Scenes of destruction at the Lahore bomb blasts on September 01, 2010 - Source: Reuters

Around 30 people fell victim to another barbaric act of terrorism involving three bomb blasts on a Shia religious procession in Lahore yesterday. It was the day marking shahadat of Hazrat Ali (R.A.); one of the bravest and dearest companions of the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H). Sadly, the beasts have no sanctity for Ramadan, Hazrat Ali (R.A) or even for simple humanity.

According to media reports, more than a 100 people are injured and being treated at different hospitals of the city. May the souls of the departed rest in eternal peace and may the injured recover as soon as possible – Amen!

Start counting the series and spats of bad news from my country and you won’t be able to reach a limit. Suicide bombings, super-floods, sectarian violence, corrupt politicians, goons in power, mass poverty, electricity crisis, gas shortage, inflation, banishment from the global community… You name it, we have it!

No wonder, we, the people of the Land of the Pure, are the bravest nation in the World!

No more can my heart feel,

as I bow down, before Him I kneel.

The gain of peace in my abode,

the pain of worry on life’s each node.

For it makes no sense of having to bear,

when you have all & everything to fear.

From death to fire; not that I desire,

after all, who likes to sink in such a mire.

My heart cries in silent despair,

for it has had more than its share.

Oh God, give us a sign of hope,

of love, of life and of a will to cope.

Help us raise our spirits again,

save us from insanity; let hope remain.

For it won’t be worth a cry,

if before death, a tear won’t dry…

Prayers,

Hasan Mubarak

Some 380 people were handpicked from more than a thousand applicants and all of them showed up! There were students, educationists, trainers, professionals, bloggers; people belonging to a very diverse and interesting group of individuals. Although some of the enthusiastic crowd was present at the venue two hours in advance of the planned timing, the event kicked off a bit late due to bad weather. The stage design was sleek and impressive, hats off to the people behind it. Same was the case with audio system provided by Bose, which apart from slight glitches worked pretty fine.

Arif Hasan at TEDxLahore - Photo by TEDxLahore

Before the talks, a minute of silence was observed to honor the lives lost in devastating floods, Airblue plane crash as well as to the victims of terrorism. After that, Arif Hasan, a renowned architect, took to the stage and discussed socio-economic changes in urban planning after Partition. He was followed by the duo of Omar Sheikh and Jabran Rafique, both of whom are super-mappers and the guys behind Attabad Lake markings and mapping on Google Mapmaker.

The only short-film filmed at TEDxLahore was titled ‘Building Pakistan’ with a patriotic theme depicted in a very innovative way. You can watch the video here.

Some other notable talks featured:

Ajmal Kamal – who talked about his dream of seeing everything written in Urdu available to everyone through print and electronic media.

Dr. Tariq Rahman – shed some light on how code-switching (multilingual overlapping e.g. Urdish & Urdi) is not exactly a bad thing in literature or everyday conversations.

Saima Zaidi – provided a visual treat by presenting the rich visual culture of Pakistan. References included a poster for Jhuley Laal, product packaging for Rooh Afza, Tibet Talcum Powder and a Mughal miniature depicting the folk love story of Shirin Farhad. She concluded her presentation with a resolve that we are a diverse and inclusive society as evident in our visual culture.

Beena Raza came next with her introduction to Sangan Nagar Institute of Philosophy & Arts. Apart from very lengthy text on slides, it was interesting to hear about another effort to revive our culture.

The show-stopper in the first half, without a doubt, was Noor Zehra’s mesmerizing performance on Sagar Veena. She played the instrument with so much ease yet captivating the whole audience in its magic. For those who are not aware, Noor Zehra happens to be Ali Noor and Ali Hamza’s mother.

Almost all of these speakers kept the audience glued to their seats despite some of the participants occasionally snoozing off due to tiredness or inspirational overdose. Just before the second half started, refreshments were served which included samosas, rolls, ras malai and rabrri milk by Nirala. Participants also got some time to network, talk and discuss ideas with each other.

The first half of the event was interesting but more on the informational side. Real surprise was packed in the second half of the evening during which each speaker was generously applauded by the audience. And yes, there were at least two standing ovations for Dr. Zeeshan Usmani and Mudassir Zia who honestly deserved it.

Dr. Zeeshan Usmani is a full-bright scholar and an associate professor at GIK Institute who has developed a very comprehensive computer simulation model for tracking the effects of shock waves after suicide bombings. He currently has the largest database of suicide bombings in Pakistan, which has helped him develop an intelligent model very useful for pre-emptive measures, calculating human causalities and identifying the perpetrators. His genius and humor-filled presentation style won him accolade by everyone in the auditorium. If there was an award for man of the match, it would have easily been shared by Dr. Usmani and Mudassir Zia.

Mudassir Zia was the only speaker to conduct his talk in Urdu, our national language, and perhaps the highest on inspirational value as he discussed remarkable achievements of his group of friends. His ideal of ‘first do, dare and then dream’ is very relevant to the current reality of our society where everyone talks big but does nothing. Mudassir and his friends have started a charity school (Ghulam Muhammad Grammar School), arranged patriotic street art competitions and conducted blood donation drives all by themselves without any external help or funding. Every member of their team works in his respective profession and then dedicates personal time and resources to all these noble activities.

In addition to Dr. Usmani and Mudassir Zia, other speakers included:

Dr. Nadeem-ul-Haque – discussed the paradigm of donor projects and production. Being the head of the Planning Commission of Pakistan, he admitted that our development is devoid of creativity and innovation because we give little creative and intellectual space to our youth. He was true is saying that we focus only on hardware (development projects) and do very less about changing the software (mind-set and intellectual skills of the people).

Live on Skype from London, Majid Nawaz discussed the need to develop national consensus to identify our leaders, symbols, alliances and finally a progressive narrative. Relating to different ideologies, Majid mentioned how every idea needs these four elements in order to be effective and strong enough to unite any nation.

Zubair Bhatti – the ex-DCO of Jhang shared his initiative of pre-emptive feedback gathering from common citizens. The idea is being implemented successfully across various districts of the Punjab where senior government officials call individuals to ask if there was any corruption witnessed by them. An automated telephone feedback line is also being started for recording complaints in this regard.

Dr. Asher Hasan – the founder of Naya Jeevan presented his NGO’s work on provision of quality healthcare to the deserving most in our society.

Finally, Dr. Aamir Khan came up with his dream of quality healthcare for all Pakistanis. With an impressive profile of achievements and successes, Dr. Aamir Khan, as the head of IRD, has initiated the use of mobile phone technology for mapping, tracking and curing pneumonia, TB and STDs amongst citizens of major urban areas in Pakistan. He acknowledged the genius behind mobile phones which has helped his system of paperless medical reports and patient data collection in the least developed areas of Pakistan.

Rafay Alam, scheduled to speak about Critical Mass (a campaign to encourage cycling in cities), could not make it from Delhi due to a flight delay but was generously appreciated by everyone present in the audience for his initiative.

Once the talks finished, Asim Fayyaz, Curator TEDxLahore, presented his concluding remarks which thanking everyone including the sponsors. What came later was a total surprise live performance on drums and dhol by Saad Sarfraz Sheikh and his friends.

Adding on to the suggestions given by other fellow bloggers, I would also appreciate the effort put in by everyone from organizers to volunteers. Although, one can say that the talks did not exceed the TED caliber, still, they were pretty decent; some of them quite innovative and even inspiring around the idea of ‘Collective Genius’. Since, TEDx phenomenon has just started with at least three chapters in Lahore alone, one can easily hope that we will see a marked improvement in the quality and inspirational quotient of talks in successive future events.

Hats off and two thumbs up for the organizers, speakers and audience at TEDxLahore!

Favorite sayings from TEDxLahore 2010:

- ‘Chinese curse: May you get what you wish for!’ – Dr. Nadeem-ul-Haque
- ‘The only helping hand is at the end of your arm’ – Mudassir Zia
- ‘The problem with problems: solve one, get one free – so we need to keep working’ – Dr.Aamir Khan

Takeaway:

- Lots of positivity, optimism, patriotism and loads of ideas to bring a change for the better
- A goody-bag with TEDxLahore soundtrack, WWF Natura magazine, discount vouchers on books from ‘…the last word’ Qadaffi Stadium and a cute little plant gifted by the Horticulture Society.

TEDxLahore is just about one such opportunity that shows hope for Pakistanis that there still are people who can turn things around for our society, country and the greater world at large by using the power of collective genius. Yes, ‘Collective Genius’ is the theme for this year’s TEDxLahore.

For starters, TED (Technology, Entertainment & Design) is a non-profit organization that has provided a platform through their annual conferences, talks and website for sharing ideas that can bring change in this world. Notable speakers at TED talks over the years have included Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Gordon Brown, Bill Gates and various notable individuals. In addition to TED talks, the movement encourages independently organized events hosted by colleges, communities and people across the world to share ideas worth spreading in their own context. These events are termed as TEDx.

Into it’s second year, we are glad to have another TEDx event happening right here in Lahore on 31st of July 2010. Being supported by the Planning Commission of Pakistan, TEDxLahore 2010 will provide an opportunity for individuals of the highest caliber to express their views and share their ideas for change.

To give you a tentative idea about things to expect at this year’s TEDxLahore, the list of speakers is as follows:

Arif Hasan - An architect, teacher and social researcher.
Dr. Nadeem ul Haque - Head of the Planning Commission of Pakistan.
Omer Sheikh and Jabran Rafique - Super Mappers (Google MapMaker)
Dr. Zeeshan-ul-Hassan Usmani - A researcher on the effects of herd behavior on impulse shopping
Ajmal Kamal - Editor of AAJ journal for Urdu literature
Dr. Asher Hasan – Founder and CEO of Naya Jeevan
Saima Zaidi - Author of ‘Mazaar, Bazaar’ – an exhaustive review of Pakistan’s visual culture.
Rafay Alam - A lawyer & environmental activist.
Mudassir Zia - Founder & President of Message Welfare Trust.
Beena Raza and Noor Zehra Kazim - Artists, Sitar players and teachers.
Dr. Aamir Khan - Epidemiologist, founder and Executive Director of IRD since 2004.
Zubair K. Bhatti - Ex-DCO Jhang & The Asia Foundation’s Director of Programs, Pakistan.
Dr. Tariq Rehman - Professor of Sociolinguistic History & specialist on Language Change.

You can find a detailed profile of all the speakers here, which will be more than enough to increase your excitement & eagerness to be a part of TEDxLahore as a present or virtual audience this year.

Let’s all look forward to what TEDxLahore brings for everyone on 31st of this month. Till then, keep following…

Website: http://www.TEDxLahore.com

Twitter: @TEDxLahore

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TEDxLahore

Live Viewing Parties: (click for more details)

Karachi – T2F

Islamabad – Civil Junction

Den Haag (The Hague) – Pakistan House

What I typed instantly into the Twitter box when I read the news is perhaps the most genuine comment that can be made on the behalf of the citizens of Lahore and indeed, Pakistan.

Marsonearth on Twitter:

Prayers for #Moscow from #Lahore – there are no words that will lessen your grief. http://bit.ly/9Y7Doe

 Imagine, what would happen if this guy is made captain of all 3 formats of the game? What kind of example are we setting for our youth? That it’s okay to cheat as long as you can win? The problem with Pakistan cricket is that similar to our politicians, we never held our cricketers accountable for their actions. We need to makes examples out of the Afridis and Akhtars of Pakistan who again and again tarnish the image of their country and then proudly make a comeback to the national side to become heroes once again.  

 I have had enough of these cheats and wish that for once, we can make the right call and shut all doors on them!

However, the fear of such incidents happening obviously compounds when our country and society is literally at war with extremism and radicalism. The killers did not think how many Shias would be there when Moon Market blast happened in Lahore. Nor did they consider sectarian association of thousands of innocent civilians and security forces killed in our cities, towns and the tribal agencies across the country. In such a state of war, it was a treat for terrorists to get an opportunity of inciting violence, hatred and killing amongst the very people who they have lost support from. It was their good chance of taking revenge against the common Pakistanis for defying their version of beliefs. There are no versions of this religion; Islam is only peace!

And it happened. Two incidents one after another, significant and deadly, in Muzaffarabad and Karachi, caused havoc by killing more than 50 mourners while injuring more than a hundred. Arson attacks in Karachi after yesterday’s suicide attack has led to burning of more than 2,500 shops damaging goods worth 2-3 billion rupees while crippling the country’s economic hub.

Who’s partying and raising toasts as we bleed in heart and soul? Who’s celebrating new year with resolutions to kill as many innocent Pakistanis as possible? Who is making claims of defending a religion that they themselves have drifted so far away from? We know them, don’t we? And we also know, it’s not only them as only the blind could not see who’s benefiting from this war and anarchy in our backyard.

Prayers for the martyred in Karachi and Muzaffarabad… People of Lahore and rest of the country stand by you as you are not alone; we are also bleeding from your loss!

I have never traveled on a bus, although I did traverse the Mall road for almost a year on the suicidal vans while doing my time at Government College. The vans were knocked up, were filled up till someone fell out through the windows and every once in while you’d get a seat next to a confused pedophile. But one thing good about those vans were that they were on a route that happened to be mine as well. Then I got upgraded to a motorbike and have not used public transport since. Not even a taxi. But there has been a desire to do so, a desire tainted with economic motivations. The desire hit me first when I started making money (while at University) and calculated the total cost of ownership of my then vehicle (a CNG-kitted Suzuki Swift – not a Khyber, a Swift!). I wished for another go at riding the public transport monster but that is when luck ran out; there was no convenient way of getting from my university to my home, other than hop twice between buses and then walk a total of a bit-more-than-one kilometer(s). So I stuck with my car. Besides, possessing a vehicle that can fit more than two individuals during college days was as cool as Fonzie.

But now I keep reading about how bad it is for the environment that the Punjab government is cutting down an estimated 1500 trees (somewhat-official figure), some hundred years old, to widen the 14 kilometer stretch of the Canal road. Environment? What? We have an environment, and no one told me about it?

But folks, seriously. Apologies to all environmentalists and ‘tree huggers’ in here and out there, but the idea of widening the Lahore Canal Road is not a bad one because we will be losing around 6,000 trees (WWF figure). Chopping trees ‘heartlessly’ can be a good thing if it is done for a good cause. But widening the canal road is not exactly a good cause.

“But look at the Lahore Canal,” you say, “the underpasses have really solved the traffic problem!” Are you on crack? Have you ever been on the Canal at rush hour? This underpass is on the left, that one is on the right and cars are all over the place. The Canal road is being widened BECAUSE there is a traffic problem that is only fuelled by the ill-planned underpasses. “But there are too many cars on the road because of them banks,” you say. Right, and there are still more cars out there, and widening the road will not leave ‘room’ for the ones already there, it will invite in more cars to fill in the space. I am sure there is some principle as solid as Archimedes’ to prove this point here. (get it? Solid principle, Archimedes? No? Never mind.)

My problem is this: you are planning to spend a tad more than 3 Billion rupees, and you have two options. Behind door number one is that you spend it on widening the Canal road (forget about the tree chopping for a moment here). You will solve nothing. Interesting.

Behind door number two is the real reason road-widening is not a good idea: public transport. Giving the city of Lahore, that keeps growing in size by the millisecond, some semblance of a public transport system in the form of buses and trains sounds like a brilliant idea, ESPECIALLY when you compare it to the dead-end canal-widening idea.

If you think, or doubt, that widening the canal road will be a good thing to solve the traffic problem, I think one of our very own Metbloggers, Mr. Rafay Alam will be in a much, much better position to answer that. The problem that I see, which is much bigger than environment and planning, is that of displaced priorities. Our job as citizens is to remind our government to do there’s.

So, there you are, 3 billion in hand. One solution is to burn it, and the other is to invest it back. A very tricky answer to this one, I assure you, right?

Where is our beloved country heading? Is the operation in Wazirstan going to solve our problems? I highly doubt. Who is our enemy? Is it the Taliban, India, the US, or we don’t need an enemy as WE are our own worst enemy.

Something has to give up here. For how long this bloodshed could go on? Just for how long? Have we not had enough? This month alone we have lost close to 300 lives!!! Isn’t it about time that we give up the comfort of our homes to do something for our country? But what can we do? At my end other than praying I know I am not doing anything. But prayers alone would not get us there….We need to back up our prayers with actions. Its about time my fellow citizens!

However, the prolonged loadshedding schedule and additional outages ensured that Lahoris came  back down to earth.

Lets take for example the community I reside in–where on average we experience ‘schedule loadshedding’ for 10 hours a day. This translates into not having electricity in our homes about every hour or so–throughout the day–without consideration for weekdays or weekends.

With such a situation, all our basic electrical appliances have either died or been sent to the local repairman. List includes the washing machine, refrigerator, microwave, so and so forth. This is ridiculous, to say the least.

In the wake of this major rainfall today in the city, our local trusty LESCO bunch added another hour of loadshedding. Yes, ADDED!  When we called to ask whether this was due to a fault in the local grid network, a rather disgruntled LESCO employee said that an hour had been officially added to the schedule–and that we will probably face another increase in our monthly electricity bills–as well!  When we expressed our disapproval, he said that the higher-ups are the ones making the call and that the location he went home to often did not get electricity for 8 straight hours!

Navigating our way through the LESCO complaints directory, we got through another LESCO employee–this time a bit higher up in the pecking order.  According to LESCO employee number two, the higher ups believe that there are not any complaints and that people are okay with the current situation of power supply (wow that is an ironic phrase–’power supply’). 

Umm, Lahoris, are we OK with what is going on? Are we OK with our hard earned money going down the drain every month–when we pay for a service that we barely recieve?  Are we OK with spending hours listening to whirring generators/ups ?

I doubt that.  But what I think the problem is that somehow, the complaints are not getting through. Is there not enough media coverage? Possibly. Is there not enough public outcry? No, people are making their point.

 I know this sentiment is not new, nor is the situation unfamiliar to those residing in Pakistan–but the point being, something must be done.

My recommendation:

Call the SDOs, the XENs  responsible for the electricity supply in your neighborhood. Here is the LESCO website link. 

Keep tab of the scheduled loadshedding–everytime unscheduled loadshedding takes place, try to lodge a formal written complaint.

Get the neighbors involved–have them do the same.

Communicate your plight, your problem, your discomfort with the current electricity loadshedding schedule. Write an email, a letter to the editor, or to a member of the provincial assembly.  I am sure there are those of you who have family members relying on vital life support machines, or even breathing aids such as nebulizers–all which are run by electricity.

If you have more ideas, please share with us in the comments section.

Remember, this an essential service that you are paying for and that you deserve customer service.

Everyone Singing to a Different Tune

Now that military operation has apparently come close to a conclusion in Swat; most people agree it was a step taken in the right direction despite differences in how brutally it destroyed infrastructure & caused incalculable collateral damage. Our political leadership was also as divided on the issue, though for their own interests, as depicted in this cover by Sabir Nazar for The Friday Times.

Now the Government’s success only depends on full restoration of peace; relocation of millions of IDPs back to their homes and prevention of insurgency from taking roots again in the affected areas. If our Government is to be believed; the current pause in terrorism related incidents in major cities including Lahore might be a result of this operation. We only hope the Government is telling the truth and that this operation has, in actuality, weakened the network of terrorists instead of providing them with a breeding ground for future recruits in the form of refugees.

And we sincerely pray this pause is not short-lived and that we truly will eradicate radicalism and terrorism from our society; not only in Malakand Division but also in every major city, town and village of Pakistan.