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...