PSS is BACK ! Dear PSS Members, Hope you’re all having safe semester so far. And I’m sure..all of you, like us, can’t wait to get over with finals and en-joy the summer! Well hang on there because we’re almost there! Some of you might be wondering where the heck PSS was last semester? Well, we were working on getting PSS back with a new and fresh look. Yes! PSS is back with a new logo, new con-stitutions, brand new newsletter, updated site, and nonetheless, fresh and talented team! We would like to thank all of you for coming to PSS Mixer, PSS Game Night, Henna Night, Movie Night, Halwa Puri Brunch, and Fruiticana Cricket Cup. Thanks for mak-ing all these events possible! We’re looking forward to seeing you guys at our last event of the semester - Mehfil-E-Mushaira aka “End of the year dinner.” If you missed out on some of the PSS events, you definitely don’t want to miss out on this because you might get the glimpse of all our previous events. Make sure you join us for chai, shairee, and food. There will be guest(s), certificates to active members, paan, and much more! If you have any questions, concerns, or any suggestions - we’re only an email or a message away! For general inquiries email us at sspakist@ucalgary.ca. For advertisement, sponsorship, or to write for the newsletter email us at pss.editor@gmail.com. Don’t forget to join our new Facebook group. Good luck with finals & have an awesome summer! PSS Executive Team

A P R I L 2 0 0 9 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

“Voice of Pakistani Students”

Pakistani Students Society N E W S L E T T E R

T E A M

EDITOR IN CHIEF Sana Khan

CONTRIBUTORS

Asad Tirmizi Dan Adler

Hussain Naqvi Nauman Anwar Samia Munawar

Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi

PHOTOS Aymen Rashid

Nauman Anwar Sadia Hameed

Sana Khan Sheraz Khan

P S S E X E C U T I V E S

PRESIDENT

Sadia Hameed

VICE-PRESIDENT Sana Tariq

PROMOTION/MARKETING

Aymen Rashid

EVENTS COORDINATORS Hina Khan

Hira Makhdoom

SOCIAL COORDINATORS Haris Basharat Hussain Naqvi

WEB DESIGNER Afshan Mahmood

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Sana Khan

Mirchi Madness 4

Kal Kahan Ab Yahan 5

An Uncrushed Dream 6

A Different World 7

PSS Events & Calendar 8

A Ray of Light in Darkness 10

Express Forum 14

PSS Cricket 15

Moments from PSS Mixer & Game Night 16,17

Henna Night Montage 18,19

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E

P A G E 2

P A K I S T A N I S T U D E N T S S O C I E T Y

`xxà àx Xåxvâà|äxá4 SADIA HAMEED was introduced to the world of PSS even before she enrolled into University. It was dur-ing her high school years that she was introduced to the diverse activities the Club hosted. She is cur-rently in her second year majoring in Humanities with a Science Minor. Born in Saudi Arabia, and brought up in Canada, Sadia has always been in touch with her roots and is very fond of the traditions and values of her country, which may have been among the popular reasons why she joined the Club her Freshman year. She has been on the Executive board for two years now and enjoys party planning and hosting events. Once a very shy girl, Sadia is now very outspoken and her involvement in the club has not only enhanced her confidence and social skills, but has also given her an opportunity to make lifelong friendships. In her free time she loves reading, scrapbooking and watching her favorite television shows.

PRESIDENT

VICE-PRESIDENT SANA TARIQ - Firm believer of the saying "Carpe diem" (Seize the day), Sana lives her life with value and purpose. Born in Lahore, Pakistan. Due to her work ethic and strong academic foundations she received Honors in Distinction in various subjects throughout the junior high. In high school, her name was on the Honor roll and the Honor Society at the same time. Now a first year student majoring in Biological Sci-ences, Sana enjoys interacting with people and the community. She is a member of the steering commit-tee in the Youth Volunteer Corps, she managed 70 volunteers for the CIBC Run for Cure. She led the Youth Helping Youth event organized by YVC in liaison with ASPEN. Since September 2006, Sana has mentored a grade three student in the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Calgary program. She also wrote for her HS news-paper and yearbook. For the past five years, her 2,000 hours of volunteer activities have revealed a reli-able, hardworking and honest leader.

PROMOTION/MARKETING AYMEN RASHID – First year Engineering student, planning on going either in electrical or geometrics. She loves great food, spending time with her friends and family. She is also working at Staples and despite the fact that work gets hectic she enjoys working. Some of her hobbies include reading non-academic books, working out in the gym and having a donut from her all time favorite Timmy's. She absolutely enjoys working with people and that’s why she’s part of PSS.

EVENT COORDINATOR

HINA KHAN - Second year student pursuing her Bachelor of Science. She is an ex-social/event coordinator of Asian Student Union at Arizona State University; no wonder she loves interacting with people and organizing events. Currently, she’s an active member of the Pakistani Student community in Calgary. She’s an outgoing and friendly person who loves to meet new people. Some of her hobbies are art, photography, drawing, writing poems, shopping, music, and having coffee with friends. Despite the fact she’s fulltime student in university, she’s managing two part time jobs as well.

EVENT COORDINATOR HIRA MAKHDOOM – Born and raised in Calgary, She still loves Pakistan and tries to in-corporate all the beautiful aspects of Pakistani culture into her life. She’s a 4th year Psychology student and has been with the PSS for three years now. She enjoys cook-ing Pakistani food, scrapbooking, helping her younger siblings with their homework, and shoveling snow when it’s –45 out there.

P A G E 3

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

P A K I S T A N I S T U D E N T S S O C I E T Y

HARIS BASHARAT has been vital in PSS structure this year, bringing in event management skills and a wealth of advertisement knowhow. He is pursuing a double major in Business and Actuarial Science and is currently in his second year. Haris graduated from HS in Islamabad with distinction and has been actively working with several Canadian and Pakistani youth organizations for past 3 years. His hobbies include sprinting, hip-hop dance, boxing and endurance sports. He was student president of one of the biggest and most prestigious educational institutions of the city and consequently led his soccer team to India on an Active Learning without Borders Tournament. Haris aspires to further his leadership skills and joining the PSS has helped him achieve some of his goals.

SOCIAL COORDINATOR

SOCIAL COORDINATOR HUSSAIN NAQVI joined PSS at the start of this year as a Social Coordinator and has been an active part of the society ever since. He did his high school from Islamabad and is presently a second year Actuarial Science student at the UofC. Growing up, he lived in different parts of Pakistan and brings in a culturally diverse persona. He has helped in the clubs setup, events organization and in promoting membership. His interests include soc-cer, travel, gadgetry and motorsport. He has travelled to 16 countries, played semi pro-fessional football and represented Pakistan in the International Math Olympiads. Hussain is a thrill seeker and has been skydiving, bungee jumping and hangliding! He wants to promote Pakistan’s image among campus peers and the Calgarian society in general.

AFSHAN MAHMOOD – Final year student at UofC majoring in Honors Economics, with a minor in Business and Society & Energy, Environment concentration and Co-op. She is a president of SUE (Society of Undergraduates in Economics). Some of her interests in-clude reading Faiz’s poetry, volunteering on campus, watching random chick flicks, playing cards and more recently kick-boxing.

WEB DESIGNER

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

SANA KHAN is a transfer student from Arizona State University. There she was working as a SOL (Student Orientation Leader) for Recruitment and Outreach Office. She’s not only the first but the only Pakistani girl to be the president of any student organizations at ASU West Campus. Currently, she’s doing a partnership degree from UofC & SAIT Polytechnic; majoring in Communication Studies and concentrating in TV Production. She has been coordinating ethnic/cultural fashion shows for AAAA (Arizona Asian American Association) and other student organizations. Some of her top interests are photography, scrapbooking, event coordinating, poetry, and traveling. In her spare time, she likes to eat out, shop, hang out with her friends, and write.

P A G E 4

This is a bitter sweet story of my ad-ventures at Mirchi restaurant. My friend Sandra invited me to join her and her friends for lunch one day at Mirchi restaurant which is downtown Calgary on 12 Ave at 7th street S.W. Since I was a big fan of Indian food I thought I would probably like Paki-stani food as well, and let me tell you it could quite possibly be the best tasting food I’ve ever consumed. I had these meat kabobs and a dish called chicken tika with roti bread that I never had before. There was some yogurt sauce too that mel-lowed some of the super spicy stuff, and fancy carved vegetables that made the presentation so majestic. I instantly fell in love with it. It was fan-tastic. Although it took about 50 min-utes for the four of us to get the food we ordered, but being a first time and thinking that they must be super busy, we cut them some slack and we vowed to go again within the next 2 weeks as we were so im-pressed with the food.

Two weeks later. We went at it again, and the food was out-of-this-world amazing. Just so flavorful and unique. But the service once again was not all that good. First of all, they didn’t wipe the table down that we sat at, and we had to ask them to replace the jug of water on our table with a fresh one as we didn’t want

the one the previous people who sat at the table had used. The first dish they brought was for the man at the table beside us, and it took them 10 minutes to figure that out. Once they did, they just gave the man the dish that had been sitting on our table in front of us cooling off for the past 10 minutes. (By the way there is only 5 tables in their restaurant). We also had to tell them what we ordered when we went to pay as they hadn’t written anything down to keep track. That was a little odd. We discussed the poor service again amongst our-selves but came to the conclusion that the quality of the food out-weighed the quality of the service. You really have to experience it your-self to understand what I’m talking about, and I know you’ll agree. Once again. This time with a group of eight of us. Same sort of deal. Just over an hour and ten minutes before the meals came to the table. This time we had to go up to the front with our water jug to be filled up four or five times as they never checked up on us. They forgot a dish we or-dered but ended up brining it out a little later. We were starting to get a little annoyed that they really didn’t know how to run a restaurant prop-erly but somewhat bitterly we con-vinced ourselves that the food and presentation was outstanding enough to out do the lack of proper customer service in the restaurant business. The last straw. So my friend Sandra and I had to pick up some school supplies in the city around the corner from Mirchi one day about a month later. So we decided that we would call in a take-out order at 10am, to pick it up at around 12pm when we would be around that area. When we went in at 12pm to pick it up, they told us that it would be just a few more minutes. So we stood there. Now this is where I really realized that

this restaurant is just comprised of a cou-ple of guys, who really know how to cook up a fantastic meal, but have very little knowledge of how to run a restaurant/take-out business. Friends of theirs who were eating there would get up and walk through the kitchen in their street clothes to talk with them while they cooked, then sit back down (oh did I mention the cooks cook in their street clothes too). They also had a very loose system of or-der taking as they were constantly dis-cussing what went with which order and such. There were others who had to wait 10 minutes just to pay so they could leave. So after 15 minutes of waiting, we realized that they probably didn’t have our order ready anytime soon. So we went and got our school stuff for about 20 minutes and returned to wait again for few minutes to get our take-out order that we ordered now 2 hours and 45 min-utes ago. So the poor service finally trumped the quality of the food. This was a huge let down. We were fed up. We gave them grace for their slow unorganized service three times prior, but this time was the last straw. Maybe we’ll return in 6 months, but for now we will look elsewhere to dine for Pakistani food. So basically they sell an amazing prod-uct, but have no clue how to run the business properly. So if you have an abundant amount of time (2-3 hours) to eat fantastic food, and you don’t mind shady poor service, Mirchi is the restau-rant for you. I encourage you to try it once to experience the food, just be pre-pared to be disappointed in the other aspects you would expect when dining out.

P A K I S T A N I S T U D E N T S S O C I E T Y

By Dan Adler

If you have a question, concern, or a comment for PSS newsletter or PSS in general OR if you want to write us and address issue(s) related to Pakistani student community please e-mail pss.editor@gmail.com

Mirchi Madness - Restaurant Review

“We have two

options, one is to

sit back, watch

and complain

against things we

don't like and the

other is to do

something about

it”

I still remember the moment when I was having dinner with my family and my dad announced that we're moving to Can-ada. My first reaction was "Whaattt? Are you serious?" I thought, he was just joking until I actually arrived here. I didn't know much about Canada or Canadians; I always thought they lived in an igloo. About two years ago, I was in a different country and was determined to consider Canada as my new home. I knew I would face new challenges in school and with the weather. I knew I would be reinvent-ing my life in a new culture. I was coming from the United States rather than Paki-stan. However, I still knew my life would drastically change; I hoped it would change for the better.

I have been thinking a lot about how my life has changed in the past two years. I have gained many new experiences, met new people, and learned a lot how-ever I am still struggling to fulfill my dream of being successful in Canada. The na-tional TV show 'Kal Kahan - Ab Yahan' that initially came out on Channel M has lead me to revisit my memories of these two years about moving to Canada and how I have changed. Therefore, I de-cided to contact Adeel Surhwardy, who's a host and producer of the program to find out how it all came about.

When I asked Adeel why he and his team thought that there was a need for some-

thing like this? He abruptly re-sponded, "We have two options, one is to sit back, watch and com-plain against things we don't like and the other is to do something about it. We thought the second option may have a tougher path but it takes us closer to our goal telling our side of the story. Through this program we just aim to project a balanced viewpoint that makes

people think about themselves, and that's the first step before actually doing something." KKAY provides a voice for Canadian Pakistanis. It celebrates the progressive multicultural society that wel-

comes immigrants from around the world and offers them the freedom to maintain their traditions and cultural heritage while contributing to Canada’s prosperity.

Watch KKAY every Sunday at 13:30 and Tuesday at 12:30 on OMNI TV. Interna-tional viewers and viewers from across Canada had to wait for a while until KKAY's team revealed the news whether they are going to extend the show for broaden viewership or not. According to Adeel, the response of the Pakistani community is gracious at an individual level and their assistance is just a phone call away while the Pakistani businesses community has been an absolute disap-pointment. Personally, I have noticed and felt the same thing in Calgary. There isn't enough support from the Pakistani business community when it comes to promoting Pakistani concerts/radio shows/TV programs/events or anything that has to do with Pakistan. Pakistani business community should realize that their community needs their support in order for them to grow as a Pakistani community.

It doesn't matter if one moved to Can-ada 20 years ago, 2 years ago, 2 months ago, or 2 days ago; everyone can relate to it in every possible way. KKAY is defi-nitely my story. It's your story. It is a story of every individual who lives in Canada or anywhere but their homelands. If you have a story to share that can make a difference in someone's life; you can contact Adeel Suhwardy at info@sb-productions.ca and he assured that every e-mail is read and responded to. Visit www.kkay.tv for more information. I would rest my case by saying something that my dad once told me, 'Wherever you go, no matter what... don't forget your own culture and values. In fact, learn the nicest things from other cul-tures and add it to your own.'

P A K I S T A N I S T U D E N T S S O C I E T Y

Adeel Suhrwardy Producer & Host

By Sana Khan

P A G E 5

Kal Kahan Ab Yahan - An Immigrant’s Journey

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

P A G E 6

free education. It did not take the en-thusiastic team of PYO to motivate more students to go to school and thus increase the attendance. Later the administration also arranged Parents-Workshop to enhance the spirit of liter-ate society and encouraging the resi-dents to send their children for school. The students attending TMS range from 3 years to 11 years, which is an age bracket where the students learn the best of his basic education. Tauseef Memorial School steps in for the same cause. The intellectual students from various institutes teach this group of students voluntarily after their own uni-versities and colleges, or their job. Uroosha Ehsun, the Principal of TMS along with the Noor-ul-Ain, her right hand and Vice Principal, makes no compromise over the quality of the education and impart the best of the learning that are delivered in any pri-vate school.

Though, the weak infrastructure of TMS has no comparison with private school, yet the mission of TMS is much greater than that. Sabieh Ul Hasan, the Admin-istrator of TMS says, ‘We, at TMS, be-lieve in privileging every child with the standard and quality education, irre-spective of the hurdles that hinder us.” The team of TMS has not just laid its focus over the conventional educa-tion; in fact much emphasis has been stressed over the character building. The students, for that, are frequently

visited to environmental parks, PAF Mu-seum, National Stadium etc. The TMS team operates in a family-culture, and celebrates festivals and rituals together with the students, especially the gifts distributed among students at Eid occa-sion brought merri-ments among them. Ex-Senator Taj Haider and Chris Cork in one of his article have highly appreciated the efforts put up by the young youth of today to protect its progeny. Shiraz Ali Khan, the President of PYO, say, “The mission of TMS is not just to privilege every child with modern and standard-ized education, but also to literate the whole society for the overall stable social standing in a way to secure tomorrow.” TMS has a long way to go, and it’s just a first step towards it. The young man, Tauseef, had strong determination and dedication, which traveled down to the other members of the organization, and that’s how Tauseef lived up his dream even after his death. As he rightly said, in one of his last writ-ings… “Darta hai zamaney ki nigaon se bhala kion? Insaf terey saath hai, ilzaam uthaley..Kya khaak ho jeena jo apney liye ho..Khud mit ke kisi aur ko mitney se bachaley.” We hope, that not only the Pakistani so-ciety around the world, but also every other individual, who aims to make a little difference in the lives of others, will contribute to strengthen this Youth Initia-tive. For further details, visit : www.pyo.org.pk

The bare-feet progeny of tomorrow splashing in the fate’s irony, uncon-scious of the diabolical miseries of life, jollifying in the muddy scoop of their nurture, has all their focus in earning for the day’s bread. This illiterate group of children is penalized with the complete range of catastrophe, rioted past, in-vaded present by the calamities and blurred future. The drowning sun has no mercy, for leaving the darkness behind, till some one stood up to lit the candle of evolution Tauseef, a 22 years old young boy had his heart full of love and concern for the road children, he could not probe any reason to let prevail the injustice of illit-eracy to the unprivileged children. Tauseef dreamt of a charity school for such children to upgrade their living standards and refurbish their future. He was an active member of a Youth or-ganization, ‘Pakistani Youth Organiza-tion’ (PYO), owned and operated by the dynamic youth of Pakistan, and registered now both in Pakistan and Canada. Unfortunately, on May 29, at the early age of 22, Tauseef lost his life, while coming to PYO to discuss his vision for the school, in a fatal accident at Korongi area in Pakistan. But his death was not that powerful enough to snatch his dream even after his expiry. Over such a melancholic incident, the highly determined members of PYO did not waste anytime to put in their all ef-forts to shape Tauseef’s dream into a reality of Tauseef Memorial School. On August 1, 2007, Pakistani Youth Or-ganization put its first brick for the char-ity school as Tauseef Memorial School, in the slum area of Gulshan-e-Iqbal 13-G, in the city of Karachi, Pakistan. The real task begins when it was to accu-mulate the children of the nearby area for the schooling; unsurprisingly not a single door welcomed the privilege of literacy for their child. The team of PYO was prepared for it, and acted smarter to convince the parents and motivate the children for going to school. Soon, the spirited team of PYO was successful to convene the attendance of 27 stu-dents at the first day, for the provision of

An Uncrushed Dream: Ta u s e e f M e m o r i a l S c h o o l

P A K I S T A N I S T U D E N T S S O C I E T Y

By Samia Munawar (Pakistan)

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

1st September, 2008. After struggling through the bureaucratic (and very long/tiring) process of securing admis-sion and more importantly a student visa, I landed on this date in Calgary. It was the 1st of Ramadhan as well. The first piece of information I was given by a distant relative was that half of the Mus-lims had decided that the moon had not been sighted hence their first of Ramad-han will be on 2nd of September 2008. I instantly felt that even this is far from home, but still a lot like home. The first few days in Calgary were ex-tremely different and weird for me. I was so accustomed to having people and noise around me that the quietness of Calgary started getting to me and for the first time in my life, I thought whether the decision I took this long to take, was right or wrong.

Luckily so, we had the orientation start-ing from 2nd September so I had little time to think bout how to go back to Pakistan. MBA @ the University of Cal-gary was where I was headed. The uni-versity campus was also something I really liked. All buildings huddled to-gether in one huge street block, rela-tively close to downtown, made it con-venient to carry out day to day activities

out of the university as well. One thing that took me by surprise was the effort everyone around me was put-ting to make sure that I was comfort-able with everything. This is something I love about this city (and did not find the same in Vancouver/Toronto/Montreal); everyone goes out of the way to help you no matter who or what you are. First few weeks passed with a bit of trouble. Having never cooked before in life put me in an odd position when I had to arrange for my aftari dinner (along with my roommate Tayab). But luckily so, both of us learnt how to do it quickly. We settled down in our basement resi-dence, an hour’s commute away from the university. This decision was based on the convenience of the time and effort we could afford at that time, only later to move close to the university. The lectures and assignments started rolling in. Group based projects of 4 different subjects meant I had to spend a lot of time on campus and studying. Still in order to manage expenses, I started an on-campus job. Here again everyone went to lengths to make sure I learnt the skill and was at ease. October was conveniently busy and went past quickly. My cousin in Vancouver invited me and we spent a weekend on a road trip to Vancou-ver Island. To say that the place is beautiful would be putting it mildly. Vancouver as a city, added with the island, was phenomenal and I took a special liking to that place. The break in the middle of the semester helped me relax and coming back to the projects and presentations didn’t seem difficult. Towards the end of the semester, every-thing seemed to be bundling up. In one

week, we had over 150% of things due (from a total of 400). But we survived all that. There were 2 distinct groups in the MBA class, the ones above 30 and the ones below. We, the below 30s used to hang out together, plan dinners at differ-ent new restaurants, games, birthdays and skiing related events. Overall I had integrated well into the MBA program

and everyone accepted me as some one who could add value. Having travelled across Asia & Middle East in the past few years, the cultural shock people expect, did not hit me. But still, the social integration was not easy. Till this point in time, I haven’t had any interaction with the Pakistani community of Calgary apart from the distant relative I had in Cal-gary. It was coming down strange to me as I was sure there must’ve been a lot of Pakistani-origin students. And finally, PSS came out of hi-

bernation and arranged the first event of 2009 in winter semester and I met a whole bunch of interesting people and since then there has been no turning back. We have played cricket, planned dinners and of course the game night was also fun. I had found the final ele-ment missing from my new life.

“I instantly

felt that

even this is

far from

home, but

still a lot like

home”

P A K I S T A N I S T U D E N T S S O C I E T Y

By Nauman Anwar A Different World. P A G E 7

P A G E 8 PSS Upcoming Events

P A K I S T A N I S T U D E N T S S O C I E T Y

April 2009 SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30

April 3rd, 2009 Movie Night Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm Place: Science Theatres 135 Ticket: FREE for paid members $2 for non-member Snacks will be served!

April 8th, 2009 Halwa Puri Brunch Time: 11:15am - 3:00pm Place: Cassio A/B Conference Room Ticket: $5

April 11th & 12th, 2009 Fruiticana Cricket Cup Time: 4:30 - 8:30pm Place: Gold & Red Gym

April 18th, 2009 Mehfil-E-Mushaira “End of the Year Dinner” Time: 6:15pm - 10:00pm Place: Cassio A/B Conference Room Ticket: $5 for members $10 for non-members Dress Code: Semi formal/traditional

⇒ For more details - Please visit our website www.ucalgary.ca/pss or for updates - Visit our Facebook group - “Pakistani Students Society.”

⇒ If you have any questions, concerns, or comments - Don’t hesitate to e-mail us at sspakist@ucalgary.ca

⇒ To sponsor our event(s) or for advertisement - Please e-mail Sana at pss.editor@gmail.com

P A G E 9 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

P A K I S T A N I S T U D E N T S S O C I E T Y

Why Become A PSS Member? Opportunity to be a part of Pakistani students community, get to meet new people, make friends for life, membership discount on PSS events, learn Pakistani cultures, free food, free movies, free games, opportunity to volunteer, write for PSS newsletter, vote in elections, run for executive positions, and much more!

Become a member today, ONLY for $5 a year !

P A G E 1 0

P A K I S T A N I S T U D E N T S S O C I E T Y

wardly, I like most others, had made a compromise with the affairs to plan a des-tiny on a sail less ship being navigated by the most undeserving of captains in the roughest possible waters. But in my heart I was never satisfied, knowing this is not the country the father of my nation fought for, this is not the country our forefathers gave their lives for, this is not the country we the youth of Pakistan deserved. But, then I met and became part of a group way different than anyone I had ever seen before in Pakistan. A group of young motivated people who would not sit idle when issues of national importance are being thrust upon them contrary to the desires of our countrymen. A group of people who take pride in their identity, religion and culture yet aren’t biased to degrade those who disagree. This is a group of people who have no political gains, who have no monetary gains asso-ciated with their activities. This is Pakistan Youth Alliance. Pakistan Youth Alliance aims to awake the youth of Pakistan from the sleep of Apathy. The mission is to gather together young people whose only motive is a bet-ter Pakistan and to utilize their energies for nation building. The activities of this or-ganization are as varied as are its demo-graphics. The main focus is however on ∗ Enlightening the youth to feel respon-

sible for this country and prepare them for future leadership tasks.

∗ Rallying and raising their voices against injustice, exploitation and other social ills of our society.

∗ Raise funds for various nation building activities like education of youth, wel-fare of missing persons families, help-ing the war torn affected of Swat etc.

∗ Making our leaders accountable for their deeds and to demand an expla-nation when their activities tarnish the image of our homeland.

∗ Spreading the message of enlighten-ment, hope, responsibility and patriot-ism to the masses through unconven-tional but effective mediums like mu-sic, poetry and prose.

Pakistan Youth Alliance which started during the “Emergency Rule” in Novem-ber 2007, held a number of anti-emergency protests across Pakistan. Re-

I grew up in a country plagued with uncertainty. A country whose bases of formation, clear as a mirror are fogged by stains of provincialism, sectarianism, feudalism, terrorism and exploitation. The high fre-quency of crisis which this piece of land has seen in its nascent years has resulted in an exodus of people who would rather not associate with Pakistan. I grew up among a generation disappointed with the state of affairs around them, hope-less about the future of the country and after many years of exploitation by linguistic, religious, feudal and political pundits had some-how made a com-promise with the situation that nothing can be done, things will never change and till the time we are comfy in our abodes, let us not care about what happens around us. Resultantly our na-tion in its utter disappointment, that nothing can be done, has given a free hand to anyone in power, to bend in whatever way that suits his interests the destiny of our whole country. A million examples can be quoted in which issues of national importance were politicized for personal gains putting the develop-ment of Pakistan on a back burner. A political setup based on family politics and an active military par-ticipation has made sure that Paki-stan remains either in claws of mili-tary or civilian dictatorship thus bar-ricading entry of worthy, deserving and patriotic leadership. When people come to realize that they will never get representation in ave-nues of power, they either lose hope or demand a revolutionary change in system. Our countrymen sadly due to their apathy and ram-pant ignorance have selected the former. This is the Pakistan I grew up in. Out-

cent event include Protest against Indian air space violations, Fund raising for the ef-fected of Swat and Gaza, show of solidarity against indiscriminate attacks on Srilankan cricketers and Rallying for the Restoration of Judiciary. There are various Socio Political events in the pipeline in near future which include fund raising concerts, panel discus-sions, study circles, semi-nars and walks/vigi ls. M o r e o v e r , PYA is plan-n i n g a “Music for C h a n g e ” series of j a m s / g i g s across the c o u n t r y which would urge musi-cians to use their music as a tool to wake the youth of Pakistan up. PYA is an organization which unlike other political parties and student federations takes it strength purely from Pakistan, par-ticularly from the segment of society which has always been neglected i.e the youth. We do not cash upon religious biases, we do not rely on provincial prejudices, we do not emphasize on sectarian issues and we have no linguistic barriers in our organiza-tion. We believe Pakistan to be a true Is-lamic Republic in which people of every religion can participate in nation building therefore we carry the same spirit into our organization and any person or any religion can play a role provided he has no per-sonal petty gains attached with it. For us Provinces are no more than mere lines which are there only for better manage-ment of Pakistani territories. In PYA there is no Punjabi, no Sindhi, no Balochi, no Pathan and no Kashmiri there are only Pakistanis, True Pakistanis. In PYA there are no linguistic barriers, for us language is a mode of com-munication and we choose one which can convey our message to the masses effec-tively. (Continue on pg 11)

“...this is not

the country

we the

youth of

Pakistan

deserved”

By Asad Tirmizi (Pakistan) A Ray of Light in Darkness

P A G E 1 1 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

on our liberty, a bil-lion racist Hindu-stanis dreaming to undermine our relig-ion and freedom were thrown back across the border. When our country was challenged to defend its freedom in Indo Pak wars, we proved our met-tle by defending our freedom from armies five times our size dreaming to drink in the land of Pure. When our fa-thers decided to build a nuclear ar-senal for protection

against our enemies, the whole world saw a nation which can’t make a needle on its own, build nuclear weapons and state of the art missiles. My dear Countrymen this is the leg-acy we should have possessed to build on it a better Pakistan. But the continuous exploitation by corrupt leaders and our apathetic attitude has resulted in hopelessness beyond measures. But even now nothing is lost. We are the same people who have altered the course of history in the past. We can do it again! Pro-vided we are ready to pay the sacri-fices, provided we make up our mind. This country which has given us so much and has asked back so little,

deserves much better stature than what it has today. At PYA we have made up our mind that either we’ll go down or our country will go up. For all those who wish to join us in this task of nation building we assure negligible gain and unimaginable pain. The only gain we enjoy is the green flag unfurled in all its grace. The only gain we want is a better Pakistan and we are ready to go any dis-tance for this cause. We don’t promise that we will bring a change but we promise to spark a brain that will bring a change! Everyone who wants to be a part of this unprecedented movement can E-mail at pakistanyouthalliance@gmail.com or con-tact +92.333.4532030, join our facebook group “ Pakistan Youth Alliance “ and very soon our web portal, www.pya.org.pk would be online too.

We draw our strength from our Na-tional Language Urdu and are equally proud of all the regional lan-guages because it binds us to our land. We are proud of our Urdu dis-torted throats which can’t speak Eng-lish in Foreign accents reminding us every moment of our lives that we belong to Pakistan. PYA believes our country is the land of opportunity. We are a nation who when decides to achieve something … achieves it by any means. A glimpse in our history shows that when our forefathers decided to gain their freedom, an empire on which the sun never sets bowed down. When we decided that we will have no barriers

P A K I S T A N I S T U D E N T S S O C I E T Y

P A G E 1 2

P A K I S T A N I S T U D E N T S S O C I E T Y

She had to feed her kids at home She could not move in streets alone Oh' not in fear of US drones Her pride was robbed by her own! The land of pure, she was not sure! His fathers dreamt of such a land A place they'd refer to as home But in his sons, the poor land Yearns for souls it calls its own! The land of pure, he was not sure! Dead people walking in the malls Loveless streets and hateful halls Some call me crazy, for some I am blind But I cannot see the love they find The land of pure, I am not sure! Blame the boots drunk in gains Or feudal lords with no shame Books of history still preserve Nations get leaders they deserve The land of pure, we are not sure!

Mansoor A. Bhatti - The guy behind the PSS logo. A very talented and creative individual who believes in em-powering the youth! He loves photography, guitars, and his work. He was the art di-rector for Aag TV, Geo and currently, he’s a group Creative Head - Art at Lowe, Du-bai. We all would like to thank him for do-ing such a great job with the PSS logo. For further details or to see his amazing work - visit www.immb.info

By Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi

Behind our weak and selfish stand Inside our numb and faithless hides We watched them play with our land We watched them rape our country's pride! The land of pure, we are not sure! Everything is wrong, the common song But did you care to stand along By your words, then why complain? And point at others, when you are to blame! The land of pure, you are not sure! Can you feel this spark inside As I lay my pen to rest Lets vow to fight with reverent pride And put our last hope to test! The land of pure, LETS BE SURE! If you consider yourself as dead Do not get out of your cozy bed And if you dream for change like me Lets live the change we wish to see! The land of pure, LETS BE SURE!

The Land of Pure, Are You Sure?