The Judes of Kasur

I’ve read books over the past that have left quite a significant mark on my life but never thought I would end up penning my thoughts publicly for this one book, a book I picked randomly without even knowing what it was about. However, unlike all those other life-changing books, I haven’t recommended this book to anyone… until now. I still don’t know whether this post is to encourage you to read the book or to raise awareness about the children in Kasur or both. Although I am sure you can’t do one without thinking about the other.

Before I discuss this book, I’d like to draw your attention to what happened to the children in Kasur two years ago.

This is where the story about Kasur children broke out: http://nation.com.pk/E-Paper/lahore/2015-08-08/page-1

Some facts about the incident:

The abuse began in 2006 and continued until 2015. That’s 9 years of consistent abuse that resulted in one of the victims himself becoming an abuser.

More than 250 children were sexually and physically assaulted

These assaults were recorded and sold online

Parents of the children were blackmailed with threat to make these videos public if they don’t pay the perpetrators

Only 2 of these monsters involved in these heinous crimes have been given life imprisonment. The fate of rest is juggling between courts

Life imprisonment, not a death sentence, which I believe is the least of what they deserved

Another fact: these children may never recover from the trauma

Another fact: as per law, you will ONLY serve a maximum of 7 years for all the crimes mentioned above

Another fact: every day over 10 children are abused in Pakistan

Another fact: A prominent member of Pakistan’s ruling party and an ex-minister has been involved in COVERING UP the story so as to aid the criminals

Another fact: The Prime Minister doesn’t give a fuck about your children and he probably never will

Another fact: Child abuse is still rampant and it probably will thrive with politicians like Rana Scum of the Earth Sanaullah there to save the day for the bastards involved

If it were me, they would meet the same fate that awaited the infamous child murderer in late 90s, Javed Iqbal. The judge had initially given a unusual but not undeserving sentence of having him strangled and cut into 100 pieces in front of the parents of the murdered children.

While reading about Jude, Malcom, JB and Willem, I couldn’t not think about all of it. Jude, the smart, brave, innocent Jude and the children of Kasur. Were they to meet the same fate as him too?

Will they get to relive a part of his life, ‘The Happy Years’?

A little life; midway reading the book, I thought maybe the title is about how insignificant we think our lives are if we put into perspective everything that is going around us. But man did I get a shock of my life as the author explained to us what she really meant by the title and I wished she would have just stuck to the cliché.

A Memorable Visit to the Inter Board Committee of Chairmen (IBCC)

Our last education minister in the “very democratic” Zardari government was Sheikh Waqas Akram. He, as you may all know was attributed for sending a super clear message of the education crisis in Pakistan when his own degrees were confirmed as fake.

Here he is with our Honorable Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif who has described him as “a respected and educated politician.”

Source: http://tribune.com.pk/story/520938/election-politics-aswj-fumes-as-sheikh-waqas-akram-joins-pml-n/

Ok so they made a mistake. So what if our education ministry was under the rule of someone who faked his own degrees to rule the education sector of the nation? You may also question why I am digging out skeletons from so long ago today. Well it all started when a few weeks ago I visited the esteemed Inter Board Committee of Chairmen office to get an equivalence certificate for my O and A levels degrees.

Before embarking on the long, and what I definitely knew to be a hectic journey, I sought help from my most trusted friend Google about the procedure of getting the equivalence certificate. My friend told me that the office of Inter Board Committee of Chairmen Lahore is located near the Ganga Ram Hospital and it provided me with a helpful map with directions on how to get there. However, for probably the first time, my friend could not help me with the procedure of filling the application form. While the first half of the application form is easy to fill, the second half was extremely baffling. However, I printed the form out (IBCC officials provide the form free of cost, but better to get it printed from elsewhere than stand in queues at the IBCC office for hours just to get a copy), filled half of it and took it along with the rest of the mentioned requirements. It was upon arriving at the Inter Board Committee of Chairmen office that I found that someone, an angel I am sure, had pasted a sample application form on the window of the office. So people like me worrying what to put under “Accreditation status of Institution along with name of Accrediting Authority”, you can copy off from the information from the sample.

What has forced me to write this long tale is what I saw at the IBCC office. According to IBCC’s website, they claim they process 12000 applications on an annual basis. While I highly doubt this number, what I am still more concerned about is how none of these 12000 applicants spoke about the miserable condition of the IBCC offices. When I entered the building, I was too shocked to even believe that this is part of the Ministry of Education.

As they say a picture speaks a thousand words, and I took 8.

The Grand Entrance

The IBCC office is located inside the building of BISE Lahore

The staircase leading up to the IBCC office

Motto of IBCC: Save Paper, Write on Walls

Stairway to Hell

IBCC Stationery Store

I don’t know what room this was but the day I went to submit my application, it was closed but someone opened the door to this room and no one bothered closing it. It was open even after a week when I went to collect my equivalence certificate.

I can’t even describe the awful stench around the staircase leading upto the offices.

 

Why, in all this time since it has been established, no one questioned why the government has refused to furnish the offices or even bothered to shift the office that is host to thousands of students every year?

Then I got my answer, this same ministry was being governed by someone who faked his way into it. In all the years he ruled, they could not bother to confirm whether he was even eligible to rule the most important division of the economy, what would make them worry about the wretched condition of one of the many offices that come under their jurisdiction?

It is my humble request to the current Honorable Minister of Federal Education, Engr. Muhammad Baligh ur Rehman and my Honorable Chief Minister of Punjab to kindly visit this department that is considered the backbone of the Education Ministry in Pakistan. Pick a day; go there without intimating them of your arrival and see for yourself, how students suffer each day standing in lines at the mercy of the most unhelpful staff on the planet.

For those applying for an O/A level equivalence the following are a must to bring along:

• For urgent cases: Rs. 3000 for O level certificate + Rs. 3000 for A level certificate (5 working days)
• For normal cases: Rs. 1500 for O level certificate + Rs. 1500 for A level certificate (more than 5 working days)
• Application form (take a printed copy JUST IN CASE)
• Your recent passport size photograph (or not so recent)
• Copy of ID card
• Copy of Mother or father’s ID card
• Original O/A level certificates
• Two photocopies of O/A level certificates (they only require one, but you never know when your bad luck hits you)
• A black pen
• Lots of good luck