Zimmedar Shehri - Responsible Citizen

In March 2009, a bunch of students took it upon themselves to start cleaning up Lahore city. Meeting every Sunday at 6, volunteers have been joining hands with these dynamic individuals to work all through the summer to clean up Lahore. They are the Zimmedar Shehri (Responsible Citizens) with the motto of 'Creating a sense of social responsibility.'

They started off by meeting at Ghalib Market and by virtue of their persistence, they were able to get media attention (NYTimes, GEO TV, DunyaTV, Examiner, and TheNews) which led to further support in terms of publicity and more individuals getting to know about their efforts and joining hands with these fellows.

It has now been 6 months and their efforts are carrying on unabated, they now meet at Main

Market to create an understanding among the locals that its all about making an effort yourself to clean up your surroundings. With Ramadan approaching, it will be a test for these boys and girls to continue getting good numbers of volunteers but its a test they are ready to take on. Rest assured, as the winter months roll on, this mission is bound to gain momentum and expand even further. So, if you're done with cribbing and complaining about lack of will among our people to bring about change, get your bum off the couch and head down to Main Market next Sunday at 6 to see these awesome people in action.

Radio @ LUMS

One of the advantages of living in a free country, is the ability to freely exercise the option of expressing thoughts and ideas publicly. It is something that is not truly valued until you lose that freedom. One of the local television channels, Geo (www.geo.tv) realized that when they were banned by the then President, Pervez Musharraf. Due to public pressure he had to put them back air after a few months or so. Since most of us do not realize the power and value of this freedom we fail to properly utilize it. One way in which i have used that potential is to write this blog. I'm really happy with the fact that viewers from across the globe have been reading the blog. From Japan, to Brazil, Iceland to Malaysia and dozens of places in between people have read my views and commented on them. I find this connection with people from elsewhere really valuable and enlightening for both parties.

Another way i have been doing so is by going on radio and expressing my views via the airwaves. For this i have had the advantage of using the online radio service run by students at LUMS via the URL (radio.lums.edu.pk) Available for access from anywhere in the world but mostly accessed by LUMS students on campus, it gives me the chance to speak on whatever issue i feel need to be pointed out. Listeners can actively participate by chatting with the host and other listeners, send messages and requests to the host of the show or even by calling in from the website itself.

It really is a fascinating experience and even though there are usually a handful of listeners on the show, its good to make ones thoughts public and any opposition and difference in opinion be tolerated. Nothing compels the mind to think harder than organized and regulated discussion. For those of you interested in listening in, we do the show for an hour every Monday at 4 pm GMT (10 PM Pakistan Standard Time). Once again, the URL is (radio.lums.edu.pk). Hope to have you listening in soon!

Media and Terrorism

An interesting point came to light when the International Cricket Council (ICC) was deciding whether it was too risky to stage a cricket tournament in Pakistan. The point was that the alternative venue for the event was Sri Lanka.

Interestingly enough, if you look at the data on terrorism, Sri Lanka has suffered roughly 3,000 deaths since 2006 due to fighting with the Tamil Tigers. In pakistan, the number stands at 3,500. Even stranger, Sri Lanka is a much smaller country and terrorism is close to just about anyone. Yet, Sri Lanka is a no problem spot for cricket whereas Pakistan according to the South African Cricket Association (SACA) and the Australian Cricketer's Association (ACA) is a no-go area. A lot, i feel has to do with media and also the nature of conflict.

Pakistan war is part of a global conflict against terrorists from muslim countries..so it get LOTS of media coverage whereas the Sri Lankan fighting is against a seperatist group with not much of an international agenda so it gets barely any or no coverage.

So although Pakistan is probably just as safe if not safer to play cricket in, it is flagged as a dangerous country and a lot of that has to do with the freedom in the media. Where else in the world do well known terrorists even from organizations like Al-Qaeda are shown openly to viewers. Media freedom is great, but media carelessness is not.