Ripple Effect

Dawn Images -- front page article by Saadia Reza - what's a "dip-stick" poll? never heard of it -- and most popular tv anchors/talk show hosts -- mathura is one, ok -- but no 2 sonya rehman dawn news and no 3 juggan kazim -- dawn news seriously saadia -- who did you survey in the "dip-stick" poll? people at dawn news? i would think even loser-from-hell sahir would be more popular than either of these two -- city pages -- front page -- anchor article titled reads as if the holding of the conference itself raises questions -- wake up subs! also metro section -- inside pages -- coaching centres replace schools and colleges -- since when was this news --- hasnt this been happening for years -- arent the news pages supposed to carry topical news items?

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/3567/think-tanks-conferences-and-more-hot-air/ As a reporter for Dawn in the mid-to-late 1990s, one of the first beats assigned to me was to cover seminars on various issues in the city of Karachi. At first this seemed like an interesting proposition but over time it became a drag – not least because on ended up seeing the same people all the time, discussing the same things over and over again, and giving the same solutions over and over again. Surely, they didn’t need to hold yet another conference on this issue, one would say to oneself, given that the issue had already been done to death and the recommendations were known to all and sundry. Eventually it all came down to an exchange – and quite boring at that – of hot air. This week as I attend a reasonably high-powered three-day conference in Islamabad on a grand-sounding topic like “Peace and Sustainable Development: The way forward” (organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute), I...

What is it about standing in line that Pakistanis do not understand? What your friggin turn! That's what being in line means. And why do the ASF staff want us to turn on our laptops -- what are they trying to check in any case? As for the waiting in line, this happened at the last checking point, once carry on luggage is checked right before the gates area -- waited in line and it wasnt moving and airport staff were bringing morons from the side -- and no one saying anything -- usually its me and when other people start looking at you as if you have done something wrong (AS IF!) -- but thank god another person had the good sense to admonish the ASF tag-checker -- but the latter only smiled and did nothing, which infuriated the admonisher even more -- however the tag-checker could have been smiling because that is all that he could do once we landed at islamabad airport, shared a car to the hotel with urban planning expert extraordinaire Arif Hasan -- had to introduce myself using ...

http://tribune.com.pk/story/88523/when-a-leak-is-not-a-leak/ Apparently there is conviction among intelligence agencies that Pakistani newspaper readers will believe almost anything. The extraordinary attempt to fabricate WikiLeaks documents marks the latest twist in the saga. News items carried by at least four national newspapers, including this one, claimed the publication of cables stating that US diplomats had affirmed Indian involvement in Waziristan and Balochistan, while describing top Indian generals as ‘geeks’ or persons linked to Hindu fundamentalists. This startled many readers on the morning of December 9. In contrast, Pakistan’s military top brass was praised in glowing terms. This detail alone points to the direction from where the fabricated documents may have come. The news agency which released the item is seen as lacking credibility and has been associated with intelligence networks. The Guardian, which ran a detailed account of the attempt to use WikiLeaks cables to...

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/3353/wikileaks-a-dinner-for-prince-charles-and-david-letterman-in-saudi-arabia/ Here are some interesting nuggets that much of the world press hasn’t reported upon, and isn’t likely to either, because they don’t make for ‘sexy’ reading/content. The case of the missing cable The News – and Jang – of December 9 had a lead story which, quite unbelievably I must say, quoted a cable from the US embassy in Islamabad saying all the things that the establishment in Pakistan would want the world to think about: a) India b) India’s army c) India’s chauvinist Hindu parties and d) Hamid Karzai. The Express Tribune of December 9 also carried a similar story – by Online news agency on one of its inside pages. Intriguingly enough – or perhaps worryingly – when I scoured the WikiLeaks website on the evening of December 9 for this cable I couldn’t find it. Lest I be accused of not looking hard enough, cables can be searched by embassy location and by date. The report ...

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/3273/wikileaks-2-0-full-marks-for-gilani-shahbaz-strikes-out/ So far a few hundred cables have been released – this is out of approximately 250,000 that WikiLeaks say will be eventually released. Newspapers, television channels, blog sites and other sources of information and media dissemination are having a field day, both in Pakistan as well as overseas with the wealth of information that has come out. The head of Russia’s intelligence service has said that the cables provide a “treasure trove” of information and that his analysts will go through them in detail. Meanwhile Israel is gloating that its stance on many things is the same, both in public as well as private. America seems to have suffered the most. Although most cynical commentators have said that by and large much the information that has been released is not unexpected. Of course, this doesn’t mean that it isn’t worrying. But do we realistically think that once this blows over – ( no one ...

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/3254/wikileaks-whither-muslim-brotherood/ It was never really a secret that Saudi Arabia did not like Iran. Perhaps there may be a sectarian history to this or maybe it is simple old realpolitik with two large states vying for regional power. But Saudi Arabia isn’t the only Muslim country that seems to loath Iran. There is the UAE and Kuwait as well as, albeit to a lesser extent, Qatar. According to a cable of Feb 9, 2010, from US ambassador to UAE to Admiral Mike Mullen, head of the US armed forces, prior to the latter’s meeting with the UAE crown prince and defence minister, the UAE is one of America’s most trusted partners in the region and “most useful friends worldwide”. The ports of Dubai and Fujairah are the “logistics backbone for the US Fifth [Fleet]“. The US Navy’s Fifth Fleet is responsible for operations in the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, Arabian Sea and down south as far as eastern Africa. Minhad airbase, some 20 kilometres south of Dubai i...

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/2927/the-horrors-of-life-in-clifton/ What is with elitist schools and colleges? Some like Karachi Grammar School (my alma mater and where my son now studies), get all the flak for not being good neighbours, for being elitist (the school’s fees are generally lower than most of its more recent upstart-ish ‘competitors’) and for bringing forth a whole new generation of brats (these people have obviously never met students or alums of L’ecole or Bayview). Now, to the point, for which this is being written. I happen to live close to a venerated Karachi education institution – the Convent of Jesus and Mary. In fact, my flat in Clifton is quite literally a one-minute walk from the school’s senior section. The back of my flat faces this small lane which is now barricaded on both sides. Come every morning and afternoon there is a mad rush in this neighbourhood, thanks to the school’s students, and their drivers and parents who come by and drop and pick them up....

what the hell are the silly ass cheapmunks -- two girls apparently who sing popular songs -- only thing is that they are BADDDDDDDDD -- why is the press in pakistan giving them so much coverage -- surely they have better things to cover -- the same goes for channels like city 89 and radio 1 fm -- what the hell happened to good sense and judgment -- the stray dog outside our compound wall could probably sing better than these two

http://tribune.com.pk/story/58846/a-fool-and-his-flag/ Editorial, The Express Tribune, Oct 6, 2010

rehman malik has resigned -- family already left the country -- several people telling me -- no official confirmation yet

http://tribune.com.pk/story/39076/after-63-years-of-independence/ Scenes that could have been taken straight from an apocalyptic vision of the world greet us as we mark this Independence Day. Some are almost eerily similar to those the world saw in the days leading up to August 14, 1947, when an entire sea of people began a desperate march across the border to new homes. This time there are no borders to cross. There are no homes to reach either; not even relief camps to move into. But the sense of desperation and misery on the faces of people are much the same. This time, they seek to escape from a natural disaster so terrifying in its scale that even those who lived through the traumatic events of Partition and through catastrophes of various kinds say they have never seen anything like it. What is sad is that they have seen, through the years, so many other problems too. Most of these have refused to depart. This is unsurprising since they stem from poor governance. This arises from...

http://tribune.com.pk/story/32446/questions-about-the-crash/ Editorial, The Express Tribune, July 30, 2010

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/819/what-went-wrong-with-airblue-flight-ed-202/

no channel still running the ISI wikileaks story ---- hmmmmmm even the newspaper websites -- dawn and ET carrying rebuttals -- and the news has nothing except a short report from London saying that the UK govt has no comment on the leaks -- weird this is -- why such self-censorship

http://tribune.com.pk/story/30456/democracy-and-the-generals/

saw this big billboard opposite bbq tonight -- nestle ad - they now call all their juice products 'fruita vitals' -- what the hell does that even mean -- its prob got something to do with the fact that they cannot claim to call it juice (maybe because it isnt) and because of legal reasons are using this kind of silly name -- perhaps a paper should do a story on it -- hey wait-- nestle advertises heavily in the media -- so no stories i bet!

http://thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=30139 just not on -- the speech may have been very good and it could have gone as a small news item, if at all, but to devote an half page of your own newspaper -- not good judgment and in poor taste

Editorial, The Express Tribune July 17, 2010 Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s statement made during a press conference on Friday, a day after his talks with his Indian counterpart, S M Krishna, that India did not seem “mentally prepared” to discuss all outstanding issues with Pakistan is alarming – and this is putting it mildly. In a detailed briefing to the media, Mr Qureshi said that India could not choose to be selective and discuss only the issues that it wanted to because bilateral ties between the neighbours could improve only if the concerns of both sides were taken into account and deliberated upon. At the risk of sounding hawkish, we would have to agree with the minister because surely the road to better ties is built on the concerns of both sides being discussed and tackled. India cannot expect Pakistan to address all the issues that are dear to India – foremost among them prosecuting those involved in the Mumbai attacks – and then choose to ignore those that are dear ...

Just check the Met office's website -- the press release was as of 11 am -- and it said that Gwadar had received 222 mm of rain so far -- and it wasnt over -- 222 mm is just under NINE inches -- imagine what could or would happen if that comes to Karachi -- which it is supposed to -- better to be safe than sorry -- good luck everyone

Interesting letter we carried on June 4 -- by an IBA student -- the rest is self-explanatory Secret meetings between Pakistan & Israel After years of denying any sort of contact with Israel at the top level, former Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri disclosed in a TV programme (that has yet to be aired) that secret meetings have been going on between the two countries for the past 50 years. He also disclosed that his meeting with the Israeli foreign minister at the time was not the first one. However, Mr Kasuri said his meeting was the first one which was publicly acknowledged. It seems quite ironic that ministers only disclose such secrets when they are not in power and on private TV channels or shows. For the record, this show was taped on May 31 at the IBA where I study and will probably be aired on a private TV channel soon. The audience was made up of IBA students. Published in the Express Tribune, June 4th, 2010.

Editorial -- The Express Tribune -- June 4, 2010 A member of the 17-judge full court hearing petitions challenging the 18th Amendment said on June 2 that the will of the people was above the Constitution and that upholding and protecting that will was the ultimate objective of every organ and functionary of the state. Quite clearly, the ultimate objective of every organ and functionary of the state, the judiciary included, should indeed be to uphold and protect that will. However, with the utmost of respect, may we say that the Constitution of Pakistan is precisely the embodiment of the will of the people of Pakistan, especially given the manner in which the 1973 Constitution was drawn up and formulated. After becoming president in 1971, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto appointed a 25-member committee comprising members of parliament to draw up a draft of a new constitution for the nation, still reeling from the catastrophe of 1971. On Oct 20, 1972, the draft bill for a new constitution was signed ...

Editorial The Ahmadis of Pakistan have been under attack for a very long time, though what happened to them and their places of worship on May 28 in Lahore is quite clearly one of their worst days ever. The second amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan in 1974 excluded Ahmadis from the religion followed by the majority of Pakistanis. The amendment made this exclusion legally in that the phrase “for the purposes of the constitution or law” was used when rendering them non-Muslims. Under law, anyone who is a minority is entitled to equal protection and has the right to due process, but as our history and in fact present show all too clearly, Ahmadis have not been given this entitlement. Friday’s events are more or less an inevitable outcome of the intolerance and bigotry found in Pakistan today – we say ‘today’ because while it began many years ago and was facilitated actively by the state during General Zia’s days, it persists and has perhaps grown stronger than ever. Those who died ...

Editorial -- The Express Tribune -- May 15 Many laws, in other countries as well as our own, are unfair. They discriminate against individuals or set in place measures that are aimed to suit only particular purposes – in some cases undoubtedly ulterior ones. But no matter what the case, laws need to be obeyed. Indeed it is all the more important that people in responsible places or aspiring to such positions try and set the right precedent. There are many reasons to disagree with the rule set in place under the regime of Pervez Musharraf that required those contesting elections to parliament to hold a degree. But the fact is that at the time when the members of the present assemblies contested elections it was in place. In April 2008, prior to the presidential election it was brought before the Supreme Court by two JUI-F legislators and consequently struck down by a seven-member bench headed by then chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar. As far as Jamshed Dasti’s case is concerned, he resi...

Editorial --- The Express Tribune -- May 6 Why is it that when it comes to terrorism, all roads – or most of them anyway – lead to Pakistan? As long as the link to the bombing attempt at New York’s Times Square had come through vitriolic messages conveyed by the Taliban over YouTube it had been possible to convince ourselves that these were fabricated. The dramatic arrest on May 3 of Faisal Shahzad from an Emirates flight bound for Dubai from New York, however, makes such denial impossible. Of course, we still will have the naysayers who will say that Shahzad is an American (he only recently became one) and not a Pakistani (he certainly lived much of his life in Pakistan) and that how could someone from such an educated and ‘good’ family be involved in something like this (Osama bin Laden’s family in Saudi Arabia is among the wealthiest in the world while Ayman Al Zawahiri’s father was a professor and he is a trilingual qualified surgeon). The investigation that will follow the arrest ...

Editorial -- The Express Tribune May 05, 2010 Some things in our country never seem to change. Certain sections of the establishment have, for decades, been accustomed to getting away with all kinds of misdeeds. The tradition continues without check. According to reports in two national newspapers, the three-member committee formed by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to probe the death of Benazir Bhutto has held the police responsible for hosing down the murder site — the one action that most effectively thwarted further investigation in the case. The finding by the committee means that former chief of Military Intelligence Maj-Gen Nadeem Ijaz has been let off the hook. It is not insignificant that the role of the city police officer (CPO) of Rawalpindi at the time, Saud Aziz, in the hosing down of the crime scene had been mentioned in great detail in the UN Commission’s report on Bhutto’s assassination. As a result of the probe’s findings, it came to light that the police officer ha...

Editorial -- The Express Tribune -- May 4 Ajmal Kasab’s conviction on all 86 charges related to the Mumbai attacks brought against him by the Government of India before a special court was a foregone conclusion. We say this given the reams of evidence against him, not least the photographs of him walking through the main concourse of Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus with an automatic weapon in hand. All the other attackers were killed by Indian security forces and two Indian Muslims who were tried as co-accused have been acquitted by the court. While we unequivocally welcome the guilty verdict for someone who can be best described as a mass murderer, it serves little purpose for India to gloat over it and again point a finger at Pakistan. This is precisely what we make of Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram’s statement right after the verdict when he said that it was “a message to Pakistan that they should not export terror to India”. This clearly suggests that New Delhi (or at lea...

I wrote this article some time back about the post-operation situation in Bajaur Agency and sent it to two English dailies but they did not publish it for unknown reasons. When I came to know about the launch of your new daily "The Express Tribune", I decided to resend the article with latest updates. If you dont print this article, it is okay. I can understand your limitations and also have not pinned any hopes on you. I have only written this article in an attempt to reach to the concerned Pakistanis who may realize that "We are also Pakistanis". (I had a mobile phone before the operation but since the mobile services have been cut-off for the last 20 months, my only contact is through email from net cafe whenever I come to Munda or Timergara bazar). Thanks. Sher Zaman Khan Alizai, Bajour Agency A so-called military operation is going on in Bajour Agency for the last one and a half year... We call it "so-called" because it has only served to target the c...

Editorial -- The Express Tribune - May 2 Who, or rather, what was Khalid Khawaja? If we get the answer to that we may get some idea of who his killers are. On the face of it, the Asian Tigers, as a terrorist organisation, has never been heard of till now. Khawaja went missing in March as he, Col (retd) Amir Sultan Tarar (also known as Colonel Imam) and a reputed British documentary filmmaker were on their way to meet senior members of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan in North Waziristan. Several reports suggest that he was on his way to meet Waliur Rahman Mehsud – the TTP’s purported number two – and Sirajuddin Haqqani, who because of his father’s reported ill health, is the de facto head of the Haqqani network. When the three went missing it was said that they were on their way to meet people in connection with a documentary. However, now it turns out that the purpose of their trip was something far more substantial. And before we explore that further, perhaps we need to take a closer l...

Editorial -- The Express Tribune -- May 1 The joint investigation team looking into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto has heard quite a different version of events than that told to the UN commission. The city police officer at the time of the murder has now denied he ever received a phone call from the then head of Military Intelligence General Nadeem Ijaz, that he was ever issued instructions to hose down the site of the crime or that he did so for any reason other than his own ‘negligence’. This version of events from Saud Aziz means that the much-touted investigation against a serving general is effectively over even before it really began. A day earlier, Gen. Ijaz had denied all charges against him, calling them “fabricated”. The question of what is fact and what is fiction becomes even more convoluted than before. Those close to CPO Aziz imply he has little choice but to be Gen. Ijaz’s fall guy. The pressure that would make a senior civilian officer take the blame so that a sen...

editing the editorial pages of a newspaper can be a tricky job at time -- but its something that one should take with a bit of humour -- if you dont do that then you wont be able to do your job properly -- and sometimes you will make changes to an article that will be misconstrued or misunderstood -- or sometimes it will simply be a difference of opinion -- the worst thing would be though if you lost a good writer because of that

yes you read it right -- last night while driving to do an errand i turned on the radio and came across an FM channel where the host was talking in what appeared to be Gujarati -- initially i thought it was perhaps a new channel in gujarati -- apna karachi 107 FM has a segment in Gujarati i believe as well so perhaps someone took the initiative to cater to karachi's sizeable gujarati-speaking population. However, this morning again, as I was checking various FM channels, I came across the same one -- 93.5 FM -- with a man and a woman both talking in a mixture of what seemed to be urdu, English and Gujarati -- the songs were all indian but that doesnt necessarily mean that the channel would be indian because many pakistani FM channels also air Indian songs -- but then came an ad for Bisleri which is India's leading mineral water provider -- Bisleri is not sold in Pakistan so the ad couldnt be for Karachi -- and then it made sense -- this was clearly an FM channel coming from the...

at work today -- we make two days pages on sat which means four pages in all -- a colleague was talking of an impending visit to the US, via dubai and to LAX non-stop -- wanted to ask her how long the flight would be -- and what do i do? i said: "acha, so how many words?" --

Editorial -- Express Tribune -- April 18 Benazir Bhutto’s death was not the result of a few, frenzied militants acting on their own. There seems to be a very real conspiracy behind the blast that killed her. There was evil afoot at every stage. It was aimed at ensuring the country’s most significant political leader would not return alive from her last outing at Liaquat Bagh. By denying Ms Bhutto adequate security, by failing to direct provincial authorities to ensure it was offered to her, former president Pervez Musahrraf at the very least connived and conspired in this. In many ways he is responsible for the fact that she is not amongst us today. In his comments on the report which he made a day after its release, President Asif Ali Zardari spoke of being vindicated; of the PPP’s apprehensions regarding the murder being upheld. Some of what the report says certainly answers questions about why the government led by Benazir’s party has struggled to make headway in the investigation. ...

the first 4 days the op-ed pages have had the following writers: Farzana Versey, Salman Masood, Sami Shah, Ayesha Siddiqa, Quatrina Hosain, Osman Samiuddin, George Fulton, Mubasher Lucman, Omar Bilal Akhtar, Pervez Tahir, Aaker Patel, Marvi Memon, Amina Jilani, Kamran Shahid, Khalid Aziz, Dr Rubina Saigol, Fasi Zaka, Dr Meekal Ahmed, Faiza S Khan, Wajahat S Khan, and Feryal Gauhar -- the rest of the week you can expect to read Fahd Hussain, Naveen Naqvi, Dr Asad Zaman, Zafar Hilaly, Sanaullah Baloch, Mikail Lotia, Shandana Minhas, Khusro Mumtaz, Mohd Waseem, Rasul Baksh Rais, Ayesha Ijaz Khan, Absar Alam, Talat Hussain, Ahmed Rafay Alam, Munizae Jahangir, Javed Ch, Abbas Athar, Farhat Taj, Shahid Amin and soon Omar A Khan -- and these are all regulars -- doesnt include unsolicited articles -- and others that may be approached in the near future or are being approached

Editorial -- Express Tribune -- April 14 Pakistanis and Indians love a good wedding, especially when it involves famous people who also happen to make a pretty couple. Rational and forward-looking people on both sides of the border will be happy and relieved that after the initial fiasco and controversy Shoaib Malik and Sania Mirza have managed to tie the knot. This, by all accounts, is a happy end to what some had feared would become a long, drawn-out matter. Was Shoaib already married and if not then what was Ayesha Siddiqui doing insisting that he was? Was he duped into marrying a girl who was not the one he said he had met over the internet? And if that was the case, could he be that gullible? Then came charges that he had defrauded Ms Siddiqui, after which Indian police quizzed him and took his passport into their possession. All this happened until a few days before their marriage on April 12, and that left many people wondering what would eventually happen. While the Pakistani a...

Editorial -- Express Tribune -- April 14 The new goodwill in Washington between Pakistan and its hosts has been becoming increasingly obvious by the day. In a meeting with visiting Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and his delegation US President Barack Obama has made some fairly clear-cut assurances that America has no intention of grabbing Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal and trusts its ability to safeguard it. The comments are especially relevant in the face of past US warnings that the Taliban were seeking to seize weapons and were indeed desperate to obtain a nuclear device. The very possibility of this conjures up visions that are too awful even to contemplate. However, as the US president himself said so to Prime Minister Gilani, Pakistan’s nuclear facilities are ‘immaculately well guarded’. Of course differences remain. During the most recent round of talks the most significant ones concerned Pakistan’s opposition to a ban on new weapon production. The reasons cited for this by Prime...

Editorial -- Express Tribune -- April 13 The deaths of at least five people in Abbotabad on Monday after protests against the NWFP’s name-change turned violent are most tragic and serve to remind us just how emotional this whole issue is. The lives were lost after police tried to break up protests which had been continuing in the city since the passage of the 18th amendment in the National Assembly late last week. The protesters are part of a movement that seeks to create a new province from NWFP’s Hazara district on linguistic grounds and bases its argument along the same lines as the one that enabled the province to get a new name Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. That said, it is worth pointing out that living in a democracy often means having to accept the views of the majority and this is precisely what has happened in the case of the people of Hazara vis-a-vis the ANP’s successful challenge to the province’s existing – colonial – name. It also means that one can express divergent views but wit...

the new paper that i work for is finally coming out tomorrow (April 12) -- initially in Karachi -- and then in Lahore and Islamabad -- the first day we have Ayesha Siddiqa plus the Pakistan Cricinfo editor, a former founder member of Blackfish, a published author of a book on India and Pakistan and being Muslim, a television host and someone who writes regularly in the NYT -- there is also Zahoor, arguably Pakistan's best political cartoonist

Yesterday had to make a quick dash to Lahore -- Took a PIA flight at 3 pm -- the plane reversed from the gate and was slowly taxiing to the beginning of the runway -- and i have a habit of looking out of the window as much as i can -- and i saw one of the PAF sheds on one side -- you can tell from its camouflage colours -- and in front of it were three unmarked jets -- with very few windows -- they did not have any tail design or colour -- one however had a blue and red marking on the fuesalage and it said 'meridian' -- saw the same plane when i got back to Karachi later that night. The plane that I saw is kind of identical to the one shown in the picture here. The issue is that it's not a military plane but a private one and hence the question arises that what is it doing at Karachi airport. (Juxtapose this with a well-researched and detailed report by Jeremy Scahill that appeared in The Nation in November 2009 of the presence of US private contractors in Karachi hired by ...

Editorial -- Express Tribune (coming out soon in the market) President Asif Ali Zardari was quite on the spot when he said during a charged speech in Naudero over the weekend that the 18th amendment would prove to be a milestone in the country’s history. Speaking on the occasion of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s 31st death anniversary, the president said that the first two years of the PPP-led government had been spent “strengthening democracy and institutions”. A day prior to this, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani had also said pretty much the same thing – and one would wholeheartedly agree with the assessment of both these men. The 18th amendment, when passed, would be arguably one of the most important amendments to the Constitution of 1973 in that it would hopefully make parliament and its leader -- the prime minister -- the main source of authority and power. It will do away with the infamous Article 58 (2)(b) which has been used by military dictators in the past to dissolve parliament and...

why in the world are some pakistani newspapers continuing to use 'dysfunctional' to describe the AJK chief justice -- dont they know what it means - if the official communication suspending him used that term then it needs to be put in single quotes -- surely someone in the newsrooms of these newspapers should know that the word 'dysfunctional' is not used in that sense -- wonder what will readers think of the newspaper itself when they see something like this

Call it boredom or living the life of a loser but yesterday I decided to play an April Fool's prank on facebook -- just to see the reaction that it would get -- a good joke is always one which people will or should fall for, and hence believability is an issue -- with rumours of late alleging that I am about to switch jobs I thought what better to say just that -- so the facebook status page said that i had decided to 'call it a day' and to 'take the other offer' -- the prank lasted for a few hours, well from early afternoon till late evening when i told people who kept asking me where i was heading to and why i had left to note today's date -- several phone calls and sms's were received and a couple of people said that they had heard i was leaving -- some at work also got calls asking them why i had resigned hence the title of the posting is quite apt