To my Blog readers, Family & Friends, Thank you!

With  7 odd days to the new year, I don't recall another year like it! Gosh, It went so fast and perhaps one of the years that I wish had never happened, for so many different reasons; mostly because of all the sadness that we all experienced one way and another with all the news of the destruction around the world flooded in, literally with excessive rains that took communities around the world by surprise, by earthquakes that shook communities with their devastation that was unleashed killing the loved ones of so many people somewhere or the other, friends and loved ones lost their friends and loved ones, even in our own Motherland! I personally feel their pain as I know what they are going thru, having had similar experiences.

On the brighter side, over 2010 I met new people, some of whom have become good friends, others I pray will tolerate me in spite of all my failings, and perhaps some of them will, thru a chink in my armour, catch a glimpse of the inner me....do you think that is really possible?! I would truly hope so!

We could have done without the floods! But the Creator had to give us yet one more opportunity/warning! And look what we did with it! Every cloud has a silver lining my inner self keeps telling me! But for Heaven’s sake I have yet to encounter it! But surely these are signs for us to straighten up and fly right! Do we “the haves” really care? Do we give “the have-nots” a second thought? No! Because we relieve our guilty consciences by one generous hand out and walk away, as if to say, “I did my bit!” But there are those among us, had it not been for them, the misery would have been much worse for the effected ones!

I treasure the experiences of the year that is ending with all its memories more good than bad for me personally, becoming a Dada tops the list! Mind you there have been the monumental bad ones too, when realisation struck and one was jerked out of one's complacency and 'taking for granted' mode, I wish I wouldn't do that! But enough of me and my failings and more of my world and the lovely people who inhabit it, who in their individual way have made my life so much richer and in so doing made it possible to make it through the day/ the week/ the month and yes! this year! I thank each and every one of you!

Time is of the essence, do we really have enough of it? Are we really making the most of it? What is, 'making the most of it'?? care to wander down that one?! More importantly how often in that fleeting time did we attempt to smile at someone or help in making their day, not often enough! We, nay, I could have done more, much more!

But thank Heavens, I am surrounded by such beautiful people, who, each in their individual way,  are there, when one reaches out; for that,  I "Thank you".

The Country today faces circumstances that may lead us to balkanisation but if I know the people of this Motherland, we will rise like we have always risen to any call in the defence of our Motherland, setting aside our petty (by comparison) differences, to defend to the last, our Pakistan;

Have you ever given a thought to the managers of this Fair Fine Land?

Incompetence , inexperience, inadequate, DISHONEST, CORRUPT & SELFISH, every man-jack of them, in every possible way! Did we elect/select them? I rest my case, we are the ones that should be labelled so! The only ones with vision, and strategic thinking, are in fact the ones we shun the most, the ones that will be the first to meet and answer a threat to our borders, skies and seas. And do you know why? Because, they are the only ones left who still, are trained and developed into what they are, while the rest of us, pass each day as an experience that is repeated day in and day out, focusing on our own selfish thoughts and needs!

So the world passes us by and we become stunted because the world is growing/developing while we stand still!

With the utmost respect for those at the helm of affairs, should we total up all of their experiences, education, skills, training, on-the-job or career specific, it makes me shudder to think that we are being managed by a bunch of "Interns" with NO Supervision, except the meddling selfish ways and strategies of the West whom we ape and turn to with upturned hands!!!! ‘Time for change’, like a man in the west recently said; Even there, success & change has eluded the expectant voters!

But us, can we really change?! If deterioration is change, then, we are way ahead of the rest!

I went to school in Quetta, and College in Peshawar, worked all over the country during my attempt to earn a living; Tears well up in my eyes as I write about the state of two great cities and two very distinctive Provinces of our Motherland! Look what we are doing to them and letting strangers/aliens do to them! We are being ravaged by the suicide bombs of the “Kafirs” who believe they are Muslims like the rest of us! While we look the other way!

Thank God for my time there, I was most fortunate, as I saw both cities in their Splendour and Grandeur I salute them! But I also Pray wholeheartedly for a 180 degree turn so we can all be one again, May He make it so!

I was in Bangladesh at the beginning of this year, and truly, tear welled up in my eyes, when I saw those people, they, believe me, were the lucky ones for doing what they did! They have left us far behind on the road to progress, just one example I will quote, and it speaks volumes about their taaleem & pervarish, people actually form queues where more than one person is standing or waiting and await their turn till it comes!!!

They do it themselves, they don’t sit on their haunches and pray to Him to make it better! They do it ! Unlike us, who, only do what is good for ourselves, NEVER giving this Motherland even a second thought! We have created a divide, that could result in devastation! We are our own Greatest Enemy!

As for ourselves, we need to :

SAVE, yes! Save:

Cash

Gas

Petrol

Water

Electricity

Ghee

Sugar

Atta

And

STOP, Yes stop:

WASTAGE and “fazul  kharchee” in EVERY form!

HAVE WE/YOU/I  SUCCEEDED?!

"Life is too short to wake up in the morning with Regrets; So love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don't and believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Laugh when you can. Apologise when you should and let go of what you can't change. Love deeply and forgive quickly.

Life is too short to be unhappy...

So, Keep Smiling & Have a Good Day  and a Greater Year in 2011!"

 

“HAPPY NEW YEAR!!”

So, to conclude, my dear reader, dear family and my dear friends, May I wish each and every one of you a better brighter tomorrow and a much better year in 2011, and May The Creator of All, bestow upon us all His Blessings  and Mercies and guide us out of our yesterdays and yesteryears into a future of which we can all be safe, happy & proud..Ameen.

Giving up the ghost

by Khurshid Anwer

Never have I felt so close to giving up the ghost. When people at the level of chief ministers start talking nonsense and the newspapers start printing such nonsense then it is time to throw in the towel.

Chief minister Sindh talking to a delegation from The National Defence University, Islamabad, was pleased to pontificate that, “Water distribution is a critical issue”. Then he went on to expose his total ignorance of the subject.

“Already there is water shortage in the country and Kalabgah dam will destroy the economy of the country”:

I ask him, if Mangla and Tarbela dams are destroying the economy of Pakistan why not stop storing water in these dams and stop generating power from these dams. Will we then not have floods for three months and draught for the remaining nine months. Will Punjab and Sindh then start producing more food grain. Will this put us in a position to export food grain or will we have to import even more than before. Where will water for the Rabi period come from if we don’t store water during the Kharif period. Will we then be left with any reserve for any contingency, natural or man made. Will we then not be at the mercy of India. Will not the per capita, per annum availability of water nose dive to below the water-scarce level. Have China, USA, Turkey and India stopped adding to their thousands of dams because their economies are being 'destroyed'.

I wish some newspaper had the guts to ask these question from the chief minister who through his abject ignorance is bent upon destroying the economy of the country.

The he misquoted the Water Accord of 1991 by saying that the agreed figure of 10 million acre feet of water was not being released below Kotri barrage. He has not bothered to look up the Accord (www.wateraccord1991.com) which says - in the absence of an agreement it was decided to conduct further studies. A later foreign consultant’s Study put the figure at less than half of what he is claiming. 

He is clueless that even the 10 maf will not stop sea incursion though the year if all of it flows down during the three flood months. He needs to know that the agreed amount has to be stored in dams for distributing it over the twelve months for year round protection of the Indus delta. The delta needs more dams, not less dams.

Before complaining that Sindh is not getting the increased amount as per the Water Accord, he should ask himself, why was Punjab willing to decrease its share in all future dams to increase Sindh’s share. If he can answer this question, I will stop writing on Kalabagh dam.

The River Indus at Kalabagh

Experts say food insecurity a ‘growing threat’ to Pakistan

Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Experts at a seminar held Tuesday claimed that 80 out of 131 (61 percent) districts in Pakistan were food-insecure in the pre-flood situation – the devastating floods that recently ravaged a large part of the country.
Executive Director, Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Dr Abid Aqiyum Suleri, speaking at the seminar dubbed “The relationship between food insecurity, poverty, extremism and conflict” said in terms of population, 48.6% of the population is facing food insecurity. He also shed light on the key findings of recently launched “Food Insecurity Report 2009” jointly published by WFP, SDPI and SDC, said that the results showed that food insecurity at the household, district, provinces and country levels has become more severe as compared to 2003 — particularly after the recent floods in the country.

He said there is interconnectedness between individual, national, regional and global security. He said that poverty and hunger is a growing security concern, as there exists a strong linkage between food security, hunger, poverty, and vulnerability to disasters. He underlined the need that the citizens should challenge the fundamental paradigm of state which was focusing more on non-development expenditures such as debt-servicing, defense, day to day administration and very little was left for development and people.
“Lack of investment on individuals and their social development among major reasons behind extremism and terrorism in Pakistan,” he added.
Moeed Yusuf of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), while giving opening remarks, stressed the need to learn from experiences of other countries, which improved their internal management and resolved internal conflicts and subsequently developed without needlessly relying on foreign countries to help them to progress.
“Corruption has become a norm in Pakistan and without individual self-accountability it is impossible to develop a balanced society in Pakistan,” he added.

Faisal Nadeem Gorchani, Head of Policy Advocacy and Outreach, SDPI gave an overview of human development situation in western part of district Rajanpur particularly of Union Councils Tribal Area Mat Kund, Tibi Lundan, Harrand and Wah Lishari which present poor human development indicators, abysmal socio-economic conditions, and appalling development scene with majority of population suffering with poverty, illiteracy, malnourishment and unemployment. “People affected by hill torrents have a growing sense of resentment that they have been either ignored altogether or inappropriately taken care of, given the extent and scale of destruction in these areas since the overwhelming focus of district administration, non-government organizations (NGOs) and media have been on the people and areas affected by the unprecedented devastation of Indus River,” he added.

Other experts also underlined the need for challenging the fundamental paradigm of state in the favor of public, provincial autonomy, and addressing the worsening crisis of governance.
During an interactive question-answer session the media persons and experts held a detailed discussions on issues such as social injustice, unequal distribution of resources, prevalent corruption, foreign interference, non-inclusive polices, lack of social safety nets, vested interests, lack of public participation and ground realities in policies, sense of fear, lack of check and balance system, changing social values into corporate values, denial of provincial autonomy and right of provinces over their resources, lack of judicious utilisation of resources, lack of water reservoirs creating energy shortages, unemployment, dual polices and foreign interference into Pakistan’s internal affairs, feudalism, vacuum of visionary leadership, absence of long-term policies, absence of rule of law and many other complex challenges to peoples’ real economic and political empowerment in Pakistan

 

Roaring racing cars leave behind more than tragedy

From the Newspaper DAWN
December 11, 2010 (3 days ago )

By Mohammad Asghar

It has been a week since a car racing event in Bahria Town ended in tragedy but the deathly silence, rumours and questions that it left behind continue to haunt the twin cities.

Families of the five persons who were killed when one racing car crashed into the spectators are still in mourning and one of them appeared disinterested in helping the Rawalpindi police in its investigations.

“We are too distressed. Whatever happened has happened,” said Rehan, a relative of the family.

But such are the suspicions surrounding the tragedy that the Supreme Court on Friday took suo motu notice of the incident.

Although the Rawat police registered an FIR the same day, rumours continue to circulate that the police was under pressure not to register one because the four accused it named in the FIR – Ali Riaz, Waleed Khan, Majid Naeem and Sheikh Atif – were influence wielders.

Media echoed that “influence” when it reported that Islamabad police apologised to Malik Riaz Hussain, the real estate tycoon who developed Bahria Town, for the police raid on his house in search of Ali Riaz, his son.

All four accused appear to have gone into hiding and police say their arrest is the top priority for them. Police commandos have been deployed in the street in which the tycoon lives, reportedly to prevent Rawalpindi police launch another raid.

In the meantime the Rawalpindi police have managed to put the name of Majid Naeem, who was driving the car that went out of control and caused the tragedy, on the Exit Control List to prevent his fleeing the country.

But skeptics ask why he alone?

Waleed Khan is said to be the marketing manager of Bahria Town properties. Majid Naeem also was a corporate executive and Sheikh Atif was the one sent to seek permission from the local administration for holding the car race.

Press reports say the District Coordination Officer sent his application to City Police Officer who had no objection to the `sport` event provided “security procedures” were followed. But when the application reached Commissioner Rawalpindi Division Zahid Saeed, he refused permission for “security reasons”.

Sheikh Atif assured the commissioner that the race would not be held in the Rawalpindi part of Bahria Town but in the part which lies in the Islamabad Capital Territory, according to the reports.

But the deadly accident, attributed in the FIR to reckless driving, took place in the Rawalpindi part of the town and so became a matter for its police to deal with.

Jurisdiction and “influence” issues apart, the more important question is: what the law says.

Federal Ministry of Sport sources said the day after the tragedy that car racing was not recognised as a sport at the official level.

There exists neither a racing track in the country nor any law to govern the sport.

“Sunday`s (December 5) event was just an exhibition sporting event. Had there been better protective measures for the spectators, the tragedy could have been averted,” an official of the sports ministry was quoted saying the day after the tragedy.So, a lot of ambiguities have to be cleared before fixing the responsibility for the tragedy.

The Centenarian

by Zahid Husain

As we alighted from our vehicle, the folks who had been waiting to meet my friend gathered round to welcome each of us who had finally got there after a delay of over an hour due to the traffic jams caused by the vehicles at the 2nd session of the Raiwind congregation; We began shaking every ones hand, each one eyeing us with circumspection, as I took in the looks and facial expressions of curiosity.

 

 

He slowly shuffled up to me and welcomed me with a salaam and we shook hands, I returned his greeting, he quietly moved away from the rest of the people who had gathered to welcome my friend Ahmad Kamal, whose land it was that we were visiting.

 

I watched him as he sat there in the benign winter sun basking and straining to listen to the exchanges between the owner and the tenants of the fruit orchards located in the vicinity of Kot Radha krishan.

 

 

WE wandered over to review the developments that were taking place in the village, Ahmad’s family had built a school for the the locals first before the Mosque was started (they have their priorities right) religion without education has proved to be a concern for us all!

   

 

Lunch was in the form of the seasonal Sarsoon ka Saag, Makaee ki roti and daysee mukhan accompanied by buttermilk lassi, and to end we has dood key chai, and it was dood and not a diluted form of it!

                            

 

The village had been established by Ahmad’s great grandfather and the ancestors of the folks around us! While chatting of the earlier days, ages were being discussed, and someone in passing mentioned Mohammad Sharif, as probably the oldest living person around! His ID card was sent for from his home and checked! 1898 it read! That’s when I decided to include him in my photo session.

 

 

 

 

         

 

 

 

I checked with Ahmad if it was ok to give him some money for having modeled for me, having first suggested that Sharif should be put on a stipend for the rest of his living days!

As we departed, my last words to him were, “Baba jee, Rabb Rakha!”

White Lies

 

By Ess Aich | Published: November 27, 2010

It seems that it is easier to manage a foe than to manage a friend, as Punjab’s top honcho may have found to his discomfort. One can always get a Rana Sanaullah to deal with the guv who has mastered the art of anti-Sharif one-liners but how does one handle a friend who was once Punjab’s top mandarin but was put aside after a hit and run incident in which his involvement could not be denied. The dilemma persists that this is a grade 22 friend and there are no other grade 22 jobs to be handed out in the province. The man has to be surrendered to the centre if he is to maintain a grade 22 status but who knows how the centre will treat a bureaucrat from the enemy camp. So an OSD he remains with the role of an unofficial advisor and the perks of a linchpin. Never mind the army of minions, the column of cars and the generous gas and fuel bills. This is a friend of a different kind, a grade 22 friend in need.

* * * * * * *

Two VVIP weddings and a mighty traffic jam is how commuters described Thursday night’s road blocks in Lahore. Defence Minister, Ahmed Mukhtar’s daughter tied the knot at a five star hotel with the son of a police officer who once provided the biggest photo op to the media and may just have kicked off the lawyer’s movement when he pushed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry into a car. The Defence Minister had a guest list as long as his arm and the traffic jam on the road leading to the five star venue. Same day, same time, same city, the Prime Minister was celebrating his son’s walima. However, he was kind enough to choose a farm house away from the maddening crowd and wise enough to keep his guest list more exclusive. The Defence Minister was included and was seen taking time off from the daughter’s wedding to join the walima celebrations but there was no sighting of the Prime Minister putting in an appearance at the minister’s do. Just as well because his motorcade would have created havoc on The Mall and it could have been two weddings and a few funerals.

For feedback, comments, suggestions and, most importantly, tips, contact us at whitelies@pakistantoday.com.pk

Eat, pray, tax

November 24, 2010 — koolblue | Edit

By Hassaan Ghazali | Published: November 24, 2010

The observance of Eid this past week gave one a rare glimpse into the plight of citizens and how similar our fate is to that of livestock at slaughtering time. And with the debate on Reformed General Sales Tax and Flood Tax gaining momentum in the legislative arena, our similarities become more striking still. As a bleating nation waits on the altar, one cannot help but wonder whether this sacrifice is even necessary, and what we may expect from our ‘kasais’. We would be lucky to get a swift dispatch to the hereafter however the track record of this government would suggest that a blunt knife lies in store for us. We may as well cue the bleating.

The revelation that only 1.6 per cent of 160 million Pakistanis are registered taxpayers is a poignant reminder to us that the federal government’s tax administration system has failed to deliver. If you are one of approximately three million lucky bearers of the National Tax Number card, you would do well to enjoy the warm paternal feeling that normally arises when one has responsibility for others. However, the current macro-economic framework of Pakistan is anything but normal and so the warmth, however short lived, will not ease the chills going down your spine if the taxman should come knocking this winter.

Although there are many good things the government could do for responsible taxpayers that sustain the economy, it appears few alternatives have been considered. Perhaps declaring them as a special minority, or honouring them when the Presidency next dishes out civil awards would generate much needed attention because presently the government seems to be more interested in cooking up new taxation schemes and less concerned about getting more taxpayers enrolled in this exclusive club. Perhaps the fiscal crisis provides stakeholders with the context for introspection and the opportunity to coalesce around an issue before it is too late. Already, the tax proposals have earned the ire of trade associations, politicians, civil society and the media. With whisperings of revolt across the country, perhaps our decision makers need to address the inequities prevalent in society before they decide to pick our pockets.

In all fairness, one does not require statistics to witness the grave injustices meted out to taxpayers. A merry stroll through any of our human settlements presents ample evidence of the real problems we have to contend with and how intrinsically linked our lives are to the rule of law, or lack thereof. In a country which rewards informality by according the poor with the same privileges enjoyed by the rich, it comes as no surprise that the taxpayers are the only ones who do not have immunity from the law.

Notwithstanding the fact that no less than thirty seven government agencies levy more than seventy separate taxes on various goods and services, only one out of every sixty eight Pakistanis is formally recognized as a taxpayer. These lonely souls would love some company alas the poor have nothing for tax to be levied upon and the affluent ones sitting in Parliament have done a good job of exploiting the corruption which is endemic in our tax administration system. As long as the hammer falls squarely on those that enjoy neither squalor nor luxury, it is unfortunate that the government would insist on placing an additional burden on our shoulders.

Given that the rhetoric and political discourse has yet to offer up firm proposals for reform of the tax administration system, measures designed to break our backs will continue to face considerable resistance from all quarters. Before new fiscal measures are proposed to milk the masses, it may help citizens to hear the government first announce drastic austerity measures for the public sector along with a plan that ensures good housekeeping by the tax authorities. Anything else would lead to a vicious cycle where taxpayers giving an inch of rope find that a benign government suddenly becomes a lasso wielding cowboy.

Before we get wrangled into the tax corral, we must accept that proclivities of the present administration suggest that tax reform is next to impossible in Pakistan. It would seem that the only way to usher in a golden age for citizens is to take control of our own destiny and reject the entrustment of our affairs to inept landowners, industrialists and rent-seekers sitting in Parliament. Perhaps that way we can stop big government from bleeding us dry and will help set the stage for a concerted effort at tax administration reform. Until the government can convince us that it has atoned for past sins and is fixing itself, any new tax will be shot down faster than you can say Baaaaaa!

The writer is a consultant on public policy.

This news was published in print paper. To access the complete paper of this day. click here

Popular energy drinks have hidden risks

ENERGY drinks are hugely popular, but each
one could be giving you more caffeine than a
cup of coffee, a study said In addition, that caffeine could combine with
other ingredients in potentially risky ways,
with the use of energy drinks with alcohol a
particular concern. .

"What we know is that a typical energy drink
can have as much as a quarter cup of sugar, and
more caffeine than a strong cup .
of coffee," said John Higgins
of the University of Texas
Medical School at Houston,
who led a study that
appeared in this month's'
Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
.
Caffeine content of energy
drinks ranges from
, 70 to 200 mg per 16-oz
serving. By comparison,                                                                              
an 8-oz cup of coffee can
contain between 40 to 150
mg depending on how it's
brewed.

Even more of an issue
is how ingredients often
not mentioned on the labels
- such as the herbal
stimulant guarana, the
amino acid taurine, and
other herbs, minerals and
vitamins might interact
with the caffeine, he told
Reuters Health.

'The concern is how such
interaction might affect
heart rates, blood pressure
and even mental states, especially
when consumed in large
amounts, with alcohol, or by athletes. Higgins
and colleagues reviewed medical literature on
energy drinks and their' ingredients between
1976 and 2010, only to find there has been little
research into their impact.

Some small studies, usually on physically
active young adults, have shown the drinks can
. .-
increase blood pressure and heart rates. But .
evidence of more serious effects such as heart
attacks, seizures and death are anecdotal, they
wrote.

Norway, Denmark and France banned Red
Bull after a study showed rats that "were fed
taurine and exhibited bizarre 'behaviour, ineluding
anxiety and self-mutilation." "We're
not rats, but consumption has been shown to be
positively associated with high-risk
behaviour," Higgins and his colleagues
wrote.

Energy drinks are often
promoted to, and used by,
athletes for an "extra push." .
But 1Higgins and his group
noted that based on the way
caffeine and some other
ingredients affect the body,
there's a risk that energy
drinks can seriously dehydrate
users.

"The possibility of dehydration
and increased
blood pressure make water
or lower-octane sports
drinks, which contain electrolytes,
some minerals
. and carbohydrates, a better
choice," he added.
Non-athletes should
drink no more than one a
day, never mix them with
alcohol, and drink lots of 
water after exercising.

 
People with hypertension
should never drink them,
and people with health conditions
such as heart disease
should consult their doctors before
using the drinks. Regulation of the drinks could
go a long way toward solving potential problems,
Higgins added. "Manufacturers can put
whatever in them, advertise however and people
consume however. Whenever you have a
situation like this, you are going to run into
problems," he said. .. -YN

Hired for mediocrity

by Ayaz Ahmad

The success of any organisation is strongly correlated with the skills and competencies of its workforce. The appointment of Adnan Khwaja as managing director of the Oil and Gas Development Corporation, despite the fact that his highest educational qualification is intermediate, is an example of the blatant disregard that this government has for merit. This same gentleman – a former convict and a beneficiary of the NRO who previously served as chairman of the National Vocational and Technical Education Commission – is hardly qualified to be appointed to a clerical position, let alone be selected to head a key organisation in a nation of over 170 million. The names of parliamentarians holding fake degrees and ministers with questionable credentials have been widely publicised. But the extent of mediocrity at all levels of governmental and semi-governmental entities, as well as in parliament, is mind boggling. Appointment of cronies is the norm in today's Pakistan. From PIA, Pakistan Railways, Pakistan Steel, to PSO, WAPDA and PEPCO, the state of mediocrity is paralysing the national assets. They are on the verge of bankruptcy, barely surviving by the lifeline provided by taxpayers. Our national sports of hockey and cricket are in doldrums. To top it all, the International Cricket Council has asked the Pakistan Cricket Board to clean up its act within a month or face possible eviction from the world of cricket. Asif Zardari is reported to have stated that PCB chairman Ijaz Butt, who is a close relative of Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar, will not be touched till Zardari is at the helm of affairs. Parliament has recently passed a bill that reinstates officeholders from the PPP's previous stints in government who were relieved of their duties in the late 1990s. To say nothing of the merit of their reappointment, will they really be in a position to perform at an acceptable level, given that they've been away from their assignments for over a decade? The current government is making a mockery of merit, and its selection of employees reeks of favouritism and nepotism. Things have come to the point where it is almost disadvantageous for an applicant to possess the requisite qualifications for a job in today's Pakistan. However, it must be acknowledged that the previous governments have also played havoc with the nation's greatest asset, its talented human resource, which excels everywhere but in Pakistan. There are three ingredients that are at the heart of effective recruitment in any organisation, be it public or private. Evidence gleamed from organisational studies suggests that emphasis on formal education, relevant work experience and "fit" within an organisation form the cornerstone of an effective recruitment policy. A broad-based formal education provides a candidate with the understanding and tools for access to the knowledge accumulated in a variety of fields, while a specialisation allows the student to gain greater expertise in a specific area, preparing him/her to enter the workforce. This knowledge is critical, as it enables the student to learn and absorb the theoretical foundations of the given discipline in a controlled environment. The experiential phase allows the candidate to put to practise the knowledge in a comparatively uncontrolled setting, thereby refining and improving his/her expertise. From the recruiter's perspective, the candidate must have demonstrated effective utilisation of the skills attained through education by performing work at a progressively advance level. In this respect, the candidate's progression through previous work assignments, judged through written or oral evaluations, act as the primary gauge for evaluation. Perhaps the most important criterion is the "fit" of the individual into the prospective organisation. It is critical that utmost care be taken to ensure that the candidate will work towards the advancement of the organisational objectives. There is little use of an otherwise qualified individual whose actions result in disrupting the organisational goals or interfering with the performance of others. For example, if the government has decided to enact an economic policy that evolves around heavy reliance on fiscal stimulus, it would likely be counterproductive to hire a staunch monetarist to carry it out, even if it were economist Milton Friedman, arguably the greatest monetarist of the 20th century. Though the problems plaguing Pakistan are too complex to be resolved just through implementation of appropriate recruitment and talent-management practices, replacement of a selection process based on favouritism and ad hoc appointments with a merit-based one could turn out to be a giant leap forward for our public and private organisations. The writer is a management consultant and a freelance contributor. Email: ayaza 75@hotmail.com

Life as we know it

By Anjum Niaz

The writer is a freelance journalist with over twenty years of experience in national and international reporting "Muslims killed us on 9/11," Thus spoke the doyen at Fox News Bill O'Reilly. Two of his women co-hosts stood up and stomped out accompanied by loud cheers and claps during a talk show on one of America's best known TV channels. The View as the morning-chat show is called hit the headlines. Only because two women had the guts to stand up and distance themselves from O'Reilly's bilge. But the unrepentant O'Reilly along with his band of bigots at Fox continues to spew out hatred against the Muslims 24/7. Their Islamophobia reaches millions and millions of homes across America. If I were a white American, I too would hate anything closely connected to the 19 hijackers who flew their planes into the Twin Towers nine years ago; I too would side with those who don't want an Islamic centre built near the site of the bombing in New York; I too would declare that we seal our borders against the Faisal Shehzads of this world who want America destroyed. But just hold on. Does that mean that all Muslims in America (around two per cent) are killers, murderers and terrorists? If you hear Fox News, the answer is yes. And that's where my tale begins: It's going to be a long, lonely and hard journey ahead for people of colour, especially those with Muslim names. I'm not only talking about America, but Europe today is in the grip of Islamophobia. Again why blame Europe? The Europeans have been warned against terrorist attacks. They can get killed while riding a subway, sitting in a café, going to a theatre or strolling in the park with their kids. The demon that spreads its deadly wings of death over the USA and Europe is Al-Qaeda. But what have ordinary Muslims got to do with it? Why should they be penalised and profiled as terrorists as 'Papa Bear' (Bill O'Reilly) paints us? The question cannot be answered in just one column. It's a story as old as the hills of New Jersey or Islamabad's Margalla mountains or the Tora Bora caves in the tribal area of Pakistan. A crash course in political history and social anthropology could give us some cues. Let's look at the various ways the CIA and its operatives have killed, tortured, maimed and overturned governments far, far away from America. Why? If one has the interest and the passion to explore the 'why' then dive into books of the past and present, even as new as Bob Woodward's to understand how America controls the weak of the world, including Pakistan. In a recent op-ed column titled 'The Wars That America Forgot About', veteran news-anchor Tom Brokaw wonders why Americans are so consumed with "Islamic rage" when the problem is with the White House. "No decision is more important than committing a nation to war," he writes. "It is, as politicians like to say, about our blood and treasure. Surely blood and treasure are worthy of more attention than they've been getting in this (midterm election) campaign." An American taxpayer is enraged with his government's ninth year of fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, "the longest wars in American history," says Brokaw. "Almost 5,000 men and women have been killed. More than 30,000 have been wounded, some so gravely they're returning home to become, effectively, wards for their families and communities. In those nine years, the United States has spent more than a trillion dollars on combat operations and other parts of the war effort including foreign aid, reconstruction projects, embassy costs and veterans' health care. And the end is not in sight." Pakistan is in the centre of the storm. One day, it's looked upon as a 'back-slapping buddy' and the next moment it turns into a demon according to the American officials. The relationship is so schizophrenic that we have now stopped following what Hilary says or what Gen Kayani remarked or how much money is Holbrooke promising us. As an aside, you must have read in this newspaper the faux pas Zardari and his charming economic maven Hina Rabbani Khar made before Holbrooke who told the two that their math was wrong when they presented him a budget in which $700 million had gone missing. Our leaders don't know the heartaches of Pakistani-Americans who call their host country 'home' and yet are discriminated against. Ordinary lives trying to make something of their future so that they can lead a more settled and dignified existence surrounded by such stories. And yet, we are blithely unaware of their daily struggle because the media keeps us drugged on tales of the rich and the famous; the corrupt and the evil. Like a magnet we are drawn to these forces of foulness often missing the wood for the trees. For the four million Muslims living in Germany, it's a similar story. Chancellor Angela Merkel has halted attempts to build a multicultural society decreeing that immigrants can come to her country provided they learn the language and accept the country's cultural norms. Like much of Europe, Germany is gripped by anger and mistrust between ethnic nationals and immigrants. Merkel's crude comments set alarm bells ringing. A damage-control exercise was put in place immediately after Merkel's roiling of Muslims. The German president hopped onto a plane and made a state-visit to Turkey, the first in ten years by a German president, for some handholding. The funniest part was that he was reported to have visited "Islamic sites"! Burhan Qurbani, 29, is a German of Afghan descent. He has recently won praise for his film "Shahada". And with that has dawned a realisation for the young filmmaker: "I'm seen as the Afghani who made the film about integration, and that hurts a little. Of course, I am German. I have Afghani roots, I can't deny that, but mostly I am German." He quotes his grandfather who warned Qurbani: "You are like a bird without legs; You cannot land. You will never be at home here and you will never be at home in Afghanistan." This holds good for Pakistanis too. Having renounced their homeland, they now find the environment in their adopted country unfriendly, inhospitable and unreceptive. I have spoken with many Pakistani families here in America who all have tales of woe to relate. Especially those who have failed to pick up the American accent. "You speak English differently; where are you from?" is the common refrain that some who have been here for decades are subjected to. The state of the union in Pakistan still makes front-page news abroad. While the press, national and international, has been highlighting endemic corruption and misgovernance, and not the least, the Executive-Judiciary war of words, here's what the online Foreign Policy Magazine in its latest issue thinks about us. Pakistan, it says, is "wracked by much more fundamental problems than the intricacies of managing international alliances. After this summer's floods, Pakistan teetered on the brink of failed state-status. The waters have largely receded, but they've left in their wake a landscape of despair. The need for immediate disaster-relief has given way to questions of how to return millions of displaced Pakistanis to their homes, when to begin rebuilding the country's destroyed infrastructure, and how to provide basic provisions like clean drinking water to the indigent." The Great Flood is a passé topic for our leaders. Email: anjumniaz@rocketmail.com

Work in progress

by Dr Howard Schweber

After spending a summer teaching political theory to Pakistani undergraduate students, I can confidently make two assertions: they are just like all the other college students I have known and taught in the United States for years, and, paradoxically, they are nothing like all the other college students I have ever known.

My first impression of Pakistani students was that they are, well, just that – college students. How utterly, disappointingly, unexotic. Grade conscious careerists, canny manipulators of the system, highly competitive…future engineers and finance majors.

But there are some differences. That word ‘elite’ comes into play here. In the US, no college student would describe him or herself as elite – that word is primarily reserved for use as a political insult. Americans, notoriously, valorise the idea of belonging to the middle class, sometimes to a ludicrous degree. These Pakistani students, at one of the best private universities in the country, have no such compunctions, and are quite pleased to describe themselves and their family backgrounds with the words, “we are the elites,” or other words to that effect. This tendency partly reflects an inherited colonialist culture; perhaps, it partly reflects the reality of deep economic divisions reflected in the ubiquitous servant culture that every American I spoke with privately described as jarring. Sure, American college students at top schools also tend to have a sense of entitlement, but nothing that compares with the elite classes of Pakistani society.

Not all the students at this private school come from backgrounds of privilege, however. In my small, unscientific sample of about forty students whom I met (out of sixty-five enrolled in my two courses), I encountered ten or so who come from worlds very different from that of Lahore’s upper class. These students tended to approach me quietly and privately to describe their backgrounds; students from small villages, not only in the Punjab but also from the areas around Karachi and Peshawar; the student who confided that he had grown up on streets similar to the ones we were walking through in the area around Lahore’s Walled City; the student from FATA, the Federal Administered Tribal Agencies, who couldn’t go home.

Looking closely at the students I met and taught reveals more mysteries. Some had serious problems with English, particularly in their writing, but most were extremely well prepared as far as language skills were concerned. It is when we look beyond language skills that puzzles begin to appear. What was most startling was the realization that these students were palpably uncomfortable with abstract concepts and what people in Education Schools call ‘critical thinking skills.’ When I raised this point to faculty and alumni, every one without exception acknowledged the problem, and pointed to the system of secondary education as the culprit. Undoubtedly the point is correct, but I think there is a deeper observation to be made here. In addition to being uncomfortable with abstract concepts, these students and their families seem to be uncomfortable with the idea of knowledge that is not justified by an immediate practical application. That discomfort extends to a reluctance to embrace basic scientific research as well as the humanities. I heard from students who wanted to study theoretical physics whose parents insisted that they become engineers; students who wanted to become historians whose parents did not see the point. The same attitudes exist in other places to be sure, but among my Pakistani students it seemed almost universal.

There is a classic saying about immigrants to America: “The first generation are factory workers so that the second generation can be lawyers so the third generation can be artists.” I mentioned that saying to a student, and he found it deeply puzzling.

Part of the reason for this discomfort with abstraction may have to do with a curiously limited range of background knowledge. My students – many of whom, again, had graduated from the finest schools – knew almost literally nothing of non-Pakistani history and culture. The reason is not that Pakistan is culturally isolated – far from it. At one point I found myself confronted by a room full of students who had an exhaustive knowledge of the movies that were Oscar candidates last year, but among whom the vast majority had never heard of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. In general, students had no idea – not even a wrong idea! – about the significance of the French Revolution or World War I, the history of nationalism and empires, the contents of the Book of Genesis, the Scientific Revolution or the Renaissance. Again, when I pressed students, faculty members and alumni, the answer was always the same: the fault lies with the secondary school curriculum, and particularly the fact that during General Zia ul Haq’s rule secondary school curricula were shifted to emphasize Pakistan Studies and Islam at the expense of everything else. Again, that can only be a very partial explanation. But it is worth noting that this lack of cultural literacy helps feed the culture of conspiracy theories for which Pakistan is justly famous.

But what happens once these students get to college? I saw and heard about fine courses in Shakespeare and Islamic Jurisprudence, but when it comes to the social sciences it appears that the students who learn anything about these subjects at all (that is, those who choose to take courses outside of Accounting and Finance) are fed a steady diet of snippets of readings and excerpts from trendy current theories. Many students could and were eager to could talk fluently about Edward Said, Noam Chomsky, and (rather weirdly) Nazi Germany, but Locke and Rousseau, Machiavelli and Madison, Cromwell and Marx were all equally unknown territory. Undoubtedly, at this point I will be accused of Western ethnocentricism; how many American college students know the names of the first four Moghul Emperors? It’s a fair point, to be sure. But it’s a big world out there, and a dangerous place at home. Colleges don’t just train engineers, they train citizens and future leaders. Pakistan might do well to train some future leaders in the history and the philosophies that have shaped the world around them.

The point is not that the instructors at these colleges are bad teachers, far from it; the instructors I met were qualified, dedicated teachers. The point is that establishing the historical and philosophical context out of which modern ways of thinking emerge does not seem to be part of the curriculum . Nor, for that matter, does reading whole books seem to be an expected element of the college experience. I had a student in my office who complained, with no apparent sense of irony, that I had asked a question on a take-home exam to which he was unable to find an answer on Wikipedia. (To repeat an earlier observation, Pakistani college students seem to be almost entirely unencumbered by any sense of irony. I find this incomprehensible, given the Dadaist absurdity of much of Pakistani politics.)

Here’s another example to make my point: on the first examination that I administered, I included a question that asked students to ‘compare and contrast’ two texts. I was not particularly proud of the question, since for a lot of my students in the US, this is considered the most banal, overused, pedantic imaginable form of exam problem, the sort of question they’ve been encountering since the fourth grade. I was therefore nonplussed when several students asked what I meant by ‘comparing’ different texts. “We have never been asked a question like this,” said one, and a dozen others in the room expressed agreement. I have often had students request extensions on assignments, but this was the first time I encountered a request for an extension signed by five students – who, it turned out, were among the better students in the class! – a demand justified by the statement that “we have never been asked to write something like this before.”

In response to these inquiries, I tried to explain the idea of making comparisons in terms of taxonomy – you identify the salient characteristics and use them to classify objects in terms of their differences (“zebras have stripes, horses don’t.”) Now apply the same idea to, say, theories of history. “This writer views social arrangements as expressions of economic organisation, this writer understands social arrangements as the performance of ideological claims … and here’s the explanation that makes more sense in modern Pakistan.” I wasn’t necessarily expecting brilliant insights, but it was startling to realise that the question was, itself, startling.

And there is yet another dissonant strain that clashes with the ‘elite’ culture of graduates of Aitchison College, convent schools, and the like. This different voice appears in the form of deeply religious students, referred to on my particular campus by faculty and fellow students alike as ‘the mullahs.’ At first I thought I understood the significance of their presence on campus, but by the time I left I had concluded that the relationship between these religiously observant students, their fellows, and the administration is the great unsolved mystery that I take away from my visit. It may be the great unsolved mystery of Pakistan.

Over and over I was warned, by faculty members and students alike, to beware of the religious students. When I mentioned some of the texts that I was teaching, a senior colleague was first horrified, then said “well, you are probably all right because it is the summer,” (since there are fewer students around, I suppose). All of this fed into a rather well-settled narrative of universities as bastions of secular knowledge (and a fair amount of partying in the men’s dorm, I hear), besieged by the forces of religious extremism.

But then I got to know a few students who are, themselves, religiously observant. They tell a different story. Their claim is that the so-called ‘mullahs’ are two groups of students. One group, led by an instructor, belong to the Naqshbandis, a Sufi order, the other to the Tableeghi Jamaat, an organization dedicated to preaching Islam. Neither group, according to these students, has any interest in confrontation. The same students also insist that there have never been any incidents of religious students harassing secular students or faculty or disrupting classes, and that the college Disciplinary Committee would make short work of any student who tried to do so. By contrast, the same students also complain of a pervasive anti-religious bias. In an e-mail, a student wrote: “I remember that in one particular class a student with a beard came late to class, which is a normal practice, and the instructor said to him sarcastically, ‘Oh go back and offer prayers, because these things (classes) are not important...’”

So there are two narratives at work here. Which one is right; is one more right than the other; are both simultaneously operative? Which narrative captures more of the experience at the University of Punjab, which captures more of what goes on at the Lahore University of Management Sciences/ LUMS? I have no idea – I only know that no one disrupted my classes or threatened me, but that many people seemed to feel compelled to call my attention to the possibility of such events.

The more I think about it, this last mystery about Pakistan’s universities is a mystery about Pakistan. I have no clear idea about the relationships among different approaches to Islam and secularism among Pakistan’s elites. Traditionally, Pakistanis have been ‘the kind of Muslims who go to shrines,’ but the nation has a death penalty for blasphemy, and just a few months ago ‘Death to Qadianis’ banners used to festoon the boulevards of Lahore. (Qadianis are registered as a non-Muslim minority in Pakistan.) And one Pakistani student, in front of other students, in one of my classes, told me, “as a good Muslim I would never say salaam back if an Ahmedi/Qadiani said salaam to me.” The other students said nothing; no one challenged him, or disagreed – this in a class devoted to examining theories of democracy and multiculturalism.

As I walked around the campus, I observed students lounging on the stairs, men and women together, but then a sociologist told me that among the very people I was observing, more than 85% will enter arranged marriages, and that more than 90% of those marriages do not permit the wife to file for divorce.

So maybe these aren’t ‘just college students’ after all. But what are they, this next generation of Pakistan’s elite? Individually I can tell you that they are bright, thoughtful, witty, principled, socially and intellectually attractive young adults with widely varying worldviews, limited by a lack of education and culturally imposed limitations. But as a group I find them a mystery.

Professor Schweber teaches political theory and constitutional law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United States. He is the author of books on the First Amendment, American legal history, and constitutional philosophy. Previously, he practiced law for several years in San Francisco. This past summer was his first trip to Pakistan

Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Moving From South Asia to U.S.

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.

Published: August 11, 2010

A dangerous new mutation that makes some bacteria resistant to almost all antibiotics has become increasingly common in India and Pakistan and is being found in patients in Britain and the United States who got medical care in those countries, according to new studies.

Experts in antibiotic resistance called the gene mutation, named NDM-1, “worrying” and “ominous,” and they said they feared it would spread globally.

But they also put it in perspective: there are numerous strains of antibiotic-resistant germs, and although they have killed many patients in hospitals and nursing homes, none have yet lived up to the “superbug” and “flesh-eating bacteria” hyperbole that greets the discovery of each new one.

“They’re all bad,” said Dr. Martin J. Blaser, chairman of medicine at New York UniversityLangone Medical Center. “Is NDM-1 more worrisome than MRSA? It’s too early to judge.”

(MRSA, or methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, is a hard-to-treat bacterium that used to cause problems only in hospitals but is now found in gyms, prisons and nurseries, and is occasionally picked up by healthy people through cuts and scrapes.)

Bacteria with the NDM-1 gene are resistant even to the antibiotics called carbapenems, used as a last resort when common antibiotics have failed. The mutation has been found in E. coli and in Klebsiella pneumoniae, a frequent culprit in respiratory and urinary infections.

“I would not like to be working at a hospital where this was introduced,” said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University. “It could take months before you got rid of it, and treating individual patients with it could be very difficult.”

A study tracking the spread of the mutation from India and Pakistan to Britain was published online on Tuesday in the journal Lancet.

In June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted the first three cases of NDM-1 resistance in this country and advised doctors to watch for it in patients who had received medical care in South Asia. The initials stand for New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase.

“Medical tourism” to India for many surgeries — cosmetic, dental and even organ transplants — is becoming more common as experienced surgeons and first-class hospitals offer care at a fraction of Western prices. Tourists and people visiting family are also sometimes hospitalized. The Lancet researchers found dozens of samples of bacteria with the NDM-1 resistance gene in two Indian cities they surveyed, which they said “suggests a serious problem.”

Also worrying was that the gene was found on plasmids — bits of mobile DNA that can jump easily from one bacteria strain to another. And it is found in gram-negative bacteria, for which not many new antibiotics are being developed. (MRSA, by contrast, is a gram-positive bacteria, and there are more drug candidates in the works.)

Dr. Alexander J. Kallen, an expert in antibiotic resistance at the C.D.C., called it “one of a number of very serious bugs we’re tracking.”

But he noted that a decade ago, New York City hospitals were the epicenter of infections with other bacteria resistant to carbapenem antibiotics. Those bacteria, which had a different mutation, were troubling, but did not explode into a public health emergency.

Drug-resistant bacteria like those with the NDM-1 mutation are usually a bigger threat in hospitals, where many patients are on broad-spectrum antibiotics that wipe out the normal bacteria that can hold antibiotic-resistant ones in check.

Also, hospital patients generally have weaker immune systems and more wounds to infect, and are examined with more scopes and catheters that can let bacteria in.

Prem Chand, A Pakistani

http://pakistaniat.com/2010/08/01/prem-chand-coffin-kafir/

Amongst the 152 who died in last Wednesday’s tragic crash of Air Blue flight were six members of the Youth Parliament. All death in this tragedy were sad. The death of these talented youth with aspirations of building a better Pakistan was no exception. Maybe it was tragedy compounded. But the story of one of them is sadder even than the others – and because of what happened to him after he died!

 

This is the story of Prem Chand, a bright young social worker from Sanghar (Sindh), one of the members of Youth Parliament, and one of those who died on the ill-fated AirBlue flight 202. His death – like the death of everyone on that flight – was a matter of national tragedy; the treatment of his dead body a matter of national disgrace.

According to news reports in The News and The Express Tribune young Prem Chand’s coffin was marked “Kafir” – a word that literally means ‘infidel’ or ‘non-believer’ but is mostly used as a serious slur in Pakistan. Literally labeling someone’s coffin as “Kafir” and not even giving them the respect to list their religion by its proper name, is a shameful and disgusting way to disrespect the last remains of anyone. All the more so the last remains of a patriotic Pakistani who was on that plane solely to represent Pakistan and to seek to be a better Pakistani – he was on his way to the ‘session’ of the Youth Parliament!

According to The News:

The members of Youth parliament [on the day following the crash] protested against the marking of the coffin of one of their colleague Prem Chand as ‘Kafir.’ “It was shocking. He could have been marked as Hindu or non-Muslim, but using the word ‘Kafir’ is the worst example of intolerance,” said MYP Muneeb Afzal.

The Express Tribune writes:

Ehsan Naveed Irfan is a member of the youth parliament and he is the one who identified Prem Chand’s body. He told me that his coffin was marked as “Kafir” first with black and then outlined with red to make it more prominent. He told me that he and his friends removed it with a marker and wrote “We love you – from the youth parliament” instead.

A friend of Prem Chand made this comment on Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi’s blog:

I am Muneeb Afzal, a Member of Youth parliament of Pakistan and a Colleague and Friend of Late Prem Chand. An extremely hard-working person he was a symbol of tolerance. My last communication with him was on night before the Air Crash, he gave his greetings to me on occasion of 15th of Shabaan.

At PIMS fortunately another friend of ours was there when Prem’s Cousin Nanik Das came to search for his body, he quickly hid the tag ‘kafir’ by putting marker lines on it, so that Prem’s family which is already suffering from great grief does not have to bear more hurt. Although later at a memorial session where media was present I criticized the inhumanity and intolerance of those who did this shameful act. I felt this was my duty to my late friend Prem Chand that I make it clear to the world that we condemn this act of intolerance and narrow mindedness. But a lot of my other colleagues have since objected to my speaking out, believing that my saying this and this news spreading in media would add to hurt of Prem’s family, and in a way they are right too. I would like you all to also keep this in mind as well…

This was probably not an official act or some state sponsored standard procedure. It is much more likely that this was an act of some sick minded individual. But it is still important for the authorities to investigate and punish those responsible, and set an example for future. Intolerance must not be tolerated. To tolerate it, or justify it, is to accept it. The authorities need to take responsibility for this incident and why it happened at all; no matter who did it. After all, it is the state of Pakistan – and we as a society – which creates the conditions in which the persecution of minorities thrives at various levels, directly and indirectly; and that is what gives individuals license to go even further – including such shameful acts.

Author’s Note: My deepest apologies to friends and family members of Prem Chand and my fellow Pakistanis from others faiths (Pakistani Hindus in particular), specially those who may not have heard of this yet and for whom this incident will no doubt be deeply painful. But we must raise our voice and condemn such acts. The one lesson that Pakistan’s history teaches us is that discrimination and intolerance must never be tolerated.

Sad Commentary!

This is so, sadly, Pakistani!!!

FAKE DEGREES

by Pervez Hoodbhoy

Sunday, 25 July, 2010

Currently on a short visit to the University of Maryland, I am taking this opportunity to inform readers about the impression created overseas by the fake degree scandal in Pakistan. Major newspapers here, including the New York Times, have carried stories of the scores of counterfeit degrees possessed by Pakistani parliamentarians. The US media has underscored the unwillingness of the government and society to punish this scandalous behavior. Also reported is that the Sindh government has attempted to intimidate and threaten the chairman of the Higher Education Commission, who had been charged with verifying the degrees.

With outright cheaters and crooks sitting in parliament under government protection, it is no surprise that most people here - Pakistanis, Americans, and Indians - feel that Pakistan is headed nowhere. Expatriate Pakistanis, who live in a society that places a premium on personal honesty, are hanging their heads in shame. They have no explanation for why their country has fallen so low. If a state cannot enforce even minimal ethical rules, and if it can live in equanimity with corruption that is starkly visible, then it rightly deserves to be called a failed state. No foreigner is going to think of Pakistan as anything other than a Somalia or Nigeria, lawless and corrupt nations with which we seem to be competing with.

Fortunately, there do seem to be people of conscience in Pakistan who will not let the scandal die and the country sink yet further. It is also fortunate that the HEC, with which I have had strong differences in the past, is apparently holding up against political pressures. One wishes that these forces for good could prevail. I am sad, however, to see some well-respected columnists argue that the fake degree issue is being used to derail democracy and prepare the ground for army rule. This is a specious argument that, carried to its logical conclusion, will allow the grossest and ugliest of crimes to go unpunished.

Elvis Presley Are You Lonesome Tonight

Tennessee Ernie Ford Sings 16 Tons

Stevie Wonder - Happy Birthday

Carpenters - Yesterday Once More (Karaoke)

Gilbert O'Sullivan - Alone Again (original version)

ELECTRICITY GAME BY OUR LEADERS IN PAKISTAN

Taken from Source

Dear Pakistani's Read & Think!!!!! Dear Pakistanis! Read, Think & understand the game International Powers are playing with us with the help of! Electricity produced in Pakistan is from three main sources. 1). Hydral 2). Thermal (Gas/Steam/Furnace Oil) 3). Nuclear There are four major power producers in country which include Water & Power Development Authority (WAPDA), Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC), Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC). Below is the break-up of the installed capacity of each of these power producers (as of June-2008). 1. WAPDA a. WAPDA Hydal Terbela                                                            3478  MW      Mangla                                                             1000  MW      Ghazi-Brotha                                                     1450  MW        Warsak                                                              243  MW      Chashma                                                            184  MW      Dargai                                                                  20  MW      Rasul                                                                    22  MW      Shadi-Waal                                                           18  MW      NandiPur                                                               14  MW      Kurram Garhi                                                           4  MW      Renala                                                                    1  MW      Chitral                                                                     1  MW   Jagran (AK)                                                            30  MW Total Hydal                                        ==>       6461 MW b. WAPDA Thermal    Gas Turbine Power Station, Shadra                             59  MW    Steam Power Station, Faisalabad                              132  MW      Gas Turbine Power Station, Faisalabad                      244  MW      Gas Power Station, Multan                                        195  MW      Thermal Power Station, Muzaffargarh                      1350  MW      Thermal Power Station, Guddu          1655  MW      Gas Turbine Power Station, Kotri                               174  MW      Thermal Power Station, Jamshoro                             850  MW      Thermal Power Station, Larkana                                150  MW      Thermal Power Station, Quetta                                   35  MW        Gas Turbine Power Station, Panjgur                            39  MW   Thermal Power Station, Pasni                                     17  MW Total Thermal                                     ==>        4811  MW WAPDA's Total Hydal + Thermal capacity is  ==>      11272 MW. 2. Karachi Electric Supply Company    Thermal Power Station, Korengi                               316  MW      Gas Turbine Power Station, Korengi                            80  MW      Gas Turbine Power Station, SITE                              100  MW   Thermal Power Station, Bin Qasim                          1260  MW Total (KESC)                                        ==>      1756  MW 3. Independent Power Producers (IPPs) Hub Power Project                                                     1292 MW   AES Lalpir Ltd, Mahmood Kot MuzaffarGarh                    362 MW   AES Pak Gen, Mahmood Kot MuzaffarGarh                      365 MW   Altern Energy Ltd, Attock                                                 29 MW   Fauji KabirWala Power Company, Khanewal                    157 MW   Gul Ahmad Energy Ltd, Korengi                                      136 MW   Habibullah Coastal Power Ltd                                         140 MW   Japan Power Generation, Lahore                                    120 MW   Koh-e-Noor Energy Ltd, Lahore                                       131 MW   Liberty Power Limited, Ghotki                                         232 MW   Rousch Power, Khaniwal                                                412 MW     Saba Power Company, Sheikhpura                                 114 MW Southern Electric Power Company Ltd, Raiwind                135 MW   Tapal Energy Limited, Karachi                                        126 MW   Uch Power Ltd, Dera Murad Jamali, Nasirabad                 586 MW   Attock Gen Ltd, Morgah Rawalpindi                                 165 MW   Atlas Power, Sheikhpura                                                225 MW Engro Energy Ltd, Karachi                                            ----- MW   Kot Addu Power Company Limited (Privitized)                1638 MW Total  (IPPs)                                              ===>   6365 MW 4. Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission KANUPP                                                                     137  MW   CHASNUPP-1                                                              325  MW Total (Nuclear)                                          ===>   462  MW Hydal Electricity generated by WAPDA varies between two extremities i.e. between minimum of 2414 MW and maximum of 6761 MW depending upon the river flow through the whole year. Total Power Generation Capacity of Pakistan (including all sources) is 19855 MW and the electricity demand (as of today 20-04-2010) is 14500 MW and PEPCO is merely generating 10000 MW. So it is obvious that these 15-20 hrs power shutdowns in most parts of the country are not because of the lack of generation capacity but only because of IMF / World Bank policies imposed on our nation by Govt. The Power Generation companies are not buying Furnace Oil from PSO by saying they don’t have money to do that but we are all paying for Electricity that is generated from Furnace Oil. This is the reason that top refineries like PRL are operating at 40% capacities. IMF / World bank has imposed to reduce budget deficit by importing less crude oil. But due to this fact all our industries are under severe crisis. None of our political party who are in Assembly is ready to speak on it because every one is blessed by US / IMF / World Bank. Dear Pakistani’s, This is a time to show your social activism your power and strength. It is your silence which is deafening and your couldn’t care less attitude which makes the people in power more powerful evasive and secure in their Air conditioned offices. PLEASE STAND UP AND BE COUNTED:  Please don't stop this e-mail and forward it to as many people as possible. Thanks WE WANT ELECTRICITY IN PAKISTAN. Electricity now is @11 Rs. per unit, and it will increase after every two months as directed by (American) IMF policies. Also CHINA offers to Pakistan Electricity for just Rs.200 Monthly Bill and Unlimited Usage of Electricity but our government is not taking the offer seriously. This is because there will be neither kick backs nor any commissions to be pocketed by the strong mafia of politicians and bureaucrats. These people are there because of your votes. Let them serve you rather than rule you…… NOW THIS IS OUR TIME TO SHOW THE GOVERNMENT YOUR STRENGTH. PLEASE SPREAD THIS MESSAGE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN, BECAUSE OF THIS MESSAGE MANY PEOPLE WOULD COME TO KNOW ABOUT THE TRUTH