Waqas Bin Najib

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A sport above the clouds

Nov 17, 2024 | dawn.com | Waqas Bin Najib |Abbas Nasir

Pakistan has a unique mountain landscape, where the Himalayas, Karakoram, and Hindu Kush ranges converge and have different characteristics. It is home to five of the 14 peaks higher than 8,000 metres, collectively called the eight-thousanders, including two of the most beautiful mountains in the world: K2 and Nanga Parbat.
NON-FICTION: PLATTERS OF CULTURAL JOY

Oct 19, 2024 | dawn.com | Shazia Hasan |Iftikhar A. Khan |Ammar Khan |Waqas Bin Najib

Gather & Graze: Globally Inspired Small Bites and Gorgeous Table Scapes for Every OccasionBy Mumtaz Mustafa and Laura KlynstraSkyhorse PublishingISBN: 978-1-5107-7701-9395pp. While traveling on motorways or highways lined with green fields, I have often watched cows and buffaloes grazing there idly. The title of this exquisitely done cookbook Gather & Graze brings those scenes to mind.
NOBEL PRIZE: WHO IS HAN KANG?

Oct 19, 2024 | dawn.com | Valentina Gosetti |Iftikhar A. Khan |Ammar Khan |Waqas Bin Najib

Han Kang South Korean writer Han Kang has won the 2024 Nobel Prize for Literature, “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.” The 53-year-old is the first South Korean writer to win the prize, and only the 18th woman (of 121 winners to date). She is also a musician, and interested in visual art. Her best-known novel, The Vegetarian (published in Korea in 2007), was her first to be translated into English, in 2015.
Building the knowledge economy

Oct 18, 2024 | dawn.com | Waqas Bin Najib

TO cultivate a knowledge economy, we need more than just physical infrastructure. Universities are institutions of wisdom, producing researchers, scholars, and thinkers. They also nurture leaders and engaged citizens. At the time of partition, Pakistan had only one university, the Punjab University. By 2000, there were 70 public universities in the country.
The IPP negotiations

Oct 11, 2024 | dawn.com | Waqas Bin Najib

THE short-sightedness in dishonouring sovereign contracts will haunt us. The government is guaranteeing high power generation costs for years to come. The private sector began participating in capital-intensive power generation projects in many developing countries in the 1990s, as governments had limited fiscal space to invest in them. So, independent power producers were set up.
Managing energy demand

Oct 4, 2024 | dawn.com | Waqas Bin Najib |Ghazan Jamal

LOOKING ahead, all households should consider investing in solar home systems for electricity and solar water heating to reduce energy expenses in the future. The government has historically provided unreasonably cheap energy (electricity and gas) and did not enforce building standards, appliance standards, or other energy efficiency measures. Meanwhile, we recklessly expanded the transmission and distribution networks.
Unsustainable demand

Sep 22, 2024 | dawn.com | Waqas Bin Najib |Abbas Nasir

PAKISTAN’S energy problems are broader than those in the electricity sector. Our domestic natural gas reserves are depleting. We import liquefied natural gas (LNG) to meet the country’s increasing demand. The demand for natural gas, like electricity, is becoming increasingly unsustainable. Households account for 35 per cent of the country’s total gas consumption. The power sector consumes 30pc, while industry uses only 15pc for various processes. The fertiliser industry consumes 8pc of the total.
No lessons learned

Sep 6, 2024 | dawn.com | Waqas Bin Najib

THE prime minister inaugurated Chashma-5, a 1,200 MW nuclear plant, after Ecnec approval in July 2023. The project reportedly cost around $4 billion. However, it appears that we have decided to spend this money on an unnecessary project when the country is on the brink of economic collapse. In 2021, the Council of Common Interests approved the National Electricity Policy. The policy aims to provide affordable electricity. It requires planners to use modelling for generation expansion planning.