Madspeak

Not everyone is so bold as to fall in love and get married - they agree to an arranged marriage. Men and women go blindly into a relationship, because their parents have told them to do so. The criteria is wealth and family background. But there is one matter which both the parents of the groom and bride ignore - it is the health of the two. Does any one of them have any hereditary disease like thalassemia, diabetes and hypertension? If any one of them does they are bound to have diseased children. No one considers other factors such if any of them is HIV positive or not. Did the man suffer from mumps -which would make completely unsuitable for marriage. There are some problems such as impotence in men and frigidity in women. Is either of them fertile or not. There are issues of sexual preferences, is the man completely gay and the woman completely lesbian - but such things are taboo no one wants to talk about such things it is embarrassing and illegal. It is high time health ...

When I received my monthly telephone bill of Rs 3500, I was shocked beyond belief. My regular bill was has been for a long time Rs 750 and if I made several international calls I naturally expected to be billed more. Around Rs 1500 which was the maximum. Dial-up for the Internet was treating as one call and there was no multi-metering charges now there are. I wrote to several newspapers and even local TV channels about this increase in the land line telephone charges. It appears as though the government wants to destroy PTCL. The local media was completely indifferent about this. Anyway regarding the charges, for the same amount of money I could buy a new mobile phone or buy a used full-featured mobile phone. Why should I rely on the only land line telephone company in the country Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL). Why should PTCL have this blind authority to charge as it pleases and why does the government's Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) let it...

So far there is no indication the candidates of the two US political parties intend to end USA ’s military involvement in the world Seemingly it does not concern the people of the USA , they are not like the activists who wanted the end of the Vietnam war. They are content with their lives, what happens abroad does not concern them anymore, one of the reasons is that they are do not know enough. During the Vietnam war the media was free and could report everything which was happening in the Vietnam war. With the media under absolute control - with ‘embedded journalists’ they only report what the military will allow them to report. If the US media actually free then the facts would speak for themselves and the people would know what is really going on. But when the media is entirely in the pocket of the US establishment there can never be any truth. People will only know what the establishment will let them. The result is there is an air of absolute apathy and in...

The newspaper and publication owners are asking the new prime minister not to make them implement the newspaper employees wage award. They did the same thing with former prime minister and he took tremendous bribes from these people at the cost of his own job. If the present prime minister chooses to do the same, it is entirely approach. Journalists do not too kindly to leaders who betray them. It is the work of journalists which enables newspapers,(publications and the electronic media) be in a position to bring the stories which bring about changes in society and the way politics is conducted in the country - whether there should be dictatorship or democracy. Journalists work hard at their jobs and deserve to be paid well. The newspaper and publication owners do not see it that way. They do not want to pay anything at all, although get lots of money from advertisements and sales - the government is by far the biggest advertiser. If the prime minister chooses to side with newspaper o...

On every Bakra Eid, all kinds of livestock throngs Karachi. The stench of these animals fills the air, besides they attract tremendous amount of flies - by their presence alone within the city is in itself a health-hazard. The entire city is turned into on gigantic cattle pen. Just because it is a religious duty it does not necessarily mean that people should choose to ignore the various diseases which these animals are likely to suffer from. The livestock owners who bring them over to the city are desperate to get rid of them - either because they are suffering from some kind of disease or another or that they are too old. Some of these animals suffering from internal bleeding due to some injury or perhaps of some sort of disease. Many livestock owners have their animals medicated, those medicines are in the bloodstream and some end up in the kidneys. Some of these are so sick in order to make look healthy they are overdosed with drugs long enough to survive and be sold during Bakra...

The violence which ensued after Benazir Bhutto's assassination was far worse than her death. The rioting and violence which ensued immediately appeared too staged to be genuine many people died and select areas were damaged, cars were destroyed. Tactics normally employed by the MQM. Coming back to the matter of Benazir Bhutto, she got herself elected life chair-person of the PPP, turning it a one person party, no democratic process within the political party, which meant no one else would have the opportunity to lead the party. Benazir's father ZA Bhutto won the election in West Pakistan, was not because of who he was, rather what he stood for. It was his socialist stand and improving the conditions of ordinary people - the destitute and poor were made aware of their rights. The PPP won in West Pakistan, thrashing all the political parties peddling religion. The PPP party slogan was 'roti, kapra aur makan" meaning bread, clothing and shelter for all. This was th...

Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) is distributing to its customers information update forms. There are a number of problems related to this updating of information. Karachi is a cosmopolitan city, it is not some sleepy village where people who never look for any other place stay. Karachi is in perpetual state of flux and it is practically impossible keep up with such constant changes: The information once updated by SSGC becomes out of date, as soon as it has been submitted People are constantly changing their premises, they may give information of where they were once living in, but the owners or tenants will make changes in those premises, so that information becomes out of date. The former owners are living elsewhere and have nothing to with the those premises. The people who have shifted to new premises cannot be expected to provide requisite details, because they have yet to know the place they are living in. There can never give an accurate a...