The Kerry Lugar Bill

There are a multitude of Pakistanis who are all in strong support for the Kerry Lugar Bill on many grounds. The reasons for their arguments were two-fold: by debunking the reasons of the opposition and supporting their own motives on the basis of building constructive allies and social/economical perks.
Apathetic with the side of Pakistanis defending the bill, Shakir Hussain used the analogy of ‘Bakra eid’ to illustrate the oppositions poor manners. “It's Bakra Eid and your neighbor sends you some meat ..But then you send it right back saying that you didn't like the cut which was sent over, the tray was also not acceptable, and the neighbors should have put a better cloth to cover the meat… This is exactly the discourse which is happening all over Pakistan today… this is the stuff which Opposition politicians are using to hammer the government from all sides without mentioning that they loved Uncle Sam's dollars when they were in power.
Welcome to the Bakra Mandi where "analysis" occurs without even reading the content of this bill which is supposed to "erode" Pakistan's sovereignty.”
Concordantly, Sadiq Saleem talks about the political opportunism practiced by the so called ‘Ghairat’ lobby of Islamist political parties and right-wing conspiracy theorists who insist that the Bill is just another excuse on Americas’ part to control Pakistans army. Yet who had no problems when in 2007 US aid was provided only if Pakistan had agreed to “undertake a comprehensive military, legal, economic, and political campaign to” “eliminate” groups like Taliban, al-Qaeda and others and Americans saw proof of the same.
However, the staunch defenders of the Kerry Lugar Bill, unsatisfied with disproving just the oppositions claims proceeded to illustrate the objective and logical pros the bill presented Pakistan with. According to Muhammad Ahsan Yatu “Our economy may be big but our population and problems are much, much bigger. Given our resources which are almost negligible we need help. It is up to us to reject the Bill. The US can find new and willing friends; we cannot find a single friend who is willing to help us with as many dollars as are coming from the US.”
To those idealistic people who believe that Pakistan has a habit of relying on foreign aid and that is the only cause of its problems he replied “We should reduce our security and administrative expenditures and tax the rich as It will help us generate at least as much capital as we require to feed ourselves. However if neither army nor bureaucracy cooperate we cannot collect the additional taxes either. The wealth and asset distribution in Pakistan is grossly disproportionate to what a functional state must have. The 5% among us own whatever wealth and assets Pakistan has and the rest live either below or on the poverty line. The irony is that our civil-military bureaucracy and landed and moneyed elites, who are also our rulers, make up our privileged 5% class”.

The Kerry Lugar Bill shows great potential in financial assistance and in the words of the Bill defenders bring developments in the social sector and will pave the way to democracy.

References = http://www.new-pakistan.com/2009/10/14/growing-number-of-pakistanis-
defend-importance-of-kerry-lugar-bill?gclid=CPbJxJ3q-p0CFYwA4woduDbkpQ

Pakistans apparently 'falling' air industry

Since June, this year, three airplane crashes have taken place. This gives Pakistan some cause for concern as it will obviously affect its intercity flying clientelle and international flights. One wonders whether its technical issues at fault but since the planes involved are not locally made, it can be the environment or flying conditions in Pakistan.
Whatever it is, Pakistan seems to be knee deep in struggling from bomb blasts, plane crashes, firing, floods, and unrest.
The latest crash happened on the 28th of November, when a Russian cargo plane into buildings under construction in the Dalmai neighbourhood, where the air force and the navy have apartments and offices close to Jinnah International airport.
The multi-purpose cargo aircraft was often used to take humanitarian aid to developing countries, as well as other large items. Which makes this incident even more tragic because the poor people (may their souls rest in peace) were here in Pakistan to offer help and distribute aid to poverty struck areas.

All of the 8 Russian crew members were killed on impact and their bodies were discernible from the burning debris and wreckage of the plane. The bodies of three construction workers were identified as Shahid, Khuda Bux and Ejaz. Two of them were married, and one was the father of three children.
The explosion caused by the crash was so loud and powerful, creating a ripple much like a bomb blast that people thought a bomb had exploded and about a hundred people gathered at the site of the crash to see the tragic accident that had occurred.

Bomb Blast Patterns in Karachi - what do they mean?

As a resident of Karachi, that gets affected by the bomb blasts that occur almost monthly now, I get to notice certain similarities between the series of Blasts that have been occurring in the city for over a year now.
Firstly, the timing of the blasts is often at a certain time, a time when most people are out and busy, cars are jammed on the roads in an eternal traffic jam as people go home after work from their offices. It’s the time of sunset, a period of time in close proximity to the time of Maghrib, which is the prayer a muslim offers at sunset.
The twilight at this time is deceptively innocent and soft, but I have noticed a similarity between the last few bomb blasts; one at Abdullah Shah Ghazis Mazaar at Clifton and the one that exploded at the PIDC office on Ziauddin Ahmad road.
Since this time is one where many people flock to the mosques, it makes the perpetrators of these hate crimes quite heartless in the pursuit of their goal. We seem to believe that all these suicide bombers have been brainwashed by religious extremists to the extent that they believe they are doing this for Jihad and will go to heaven. But what kind of religious leader tells their followers to blow up a mosque full of innocent people who have no hand in the matter of their grudge against the government, other sects or the military?
It makes one really wonder who is behind the series of bomb blasts in Karachi, is the Taliban? A bunch of religious fanatics or is that simply what our media wants us to believe?

Wikileaks Strikes Again

Today is the day of the long awaited and massively hyped second major Wikileaks public release. With the sheer embarrassment of the leaks proving that the US, right up the accountability chain to the White House, knew acts of torture to Iraqi POWs were being committed under their supervision. Under International Law, it is the responsibility of the occupying force to ensure human rights are upheld in the area that they are occupying. Given that the US Chain of command chose to ignore such incident hung a heavy cloud on the US throughout the world and with their own citizens.
Naturally, the US would hope that such occasions would be a rarity, or at least the next one would be many years apart. This appears not to be the case. The Wikileaks is expected to have a much bigger impact. They are about to publish official documents of US Embassies and other diplomatic outposts all over the world. This is indeed a heavy dose of international gossip for the world to see. Personal assessment of leaders of numerous nations and states; of how the US spied against the then General Secetary of the UN Ban Ki-Moon (needless to say against UN conventions); and of how the Saudis have pushed the US to attack Iran.
In an ever increasing well informed global public the role of Wikileaks is a very central one. The very deceptions and myth that make up the nature of international of diplomacy is threatened. Many agents who advocate for human justice and political accountability of their leaders will find this as a treat to call for more transparency to hold their leaders to account for the lies they have told their public. The leaders themselves however, want to eliminate this “threat to national security” and have made steps to by attacking Wikileaks in cyberspace and branding the actions of the organisation as terrorism.

Kashmir Once Again Left in the Shadows

The United Nations list of “unresolved” issues represents every major global issue and long standing regional conflict across the world. The Kashmir issue is one of the longest running disputes in the world, with a history of more than 27 separate UN resolutions spanning back to 1948.
One cannot help but beg the question why is the Kashmir issue now removed from that list? This is even more of a prominent point when we have come to understand that 150,000 people have been killed, 40,000 women raped over the 60 year occupation and seeing the recent peaceful unarmed protest being slammed down violently by the Indian Army.
No doubt there has been some political maneuvering on this issue. What was it for? Is it because India sees new economic potential in the region?
Alas, this arises an even sadder picture. Despite Muslims now representing close to one in five people in the world, not a single Muslim country has a permanent place on the UN Security Council.
And yet we find the same people, (that is us), holding our heads in our hands murmuring weakly “what can we do?” Since when does a Muslim ever despair? Are we not taught that it is an obligation to strive to help the oppressed?
Is it time for Muslims in the world to break away from the United Nations in give it the same respect that it has give Pakistanis and Muslims? Or is it time for everyday Muslims to politically engage proactively into national and international politics?
Either way, we cannot simply sit in our comfortable despair.

Is the American war on Afghanistan clashing with the relevancy of the international humanitarian law?

The main aim of international humanitarian law is to minimize unnecessary suffering by regulating the conduct of hostilities and the treatment of persons in the power of the enemy.
The essential humanitarian function of humanitarian law is carried out through the parties to the conflict. They have rights and responsibilities. There can be no humanitarian law conflict without identifiable parties. “Terror” or “terrorism” cannot be a party to the conflict. As a result, a war on terror cannot be a humanitarian law event. This does not, of course, mean that humanitarian law cannot apply to the conduct of persons responsible for the September 11 attacks, it would just not consider it as an armed conflict; so the rules and treatments that is happening in Afghanistan with the civilians there is in no way justified by humanitarian law because, the operations are not held according to their laws and America is carrying the operations and treatment by their own customary law.
In our age as it has in the previous ones, Humanitarian law suffices as a basis to run a world in an orderly fashion. Its boundaries are properly drawn in a respectful balance among interests of state security, individual security, and civil liberties. But it is only effective when properly implemented. It’s very vitality and relevance in the War on Terror stems not from any claim that it is capable of encompassing all of the exigencies of terrorism and the efforts to combat it. The strength of humanitarian law lies, rather, in the fact that it is adequate to deal with such exigencies when they amount to armed conflict.

Reference:
Interesting Times for
International Humanitarian
Law: Challenges from the
“War on Terror”
Gabor Rona
Article published in "the Fletcher Forum of World Affairs", vol. 27:2, Summer/Fall 2003

The blasts at Abdullah Shah Ghazi

Karachi, on 7th october’10

According to the tribune, the express, the twin suicide attacks at Abdullah
shah ghazi shrine caused 8 to be killed and over 60 to be injured. In a similar
incident earlier in July, more than 35 people were killed in triple blasts at the
Data Darbar in Lahore.

Express News reports the Taliban have claimed responsibility for the suicide
attacks on the shrine. These jihadi groups as recently said on media are
funded by saudia Arabia undercover. Hence, as the mazhab of wahabism
is influenced in saudia Arabia, then this jihadi militant may be influenced
by wahabi ideology, which constitutes a large element of tauheed (oneness
of Allah) and refutes all sorts of worship on shrines and graves of saints.
However, under no circumstances regarding islam or otherwise can these
jihadi militants or groups justify these actions. These bomb blasts included
number of chidren, women and lives of innocent people, which is not
acceptable under jidad in islam. These acts are openly condemned by most of
the contemporary Islamic scholars and government should take some action
against them or at least make considerable agreements with them. After data
darbar, government didn’t do anything, and then after this attack on Abdullah
shah ghazi mazar, government still didn’t do anything, now is government
waiting for another attack? When Pakistani Taliban have confessed their action
what is stopping government to take some action?

Military operations and their lethality

In Eastern Afghanistan, US soldiers on patrol during a Western military operation have been found guilty of the death of ten Afghan civilians, eight of them school children.  This statement was reported by the Aghani President Hamid Karzai’s office. The president himself was extremely enraged by this incident and he condemned the killings appointing a delegation to investigate the incident. 

The initial reports ‘indicate that in a series of operations by international forces in Kunar province.. 10 civilians, eight of them school students, have been killed’. International forces have always been a source for unnecessary civilian death. Unfortunately however, their presence continues to haunt many people, parents, children and family. The reason for their presence is always the same, security and investigation. But their actions to the goals more than always seem to suggest the opposite.

Most of these incidents are not even reported, but once in a while, in a nation ravaged by war and unrest, some of the situations come to public notice. After this recent incident that happened on Saturday, the President’s own politicians were given the responsibility of creating a new cabinet to protect the civilian casualties.
Defending their purpose and stance, the Western military officials stated that they had been conducting operations against the militant insurgents  in the border regions of Kunar; that they have been killing a lot of Taliban and captured a few too.
Unless now school children are included in their criteria for defining and characterizing Talibans, in my opinion, they have not explained the intentions behind their unnecessary and violent attacks at all.

A look into your Second Life

Have you ever wondered what it was like to have a second life?
One where you could shop for free, build your house, create your own clothes, go clubbing every night, eat anything you                            wanted, how much you wanted and even fly?

This has now been made possible by Linden Labs Research (Inc) who founded a virtual world called “Second Life” where users do just that.  They created a free client program called the Viewer which allows their users to interact with each other through the use of ‘Avatars’.

These are costumes or appearances that users can wear (human, animal, vegetable, mineral or combination) and can even choose to look like the way they do in their real life. The residents of Second life can explore, meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities and even travel around the world.

Linden Labs was founded by Philip Rosedale who developed a computer hardware allowing people to log into a virtual world. Their vision created Second Life, where people partipated in task-based games and socializing in a three dimensional online environment.

Happy Meal; truly happy or not?

Do you ever wonder what happens to food if left alone to decompose? It simply does just that. Decompose. Bugs will swarm over it, it will get all shrivelly and smelly and may even start leaking.
However, it seems produce from the fast food chain we all love and hate "McDonalds" does not decompose very well. Does that even make it food? If eatables do not decompose in air, one can only imagine the damage they must be doing to our intestines.
Sally Davies, a New York Artist found herself purchasing a happy meal from McDonalds one day and found herself curious as to what it would look like if simply left there on her table top. She photographed its decomposition process almost everyday on her Flickr account and  the results after 6 months showed the burger and fries as almost in the exact same position and shape as the original fresh ones.

Fresh Happy Meal (left) and 180 day old Happy Meal (right)

This caused concern and fresh speculation upon the contents of McDonalds food, in addition to the slander from Morgan Spurlocks documentary 'Supersize me' and other rumours of its chicken abuse and adulterated meat (injected with supplement chemicals to make it bigger).
In case you're wondering, this is what happens when normal food, untouched with chemicals is left to decompose. A netblogger by the name of Snack Girl (http://www.snack-girl.com/snack/cheeseburger-take-2-day-11/) tried redoing this experiment by watching the process of two burgers, one a McDonalds cheese burger and the other a homemade cheeseburger for 11 days. After the proposed time period, this was the result

McDonalds cheese burger after 11 days.

 










 Homemade cheese burger after 11 days


This goes to show, therefore that McDonalds fills its food with preservatives, that 'surprisingly' are not good for your body at all.
Here's another reason why we should avoid going out for lunch.

Famous Personalities and Adversity

Adversity comes to us in many forms and packaging; in the form of
poverty, bankruptcy or threat to oneself. I believe most of us live in
an enclosed and secure bubble for most of our lives, and that bubble
can only be penetrated by the sharp barb of hardship.  When confronted
by misfortune, one is forced to perceive and handle situations in a
different way, widening one’s ability to survive in different
environments. It is fairly obvious how this can lead to develop a
stronger resilience and assist in handling other adversities as they
may come.
I take the example of a famous television personality Oprah Winfrey
who born out of wedlock and was subject to a great many hardships in
her life as she grew up; often having to shift between states and
parents and living in poverty. Instead of having the effect of
crushing her, she rebelled through her misfortune and by studying hard
she made a position for herself as a news anchor on television,
finally earning her way into her own show.
Creative geniuses are often born out of adversity. Maya  Angelou,
famous autobiographer and poet, in her book ‘I know why the caged bird
sings’ is based on the first 17 years of her life, during which she
was abused, both sexually and emotionally and as a result of which
remained almost mute for nearly 5 years. Angelou spread her story to
the world, and in doing so she became the author of many acclaimed
novels as well as Northern Coordinator of Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Her adversity made her
powerful and allowed her to help many more people with the strength
she gained from it.
In light of the above evidence, I think it safe to assume that there
is a great deal of potential to be gained from learning from ones
adversities. Not only does it show true prowess in the face of
hardship, but also a tenacious character refusing to let anything drag
you down.

KESC offers second chance to Kunda users

The Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) formed a new plan to eliminate the many Kunda connections draining the city of its already depleted power supply. This is the ‘Community Anti-Theft Social Development Partnership Programme’ in Korangi Sector No 10 which allows Kunda system using local residents to receive new electricity connections from KESC.
A new office was opened in Korangi for receiving more connection applications for the people wishing to deposit their papers for new connections, this office is called ‘New Connection Mobile Service’
The companies spread into that area was a matter of celebration and a ceremony was held to launch its connection drive into Korangi. The ceremony was organized to get a response and spread this new policy to the 40,000 to 50,000 residents of that area, a recently developed Korangi Sector, Bagh-e-Millat that housed 2500 households all using electric power through Kundas.
KESC is offering these residents a new connection at a discount price of 50%, 6000 instead of 12000 rupees. The problem with this programme, as far as I can see is that though its Samaritan like in nature and helpful, they are targeting a population of Karachi that has food and water as its basic priorities first and it is highly unlikely that an electric connection even at half the price for what its worth will be more elusive than the free connection they had before. They did however state that under a new connection, no outstanding dues will be charged for the past illegal use of power.
KESC also hopes to spread this offer to the rest of the city in the hopes that they can eliminate the illegal Kunda connection draining the power of the city once and for all.

The book “great women of Islam” by Mahmood Ahmad Ghadanfar

Today when we think of a muslim women, what is the first image that comes into our mind: An oppressed, powerless women, locked behind the “chaar diwaar”, been beaten up every day and also facing the concept of “glass ceiling” in every aspect of their lives. However, this is not the image which was portrayed by the first few Muslim women way back in 14th century Arabia. Sure, in that time, they didn't come suited and booted ready to take on the world. But they did come fully clad in the attire the Quran instructed for them, and were ready to take on the Arabian Peninsula, in their own gentle but lively way.

Many of us know what Hazrat Abu Bakr (RA), Umar(RA), Bilal(RA) and many others Sahabis (male companions of Muhammad (SAW) )did for Islam and how they put their lives at stakes for this ‘deen’ in their own dynamic ways (subanAllah); However, how many of us are aware of what Mother of believers Aisha (RA), Umme Salim, Umme Salit, and many other early muslim women reverts  (aka Sahabiyat i.e. women companions) did for islam and our beloved Prophet(SAW).

Through this book, we are introduced to a different viewpoint. This book shows us that there was no sphere of activity that did not benefited from the intellect and wisdom of the pious sahabiyat of Muhammad (SAW). They were as active in religion as in politics, courageous at battlefield, dynamic in the field of education, in the courts of Islamic jurisprudence, in the court of shariah, in trade and commerce in agriculture, in medicine, in nursing.

Is Love a delusion?

Love is NOT a delusion

As long as we have known, generation after generation have searched
for true love, its reputation; much like the Holy Grail has become
weak in the dejected minds of those with its unrequited forms. What
people do not seem to understand is, that love is not a construct in
their heads, its not simply an illusion of grandeur, it is NOT a
delusion.
Love is the emotion of giving and receiving, of appreciating and
caring for something or someone to the extent that they be willing to
give everything for it, its not unlike the love a mother has for her
child, the love a child has for his parents or the love of two people
in a long happy marriage, you can even see it in animals!
Any emotion taken to the extreme can cause you pain, anger is good to
protect yourself from falsification, but its extremity is deadly.
Grief can remind you of what is most precious and consequences of
mistakes, but its extreme can once again be lethal to you. In the same
way, love is an honest emotion that taken in its true sense i.e.
understanding, compromise, respect, loyalty and affection can bless
your life with immense happiness, earning you a lifetime of
partnership and friendship and giving you all the benefits of a
gratified life. So don’t run away from love by fearing what may happen
if you trip in its pursuit, because when you finally reach a love
worth sacrificing for, one in which you receive as well as give
affection, I can guarantee you will never regret it.

Men; animal or human?

I was watching MTV a couple of days back and I felt like I was being smothered alive by the hypocrisy of the world that I’m living in. Women everywhere across the world on any channel, show, video or movie are being objectified by men, whether they know it or not. And if any of our kind wants to stand up for her rights and refuses to be objectified, they are usually ended up with the title ‘prude’. So women today have to choose between the title of either ‘prude’ or ‘slut’. You might not agree with this statement and say something like

‘This is not true. There is a middle ground there. You don’t have to take to extremes on either end’.

But see we don’t have a choice for a middle ground. In Pakistan if a woman is caught kissing a boy she will be deemed a slut. And all the boys will talk about it and spread the story further. In Pakistan the men are the real gossip mongers. The hypocrites usually want a girl that is ‘pure’ and ‘untouched’ when they’ve been doing God knows what with God knows who, since the age of puberty.

I’m making a straight out statement that men have huge egos and they use women and money to soothe it.

Also let’s take a look rappers and rap videos for example. In the videos these men are shown to be ostentatiously rich and surrounded by well endowed women to say the least.  Now these men probably suffered from low self esteem at an early age and couldn’t get any ‘action’ hence now when they do have it they have to prove to the world and themselves mostly how attractive and appealing they are physically and financially.

How can Muslims not actively partake in politics and society?

This is a side of the Prophet's (peace be upon him) life that we very rarely get to see or get told from our religious teachers. Of how he skilfully dealt with potential dangerous situations and prevented bloodshed amongst the most divided of societies, and built upon that a foundation of peace and clarity. Upon having recognition of this it seems almost incomprehensible how the active participation of Muslims in politics and society, upon working for the greater good can be removed from our identity. More noticeably, in Medina, the progression was conducted in the environment of Non-Muslims under the banner of Islam. A situation somewhat similar to our own.

Both of these examples helped to establish the basic social and judicial fabric that we know in Islam. These are principles and attitudes that are applicable to every age and relation to a human being, as it was applicable to one of the worst of situations. And if we do follow this Sunnah, we are collectively standing up for the good of this world, in the name of Islam. How can we expect to be able to spread Islam in the best of manners without following it? And shouldn’t we as Muslims, aspire for the greater good and development in our lives, communities and societies?

Aside from looking at our duty (although I cannot stress how important it is), if we look at what is possible for us as Muslims, it was this basis of working for the good for others that caused the light of Islam to be as it was during medieval times. That caused the space for intellect, innovation in a social, just and harmonious society. That caused people to come to Muslim cities, for the opportunity and sheer quality of life that the Islamic system brought. And that caused Islam to show the world how truly great it is.

The Social Network : A review

Today I watched the hit movie ‘The Social Network’ and I must say that the movie was quite touching. The movie was about how Facebook came to be what it is today and two best friends, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) who were studying in Harvard University. Zuckerberg was portrayed as a misunderstood and brilliant computer nerd who in the beginning of the movie created Facebook as a vengeful mean to get back at his girlfriend but ends up making a website worth billions. Zuckerberg also gets sued for ‘stealing’ the Facebook idea by three Harvard students. In the movie Saverin finances the website and is behind Zuckerberg every step of the way but Saverin gets cut out of the deal because Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) poisons Zuckerberg against Saverin. Sean Parker was portrayed in the movie as a cunning and conniving young entrepreneur whose eyes were set on Facebook and cutting out Saverin from the equation but in the end Zuckerberg does realize his mistake and gives Saverin his due shares of the company.

Personally what I liked about the movie was Zuckerberg’s character which was portrayed fantastically by Jesse Eisenberg. I could understand his loneliness and paranoia about trusting people. It was that lack of trust that brought on the rift between him and Saverin in the first place. Sean Parker was just someone who voiced those thoughts. The saying on the cover of the movie hits the mark and is quite chilling.

Are we mice or men?

I believe that a bold and courageous act change the course of history. And since there has been no such act being performed in our country or in the world in general, I conclude that we are mice. The world is crying out to be saved but the cries are falling deaf to our ears and why is that so? It’s because we’ve grown accustomed to these problems so much so that we turn a blind eye to injustices that are played out before our eyes. Granted there are a few people who did change the course of history with their courageous acts. The men who did not scamper away into their holes
Che Guevara was a Cuban revolutionary of the 19th century, a Marxist who ended the tyrannical rule of Batista. He worked under Fidel Castro who was the leader of this movement. Although he was a soldier, he was also a doctor, a philanthropist and a writer. Gandhi was another man, from India who brought his nation to his feet by means of non violent protest. What both these great men have in common was the fact that they had enough courage to stick it to the man. And in both cases the ‘man’ was the West. Even normal people can be heroes. Rosa Parks, a colored seamstress on board a bus in Montgomery Bus Alabama refused to vacate her bus seat and give it over to a white man. This act sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott which was the grounds of the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement was solely responsible for giving the blacks their rights in America.
If all these events did actually happen and people do have the potential to take control and bring down tyrannical rules why the hell are people around us or more specifically people in Pakistan not taking charge? Why do we sit and wait for the our current or future leader who we chose through the beautiful method that is democracy to screw us common people over? Why do we wait for them to take over so they can milk our country dry? I’ll tell you why. It’s because we are too comfortable in our little holes to come out. It would require a lot of valor, perseverance and discipline for us to achieve this and quite frankly, we have none of these qualities. We are mere mice after all. Rodents that scamper at the first of danger.

Shoe chucking - Terrorism at its finest

Pakistan's favourite President Asif Ali Zardari was recently the target of a shoe attack after his speech in Birmingham; the latest trend in protesting inefficient leadership. Authorities claim that it was not quite clear what the man appeared to be protesting, but if I had to wager a guess I'm thinking it was probably something like 'Get off the stage!'

The majority of Mr. Zardari's speech was peppered (as it always is) with realistic and impassioned remembrances to his lately departed wife Benazir Bhutto. Any other topic related to the countries state,
or its recent disasters would of course be an insult to his and his wife's memories. After half an hour of venting his frustrations ('I often ask myself why she had to go') he proceeded to express his explanation as to why he gave his son, a recent college grad, the position of Co-Chairman of the PPP.

Not much of the content in his speech gave an allowance to his behaviour of being on a trip to England while parts of the country was suffering from the floods. His disappearance caused unrest and anger in Pakistan and it might be possible that the shoe was thrown by a man disproving of Mr. Zardari's actions.

Shoe attacks are becoming popular as a way to protest against poor leadership. Though there was no footage of the actual throwing we can all vividly remember the shoe attack against Ex-President Bush during his conference in Baghdad.

With the state of affairs as they are, we might soon anticipate a policy disallowing people to wear shoes in conferences.

Means to an end, justified or not?

The end justifies the means. What is your opinion?
Consequentialism states that a morally right action is one that
produces a good outcome. This can, however be disputed as it can also
hold the meaning for a corrupt act leading to good ‘consequences’
which is either almost not possible or achieved through means of
deception.
I cite the example of Galileo Galilei who questioned the Copernican
system in 1624 by debunking the teachings of the Christian doctrine
which held that the sin was the centre of the universe. He was
eventually convicted and sentenced to house arrest in Florence, Italy
where he died in 1642. If we were to take the direct results of his
actions against the Christian doctrine, which is house arrest,
ridicule and death we will be forced to conclude that his act was a
morally wrong one which befits his demise. However, we know now that
he was a great pioneer of scientific teachings and was the first to
discover that correct universal law and despite his demise we
appreciate how great a scientist he was.
Another example of a battle between Spaniards and the Incas would best
support my opinion on how often times the ends do not justify the
means.  The battle of Cajamarca on November 16, 1532 as written in the
book Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond was between the Inca
Emperor Atahuallpa and the Spanish Conquistador Francisco Pizarro. The
former led a ragtag team of one hundred and sixty eight Spanish
soldiers in unfamiliar territory towards where Atahuallpa was
protected by eighty thousand. Despite this vast difference in manpower
Pizarro managed to capture the King and hold him in hostage until he
extracted a large ransom and reneged on his promise to free the king
by executing him.
Pizarro took advantage of the lack of knowledge and experience the
Incas possessed of Spaniard military prowess (steel swords, guns and
steel armor) by using the artillery against them. The Incas who has
never before head the blaring of trumpets and the cracking of guns
were thrown into disarray. Atahuallpas troops had only stones or
wooden clubs, which would at best only injure the Spaniards and wore
quilted armor which offered them no protection from the bullets or
steel swords.
Consequentially, since the Spaniards won the battle, we’d have to
accept that their method of fighting, which was by tricking the Incas,
using their own weakness against them and breaking their word when the
Incas were at their weakest, was morally correct. The massacre of
eighty thousand soldiers would be nodded away without another thought
and their sacrifice to protect their homeland against intruders be
waved away as a mere stupidity.
The essential judge cannot be consequence or outcome. It is wrong to
simply judge an act by its consequence because the reason behind that
act, its intention is just as important in decided what makes it
ethically correct.

Literature, a subject or way of life?

Literature is more than a subject, and definitely more than a means to
a goal. The world of literature encompasses all we know of life. If I
had to imagine it, I’d think of brilliant fireworks, If I had to feel
it, I would sense a poignant calm, if I had to taste it, I would
savour its inexplicable flavour and lose myself trying to identify its
ingredients. It is a paradigm in which I can both lose myself, and
find myself in.
Dwelling deep into interpretation and dissecting personality to
uncover a person’s true character has always held a deep fascination
for me. This is probably why studying literature appeals so strongly
to me. I can find myself spending hours gazing at a person; the
unintentional twitch of their eyebrows, the droop in their stature,
the heavy gait coupled with a nervous clenching of sweaty hands; all
highlight an integral part of their personality. I only recently
discovered how important such interpretical and analytical skills are
for discovering meaning in art.
I believe very strongly that each individual currently living in the
world has a purpose; every living thing gives and takes. This rule
applies to anything I can imagine or conjure up. It is with this
theory that I decided to take up writing. It’s a form of communication
not favoured much in the part of world I live in. There is too much
lost while speaking whether it be words, emotions or meaning. But the
written art can be read and re-read until instilled for eons to come.
Most Pakistani writers, I feel,  are limited in their content and
expression. Their styles are pompous and their matter narrowed only to
a certain angle of narrative styles. I have always been obsessed with
the more subtle forms of expression that despite appearing seemingly
nonsensical and purposeless at times is brimming with powerful and
heavy meaning and logic, such as those displayed by Lewis Carroll’s
Alice in Wonderland and George Orwell’s Animal Farm. I want to write
an analogy on Pakistan’s unfortunate luck with political leadership
and the social evils that perpetuate its adverse fate. By combining
dark humour and challenging my readers to tackle the issue from
another perspective than to have it flung at their face in an obvious
manner and here I am reminded of Oscar Wilde’s satire on England’s
society in ‘The Importance of being Ernest’ . It is for this purpose
that I crave for more experience and wisdom from the masters of
literature throughout time. By discovering new innovators and
revolutionists, impressionistic writing, comparing between texts and
maturing my skills I can follow in their path to enlightening
societies by writing.

A person of great Influence to me; Katherine Mansfield.

When I was in secondary school studying my A levels, I studied a compilation of short stories written by Katherine Mansfield (Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp). She wrote stories primarily about women and children, but in a light I had never seen before. The women were not portrayed as the stereotypical victims of a loveless and violent relationship but had their own idiosyncratic behavior; glimmers of
mania and eccentricity in their eyes. The children, universally shown as innocent angels, were depicted in a more realistic light as being the trouble making menaces they really are.
Katherine Mansfield was an impressionist. She painted her stories on vast canvases of adventure and children’s nightmares. As an aspiring writer/author myself, I was influenced by her style of writing and impressionistic style. I fell in love with the way she’d reveal complex personalities in simple innuendos, streams of consciousness and simple movements packed with emotion. I marveled at the way she’d
entrap her readers into their own childhood nightmares by using their imagination against them.
Her stories were like piercing bells in the fog of my adolescent mind. Perceptions of feminism, sexuality,psychology and love fell into realistic shape and broadened my understanding on many adjoining subjects. Living in a mostly patriarchal society like that of Pakistan, I was subject to a great many gender roles and my understanding of them usually consisted of another’s comprehension on the topic. But after reading Mansfield’s work I began to question those roles; the rise of feminism as an overly biased political tool, unjust stigmas on parent child relationships and the importance of personal independence.
Katherine Mansfield created personalities that were never constant; one’s mental stream changed from an adults to a child’s perspective and consequently to emotional in an instant. The ubiquitous truth of this struck me, as how people truly are. No one is perfect; there is a child, a rebel and the wise one inside us all. But consequently, it is not societal norms or traditional customs that control us. The power to influence and be influenced lies within us alone.

Effect of the Hadood Ordinance in Pakistan

What is Hudood ordinance? Hudood ordinance is a part of criminal law in Islamic shariah (which includes punishment for adultery). According to chapter 24 of Quran, if a man or a woman commits adultery after marriage then they will be stoned to death and if before marriage then they should be flogged with 100 stripes. As we see this is considered as a harsh punishment, but then we should also consider that
the criterion for this punishment is also very difficult, that is the witness testimony of 4 upright (known for justice, adl) men. Also, it is mentioned in the same chapter that those who accuse chaste women and produce not four witnesses, flog them with 80 stripes and reject their testimony forever. Now this criterion is very difficult to find and never under the Islamic rule has this taken place (except when people brought hudood upon themselves), hence in that case this ‘hadd’ of stoning to death or 100 lashes won’t be implemented. However, we see this hadd is not as impractical because for example we know how rapes were committed in crowd in Bosnia and Afghanistan, thus there would be availability of 4 upright men.
However, if this criterion is not fulfilled then tazeer, (which comprises of 90%of criminal law in Islamic jurisprudence) would be implemented that is by qazi or judge, in an Islamic court under different evidences giving different punishments.
The hudood ordinance of Pakistan is the one in the Islamic shariah but it is not properly implemented or in fact incorrectly implemented in Pakistan. It was during the Zia regime that this strike of islamization was brought about considering the ideology of Maulana Abu Ala Maududi, founder of jamat e islami, but its implementation has not been as it was expected and we saw that mistakenly a strong element of injustice was done to women under this ordinance.

Three boys go missing after fathers suicide attempt

In Michigan, a report of three missing boys has been dispatched since Saturday, after their father tried to hang himself. John Skelton the father, told the police that he left his boys with a woman named Joann Taylor who he met online and that she was supposed to drop the kids off at his wife’s house so that they would not be with him during his suicide attempt.
However, he survived his attempt and is now in a mental health facility for recuperation. His children and Ms Taylor however are nowhere to be found. She was supposed to take the boys to their mothers home in Morenci but they never came home and Tanya Skelton, the mother of the three boys reported them missing after they didn’t return home on time.
The boys ; 5 year old Tanner, 7 year old Alexander and 9 year old Alexander are being searched frantically by hundreds of volunteers, the police are also handling a search with dogs, two airplanes and FBI behavioural science experts.
Some experts fear that the story John gave wasn’t true and that ‘Joann Taylor’ might be a fabrication which adds panic to the situation, as many fear a murder-suicide attempt, that he might have killed his children and attempted suicide instead.
About 200 people from Michigan and Ohio gathered at Morenci United Methodist Church to attend a vigil for the missing boys, according to the Detroit News.

The Gay's win again.

Reference to Post : http://news.oneindia.in/2010/08/05/court-strikes-down-california-gay-marriage-ban.html
Title :  US court overturns California gay marriage ban

Dear Readers,
Today marks another victory for homosexual rights in the United States and around the world. Their slogan "Our love wins" could not have been truer for the moment when the district court chief Judge in San Fransisco overturned the ban on gay marriages, claiming it to be unconstitutional!
The American constituion, which claims that all men and women be seen and treated as equals contradicts the ban that had been imposed prior in the state, as it represented the inequality of limiting homosexuals to marry and secure a lifetime of the married benefits with their partners, a blessing every human should enjoy. The judge further stated that the issue cannot be argued on the grounds of morality for that easily portrays homosexuals as inferior, whereas they are as much human as we all are. 

As expected, the verdict met with much disapproval from the Church community as they believe homosexual acts to be a sign of blasphemy and moral degradation. The Church claims that God does not approve of homosexuality, but really, has anyone even asked God about the matter?
For now it seems, in the hands of the district judge, the matter needs more solid ground and evidence for both parties involved and he decided to move the case to the Supreme Court.
Though this is a temporary victory for the gays, it did not stop them from expressing their jubilation through the city's streets with a parade of their rainbow colours.
Personally, I have no qualms concerning homosexual rights or their lifestyle. We dont possess the right to judge others by our own preset values because all of us grow up in different environments and go through different experiences, all shaping us into the individuals we eventually choose to become. So if someone just managed to grow up with an extra appreciation of the same sex, then I shall accept them just as I would accept any other member of the society, country or world in which we all belong.
This verdict does not surprise me because the world is slowly but inevitably coming to a stage of acceptance for which we will all be glad. Today it can be for the Gay Society, but maybe in the future we can expect to see a hand of friendship or equality extended towards the South Asian and Middle Eastern communities. Those who find it hard to compete against a majorly prejudiced world that favours only the elite and wealthy of class and ethnicity, of race and culture.
So let today be a global victory, a victory not only for the Gays, but also for the world's ignored and oppressed individuals.