LETTERS TO THE EDITOR


“We don't learn much when everything goes right. We learn most when things go wrong.” – Simon Sinek



Unity among the Muslim world is the need of the hour

The Israel atrocities in Palestine are not new to the world but since the last few days our social medias have been full of heart wrenching videos and clips of the kind of torture the Palestinians are going through. And ever since the attack on Al-Aqsa, the Muslim world as well as people from different religious groups have strongly condemned the Israeli occupation in Palestine. Yet there are certain Muslim countries that remain to stay silent on the issue. It is worth mentioning that internal disputes, regional tensions, and disagreements among Muslim and Arab nations are the obstacles in the way of supporting the Palestinians' rights. For instance, Syria was one of the countries, which hosted seminars and organisations supporting Palestine, but the Arab country is grappling with a war. Moreover, Lebanon is facing internal political tensions; so, different factions in Beirut are not able to reach an agreement on such important issues. In one word, internal disputes in Islamic and Arab world hinders appropriate reaction to what is happening in Palestine. The condition of the West Asia region has changed and countries such as the United Arab Emirates who were the flag-bearer of supporting the Palestinians, shifted their policy to establish political and diplomatic relations with Israel. Meanwhile, Iran along with certain Arab and Muslim states such as Turkey and Malaysia, can put forward the current issue of Palestine at the OIC or the United Nations and even file a lawsuit at The Hague against Israel's latest atrocities in a bid to enhance anti-Zionist atmosphere and push other Arab and Muslims states to support the Palestinian cause. That being said, if Islamic and Arab nations unite and put their differences and personal interests aside, they can undoubtedly support the Palestinians practically.

Kiran Quraishi,
Karachi.

Global warming – The culprit behind long summers and short winters

In the 1950s in the Northern Hemisphere, the four seasons arrived in a predictable and fairly even pattern. However, climate change is now driving dramatic and irregular changes to the length and start dates of the seasons. In order to assess these changes, researchers at the American Geophysical Union looked at historical daily climate data from 1952 to 2011 in order to measure changes in the four seasons’ length and onset in the Northern Hemisphere. They defined the start of summer as the onset of temperatures in the hottest 25 per cent during that time period, while winter began with temperatures in the coldest 25 per cent. They found that, on average, summer grew from 78 to 95 days between 1952 and 2011, while winter days shrank from 76 to 73 days. Spring and autumn also contracted from 124 to 115 days, and 87 to 82 days, respectively. The researchers have warned that if these trends continue without any effort to mitigate climate change, by 2100, winter will last less than two months, and the transitional spring and autumn seasons will shrink further as well. Summers are getting longer and hotter while winters shorter and warmer due to global warming. Numerous studies have already shown that the changing seasons cause significant environmental and health risks. A hotter and longer summer will suffer more frequent and intensified high-temperature events – heatwaves and wildfires. Additionally, warmer, shorter winters may cause instability that leads to cold surges and winter storms. This is a good overarching starting point for understanding the implications of seasonal change. Realising that these changes will force potentially dramatic shifts in seasons probably has a much greater impact on how we perceive what climate change is doing.

Laiba Hanif,
Karachi.


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