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Another website blocked

A website which provided information on a variety of things - its name is Wikipedia, known as the online encyclpaedia - has been blocked. Is there no end to this insanity? It goes without saying that the military regime is filled with absolute idiots. In what way will blocking this website in Pakistan affect the Pakistanis abroad. They will have access to it and will know what is in it. The blogs I publish I cannot see them. But the people living outside Pakistan can read them, because the stupid laws controlling the Internet in Pakistan do not apply beyond Pakistan's borders. People read all the 'salacious' and 'scandalous' news and comments about all the people who are msruling the country. Such stories the dams are being built because that the military regime wants to make lots of money from the contracts they handout, the kickbacks will go to all the ranking officers. Of course such stuff cannot be seen here but because my page is cannot be seen, but Pak

Monsters in the cabinet

The Federal Minister for Information (read propaganda) Sheikh Rashid, who had been for several years had been taking bribes from the newspaper and publication owners - for ensuring that the 7th Wage Award for the newspaper employees should not be implemented– has been replaced by a senator the new Information Minister is called Durrani. Durrani was expected to tell the owners of newspapers and publications to pay the 7th Wage Award – instead he announced to the journalists in Peshawar about the setting up of Media Cities – a frivolous idea. Durrani has shown without a doubt that if he is not just as corrupt and crooked as his predecessor he aps many times more. Durrani is going to demand huge bribes so that he does not make the payment of the 7th Wage Award obligatory. How strange the owners of newspapers and publications can afford to pay large bribes for preventing a law from being enforced, but do not have the money to pay freelance journalists a decent amount of mone

No money in writing

I tried to start out as a free-lance journalist and found out that the owners of newspapers (and publications) are prepared to publish, but they are not willing pay anything for any article. The situation is just as bad if one is working in newspapers - the employees of newspapers are underpaid and their effort is never appreciated. The fact that someone who can write is never paid explains why there no Pakistani novelists. Creativity is being killed. First the cinema was destroyed and now the publication industry will disappear. In local advertising agencies, copywriters are considered the most worthless of all the employees. The publication industry is resorting outright plagiarism and with the Internet it has become easier to copy entire articles and columns. So the value of someone who wants to make a living out of writing simply does not exist, because nearly all the publishing houses would print things for free - so they do not need people who want to be paid for their articl

Press barons on the loose

There can one of the two possibilities - either the government is league with the All Pakistan Newspapers Society so that the people working in newspapers should not get the 7th Wage Award, which has been pending for five years now or the other is that government is too terrified of the newspaper barons that they do not have the courage to defy them. Or the government is too inept to deal with such matters. The APNS is becoming increasingly daring and making statements that it wants the laws meant for the newspaper employees removed. Its like saying that law against murder should be removed because, it inconveniences the murderers and they should have the freedom to kill anyone they like and it should not be considered a crime, once it is not considered a crime, the police will never arrest them, they will never appear in court. Since it is not a crime they will never be imprisoned. They can just go on killing without any remorse or pity. The present government is adopting ultra-rig

Blogs timed out

Amazing I cannot view my blog page - I continuously receive 110 timed out error message. This happens when the ISPs have been ordered not let anyone in Pakistan see what I have been writing. Oh well so much for freedom of expression. The idiocy of all this is simply that everyone living abroad - particularly Pakistanis will be able to access my blog. It does not matter if my blogs are blocked over here, readers abroad will see them. There are a number of foreign based online newspapers covering events in Pakistan. Those websites are blocked. But people send the contents of those newspapers by sending them via e-mail. There are so many ways to subvert ridiculous restrictions which have been imposed. Censorship weakens governments - the reason is simple - the government does not know what the public opinion is. A classic example how dictators falls is the case of the former Romanian dictator Caucescu - in order to ensure that no one should spread things against him - had photocopyi

In The News no more

For 16 years I worked in The News – I was expecting to continue to work in it till I eventually retired. But that was not to be. I was unceremoniously fired on absolutely flimsy grounds. Another journalist who contested his termination from Business Record - Mr Baloch - contested his case for several years, he won in every single court. The owners of Business Recorder refused to concede defeat every time, they took the matter to the Supreme Court of Pakistan – even there they lost. Despite the rulings in favour of Mr Baloch in every court of the country, the owners of Business Recorder have refused to rehire him even then. The members of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society have marked as a trouble maker and have unanimously decided not to publish anything he submits, his career as a journalist is as good as dead. Somehow the Supreme Court of Pakistan is not able to make anyone follow its decisions. Business Recorder is also part of the all powerful crime syndicate the All Pakistan N

Even when the APNS loses, it still wins

The All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) the association of all the newspaper and publication owners in the country – is the most powerful organisation after the government Although it keeps losing cases in almost every court even up to the level of the Supreme Court of Pakistan - irrespective of the rulings, even of that of the apex court against them, the APNS stands defiant. It refuses acknowledge those decisions, with utter disdain. As if they are not legally oblighed to do anything at all. A number of people have contested cases of being fired illegally, the newspaper owners have prolonged such cases to the point that it has reached the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The poor people who win suchcases, even then do not get their jobs back, in fact the APNS gangs up against working journalists in particular – ensuring that they can never find a job in any publication, none of their reports and articles are ever published. thus their careers are permanentlty destroyed. The APNS is liv

Remembering Josh

Josh Mali Abadi a prominent poet - wrote a verse which angered the British authorities in India so much that he was detained him for a couple of days. The British Empire was crumbling because of World War II. As the saying goes the enemy of my enemy is my friend - hence Germany which was attacking Britain, was considered a friend. Hitler was greatly admired and Josh wrote his verse translated to "Oh great Hitler, drop a bomb in our name". The British authorities were were so upset that they arrested the poet. The slightest amount of dissent was not tolerated by the British rulers (despite their claims to be great upholders of democracy and human rights). During theri stay here, they had their clubs signs 'Dogs and Indians not allowed" When ''World War II' was going on another man set up an army to defeat the British in India. He allied himself with Germans and the Japanese - to end British oppression. But war took its toll on 'Great' Britain T

Pakistan is collateral damage

US forces bombed a village in Pakistan - believing terrorists were there. What they ended up doing is killing innocent Pakistanis in the name of 'War on Terrorism'. Yesterday it was a village, the next time around it could very well be a towns and then cities. US officials say 'Although the incident was regretable but the USA will be hit any place suspected to have terrorists'. Which only can mean one thing - the USA is prepared to destroy Pakistan in order to make the USA safer and perhaps the rest of the world. Are Pakistanis cattle? Is Pakistan the next Cambodia? The reason why I am mentioning Cambodia is because that country was bombed during the time when USA was fighting a war in Vietnam. Cambodia was suspected to enable Vietnamese forces from its northern part to attack the southern. Countless innocent Cambodians lost their lives as a result of massive and merciless bombing campaign carried out by the USA. Cambodia was devastated by the bombing campaign,

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.