My City Faisalabad

I am listening to instrumental Bansuri and enjoying rain which is hitting my room's door. It is one of the fortunate moments when Faisalabadis get rain. This Moon Soon was one of the fortunate rainy seasons that we got rain frequently. Normally we do not expect much rain even in moon soon. There are a few times in a rainy season when rain lasts more than an hour, and our streets are flooded with knee deep water. But that is for a few times only, it does not happen frequently. So I am listening to music, enjoying the rain, and writing this post about my city Faisalabad. But before going forward, see the beautiful sky of Faisalabad just before the rain. I am not a good photographer but the natural beauty is self explanatory.

During my struggle to align these images, the rains is over. The clouds are thundering their good-bye sounds. The weather is pleasant, feels like the last days of October with gentle cold breeze and an urge to sit in a warm place. It is in those fortunate days when we have no loadshedding because the demand of power decreases due to cool weather. It almost seems like good old days when there was no load shedding, the days of school when we had no interruptions in power supply. Well, let's put it aside and talk about Faisalabad a little bit. :-)

Business and Livelihood

Faisalabad is situated in center of Punjab. It is almost 3 hours distance from provincial capital Lahore and considered one of major cities of Pakistan. Faisalabad is known for its textile mills. There are, indeed, hundreds of textile mills surrounding this city. This is the reason why they call is Manchester of Pakistan. Due to lots of mills, the overall mood of the city is "labour-type". Labourers from all over Punjab and sometimes Pakistan come here to seek a job in Textile Mills. Once upon a time, these mills were very generous to offer jobs. The mill owners and industrialists of Faisalabad were considered among the rich people of country. It was said that Faisalabad's annual revenue exceeds even from Karachi sometimes. But electric and gas loadshedding has ruined everything. In last few years we have seen lots of mills closed down, power looms shut down and ginning and thread making factories abandoned by their owners. So Faisalabad is not so generous now, and lower class labourers are the most disadvantaged people in all this scenario. Some "pillar" type of companies and corporations still stand, they buy other factories which are being closed down. But they also struggle due to rising costs and decreasing profits due to gas, electricity and other expenses and shortage.

Apart from textile mills, there are other businesses as well. We have Kashmir Ghee Mills in Faisalabad, which produce the well known Kashmir Ghee. There are a lots of brands of Washing Soaps which are produced in Faisalabad, hopefully all remember Gaye Soap :-D. Some exceptional cases like Rafhan Maize Products are also present but they are only a few and ordered to leave the city due to laws restriction and city expansion.

The city is a hub for trading activity. It consumes a lot and it works as a junction to supply different goods to other cities.Trading of Sutar Mandi Faisalabad is an example of textile dominant society. Sutar Mandi is basically used for trading cloth and thread, Sheikh and other purely business minded communities dominate this commodity market. The 8 Bazars and Clock Tower, are traditionally considered trading center of the city by laymen. This, being the oldest part of the city, is still called "sheher" (city) by local citizens. The old style of city has been long gone, but still open sewerage ducts can be seen in some old parts of city, or in newly established facility-less poor towns and muhallas.

People and Life Style

The city was being started building in 1900 by the British. Formerly this area was called Sandal Bar. This was not an arid area, so was irrigated by a canal Rakh Branch. In 1900s people were allotted lands in this area, government encouraged people to settle here so the city of Lyallpur, now Faisalabad came into being. The very foundation of this city is based upon the settlers coming from other areas of Punjab. The city does not have a grand past, like Lahore or Karachi type of cities have. So the life style of people is pretty much simple. Every year thousands of settlers add to Faisalabad and this rate is increasing with the passage time. Once this city was smaller than Sargodha (a neighbouring city) and was part of Sargodha Division. Now it has more population than Sargodha, even from any city in Punjab except Lahore. So this thing made the overall behaviour of the city.

People have come here, and coming here largely for business opportunities and jobs. So the city have been developed in a way as it was required by the settlers. The main way of living for Faisalabadis is the business and jobs. But here the divide of rich and poor should be discussed. There are people who live in old Muhallas or recently built so-called towns (communities of lower middle and lower class). They live to earn money so say they may be go on pushing their life. Even on eids their recreation opportunities are least. On the other hand, there are people who are rich they are mill owners, middle or upper middle class job holders, highly qualified professionals etc. They live in posh areas, they have ample opportunities for recreation, and even if there is none, they know how to produce such opportunities.

There is a clear divide among population according to lifestyle. The old Muhallas, some new ones have narrow streets,  and the so-called towns still lack basic facilities like sewerage, water and gas. There are areas in the city which cannot be recognised as a part of a "city" if one happens to wander in their streets. On the other hand there are posh areas which are well guarded, separated with boundary walls with facilities, parks and elite lifestyle. The streets, roads, buildings and houses of these high class areas represent the "good" image of this city.

The city has least number of parks and recreation areas for the public. The old Bagh-e-Jinnah, Canal Park and other of such kind can be counted on fingers. The lower class areas of city are almost park-less, they have barely space for buildings and congested houses, due to lack of planning there are no parks or grounds, and if there were, they are consumed in building schools or other government buildings within those areas. The elite areas are feature rich with parks and grounds, but the cost of living is high their. So youth from Muhallas etc travel to such areas where grounds and parks are available to play cricket, or they tend to play on streets and roads between moving traffic.

The education rate of the city is increasing with passage of time. There is a hype to have a degree, but these degrees are for white collar jobs e.g MBA, M Com, Engineering, ACCA, ACMA etc. The trend of technical education is not so popular yet, although textile designing and other textile related areas are included in the curriculum of local institutes. Education is a business and provide livelihood for thousands in the city. There are private schools, colleges and universities, coaching centers and home tuition providing individuals who earn from selling education. There are government schools and colleges, there are private schools and colleges for lower middle and lower class and there are elite class Cambridge system schools and colleges. The city has two public sector universities Govt College University Faisalabad (established in 2001) and old one The University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. Along with it, several private universities are working e.g. Faisalabad University.

The linguistic situation of the city is diverse even if it is a Punjabi city. Punjabi is spoken by old people, lower middle and lower class and among close peers on informal occasion. Like other major cities of Punjab, people of Faisalabad are also trying to pass on Urdu to their new generation instead of Punjabi. So they tend to speak Urdu with babies, children and youth. The children of lower middle class and lower class learn Punjabi in streets and among friends, but this language is being wiped out from elite class. English is also being popular with hundreds of institutes offering spoken English courses. Other languages e.g. Pashto is also spoken by Pakhtoons who have settled in Faisalabad during last 2 or 3 decades.

The overall mood of the population towards traditional festivals is bored, they tend to sleep on eids, ride bikes with removed silencers on 14 August, firing in the air and playing songs in loud voice at basant etc. The wearings among youth are pent shirt and shorts, older people tend to wear traditions Dhoti Kurta, Shalwar Qameez etc.

Geography

View Larger Map

The city is surrounded between several small cities and towns. Jaranawla, Khurriawala, Jhumra, Gatti, Dajkot, Samundari are some of the small cities surrounding Faisalabad. The city is expanding rapidly due to new settlers from rural Punjab and other small cities. So the surrounding villages and towns which were once outside the city are now a part of the city. Gokhuwal, Makkuana, Char Chak, Gutwala are a few examples of such reclamation by the expanding city.  New towns, muhallas and colonies are being built all around the city. So once green areas around Faisalabad are now Jungles of Concrete. The expansion divides the rich poor distinction of the city. Canal Road is considered an elite area of the city, because the underground water is not drinkable except those areas which are within 1 to 2 kilometer range of Canal. So the rich has taken responsibility to build their houses and housing schemes around the Canal, while poor housing schemes are being pushed away from Canal. There are some old Muhallas near Canal e.g. Mansoorabad, but its rarity now to build a Muhalla near Canal.

Faisalabad is having a harsh plain weather which is due to its land locked nature. It receives low rainfall even in rainy season. The summers are very hot here. Temperature rises to 45 degree centigrade sometimes. The winters are dry and harsh. Specially December and January are too cold, the temperature falls to 0 degree centigrade. The dry winter causes flu, cough and other chest related problems, which are eliminated only if there are reasonable winter rains (2 to 3 rains in season). February, March and April are spring months and the weather is pretty much pleasant. From April to June, the summer rises to its peak. The rise in temperature creates dust storms which make weather pleasant for a few hours. The months of July, August and sometimes September are considered rainy season months when there are less or no winds blowing and occasional rains. The 24 hours presence of clouds in the sky create a humid weather which by interacting with hot sunlight create a kind of unbearable situation. Although the temperature is low in these months but humid weather creates problem for children and older people especially.

Development, Roads and Facilities

In last reign of Mian Nawaz Sharif, this city was granted ample funds fro the development of roads. So all the major roads are professionally built in two way fashion. But flyovers have been built time to time to contain traffic, roads are being constantly widened and newly built but the rapid expansion of the city is causing problems. The increase in traffic, the hype to purchase a bike and then a car, is increasing traffic and the city's road are becoming narrower day by day due to it. Especially the traffic junctions e.g. Millat Square, M Tax Square, areas around 8 Bazars and roads like Canal Road, Satiana Road are being over crowded due to traffic. There is a serious rise in problem of parking in rush hours specially in 8 Bazars, Satiana Road etc. The trend to build 4 to 5 story plazas on famous roads, with no parking facilities of their own, is also worsening the situation.

The city seriously lacks an Urban Transport Service. Initially there were Tongas which were replaced with Rikshaws and they were replaced with wagons almost 20 years ago. In round about 2000, the local government started a scheme to run local urban transport bus service. Two companies were allotted different routes in the city, and they were given loans to buy reconditioned buses. The old wagons were replaced, and provided routs outside the city. After a few years the bus services died away because of less income as compared to expenses. Those buses are standing in parking lots of the owners or the banks, or being used by textile mills to carry their staff. While the local transport is run by a new generation of Rikshwas called CNG Rikshaws, and Trolly Rikshaws (pulled by an 80 cc bike usually a Suzuki or Qingqi) called Chingchee locally. Due to more demand and less supply, old wagons are permitted to operate within city once again but that's not a solution. The ever expanding city is making the transport problem worse day by day.

Drinking water is a problem for the city. For last few years, Water and Sewerage Authority is not working well in this area. Water was being supplied from pumps installed alongside Canal, and from pumps installed near Chenab River. But water supply network of WASA is old and water pipes are rusty, and contaminated. The rehabilitation of water supply lines was started by adding new pipelines but due to lack of fund, or interest of the government, most areas are now without drinking water. So the supply is being fulfilled by water suppliers who supply water in textile chemical cans, or (if they are charging 3 to 4 times more) they use transparent plastic bottles. The sewerage system is so so, but rainy seasons creates real problem when water tends to stand on roads for several hours.

Places to Visit in Faisalabad

There are no monuments like Lahore Fort of Lahore, or Mazar-e-Qauid or Clifton Beach of Karachi in Faisalabad. It is an industrial city with least beauty for outsiders. But still there are some places which are worth seeing if you visit Faisalabad.

• Clock Tower and 8 Bazars
• Jinnah Garden, Jail Road.
• Chenab Club, Sargodha Road.
• Canal Park, Samundari Road.
• D Ground, Peoples Colony.
• University of Agriculture Faisalabad.
• Wild Life Park, Gutwala, Faisalabad.
• Hockey Stadium, Sousan Road
• Iqbal Stadium, Jail Road
• Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Auditorium, near Iqbal Stadium.

Well that's all, I will expand this list if for any other suggested places, or if I could remember another worth mentioning place.

Conclusion

Faisalabad is my city and I love it. :-) I've tried my best to describe about Faisalabad without adding my own opinion. You may ask any questions in comments if you want to know more about something. And I'll keep on posting about Faisalabad in future as well. Just stay tuned.

 

Misguided Attitude of our Students about Professional Life

He blames me of misguiding him. He thinks that his degree is a piece of s**t, wastage of money and time, killer of the hopes of his parents. And for this he blames me, because as a senior I motivated them to continue their career in linguistics, because I told them that linguistics was going to have a bright future. So he blames me for all that. But you, the reader, be just, and tell me. Was I wrong doing so? But first of all let me explain in detail so you may understand what do I mean when I say “he blames me”.

I was one of the lost children of my nation who didn't know where to go, what to do, what is the career, how to move in life, how to plan for future, what would be the consequences of studying science, arts or commerce. I studied science in matric because “intelligent” students were supposed to study science. It was in fashion, and as I was unfortunately considered an “intelligent” student I opted for science. Thank God there were no further choices in science, it was just Biology, Chemistry, Physics with Maths as compulsory subject. I studied and got good marks, 79% actually.

When I encountered a college first time in my life, and got prospectus again I was confused to select. My friend, actually best friend at that time, was opting for science and per-engineering (Physics, Chemistry, Maths). So I opted for science as well as per-engineering. Science because I had started thinking myself “intelligent” and per-engineering because my friend was also opting for it. That's another story that our sections were separate, we just met in the morning we were coming to college or in afternoon while going home on bicycles. My performance was rather poor in intermediate and I only managed to get 62% something marks.

Two years passed like two minutes and again I was standing there, thinking what to do next. I was not “intelligent” as I used to be. I had financial issues in front of me. My friends moved to engineering, telecommunication, repeating intermediate examination to get good marks and so to get admission in engineering university. I was left behind, thinking what to do. Then someone told me opt commerce subjects in graduation. And I did. I'd never studied commerce in my life. There were subject choice available in intermediate named Intermediate in Commerce (I. Com.) but as I had studied science, there was a little problem for me. But I got it as a challenge. I worked a bit harder, and tried to get good marks in Bachelors of Commerce (B. Com.) part 1, 62% actually. I found in this period that accounts, commerce, business, economics were not that difficult as they looked like. In second part, however, I couldn't maintain my percentage and finally I could barely secure 60% i.e. first division.

I was thinking myself to be a teacher somewhere in some college, teaching commerce. So my intention was to pursue for M. Com. (thank God I was a little bit clear about my career after 20 years of my life). But this was not the case with fate. My fate led me to Linguistics. It was really ironic for me when I was informed that I couldn't get admission in M. Com. at Govt. College University, Faisalabad. The Commerce Department had conducted test plus interview. I passed test, and they failed me in interview with 0 mark. If they had given me 1 mark, I was in. But I couldn't get admission because there was someone else who had a giant behind himself endorsing him for admission. So I, a refused Shakir, turned to Allama Iqbal Open University for MBA, and started looking for jobs. What kind of Jobs? Job was to get a home tuition, to teach in an academy, to work with someone as a computer assistant.

I did these jobs for a few months. As mentioned earlier, I was working as a computer assistant with someone. And here happened the most ironic twist of my life. The people I was working with as assistant (now my teachers) convinced me to leave commerce and study linguistics. OHH MY GOD :-@. Can someone has such a twisted educational path as I have? But I accepted that and 3rd time in my life changed my field Science > Commerce > Linguistics. So I worked for them in the morning, and took classes in the evening. It was not a regular program, just a post graduate diploma in which I was granted admission on continuous insistence of the teachers I was working with. Other member of the Department of English, including the head weren't convinced that I could be allowed to study English Language Teaching. But I did it, I got admission, I completed the degree.

Here, before coming to this degree, for the first time in my life, I was crystal clear. I knew where I've to go. I had a path in front of me. I knew that there was not going back. I had burned my boats. I was now a linguistics learner for whole of my life. My job was to teach English, research on Urdu and Punjabi and translate (as I later became). I had started a 10 year plan for my life. Because PGD was not enough, so after PGD, I went for MSc in 2008. In the mean time, thanks to a very kind person, Talmeez, as I mentioned above, I started working as translator. With the passage of time I got better, my interests developed in corpus linguistics, computer assisted linguistic research, computer assisted language teaching, research on Urdu and Punjabi. And now I am here, after one year of my masters, seeking to get admission in M Phil, working as a translator, having worked as a teacher for 1 year, looking forward to PhD.

And now, today, he says to me that I betrayed him. He thinks his education is just a piece of s**t and I am one of the responsibles. But how he can blame me for all this? Hadn't he a mind in his head? Couldn't he think of a better way at the time of admission? The reality is that he was like me, like one of thousands of students who are left behind, because they are not “intelligent” so they can't study science and can't be doctors or engineers. So they move to arts, they complete BA, then they move to specific areas of arts, Sociology, Psychology, Islamic Studies, Business, and English (to include now Linguistics as well) etc. They don't know where to got, they just follow others, sometimes they seek some department to get admission in because their marks are not enough for merit in certain other departments. We faced this dilemma for last several years in Applied Linguistics Department. Students who came here for admission had lowest grades, no idea to move where to, seeking for some magic degree which could give them employment. We as old students motivated them, told them about the benefits they could get after becoming a linguist, ones who convinced took admission and got degree. And now one of them blames me. Is he right doing this?

Sir Asim used to tell that Winners have place in linguistics not Loosers. So I ask them all, are they winners? Are they having something in them? Any spark? Good grades? Abilities? Motivation? Courage? Patience? If they don't have all this, then they should blame all of the world which is against them.

Our students need to realise the world is not a bed of roses. They think that every thing would be just fine once they get the degree. The employer will be standing at front door of their house requesting them to honour him by joining his organisation. This is not a Utopia, an ideal world. This is real life with all cold bitter harsh realities of life. You have to struggle, you have to be a winner, if you are not, you have no place here. I would suggest my juniors do not expect miracles for themselves. 1400 years ago Angels have stopped coming to this world to create miracles, now we are on our own. You should have faith in Allah, thankfulness for what He has given you, and courage to struggle patiently. This is not the end, this is beginning of a new degree, Masters in Life. Here you will learn for all of your life, you will get good grades only if you are capable. And remember in the tests of life, there is least chance of cheating. May Allah be with you all.

Private Schools

I am a teacher by profession but this is unfortunate that I've to teach in a private school of my city. I as fascinated by the name of this school exactly 1 year back from now. I, as a fresh graduate, needed a job and was almost dancing with joy when I was offered "internship" at this school. We, a group of 5 students, joined them as internees at a handsome amount (Rs 9000 was considered by us as a handsome amount being a trainee at that time). But the charm vanished just after a few months. We were time and again refused for any increase in pay. The environment was helpful in training but the disgrace and a kind of humiliation, undue pressure exerted on the employees was unbearable. Now after one year, we are only two there. And I am also planning to leave this school to concentrate on M Phil Applied Linguistics plus work as a freelance translator.

I admit that I've learnt a lot from there. I was trained from a raw teacher to a professional, I learnt how to deal with parents, how to contain my anger while teaching, how to teach effectively, but still I do not feel comfortable there. There is an air of mistrust. The junior staff is burdened with extra work while seniors sit and relax. The organization is always suspicious that this person is going to run away. They do not want to pay, so there is no incentive for hard working. The old crows, the teachers who are working there for several years are the only things which can survive in that environment, new staff usually runs away after one year, as I am now planning to go away.

Perhaps same is the situation with every private organization. But I've learnt one thing that these private schools are money making factories. The teachers working there are labourers in colourful clothes. And the product the produce is half Pakistani half English O/A level graduates who feel it very hard to integrate with traditional educational system of Pakistan when they have to pass entry tests for MBBS or UET (engineering). They are the children of factory owners, and their Faisalabad lies around Canal Road, D Ground, Madina Town, Peoples Colony and other posh areas of the city.

Well, the post is diverting from the topic. My aim was to write about the atrocities of these private employers who are sucking blood from the veins of nation on the name of education.

M Phil Applied Linguistics

I've the prospectus in my hands and the title says "2011 GCUF Prospectus". I am having this booklet in my hands and my soul is wandering around those moments which I've spent in this university millennia ago. Yes it seems I was there in another life. The days of MSc Applied Linguistics, the last and forever prevailing moments, I cannot forget them. At that time, 1 year back from now, I'd tried to write something. I'd tried to mourn on the loss, but I failed. I could not gather words, as if though my words had become meaningless. I was unable to say what I wanted to say. So considering myself a desert struck by drought with no single drop of water, I'd abandoned the effort to produce something. And now after 1 year, when I am supposed to be more wise, more practical, more mature and more professional, I am becoming saddened on the loss of my good old days. Sadness prevails in me, it adds to my feelings drop by drop and I feel myself a container filled with it. And when I move in my good old days, when I re-picture those moments, the parties, the joyness, the classes and even the hardest times of final examination I can feel this sadness within the deepest corners of my bones. I wonder why this is now, when I am supposed to be more stronger and ignorant of such things, why I feel it now. When nothing is left behind. The air itself has become a stranger to me, the place where I had sit for 2 years, my classroom, has made other friends, other ones like me who succeeded me on that same corner chair of last row. I wonder why I feel this now, when I am going to sit there again, perhaps on that same chair and bench and same classroom. Perhaps this is because now I wouldn't be able to laugh out loud, the parties wouldn't be that enjoyable, maturity would hinder with joy and innocence, torments of time and tension will dance in my head, the god of money will bend my attentions. Perhaps I wouldn't be that old shakir this time, I would be more selfish, more swollen in my ego and I. Perhaps I would be more like a prisoner behind the walls of my own self.

Drinking Water in Faisalabad

Faisalabad is considered third biggest city of Pakistan according to population. In last 10 to 15 years its population has grown rapidly. People from surrounding cities, towns and villages have moved to the city and lots of surrounding villages and towns are also now a part of the city Faisalabad. Like Lahore, we have a canal passing through the heart of city called Rakh Branch. It enters from east and passing through the city leaves the city on western side. Like Clifton area of Karachi, the area around the Canal is considered to be the most elite area of the city. There are several old colonies and towns like Peoples Colony and Madina Town, and now there are lots of new colonies being constructed on the outer edges of the city along the Canal.
The city has an environment of industrialization. Labour from all over Punjab comes here to work in Textile Mills. Before the construction of mills and factories, the area and land was used for agriculture. Faisalabad is not an area which receive lots of rain, so the canal was and is used for irrigation. The underground water is not drinkable in most areas of city. Only the areas near canal, where canal water has seeped into earth, have drinkable water. So the areas near canal are kind of elite areas of Faisalabad. But with the passage of time as the water level is dropping, old undrinkable water is showing its face now. The old towns like Mansoorabad which once had sweet drinkable water from underground, now the water cannot be drunk from these areas. Water and Sewerage Authority is not providing drinkable water in most areas near canal for last 5 years or so. Due to this, the Can Mafia has taken over the city. People, especially Pathans, have come to city and they supply water in blue colour cans previously used as textile chemical containers. They load these cans on carts and Qingqee Loaders and supply water to virtually every place in the city, especially 3 to 4 kilometer far areas now totally depend on these water suppliers. To fulfill the needs of these suppliers, people have bored and installed heavy tubewell motors along the Canal right from Mansoorabad to Nisar Colony. These heavy motors suck drinkable water from underground a few meters away from canal. And I am thinking how much time we have when the water near the Canal will also become undrinkable? What would we do then? Would we start drinking Canal water directly?

On The Internship

Finally I am out of the university after the final exam of 4th semester. After the finals my intent was to have some rest and then get admission in M Phil. But nor rest neither M Phil looks near to me. I was called just after a few days by the department for internship at Little Angles School System. And due to thesis yet to submit, I may not be able to get admission in M Phil this year. So I am on the job actually with a little less than 10000 rupees are paid to me.

The school has three branches in the city and I am in the main branch on Canal Road. It is well built and having an organized structure. Because this is the first time for me to get a chance to be a teacher, it is exciting for me to learn and observe how things are done practically regarding language teaching. My bookish knowledge regarding teaching language will be converted to a more practical one. Currently I am just observing and learning as 7th class, to whom I would be teaching has still to come after summer vacation. This observation is giving me much as well I am trying to analyse the situation critically.

The school offers Cambridge O Levels and A Levels as well as local Matric and Intermediate courses for students. Cambridge students are obviously considered superior on others. The course of this university is good for English. But what I got from this, is that it focuses on reading and writing very much. Listening is also there but lesser, and there is no component of spoken part. The students have to learn reading comprehension, writing narratives and summaries and understand and then write after listening. All this, in my opinion, very much revolves around teaching writing, although this writing is superior than that of local English teaching system which utilizes translation method to teach English.

Another thing is the use of foreign materials. What I am going to teach is printed in Singapore, having all the contexts and pictures from that country. There is a lack of local touch in language teaching. Perhaps they think that foreign materials are more trust worthy to teach English. Although this is true that local materials are not available for these levels, or if available are not of that much standard. Even the books created by provincial text book boards are thin and make only one third or one forth of their Cambridge counter part.

These were some initial thoughts about my new activity, going to be a language teacher. I'll be writing more on this topic. 

The State of Affairs at Government College University Faisalabad

GCUF is the university created in the 'revolutionary' period of general retired Pervaiz Musharaf. It is one of the govt. colleges which were converted to universities in bulk after the 'revolution' back in 2000. It was given the status of university in 2001 and since then this newly born university is in problems.
The biggest of all is the attitude of the administration and students of this university. The administration of the university always tries to create monopoly. They pull each other down to progress and they do not want to bear anyone who is 'outsider'. Here outsider means someone appointed as vice chancellor from an other city/university. The administration is too corrupt, monopolist and seeking for their own benefit from the official funds of the university. Current vice chancellor is on his designation because he has a link with the current governor of Punjab Mr. Salam Taseer, otherwise this person is not of worth to even be considered as a dean of university. Far more superior and having high impact factor officials who can run the university far better are waiting outside to be considered for this post, but the governor just wrote a line on the appointment letter of this vice chancellor 'till November 2010', so he is enjoying this job politically. There are two lobbies in the university, pro-vc and against-vc. And the pro-vc lobby is obviously dominant, always suppressing others and always seeking for their own benefit. The corruption of the administration and illegal usage of the funds let the university at a state that sometimes it does not have funds to pay for daily expenses of the departments e.g. the stationary expenses. There are four blocks in the university, 1 is funded by a former student and it was the very first constructed portion of the newly born university, a new block is constructed by govt. funds and other two are left unreconstructed, the structure is complete but for the furnishing university has not funds and so the case with government which also does not have any funds. Like other universities, it has the problem of political parties. After the rehabilitation of 'democracy' various sub-organizations of parties like PML-N and PPP started showing their power on the walls of university. Now they have groupings within themselves, they quarrel with each other, they break the rules of university but no one can stop them because of their strong political back hand. At last the teaching system of university is too week, their is a reputation of this university in the marked as a time-pass university: people say that it is the best place in Faisalabad where you may go and have a date with your partner. This negative image is being 'positivised' by banning 'couples' and even mixed groups of students sitting in university, they are fined and warned but again the ones with political back hand are exempted. But there are no serious efforts made to create a study oriented environment.
The current problem is related to study. We are always facing new marking schemes, GPA rules, passing criteria and soforth. Same happened last weak when the passing and marking criteria was changed and students showed their anger. The next day a notification was distributed telling that the previous criteria is restored but again there were hidden problems. There was a distinction made in the criteria for morning and evening (which are studying on self finance basis) students. So the rebels created violence, they lambasted the security guards and eventually police was called. After the inner violation they marched towards district council and raised slogans for the removal of current VC. The university remained close last 2 days of previous weak and the signs are still not positive. It looks that this violence would continue. A video is shared here to let you have an insight of the current situation. More can be seen here.

Loadshedding in Faislabad

From last day's morning, suddenly the load shedding is increased in Faisalabad. We usually have a load shedding of 10 hours or less but now it is round about 15 hours or so. Light break down started from 8:10 yesterday and lasted 12:00 am almost.Then from 2:00 pm it lasted uptil 5 pm. I was expecting a 5 to 11 non stop supply but it was again shut down before 8:00 pm and then it came after 10. Again from 11 pm last night to 4 am of this morning, the light was off. The total of all this duration exceeds 15 hours, and it is not the end still upto 8 am of this morning at least 2 hours would be of load shedding means upto 18 hours. It looks again we'll have to some 'strieky' things and violence. I am unable to understand where the lite is going, why they do not tell that the exact situation and why they are doing so. They give light to one city while other cities are doing strikes and violence. Then they suddenly stop providing enough light to one city and start giving it to another becoming more violent city to calm them down.
That's Rubbish