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Communication overload

The Internet and mobile phones have created a very unique situation. Children growing up in this digital age - when they first find out about how easy it is to stay in touch with their friends - all the time - end up discovering that when they meet there is nothing to talk about because they have already said all that was to be said - together they are moping and scratching their heads wondering what to talk about - however they learn very quickly not stay in touch at all and only talk with each other when they meet. The biggest disaster of all are family pictures. A baby a barely born and his (or her) first moments are instantly recorded and sent - in fact a several hours long video are sent particularly by new parents. Pictures and videos of engagements and weddings are not only very boring but in order to see all of them will take several hours, but no one has the time or the inclination to see. Such things were thrilling in the beginning - now they have eventually become te

Health of the bride and groom

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

Telephone charges and the media

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

Will the next US President end the wars?

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 Prime Minister and the newspaper employees wage award

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

Sacrificial animals health hazard

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

Benazir's death a massive tragedy?

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 information village mentality

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

Worsening conditions of banks

After the local banks were denationalised - things have become worse - both for those who were employed in them and for those who have their accounts in them. Many bank employees were fired without thinking twice about the consequences - one of the many factors which have led the major disturbances in the country. The account holders are treated with absolute indifference. If their checque book has finished and have applied for a new one, if the new one is not collected within 60 days then the new checque book is destroyed - conveniently forgetting that the checque book belongs to the account holder and the bank has no business destroying it. It should keep it in trust so that the account holder can collect at has own convenience. An organisation called NIFT and the State Bank of Pakistan has prevented the banks from keep new checque books for more than 60 days and are required to destroy them. Whosoever invented this rule is a blithering idiot. Banks encourage people save money in

Conspiracy conspiracy

There are several websites entirely devoted to all kinds of conspiracy theories. Those theories may or may not be true - but then one can never certain what is reported in several respected media sources. My experience as a journalist has taught me that no one should believe everything what they read, hear or see even from some of the trusted media sources. Because many times they get the facts absolutely wrong. Almost all the time the news is given an angle and the common spin and plausible deniability The real story is buried inside a large amount of text and once that particular news item is heavily edited the facts emerge and quite possibility seriously embarrass a lot of people. One of problems with conspiracy websites is that none of them have any email addresses - or any other forwarding address. there is really no way to contact them. Even if there are email addresses most of the time they turn out to be fake - so it makes all those conspiracy theories sound like monologues an

No one can topple Musharraf?

The BBC did an assessment about as to who are the likely candidates within the military and intelligence services who if they could they would be able get rid (president) General Musharraf - the BBC's analysis concluded that there really was no one. Despite the second martial law (so called emergency) by this bastard General Musharraf - disturbances in the country and he is completely unable to do anything about them; the local media however shut down does not mean the reports of events are not being reported - the shortest route for the world to know what is happening in Pakistan is through India and everyone then the entire world finds out. The general has made a mess of practically everything. He does not know what he should do about the myriad problems which exist, because he never really intended to govern the country, he never had an agenda as to how to make things happen. All his time has been spent enjoying himself and granting favours to his cronies. He resorted to

What is education?

The answer the purpose of education is to EDUCATE. Education is not about examinations, homework or classwork periods and class (grade) system. It is about providing students - knowledge, understanding and to indulge their deep curiosity of so many subjects and that there are in the world. Besides introducing them the enormous variety of subjects which exist in the world. Understanding by accessing to a great deal of sources of information. Many which may contradict one another. Provide proof fill in gaps in data. Education is about ideas and their orgins, it is information and its origins. The more we know the better we understand – but in the given circumstances, students are never encouraged to do this. Education is about the letting students know about the vast number of subjects which exist give them an idea is what can be learnt at least have an idea as to what kind knowledge exists in the world. None of this has anyting to do with thoroughly memorising a handfu

A general running for elections?

How idiotic can things be that a military officer, who is still in service and continues to remain in service is going to contest elections this year!? General Musharraf has refused to step down as the commander-in-chief of the army and the other ridiculous military titles which he continues to hold. Suddenly he believes in democracy. In that case every military officer should be promoted by the soldiers only vote for them - there should be absolute democracy in the army. But that does not happen because - officers are promoted by some stupid committee. The same which made promoted Musharraf to the rank of general. General Musharraf is a usurper and a traitor - he has no right to contest any election. An official from the USA has asked the general to resign from the armed forces and contest elections - but will General Musharraf heed this advice? The general knows resigning from the armed forces is no an option because he would have to explain - how he got power and what gives him t

Musharraf: No surrender, no retreat

General Musharraf - imagined it would be smooth sailing once he grabbed power. He imagined the people of Pakistan are docile and absolutely servile. But it came as a rude shock to him that when the unrests started. He is in a increasingly worsening state and does not know what he should do. The army knows that this could very well be the end of any kind of military rule. Prior to the present military rule - since no suitable military officer was found to run the country Experimental Democracy was carried out. The evidence of that lies in the fact that President Ghulam Isaac Khan remained President of Pakistan in the tenure of both Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif who alternated as prime ministers they leadership was cut short and there were new elections every time. The other evidence of Experimental Democracy is that the post of Foreign Minister remained in the hands of Sardar Yakub Khan. The newspapers were full of stories terrible corruption in all the institutions just because of

General Musharraf threatens to massacre

General Musharraf in his speech today - threatened to massacre the people who are protesting aginst his rule. In the same breath he said he is not afraid of anyone (obviously meaning the people who want him out) except God. From kidnapper - General Musharraf has elevated himself to a potential mass murderer. Instead of bowing respectably he has become so desperate to hold on to power that he will the very people the military is sworn to protect. The running joke about the Pakistan Army is that since it cannot conquer any territory, it very successfully conquers Pakistan over and again. The only people the Pakistan Army can threaten forcefully are the citizens of Pakistan. The cronies of the present military officer running the country have announced that they will elect him for the next ten years. Which only means there will be no elections ever again. Because when the ten years are over he will be re-elected for another ten. But the bastard and the members of his junta forget tha

General Musharraf has lost his mind

Our presen (CIA installed) military dictator: General Musharraf has shown that he has absolute unable to control things in the country. The chaos and anarchy which has enveloped the country not the result just because of the recent events, they are the result of the neglect of the country’s problems resulting in resentment which began to simmer over the years and and now has expkided in what the world is witnessing today. Military dictators have only purpose to run the country – that is personal gain by looting the country as much as they can. The problems of the state is none of their concern. Rather they feel so high and mighty, worrying about the problems of the country are too menial for them. No decisions can be made on whatever changes and improvements the country requires. The neglect of the economy harms the people, some take their own lives and others resort to crime on a very large scale which the police is helpless to deald with.. The only time ‘police action’ i

General Musharraf is an honourable man?

Way back in the late 1960s when General Ayub Khan saw the protests against, he too k the sensisble step and resigned from his post as president and handed over power to the Chairman of the Senate. The clownish and absolutely idiotic General Yahyah Khan disssolved the assemblies and made himself president - the result was there was a civil war and the country broke - because the issues the people were protesting against remained unresolved. The military had its humiliating time and was at the mercy of civilians again. General Musharraf should resign, before things become worse, if another military officer takes over in his place the country will plunge further into anarchy and cahos and result in far worse civil war, a reign of terror akin to what happened in France way back in the 18th century. Musharraf is hated for so many things, the list is very long. Musharraf has been insulted and abused. People would gladly tear him to pieces. The blunder he has been making is to meddle wi

General Musharraf is the kidnapper

Using the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO)- ther present miliary dictator of Pakistan has sacked two judeges of the Supreme Court. Most prominien tly Chief Justice Ifftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry who was hearing a case on missing people The fact he was removed only goes to show that investigation in this matter would have exposed General Musharraf’s involvement in this matter. He is ordering the kidnapping of people. Kidnapping is a small crime as far as the good General and the entire Pakistan Army is concerned, it has resorted to mass murder in former East Pakistan the same can happen in what remains of Pakistan . Just because the judge has been removed does not necessarily mean that the crimes which he was trying to look into would go away. The fact the judge was removed by an executiive from General Musharraf directly implicates the General, the army and the entire security network. Everyone is guilty. Extra-judicial murders are the order of the day.

The USA should do more for Pakistan

The USA has very high expectations from Pakistan. It wants it ‘ to do more in Afghanistan ’. But there is are some problems with that. If a First World country, which is also happens to be a super-power with unlimited wealth, resources with ability to manufacture and develop a wide range of land, air and sea weapons including advanced suirvalllance equipment, which it upgrades on a regular basis- cannot manage things in Afghanistan, then how can an undemocratic, dirt poor Third World Country with limited resources be in a position to really be able to have the same impact as the USA in Afghanista? Pakistan has so many problems of its own and now it is required a fight a full scale war and that too by diverting scarce resources away from infrastructure and social uplift projects. The last time Pakistan was used in the previous Afghan War against the Soviet Union, as soon as that war was over – myriad sanctions were imposed by the USA as if all of a sudden Pakistan wa

Russia versus the West again!?

For 17 years Russia was disposing off the empire which was not made by the Communists but by the Czars who preceded them and were overthrown. In this time Russia has been consolidating its economic and military power. During this time it did not concern itself with events beyond its borders. After the house cleaning and everything retrurned to order, Russia is beginning to reassert itself. When US commentator was asked about his comments instead saying something insightful - all he said - to sum up -Russia is being run by gangsters. Now what exactly is that supposed to mean? For any country any other sovereign country a rebel state and its leaders rebel leader. No one accepts any country's independence. Does the US intend to arrest these criminals and super-corrupt people who are running Russia these days, does the US intend to kill them the way they murdered Saddam Hussein? Russia is said to have only a few friends - which the USA hates- China, North Korea and Iran. I