کہانی پڑھی جارہی ہے
(سید ماجد شاہ)
چوک میں جہا ز کی ڈمی نصب کی جا چکی تھی۔لڑکی نے چوک سے یو ٹرن لینے کے لیے ،گاڑی کی رفتار آہستہ کی ۔جب گاڑی چوک سے نیم دائرہ بنا کر مڑ رہی تھی تو فرنٹ سیٹ پر بیٹھے ، لمبے بالوں والے لڑکے نے کہا،‘‘ میں ایک منتر نما ایکویشن سے یہ جہاز اڑا سکتا ہوں۔
لڑکی نے کنکھیوں سے دیکھا جہاز آدھا پینٹ کیا جاچکا تھا۔
لڑکی، جس کے جسم میں جاری تمام کیمیائی عمل بحالتِ اعتدال کام کر رہے تھے ،جیسے ایک بیس بائیس سال کی مائل بہ فربا خوشحال گھرانے کی لڑکی میں کام کرتے ہیں۔
اس نے لڑکے کی کپکپاتی مخروطی انگلیوں کو غور سے دیکھا، جن پر سگریٹ کے سرمئی داغ ، تیز گندمی رنگ پر نمایاں تھے۔پھر لڑکی نے بائیں ہاتھ سے اپنی سرخ ٹی شرٹ کا بٹن کھولتے ہوئے پورے یقین سے کہا، ‘‘ میں اس پر اڑنا چاہوں گی۔’’
گاڑی کا اے سی بند تھا ۔ شیشے تھوڑے نیچے کیے گئے تھے تاکہ سگریٹ کا دھواں خارج ہو سکے، اس عمل سے دھواں باہر ضرور نکل رہا تھا لیکن رد ِ عمل کے طور پر باہر کی شدید گرمی گاڑی میں بھر گئی تھی۔
جب لڑکی یہ جملہ بول رہی تھی۔‘‘ میں اس پر اڑنا چاہوں گی۔’’تو اس کے لہجے میں مذاق کا عنصر رائی برابر بھی شامل نہیں تھا، کیونکہ جب وہ مذاق کے موڈ میں ہوتی تھی تو اس کی آنکھوں میں شرارت کی لہر ابھر کر بھوؤں کو کمان بنا دیتی اور کمانیں ماتھے پر لطیف شکنیں پیدا کردیتیں۔ اس پر ہونٹوں کے ابھار میں اضافہ اور گالوں کے تھوڑا اٹھ جانے سے اس کا...
Keeping track with the growing literature on Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and his role in the modern Indian politics, may be an interesting and stimulating undertaking for the students of history. One thing is quite obvious that with the passage of time both in Pakistan and India—more so in the latter than in the former—the official historiography is being surpassed by historians aspiring to look into the partition afresh. The official historiographies in India and Pakistan had remained in vogue, in both countries, particularly during the initial two decades. This may be attributed to the momentum of respective Muslim and the Indian nationalist movements, which dominated the intellectual horizon in the two countries after independence. The postcolonial states in the two countries also relied heavily on their respective pre-partition nationalist assertions to construct their ideological edifices while aspiring to legitimize the state authorities. It was during the 1970s, that historians amassed courage to question some of the logical inconsistencies enwrapped in the official nationalist historical claims. With this there arose the urge to look into the historical roles of some of the most prominent political figures of pre-partition era. Thus while on the one hand Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Ambedkar, etc, came under new searchlights, on the other, Jinnah’s role was revisited with fresh and objective outlook. The new versions were also subjected to questions and historians have since been involved in responding to points raised by each other.
This study investigates the impact of different socio economic indicators on basic needs fulfillment in Pakistan. Basic needs gap index (BNGI) is dependent variable and is used as proxy of basic needs fulfillment. Ordinary least squares (OLS) and two different versions of empirical Bayes techniques have been applied on the time series data of eight different regions of Pakistan with rural and urban bifurcation for the period 1979 – 2008. Significant factors are figured out of ten explanatory variables: per capita income, per capita savings, remittances (domestic and foreign), human capital index, household size, ratio of income of top 20 percent to bottom 20 percent , share of income held by bottom 20 percent , higher education , unemployment, and dependency ratio. Our final model comprises of the following four explanatory variables, per capita income, human capital index, share of income held by bottom 20 percent, and unemployment. It is found that per capita income and income held by bottom 20 percent are highly correlated with BNGI in all the regions of Pakistan. It is also observed that share of income held by bottom 20% is also a significant variable that affect BNGI. Human capital index and unemployment showed mixed and sometimes contrasting results for rural and urban regions. Income distribution is more uneven in urban areas as compared to the rural areas. In the case of human capital, there is a considerable difference in rural and urban areas of Pakistan. Growth for the sake of growth is meaningless unless it reduces the miseries of the masses. To make every person part of development process, it needs to ensure that no one is underprivileged and marginalized. This can only be done when all the basic needs of the individuals are met. To improve the indicators of basic needs fulfillment it is important to improve the income share held by the poorest 20% people, which is in accordance to the MDGs. This requires strong political will at the part of the policy makers, the government officials, and the political parties.