Skip to main content

Posts

Karachi - a city without water

The previous military dictator – General Zia-ul-Haq introduced water supply racketeering. The water pipelines blocked or removed and water is supplied via tankers. The tankers were owned by military officers who earned a lot of money by supplying water all over the city. This racketeering continues to this day with General Musharraf’s blessings. All the military officers have a complete control over the water supply system. Instead of people receiving directly into their homes, they are forced to rely on water tankers, for which they have to pay for. To add insult to injury – an annual water supply bill is sent to the people living in any part of Karachi – although water is not being supplied. The most common question is ‘If water can be supplied via a water tanker, why cannot the same amount of water not be supplied directly through the pipeline?’. This racketeering is unlikely to be stopped as long as the military remains in power. Although a normal supply of water is possibl

Another New Year's eve ruined

Again all the restaurants, hotels were shut down. The way to the beach blocked. There is no specific law but officials make every attempt is made to stop merry making of any kind. This has been going for years. The mad Mullahs speak up against New Year's eve celebrations. As if enjoying oneself is some kind of terrible sin. There is no point on delving in this - it has become s pattern of our existence the people want to enjoy themselves - they will do everything in their power to circumvent the power of the officials and of the mad Mullahs. The more the military regime wants to quash merry making the more resistance they face. It may not be long when they people practically revolt and overthrow oppression of any kind.

PEMRA’s greed

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

Is it just AOL?

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?

Blocking blog again

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

VIP roads

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

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

Moon sighting madness

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

Earthquake and clueless Information Minister

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

Presidential rape

(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?

Bits and pieces

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.

USA delinked

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

clamping down on truth

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........

Wage Award: backtracking on promises

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 belongs in the lunatic asylum

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

The gates of hell

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

Internet collapse

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

Dr Salman Shah is insane

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

Passport office a madhouse

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

The law of the jungle

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