I wish if I could turn back the clock

Pakistan Government has announced that the standard time of Pakistan will be restored from 1st November 2008 and the clocks will be turned one hour back. I wish that if I could really turn back the clock and we could see Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan working in his office. We could once again see Justice Iftikhar working peacefully as the Chief Justice of Pakistan. We could see the missing people enjoying meals with their families. We could see peace in Pakistan. We could see Pakistani ruppee going stable. We could see international cricket in our stadiums. We could enjoy TV plays giving great messages. We could see our ladies working comfortably in homes without any load shedding. We could see simplicity and love in our society without any race for the sake of money and show off.

I wish if I could turn back the clock, we could bring more and more foreign visitors to Pakistan. We could get visa of any country without facing any problem due to our nationality. We could live peacefully as one nation without any differences on the basis of sect, religion, language and province. We could have concentrate on study in our colleges and universities without indulging ourselves into the politics. We could have more projects and jobs in the country….. I WISH……… and its not necessary that all our wishes can come true.

PPP Government interfering in Supreme Court Bar Elections

According to a news published in Pakistan’s largest selling English daily The News, Aitzaz Ahsan has alleged the PPP Government is interfering in the forthcoming Supreme Court Bar Presidential elections. Senior lawyer, Mr. Ali Ahmed Kurd is contesting for this key position. According to Mr. Ahsan, Kurd’s position is very strong and he would win the election inspite of Government’s interference. He further added that Ali Ahmad Kurd was a national hero and his services and sacrifices for the independence of judiciary were unforgettable. Aitzaz said that no other candidate had the stature as that of Kurd.

On the other hand, Latif Khosa, when approached by The News, denied use of influence or other tactics to get the People’s Lawyers Forum’s (PLF) candidate successful. He said that M Zafar’s position was strong and that he would easily win the election.

My comments: This is indeed matter of shame for the so-called democratic champions that they have not restored the honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan by now and they are just following the footprints of Mr. Musharraf. PPP must remember that if it does not change its current policies, people of Pakistan will never ever give PPP to form the government again.

Thankyou very much ‘Star Voice of India Team’

Star Voice of India 2

We are very happy to see that management of Indian singing reality show ‘Star Voice of India’ took consideration of our comments on the voting system of programme that was showing religious racisim. Yesterday the management of the programme provided another chance to three very good singers, Zakir Hussain, Vipul Mehta and Mallar Karmakar. They were pushed out of the programme by the Indian general public, although the judges were not in the favour of doing so.

We wish Zakir Hussain a very best of luck for his upcoming competition as he has a voice very similar to that of late Muhammad Rafi.

PPP Government facing worst reaction from the people

Image contribution: www.views.pk

On Thursday ( 23 October 2008 ), in most of the cities in Pakistan people gathered to protest against recent increase in the electricity billing rates. According to the resources families earning 5,000 Rs. per month received bills amounted Rs. 5,000. Two men died of sudden heart attack after looking at the bills. This situation made people violent. They burnt their bills in the streets and attacked the WAPDA office during the protests.

A PPP worker in Haiderabad tried to burn himself and got seriously injured. Police and other PPP workers saved his life by extinguishing the fire. PPP workers in Sindh announced that they were highly depressed due to the present situation in Pakistan and they were not getting any justice even in the presence of their party in the government. They announced that they would attempt suicides if the present situation of load shedding continues.

Federal Minister for electricity and water, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf appologised for providing the high amounts bill and promissed that the increase in the bills would be taken back. He requested people to pay 60% of the bills.

Pakistan after its existence in 1947 is entering into a DARK ERA as the electricty supply has failed to meet the requirement. All major cities including Karachi and Lahore are experiencing about 12 hour load shedding everyday that has collapsed the industries and people are facing too much difficulty.

Airbus A-380 – a wonderful aeroplane

Qantas - A380

Recently, Airbus – the aeroplane manufacturing company has introduced the world’s most luxurious passenger aircraft, A-380. This is a wonderful aeroplane and I think that it is equiped with the maximum facilities to provide a real comfortable and memorable journey to the travellers.

Big airlines companies like Emirates and Qantas have purchased this aircraft and have started their flights. This amazing aircraft has four classes, i.e. Economy, Premium Economy, Business and First Class Suits. Travellers of the Busniess class and First Class suits will can convert their seats into flat beds. Also, they and the passengers travelling in the Premium Economy class can enjoy movies and music on large screen LCDs, internet, telephone and many more. Business Class passengers can have their meetings onboard in the business loungs alongwith the computer presentations.

Even the Economy class is not a bad option. They are also provided with internet, SMS, telephone and laptop connectivity facilities like other classes. In short A-380 can be termed as a ‘plane of dreams’. For more information on the features of this great aeroplane, please visit the following website:

http://www.qantas.com.au/info/flying/A380/index.

Justice Chaudhry enters Supreme Court

Justice Iftikhar - Son of Pakistan

October 20, 2008 was a great day, when real CHIEF JUSTICE OF PAKISTAN, Justice Mr. Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry entered entered the supreme court for the first time after 3rd November 2007, when he was sent home by the worst dictator in the history of Pakistan.

Justice Chaudhry was invited by the Supreme Court Bar Council for addressing them. He was warmly wlecomed by the lawyers including Aitzaz Ahsan, Ali Ahmed Kurd and many more. Justice Chaudhry saluted them for their continuous support and said that societies can progress only in the presence of true justice. He added that he would open some hidden facts in front of the nation on 3rd November 2008 in his foregoing address to the Rawalpindi Bar Council.

No doubt, he is indeed a great person and whole nation salutes him for his unbent stand against the Army dictator.

In Urdu, Allama Iqbal’s verse is just true about him:

ہزاروں سال نرگس اپنی بے نوری پہ روتی ہے
بڑی مشکل سے ہوتا ہے چمن میں دیدہ ور پیدا

Salman Ahmad – the talented guitarist

It was ‘Music 89′, the first ever pop music programme telecast on PTV, where Pakistani people watched Salman Ahmad playing the guitar for the first time. He was a member of that time hittest Pakistani band ‘Vital Signs’. They performed ‘Do Pak Ka Jeevan’ and their hittest national song ‘Dil Dil Pakistan’. Salman was liked highly by the youth due to his guitar playing skills in ‘Do Pal Ka Jeevan’. Later when their album released people purchased it just like a hotcake and it set new records of sale. Unfortunately, soon after the release of this album, Salman Ahmad, who is a medical doctor by qualification, decided to leave the band as he was a passion for the rock music. He formed a new rock band ‘Junoon’ with Ali Azmat as the leading vocalist, who had left the seconmd best Pakistani band ‘Jupiters’. Later Brian ‘O’ Connel joined them as bass guitarist.

Salman showed his composing and writing skills as well in making the songs. Unfortunately Junoon’s first two albums could not do well as Pakistani people were not very much interested in listening the rock music. Then Salman experimented a new thing and he introduced ‘Sufi Rock’ music, in which they made songs from the writings of Baba Bhullay Shah (famous Punjabi saint). The band got hit and was awarded as the Best Asian Band by MTV channel. They released three albums having this type of music and all of them got great response from the people of Pakistan and India. Junoon also got the honour of playing in the United Nations. In 2005, Junoon broke down and Salman started performing as a solo artist. Salman Ahmad also acted in some TV plays and was well appreciated by the viewers.

Besides music, Salman Ahmed has been involved in two documentaries with the BBC and is also the Goodwill Ambassador for HIV/AIDS. Salman is working towards spreading awareness about HIV in South Asia, and helping to bring peace between Pakistan and India. After Junoon’s international acclaim and success, Salman reached new heights, which include being an ambassador for peace with numerous international awards under his belt. Salman also played an important role in raising funds and awareness for the massive earthquake that hit Pakistan in October, 2005. We wish him a very good luck for his future endeavours.

Do Dubai and Abu Dhabi deserve to be in the list of best cities?

Today I am writing on a very serious issue. Some months back Dubai and Abu Dhabi were selected in the list of world’s best cities. Honestly speaking, I doubt on this judgement. In Dubai, 80% of the workforce (including engineers and other executives) cannot liev due to very high living costs. They have to come from the neighbouring cities, Sharjah and Ajman. This puts lot of traffic load on the streets and roads of Dubai as no proper transport system exists between the various UAE emirates (states). It means that Dubai is a city that does not allow its workers to live there, who are contributing in the development of this fastest growing city.

In Abu Dhabi, there is a shortage of proper accommodation and people have to pay very high rents. Otherwise the families have to share the apartments or otherwise they have to live outside the city. Basically both of these cities have been planned for the living of European and local Arab people. Only around 5% of the Asian people can afford living in these cities. Pakistani, Indian and Sri Lankan people are paid less salaries as compared with their European colleagues. This racism is due to lack of proper labour laws. Therefore these cities can never be ranked in the list of world’s best cities.

Any comments on this issue are welcome.

Asfandyar Wali shifts to Britain with his family

Mr. Asfandyar Wali Khan

President of Awami National Party (ANP), Mr. Asfandyar Wali moved to UK with his family after receiving death threats from so called ’Muslim’ fundamentalists. This is indeed a great point of concern that a person known for his positive attitude in the present politics has to leave Pakistan. Some days back he was attacked by a suicide bomber, where he survived and many of his party workers lost their life. Later, Government of Pakistan shifted Mr. Asfandyar and his family to the presidency in order to provide him security against the terrorists. However he kept receiving more threats due to which he finally took the decision to live outside Pakistan.

We can guess that if such a popular political leader cannot feel safe in Pakistan, how the common man can feel secure. Pakistani government must take very saerious measures to control the situation and for this purpose, dialogue is the best way instead of killing the Qabailees. We wish that a better time will come soon and Pakistan will become once again a safe place for its citizens and foreign visitors.

My best teacher!

Dr. Javed A. Aziz - A living legend

It was the start of our final year class of B.Sc. Civil Engineering in UET Lahore. We entered into the class of ‘Public Health Engineering’ which was to be taught by the head of ‘Institute of Environmental Engineering and Research’, Dr. Javed A. Aziz. Professor entered the class and I was masmerised with his personality. I had been student of various professors and lecturers since our admission in the B.Sc. Civil Engineering class, but had never seen such a well-dressed and knowledgeful professor. He introduced himself in a very light way to the class and whole students started taking interest in such a dry subject.

When he finished the lecture, he told us that he would like to discuss someting that was not part of the coursework but would be one of the rising environmental issues in the world that we should have known. He then gave us very valuable information. To be honest, after that lecture Dr. Javed continued his great style of teaching for the whole one year and we enjoyed every single moment of attending his class. After we finished the session and became engineers, his efforts brought fruit and I got a very good job. Later I got admission in M.Sc. Environmental Engineering class in the same instiitution, but unfortunately I could not attend his class. He is the best teacher in my life and is one of very few teachers who earned lot of respect from his students.

Dr. Javed later became Dean of Civil Engineering and was retired in 2004 as the ‘Senior Most Dean’ of UET. He was awarded with Grade 22 (highest government job cadre in Pakistan). I am very lucky that he is also my father. Now days he is teaching in the same institution on contract. May Allah give him a long and healthy life…Amin!