Waqar Hassan

04/02/2025

Summaries of today's Dawn Editorial

04/02/2025

New Deal is Needed For Pakistan:
The Great Depression of 1929 inflicted unprecedented damage to the US economy, politics and society. US got out of that dungeon of misery and stagnation primarily because of the New Deal program of the President Roosevelt. This ambitious program revolved around increasing government spending on public works to create jobs and improve the aggregate demand in the economy so that the vicious cycle of depression is broken. The program also included certain reforms with the objective of not letting such depression happen again. Around 90 years have passed since then and USA has been able to overcome all the problems and turmoils successfully because of the intrinsic strength of its institutions and economy.
Pakistan is passing through a critical period and facing similar if not bigger challenges. So far the managers of our national affairs are relying on friendly countries and international institutions to pave the way for its recovery and stability. Nevertheless, it is only an indigenously developed and self financed development plan that can help Pakistan get out of this mess. Unfortunately, our policy makers are never inward looking. Most of them are devoid of the vision to develop local solutions for the national problems. This must change if it is our top national priority to make Pakistan a first world country.
We all know that Pakistan’s geography is a gold mine. We have never leveraged our geography to earn economic dividends. We are a land bridge between two great countries India and China. Landlocked Afghanistan is also dependent on Pakistan for trade and regional connectivity. The Central Asian countries and Russia have shown interest in using Pakistan’s territory as a transit corridor for their imports and exports. The TAPI gas pipeline project is dependent on Pakistan. China’s interest in accessing our ports is so evident. We are connected to another great country Iran and through it with Türkiye.
The placement of Pakistan on the ancient trade route make us very attractive for the entire region. However, this potential cannot be harnessed without developing a state of the art logistics infrastructure in ports, highways and railways sectors. Pakistan must find a way to develop a high quality infrastructure of railways to become a hub of regional transit and trade. In order to finance the development of such infrastructure, Pakistan has to develop a 10 year plan to reform and modernise the railways through Railways plus Property (R+P) model of Hong Kong Rail.
In this model, the railway sector is corporatised to orchestrate a relationship between railways and land development as a single agency. Railway Company is responsible for the entire process from conceptualisation and planning to management and implementation of property development and using the proceeds for developing the railway infrastructure.
Pakistan railways have prime lands and properties in the heart of the major urban centres across the country. These properties are used as a low density housing for government workers and encroached by slum dwellers as Kachi Abadis. The majority of service buildings including stations are at prime locations making them extremely relevant for transit oriented property development. The current land use makes the optics of these areas shabby and unsuitable for a modern city. An urban transformation through high quality mixed land use can raise significant capital which can be locked for the development of ML 2, ML 3 and ML 1 as part of 10 years development plan. Pakistan must add the PSDP funding and affordable international loans/investment from international agencies like ADB and JICA in addition to this capital to expedite the development of the railway infrastructure with a speed of 160-200 km/h with ERTMS level 5 signalling system using the advance technology of intelligent transportation systems.
In order to imagine the practicality of this project, it is necessary to note that MRTC of Hong Kong generated value of 55.4 dollars (HK) in 2017, 53.9 in 2018, 54.5 in 2019, 42.5 in 2020 and 47.2 in 2021. One USD is equal to seven Hong Kong dollars. This is significant land value capture. Even if our R+P model bring far less value than Hong Kong, still we will be able raise significant capital to undertake this massive infrastructure development project.
In Tokyo also railway operators constructed houses, department stores, recreation centres etc in addition to running trains. China is also using the High Speed Rail (HSR) for developing high class suburban development. Using benchmarking of these systems, Paskistan must develop a hybrid model based on her own local requirements and create an agency to conceptualise, develop and implement that model to transform the rail sector as well as the urban landscape of its major cities. The application of SOE Act to railways is an opportunity to capitalise on this initiative.
The current thinking in Pakistan is minimalist where people are dependent on external players to guide their development processes. This has its peculiar limitations that we experienced in the ML 1 project which is still in the doldrums after spending an entire decade on its conception.
We must realize that current railway infrastructure has outlived its utility and practically no ambitious business plan can be conceived on this infrastructure which is dilapidated and unreliable. The current network is too weak to cater for the national economy. It is irrelevant if not non-existent in the context of regional connectivity. The idea of regional transit will continue to be elusive in the absence of a high capacity, high speed rail network. If we embark upon the concept of urban development and construction of new rail infrastructure simultaneously for the next ten years, our GDP growth is likely to be between 7 to 8 % which will break the current cycle of stagnation. The developed infrastructure, the lower cost of logistics, faster train services and regional trade and transit potential are likely to give Pakistan another decade of high growth. In 20 years, we can easily transform Pakistan from a low income country to a middle income country or in an optimistic scenario a borderline high income country. A country of Pakistan’s size can become one of the top 12 economies with such levels of incomes. This will enhance our standing globally in G 20 and BRICS.
Pakistan must reimagine itself and chalk out her own path of glory, take control of her destiny and use her indigenous resources towards these goals with intelligence, integrity and unflinching resolve. If we do it, the future of our children is safe.
(Muhammad Hanif Gul)
Copied Sir Muhammad Hanif Gul

04/02/2025

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Essay Writing and Redundancy
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03/02/2025

Outline of Essay Paper 2016 By Sir Waqar Hassan
Past Paper Solution

03/02/2025

دنیا ہماری نظروں کے سامنے بدل رہی ہے۔ ایک طرف انسانیت اپنی معراج کی جانب گامزن ہے تو دوسری طرف تنزلی، وحشت اور بربریت کے المناک مناظر ہیں۔ موجودہ دور کو کمپیوٹر اور مصنوعی ذہانت کا دور کہا جا سکتا ہے۔ کمپیوٹر نے روزمرہ زندگی کی رفتار اور سہولت کو بدل دیا ہے۔ ایک عام کمپیوٹر کی استعداد بہت بلند ہے۔ لیکن کوانٹم کمپیوٹر کی رفتار اور استعداد اس قدر زیادہ ہے کہ انسانی عقل دنگ رہ جاتی ہے۔ کوانٹم کمپیوٹنگ میں بڑا مسئلہ غلطیوں کی شرح کا بھی ہے جس کا امکان ہزار میں سے ایک ہے۔ لیکن اسے قابل اعتماد سطح پر لانے کے لئے غلطی کا امکان ملین میں ایک سے بھی کم ہونا چاہئے۔
کوانٹم کمپیوٹنگ میں غلطی کا احتمال ہی میڈیکل سائنس میں مزید پیشرفت میں ایک رکاوٹ رہی ہے۔ لیکن انسانیت کے لئے فخر کا مقام ہے کہ گوگل نے ایک ولو چپ (Willow chip) بنائی ہے جو ان تمام مسائل کا حل پیش کرتی ہے۔ وہ کوانٹم غلطیوں کو درست کر سکتی ہے اور اس کی سپیڈ ناقابل یقین ہے۔ ایک ایسا مسئلہ جسے حل کرنے کے لئے کوانٹم کمپیوٹر کو دس سیپٹیلین سال لگیں گوگل چپ اسے پانچ منٹ سے بھی کم وقت میں حل کر دے گی۔ دس سیپٹیلین کا مطلب دس کے بعد پچیس زیرو ہیں ۔ یہ عرصہ کائنات کی عمر سے بھی ذیادہ ہے۔ اس ایجاد سے آئندہ کچھ سالوں میں انسانی زندگی میں انقلاب آ جائے گا اور بہت ساری لاعلاج بیماریوں کا درست علاج ممکن ہو گا۔
دوسری طرف مشرق وسطی ، یوکرین، افغانستان، پاکستان، سوڈان، شمالی کوریا جیسے ممالک میں انسان ایک دوسرے کے گلے کاٹنے میں مصروف ہیں۔ ایک ایسا عہد جس میں انسان اپنی فہم کے عروج پر ہے وہاں بھی کشت و خون اور ظلم وبربریت کا بازار گرم ہے۔ ایک طر ف انسان تسخیر کائنات کر رہا ہے تو دوسری طرف اپنی جھوٹی انا کی تسکین کے لئے اپنے جیسے انسانوں پر ظلم کے پہاڑ توڑ رہا ہے۔ جو لوگ تسخیر کائنات کے مشن پر ہیں وہی اصل میں اپنی خودی کا درست اظہار کر رہے ہیں۔ جو لوگ دوسروں کو تکلیف پہنچا کر اپنی دنیا سجانا چاہتے ہیں وہ دنیا سے جلد معدوم ہو جائیں گے۔
بطور پاکستانی ہمیں فیصلہ کرنا ہو گا کہ ہماری منزل کیا ہے؟ اور اس منزل کو حاصل کرنے کے لیے کون سا راستہ اختیار کرنا ہے؟ اگر ہم نے اپنی اصلاح نہ کی اور اپنے بہترین لوگوں کو آگے بڑھنے کا موقع نہ دیا تو شام والی صورتحال یہاں بھی برپا کی جا سکتی ہے۔ ہم مسابقت کی دوڑ میں بہت پیچھے رہ گئے ہیں ۔ ہمارا قومی مورال منقسم اور زوال پزیر ہے۔ ہمیں ہر صورت اپنی سمت بدلنی ہو گی ۔ اپنے نظام کو حکمت اور انصاف کے تابع کرنا ہو گا۔ اپنے ملک کو ایک ترقی کی راہ پر ڈالنا ہماری زمہ داری ہے۔ اپنے مسائل کا حل ڈھونڈنا ہمارا کام ہے۔ ہم اپنے مسائل دوسروں پر مسلط نہیں کر سکتے۔ ہمیں باہمی اتحاد کو فروغ دیتے ہوئے جمہوری طریقے سے ایک بہتر مستقبل کے لئے راہ ہموار کرنا ہو گی ورنہ کوانٹم کمپیوٹنگ کے عہد میں ہمارا نام ونشان مٹ جائے گا۔
copied Sir Muhammad Hanif Gul

03/02/2025

Summary of Chapter 12: Jean-Jacques Rousseau from "Western Political Thought: From Plato to the Present" by Judd Harmon

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Past Paper Solution: CSS 2018

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What defines a man of value

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