The Indian media did not waste much time to start pointing fingers at Pakistan for the recent attacks in Mumbai, India. My heart goes out to all the families who lost the loved ones, but I am just sick of this ‘typical’ blame game.

Taj Burning

Times of India is already reporting that Pakistani militants have been captured and that this whole incident could not have happened without support from across the border. Now I am sure that similar to 2001 Indian Parliament Attack, NADRA issued ID cards will be found in possession of all these terrorists and then it will be no brainer! The western media also jumping on the bandwagon is trying its best to portray this as another al-qaeda attack.

Maybe we should also borrow a page from our neighbor’s book and God forbid, next time when we have a terrorist attack in Pakistan, simply blame it on RAW and get on with our lives. In fact a lot of analysts believe that foreign elements have played part in the recent attacks in Pakistan, but unlike the Indian government, our government doesn’t have the balls to blame any external element.

It’s about that the Indian media stop its propaganda and do some soul searching as to the actual reasons behind these attacks. A good starting point maybe, the state of Muslims in India.

One sleepy Sunday afternoon in late November (23rd to be more precise) gathered all post dot com breed of citizen journalists (lately to be labelled as Bloggers) to discuss what is so special about what they do.

Audience at the Lahore Bloggers Meet-up

Google Pakistan and CIO Magazine hosted a meet-up of Lahori Bloggers and wanna-bees to discuss everything related to the phenomenon of ‘Blogging’ in Pakistan. LUMS proved to be an excellent venue (Internet connection apart) for the event providing all of us with the space and opportunity to interact, network and personally meet people that we usually know only through their blogs. Suprisingly, more than a hundred people turned up without any formal invitation still the response and the attendence was impressive.

Badar Khushnood, Country Consultant, Google Pakistan

The three-hour session started at 3:00 pm with Badar Khushnood, Country Consultant for Google in Pakistan as well as the main host of the afternoon, talked about Blog basics and provided a beginner’s guide to effective and profitable ways to share your mind through Blogosphere.

Saad Hamid (Sizlopedia) sharing his success story

It was followed by Saad Hamid (Sizlopedia) and Maryam Nasim (Pinkwool) taking the stage sharing their personal success stories in this field. Maryam, although does not calls herself a blogger, provided an excellent insight into the wonders networking through Internet can bring in terms of work-from-home kind of profitable business models. A dedicated housewife, she designs electronic greeting cards and free printable graphics to sell through her website while earning very lucrative returns in the process. The person that we really missed was Haris Nadeem (Sizzledcore), a very young and dedicated tech. blogger who actually couldn’t attend because of his exams.

The Professionals

Panic has spread among people of the city after three consecutive explosions rocked the Punjab Institute of Languages and Alhamra Cultural Complex located within the Qaddafi Stadium Complex. Fortunately, there were no casualties and only about three people are reported to have received minor injuries.

This time, target of terrorism is Lahore’s premier cultural event, the World Performing Arts Festival which was taking place at Alhamra and was to conclude tomorrow. The iconic festival is one major attraction of the city’s arts & culture scene and brings hundreds of international artistes, singers, musicians and performers to the delight of entertainment-starved Lahoris. 

Although cafeteria of the Punjab Institute of Languages showed some signs of shattering, the damage done by the miscreants is far more iconic and psychological than physical or material. But, we are neither moved nor afraid of these cowardly acts. We will surely fight back and continue doing so till each one of these elements is eliminated from our society.

DHA Cinema has been playing the latest 007 flick, Quantum of Solace, since 14th of November with only a few cinegoers buying a seat at the cinemas. Today, I finally got a chance of rushing to catch a show before it is taken down under other Bollywood heavy weight releases this winter.

Quantum of Solace at DHA Cinema

Well, QoS has everything a Bond movie should have in addition to the increasingly human element and emotional aspect that Daniel Craig brought back to the agent’s character earlier with Casino Royale and now in QoS. There is a deadly car chase right in the beginning, hard hitting fight scenes, killings, Bond’s revenge of his dead love, a Bolivian co-agent and stunning international locales.

So before the corporates decide to stop sponsoring the 3/4 empty house shows; do not listen to any negative reviews, just go and watch it with your family and friends. Believe me, on the big screen, you won’t be disappointed with Daniel Craig as Bond at all.

Upcoming releases

Other movies ‘now being shown’ include Abhishek, John Abraham, Priyanka Chopra starrer, Dostana and Ajay Devgan, Kareena Kapoor’s fun-flick Golmaal Returns while the new ones lined up for releasees include Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Hellboy‘s latest sequel and Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif starrer Yuvraaj.

The screen is set on fire for the winter!

*ahem*

If you are a blogger or you want to be one.. you want to learn something about blogging or you have something to tell.. you are a professional blogger or an amateur.. or you just read blogs and want to see who the bloggers are and how do they look like.. you are welcome. Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) is going to hold a grand bloggers meet up this Sunday.

What is the idea?

The idea is to encourage Internet users & bloggers to meet offline as well. Senior bloggers get a chance to share knowledge & experience. New wanna-be bloggers can learn from the local success stories and network with leaders & professionals in this field.

Host:

LUMS IEEE Students Chapter (in collaboration with CIO Pakistan & Google Pakistan)

Who Can Benefit From Blogging?

Students: Discover how you can earn your own pocket money.
Housewives: Learn how you can earn & support your family while staying at home.
Professionals: See how you can enjoy a second income while still doing a full-time job.

Time and Place

Date: Sunday, November 23, 2008
Time: 3:00pm – 6:00pm
Location: Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)
Town: DHA
City/Country: Lahore, Pakistan

Registration:

Registration is FREE but the seats are limited.

Register here: http://tinyurl.com/lahore-bloggers-meetup

Main event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=35844398187

Hope to see you there. :)

The Piaf-Founders Alliance swept the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) polls 2008-2009, by winning all the 30 seats of Corporate and Associate class.

The ruling Piaf-Founders Alliance was challenged by The Founders-Azad Alliance which took part in chamber elections after 2 years.

The elections for 15 seats of Corporate class were held on November 18 whereas the elections for 15 seats of Associate Class were held on November 19.

Votes are being counted in the conference hall of LCCI, whereas; the candidates and members of both parties are present.

For Corporate class, there were total 30 candidates who were contesting for 15 seats. Total 1105 votes were polled out of which the candidates of Piaf-Founders Alliance Mian Muzaffar Ali got 769, Tahir Javed Malik 737, Mohammad Imran Khan 702, Haroon Shafiq Chaudhry 726, Syed Mohammad Umair 695, Mirza Javed Iqbal 736, Kashif Younas Mehr 714, Syed Mehmood Ghaznavi 687, Shahzad Azam Khan 719, Munir Ahmad Bhatti 689, Kh. Imtiaz Ahmad 708, Arshad Baig 619, Siddiq-ur-Rehman Rana 645, Shakeel Mehmood 579 and Tariq Mehmood got 617 votes.

Whereas; the candidates of Founders-Azad Group Munir Ahmad Khan got 416, Tahir Manzoor Ch 360, Asif Rehan Dar 378, Mohammad Hashim 339, Abdul Sami 416, Aizaz Mansoor Sheikh 394, Kamran Khan 441, Kh. Ahmad Usman 441, Salim Ullah Ghauri 390, Mian Asad Hameed 354, Khalid Naeem 353, Bakhtiar H. Wain 325, Mian Sultan Mahmood 303, M. Imran Aslam 260 and Tariq Fiazi got 263 votes.

For Associate Class, total 1424 votes were polled out of total 3545 votes and the voters turnout was about 40.16%. The PIAF-Founder Alliance got 833 panel votes while, the rivals, The Founders-Azad Alliance secured only 225 panel votes.

The candidates of Piaf-Founders Alliance Irfan Iqbal Sheikh got 1005, Hassan Amjad 1003, Sheikh Mohammad Irfan 1030, Nasir Saeed 1016, Usman Ghani 1017, Faisal Iqbal Sheikh 1030, Malik Ikhlaq Ahmad 1011, Mohammad Yousaf Shah 1011, Mudassar Masood 1022, Mohammad Usman 1037, Khalid Pervaiz 1027, Mohammad Ashraf Bhatti 1037, Faheem Ur Rehman 1005, Sohail Shamshair Ali 1002 and Anwar A. Sheikh got 968 votes.

Whereas; the candidates of The Founders/Azad Group Mohammad Asif got 369, Mohammad Rizwan Akhtar Shamsi 349, Mazhar Iqbal Hai Butt 353, Usman Masoud 331, S.M. Arshad 346, Mohammad Yaseen 348, Qadeer Saigol 325, Khalid Mahmood 319, Tahir Mahmood But 314, Ayyaz Ahmad 322, Mohammad Raheel Arif 308, Mohammad Shahid 313, Mohammad Ashfaq Sethi 286, Mian Shabbir Ahmad 286 and Raja Hassan Akhtar got 266 votes.

Group photo of Piaf-Founders Alliance after the victory.

In Associate Class, four independent candidates Mohammad Ilyas got 17, Zafar Ahmad Kamal got 19, Syed Abdul Mujtaba Sherazi 26 and Chaudhry Zahid Bashir got 90 votes.

Soon after the results, in the first phase, the newly elected Executive Committee also elected Ms Nabeela Intisar and Asia Sial Khan on two reserved seats for women. In the second phase President, Senior Vice President and Vice president would be elected on November 24, whereas; the Annual General Meeting would be held on November 27.

Presiding Officer Sheikh Salim Ali made formal announcement of the results of the elections 2008-2009.

The LCCI President Mohammad Ali Mian, Senior Vice President Mian Muzaffar Ali and Vice President Shafqat Saeed Piracha thanked the voters for showing confidence in PIAF-Founders Alliance.

No untoward incident occurred in two day whereas; The Founders-Azad Alliance alleged that Piaf-Founder Alliance was involved in poll rigging and instigating the voters to stamp on their names and demanded to halt the election procedure but the election commissioner rejected the claims. The Founders-Azad Alliance has the option to move its application to Director General Trade Organization (DGTO).

This is the first time I got to know that the day named “World Children Day” is not celebrated on a single day around the world. The Universal Children Day is celebrated on November 20 but in many countries the day is celebrated on different days.

We, being elders, must take responsibility.

Without going into the details I want to wish all the children of the world a happy life. I love children until they don’t cry or get rash. :-D    kidding..

I believe that children also form a bigger portion of the human rights victims in this ‘world of elders’. Children are ignored in different ways and in developing and under developed countries, the situation is even worse than just ignoring. Child labor, child abuse, camel jockeys are few examples.

Even in national and international politics, we never think that what particular impact will it make on children. I may not be wrong if I blame the Government of Pakistan for this incident due to its obsolete policies and also some really peace loving countries who are spending trillions of dollars in the name of war against terrorism. I don’t know what role is being played by this The Universal Deceleration of Human Rights and; where is the biggest human rights activist organization Amnesty International.

I wish that everyone, on this day of children, commit that one will work to make this earth a safe place for every child. Wishing all the children a happy and prosperous life.

For Lahorites:

Children Library Complex is holding a 4 days Grand Book Fair from November 20 to November 23. A nice activity for the children on their (children) day.

Event: Grand Book Fair

Timings: 11:00 am – 07:00 pm (daily)

Venue: Children Library Comples, Aiwan-e-Tijarat Road, Lahore

Stalls: Charts, Poster, Greeting Cards, CD/DVD, Food Courts, Jewelery, Face Painting, Garments, etc.

Extras:

1) Painting Exhibition at 11:00 am on November 20.

2) Puppet Show at 11:00 am on November 22 by Iranian Artists currently performing in the World Performing Arts Festival.

3) Walk of Children at 12:00 pm on November 22 from Children Library Complex to Governor House.

Law & Policy Department at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) is arranging a talk by Mr. Toufiq A. Siddiqi on Asia’s changing role in Global Climate Change. Mr. Siddiqi is a Senior Fellow of the East-West Institute in Honolulu, Hawai and has worked in the fields of energy, environment and climate change for over thirty years. He will be talking specifically about how countries in South Asia with huge challenges like poverty and fast-paced industrial development (in India’s case) should respond to the growing crisis of climate change.

Venue: PICIC Auditorium at LUMS

Date: Thursday, November 20, 2008

Time: 11:00 AM

You are more than welcome to attend the event and get some insight yourself.

Videos:
Video 1: Watch Imran Nazir smash Sixes
Video 2: Watch as Imran Nazir shares secrets of sixes after collecting $10,000
Video 3: Watch Lahore lift the ICL cup, celebrations & joy, as Lahore celebrates
Lahore Badshahs beat Hyderabad Heroes by 8 wickets to lift ICL 20s Indian Championship.
Inzamam Ul Haq receives the Winners’ cheque worth two crores. And he lifts the sizzling ICL trophy too. Celebrations all around as firecrackers light up the sky.
The highlight of the win was a sparkling unbeaten century from the dashing Imran Nazir plundering 111 runs off only 44 balls; studded with 7 fours & 11 mighty sixes. The Knock also too Imran Nazir to the top of the leading scorer list for the tournament. Imran Nazir was fittingly declared man of the match. Nazir also won the Haywards Soda Solid Six award of US $10,000 for longest six of that went 140mts in the same match.
Rana Naved Ul Hasan wins man of the series award; wins 40 Lakhs rupees, Dish TV digital set top box, Luminous inverter & electric bike.
Detailed Scores
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