A year to forget or a year to remember? Both. A year to rejoice or a year to commiserate? Both. A year to learn from or a year to unlearn? Both. For people as well as for nations each year seems to pass in a flash; each year seems more pressing and challenging than before; each year presents more nostalgia for the past years; each year seems more uncertain and uncontrollable. However a more detailed analysis will always present a different picture than the one perceived by the mind's eye. Each year seems less attractive compared to the preceding year and a longing for the past to recur is quite prevalent. The reason for this nostalgic psychology is that the past has happened and thus is certain and can be easily analyzed while the present and future is uncertain and too busy to be reflected upon without a bias.
The local and international scene of 2017 had many memorable events. If 2016 saw Hilary Clinton lose to Trump against all predictions, 2017 started with Trump in the office and then a series of his executive orders which left majority of the world aghast and disturbed. Starting from the travel ban on muslim countries to his refusal to sign the environmental treaty to declare Jerusalem as the capital of Israel his style of leadership made him dominate headlines all across the world. The Aha moment was when the United Nations General Assembly rejected this policy of US by 128 countries voting against it Vs 9 countries for it.
On the local political front, some historical moments were witnessed. Panama Papers that rocked the world in 2016, and in which then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family were exposed for hiding money and assets in off shore tax havens, achieved a legal milestone. Nawaz Sharif as a sitting Prime Minister was removed from office by a unanimous 5-0 verdict and his corruption cases were sent to National Accountability Court for trial. Similarly the opposition party leaders of PTI, Imran Khan and Jahangir Tareen received a positive and a negative verdict repectively. While Imran Khan was honorably absolved of all charges, Jahangir Tareen was disqualified from the parliament.
The country witnessed a reduction in terrorist attacks especially in the most affected areas of Khyber PakhtoonKhuwa where attacks registered a decrease of 51% which resulted in a dramatic increase in tourism in the Northern areas. Toursim was up 65% giving industry and employment boost. In fact, according to the Gilgit-Baltistan Tourism Department, in the last 11 months, around 1.72 million people visited that region, an astounding increase from 0.5 million from the corresponding period last year.
The story on education overall was not very heartening where most provinces failed to enhance enrollment rates and improve literacy ratio. However individually Pakistani students continued to excel. A Pakistani student, Hunain Zia, broke the previous world record by securing an unbelievable total of 66 As in O and A' Levels combined. He also holds the record for maximum appearances in one session (27 days), including a staggering 45 subjects and 154 papers. Similarly, a 17-year-old student, Muhammad Shaheer Niazi, put Pakistan on the science map when he was able to visualise a physics phenomenon. Scientists from across the globe were amazed that a young kid could come up with such a lucid conceptualisation. His work was later published in the Royal Society Open Science, a world-renowned science journal.
On the Sports front the year started badly with Australia doing a Green Wash in test matches but all that has faded away by the spectacular performance of the team in ICC Champion's trophy win over India. After a quarter of a century Pakistanis saw its team lift the trophy and that too by stampeding India to a humiliating loss. We lost the test series against Sri Lanka but the return of international cricket back home made up for our mixed performance. In hockey and in other sports it was a year to forget. Mohammad Wasim the boxing sensation retained his silver flyweight title to remind us how much talent remains undiscovered due to government negligence.
In Cinema industry our stars performed better cross border than in the country. The year started with the Shahrukh Khan and Mahira Khan starrer 'Raees' being a hit despite the ban on Pakistan actors in India. As if to prove their talent Saba Qamar shone in the movie 'Hindi Medium' holding her own with the likes of Irrfan Khan. With some great performances by Adnan Siddiqui and Sajal Ali in the Sridevi starrer 'Mom', Pakistani actors established their talent credentials in no uncertain terms. After a rather mediocre season of local movies, "Mein Punjab Nahin Jaongi" proved a superhit where Mehvish Hayat and Hamayun Saeed brought the belief back in the Pakistani film making. However 'Verna' of Shoaib Mansoor fame failed to live upto its history of outstanding productions.
The social media continued to become the most used and abused social interaction in the world and more so in Pakistan which experienced the 35% growth social media users compared to an average of 21% in the world. Twitter and Instagram produced instant relationships, breakups, gossip, marriages and divorces. The beginning of the year saw the British boxer Amir Khan and his wife tweet their love, hate, fights, their insults and their separation/divorce. The year ended by their tweets of rethinking their relationship and their final reunion. However the most awaited event of the year was the fairy tale marriage of Virat Kohli the Indian cricket captain and Anushka Sharma the Bollywood diva. The social media went abuzz with speculation of their family wedding in Italy. The photographs of the series of ceremonies, clothes, receptions broke all records to make Virushka the most powerful couple brand after the once upon a time brand Brangelina (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie).
2018 promises to be even more exciting and on the edge stuff. So, keep your seat belts on and get ready for the take off- Wishing all of the readers a Very Blissful and Happy New Year!!!
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