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Bomb Blast in the Heart of Islamabad
2008-03-15 21:40:00
Adil Najam A bomb blast at Luna Caprese - a top-end Islamabad restaurant, located in the very heart of the Federal Capital (near Super Market, Islamabad) frequented often by foreign diplomats and high-level government officials - extremist violence to Islamabad. According to The News: Two persons including Turk female citizen have died and over 15 others have injured ...
More About: Law and Justice , Heart , Blast , Bomb

Baluchitherium
2008-03-15 04:48:00
Owais Mughal World’s largest mammal that ever walked the face of the earth used to live in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. Yes it is true. This mammal is called Baluchitherium (The Beast of Balochistan). So far the fossils of this mammal have only been found in Balochistan and Central Asia. In 1999, a team of French Palaentologists discovered the ...

Cricketer Taslim Arif (1954-2008) Passes Away
2008-03-14 04:47:00
Owais Mughal Pakistan Cricket team’s former test wicket keeper batsman Taslim Arif has passed away. Taslim had lung problems and was feeling difficulty in respiration. He was admitted to the hospital on the morning of March 12. He was born in Karachi on May 1, 1954. Taslim played six tests and two ODI matches from Pakistan. He ...
More About: Cricketer , 2008

Traveling on N5 - Part V
2008-03-14 02:09:00
Owais Mughal Five episodes ago, we started our journey on Pakistan’s longest highway N5 in Karachi (km 0). Today is the last episode of our travel and after covering 216 km we will reach the end point of N5, which is Torkham (km 1756) - the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Following are the maps of ...
More About: Part , Traveling

Utopia For Me.. Pieces Of My Heart
2008-03-12 22:25:00
Raza Rumi Karta hun jama phir jigare lakht lakht ko (I seek to gather the scattered pieces of my heart) Not long ago, say two decades ago, we the Zia’s children yearned for a country that treaded the Malaysian path for prosperity; and somehow were to transform a tolerant, inclusive society. Such were the dizzying dreams. We wanted the Hudood laws to vanish, the witch-hunt under the blasphemy laws to end and sectarian-ethnic monsters buried. We were inspired by the likes of Mohtarama, for some the charitable cricketer appeared the redeemer. The road to utopia also emerged when a bus took off from the other side of the border and landed in Lahore. The brothers Sharifov became new faces of a moderate, booming Pakistan. Mr. Vajpayee’s chant on the ancient roads of Lahore, “ab jang nahee ho gi” was enough to willingly suspend our disbelief. For many a precious day, we forgot the corruption stories, the political squabbles and incompetence all around. (more…)
More About: Heart , Utopia , Pieces

Uncertainty Rules Pakistan
2008-03-12 04:45:00
Adil Najam Explaining what is happening in Pakistan , and why, is never easy. Never has it been more difficult than it is now. Talking earlier today to the National Public Radio show Here and Now, it struck me again how difficult it is to articulate any explanation of Pakistan’s politics - not only to non-Pakistani audiences, but to Pakistani audiences too. WPvideo 1.10 Consider the recent news stream. Suicide bomb blasts by extremists kill another 30 in Lahore in yet another dastardly attack. Gen. Musharraf calls the National Assembly to meet on Monday, March 17. Supposedly Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari come to an agreement on the government formation but it is no more clear today who the next Prime Minister will be than it was before the meeting. They also insist that they will “restore” the judges but speculations remain rife on just which judges and just how “restored.” (more…)
More About: Rules

ek masla hai?.A Railway Runs Through It
2008-03-11 04:10:00
Owais Mughal Our pyara Pakistan is a very dynamic country. Come Rain Come shine, the life goes on. The daily business goes on and the people go on….but there is one little detail not to be missed. Amidst all this hustle and bustle a railway runs though it. Following collection is a tribute and a humorous ...
More About: Runs

Lawyer?s Black Flag Week: The Judiciary Remains a Defining Issue in Pakista
2008-03-09 16:49:00
Adil Najam The judiciary issue remains an irritant to the mainstream political forces in Pakistan - including not just the current establishment but the current opposition forces struggling to become part of the new establishment. The announcement from Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif that they intend to restore the judiciary within 30 days of the formation ...
More About: Politics , Lawyer , Law and Justice , Black , Week

Police Reform in Pakistan
2008-03-09 05:22:00
Hassan Abbas “The first observation I would like to make is this. You will no doubt agree with me that the first duty of a government is to maintain law and order so that the life, property and religious beliefs of its subjects are fully protected by the state.” - Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s address to the ...
More About: Pakistan , Reform , Police , Law and Justice

International Women?s Day: Celebrating the Lives of Pakistani Women
2008-03-08 23:03:00
Adil Najam As a rule, we try not to repeat posts too often. Sometimes, we feel that the message is either pertinent again or that the original may not have been seen by a new crop of readership. I am reposting this picture and this post, originally posted on this date last year, because the message ...
More About: Society , Women , International , Picture of the day , Pakistani

KESC, Karachi and the Power Outages
2008-03-07 18:37:00
Owais Mughal and Adil Najam The photo to the right shows Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) staff fixing something on the electric pole in Saddar area of Karachi in one of their daily dare devil stunts. This photo appears in the Daily Jang of March 6, 2008. This photograph, however, is a metaphor for much more ...
More About: Power

A Sunny Winter Day In Islamabad
2008-03-05 18:40:00
Mast Qalandar It was one of those cloudless, crisp and beautiful winter days that one sees after a spell of rain in Islamabad . The pall of dust that usually hangs over the city and the hills during the early winter months had lifted. The rain had washed the dust and everything looked bright, fresh and clean. ...
More About: Tourism , Winter , Mast Qalandar , Sunny

Pakistan Frees Kashmir Singh: Reaches India After 34 Years
2008-03-04 22:08:00
Owais Mughal An India n national who was languishing in Pakistan i jails for the past 34 years has been released on March 3, 2008. He was granted amnesty by the President of Pakistan. Amid a festive and emotional ceremony, he crossed the border into India today (March 4, 2008) and got reunited with his family. In ...
More About: Kashmir , Years , Singh

The Losing Face of Multiculturalism
2008-03-04 01:57:00
Zara K There are two ways to lose oneself: by a walled segregation in the particular or by a dilution in the “universal”. Aimé Cesaire I used to love airports. I loathe them now. It was soothing to watch multifarious faces become faceless and free in airports, to watch different shades of people get absorbed into ...
More About: Face , Multiculturalism

Ava Gardner in Lahore for ?Bhowani Junction?
2008-03-03 02:06:00
Owais Mughal This photo was taken on April 22, 1955 and it shows American actress Ava Gardner at Lahore Railway Station. She was in Lahore for the filming of Hollywood Movie ‘Bhowani Junction ‘. When Ava came to Lahore, there was only one reasonable hotel in Lahore. It is still there - Falletis. The suite in which ...

Pakistan Elections 2008: Who Will Be Pakistan?s New Prime Minister?
2008-03-01 23:49:00
Adil Najam Before the elections Dawn News had done a series on who should become the next Prime Minister of Pakistan . I am not sure what the result there was. But I do know that the question is real again. Much more real. Speculation is rife. Theories about. The more we talk about it, the more confused ...
More About: Politics , Elections

Cell-phone is ringing! Is there anyone listening?
2008-03-01 16:40:00
Syed Ahsan Ali Few months back I got a chance to interview Shahid Afridi. A day before the interview I went to the Regal Electronic Market of Karachi to purchase an audio recording device. While looking for the recorder, we passed through the city’s largest cell phone market. It was almost 9 p.m. but still very ...
More About: Society , Phone , Cell Phone , Cell , Listening

Emperor Ashoka in our Backyard - Part II
2008-02-29 23:27:00
Mast Qalandar When I wrote the post on Ashoka ’s Rock Edicts I had made a suggestion at the end of the post to the department concerned, which was to put up a proper and readable translation of the edicts at the site — both in English and Urdu. To my pleasant surprise, I discovered the other ...
More About: History , Mast Qalandar , Part , Emperor

Titanic Sightings in Pakistan
2008-02-29 02:48:00
Owais Mughal Last year ATP had brought you a post on Chinese Characters on Pakistan i Transport. Today we are bringing you a brand new piece on Titanic sightings around the country. There are 5 such documented sightings. So don’t forget to go to the next page to see more. (1) At The Banks of River Kabul: The photo below is from NWFP, Pakistan. It shows mighty ‘Titanic’ (or a lifeboat of it) tamed as an amusement park ride on the banks of River Kabul. Photo Credits: trekearth.com (more…)
More About: Sightings

Awam Express Has Arrived
2008-02-28 15:04:00
Deeda-i-Beena They were always there but nobody gave them any recognition. They waited patiently and long for their day and at long last when it arrived, they acted. Quietly they arrived in their millions, got their thumbs inked and had a line marked at the edge of their thumb-nails. They went into the privacy of the polling booths, stamped the symbol of their choice, performed their sacred duty and left as quietly as they had come. What each of them did as an individual, aggregated into a colossus. The results we are now witnessing are not the result of any plan or a grand design. Simply put, they all thought like-mindedly and voted to that focus. By not giving any one party the run of the place, they have also created their own system of checks and balances - each keeping an eye on the other. With the maturity they have displayed this time; their message to their elected representatives and the political parties is loud and clear: “We will be watching.� Hopefully there will b...
More About: Express

I Blog Because….
2008-02-28 05:25:00
Guest Post By Ghazala Khan likhtay rahay junooN ki hikayat…When I was a little girl growing up in a quite suburb of Islamabad, I vividly remember playing with dolls and asking for toffees and biscuits from my father. I also used to imagine as to what would I become, when I grow up. At that time, many ideas regarding my future used to storm my mind which were quite narrow in their scope. This was mainly because my future ambitions were influenced by my parents, uncles and aunts. At that time, I couldn’t think beyond traditional professions of becoming a doctor, or a teacher, or becoming a bride perhaps. At that time, I really didn’t know one could choose her career from a multitude of options. I didn’t know there existed such things as becoming a writer, a network administrator, a software developer, a marketer, a banking executive, a sales guru, and certainly not the blogger. Now I wonder how different the my life could have been, had I known in my childhood...
More About: Blog

KSE-100 Index Sets New Record: What is the Market Telling Us?
2008-02-27 07:39:00
Adil Najam On Tuesday the Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE’s) KSE-100 Index - Pakistan’s equivalent to the Dow Jones Index - broke the psychological barrier of 15,000 for the first time. At the time of writing this (on what is Wednesday morning in Pakistan) the Index remains well above that mark.
More About: Market , Development , Sets , New Record , Record

Masjid Mahabat Khan, Peshawar
2008-02-26 06:14:00
Owais Mughal The old city of Peshawar is called the ‘andar shehr’ (the inner city). The mosque of Mahabat Khan is located in andar shehr. The mosque was built in the seventeenth century and it is named after Mahabat Khan Mirza Lerharsib who twice governed Peshawar under Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. Its exact date of completion ...
More About: Masjid

Diodes & Triodes??We?ve Got?em All at The Modern Radio Service
2008-02-25 21:36:00
Owais Mughal Photo Credits belong to my friend Benedict Benjamin who took this photo on February 21, 2008. Subject is an Electronics Shop at Regal Chowk, Karachi. I chose this photo because it captures a live snap of a Pakistani street. There are people busy in discussion inside the shop. The person sitting outside the shop looks ...
More About: Radio , Service , Modern

The Flawed Boycott Mantra? Pakistan?s Urban Intelligentsia Should Rethink i
2008-02-25 03:11:00
Raza Rumi Much has been said on how the election results are a referendum against the policies of General Musharraf. While there can be little disagreement with this, there is a clear lesson for Pakistan ?s urban intelligentsia that had been screaming about the futility of this election. True, Pakistan?s troubled polity will not transform overnight, nor will ...
More About: Politics , Urban , Boycott , Mantra

YouTube Blocked in Pakistan. Why?
2008-02-22 16:14:00
Adil Najam It seems that YouTube is down in Pakistan . Possibly it is blocked. Blocking websites is a rather bad habit that the government authorities in Pakistan have gotten into (here and here). This is something that we have written about before. It is silly habit, because technologically it does not work. But, much more importantly, it ...
More About: Politics , Youtube , Technology , Law and Justice

PPP and PML(N) Announce To Form a Coalition Government
2008-02-21 20:03:00
Owais Mughal All major media outlets are reporting that Pakistan’s two main opposition parties, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N), have announced to form the new government together. News reports also suggest this understanding has been reached at both center as well as provincial level. The photo below shows Asif Ali ...
More About: Government , Coalition , Form

Sindhi Poetry at ATP: faasla
2008-02-21 13:45:00
Owais Mughal This poem was published on February 20, 2008 in The Daily Kawish. Poetess is Shagufta Jabeen. I think it is a very beautiful poem. I have tried to translate it below the Sindhi text (next page), but my translation is a bit amateurish. Any correction or suggestions from our seasoned readers will be appreciated.
More About: Poetry

Pakistan?s First Water Desalination-&-Power Plant
2008-02-21 02:05:00
Owais Mughal On the same day (Feb 11, 2008) when South Bound Lyari Expressway was inaugurated, another important project of Pakistan reached its opening milestone. This one is called the DHA Desalination and Power Plant . It is the first project of its kind in Pakistan which desalinates water from the Arabian Sea for human consumption as ...
More About: Water

Pakistan Elections 2008: Electainment
2008-02-20 13:00:00
Owais Mughal Pakistan Election 2008 is a serious business. Our present and future depends on it. There is however, a lighter and human side to it too. Soemtimes it brings smile to us and sometimes a laughter. And that lighter side is also a part of our Pakistaniat. I’ve tried to collect few such moments here. (1) ...
More About: Elections