Pakistan - America's Chief Ally in the war on Terror

Attacking your close ally and killing innocent civilians, and then instead of an Aplogy saying that you can't guarantee a repeat of the same true diplomacy at work.

What The F---- (Pakistan Protests American attack)

It takes the Pakistani Government the whole day to figure out that a foreign ally, attacked and killed 17 innocent civilians based on incorrect intellegence information. And wow, they plan to file a protest with the American embassy. If it was the other way around, The Americans would have summoned the Pakistani ambassador in the middle of the night in his PJ's and said "We want some ASS, we want some ASS NOW". All our government decides to do after a whole day of investigations (the media had given the whole info in the morning) is plan to file a protest. Ghulam key Ghulam.

Brain Drain

This is a very old artile published at chowk, by an expat Pakistani, how very true this is. I just remembered it while reading another friends blog and thought I should republish it here so people who havent read it in the past can read it now.

Evaporation Drops the Temperature
Bilal Musharraf July 28, 1999

The working class of Pakistan, basically those who are not part of the ruling/owning class have to bring about the much needed and much awaited long-term progressive change in Pakistan. However, individuals who feel that they have the ethical/moral fiber and the financial and political clout to help and guide the working class must play their part in mobilizing the masses. Bear with me, as I try to explain an analogy that is somewhat related to these thoughts.

In Physics, we call the average kinetic energy of a body, its temperature. Let's imagine a liquid contained in a vessel with innumerable colliding molecules forming the body of the liquid. They engage in elastic collisions, gaining and losing their kinetic energy. The Central Limit Theorem (The Law of Large Numbers) in statistics tells us that given a large enough sample, all distributions will tend to a normal distribution, i.e., a significant majority of molecules in the liquid possess energy levels that are right around the average kinetic energy of the liquid (the bell shaped curve). A small minority possesses very high energy and a very small minority possesses very low energy. It is the high energy molecules that possess enough impetus to break the surface of the liquid and escape into the rarer medium above. This has a significant impact on the temperature of a liquid, because the escaping molecules have higher than 'average' energy levels.

A country like Pakistan, containing its teeming masses, is very similar. The entropy of Pakistan, or its potential to change itself is reflected by the empowerment level that the average Pakistani possesses. The overwhelming majority of people feel powerless in the scheme of things in Pakistan and in their desperation are blinded to reasoning and rationale and continue to project their ambitions on to individuals that have little to show from their past and fall short of such a responsibility. I highly recommend reading: 'Leaders, Fools, and Imposters'… a well respected book on the psycho-analysis of individuals in leadership positions.

[The author of 'Leaders, Fools, and Imposters', Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries is a practicing psychoanalyst and Raoul de Vitry d’Avaucourt chair of human resource management at the European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD) in Fontainebleau, France. He is the author of eight books on such topics as leadership, career dynamics, and organizational diagnosis and intervention. Kets de Vries has been an executive development consultant to major corporations in the United States, Europe, and Asia.]

As Ayaz Amir wrote in Dawn some time ago:

"The tragedy is not Nawaz Sharif's who has already known more than his share of glory. The tragedy is that of the Pakistani people who while yearning and indeed waiting for heroes have always had to settle for less than heroic figures. In the present case the tragedy is two-fold because the people of Pakistan have deluded themselves. Far from anyone else betraying them, they have been betrayed by their own expectations. Nawaz Sharif was no stranger to them. They knew his strengths and weaknesses as also the history of his rise to political greatness. But driven by their own desires they saw things in him that were not there. Who is then to be blamed: Nawaz Sharif for being true to form and character or the people of Pakistan for living out another chapter of their unchanging tragedy?"

Who are the people at the two ends of the bell-shaped empowerment curve for Pakistan? At one end is a minority of individuals who possess the political/professional/financial clout to influence progressive change, and at the other is a self-centered wealthy ruling elite, that resists change and thrives on status quo.

Since the 60's, flocks of professional Pakistanis have migrated. The loss is not simply of a monetary transfer of assets or a brain drain. It is a loss in the entropy of Pakistan. The nation is increasingly left with a ruling class that is indifferent to the priority in which the fundamental needs of Pakistan need to be addressed.

In the presence of a rarer medium, a liquid will eventually dry up.

The working class of Pakistanis, inside and abroad... need to WAKE UP and influence change!

quote of the day

Somebody is always doing what somebody else said couldn't bedone.

Starbuks Bomb Defused

It seems that right about the time Mr. Sattar Buksh was rambling on about his dispute with starbucks there was a homemade bomb defused at a california starbuks. Mr. Sattar Buksh states that he is a very peaceful man and has nothing to do with it. It was just a coincidence that when he was threatning legal action against the firm(and might have said something he did not mean) someone was trying to do real damage. He hopes that the perpetrators are caught at the earliest. But he Still plans to fight out starbucks in the International court of justice.

Read Related post below (3-4 posts down).

Viva la flesh

A feature atricle published in sunday Daily Times worth reading.

New National Anthem

I have been sent the following modified National Anthem by a well-wisher who thinks that, by adopting this, we will at least take one positive step forward - that of shunning Hypocrisy.

Khayt, Ghar, Zameen - Shaad Baad;
Car behtareen - Shaad Baad;
Paghrian, Vizaaratayn, Makaan,
Koathiyaan, Imaaratayn, Dukaan,
Loot-maar, Chheen - Shaad Baad!

Bayvaqoof loag haen Avaam;
Rah gae Ghulaam kay Ghulaam.
Kürsi, Ohdah, Saltanat,
Paaéndah Taabindah Baad ...
Leadaroañ ki Manzilé Muraad!

Har taraf Sifaarishoañ ka Jaal;
Sarnegooñ Taraqqi-o-Kamaal.
Paak Sarzameen mayñ Halaal
Rishvat aur Dhaandhli ka Maal?
Laa'naté Khudaé Zuljalaal!

Mr. Sattar Bukhsh To take on Starbucks

And in local news today Mr Sattar Bukhsh a local enterprenuer from Talagang, Chakwal has decided to take on corporate giant Starbuks the coffe shop. In an interview with us Mr Bukhsh said that he is not afraid of the big name and their hired team of competent liars and he plans to fight till the end in the International court of Justice. He accepts that he recieved several notices from the company that he was using thier trademark even though he had somewhat chaged it, but in his defense he says that all notices were in English a language he does not understand. He says that when starbucks and their team of liars started to bother him too much and he got media attention a lot of Human rights people in Pakistan who are looking for oppertunities of exposure came to his dhaba to show their support for his cause, he now claims that he has a team of good liars behind him and he will continue to fight the big name who serve un pure products in contrast to his "khalis" Chai, Lassi, samosas and Pakoras, he has even gotten sponsorship from coca cola and proudly displays their brand in his seating area, although he sells a local cola which is manufactured in his shop. He claims that his workers are happy and his customers enjoy the dhaba, so why should he change his logo. Starbuks on the other hand claims that he has blatantly violated their trademark by disfiguring thier logo, Mr. Bukhsh is not ready for a settlement and has decided to fight them out, his patrons are behind him all the way.

Is Mein Koi Shak Hai? (Is there any doubt about it?)

If you are ever in the mood for some comedy you should tune into one of the Pakistani channels and hopefully you will see one or the other politician being interviewed, they are quite funny.

Today on GEO News the honorable Information Minister Mr. Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, was being asked about some MQM's threat to quit government if the balouchistan operation was not stopped. In the questioning he was asked if the general elections were delayed what would happen with the president as his term was expiring and he answered that he would be "re-elected" by the parliament before the expiry of his term. The news caster / interviewer was fool enough to ask the minister if the president intended to run for office again guess what his answer was ?

"Is Mein Koi Shak Hai"

Limits of The internet

Hello Ladies and gentelmen, boys and girls, all of you out there, I just wanted to let you know that I have hit a new low, today for the first time I felt that the internet is not limitless, I was bored and didnt know what to do on the net. Can you imagine, I'v been online since the internet became a house hold name, since the inception of the internet, i was there when the internet was just just text, and when there was telnet, gopher, archie and veronica. I never felt that i'd get bored but I guess the Internet has its limits too, or maybe the internet is limitless but I have had a lot of it, and need to take a rest.

What Pakistani's are capable of

Ferrari's F1 Team has fired its entire Pit Crew. The announcement followed Ferrari's decision to take advantage of Pakistan's unemployment, and hire unemployed Pakistani youth from Karachi. The decision to hire them was brought on by a recent documentary on how they were able to remove a set of wheels from a car parked in the street in less than six seconds without proper equipment, whereas Ferrari's existing crew takes more than 8 seconds with the right equipment.

This was thought to be an excellent yet bold move by Ferrari Management, and, as most races are won and lost in the pits, Ferrari would have an advantage over every other team. However, Ferrari's expectations were exceeded, as during the crew's first practice session; not only were 'da boyz' from Pakistan able to change the tyres in under six seconds, but within 12 seconds they had re-sprayed the car, filled off the chassis number and sold the vehicle over to the McLaren's Team!!

Quote of the Day

Life is a magic vase filled to the brim, so made that you cannotdip from it nor draw from it; but it overflows into the hand that dropstreasures into it. Drop in malice and it overflows hate; drop in charityand it overflows love.
John Ruskin
(1819-1900, British critic, social theorist)