In a country where one has to cough up huge amounts of money in order to get quality education for one's children, missionary schools and colleges are a big boon, especially for people belonging to the middle class.

Established during the British colonial period in the Indian subcontinent, the missionary schools provided education to about 57 percent of population in Pakistan at the time of partition. In the 1960s, the government-run schools rose to dominance, leaving the missionary schools to experience a 35 percent drop in their popularity and education services. Interestingly, however, the government schools could not maintain their standard of education for long, whereas the missionary schools were not to be accused of compromising. Therefore, decades later, they are still preferred by most people.

The missionary schools are working in every major city of the country, including Karachi, Lahore, Sialkot, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Murree and Abbottabad. They have names such as St Joseph's and Jesus & Mary's.

The introduction of 'elitist' schooling systems in the last decade or so has certainly diminished the interest of the rich and the affluent in the missionary schools, but for an educated middle-class urban parent, these are still the best available option -- affordable yet good quality. The children who pass out from these schools are held in good stead when they enter practical life; not only the government institutions but private companies are also happy to pick them up for important job assignments.

In the recent past, the occurrence of a random untoward incident in and around the campuses of some of these (missionary) schools did become a cause of concern for the parents as well as the management, albeit for a small time. One such act of terror took place in August 2002 when armed assailants stormed a missionary school in Murree and shot as many as six innocent people dead. In years that followed, there have been some incidents reported by the media in which people with extreme religious views tried to set ablaze some of these schools, in different cities of the country, or sent them threatening letters demanding an immediate closure. But despite all odds, the missionary schools continue to function as they have in the past, and the people just do not seem to have lost faith in the quality of education provided by these institutions. In fact, they find these schools affordable even with a certain hike in their tution fees over the years, as compared to the private, elite schools. As Irfan Nazir, a civil engineer based in Rawalpindi, puts it, "I send my kid to a missionary school because it's affordable but, most importantly, superior to any government school in terms of education." Period.

-- Shaiq Hussain

Founded in 1924 and named after Lady Reading, the spouse of lone Jew Viceroy of British India, Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) could be called the biggest health facility in the entire NWFP. It has been providing creditable healthcare to the people of the province for long but its true worth and significant role became public in the recent wave of blasts, not only in the provincial metropolis but also in the adjacent tribal areas and settled districts. Ever since the hospital's Trauma & Emergency has treated hundreds of patients.

The common people are believed to have complaints about poor or not enough facilities -- not to mention, the impolite attitude of duty doctors and staff -- at hospitals. Not here. LRH has famously changed the popular opinion in the Frontier, winning accolades also from the government and the merciless media for its performance.

On an average, 2,000 emergency cases are brought to the hospital on a daily basis -- considered to be the highest anywhere in the country. In Peshawar alone, the current month (till the filing of this report) saw as many as eight random incidents of bomb blasts, spewing 260-plus critically injured people in the trauma centre of the hospital. October saw the disastrous Meena Bazaar and Khyber Bazaar blasts that left hundreds of people, including women and children, badly injured. Again, LHR was the recipient of the biggest number of casualties -- 367, according to official sources. But the patients rest assured that they are in safe hands.

"My heart bleeds every time we receive casualties," Shahnaz, a staff nurse, tells TNS. Her eyes are brimming with tears as she recalls the sight of a man maimed in a recent blast incident.

Nursing supervisor Hussain Ahmad adds, "Every time I become depressive and lose appetite."

Having an annual budget of Rs 40m, the trauma centre of Lady Reading Hospital never fails to provide free treatment. Dr Javed Khattak, Deputy Director, trauma centre, says the hospital is never short of doctors and staff/paramedics but cramped for space. A 200-bed section is currently under construction with a cost of Rs 300m, to counter the problem. It will be completed in a year's time.

"The Medicine Sans Frontiers (MSF) has developed a WHO-standard operation theatre in trauma centre to cope with the rising number of casualties," Dr Khattak says.

The emergency department has 60 medical officers aside from eight specialists and 12 nurses.

All along the land line

Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation Limited (PTCL) is a major or, shall we say, the only service provider for a large number of people from basic voice telephony to data, internet, video-conferencing and carrier services to consumers and businesses all over the country with over 5.2 million customers. It is one of those few public entities that make profit -- Rs. 6 billion in the first quarter of the financial year 2008-2009. No doubt then the Corporation is an integral part of our every day life.

From the beginning -- of Posts and Telegraph Department in 1947 -- till the establishment of Pakistan Telephone and Telegraph Department in 1962, this government entity has been a major player in Pakistan's telecommunication industry. The Pakistan government sold 26 percent of its shares and control of the company to Etisalat in 2006, while retaining 62 percent of the shares. The remaining 12 percent were held by the general public. The government's move to privatise the entity, however, got flak from some 50,000 PTCL employees. Some positive changes to the company and the launch of new products sort of silenced the opposing voices.

Customers are happy with the PTCL service. Amjad Ali, 55-years-old resident of Garhi Shahu, Lahore, has been using PTCL landline phone service for the past 25 years and does not want to shift to any other service. "The services provided by the company keep improving. The national and international call rates have dropped," he says, admitting that there are some problems but overall it's satisfactory.

"Usually, complaints are addressed in minutes. Only in rare circumstances it takes weeks to rectify faults," he adds.

PTCL claims to have the largest copper infrastructure spread over every city, town and village of the country with over a million installed lines. The network has over 0.5 million Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) ports with more than 250,000 Broadband ports in 13 major cities. "It also has over 10,400 km fully redundant, fiber optics DWDM backbone network. It connects over 840 cities and towns with 270G bandwidth and consists of around 2,000 telephone exchanges across the country, making it a gigantic organisation," says PTCL's spokesperson Ali Qadir Gillani, talking to TNS.

The Corporation, he claims, was the first to introduce broadband technology in Pakistan via its vast network, which made the technology affordable to its customers. "PTCL Broadband is the largest and the fastest growing Broadband service in Pakistan. In less than two years of it launch, it has acquired over 150,000 Broadband customers in over 150 cities and towns across the country. PTCL made the broadband technology affordable by removing the barriers to entry, by geographically bringing the service within the reach of a common user across Pakistan and by continuous improvements in customer care for the service," he adds.

On August 14, 2008, PTCL also entered the media sector by launching a Digital Interactive Television Service for the first time in Pakistan. Branded under 'PTCL Smart Line', the service includes Interactive Television, Broadband and voice telephony all at the same time on PTCL's telephone line. "Besides offering the highest digital quality TV picture, the most revolutionary section of this offering is the ability to 'rewind' and 'pause' live TV channels," says the official website of the company.

PTCL management also claims to be the largest Code division multiple access (CDMA) operator in the country with approximately 1.25 million V-fone customers. "It offers fixed wireless telephone for your homes and business. With CDMA 2000 1X technology, ours is the largest Wireless Local Loop network with a capacity of 2.6 megabites, covering over 10,000 urban and rural centres. The network is already enabled for Voice, Dialup-Internet access. The latest product to have been introduced is EVO Broadband, the ultimate solution for high-speed internet access on the move.

PTCL also has Intelsat Standard Earth Stations near Karachi and Islamabad. These installations provide the diversity for international voice connectivity and also work as a hub for domestic satellite users," says the PTCL spokesperson.

In the words of Walid Irshad, President, PTCL, "Pakistan and PTCL are synonymous with an opportunity for growth. I am proud of my fellow colleagues who have led the market and adapted to changing technological advancements. After the deregulation in the telecom sector of Pakistan, PTCL is now again ready to face new challenges in a competitive environment. We are poised to retain our leadership position by giving PTCL a new and improved look. The new colours in its logo are in context with every Pakistani's sense of identity and patriotism; green and white being the colours of purity and honesty, the colours of trustworthiness and integrity, the colours of Pakistan's flag, and the colours of every Pakistani's passion," he said in his message to PTCL workers earlier this year.

The sight of a critically injured man lying in a pool of blood, on a busy road is still fresh in the mind of this scribe. The poor pedestrian had been hit by a speeding vehicle in front of many people but nobody dared to step forward to help him out.

The crowd was swelling with time and so the circular pool of blood slowly began to clot. Everyone present on the scene knew the life of this man was in danger but there was something that stopped them from doing the needful. In the midst of it all, a middle-aged man called the police and signalled different vehicles to stop, though none of them agreed to drive the injured to the hospital.

The scene described above would be incomprehensible for most people today, but it is a fact that a few years ago the medico-legal obligations in such cases would deter even the most humane to step forward. If someone dared to take a casualty to hospital he was eyed as the main culprit and grilled by police officials. Neither would the doctors or paramedics start operating on him till a police report had been filed.

"Such conditions were done away with in the Punjab Emergency Service Act 2006, passed by the Punjab Assembly," says Roqiya Javed, Emergency Officer, Community Training, Rescue 1122 while talking to TNS.

She says the Act empowers rescuers to save the lives of people even if there is a risk of loss of evidence. The priority, she says, is saving lives; everything else is secondary.

It will not be an overstatement to say that Rescue 1122 service, which was started as a pilot project from Lahore in 2004, has gained immense popularity among the masses. There may be some teething problems with the service but on the whole there is a consensus that the rescuers are doing an excellent job. The service is available in Punjab only; however, the NWFP government has shown interest in replicating it.

According to some reports, it was the widespread popularity of Rescue 1122 that made Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to announce its extension from the existing 12 cities of the province to the whole 36. This seems something unusual in Pakistan where every new government tries to wind up the projects launched by its predecessors. No politician whosoever can afford to lose public support by discontinuing this public service.

Roqiya counts the strength of Rescue 1122 and says that a third-party evaluation done by Pakistan Economic Research Institution (PERI) shows that this service has given an unprecedented sense of security to the masses. The main beneficiaries are the people in the age bracket of 20 to 50 years. These people come on the roads frequently and are more vulnerable to road accidents, she adds.

As per the data available with service, around 500,000 people have been rescued in the last 5 years. Rescue 1122 staff has rescued people trapped in buildings on fire, from underwater, rubbles, roads and many in medical emergencies from their homes.

Roqiya tells TNS that the best thing about the service is that most of the equipment and vehicles available with it has been developed locally. For example, the ambulances and trucks were fabricated locally by companies like Haseen Habib and Miraj, bringing the cost of procurement down to one-fourth of what it has been otherwise. The cost of maintenance, repair and replacement of parts has also come down due to this, she adds. Instead of importing fully equipped ambulances, only frames (chassis) were bought and the rest developed locally.

A review of the coverage of Rescue 1122 in national media would reveal it is the least criticised public service in the country. There are hardly any complaints against its staff and the quality of service provided by them. The emergency service has 60-foot high aerial platform and 110-foot long ladder to fight fires, 123 ambulances in 12 cities and above 6,000 staff. Besides, the rescuers have high-tech acoustic sensors and cameras that can spot human beings trapped under rubble. Unfortunately, these were not available with them when October 8, 2005 earthquake shook the country's north.

Zahid Husain, a salesperson based in Lahore, tells TNS that he has had a very pleasant experience with Rescue 1122. He says that a child had fallen on the street from the rooftop of his house and needed to be rushed to the hospital. "The rescue service was called and they turned up in no time. The ambulance was capacious and well-equipped to provide immediate medical assistance, on way to the hospital."

Zahid says the rescue service that has resident units at different hospitals had already told their colleagues that were bringing an injured there. "All the arrangements were complete by the time we reached there. The victim was rushed to the emergency where paramedics were waiting for him," he says, adding: "All this was for free. Isn't it amazing?"

The Punjab government has allocated a huge tract of land for the purpose of building a training academy for Rescue 1122 staff. Currently, they are being trained at a makeshift centre approved by the outgoing Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi.

DG, Rescue 1122, Dr Rizwan Naseer, a trauma surgeon by profession, has the privilege of heading the institution despite a change in the government -- something that is very rare. He says it is the success of the venture started by him and the commitment of his team that prompted the new government to fully endorse and support the project.

Benjamin Gilmour of Australian Ambulance Service, who trained the first batch of Rescue 1122, is currently in Lahore and doing a documentary on emergency response services in Pakistan. Talking to TNS he says that he is impressed by the quality of service provided by Rescue 1122 staff. "They are astoundingly disciplined, honest and the most trusted professionals in the country. People want to give them gifts and reward them for their work but they refuse all offers."

Benjamin says he has sat in board meetings and ambulances and accompanied the rescuers in their missions and found the service extraordinary. "What services of other countries have achieved in 30 years, they have done in a matter of 5 years only!"

Just when one would be inclined to write off the entire government department of Police as 'corrupt' or something, here is one Force that is sure to revive your faith -- that is the Motorway Police.

Hailed as exceptionally efficient, the Motorway Police has proved that given proper perks and privileges, and trained on modern lines, the department can rise to any tough occasion -- on and off the road.

Pakistan motorways are either six-lane or four-lane with a universal minimum speed limit of 80 km/h and a maximum of 100 km/h for heavy transport vehicles and 120 km/h for light transport vehicles. Operational motorways have a combined length of over 630 km with another 233 km under construction and planned. Part of the country's National Trade Corridor Project, it aims to link Pakistan's three Arabian Seaports -- Karachi Port, Port Qasim and Gwadar -- with the rest of the country and further up north with Afghanistan, Central Asia and China.

A project of the government of former Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif, M-2 (Islamabad-Lahore) was inaugurated in November 1997 and became the first motorway to be constructed in South Asia on international standards. Since its completion, two additional motorways have also become operational -- the 54-km-long-4-lane-wide M-3, which connects Faisalabad with M-2, and the 155-km-long-6-lane M-1 (Islamabad-Peshawar). All these motorways have provided the people with a safe and swift travel, a far cry from the bumby ride via the G T Road.

What's more, the motorways brought with them the idea of a specialised police force. Earlier, there was no concept of such a police manning a highway. The special force was launched, in the same year as M2 was inaugurated, with the purpose of looking after the condition of the motorway and also to ensure a safe and secure journey for the commuters.

In the beginning, M2 found more skeptics than supporters. The then Inspector General Motorway Police Iftikhar Rashid and his team of a few dedicated officers undertook the next-to-impossible task of raising a professional and modern force. British motorway police trainers, after seeing their Pakistani counterparts, famously remarked that the latter were even better than them.

The new force quickly earned the respect and appreciation of millions of road users. "I have to frequently travel to Rawalpindi and Islamabad from Peshawar, in connection with my business. I can take a local flight every time, but I enjoy travelling via motorway; it's a very smooth drive," says Rahatullah Khan, a merchant from Peshawar, talking to TNS.

When asked if he agrees that the Motorway Police is less corrupt, he goes, "Hundred percent! These guys are honest and they don't spare anyone violating the traffic law."

Anwar Abbas, a private entrepreneur based in Islamabad, also speaks of motorway being a favourite option "en route to Lahore or Faisalabad. It's safe and also very comfortable. Besides, of course, it saves your precious time."

In recognition of the commendable performance of the Motorway Police, the government has expanded its network to all the national highways.

Accolades haven't stopped pouring in. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), in its report for the year 2002, regarded the Motorway Police as the only government department in the country which is free of corruption. An Asian Development Bank (ADB) report termed it as a role model for the rest of the country.

To quote Dr Wasim Kausar, current Inspector General of National Highways and Motorways Police, "The motorways and highways police have succeeded to down the accident rate by 70 percent and the highway crimes by almost 85 percent."

The recent act of terror on the Islamabad-Lahore motorway and the courage with which the Motorway Police personnel dealt with it is a further show of their credibility.

The two-year-old militancy and several military operations in Swat district left scores of children orphaned and without shelter. Maimed, injured and without a parent, the poor innocent victims were suddenly left to fend for themselves in a hostile world, especially at a time when the valley had been robbed of its robust economy. This was when a Mingora-based orphanage, named Khpal Kor -- a Pashtu word for 'my home' -- came forward and offered its services unconditionally.

Founded in October 1996, Khpal Kor has been providing shelter, food, health and other services to the poor and parentless children hailing from Swat. Commendably, it has gone on to establish Khpal Kor Model School in order to ensure the provision of free-of-cost education to the orphans and also to provide an opportunity to the other students in the institution so that they can learn to read and write at nominal fees. Whatever income the school generates is spent on the centre.

Khpal Kor has seen some turbulent times since the launch of military operation Rah-e-Rast in May this year. All orphans, along with their patrons, were uprooted and had to put up at the government school building in Peshawar for 70-odd days. It was no small burden for the institution to bear; it had to not only protect the orphans but also provide them shelter and food.

The displacement did not make a dent into Khpal Kor's resolve to look after the children but made it realise that it had a tougher job at hand once the Operation was over and peace restored. It knew the relentless militancy and military operations for two years had orphaned dozens of children. Upon their return to Mingora, the organisation held a meeting in August and decided to conduct a survey to identify the orphaned children and bring them to Khpal Kor to take responsibility for their upbringing. The survey has been completed in 26 union councils out of 65 by 120 volunteers. The press has suggested that 2,100 civilians were killed and more than 3,000 maimed or seriously wounded, which means the number of orphans will run in several hundreds.

Talking to TNS, Director Khpal Kor, Muhammad Ali says the institute is already home to 160 waifs and strays and planning to create more space for children orphaned or disabled in violence or operations. As many as 24 children between ages 5-13 have been enrolled lately. Seven more are expected on the fifth day of Eid.

Muhammad Ali reveals that a separate section for homeless girls will start operating from April 1, 2010. It will have space for 50 girl children. "If the government provides us with land, the construction of the new section will become easier. Khpal Kor will welcome donor organisations, countries and individual philanthropists to help us accomplish this goal."

Darul Atfal, or home for children, is another organisation in Peshawar that provides education to children in an English medium school. Home to children aged between 4 and 12, Darul Atfal has 36 inmates at present. Admirably, they are under care of around 10 philanthropists. "One (philanthropist) is sponsoring the education of one to four children -- something which has enabled us to admit all the children to a leading English medium school," says Yasmin Awan, Admin and Finance Officer at Darul Atfal.

Awan says that the sponsors will finance the children till the latter complete their education. She laments the fact that the government is not helping the organisation with its welfare work, "We have to rely on philanthropists and charity to run the affairs of the place. In this connection, the provincial chief minister announced a sum of Rs 3m which is yet to be released."

Interestingly, Darul Atfal generates income also by preparing and selling pickles, sauces and jam in the market. Likewise, a professional tailor at the orphanage sews clothes on order to contribute to the account.