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A pattern of social change

It is a sad fate for a woman to end up getting married a man who is a gambler, an alcoholic or simply does not work at all. The parents are duped into believing that their son-in-law to be actually works somewhere.  The women who have suffered this and borne children, ensure that their children do not suffer in the same way.   But there is no easy way out of the tradition of arranged marriage. The only recourse is make extensive background checks of the people who come with proposals. It is a very arduous task but absolutely necessary. With extensive background checks raises - makes easy arranged marriages impossible. The mothers are very careful, particularly when it comes to their daughters.  They do not want to go through hellish experience as they have. his is a growing pattern. Women who have divorced their useless husbands are making sure that their daughters do not end with similar husbands. This is happening because society has reached a level of prosperity allowing them to s

Extremes

Where there are extremes of wealth there  such a situation  there is an extreme of corruption and lechery and extremes of shame, guilt and fear. But such extremes are unsustainable. All extremes gravitate towards neutrality, towards entropy. Extremes cannot survive because they need to be fed constantly and when they can no longer be fed it leads to decay. Just as wealth end so does poverty. Because the wealthy start becoming poorer, start losing money the money gets distributed. Amongst the poor, some become prosperous.  Some of the former wealthy descend into poverty  - some starve to death because wealth had made them lazy they never developed the energy to work for themselves, there were always had servants catering to all their needs.The poverty stricken rise, because they learn how to steal from the lazy rich who are to weak and incompetent to protect their wealth. This cycle breaks when there are few who do not steal, but work for a living. Any kind of skill which they have

Military rule in Pakistan

The democratic government in Pakistan is a mirage.  The power lies in the hands of the military which decides everything.  It is above the law hence not accountable to anyone. During the 1990s the military was playing the role of puppeteer - after General Zia was killed in 1988 - it was assumed the end of a military dictatorship. It was not so - the military was very much in control and remains so.The generals may change - but within the armed forces there is a central command. It does not have to show its face. The military consumes 90% of Pakistan's budget. There is no money left for anything else. There is no room for development of infrastructure or anything else. When a general is removed the central command offers the people a political government of its own choice. All the failures of the military, all the allegations of corruption of decades is dumped on the new civilian government. The generals and the central command which run their affairs are the ones to blame. The ce

Happy to lose privacy

http://tribune.com.pk/story/420919/no-dance-parties-but-dars-allowed-rules-dha/ Some people are pleased to abandon their freedom.  Their privacy taken away. There are military officers who imagine by denying people freedom they are doing a great service. The military has occupied a large chunk of Karachi and is running it as its personal fiefdom. Its are rules are not debated. It is dictation and nothing else. Greed and corruption runs rampant there is no one to challenge it. Commissioned officers firmly believe that only they have the right to run Pakistan - for better or for worse. When General Zia took over he changed Defence Housing Society into Defence Housing Authority. Ever since then every kind of racket started. The water supply racket. Although water pipelines were set up, but the water was not supplied through them by through water tankers. The road building racket. The sewerage line racket. Every conceivable violation has taken place Schools were set up by private parti

Ban it

People have such little regard for their personal freedom - when they do not like something on TV and films they start making calls for  banning it. If not not entirely banning it - seek to have it censored. What they forget are the people who do not find it offensive or are curious to know about it. Not wanting to watch something, is a personal choice but it is not something which should apply to others. Just because they feel in a certain - does not necessarily mean that others feel exactly the same way. Some go along with the condemnation of books, films and TV shows - because they do not want to be seen as separate from the rampaging crowd, lest they become a target. Because of this attitude the government sets up organisations which censor everything the public sees the most fundamental of liberties - freedom of expression is gone. It is dangerous. Because when the government starts making mistakes, there is no one telling it what it started doing wrong. Those who report the

Delayed justice

I suppose nowhere in the world are courts closed for 'summer vacations' as they are in Pakistan. Courts are closed for two long months. For that reason cases pile up by the end of those two months.  The number of judges are few and the number of cases run for into hundreds at times., every single day. Court sessions are only  from 9.30 AM to 1.30 PM with a tea break in between.  The cases which are not heard on that day are given a new date or never given any. The lawyer has to get a new date provided a judge is available.  Before any case can have its day in court - it has to be registered - the registrar is a very powerful person he can choose to reject a case if he wants to. After the case is registered - the bailiff takes his time to send the case to the respondents.  The respondents hire their lawyers who prepare a reply. When the reply is sent a rebuttal is sent.  There is such a thing called Katchi Peshi - meaning rough presentation of the case - if the petitioner is l

Pakistan's telecommunication business

For decades in Pakistan telephone connections was the purview of the government. These were given on priority basis. Ordinary people who were in no particular field could not get a telephone connection for years. The procedure had tremendous red tape.  Strangely enough the application was addressed to the president of Pakistan, as if he had nothing better to do than approve telephone connections. It was some time later that civil servants realised that telephone connection was not privilege but a business like any other. The PTCL was apparently 'privatised' but it remained a monopoly. Land connections belonged to only one organisation namely PTCL and no other company 26% shares belong to Etisalat Telecommunications instead of allowing private Pakistani companies own. it. The rest of PTCL is still owned by the government. In all fairness privatisation should have meant that PTCL's different operations should have been sold to different Pakistani companies.  There should n

Acid attack on women

The film 'Saving Face' won an Oscar Award. But the the question about who is  really responsible for the acid attacks on women. Women have been mentioned very categorically. The problem is why has no one heard of men being attacked in the same way? The number of places such attacks take place in the red light areas. Any prostitute is beautiful and is a source of attraction to the majority of men  - such a woman is taking business away from other brothels and this affects them. What they do in retaliation is throw acid on those prostitutes. When those women are scarred - the men will visit other brothels. The business is a nasty one. The brothel in which the women are scarred retaliate by doing the same to the prostitutes belonging to other brothels. This is one aspect. Women vehemently hate each other and are very jealous of one another. Immediately after marriage - a man has to shift to a new place with his wife. Because his wife cannot get along with her mother in law and s

The ever growing Pakistan middle class

The development of middle class - was a result of several forces.  The concept of a middle class, rather the middle class being a force to be reckoned with was not realised. It is easy to rule a country - if there are only two classes - the rich and the poor. The rich rule the poor obey. The cliché term 'widening gap' between the rich and the poor' which the pseudo-intellectuals have used - would apply if there was no such things as a middle class. The existence of the middle class negates such perceptions. When Pakistan  came into existence - the middle class was small - it comprised mainly of civil servants.  There were doctors and lawyers - as time went by retired military officers joined the ranks of the middle class. Instead of people plunging into abject poverty - people floated to the surface to form the middle class. With large number of labour moving to the oil rich countries and returning - they started settling in cities  - initially Karachi became first city

Bacha bazi and Western values

http://www.newjustice.net/blog/2010/09/13/bacha-bazi/ When the Afghans were fighting the Soviet Union, they were  best allies of the the ' Free World'.   Their religion was supported and their way of life was never questioned. However after the defeat of the Soviet Union in 1988 - Afghanistan was implicated in an act of terrorism and attacked by the USA and its allies (the invaders) 2001. This war not only involved having soldiers and hi-tech weapons in Afghanistan, it involved starting a propaganda war. The faith of the Afghans down to their way of life started being questioned. A campaign started that the people of Afghanistan are against the freedom of the West.  A tradition which has been around since time immemorial of boys used for sexual purposes. Even  Alexander the Great and his army got caught up in it. Invaders have been defeated in Afghanistan. A leading reason is the feminising of the soldiers. Any soldier would never happy to rejoin fellow soldiers because of

A free life

Sexual repression is a way of life, it is not freedom in any way. The most important aspect of a sexually repressed society is the inability to find sex pleasurable. There is too much guilt and shame associated with it. What is shameful about finding sex enjoyable? Why is it dishonourable to do so? Everyone is, to  a certain degree perverted in one way or another- but everyone wants to give the appearance of being 'just like everyone else' - which is, for all practical purposes impossible. Everyone has some sexual quirk which differs from another person. We live in a world in which norms are dictated by a group of people who have specific values and want others to follow them. A concerted effort has gone to into desexualising children. In the movies of the 1950 and 1960s children were not desexualised. Take for instance the movie Yesterday Today Tomorrow -  Sophia Loren is lying and a boy fingers her.  That would be unacceptable today - because the powers that be are will not

The falsehood of unrequited love

Unrequited love- is really sick. There are emotionally dead people - they are called sociopaths. - no amount of romantic overtures done to them will make them fall in love, because they do not what love is. They can give all the impression of falling in love - as long as it is a means to an end. I fell in love  -many times - those three women did not and could not respond the same way. They were cold as ice. I was young then - thought there was something wrong with me. Or it was my fault. Now I know better. How those women turned. Their careers mattered more to them than anything else. They have lied and cheated to the top and destroyed everyone who came in their rise. These women do not know love or any other emotion. They also can never have any genuine sexual desire. If they do have sex - it is to gain something. They also know how important it is to keep partner happy and be deserving of his love, affection and intimacy. She would be hurt  and very upset if I would give the same

My former friend Baber

I became  Baber's friend - because it was his older sister Chikie whom I was interested in, in my teenage years. She was pretty - it was unrequited love. Eventually  realised  she did not spurn just  my feelings - she had none of her own - was married for a year or so - her true passion was move up in her career and she move to the top, destroying everyone who was on her way - she is phenomenally rich. However Baber poor soul was not nearly as successful. I remember always needing to emain extremely polite with him. This  friendship was growing up to be a nuisance.  With other friends I could say anything I liked, talk utter nonsense for hours, let our hairs down and joke. With him there was nothing like that. I accepted him  for what he was and let it be. Then there were little things which I chose to ignore. Once I went to his place - he was feeding his grandmother. I was talking to with, he exploded in rage. I was taken aback. "Can't you see I am feeding my Naany&quo

The mystery of Hitler

Hitler remains a mysterious figure for people in Asia - because the western 'World War' II remained mainly in Europe and some parts of Africa. For the people of South Asia - Britain was the main occupying force and everyone hated them. So whenever the British suffered a set back - the South Asians cheered. No one was allowed to praise the victories of Germany over Britain. The famous poet Josh Mali Abadi had written a verse in praise of Hitler, which landed him jail for a short time. Hitler has been portrayed as the most horrible man in Western History - however the atrocities of the British were no less in Bengal.  There are so many stories regarding this apparent villain - it makes no sense at all. There conspiracy theories  and there are counter-conspiracy theories.  Is Hitler a human being or some kind collective mindset or an institution. There are stories he was funded and supported by a whole bunch of people to get him power. Why would anyone want that to happen? What

Blocking adult websites 2

Except for one article in the Daily Times, there has hardly been any reaction to the government ordering the blocking of adult websites. It is as if the people accept no one really cares or concerned.  The most probable reason is that the people that this has become and on again off again thing.  Facebook and You Tube have been banned then re-opened.  The people of Pakistan it seems consider their government to be clownish and insane.  Taking it seriously is an absolute waste of time. It is only a matter of time when all the rules will be reversed because it is technologically  impossible to stop things such as these. A few years ago a complete ban on Indian TV shows had started. Quickly people found their favourite alternative - the CD and the DVD.  Some wag said  Zardari wanted to favour some video shop owner who rents out CDs and DVDs and Internet adult website were not letting him do so. When that video shop owner has enough customers, the adult websites would be restored. All

Blocking of websites

http://www.siasat.pk/forum/showthread.php?86588-Pakistan-Blocks-Thousands-of-Adult-Websites The government has ruined its image in practically every field - by resorting to rampant corruption. The result is that  Pakistan Railways is bankrupt. Pakistan International Airlines may close down soon.  The cronies of Zaradari and Gilani have been given opportunities to steal as much as they can from wherever they can.  New ministries and departments are being made for different lackeys - so that they can loot the country as much as they want. Since the cronies cannot be kicked out and outright theft cannot be stopped - the only thing Zardari can do is tell the ISPs to do is block all Adult websites. Which has proven to be a monumental task and has resulting in the crashing of the Internet. General Musharraf tried the same thing with disastrous consequences.  It is next to impossible to block thousands of websites. A few can be, but not all. of them.  When General Musharraf tried - it was

Thought control

If I hate something - I cannot express it on social network. If something bothers me -  I cannot say it. When I know something is wrong - I have two choices - write it down in my journal - which I do more often when I come across the fact I have been blocked out. I am angry - I will use my journal - no one can stop me from doing that. No moderator, no administrator. No one. Its just me and my thoughts. My emotions and my feelings, written down using ink. No I will not use the computer to do that, who knows what kind technology there which can be transmitted from a mere word processor. Only those moderate are those who are afraid what I say is right. The answer are placard, leaflets and what I write my private journal.What kind of world is it  - in which there is such thing thought control? One should restrain ones emotions and thoughts. One should not express something, which presumably will hurt the feelings of others. The truth hurts a great deal - because it happens to be true.

Plot to assassinate God

HHaving as much money as God is the not the same thing as being God and creating anything and owning it. Gaddafi was killed today. Osama bin Laden is said to have been killed, this year. Some years ago Saddam Hussain was killed, all his sons killed, just like Gadaffi's sons were recently. The reasons for all these wars may seem mundane as oil, the control over the riches on the planet. Economic reasons. It could be something very different. I had met astrologist in 2004 and was fairly accurate in his predictions. He had said if the war in Iraq and Afghanistan do not end, then 2008 the USA will suffer a major financial set back. The astrologer died in 2006 - never get to see how true he was.These wars on the surface may be religious in nature or political but they have a greater meaning. 2012 is cited as the end of the world. There is a kind desperation - conquering a country is one thing, but actually seeking and killing the leader of the country and wiping out his family is biza

Cell phone companies call charges in Pakistan

No matter how the  cell phone service providers advertise  their call charges - the call rates are Rs. 6 per minute. This includes all the other charges like: Line rent LLD GSM service GST Advanced Income Tax So it is fairly expensive to make calls. The advertised call charges hide the actual charges. Why should cell phone companies charge income tax from its subscribers? Income tax is on the  income the cell phones  and it has nothing to do with the subscribers, unless cell phone companies are committing tax fraud.  They are hiding their actual income from the auditors and the tax collectors.