A sad time

Pakistan seems to have been in a whirlpool since its independence. The nation is stuck between the devil and the deep black sea for ages. There is always someone at the helm of affairs for whom their personal interests are more important then that of the Nation. The people of Pakistan on the other hand have faced every adversity with hope and determination. What the world sees is a small minority of people bent on causing devastation and havoc, what they don't see is the silent majority fighting against all odds to give their children a happy and bright future, a future that our fathers fought for more than 50 years ago.

President like every other human being has been blinded and corrupted by power, "power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely." this statement can be justified for every person who has ruled our country. Power goes into our heads, from Mr. 10% to Mr. 100% in a very short time. The president has brought the country to its knees. A sad era has taken wings in our young country, another blow to freedom and democracy. But we look forward to days where honor and dignity of every citizen will be protected by our state, we strive hard to get to where we should have been by now. God Bless.

The Revolution is here!

Who says Pakistan will have an islamic revolution in the future, the Revolution is already here, it started a while back and it is taking its toll by spilling innocent blood on the streets of Pakistan every day. Make no mistakes this is the revolution, and I predict there is no stopping it.

Politics or Family Business ?

Although Pakistan can still be considered a young country, and people can and do claim that we need some time to adopt a true democratic system which will take everything into account and be perfect for the betternment of the country, Pakistan has yet to take a single step on the highway of democracy.

In its short 60 year history, Pakistan has been ruled by either the strong military or one of the few ruling families who control Pakistan's few political parties. How can these political parties claim that they are the beacons of democracy when the parties themselves have no democatic principles guiding them. Out of Pakistan's 3 biggest political parties, Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Muslim League and MQM, 2 (PPP, PML) are directly controlled by 2 families with no room for anyone else to take the helms and the 3rd MQM is in the firm grip of Altaf Hussain who sits in exile in the UK and yet can get his popular party leaders in Pakistan to follow his every command.

Pakistan People's Part is in the lime light these days since the assasination of Benazir Bhutto, the "Life Time Chairperson" of what she claimed to be the biggest democratic force of the country. On her death the helms of the party that she inhetreted from her father did not go to one of the loyal party leaders who guided the part while Benazir and her familyy were in self imposed exile in the UAE. The leadership of the Party was "willed" to her 18 year old son. What kind of a democracy is this? In a swift and well planned political move her son was "renamed" Bhutto and made the co-chairperson of the Party to take command after his education was completed, in the mean time her husband Asif Ali Zardari also known as Mr 10% (on account of his taking hugs kickbacks while his wife was the Prime Minister) was to be at the helm of affairs. These types of politics will never lead to a democratic country. There is a power struggle going on within the PPP which can turn bad and derail the whole political senario in the country and no matter how much Mr Zardari uses the sympathy card if he continues with his stupidities he will ultimately suffer. There was a news item in Pakistan today that Bilawal "Bhutto" Zardari the son of Benazir has just arrived in Pakistan to announce the choice of PM in the new Government, lets hope its a wise choice and doesn't lead to disintegration of the democratic process. Family run politics have to give way to a true and realistic democracy within parties before democracy can be established on a wider scale.

"Tears" - Another Bomb Blast

This is the third consecutive blogpost I have done and all three have had a mention of a suicide bomber or a blast. Enough is enough. This is getting ridiculous, with no claims of the atrocities by any terror group, no specific targets, this is just being done to induce a sense of terror in the general mases, innocent lives are being lost, we can only hope for a safer tomorrow, may God bless the departed and put some sense excuse my language into the impotent bastards targeting innocent civilians.

The heart consumes I clearly see
Every fiber of my soul and me
That’s when the pain begins to grow
And yes the tears begin to flow.

Weekend on the farm and More blasts

This weekend I figured getting away from the city might be a good idea, It turned out to be quite a lot of fun and some relaxation, came back last night and went to sleep late. This morning i woke up to the news of three suicide blasts in Lahore, 2 bombers struck the office of the FIA and 1 a school in a residential neighborhood of Lahore, over 25 dead and hundreds injured. Now I'm thinking maybe living in Pakistan is not that good an idea, but afterall people are living here and if everyone "runs" away how will things change, I came here fo a reason, I have a worst case senario backup, so what the heck, have faith in God and keep at it. Some pictures from the farm and Sialkot are posted below.

Update: There were apparently 3 explosions in the FIA building, the dead include several innocent children.

Update: The suicide attack in the residential area of model town was not at a school but rather at an advertising agency.

A Field of Mustard on the Farm

Endless fields of wheat

Standing in the Guava Orchid

Wild flowers

Holy Trinity Cathedral Sialkot

Another Suicide Bombing

After the recent suicide bombings in Rawalpindi and NWFP, a couple of suicide bombers struck closer to home today. Blowing themselves up at the Naval War College in Lahore. Seems like there is no end to this, not in too much of a mood to blog about it right now but I'm really getting sick of it.

Blogspot Blocked Again?

Is is possible that the government of Pakistan or individual ISP's have blocked blogger again? since late last night I have been unable to access any blogger website. I have had no problems with othe sites, in the evening I called my ISP which is Wateen and they claimed there was nothing wrong fom "their side", just now I tried another blogspot website which has a non blogger domain forward on it and it opened, tried opening blogger sites through https tunneling and they seem to be working, its just when its a blogspot domain in the url they dont work, anyone else having the same poblems please let me know?

Saints and Shrines

The city of Lahore in Pakistan is known for its rich culture, Forts & Grand Mosques, its food and music are world famous, Also famous are the sufi saints who hailed from this city or came here to live and were burried here, among the more famous shrines of Lahore are Data Darbar the Shrine of Hazrat Ali Hajweri Syed Abul Hassan Bin Usman Bin Ali Al-Hajweri the famous Sufi saint of Persian origion, The shrine of Gamey Shah, The tomb of Baba Shah Jamal and Bibi Pak Daman.Although I'm not very religious I decided to go visit Bibi Pak Daman as the legend behind this particular shrine was quite interesting. Bibi Pak Daman is famous for being the shrine of 6 Ladies from the household of the Prophet Mohammed, Including Ruqayah binte Ali the daughter of Hazrat Ali the forth caliph of Islam the othe five graves are said to be those of hazrat Muslim bin Aqeel's sisters and daughters. Legend has it that these ladies were traveling alone after the events at karbala and when the reached Lahore the ruler at that time tried to arrest them because the were gaining a following and not wanting that, Bibi Pak Daman prayed to God and asked him to open the earth and take them in, when the soldiers came to arrest them the earth split into two and they went in only a little of the Dupatta (scarf) of Bibi Ruqayah remained and when the lead soldier tried to get hold of that it too slid into the soil, Thus the name Bibi Pak Daman meaning even the scarf of the lady was pure and thus could not be touched.

The Mazar is the end to a busy and colorfull street full of shops selling religious literature, multimedia and prayer beads among other things.

Pakistan Heritage 1 - Hiran Minar

Pakistan and Pakistanis are not very good at remembering or respecting our heritage, even though we have a rich and vibrant history with monuments and architecture from the Mughal and British era which could very well generate millions for the coffers of this country, the Government has done nothing to maintain or present these amazing chapters from our history to the world at large, and the general public has had no shame in engraving their worthless names over piceless frescos. Hiran Minar complex is one such wonder.

The origional Minar (tower) was built by the Mughal Emperor Jehangir in 1606 in memory of his favourite deer "Mansraj", the grave of the deer is in the tower. The water tank, baadari(pavilion) and causeway connecting the baradari with the mainland and hiran minar were constructed by Emperor Shah Jehan in 1620 and used as a roal residence during hunting trips. The complex is supposed to have been surrounded by a forest and had extensive well maintained gardens, currently the whole complex is in bad shape, the lawns and gardens are badly in need of maintanace so are the buildings which need protection from the people who pride themselves in writing their names over ancient frescos. If something like this was located in a country that honored and respected their heriatage, it would be a place worth seeing, it would be the site for events and functions, and people would flock to it to see the architechture, the paintings and the gardens through which Emperors once walked.

The only painting found intact probably because it was too high to deface.

ps. These pictues and obsevations are from a weekend trip to Hiran Minar a popular heriatge site open to public, I hope to post pictures of another building and its grounds from the british era which still has its glory because it is the residence of a government official, unfortunately that is not open for the public's enjoyment.

Pakistan Election in Pictures

A young couple happily pose for a post-voting picture, proudly showing their inked thumbs as proof of their vote.

Party wokers assisting thier voters in finding their names on the voter lists.

A deserted polling station at 1:00 pm.


Various politicals patries had their booths setup in front of a shrine near a polling station.

Clogged traffic leading to a poling station around noon.

Party booth for a National Assembly Candidate next to a polling station.

Another party booth near a polling station.

Pakistan General Elections 2008

Today the people of Pakistan voted for another time in the hope of a better tomorrow. Hope afterall is the only things the 170 million people of pakistan have. Since independence 60 years ago Pakistan has had a troubled past with numerous untimely elections and military governments running and plundering the country. The last puppet government mostly run by Genereal Pervaiz Musharaf and his puppeteers was the first one to complete a term in office amid allegations of rampant curroption and nepotism.

A country of poor folk where neccessities like cooking oil, flour, water, electricity and gas have become a rairty rather then norm has once again voted for another batch of people with empty promises who openly used and abused their povety for a vote. Political candidates used everthing the could think off to get the votes of the people, reportedly people have been promised/delivered bags of flour, tins of oil and fresh fruit among other neccesities but the most blatant disregard for ethics and morals has perhaps come from the incumbent party which has promised in some cases and sent money orders in other to the amount of Rs.1500/- for a vote.

Even though the atmosphere was tense the voter turnout seemed to be mediocre, it was noticed that educated people who seldom went out of their houses in past elections went out to vote for their favourite candidates, I went to 3 polling stations in the vicinity of DHA Lahore to observe and photograph. One of the stations had a good amount of people while the other two seemed rather quite, political parties had set up booths to assist their voters and I noticed a few complaints of names missing from the voters lists but in geneal things seemed to be running smoothly.

Absence and going ons

Hey, just felt like droping in here and writing something today. Its been a while since I was here and I do not think any of the few readers that were here are there anymore, this is sort of an explanation as to where I have been for those friends who have sent me emails asking where I am. I have been in Pakistan for the past month and a half on account of several things including some problems with my business and my sister's aproaching wedding which is Inshallah soon.

Other than a few visits to my farms and some work for the coming wedding I have been relatively free and have had time to reflect on a lot of things, I have studied the option of doing a project/NGO I had always dreamed of doing in Pakistan and did some research regarding that. Visited my childhood home which brought back nostalgic memories of vacations spent there, salvaged a lot of artwork from the house which was in ruin on account of the house being shut down for the last 8 years. It seems only like yesterday that I used to run around the mango and leychee orchards and catch butterflies and fireflies from the grounds, sometimes a lifetime seems like a few days at other times a month might seem like an eternity.

I will be leaving back for Dubai inshallah end of December and then I will be writing here regularly, right now I have limited access to the internet with the house full of wedding guests, Hope to catch up with you all soon.

Independence day & Internet

I finally had internet installed in my new home yesterday and so I should be back posting soon. A happy independence day to all my Pakistani and Indian readers.

Visa to Heaven . . . Don't educate your daughter

Looks like "Maulana Fazlullah" a notorious cleric from Swat in NWFP Pakistan has setup his visa issuing counslate that has been making promises of heaven to the poor uneducated masses of the region. Maulana Fazlullah is another product of the Afghan Soviet War, the remnants of which to this day are haunting the lives of millions of people in Pakistan. A known terrorist who is wanted by the government on numerous charges has to date, eveaded arrest; he was the only voice of support to the Lal Masjid Clerics and has sicnce the operation gone underground.

Maulana Fazlullah has made headlines in media all over the world by his claims that the Polio Eradication Program of WHO is a "conspiracy of the Jews and Christians to stunt the population growth of Muslims" he claims that polio vaccines cause impotence and thus the villagers should not get their children immunized. His propoganda has been quite successful and thousands of people have stopped vaccinating their children, there have been several attacks on medical teams in the area that have gone in to vaccinate the villagers.

His Latest Cause:
The maulana has now taken upon himself to stop the region from educating its women, after 60 years of independence, education was just starting to spread to the region for their women, the first generation of girls had started school and this idiot announces that education for women is unislamic, he has illegal short range FM stations running in several villages, and he uses them to spread his word that he clains is the word of God. Not only does he spread his word but he uses simple pshycology to have villages compete among themselves for entry into heaven by taking more children out of school. His drive has been quite successful with the region again falling into the dark ages. He has been successfully able to extinguish to light of education from the lives of thousands of young girls full of potential.

This nation has been used and abused by everyone for their own vested interests, the people have lost their will to florish they are merely existing, Where is the voice of reason, who is there to say something about the situation and fight for a cause withour fear, Why is no one doing something to silence this voice of darkness and bring light again into the lives of these simple folk who don't know right from wrong, may God help us all.

Back

Its been months since I wrote here and I did'nt think I would be back. Last few months have been quite heavy with work and family. Work had suddenly created a lot of tensions and though most of it is ironed out there are still a few things that are giving me headaches hopefully they will be sorted out soon. In the mean time I will try and keep posting on here. I just got back to the UAE last week after a 2 week break in Pakistan.

The whole time I was in Pakistan the "Red Mosque" saga was taking place, every TV station had the depressing scenes repeated every day 24 hours of the day. This was the firt time I was in Pakistan that I was'nt really happy about being there. Most situations in most countries improve with time but it seems Pakistan is drifting back in time, instead of things improving things are getting worse, whatever you look at, whatever you see is going bad like a crate of mangoes set out in the heat for a couple of days. It hurts to see where Pakistan is today and it hurts to know and feel that probably nothing is going to change. Those in whome we believe tend to let us down, I had hopes with General Musharraf when he took over, I had hoped that he would be the agent of change but alas he has like a million others fallen prey to the political and social culture that is Pakistan. I can only hope for a better tomorrow because hope is something that no one can take away from us.