Waiting for Wikileaks
Monday, 29 November 2010
Founded in December 2006, WikiLeaks.org is a website that publishes leaked government and corporate documents. It says its goal is to reveal "unethical behavior." The website received widespread attention when it released nearly 400,000 Iraq war files in October and when it released a batch of files in July pertaining to the war in Afghanistan. Founder Julian Assange remains the target of a sexual assault investigation in Sweden. Assange, 39, an Australian, has denied the allegations and claimed they're part of a smear campaign.
Labels: Wikileaks
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Monday, November 29, 2010,
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The bands with the bang
Saturday, 27 November 2010
Labels: Lahore School of Economics
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Saturday, November 27, 2010,
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Eid-e-Ghadeer
Thursday, 25 November 2010
Labels: Eid-e-Ghadeer
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Thursday, November 25, 2010,
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Curry in a Hurry
Owais Mughal
If you think I am going to tell you a curry recipe' then you are mistaken. Even though there is lot of curry involved in this write-up but wait till I get to it. Let me build up the background first. Our home in Karachi has a cricket ground located next to it. Being a 'puraana chaawal'(seasoned rice) of the area, I became manager of this ground in early 90s. My duties included assigning the cricket ground to different local teams as well as arranging a match or two on special occasions.
Once I arranged a match for a neighborhood team but the local players didn't show up on time. After doing a typical eleventh hour calling and rounding-up of players, I was able to field a 'pakaR dhakaR XI' (rounded-up XI). It was a very colorful team in a sense that eleven players spoke at least five different languages and yet understood each other very well. In my view, that is what makes Karachi a true cosmopolitan city.
Ok, back to curry business. The match started smoothly, but wrinkle started to appear soon. At lunch break all the players gathered around me and demanded lunch. Some claimed that I owe them a lunch because they have done me a favor by coming to play to Federal-B-Area from far flung areas of the city such as North Nazimabad. Those familiar with Karachi geography may know that North Nazimabad is located right next to Federal-B-Area. Only a 30-feet wide drainage stream called ‘Gujjar Nala’ separates the two localities. Look at the image below. I've marked the location of the cricket ground and the 'Gujjar Nala' dividing Federal-B-Area with North Nazimabad.
Being outnumbered 1 to 13, I gave in to their demands. I was still a student so did not have money to buy 13 people any kind of lunch. Not even cheap 'bun-kababs'. So I walked inside home to see what was ready for my personal lunch. Nobody was home and my mother had cooked 'aaloo-shorba' (Potatoes with curry). It was of course not enough for 14 people. Since necessity is the mother of invention therefore I took a huge bowl out of closet and poured some curry in it. A quantity, that was just enough for 4 people. Then I filled up a jug with water and mixed it in the curry. Curry’s volume now increased by a few liters and its density decreased to become as thin as a soup. I then sent our 12th man to the nearby 'Gharib-Nawaz tandoor' (Poor people's clay Oven) to get a few ‘naan’ (flat round bread). 12th man was an aspiring young cricketer and in an aspiration to debut from our team soon, he happily went to get the 'naan'. Our team management used 12th man not only for on-ground services but off-ground services too. Long story short; when bread came; 14 people ate my specially prepared 'pani-shorba' (water-curry) without any complaint. I do however remember some of the remarks made at the occasion. They were a pure delight to hear such as this famous one coming right out of Urdu literature: 'kiya piddee aur kiya piddee ka shorba' (What little bird and its little curry)
Then there was a remark given in a complete state of denial and astonishment: 'ye kis cheez ki yakhni hai bhai? (What is this soup made of?)
Note: In an ideal world of culinary delights, a soup is supposed to be thinner than a curry.Another: ‘ye to shorbay kay shorbay kaa shorbaa hai’ (This is an extract of an extract of an extract of a curry).
And yet another was when somebody called this curry as ‘lamba shorba’ (tall curry). The voices of dissent soon died down as getting free food was an incentive enough to shut up and eat whatever was available. To this day, whenever I remember this indigenous recipe' of mine, it makes me smile. Conclusion is that curry is such a form of food which can be diluted as needed and can be fed to a varied number of people ranging anywhere from 1 person to many (or any).
In the beginning I had mentioned that it is not going to be a curry recipe' write-up; but for the welfare of general public; may be I should key it down: Recipe' of Curry in a Hurry
1. Volume of already cooked curry (any kind): 100 ml only
2. Count the people available: x (say)
3. Empty glass of water: 1
4. Empty curry bowl: 1
5. Pour 100 ml curry in the empty curry bowl and pour a glass full of water into curry 'x' times.
6. 'ae-lo mazaydaar shorba tayyar hai' (lo-behold. tasty curry in a hurry; is ready)
1. Volume of already cooked curry (any kind): 100 ml only
2. Count the people available: x (say)
3. Empty glass of water: 1
4. Empty curry bowl: 1
5. Pour 100 ml curry in the empty curry bowl and pour a glass full of water into curry 'x' times.
6. 'ae-lo mazaydaar shorba tayyar hai' (lo-behold. tasty curry in a hurry; is ready)
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Thursday, November 25, 2010,
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ATP stands out in South Asia
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
Heartiest congratulations to All Things Pakistan, Owais Mughal and Adil Najam and other writers at ATP for outstanding contributions and making ATP a voice which is being heard. Please keep it up.
Also congratulations to Dr. Awab Alvi for award to Teeth Maestro.
Labels: Fine Art of Blogging, Pakistan Blogsphere
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Wednesday, November 24, 2010,
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In the memory of Parveen Shakar
Labels: Perveen Shakar
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Wednesday, November 24, 2010,
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Sanjh - collectors' delight
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
I have been collecting greeting cards for many years now. My cards collection is one of my most cherished assets. Going through the cards I have received earlier in life gives me a great pleasure. What is stronger, whole-some and useful for life in later years than some good memories?What appeal me most in old cards are the messages - poetic, passionate, persuasive, comforting and or romantic - printed on cards (or hand written on some of them on some of them). Some of the cards in my collection are handmade and unique.
In modern times when people have already shifted to digital greetings via Internet and or mobile and I miss getting those cards, a friend has presented me a Sanjh set of 101 cards. Sanjh set has a very inspiring story behind it.
This is a story of how a team to caring people like (Zahraa Assad Saifullah and Zahra Mirza of RetroArts, Foaad Nizam of Danka, and Visual Artists Imran, Sajjad and Usman, Yaqoob of UOG) moved the artists to donate their art work to generate revenue to help victims of flood 2010. Sanjh team exhibited and sold the art work. Best thing is that they photographed each one of the paintings and printed in the farm of cards. The set is any collector's delight.
I want to share these cards with readers of Light Within and Logic is Variable. Send me your postal address at sajshirazi@gmail.com and I will post you a card via snail mail {yes, I do use snail mail}.
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Tuesday, November 23, 2010,
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Urban blues
Saturday, 20 November 2010
Human beings like other organisms, have always polluted their environment with the byproducts of their action. As an organism man creates waste. As a social creature, he removes things from his environment and adds residue to it. So long as population density has been low on the planet, the environment was able to accommodate these alterations. Now with the world population about 8.5 billion people and increasing by 220,000 each day, the concentration of population in cities and resulting deterioration of environment is sounding alarms. The situation is urban Pakistan is worst.
The process of economic development over last 58 years has brought number of changes. One of the most critical dimensions of the process is urbanization of rural society. As the development has taken place primarily from agricultural to industrial economy, large scale rural to urban migration has taken place, changing the face of our cities as well as villages. The concentration of more and more people into urban areas is regarded as one of the major environmental threat today. The process is expected to escalate in Pakistan though many of our cities have already reached the point where further population concentration (by natural birth or migration) may jeopardize the delivery of basic civic services to all.
Urbanization process has effected all parts of country: villages, towns and cities in one-way or the other. The intensity of impact is most critical in the larger cities. Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Multan, Rawalpindi, Hyderabad, Sargodha and Peshawar are suffering from environmental degradation and quantifiable deficiencies in basic civic services. The civic bodies are badly failing to manage these problems.
Solid waste management has become one of the serious urban nightmares in Pakistan. The municipalities equipped with centuries old and outdated methods inefficiently lift only 60 percent of the municipal waste generated in our cities. In the absence of professionalism and proper waste disposal systems, most of the garbage lifted from the cities is crudely dumped in open spaces nearby. These dumps attract mosquitoes, rats, cockroaches, houseflies, ticks flees as well as stray dogs and birds like vultures and crows. Carried by the vectors, bacterium thriving in rotten and moist garbage is spreading all sorts of diseases. Other 40 percent waste is simply not picked up and keeps rotting in streets or illegal filth depots inside the cities. As the society prospers, its trash — mainly hazardous plastic, metals packaging and pathogenic non-biodegradable rubbish — is growing exponentially.
Karachi the mega city with population estimated over 11 millions, alone is generating 6000 tons of waster per day. Solid waste management department of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation is trying to keep the city clean with fleet of vehicles and an army of sweepers in its roll. Result: “The effects of environmental degradation due to the waste left inside Karachi are slowly poisoning the city”, notes an epidemiologist.
Sewerage systems only in portions of the cities are crumbling. Apart from being old they were basically designed for lesser population without catering for the future growth. Remaining population depends for waste disposal on septic tanks, soak pits or over flows into open drain. As a result of improper disposal of human waste (in many areas there is no disposal) from the housing environment a large number of children are suffering from or are vulnerable to the attacks of different diseases. The effluents from industrial units and tanneries working unchecked in the residential areas — with high concentration of pollutants are adding to the problems. Kasur, Multan and Sialkot are typical examples of the case in point.
One major problems of urbanization in Pakistan is the eating up of green and open spaces — so important for ecological balance — by concrete structures of ever expanding cities. Only 25 years back Lahore and Faislabad had several patches of agricultural land. Today, there is no arable land with in the limits of these cities. In Peshawar 2700 hectares of agricultural land were lost between 1965 and 1985. Multan had many mango orchards (Ram jis Bagh, Abidanwalla Bagh, Qasim Bagh, Langhe Khan Bagh, Hazori Bagh, Dewanwalla Bagh and Mirza Jan Bagh) inside the city. They all have been converted into plazas and industrial units. There is no open space in cities as small as Mandi Baha Ud Din that was declared district headquarters only in 1993.
The fresh water supply in our cities is dwindling as the cities are expanding. Access to the clean water is available to about 77 percent of the urban population. Only 30 percent have the luxury of piped water supply and the rest are being served by stand posts or public taps. Per capita water consumption in urban areas in bare minimum to sustain human life. Even the (finite) subsoil water reserves are decreasing due to high pumping rate. In most of the cities water pipe lines run next to the sewer lines there for, contaminating the drinking water.
Air governs the quality of our environment. The air in our cities is so polluted that it can be smelled and seen everywhere. When the wind is still, the fumes of vehicles, industrial concerns, smoke from garbage piles put of fire as well as airborne particles to dirt and pollen can be seen hung about any city. Only in Lahore 800,000 vehicles are responsible (apart form the noise pollution) for contaminating the environment by emitting poisonous gasses. Breathing has become a health hazard in soot-choked cities like Gujranwala where tar coal drums, electric wires and old tyres are burnt inside the residential areas in order to separate the iron.
There is an acute shortage of houses in the cities and the real estate prices are skyrocketing. The demand for the land is growing and the supply is limited. Since the land is essential for urban growth, devising equitable and efficient land development policies is one of the major challenges facing planners and policy makers, who do not seem to be aware of the seriousness of the problem. The number of slum and katchi abadi dwellers is on the increase.
In the typical city street, the road is potholed by PTCL or WASA excavations, electric generators and transformers carry a dangerous web of cable overhead. Shops encroach onto the roadways. Vendors have covered the open drains and advertisements and ugly looking neon signs are covering every available surface.
Historic buildings disappear without regret and even the protected monuments are suffering from vandalism. The roads are full of illegal speed breakers, all different in sizes and shapes. The old trees are being cut without a second thought. There is no body to oversee the overall growth of cities and to coordinate the work of city development agencies.
It is ideal if the human beings are dispersed evenly around the countryside. But people have been coming to cities for better economic and educational opportunities and better quality of life. It is about time that policy makers should think hard and plant to check the current demographic trend. This can be done, though it has yet not started to begin in Pakistan.
Labels: Rural Areas, Urban Areas, Urbanaization
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Saturday, November 20, 2010,
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Top Ten Pakistani Blogs – 2010
Friday, 19 November 2010
Once again it is time of the year when we have a closer look at the ever expanding Pakistan Blogsphere. As usual, we are asking you to recommend the best Pakistani blogs.
In Pakistan - the happening state - writing a blog is a great responsibility. Please show your appreciation for the best blogs (and bloggers) you have been following during the year. and recommend them (all categories including political, personal, cats and dogs and more) Also indicate the new blogs (including your own) and new bloggers that have come up during the year and we might have missed them. Leave your recommendations in comment section here or send them to sajshirazi@gmail.com.
Previous years’ best of Pakistan blogsphere:
Pak Blogsphere - Top Ten Blogs - 2009
Pak Blogsphere - Top Ten Blogs - 2008
Pak Blogsphere - Top Ten Blogs - 2007
Pak Blogsphere - Top Ten Blogs - 2006
Labels: Pakistan Blogsphere, Top Ten Blogs
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Friday, November 19, 2010,
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Don't miss the point
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Sporadic and superficial global support has made Pakistanis feel dangerously betrayed.
The world is watching Pakistan, and rightly so. It’s a happening place. Pakistan is at the center of geostrategic revolution and realignments. The economic, social and political aspirations of China, Afghanistan, Iran, and India turn on securing peace, prosperity, and stability in Pakistan. Our country can be an agent of positive change, one that creates unique economic interdependencies between central, west and south Asian countries and the Middle East through trade and energy partnerships. Or there’s the other option: the borderless militancy Pakistan is battling could take down the whole region.
Recently, terrorists on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border have plotted, unsuccessfully, to unleash terror as far away as Copenhagen and New York City. Pakistan’s role in a safe, secure world cannot be overemphasized. To appreciate the complex history of Pakistan’s internal and external challenges is to understand how the 21st century could well play out for the world.
Our country was born of violence, in August 1947. Just months after the partition of the subcontinent and the creation of the Dominion of Pakistan, we were at war with India over Kashmir. Pakistan and India’s mutual animosity and history of confrontation remain powerful forces in South Asia to this day. Because of its sense of having been wronged by India—and feeling that it faced an existential threat from that country—Pakistan cast its lot with the West. We became a strategic partner of the U.S. during the Cold War, signing on to the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) and Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) in the 1950s, while India tilted toward the Soviet Union. As part of our inalienable right to self-preservation, we formulated a “minimum defensive deterrence” strategy to maintain Army, Navy and Air Force numbers at levels proportional to India’s.
In 1965 we again went to war over Kashmir, and in 1971 over East Pakistan (I fought in both). Our suspicions about India were proved right when it became clear that the creation of Bangladesh was only made possible through Indian military and intelligence support. Among Pakistanis in general, and the Army in particular, attitudes against India hardened. The adversarial relationship between our Inter Services Intelligence and their Research and Analysis Wing worsened, both exploiting any opportunity to inflict harm on the other.
India’s “Smiling Buddha” nuclear tests in 1974 changed everything. Pakistan was forced to resort to unconventional means to compensate for the new imbalance of power. Prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto initiated Pakistan’s atomic program, and thus began the nuclearization of the subcontinent. India’s pursuit of nuclear weapons was an effort to project power beyond its borders; Pakistan’s was an existential and defensive imperative.
India’s “Smiling Buddha” nuclear tests in 1974 changed everything. Pakistan was forced to resort to unconventional means to compensate for the new imbalance of power. Prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto initiated Pakistan’s atomic program, and thus began the nuclearization of the subcontinent. India’s pursuit of nuclear weapons was an effort to project power beyond its borders; Pakistan’s was an existential and defensive imperative.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 presented Pakistan with a security threat from two directions: Soviets to the west, who wanted access to the Indian Ocean through Pakistan, and Indians to the east. Once again Pakistan joined hands with the United States to fight Moscow.
We called it jihad by design, this effort to attract mujahideen from all over the Muslim world. And from Morocco to Indonesia, some 25,000 of them came. We trained and armed Taliban from the madrassahs of the then North West Frontier Province, and pushed them into Afghanistan. By this time, the liberal and intellectual Afghan elite had left for the safer climes of Europe and the U.S., leaving behind a largely poor, religious-minded population to fight the 10-year jihad. We—Pakistan, the U.S., the West, and Saudi Arabia—are equally responsible for nourishing the militancy that defeated the Soviet Union in 1989, and which seeks now to defeat us all.
The Soviets quit Kabul, and the Americans abandoned Islamabad. Washington rewarded its once indispensable ally by invoking the Pressler Amendment and imposing military sanctions, and by choosing to foster a strategic relationship with India. Pakistan was left alone to deal with the nearly 4 million Afghans who had streamed into our country and became the world’s largest refugee population. The people of Pakistan felt betrayed and used. For Pakistan, the decade of disaster had begun. No efforts were made to deprogram, rehabilitate, and resettle the mujahideen or redevelop and build back war-ravaged Afghanistan. This shortsightedness led to ethnic fighting, warlordism, and Afghanistan’s dive into darkness. The mujahideen coagulated into Al Qaeda. The Taliban, who would emerge as a force in 1996, eventually would occupy 90 percent of the country, ramming through their obscurantist medievalism. It was also in 1989 that the freedom struggle reignited in India-administered Kashmir. This started out as a purely indigenous and peaceful uprising against Indian state repression. The people who led this first intifada were radicalized by the Indian Army’s fierce and indiscriminate crackdowns on locals.
The Kashmir cause is a rallying cry for Muslims around the world. It is more so for Pakistanis. The plight of Kashmiri Muslims inspired the creation of new mujahideen groups within Pakistan who then sent thousands of volunteer fighters to the troubled territory. In terms of identity politics, the boundaries were clearer: the mujahideen set their sights on India; Al Qaeda and the Taliban were focused largely on Afghanistan. With the Taliban to our west and the mujahideen in the north, this arc of anger rent our social fabric. Pakistan found itself awash in guns and drugs.
Nine years later, there was bad news from Pokhran. In May 1998, India again tested its bomb. Almost two weeks later, Pakistan responded by “turning the mountain white” at Chaghai. For Pakistanis, our own tests became a symbol of our power in the world, a testament to our resolve and innovation in the face of adversity, and a source of unmitigated pride in our streets. We became a nuclear power and an international pariah at the same time, but furthering and harnessing our nuclear potential remains and must remain our singular national interest. Of course, the U.S. views India’s nuclear program differently from Pakistan’s. Even our pursuit of nuclear power for civilian purposes, for electricity generation, is viewed negatively. India’s pursuit is assisted by the U.S. In Pakistan, people see this as yet another instance of American partiality, even hostility. Many even believe that the U.S. wants to denuclearize Pakistan—by force if necessary—because it fears the weapons could come into the hands of the Taliban, Al Qaeda, or any of the myriad militant organizations who have loosed mayhem in Pakistan. Our nuclear weapons are secure.
Pakistan was one of only three countries to recognize the Taliban government of Afghanistan. We did this because of our ethnic, historical, and geographical affinity with Afghan Pashtuns who comprised the Taliban. In 2000, when I led Pakistan, I had suggested to the U.S. and other countries that they, too, should recognize the Taliban government and collectively engage Kabul in order to achieve moderation there through exposure and exchange. This was shot down. Continued diplomatic isolation of the Taliban regime pushed it into the embrace of the Arab-peopled Al Qaeda. Had the Taliban government been recognized, the world could have saved the Bamiyan Buddhas, and unknotted the Osama bin Laden problem thereby preventing the spate of Al Qaeda-orchestrated attacks around the world including on September 11, 2001, in the U.S.
When America decided to retaliate, we joined the international coalition against Kabul by choice so we could safeguard and promote our own national interests. Nobody in Islamabad was in favor of the religious and governmental philosophy of the Taliban. By joining the coalition, we also prevented India from gaining an upper hand in Afghanistan from where it could then machinate against Pakistan. The Taliban and Al Qaeda were defeated in 2001 with the help of the Northern Alliance, which was composed of Uzbeks, Hazarans, and Tajiks—all ethnic minorities. The Pashtuns and Arabs of Afghanistan fled to the mountains and fanned out across Pakistan. This was the serious downside of joining the global coalition: the mujahideen who were fighting for Kashmir formed an unholy nexus with the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban—and turned their guns on us. While I was president, they made at least four attempts on my life.
In 2002, the allies installed a largely Pashtun-free government in Afghanistan that lacked legitimacy because it did not represent 50 percent of the Afghan population, Pashtuns. This should not have happened. All Taliban are Pashtun, but not all Pashtuns are Taliban. Pashtuns were thus isolated, blocked from the mainstream, and pushed toward the Taliban, who made a resurgence in 2004.
Today, the Taliban rule the roost in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda and the Taliban are ensconced in our tribal agencies, plotting and launching attacks against us and others. The twin scourge of radicalism and militarism has infected settled districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and beyond. Mujahideen groups are operating in India-administered Kashmir and seem to have public support in Pakistan.
After nine long years, and a longer war for the U.S. than Vietnam, the world wants to negotiate with “moderate” elements in the Taliban—and from a position of apparent weakness. Before the coalition abandons Afghanistan again, it must at least ensure the election of a legitimate Pashtun-led government. Pakistan, which has lost at least 30,000 of its citizens in the war on terror, should be forgiven for wondering whether it was all worth it. Pakistanis should not be left to feel that it was not.
The writer is former president and army chief of Pakistan.This article appeared as a world exclusive in Newsweek Pakistan’s Nov 22 - 29, 2010 issue.
Read more »Labels: General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan, Politics
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Thursday, November 18, 2010,
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Islam and Science Fiction
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad is the editor of Islam and Science Fiction website, the foremost resource on this subject on the internet. He is currently doing a series of interviews with Muslim science fiction authors or even non-Muslim authors who have written about Islamic themes or about Islamicite settings. He is looking for Science Fiction authors from Pakistan or of Pakistani background. If you are familiar with authors who fit this description please forward the relevant information to Aurangzeb at vonaurum@gmail.com
Labels: Islam, Research, Science Fiction
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Tuesday, November 16, 2010,
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Start a Blog Package
Saturday, 13 November 2010
Sometimes you just need help to get started. Leave the mundane and tedious tasks of blog creation to The Blog Company. We will create your blog and have you up and ready to post in a flash. Leave the details and grunt work of putting up a blog and extending its reach to us.
The Start a Blog Package will help you to be up and running blogging without any work on your part. Have help from expert bloggers who will personally help you get motivated to action.
Started a Blog Package is for any blogger who is just starting out and who needs to get up and running quickly. Creation of a Blogger or Wordpress blog, initial one-on-one phone (or face to face) coaching to define your blog goals, installation of the most-used, most popular plug-ins (feed burner, traffic counter, facebook, twitter) that your blog will need to maximize performance and above all, back link from ten popular and high Google PR blogs. We will also give you a month of blog support via e-mail.
Email [emaildiogenes@gmail.com] if you need custom personalized service to ensure that all the little details are taken care of so that you can focus on creating the best content possible.
Labels: Fine Art of Blogging
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Saturday, November 13, 2010,
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Girl who is making the difference
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
By Rao Dilshad Hussain
Nina Akbar, the CEO of Sukh Cha’n Wellness Club is a renowned business woman. Prior to launch Sukh Cha’n Wellness Club project, she had been successfully running restaurant chain of Salt’n Pepper for many years.
She has done her graduation from St Joseph College, Karachi. She actively participates in the NGO activities and organises walks for awareness about women’s rights.
She is planning to launch an NGO ‘Sukh Cha’n Trust’ in the near future to help the poor. Her are excerpts from interview with her:
Read more »
Labels: Business, Interviews, Women
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Tuesday, November 09, 2010,
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Invention of calligraphy script
Monday, 8 November 2010
How did Ibn-e-Kaleem find his metier? Find it here.
Labels: Arts, Calligraphy, In Print, Khate-e-Ra’ana, The Friday Times
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Monday, November 08, 2010,
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Still carrying the dust from Multan
Friday, 5 November 2010
I have spent some best (1989 -94) years of my life in Multan – I call it a city of poets, writers, artists and loving people. Happily, my assignment was to make friends and cultivate good relationship with people of Multan.
The first person I met there was Shakir Hussain Shakir – publisher by profession and poet by choice. He introduced me to different people Razi-ud-Din Razi, Aasi Kkarnali, Dr Anwaar Ahmad, Anwar Jamal, Hussain Sahar, Azhar Saleem Majoka. I also became fond of Saraiki speaking passionate Multani people and made more friends. Razia Baig (Inchage Anchal), Gulzar (Newspaper seller), Boola Rehre Wala (who had the best mule in Multan), Atta ur Rehman (with whom I used to sit to smell new books), Jaffar Raza Gardezi (international fame photographer and a land lord), Khallid Iqbal (Director Arts Council) and a beautiful Saraiki actress Kousar Samreen (following is her saying but where is she?).
I moved on in life but the good old memories are still with them. I was pleasantly surprised when I got a call from Shakir – same old crispy voice with messages coming from his eyes. This made my day. And I am going to revive all my Multani contacts. I miss them all.
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Friday, November 05, 2010,
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Buddies from 55 PMA in Canada
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Thanks to Jamil Bravo
Labels: 55 PMA
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Wednesday, November 03, 2010,
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Time to salvage Pakistan cricket
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
By Rao Dilshad Hussain
The Pakistan Cricket Board is still in hunt for a reliable opening pair since Aamer Sohail and Saeed Anwer said adieu to the game. Just Salman Butt showed some glimpses of quality of the late but his career is now at stake over spot-fixing allegations.
The Pakistan team since the greats have left been struck in the caldron of inconsistency. Looking at even the players of the recent past like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Inzamamul Haq etc they used to snatch win from the jaws of defeat. They were raw talents horned under the guidance of legends like Imran Khan and Javed Miandad. But that does not mean the Pakistan cricket has lost talent but it has lost direction. At a time when the cricket world has marked their replacement players for the coming decades, Pakistan cricket is still lingering on without proper planning. The International Cricket Councils recent directive might make the difference in Pakistan cricket discipline wise but there is still a lot of work required at the domestic level to meet the international standards.
The Pakistan team’s defeat ignites lot of criticism at all the forums but nothing fruitful has been done as yet at the domestic level which is the main source of any game.
After organizing a successful domestic T20 tournament at Lahore, it is the right time to salvage the Pakistan cricket. Watching the T20 Cup, the question arises despite having players of quality why Pakistan is not producing great bowlers, batsmen and in particular finger spinners.
The PCB needs to identify a talented under-19 player who should be prepared on the professional lines that has been the practice of the past. Take the example of PACO’s under-19 team that appeared into the domestic Under-19 tournament.
It produced many players who later played for Pakistan. These included players like Wasim Akram, Ijaz Ahmed and Saeed Anwar. It later it employed in a single day players like Aaqib Javed, Ata-ur-Rehman and Zahid Fazal. The then captain of PACO took the initiative. So it is understood that when players start professional cricket at young age, they can easily serve for Pakistan for about 15 to 18 years.
Another area the PCB needs to think about is the fast bowlers department. There was time when Imran Khan was leading bowlers like Wasim, Waqar, Aaqib Javed, Atta-ur-Rehman, Muhammad Zahid set up the pace attack and then came Shoaib Akhtar, who remained out of Pakistan cricket for one reason or the other. And for over the last two decades or so Pakistan is playing without a genuine fast bowler. Punjab produced most of the pacer but now it seems Pakistan main weapon is dying down and no attention is being given towards it.
All PCB is required to do is produce supporting wickets at domestic level and appoint coaches for every department of the game – bowling, spin and fast, batting and fielding - at regional level to identify talented players, remove their errors and make them available for further training at the National or Regional Cricket Academies. If proper steps were not taken now then the game would become stale like other sports.
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Tuesday, November 02, 2010,
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Opening ceremony and press conference Mud Housing Project
Monday, 1 November 2010
Press Conference about Mud Housing Project / Appropriate Technology at Peerzada Cultural Complex, Lahore (on the occasion of the last day of Asian Conference of Architects in Johar Town, Lahore)
Mr Dauth from German Embassy and guests with Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch and Thikedar Mr Iqbalon Mud Housing Project from Appropriate Technology in Green Acre, Peerzada Cultural Complex, Lahore
Visitors from Punjab University with Prof Mansoor Durrani discussing Mud Housing Project and applications of Appropriate Technology at Peerzada Cultural Complex, Lahore
Posters display (about Mud Housing and Appropriate Technology), TTTC from AFA had inspired SPARC (NGO) Lahore for this project. TTTC in TGD is working in close cooperation with CAT in Bamenda
Visitors in Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka (AFA-TTTC), with Mr Farooq about Kite Project for electricity production
Members from Lahore Mud Housing Project talking with Mr Farooq discussing about Mud Houses and Appropriate Technology
Labels: Mud, Mud Architecture, Mud Housing Project, Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Monday, November 01, 2010,
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