As I digest the endless stream of bad press about my country of birth, I feel utterly powerless to do anything but to pick up my pen (or laptop) to vent some anger and hopefully stir some thought.
I do wonder what it will take for the common man/woman to rise up against the establishment – much like the Red Shirts in Thailand. It seems the vicious cycle of ignorance, religous dogma and fear of the unknown has dulled our minds and seriously weakened our resolve.
Our so called “foe” India with all it’s social and religious ills still managed to produce leaders who had the vision to invest in Education and infrastrusture that has started to pay dividents back to the entire nation. About the same time the likes of Nehru were sowing the seeds of change back in the 70s, our ‘capable’ generals led by ZuH were plotting to destroy the future of the next two generations.
I sometimes wish somebody had the foresight and guts to offer ZuH a few crates of exploding mangoes a decade or so earlier – perhaps Pakistan and the rest of the world might have been a little different.
So when we all sit in our darkened homes across the country for up to 20 hours a day, we should really thank our ‘great’ generals and mostly uncle ZuH for filling our lives with darkness.

It is raining in Lahore. Finally.

The Lahore School of Economics is having its Sixth Annual Conference on the Management of the Pakistan Economy on the 22nd – 23rd of April, 2010 at the Lahore School main campus (on Burki Road). The theme of this year’s Conference is “Development Challenges in the New Decade”.

The Conference will bring together a group of distinguished academic researchers and decision makers from the private and public sectors. In each session the speakers will present papers related to the theme which will be followed by a short discussion.

The next decade is an important one for Pakistan, if it can successfully deal with the key challenges it faces, Pakistan can make the transition to a middle income country by 2020. These challenges include addressing the recurrent energy crises, developing an efficient water resources management system, overcoming the persistent poor government revenue mobilization effort and bridging the growing regional disparities and lack of trust between the four provinces. It is hoped that the papers and deliberations at the Conference will help in the formulation of policies to put the country on a sustainable growth path. {Via Logic is Variable}

Beginning May 12, 2010, Jazeera Aiways, Middle East regional carrier, is adding Lahore to its destination map. The airline will fly three times a week from Kuwait to Lahore. This is welcome news for Pakistan aviation industry, which in the past decade has seen bunch of international airlines terminating their operations in Pakistan due to deuterating security situation in the country. Let’s hope other major international airlines would also add back Pakistan to their destination maps soon.

The Associate Press reports yet another act of senseless violence–disrupting the lives of hundreds of thousands of people–this time tragedy has struck Moscow.  Visit here for the details.

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

As if it were news, all of us shook our heads in shock after hearing about twin suicide attacks in R.A.Bazaar this morning. Although the apparent target were the military vehicles passing through that busy route, dozens of innocent civilians became casualty to the vicious intent of bloody terrorists. The total count of victims has totaled about 39 people while injuring another 95. And that was not all of it because the terrifying morning was followed by 5 explosions, one after another, in various locations of Iqbal Town. Fortunately, no injuries were reported in the second wave which happened all in a span of about 1.5 hours and allegedly caused by grenades hurled by a person riding a motorbike. Police has claimed that all 5 of these explosions were of low intensity and caused by planted time devices.

10 among the dead are military personnel - Image Source: AP via BBC News

With deep sorrow, we should console and pray for those who became victims of terrorism in Lahore today. Our prayers are with the families and friends of those who lost their lives. May their souls rest in peace… Inna lillahe wa inna ilehe rajioon!

TTP has claimed responsibility of today’s blasts according to recent media reports. All Pakistan Traders Association has announced all markets in Lahore to be closed tomorrow i.e. Saturday, March 13, 2010.

Regardless of what happened today, one thing should be made clear to those behind such cowardly acts, and that is the fact we’re alive! and they can’t kill of all of us whatsoever they may try. As long as we keep our resolve of fighting this menace and exposing the real elements behind these incidents, we can never loose the battle.

Hence, our advice to everyone would be: be careful in venturing out to crowded and sensitive places but don’t stop living life your way for it takes more than what happened today to break our spirits…

God bless the souls of the deceased… Amen!

A Lahore School of Economics – IMF Roundtable Discussion “International Financial Crisis and the Role of IMF: The View from Pakistan’s Youth,” was jointly hosted by the Lahore School of Economics and the IMF Pakistan Office, at the Lahore School of Economics, on February 22, 2010.

The discussion focused on the current international financial crisis and its national and international effects, implications of the international financial crisis on future economic policymaking, how will it affect economic liberalization, deregulation, and the role of the state? What can be done to prevent a similar crisis from reoccurring? How will the new landscape affect opportunities for addressing the region’s most pressing economic challenges, such as the need to provide employment opportunities, boost competitiveness, and find new sources of sustainable and equitable growth? And, what role can the IMF play in this respect?

At this round table discussion, students gave their opinion on these topics and proposed fresh ideas regarding the IMF’s dialogue with Pakistan and its support for the international economic community currently and in the coming years.  See more images here and here. 

The hue and cry raised by a certain section of the society on the recent banning of Basant by the Lahore High Court compels me to bring forward my point of view.

These people mourn for the loss of a cultural event which attracted thousands of foreigners from all over the world. In the prevailing geopolitical situation, I hardly think that a bunch of colorful kites would be able to lure an already fear stricken foreigner to a death trap. Moreover this cultural loss might be a matter of concern for a handful of socialites and five star hotels but not for the common man.

It saddened me to read the post Sir, we can’t control this. “Then ban it” where the blogger citing reasons for the ban on Basant writes, “The reasons quoted were not many – two in fact, one being the loss to human life and the other being disruption in WAPDA’s electricity supply causing monetary loss”,  as if these two reasons are not good enough. The blogger goes on to write, “The ban on Basant is silly. Loss of life and loss of the ever-so-present WAPDA supply are not reasons at all. And here’s why: the loss of life is not because the kite-flying itself is dangerous. Kite-flying has been around for quite some time. The murderous streak now automatically tagged with basant itself, has been introduced through the development of stronger string”.

Stronger string or not, if kite-flying has been around for quite sometime then so are the deaths related to this festival. Why do we forget hundreds of innocent lives lost which are not related to the killer string but are still a part and parcel of this event? We can try to get scot-free by saying that if someone is run over by a car or falls from a roof top then it is his own fault but can we blame a poor boy for running after the kites which we so lavishly shower just because he too wants to have his share of fun; or can we blame a child for falling off his roof because his father didn’t have enough money to build proper railing around the roof. Our politicians, so eager to climb up on their roofs might not be so hungry for such an amusement if God forbid it was one of their own who had lost his life to this blood thirsty event.

We would view this entertainment very differently and the ban would not look silly anymore if our own child had to run on the roads to grab a kite!

Coming to the ingenious solutions provided by the advocates of Basant. Yes, you may ban motorbikes and bicycles for two days but have we ever thought that for some people that is the only way of transportation and in case an emergency arises it is their only way out. Secondly you may also ban the deadly string but is it administratively possible to keep a check on such a large scale?

With all due respect to everyone’s viewpoint, I am of the opinion that even if one life is lost due to Basant, it is certainly not worth it.

Basant was a thing of beauty and was one of those rare events where a truly cultural event gathered people from all over the world. Yes, the world. Lahore owned basant, regardless where it came from. Even Lahore Metblogs has a separate category just for Basant!
But you had to be living in a hole to not know that basant has been banned for some time. A petition moved sometime around 2005, initially by none other than the mayor of Lahore, Mian Amer Mahmood. Slowly but surely, you witnessed an exercise in ‘how to control and change a city’s very culture through the power of political will’. The reasons quoted were not many – two in fact, one being the loss to human life and the other being disruption in WAPDA’s electricity supply causing monetary loss.
But here’s how I see it all:
The ban on basant is silly. Loss of life and loss of the ever-so-present WAPDA supply are not reasons at all. And here’s why: the loss of life is not because the kite-flying itself is dangerous. Kite-flying has been around for quite some time. The murderous streak now automatically tagged with basant itself, has been introduced through the development of stronger string. A lot of people think that it is the razor-like solution that the string is soaked in that causes the string to be a knife-on-the-loose. Although the sharpness is part of the reason, the main reason is that the string itself is very strong. There was a time, I remember, when I was able to snap the string by pulling on it with both hands. It is a typical way of checking a string’s strength – tug at it and see when it breaks. But recently, I would notice that it has become harder and harder to just ‘snap’ the string. You would have to resort to either some serious pulling or just use to teeth to sever the string. It is the combination of ultra-strong string with razor-sharp solution (a.k.a. manja) that makes the string a killer.
The real culprit has always been the string itself, and building upon that, you can see that the makers of the string are also the culprit. And by culprit I mean the ‘reason’ for the chaos, not the guilty party (guilt is for the courts to decide, remember?)

The reason the basant was and is still banned is not because the festival has turned deadly, it is because some people have invented and then sold this killer string to a lot of unsuspecting people. In fact, the real reason is that the administration has found it beyond them to crack down on the few string producers that manufacture the deadly string.

The flagship parliamentary debating competition of the Lahore School of Economics Association of Debaters, the Lahore School Debate, has started at the Lahore School of Economics (February 5 -8,2010). The Lahore School Debate shall be following the All-Asian Parliamentary Style of Debates, which employs the 3-on-3 debating format, with reply speeches. The Lahore School Debate shall consist of six preliminary rounds (2 closed and one custom free-speech), followed by the knockout stages of the knockout stages of the quarterfinals (8 breaks), semi-finals (4 breaks) and the grand final (2 breaks).

In an another embarrassing episode of Pakistan cricket Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi, a veteran of 293 ODIs, was caught tampering the the ball in the last ODI against Australia on Sunday. This is the second time in his career that Afridi is charged with ball tampering, the first being in 2005. What’s even more astonishing is that Afridi seems to justify his horrendous act: “There is no team in the world that doesn’t tamper with the ball. My methods were wrong. I am embarrassed, I shouldn’t have done it. I just wanted to win us a game but this was the wrong way to do it,” he told Geo TV.

 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!

I took a stroll a few minutes ago  to determine what the weather is like on the last Friday of January twenty ten. And the verdict? Fantastic! We finally have a breeze in Lahore, and not some weak  ‘ruffle-some-papers’ breeze,  a true-blue winter breeze that demands sweaters and makes trees physically sway side-to-side.

Now, a humble request to the Weather Department in the sky; what us Lahoris would really appreciate is some rain showers. To be specific, as I am aware there were some parts that received some drizzle action last night–we would like some proper downpour.  You know, like Islamabad got some and everyone knows Lahore is way cooler–so spread the love!  *grin*

Lahore – the heart of Pakistan is known for its built heritage – historic buildings and splendid structures. For centuries the successive regimes have been enriching the city with love and determination. The construction of each successive era; Mughal, Victorian and the modern, has added tremendously to the grandeur of the city.

Shalimar Interchange is a useful addition in the landmark constructions of the metropolis. Constructed on the road to historic Shalimar Gardens, it is a link with our rich heritage and continuation of the artistic vision and the superb building skills that our master craftsmen possess.

Shalimar Interchange is a state of the art project constructed by Frontier Works Organisation – the leading construction organisation of the country. It is the first 3 level interchange in Punjab over the canal and the railway line and comprises of a 1.6 km Flyover, 2 Underpasses, 2 Ground Level Bridges and 11 km service roads around the site.

The flyover-bridge is of the latest design that is most suitable for the locality. Its sleek transoms (pillars) and girders radiate openness. Besides regulating the traffic at a previous chokepoint, it will provide maximum utility for the residents by uplifting the whole area, says Khwaja Ahmed Hassan, Chairman Task Force Lahore Road Rehablitation Project, I).

The interchange will greatly benefit the people of Lahore by improving the city’s traffic flow. The Mughalpura crossing – accommodating bulk of the city’s traffic, was a choke point where even the ambulances were held up in the traffic jams. The majestic flyover now conveniently connects the city with cantonment. On the canal side; the underpasses convert the canal bank road into a fast moving signal free corridor. Commuters to the Shalimar Gardens, Jallo Park and Mughalpura Dry Port will be much facilitated by the facilities of the Interchange. {Written by Husain Qazi and X-Posted from Light Within}