Madspeak

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) which oversees the operation of TV cable operators and private radio stations – has no other function other than to harass legitimate TV cable operators and radio stations. It claims to maintain standards of morality and quality – but those standards are subject to change. Ever since the local cinema industry collapsed, the Censor Board as a single organisation has practically ceased to exist. Everyone who is in a position of power can clamp down not only on the electronic media but also on newspapers and other publications, whenever he wishes. The recent banning of certain TV channels, which the legitimate TV cable operators have paid the subscription for showing have been banned. Over 40 channels cannot be shown. These legitimate TV cable operators are saying that PEMRA’s decision was based on the fact that the owners of private TV channels did not want foreign TV channels to be shown – because they could not compete aga...

I sent an email to a relative in USA and it came back with the following message: AOL does not accept e-mail transactions from IP addresses whichgenerate complaints or transmit unsolicited bulk e-mail.Connecting IP: 202.133.64.4 while talking to mailing-03.mx.aol.com. The IP is of Pakistan - is AOL blocking all emails from Pakistan? Are other similar organisations doing the same?

I had to try at least five times to access this website. It is understandable that the moronic government would do this. With this website blocked because of all the things I have blogging against the government would never be seen. I received a number of error messages one was 110 timed out error, whatever that is supposed to mean. I use to love visiting Alt.com but now the government does not want me to access that website I get the message - 'connection failed - 113 timed out error' . The government is abiding by the following agenda: No blasphemy - meaning blaspheming against their version of Islam, no other religion. No criticism of the government and its incredibly stupid policies. No criticism of the military - no report that some military officer is dealing in drugs or murdering civilians. Or that all the major crimes like kidnapping for ransom and car theft are the things our army does best. People have no right to visit porn websites, watch Porn ...

When the president or prime minister are visiting Karachi - the traffic police become extraordinary vigilant and security forces are deployed. The road once known as Drigh Road now Shah Faisal road has been turned into one long stretch with no turns allowed anywhere - the reason being the unelected president and prime minister and travel in their massive hyper security convoys which is extensive with vans, ambulances and military truck even twenty cars and countless motorcycles. This is the kind of madness which takes over people who know very well that they are the most hated people in the country. People are fed up with rising prices. The ridiculous price of petrol and new cars. The lack of proper public transport. The digging up of the whole of Karachi because some greedy general wants to make a fast buck, the new roads will be so badly made that maintaining will be exorbitant. Shah Faisal road and several others are reserved for these hated leaders. --- Military greed knows ...

Bad laws increase corruption, because they are impossible to enforce. Take the law against serving meals in wedding ceremonies - no matter how well intentioned this law is, the rich and powerful easily whenever they like. Serving meals in wedding ceremonies is a time honoured tradition - if the place where the wedding has taken place a banquet hall for instance and meals are not served there, then the alternative is to hold a seperate party discretely with caterers waiting to serve the gues. Perhaps the worst law was banning of liquor. Those who were in a habit at least one glass of their favourite drink every evening, where denied that. The ban on liquor forced many people to become heroin addicts and thus ruining their lives. Those who could afford to have smuggled liquor at exorbitant rates were also in a position to bribe officials just by giving them best wine or any other liquor. When people go to parties where liquor is served, they drink as if they will never get any afterwards...

Since the time of the first military dictator General Ayub Khan - the day on which Eid is to take place has become a matter of superstition. It is said that some fortune teller told the former dictator that Eid is going to take place on Friday, which is not good sign for his regime, he could be toppled from power. The dictator was so worried that he hastily formed a committee of mullahs called the Ruet-I-Hilal Committee. This committee was assigned the task of announcing when the moon is to be sighted. This committee announced that Eid would take place on Thursday and not on Friday. So there were two Eids - the official one announced by the committee and the second one which was according to the calendar. Those who have absolute power become extremely superstitious. The Ruet-i-Hilal Committee still exists long after General Ayub Khan was ousted. People no longer bother to observe the calendar they just go by what the committee says. But in several parts of country Eid takes place o...

When the Information Minister Sheikh Rashid was asked about the damage and in particular the loss of life, he was completely vague. As is the habit of military government to hide facts - the damage caused by the earthquake was not confirmed. Lot of questions would be asked as to why the roads were so badly constructed? Why there was no access to the worst hit areas. Lot of lives may have been saved and lot of damage could have been avoided if more money had been spent on infrastructure. Strangely enough there is not even enough money to conduct a domestic relief effort - aid it is being sought from abroad because whatever the government has is squandered on absolutely useless things. Only later was the information about the extent of loss of life and the devastation revealed. It is a long tradition of the government to avoid reporting bad news. The general perception is if such things are reported it may reflect badly on the overall performance of the government. Now with the accept...

(President) General Musharraf said 'the easiest way a woman to become a millionaire is to be gang raped report it and be compensated for her traumatic experience by the government, it is also the easiest way for such a woman to obtain a visa and live abroad' . Later he denied ever having said this. The only reason which can explain why he made that statement was that he most probably was drunk though liquor is banned here. Although there could be some other reason is that he is a misogynist. Later he denied that he ever made that state Women here have not forgiven him - they want his head. They want not only him out but also all the members of his regime which have committing one blunder after another. The stories of gang rape and terrible torture of women are appearing regularly in the newspapers. This disease existed but no one dared reported, the scale of the epidemic was never known. When the self-made president of the country endorses rape, what hope is there?

The job of a journalist is based on news, news is work. To expect a journalist a specific number of hours in a newspaper office is absurd. Putting hours does not make news. Only when something happens which can happen at any time that is when a journalist is expected to work. It is a royal waste of time and energy to expect to put in 7 or 8 hours even there is no news. --------------- News item: A man gets fired for eating left over pizza. Opinion: What a flimsy excuse for throwing people out of jobs. Employers should not be allowed to have so much power as to throw people out on a whim. Employees should have rights, the quality of their work should determine whether they ought to stay in a job. Besides would it have killed the owners of the company if someone ate left over pizza? Firing people on such things is essentially inhuman if not absolutely evil.

At first I use to imagine that there was something wrong with my computers, both at home and office - that all the emails I sent to my famiy and friends in the USA were returning and there some error message which said that email address could not be found. I kept trying and continued failing, using my own ISPs email service or the various email services available on the World Wide Web. I found out I was not imagining anything, my family, friends and colleagues were all having the same problem. There was simply no way for anyone to contact anyone in the USA. I talked to the ISP people and they said all their clients were suffering the same. Then a few days back I received a phone call from a friend, who lives in the USA, he was furious with me. "What is wrong with your computer? I have been sending you emails for past several months." I did not know what to say, I do not have the technical expertise on this matter. But it is obvious that not only can anyone send emails to ...

A publication called 'sach bolna jurm hai' was banned and all its copies were confiscated. The literal translation of the title of the publication - Expressing The Truth Is A Crime. By confiscating the publication and banning it, only proves its publisher's point, that expressing the truth is definitely a crime. Even by losing his licence to publish and having the copies his recent edition destroyed, he has won - but the stupid the government is too stupid to realise this. There is obviously there is not cure for this insanity - as the saying goes - power corrupts........

What could be more obscene that Shaukat Aziz the prime minister and Chaudhry Shujaat who had promised that the Wage Award to the newspaper employees, which has been pending for the past five years would be paid this month in August. Instead these two 'leaders' left the country on their 'official' visits. How long with this injustice last, how long with the newspaper employees have to wait til the Wage Award is paid along with arrears of the past five years?

Minister Awais Ahmed Khan Legari in 2003 in a move to 'preserve public decency' ordered that all 'objectionable' websites be banned. Instead of improving thing it did exactly the opposite - the number humiliating crimes against women bmany times more. The present military regime supports the outrabegously obscene of sentencing women to gang rape - it they do not adhere to tribal laws. In these two years more violent sex crimes have been reported - simply because manic intolerance of any kind is being promoted. Whether 'objectionable' websites are bad or not - 'Objectionable' a euphamism for pornographic, at least instead of going around on a rampage to hurt others, people sat in front of their computers and watched what was being shown. The on going catch phrase these days is -"don't watch do something about it" - it is being encouraged officially particularly by people like Minister Awais Ahmed Khan Legari who is a known woman...

It is strange to learn about how employees are treated. Close circuit cameras are not meant for security purposes, they are used to monitor employees. A worker is required to 12 hours or more standing - with not a minute to rest. If any employee is seen sitting down, or leaning against the wall to take a breather is immediately fired without a moments notice. It is as if people are machines are expected to perform as such. They are also underpaid. What also has gone is the concept of the monthly salary and pensions are out of the question - people are fired prior to the time they reach retirement age. A person is useful only as long he continues to work at his peak level, his prior performance is of no consequence. In such inhuman environment there can be no respect and loyalty towards the employer. Why should anyone work with absolute dedication when he (or she) knows that he could be fired at a moment's notice? An employees previous performance is treated as history a loyal worke...

The entire Internet service had collapsed recently. The problem is said to be the damage to the undersea cable. But it could very well be entirely different reason. For several years the Internet was easy to access and the government did not resort blocking websites. The collapse of the Internet could most likely be because of the result widespread blocking of websites by government. Internet experts had warned that the Internet access would be slowed down to a crawl because many websites were being blocked. The slowdown of the Internet coulc eventually have resulted in its eventual collapse. The Internet's collapse was not due to a cable fault but when data flow is hindered intensely filtered. It would have been best if the Internet's operation had been left alone and this dabbling in interfering in data flow is dangerous. It is impossible to tell which every website contains, so the government resorted to massive blocking of the Internet. If the government continues to b...

The price of petrol has been increased 7 times and the country's Finance Adviser says it will not affect the economy. I do not know about the economy but I am paying more and more for petrol and my salary has not increased, it is not enough one day petrol will eventually become as expensive as gold or more. Its people like Dr. Salman Shah who do not announce anything during the budget announcement, later start telling the people that everything is going to be more expensive later at the same time say it will not make any difference to the economy. Dr. Salman Shah says this because he does not have to pay for the petrol of his limousine - it is free for him Why should he not drive around in his limousine and pay for petrol from his own pocket instead on relying on the government. The day he starts doing that he will realise what he has done, he will scream. The price of petrol is high because it has 300 per cent taxes on it. If those taxes are removed the petrol would be m...

For anyone who needs to have a new passport, there is office is located in a place called ‘Awami Markaz’ in the city. It is not really The Passport Office, it is the office where the documents for making passport are prepared. It is just another way for the government forget the military regime to make the life of the people as miserable as possible Instead making the acquiring of passports a simple one there is a terrible, unnecessary long and tedious procedure which have to be followed. Tax payers have every right to demand that the government should issue passports free of charge instead of being asked to pay for them as passports are a fundamental right of every citizen in the country. The passport office at ‘Awami Markaz’ is a hellish place, because countless people are standing in line for hours on end. When the procedure of the documents is completed the passports are issued at another office which was originally was the place where passport office and is located wh...

General Muharraf made lawyers who were keen on staying as judges or becoming take the oath Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) the acronym PCO. He introduced this immediately after overthrowing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. PCO essentially to protect Musharraf and the members of regime from being tried for any crimes they commit. Essentially Musharraf has made himself above the law in every respect. As if the day he is overthrown PCO will not be removed and he and all the members of regime not be executed or jailed. Musharraf does not care about the consequences of his actions, he does not care about the immense resentment he has created amongst the people. When General Ayub Khan came to power he made his own constitution, which no bothered about once he was removed, because General Yahya Khan trashed that constitution. When ZA Bhutto became prime minister he made a constitution which General Zia-ul-Haq trashed. Now General Musharraf introduced PCO, the Legal Framework Order whic...

Who or what is Chaudhry Shujaat? He was the prime minister after Jamali . No one knows what kind of influence he has on the existing military regime. It is said that Chaudhry family is responsible for being the real power behind the throne. No general can stay in power if they end up offending the Chaudhry's. They can can make and break politicians. Some even say they played a pivotal role in the creation of Bangladesh. If East Pakistan had remained, then Bengalis would be in all key positions of the government and the miltiary. The result would be the influence of the Chaudhry's would have been reduced considerable. The miltiary and Chaudhry's are mutually dependent. One cannot do without the other. These are parasites. They will even destroy the country if it suits them. No one knows what Chaudhry Shujaat's game is. What he wants. All he wants is that nothing should change. No should threaten the interests of the feudal lords, the tribal chiefs and the mullahs. The ...

The workers of Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited (PTCL) have been on strike for some time now. But the strike instead of benefitting them in anyway has resulted in exactly the opposite. The military has decided to take over PTCL and get rid of the employees who are on strike. The military is already running electricity and water supply operations - which are substandard. The reason given for the military takeover of PTCL is to ensure that the company can be sold to some prospective investor, the strike by the employees of the company has to do with the fact that they are afraid of losing their jobs. The 'privatisation' of PTCL endangers the livlihood of all the employees of PTCL If the answer of all the problems is a military takeover, one can only wonder who is manning our borders and who is actually involved in defending the country? The military's functions is to get involved in all kinds of scams, schemes and full fledged racketeering. The military is not ...

I am a regular visitor of Clifton Block 2 , Karachi - which is still in a stage of being developed. Although most of the area has been converted into a proper residential area, a piece of land was allotted for a park. When the development of the area would be completed the park would be completed as well. However the plot remained a barren piece of land because most of Clifton Block 2 has yet to be developed. Things such as roads being properly paved and above a water supply system. Making of the park was the last thing to do, however its boundry wall was recently built. Everyone who lives there knew that the land was meant for a public park. But on a regular basis attempts were being to turn it into land mosque. Mosques are money minting machines for those own them. Because outside the mosque small shops open up they are sublet by whosoever owns the mosque. Besides building a mosque is the best way steal land – because if a mosque demolished, even if it is an illegal construction is ...

Every year the 'government' announces what they called is the annual budget. Nothing ever changes. All the money goes to three - the incompetent military, the absolutely corrupt civil servants and the rest is used to pay back huge loans. As can be expected there is nothing for healthcare and education, the amount is so low it is not even worth mentioning. The budget announcement is really an announcement of new taxes on virtually everything or how much more taxes or how much more has been added to existing taxes. Since the country is run by the military and its slaves the civil servants and myriad advisors ( there can never be a democracy when the head of state is a military dictator) - all the allocations announced in the budget are to enrich the military regime nothing else. In the absence of democracy - rejection of the budget is not an option and can never be. When the time to announce the annual budget comes around everyone in the country is terrifiecd. They are alrea...

For someone who has never ever done a job before and never been given any kind of career counselling by any who is genuinely a professional in this field, the hardest thing to know is what to demand in terms of salary and benefits and that is exactly what happened when I was hired by an advertisisng agency. Because I loved to write I became a copywriter, instead of being an account executive (as it was known in those days) to fawn in front of advertisers. But as time went by I discovered that the advertising agency which I had joined and the other advertising agencies I which I would eventually worked in, I learnt that the job of a copywriter was absolutely redundant, because the owner of the advertising agency considered himself as the world's greatest creative genius and knew exactly what kind of ads need to be made. So someone working as copywriter was really of no use. Becoming an account executive was not something I had any interest in doing, but since there were no other o...

The FBI has been around here for some years now. Practically taking over much of the work of the local police. If law enforcement has been handed to the FBI, that is great, we can disband our own police force - which save a lot of the taxpayers money. Why stop at the FBI have the entire police force in the USA come and stay here - imagine them trying to control the traffic in Karachi. Jokes aside, the more obvious reasons for the FBI's presence is to prevent terrorism - but that does not mean terrorism in Pakistan it means terrorism in the USA. But from what I been hearing the FBI is doing a great deal more than that, things which the Pakistani police are better at doing. But under the prevailing circumstances, it has become obvious that the way our police handles is not to the satisfaction of the FBI. The FBI has become a sort of Big Brother type organisation, every Pakistani is guilty until proven innocent. Things have come to such a state that everything that Pakistanis do or s...

There are endless articles appearing in a variety of newspapers that people should learn English. What the writers forget is that English is not exactly a perfectly spoken language - it is altered over a period of time. The type of English whch almost those columnists mention could very well be Latin. They have complete disdain for the type of English which people speak here. This English has its own pronounciations, its own spellings and a variety of phrases have competely different meanings. No one speaks what is sometimes called 'Queens English' or even 'Kings English', people speak as they understand or think it is right. The rules of grammar which seem to be carved in stone are shattered. As long as one person can understand the other, without having to be too academic about it. The columnist forget that the English they want is also changing in the countries where it is spoken, because it is the only language they know. In Pakistan people speak several ...

Imagine BBC telling its viewers who watch its programmes 'Click Online' - about the great porn websites it has found, but that of course would never happen. But this programme does tell its viewers about completely worthless websites. The websites which have been found are meant for kids. Grown ups have no use for them. Then there are websites about where news can be found, the BBC will never advertise an alternative news source. The claims of BBC being impartial and balanced absolute rubbish.

When the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) won the majority vote in West Pakistan - the reasons were for what it stood for - it had nothing to do with the people who led it. The slogan 'Roti, kapra aur Makan' meaning 'Bread, clothes and housing for all' was powerful and elections proved it was also was very popular. Other political parties relied on nationalism and religion or some other values which did not benefit anyone. The PPP enforced all the International Labour Organisation's conventions. This brought about a major change in an otherwise extremely repressed society. The previleged and the rich could literally get away with murder - people were not employees - they were absolute slaves. There were no laws protecting them. Many businessmen who had become accustomed to the old ways of runing their businesses with absolute disregard for the people they had hired realised they were not going to get away with any kind of abusive behaviour and not forcing people be...

There was this anecdote of a prostitute who was infected with multiple sexual trasnmitted diseases (STD) obviously as a result of unprotected sex with her customers. Eventually when one of her customers was suffering from AIDS, she knew nothing about the disease - anyway he paid for her services and left. The strangest thing was her body's immune system was so overactive protecting her from all the diseases she was suffering or could have ended up suffering from - but she showed no sign of illness, when AIDS entered her body - it was neutralised. This was found out by a survey team trying to find out about the prevalence of AIDS amongst prostitutes. This particular prostitute was unique her body's immune system did not fall apart due to AIDS. Only goes to show that unless the human body's immune has something to do, it will become weak. Intensely sanitised societies and with tremendous stress on hygiene all the time weakens the immune system, because there is nothing ...

Holding hands and touching - is in a spirit of friendship, closeness - it does not make anyone uncomfortable. Nothing is made it out of such things here. It is fairly common to touch and pat, or have ones arms over another's shoulder - the sentiment is simply a sort mutual respect for one another nothing else. However any form of touching is considered seriously unacceptable by whom are referred to as Westerners. For them touching is seriously offensive if not downright criminal and their reaction is exremely obnoxious. But they are baffled in the way people conduct themsleves in public here. They cannot understand why no one reacts with rage. A term I found out was a new development - 'privacy space' an invisible barrier beween one person and another. Which is downright inhuman. A violation of this space is reason enough for being rude and generally behave badly. Distancing oneself from all others. The idea of being aloof and absolutely indifferent is a dangerous dev...

It is well known that many people cannot afford to pay doctors and hospitals - which automatically results in their death. The extremely poor die anyway - because they never get to eat the proper food and do not have access to clean drinking water. The do not have the right clothes and have no shelter, these people are going to die - these are the nameless, faceless lot whom no one cares to know about. So the question about caring for such people and really trying to save their lives - that will never happen. Euthanasia is a very controversial issue, just as capital punishment is. The right for the state to decide as to who should die and should live. What a clever way for someone to commit murder withouit ever getting caught - in the case of capital punishment an innocent person can be framed, lots of fake evidence and lots of people blatantly committing perjury and thus this person ends up being executed for a crime he did not commit. Later it is found out that he really was in...

Yesterday nigh I saw a convoy of cars and vans, people were being asked to participate in 'million man march' against a propsed plan to privatise the examination board system - the organisation is sponsored by the Agha Khan. What is surprising though that no one has proposed a similar march against rising prices of virtually everything. People should be demonstrating en masse against the outrageous increase in prices of practically everything. It is surprising no political party has taken up this issue. Of course one can rule out religious polical parties - they have no agenda, no manifesto except how to promote religion. They do not take up issues such as rising prices, growing unemployment, crime and suicides. They also have no charitable function. As for the other political parties - it is surprising that the problems faced by ordinary people does not interest them - they may make lot of noises in the parliament - but do not have the courage to call for a mass protest a...

How silly can people be - just because no one posts a reply to my blogs - does not mean they haven't been seen - where I had written my blog - has a system whereby it can block websites. What I wrote must have infuriated a lot of people - it only goes to show that what I am 'blogging' is being read and driving people crazy. Oh well there goes the freedom of expression!!

General Musharraf's junta has increased price of virtually everything. Milk, flour, petrol and gas have become terribly expensive. The cost of electricity, telecommunications and air fares are ridiculously high. This military dictatorship has become intolerable - the criminal increase in price of things should not go unpunished. It is obvious the military does not care what anyone thinks. It imagines public opinion is of no consequence. But when public opinion turns into a mass uprising it will be impossible to control and manage. The military officers will shed the uniforms and hide their ranks and pretend they have no association with the military. Military rule always has will always mean absolute corruption. Military dictators have absolute power and that means they are absolutely corrupt. They do not represent anyone except the members of their junta. The present democracy is a facade - Shaukat Aziz imported from abroad was finance mininster now he is prime minister. He has no...

Everyone who is doing a job does so because he (or she) is unable to do any kind of business. Everyone who is doing business is either fortunate to have inherited it, or started it. But the problem is that businessmen and workers are members of the state - so under the laws of the state - both enjoy rights and previleges. It cannot be that all the businessmen should have all the rights and previleges and benefits and the workers should have none. A businessmen have to employ but the right to fire anyone on a whim should never exist. All workers have the right to put in a specific number of hours and be paid for them. The example of a venal form of capitalism is that of a chief accountant of a company who sorted out the accounts of his employer. He worked round the clock, even worked on weekends, did not take a single leave. The day he made his presentation of the work he had done before the management. He was congratulated for the great work he had done. No sooner was the chief...

It is an old tradition of our newspapers is to announce the names ‘top three’ position holders of any examination. Which is nothing but a statistical improbability, because out of tens of thousands of students appearing in an exam it is ludicrous that only three students should fully comprehend the subjects they were taught. If this is true then it would mean that all the other candidates for the exams are complete idiots who could not understand the subjects they were taught. There is something seriously wrong with this, either all should fail all should get equal marks because they were all given the same subjects to study hence should provide the same results. It is impossible to believe that only three students every year get the topmost marks while the rest lag behind. No one studies in order to fail one seeks admission in an educational institution so that one gets an opportunity to learn. No one will invests in anything in which the chances of failure is the most likely outcome....

In Islamabad a residential area has come under control of an authority (which has been praised to the skies0 - it only means the people living in that residential area will not the previlege represenatation. They will be subject to the whims and fancies of the those who run the administration of the authority. Instead of being called a housing society in which all the people living in the residential area had a say in the problems which they faced - now those rights have been taken away from them. It is as if the people cannot be trusted to look after their own interests. In Karachi the Defence Housing Authority exists it is a part of the Cantonment Board. A cantonment use to a British military base and housing area. These should have been done away after 1947 - but they continued. The military not only runs the country, it is also the biggest real estate businessmen. The military has also entered the education business - providing dubious degrees to students. When the most hated and ...

The anti-smoking campaign has been around for over 20 years, cigarette ads and packs of cigarettes state the harmful effects of smoking. But even then people smoke, obviously the anti-smoking campaign does not work. I doubt very much that cigarettes are addictive as it is claimed. I tried smoking - it had no effect! I never developed the 'habit' . I can only assume that most people smoke more for social reasons than anything else. Perhaps some people have the tendency to get addicted or they choose to get addicted. One of the most potent argument smokers present is 'No one lives forever' and the other is 'live healthy and die healthy'. Unlike excessive alcohol consumption, cigarettes have yet to prove that they are a social menace. A person who drinks too much can become a menace to society, his behaviour is a danger to everyone, particularly his family provided he has any. No warning labels exist on the bottles of alcohol beverages - althoug...

Considering the way people protested about the building of new consulate for the USA in Karachi - only shows how fed up people of the city have become with - diplomats of not only the USA but also of other countries, who are demarcating entire city areas as if they are their private turf. It has become irritating. Not only the flow of traffic is affected but also anyone passing by the offices and residences is considered suspect as if everyone in the city is a terrorist. A perfectly law abiding citizen is treated like a common criminal. It would be better if the consulates, all the foreigners who feel insecure in Karachi, would be start living elsewhere. It is a matter to note that as long as the Cold War lasted, the friendly face of all envoys was seen. There were cultural events. But as soon as the Cold War ended the envoys became blatantly obnoxious and hostile. First it was ' How to make friends and influnce people' the opposite 'How take enemies, coerce, irritate...

Starting a career in advertising – every advertising agency is one man show. The person who owns the advertising agency – is the only copywriter and creative director. There is no place for anyone who chooses to be a copywriter, there never was and there never ever will be. In all companies whether they are advertising agencies or not have one thing in common the person who is the most incompetent, the most stupid is more likely to be promoted. Promotion is based the heights of incompetence one can rise to. This idea cost the life of the former Prime Minister ZA Bhutto who promoted the apparently the most idiotic generals and who had track record of complete incompetence – to the top ranking position in the army. He was none other than General Zia-ul-Haq. He overthrew ZA Bhutto’s government and had him executed. But the concept of promoting a complete moron is the fear that a smarter person would threaten the position of the person at the top. An incompetent and stup...

The junta has done it again, blocking all the roads of Karachi – because of another dubious international fanfare which goes by the name of Expo 2005. The junta is above the law and has no consideration for anyone, causing huge traffic jams where should be none. Entire areas have shut off so that the movement of traffic is curtailed. Not even ambulances are allowed to get through, although have right of way, because they are on a mission to save lives. Just like the previous IDEAS exhibition where the same moronic behaviour was displayed. Whenever the existing ‘prime minister’ and ‘president’ is in the city, the entire city areas are blocked. What is worse the junta has recently increased the price of petrol has been increased by 110% and the ‘prime minister’ says inflation is only 7%. So all the people who waiting forced traffic jams with their engines running were going nowhere at all, waiting for hours before they got anywhere. Be it IDEAS, Expo 2005 or if the ‘prime ...

It is said that slavery has come to an end in this day and age, but nothing can be further from the truth. The large feudal lords of Sindh and Punjab are above the law in every sense. All the people working on their farms are slaves or serfs. Slavery also exists amongst the tribes, tribesmen are nothing more than slaves of their chiefs, they are not entitled to any pay for their services. What has become a threat to their way of life is industrialisation. The employment of people and paying them salaries on a monthly basis. But it will take a very long time when slavery will ever end. All these slaves have forfeited every bit of their dignity for the singular purpose of survival. Those who can escape to the city, mainly Karachi where the majority of the factories are located do so. But it takes a tremendous amount of courage to do so. The concept of industrialisation and job creation is still an alien one. The existing system can never bring about true democracy when most...

When mobile phones were first introduced they were large bulky items, the size of most cordless phones of these days. But now they have shrunk in size and have so many features that fill an entire book. In the beginning they could only be owned by those who very rich, nowadays - almost everyone has them including kids. The original need for these phones was entirely business purposes just like personal computers use to be. Businessmen of large companies found the phones useful to make their deals while on the move in the chauffeur driven cars or were in not in their offices and were elsewhere. Well that was the original idea till their prices dropped and their features increased. In the beginning owning a mobile phone was a symbol of prestige, people would hauling them around in parties as if they were a luxury item. Today only those people make a show of their phones if they are really very expensive and have countless features in them although they may never use them or...