Letters To The Editor


“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop”
– Confucius


Highlighting mental diseases in the elderly

I happened to watch a very enlightening play during my short visit to Karachi. The play Main Bhool Gaya was produced and staged by the faculty of Aga Khan University. The centre of the play was an aging father who was shown to be struggling with dementia. I was exceptionally pleased with how well the script, the characters and the emotional setting managed to bring out the true ordeal, a person suffering from dementia goes through.

While the world is slowly coming to terms with and spreading awareness about mental diseases and how deeply they can impact an individual, Pakistan seems very blank about it. I’d say it’s a great initiative to shed light on the severity of such mental disorders. While depression, suicidal psychosis and other psychotic disorders have been well studied and are usually found in younger people, not much attention is given to the qualms of the elderly. A lot of work still has to be done, but it’s great that we have started acknowledging mental disorders as real.

Sabeen Raza,
Islamabad

Controversial distortion of history in Padmaavat

Padmaavat has a string of controversies, yet it managed to meet its release not only in its home country, India but also in Pakistan. I am from the audience who watched Padmaavat and believes it’s a classic work of art, but at the same time, I am also disturbed and disappointed that how did a film based on a controversial topic and distorted history managed to ditch Pakistan’s Censor Board’s ban? Although being a treat to the eyes, the film has certain controversial elements that should not have sit well with our country’s censor board. Even the Indian historians agree that the movie is based on twisted historical facts where a renowned powerful Muslim ruler Alauddin Khalji of Dehli Sultanate is shown in a negative light. Alauddin Khalji was known for his gentle mannerisms and his exquisite lifestyle rather than the meat gnawing, burnt-face and kohl-rimmed barbaric ruler he is portrayed in Padmaavat. Last year, the Censor Board of Pakistan banned Raees from the country because it portrayed a Muslim in negative light. What happened to the Censor Board’s sanity now that it allowed Padmaavat’s screening in Pakistan?

Khalid Peer,
Karachi

Pakistan needs data protection laws

We are swarmed with text messages from different businesses throughout the day. Is it just a coincidence that you get a text message about a business in the area you have just moved to? On a closer examination, it seems like a breach of one’s privacy. Pakistan needs to come up with stringent laws to prevent personal data to be leaked from legal frameworks. We need to enact laws to protect data from falling into the wrong hands and become subject to misuse. An independent authority must be established to give due attention to data protection compliances.

Miraj Hassan,
Lahore

High Priced Reads

We hang our heads in resignation and wistfulness and say we don’t have enough people in the country who still love to read. We hold seminars to promote reading and literature. But what have we done to make the books easily accessible to the general public? And setting up more libraries or holding seminars is not the answer. Some of the books that were recently released by our local writers were priced way to high for an ordinary kid or even an adult to purchase. If we want to encourage reading habits among our children and people, perhaps we should consider regulating the prices for books by the local writers.

Laila Aksra,
Karachi


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