You know there is one Govt. post in this country that officially allows the office bearer to screw things up in every position mentioned in the great book of Kamasutra and get away with it. Now you must be wondering doesn’t all Govt. officials (Democratic or Khaki) have all the rights in God’s green earth to screw every inch of this country without any fear of accountibility? Historically speaking YES but this one is special, maybe because it has something to do with our sentiments and national pride *fart*

So make a wild guess about this Govt. position that allows Govt. officials to eff things up!

Is it Presidency?

Almost true, but as we speak our free media is making headlines and tons of money out of every Presidential screw up and there is Imran Khan moaning *Mid term, Mid term* in the back ground. So, in other words the screw up aint as hassle free as one desires.

Is it Interior Ministry?

Now, I know what you are thinking; the person holding this job position has a whole list of legendary screw ups under his belt. All he has to do is to wear a tie that matches his favorite sweet (mithaai). Wave at angry mob like he’s their favorite stage dancer and after every national tragedy that has something to do with his incompetence, he comes on the media and proclaims:

I knew this was going to happen! (Mujhay tau pehlay se he information thee )

Close but this guy is not our winner because even an interior minister in a country like ours has some, some sense of responsibility!

ROFL!!!

I know, I know whom am I kidding here. But wait till I announce the REAL fu**er and you all will helplessly agree with me.

*Spotlight..drum roll*

And the winner is………. Chairmen PCB *tada*

As far as the history of Pak-Cricket goes, this office has mostly been occupied by relatives, golf buddies, in-laws and family friends of the Government of that time. Unlike any other job where  “some” relevant experience or formal education is considered necessary. Chairmen PCB is usually selected on either of the following criteria:

• Plays golf with the President if the President plays golf (Naseem Ashraf)
• Plays poker with the President if the President plays poker (Naseem Ashraf)
• Wears Khaki wardee if the President wears Khaki wardi (Gen. Tauqeer Zia)
• Is the brother of Prime Minister’s right hand or as we say in Urdu Chamcha no. 1 (Mujeeb ur Rehman brother of infamous PMLN worker Saif ur Rehman, this guy also changed the famous logo of Pak Cricket in his tenure)
• Is related to a Govt. official or minister (Ijaz Butt is related to Minister Ahmed Mukhtar)

For the past many years we have seen people with little or no experience in this field heading the national cricket board. Every month millions of tax payer money is spend on their perks and salaries but from their actions it seems that they are not holding a public office but are the Maharaja of Pakistani cricket. Since ‘92 world cup win none of our test cricketer has been given the due credit or farewell that they deserved. Whether it’s Waseem Akram or Inzamam Ul Haq we have humiliated our cricketing legends and forced them out of International cricket. And who decides all this?

People like Ejaz Butt, who since the beginning of his dark tenure brought innumerous controversies and bans on Pak cricket.

Or People like Naseem Ashraf who on one occasion demanded millions from speed star Shoaib Akhtar on allegations that he failed to produce in the court of law. Naseem departed or ran off as soon as Musharaf resigned from his office.

Or people like Retired General Tauqeer Zia who along with his other shenanigans, once blatantly selected his own talent less son (Junaid Zia) in the national team and that also in a cricket loving country, where hundreds of aspiring young cricketers overlook education or a stable career just to represent the national team once in their life time.

When will we put an end to all this? When will we value merit over personal preferences? Has cricket become a forsaken commodity?

Believe it or not Hockey still is our national sports or that’s what is printed on every Pakistan studies text book they teach in schools these days. We came 12th in the ongoing hockey world cup, this is how low we can get when it comes to setting records. Are we signing up for a new record in the upcoming Cricket World Cup? Think about it!

Popularity: 2% [?]

I belong to that Pakistani generation who grew up embracing American culture. From John Bon Jovi to Steve Jobs; my generation listens to American music, watches American cinema and idolize American entrepreneurs and inventors. Even the two Governments have a lot of history to share. Our rulers in uniform or civil attire follow an unspoken pledge where they always keep American interest before their own country’s interest. But I always wonder how things are the other way around? Do American’s fancy our culture or respect Pakistani religious and social values?

These are the questions that every Pakistani inquires about since 9/11: an incident that didn’t involve any Pakistani but after a decade every Pakistani is paying its price. Today an average American might feel secure but an average Pakistani feels anything but secure. I don’t agree with the stance, that terrorism in the name of religion never existed in Pakistan before September 11 incident. Before 9/11 only the minority sects (Shiites in particular) were the victims of such atrocities and now terrorism has gone main stream.

The Bush-Musharraf “Do More” policy is in continuation under Obama – Zardari joint venture. The drone attacks kill more innocent than terrorists, Black Water is no longer referred to the rain aftermath on the streets of Karachi. But one can witness bits and pieces of the “CHANGE” Obama once promised during his election campaign. Those who saw Hillary Clinton’s interaction with the Pakistani main stream journalists do remember how the present  secretary of state; was bombarded with pointing questions from all side. In that TV interaction she stressed on bridging gaps and structuring new relationships. The recent visit of Ms. Farah A. Pandith (U.S. Special Representative to Muslim Communities) appears to be an attempt in that context.

Recently I along with some colleagues from the blogging community was invited by U.S. Consulate General, Karachi to meet Ms. Pundit in a dinner meeting. She appeared quite enthusiastic on her new task and talked about plans that will help rebuilding people to people association between the two countries. She emphasized on looking at the future that might bring some difference in the perception of an average Pakistani about American policies in the region. But I personally believe that these plans are very far fetched, as a lot of practical work needs to be done on ground to improve the security situation in Pakistan and create a working relationship of mutual interest and respect. We do welcome any effort that promises to bring positive change but till than America needs to do more!

Popularity: 13% [?]

I wonder if a futurist in the past ever predicted the affiliation of an average consumer with its brands. We have seen how the followers of one religion disagreeing with the beliefs of another or fan of one sports team ridiculing the fans of another or the public reaction on the policies of their governments or representatives. But what’s new or different is the end user’s reaction on technology releases, their sacred association with certain brands and how they love to whine about their technological allergies in public. Shouldn’t be a matter preference?

With this question in mind I attended Microsoft’s blogger meet up last week at Microsoft Innovation Centre in Karachi. I always learn something new and fascinating whenever I got the opportunity to attend Microsoft organized events. My admiration is not limited to MS product releases but the community work that Microsoft is doing in Pakistan to promote computer literacy (Microsoft innovation for All), bridge the gap between Urdu and English literates (Urdu version of MS products) is commendable.

I got to the event early enough to land myself a seat in the front row. I was handed over a cool t-shirt (Covering live events have its fair share of perks!) which said: I blog, therefore I am! As soon as I tweeted about the shirt, series of tweets overflowed my (tweetdeck) inbox requesting for the t-shirt.

The entire seats in the FAST University City campus, auditorium got filled with technology loving bloggers. The first half of the event consisted of the presentation demo on Windows 7. MVP Zafar ul Islam highlighted different features of this most talked about Operating System, how it’s better, faster, reliable and convenient for all users (easy plug and play). Win 7 the product was developed keeping into consideration the needs of the end user and the feedback they received from their previous OS releases (Windows Vista). No wonder the tagline for Win7 goes like: I am a PC and Windows 7 was my idea!

Highlights:

· Most interesting part for the bloggers was the Live demo of Microsoft Live Mesh (Beta) using any mobile device (HTC Touch Diamond 2 Windows Phone in this case). The downloaded images were then animated using Windows Live Movie Maker and uploaded on facebook and Windows Live writer. That all within 5 minutes!

· But the demo that really moved me was “Microsoft Office Communication Server (OCS) 2007 R2”. Looking at the growing business need, OCS is going to be one house hold name.

· Naveed Bajwa, DPE Lead, Microsoft Pakistan shared many ongoing and upcoming initiatives from Microsoft for Pakistani academia and developer Community.

· Jibran Jamshed, Microsoft Pakistan technology consultant answered many pointing question as he was demoing IE8. It was funny to watch the love hate relation of the participants with this web browser.

Out of all the product releases and initiatives being taken by Microsoft the need for a platform where all these action are highlighted is definitely needed at local level. Until than all of this will remain unnoticeable and MS will remain underrated.

Photo Credits: S.M Khan, Zafar ul Islam

Popularity: 15% [?]

Circling the underground music scene for the past few years, I came across T2F (The Second Floor), a project by PeaceNiche (a not-for-profit social entrepreneurship organization), determined to revive the coffee-house culture, that gave voice to such progressive writers  and poets like  Sa’adat Hassan Manto and Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi in early Pakistani literary history, but seemed to have faded with time. From the fifteenth century coffee houses of Damascus and Cairo, the coffee house phenomenon has had its share of ups, downs, revelations, bans and revolts. But as long as people choose to think, the cycle will go on. Bringing live music to coffee houses can be credited to the 60’s American political/folk musicians like Dylan, which served as a great idea for young musicians to find small audiences in intimate settings.

T2F reminds me of the 90’s hit show “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”, where young Afro-Americans found home at coffee houses for raw expression to vent out decades of suppressed emotions, rather than taking it to the streets. And we can’t help but relate to that, considering the rapidly deteriorating socio-economic/political conditions in our own country.

The recent Open Mic event was another example of how much nurturing the artistic side of our society needs and how these artists go widely un-noticed due to a lack of similar platforms. We keep cursing the music industry for having lost it’s stature within the international music scene, and for musicians who can’t play their own songs live, let alone improvise… but watching these young musicians pour their hearts out that night helped me regain some hope.

The multi-talented comedian-cum-musician host Saad Haroon made sure that there was never a dull moment, keeping in place the rhythm of the whole event, and keeping the audience occupied while each group went through sound check. His Meera jokes, of course, sent the roof flying off with roars and laughter.

The highlight of the evening, for me, was when Sax player Miqdaad Mohammad played “Hey Soul Sister” with a little help from ADP (Aunty Disco Project) member, Ali. His melodic saxophone notes complemented with a strong vocal style made a perfect combination that helped lift the audience’s spirits. Another noticeable act was the duo “Saada Khushboo” that played their own unique blend of acoustic blues and upbeat percussion’s.

The Viccaji sisters, with their soft tones, had their own individual flavors to bring to the audience and their harmonic chemistry was definitely applaudable. An un-announced pop-in by Haniya from “Zeb and Haniya” was also a pleasant surprise. The closing band ‘Bell’ played around with their improvised instrumentals and got multiple encore requests before the night could end. And last, but not the least, hats off to Omar Bilal (better known as OBA) from ADP for bringing together all these people in one room.

A little over 10 pm, the gig seemed to have ended too soon, even with more than a dozen acts. But that’s just one of the perks, unfamiliar to us Karachiites, of actually starting on time (:

- Contributed by Saqib Ahmed

Photo Credits: Jamash

Video Credits: Jehan Ara

Popularity: 22% [?]

Photograph: Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images

The other day I was having a word with a friend who moved to Lahore after her marriage. We were discussing how the lives of an average Lahori been affected by the recent wave of terror attacks in the city. According to her the outgoing residents of this lively city feel extremely insecure while going out. But one can’t change its life style because government has failed to provide decent security to its taxpaying citizens against a group of terrorists who are out there to change the way we live our lives. I on the other hand was feeling lucky to be living in Karachi which was considered comparatively more protected, as no major terror attack took place since the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. The local Government claimed that it’s a result of their firm security measures against the growing threat of “Talibinization”.

But like any storm there is an episode of unfathomable silence, the two year peace turned out to be same. While I am writing this post, 45 reported civilians have lost their lives, 150 or more are injured and many disfigured bodies are yet to be identified. The second tragedy that shadowed the impact of the bomb assault was an immediate attack on Pakistan’s biggest wholesale, cloth and plastic market in the same area. Thousand or more shops were burned down and business worth billions of rupees turned into ashes while the shop owners were helplessly witnessing the site. Every shop is equivalent to a family so one can only imagine what these families will go through in the coming future.

Like after any other tragic incident (which in Pakistan occur quite frequently) every tom, dick and harry (including myself :P) was out there with their views, reactions and suggestions. Majority condemned the bombing and the attack on the residing market in the area, while some like always proposed the million (Afghani) dollar solution, which involved negotiation with the Zaliman (better known to them as Taliban). Now I fail to understand that whenever a terrorist attack takes place, why on earth the failed religious cum political parties, their leaders and fans proposed this flop idea or try to link the incident in Pakistan to US attack on Afghanistan? If an Afghani is killed by Nato or US troops in Kabul, does it becomes a moral and religious obligation for a Pakistani Taliban to kill a Pakistani civilian in Lahore or Karachi? And if that is the case, the argument to hold peace talks with these terrorists, is a suggestion which is criminal in nature itself.

Another absurd argument that floated; was calling the Moharram processions off or limiting it to a close compound (by close compound I guess they meant, a concentration camp). Now if these well wishers ever bothered understanding the history of Mohrram processions and its significance to the shia community, this kind of unfeeling offer would never have been given. The month of Moharram is commemorated throughout the Muslim world in remembrance of Prophet Muhammed (SAW) family and friends. In these processions, millions of Muslims register their protest against oppressing and extremists elements that are present in every era. These processions are extremely close to shia belief, calling off Moharram in other words is a suggestion to call off burial of a family member. But even if we set the above stated facts aside, can anyone claim an event when a mourner (while participating in moharram procession) ever broke law or committed a criminal act? If not then why the terror victims should pay for crimes they never committed.

These facts paint a very gloomy picture of our future, but hope is all we have. The question is, are we ready to surrender our way of living and everything that is close to our belief? If yes then how far are we ready to go with this surrendering attitude? Is this attitude going to guarantee us our lives? I don’t think so, if you are ready to surrender the very principle that represents your existence then my friend you just lost yourself the right to exist.

Popularity: 27% [?]