PAKISTAN: Black Clouds and Silver Linings

As the new year eve approached, my twitter and Facebook were filled with new year messages. Unfortunately, a sizeable number of those in Pakistan had less than fond memories of 2011 and hardly any hopeful predictions for 2012.

Understandably so.

Amidst Salman Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti's assassinations, the Abbottabad incident, the PNS Mehran attack, continued disappearances and murders of the Baloch, the bloody mayhem in Karachi, and the memo scandal, who wouldn't wish to wrap up this year and never look back.

But among all these suicidally depressing events, there were flashes of news stories countering this permeating darkness. These stories were testament of our talent and resilience, promising if nothing else, a hope for a better future.

In no specific order, I present to you the events and people of 2011 who brought much-needed positivity to our inflation, corruption and terrorism battered nation.

Dr Umar Saif: Graduate of Cambridge University and MIT, associate professor at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) Dr Umar Saif made Pakistan proud by being selected in MIT Technology Review as one of their top 35 innovators under 35 of 2011. The two main projects for which Saif received acclaim was BitMate, which increases download speed by roughly double on average landline internet connections, and SMSall.pk which allows mass text messages to be sent out.

Pakistan Cricket: Though we didn't win the ICC World Cup, Pakistan's cricket team put up an unexpectedly good performance under the mercurial leadership of Shahid Afridi's leadership and reached the semi-finals, losing out to arch rivals and eventual winners India. The entire year, in fact, saw a remarkable resurgence in the fortune of team but for me the World Cup remains a highlight, simply for the surreal ability of this game to unite a fractured nation like ours.

More good news on cricket front was the eventual end of Ejaz Butt's disastrous tenure as chairperson of Pakistan Cricket Board.

Sitara Akbar: In the year declared as the year of education emergency, and with more than 50 per cent young children out of primary schools, it was an honour and an example of the untapped potential in Pakistan when an 11 year old girl became the youngest in the world to pass the British O'Level exams. Sitara Akbar who belongs to a relatively small town of Rabwah in Punjab passed six subjects of O'Levels including Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics. We now hope she continues her genius streak and makes us even more proud by winning Pakistan its second Nobel Prize.

Malala Yousafzai: Named after Malalai of Maiwand, Malala gained international fame through her diaries on the BBC website and two documentaries by the New York Times, “Class dismissed in Swat Valley” and “A school girl's odyssey”. In her diaries Malala highlighted the hardships of young girl students in Taliban infested Swat in 2009-2010.

Malala was one of five children, and first ever Pakistani, nominated for the International Children Peace Award by the International Organisation for Kids' Rights. Though she did not win the award, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani awarded her with the first “National Youth Peace Prize” in recognition of her courage and efforts.

World Record in Karachi: With a separatist movement raging in Balochistan, and writ of this state being constantly challenged in the North, thousands of Pakistanis came together on 14 August to show their patriotism and make history in Karachi. On 14 August, 5,857 people gathered in a stadium to sing the national anthem and score a place in the Guinness Book of World Record.

Imran Khan: Neither am I a supporter of Imran Khan, nor do I agree with his politics. But what he has done for the apolitical masses of this country is extraordinary and should be at least acknowledged. Whether he is an idealist fool or a genius, time will tell. But in 2011, Khan has emerged as one politician whom Pakistanis feel they can trust. That in itself is an achievement!

Shahzadi Gulfam: The year 2011, it seems, was one in which Pakistani women shone through and were finally acknowledged for their outstanding achievements and bravery. Police officer Shahzadi Gulfam became the first Pakistani to receive the 2011 International Female Police Peacekeeper Award. Currently on a UN peacekeeping mission in Timor-Leste, Gulfam joined the police force in 1985 and was also the first Pakistani woman on a UN mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1997. It is a source of pride for me as a woman that a female police officer from a country whose police force is notoriously corrupt has been honoured for excellence in her work.

Pro-women legislation: In a country so overwhelmingly anti-women in its legislation (Hudood ordinances) and “culture” (honour killing, marriage to Quran etc), it was a historic moment when both houses of parliament passed two important pro-women bills into laws. Though the effective implementation of these laws is still a far-off dream, at least Pakistani women now have some legislative support to fight for their rights. Let's now keep our fingers crossed for a bill against domestic violence in 2012.

If 2011 reaffirmed anything it is that Pakistan's youth has brilliant, even if untapped, talent just waiting to be encouraged and polished. 2012 will probably have more political and social turmoils. But hopefully it will also be another year where individual citizens, especially the young, will continue to excel in different fields in the hope to give an alternate narrative to this country's story.