharmacology, Forensic Medicine and General Pathology) I passed were really big and quite complex. Now I have to make use of my summer holidays and prepare for my 4th year exams which would be inshallah in January. Only two subjects this time round, which are Special Pathology and Community Medicine. But in 4th year you have to also study clinical medicine to make your Final Year much more easier.

Anywayz I am going to write about my time in Peshawar and what I was getting upto later on.