Now that rains in Karachi are over, the FixIt founder beaten up badly and released respectfully later on. Seriously? Respectfully…? Yea! I mean few batons here and there and a day or two in lock up is worth the crime the campaigner and his followers committed in the broader day light for sensitizing local government authorities about the mess that is all over in the 'once' city of lights. Too much! It was quite a story for electronic media to run back to back breaking news. TRPs of few lucky ones went skyrocketing who managed the footage of Alamgir Khan sitting on a wooden chair in a police station. Oh boy!
And then there was the real SCOOP! Bang! A certain DJ who allegedly beat up his pregnant wife to black and blues invited a whole amount of wrath from almost everyone on social media. It was both; good and bad. It was good because society as a whole thinks that domestic violence is a bad thing. It should not be tolerated rather penalized. Bad, on two counts; the law against such crimes is ambiguous which needs to be revised ASAP and men still exhibit their manliness by physically thrashing women. Sad state of affairs indeed when it comes to respecting and treating our ladies with dignity.
Moving on, as if the nation was not yet tired of typing and fighting on these two issues, we caught ourselves involved in the middle of two other issues of great national concern; the Fridous Jamal vs Mahira Khan verbal spate and Imamul Haq’s multiple relations snapshots doing rounds on almost all platforms of social media. Both “the issues of grave national concern” went on to become number one Twitter trends but the entertainment quotient in the latter far outpaced the Super Star NOORI- the queen of dreams who says, “What’s in the name?” in one of her latest offerings.
Now a little bit about lesser important things for society (according to media prioritization yardsticks) such as the little known and even little talked about "Punjab Solarisation Project" by Energy Department, Government of the Punjab. Sounds boring? It lacks spice? Doesn’t qualify to be on the headlines of television screens or may be as one of the trends on Twitter? I know, it should be the case. But! Hold on for a while. I’ll just fire it away. And then we will move to the next important issue of great national concern such as, If Bilawal Bhutto is getting married next year or if Sheikh Rasheed wears a wig or he has real hair? Or maybe we can talk about if Hamza Ali Abbasi has natural deep voice or he fakes it? Hmmmm. Curious? 'Breaking News' stuff? Classic!
But, first Punjab Solarization Program. If Punjab’s Minister for Energy Dr Akhtar Malik is to be believed, as many as 15000 schools, 2200 Basic Health Units and Islamia University Bahwalpur will be converted into solar energy. That means, some 1.8 million children will have access to uninterrupted electricity supply at schools in far off areas of the province.
Solarisation process in some 3200 primary schools has already been completed while 10,000 schools to be completed by the end of December this year. Plus 168,000 patients will benefit at Basic Health Units every day all across Punjab. Will it not usher in an era of clean energy and enlightenment in Punjab? Dr Akhtar said that the PTI government in Punjab under the poised leadership of Sardar Usman Buzdar believes in real social service unlike gimmicks only by his predecessor. One lives in hope that one day media will review its priorities and projects such as these will be preferred over juicy stuff of insignificant value!