Gaza Fundraising in Lahore

Many youngsters from the Pakistan Youth Alliance have started a campaign under the banner of “Pak Palestine Solidarity Movement” they have been holding a Charity drive in Lahore, Their offices are in Defence near Masjid Chowk, and they will be putting up booths at the following places.

• Friday: 3:00 PM after Jumma Prayers @ Main Market Opposit Jalal Sons.
• Saturday: 12:00 Noon - 5:00 PM @ Regal Chawk The Mall Near Masjid-e-Shohada.
• Saturday: 06:00 PM - 11:00 PM @ Main Market Opposite Jalal Sons.

They are looking for Volunteers to man their booths and more importantly Donations, Their Collection will go through Muslim Hands.

You can contact the following for further Information
Maryam Kanwar: 0346-5084265 & 0331-5105916 & Ahsan Tariq: 0346-4117787

Direct donations to
Muslim Hands: http://www.muslimhands.org/en/gb/
IFRC: http://www.ifrc.org/

Go Obama

Pakistani Abysmal Ramblings Endorses Barak Obama for President

A right to Dream

The entire world is riveted by the US presidential elections, but none more then a people living 7000 miles away from Washington DC. Here reside a people with more then enough problems of their own; chronic food shortage, rapidly rising inflation, sharply depleting reserves, power shortages for more then fourteen hours a day; more over a nation ravaged by a global war waged over it’s soil –and in it’s very cities -by some of it’s own people against the nations defense forces and it’s allies. Facing an erosion of internal stability along with severe economic, political, social crisis; one would have thought that the US presidential elections would have been far from their thoughts. The entire nation of Pakistan is following the news avidly as it breathlessly awaits the outcome of the US elections now approaching the finish line; an election in which the center of attention for both campaigns with respect to foreign policy issues has been Pakistan. So much depends on this American election that it is frightening to learn only half of Americans eligible to vote will do so.

Pakistan has been a US ally -some would say a client state- for a long time. It has paid the price of its loyalty in the form of a drug and gun culture born amidst the throes of the Soviet-Afghan War. Daily it counts the cost as radical Islamist terrorists strike in the country’s alleys and streets. These are the very same “mujahedeen” trained and armed by the US (and their willing ally Pakistan) to bring the Soviet empire to its knees, and then abandoned when the purpose was achieved. Both the American people, as well as the people of Pakistan, have paid dearly for this mistake in the shape of a global goliath of terrorism now stalking our dreams.

Truly our dreams drive our decisions-as well as our delusions. And assuredly they have shaped the love-hate relationship that has characterized Pak-US relations. Thus while many of us have hated Americans for our perceptions about the fickleness of their government’s promises or the over riding greed and ambition of their politicians and capitalists; none of us has ever failed to be inspired by the ideals of its peoples. Despite the roller-coaster state of our relationships, many in Pakistan still stand by America because for them the ‘American Dream’ is their dream. And while we have yet to attain it here, we all have heard of a great America, where anything is possible, where dreams come true.

This US election is for many Pakistanis another manifestation of that dream. The people of Pakistan like many in the US are looking for change; we have had some very tough years, and will surely have tougher years ahead. But after bleeding and suffering together with the American people for so long, we are hoping to see a friend in the White House. A friend who sees our sufferings and limitations along sides the dreams and opportunities to forge a bright future for our two great peoples.

It is in this context that the US elections are so vitally important for us. America’s polices here effect us as much or more then they affect the Americans. The war is being fought in our streets, in our backyards; it we who have to look over our shoulders every few minutes to make sure we will not be butchered in cold blood for dreaming the American dream. We therefore hope for an intelligent American President, who will understand our culture, our feelings, our issues; and work with us to solve the problems that have risen from years of misunderstanding, miscommunications, and cooperation.

This is why the people of Pakistan are so intrigued by this American election. We are glued to our TV screens, watching C-Span on our computers- and staying up nights to catch the live debates. We accept the fact that as Pakistanis whatever we say or do will not make a difference to the outcome; yet all of us here are hoping for a president who save us from our common night mares –and help achieve our dreams.

So we display support banners and buttons for our candidates on our persons, on our blogs, our web pages and on our facebook profiles. We await the outcome of this American election as anxiously as anyone in America. It makes us acutely aware of the fact that voting the right person into office is a global responsibility thrown on the shoulders of each American. Each American must know that his vote not only affects his neighborhood but also those around globe.

Global Ramadan Blog

Wishing everyone a very happy Ramadan.

Join us at the yearly running Ramadan Kareem Blog for pictures, views, polls, recipees and discussions on everything Ramadan in different parts of the world!

www.ramadankareem.blogspot.com

Tribute to Dr. Afia

Guest Post by Mr. Hassan Abbas.

A note from Hassan: I ask readers of this poem to please join the cause to get her release by signing (this petition)and doing anything else to protest this monstrosity- if you so wish. May I request you to please give this appeal the widest circulation. We may yet save the U.S. forces in Afghanistan from disgracing themselves and the American people even further .

A Glorious Dawn…And A Better Day

To Dr.Afia Siddiqui - prisoner # 650 in American custody

Another dawn …another day,
Disgrace; insult is thrown our way;
Yet shamelessly on their golden perch
The spineless look - Oh how they sway!

As if there is no Lord above,
They with the devil-hand in glove;
Selling our dearest values and souls,
For gold and power – push and shove!

This crime you saw they so denied,
To filthy scum they sold the bride;
Yet the mighty Creator seeing it all
Unveils the gruesome act they hide!

Amongst ravenous wolves the fair one lies,
As from brutish hands she helplessly flies;
A suffering sister sane no more,
Her anguished screams - they rent the skies.

And this is all the pride you boast,
Our tormentors you daily host !
Comrades but yesterday we shared the cup,
- And today so far apart we coast ?

When comes a ‘Qasim’ to stem this rot?
Of Almighty Allah and His Messenger forgot!
Of cheaply selling our heritage which -
With submission and sacrifice was dearly bought.

And yet the strong will go their way,
As an ‘Iftikhar’ keep the monsters at bay;
Afia! Our elders pray, while our braver fight ,
For a glorious dawn…….. and a better day!

Geert Wilders "Fitna" Released Online

Dutch politician Geert Wilders' anti-Muslim short film "Fitna" has been placed online amid an uproar from muslims all over the world, The video shows passages from Quran and graphic images of terror attacks. The video was supposed to be releaed in a press conference which was cancelled due to security fears. It is now hosted on liveleaks.com in both english and dutch (youtube had only dutch but loads faster) . The Dutch government is having meetings to discuss the impact of the film and surely there will be an impact once more people around the world find out about the release.

Link to Video I have provided a link for educational purposes, unreasonable comments will be deleted.

Living our dreams

I have been around the world and met a lot of people from all walks of life, all over the world and I have come to a realization, most people simply dream their dreams, very few actually work to turn them into a reality, and a time comes when we lose touch with our dreams or feel that our dreams are impossible and once we do that we resign to fate and start living a life thats just ok instead of one that we might love.

Politics or Family Business ?

Although Pakistan can still be considered a young country, and people can and do claim that we need some time to adopt a true democratic system which will take everything into account and be perfect for the betternment of the country, Pakistan has yet to take a single step on the highway of democracy.

In its short 60 year history, Pakistan has been ruled by either the strong military or one of the few ruling families who control Pakistan's few political parties. How can these political parties claim that they are the beacons of democracy when the parties themselves have no democatic principles guiding them. Out of Pakistan's 3 biggest political parties, Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Muslim League and MQM, 2 (PPP, PML) are directly controlled by 2 families with no room for anyone else to take the helms and the 3rd MQM is in the firm grip of Altaf Hussain who sits in exile in the UK and yet can get his popular party leaders in Pakistan to follow his every command.

Pakistan People's Part is in the lime light these days since the assasination of Benazir Bhutto, the "Life Time Chairperson" of what she claimed to be the biggest democratic force of the country. On her death the helms of the party that she inhetreted from her father did not go to one of the loyal party leaders who guided the part while Benazir and her familyy were in self imposed exile in the UAE. The leadership of the Party was "willed" to her 18 year old son. What kind of a democracy is this? In a swift and well planned political move her son was "renamed" Bhutto and made the co-chairperson of the Party to take command after his education was completed, in the mean time her husband Asif Ali Zardari also known as Mr 10% (on account of his taking hugs kickbacks while his wife was the Prime Minister) was to be at the helm of affairs. These types of politics will never lead to a democratic country. There is a power struggle going on within the PPP which can turn bad and derail the whole political senario in the country and no matter how much Mr Zardari uses the sympathy card if he continues with his stupidities he will ultimately suffer. There was a news item in Pakistan today that Bilawal "Bhutto" Zardari the son of Benazir has just arrived in Pakistan to announce the choice of PM in the new Government, lets hope its a wise choice and doesn't lead to disintegration of the democratic process. Family run politics have to give way to a true and realistic democracy within parties before democracy can be established on a wider scale.

"Tears" - Another Bomb Blast

This is the third consecutive blogpost I have done and all three have had a mention of a suicide bomber or a blast. Enough is enough. This is getting ridiculous, with no claims of the atrocities by any terror group, no specific targets, this is just being done to induce a sense of terror in the general mases, innocent lives are being lost, we can only hope for a safer tomorrow, may God bless the departed and put some sense excuse my language into the impotent bastards targeting innocent civilians.

The heart consumes I clearly see
Every fiber of my soul and me
That’s when the pain begins to grow
And yes the tears begin to flow.

Weekend on the farm and More blasts

This weekend I figured getting away from the city might be a good idea, It turned out to be quite a lot of fun and some relaxation, came back last night and went to sleep late. This morning i woke up to the news of three suicide blasts in Lahore, 2 bombers struck the office of the FIA and 1 a school in a residential neighborhood of Lahore, over 25 dead and hundreds injured. Now I'm thinking maybe living in Pakistan is not that good an idea, but afterall people are living here and if everyone "runs" away how will things change, I came here fo a reason, I have a worst case senario backup, so what the heck, have faith in God and keep at it. Some pictures from the farm and Sialkot are posted below.

Update: There were apparently 3 explosions in the FIA building, the dead include several innocent children.

Update: The suicide attack in the residential area of model town was not at a school but rather at an advertising agency.

A Field of Mustard on the Farm

Endless fields of wheat

Standing in the Guava Orchid

Wild flowers

Holy Trinity Cathedral Sialkot

Another Suicide Bombing

After the recent suicide bombings in Rawalpindi and NWFP, a couple of suicide bombers struck closer to home today. Blowing themselves up at the Naval War College in Lahore. Seems like there is no end to this, not in too much of a mood to blog about it right now but I'm really getting sick of it.

Bilawal Bhutto needs help, Anyone?

Of all the email scams to hit me this one was by the far the funniest.

From: "Mr. Bilawal Bhutto" mr.silva07@yahoo.fr

Dear Sir/MadamMy name is Bilawal Bhutto the son of Benazir Bhutto who was murdered inPakistan by the present Pakistan Government on Thursday, 27 December 2007,Ms Bhutto was leaving a rally of her Pakistan People's Party(PPP)supporters in a park in the garrison town of Rawalpindi whenattackers Opened fire. Then a bomb was set off by the same attacker whichleft my mother dead and some 20 other people. You can find details of thekilling of my mother on this website below:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6653475.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2228796.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7165892.stm

Life has become unbearable since she was shot dead. Since then, my familyand I have been Living with shock and uncertainties, the Government ofMusharaff has made life difficult for us by ensuring that we are notdisposed to our finances and other properties that is owned by my motherand this has made life difficult for us. Just before my mother died shecalled my attention to the money she deposited in foreign account andcharged me to look for a foreigner who would assist me in the retrievingof the funds abroad which she wanted to use for the election, So l wouldbe very grateful if you could accept to help me achieve this greatobjective. For now, let all our communication is by e-mail because my lineis right now connected to the Pakistan Telecommunication Network services.I will give you details after I have received a response from you. Pleaseget back to me via this email bbhutto@jmail.co.za
Thank you very much.
Bilawal Bhutto

Blogspot Blocked Again?

Is is possible that the government of Pakistan or individual ISP's have blocked blogger again? since late last night I have been unable to access any blogger website. I have had no problems with othe sites, in the evening I called my ISP which is Wateen and they claimed there was nothing wrong fom "their side", just now I tried another blogspot website which has a non blogger domain forward on it and it opened, tried opening blogger sites through https tunneling and they seem to be working, its just when its a blogspot domain in the url they dont work, anyone else having the same poblems please let me know?

Saints and Shrines

The city of Lahore in Pakistan is known for its rich culture, Forts & Grand Mosques, its food and music are world famous, Also famous are the sufi saints who hailed from this city or came here to live and were burried here, among the more famous shrines of Lahore are Data Darbar the Shrine of Hazrat Ali Hajweri Syed Abul Hassan Bin Usman Bin Ali Al-Hajweri the famous Sufi saint of Persian origion, The shrine of Gamey Shah, The tomb of Baba Shah Jamal and Bibi Pak Daman.Although I'm not very religious I decided to go visit Bibi Pak Daman as the legend behind this particular shrine was quite interesting. Bibi Pak Daman is famous for being the shrine of 6 Ladies from the household of the Prophet Mohammed, Including Ruqayah binte Ali the daughter of Hazrat Ali the forth caliph of Islam the othe five graves are said to be those of hazrat Muslim bin Aqeel's sisters and daughters. Legend has it that these ladies were traveling alone after the events at karbala and when the reached Lahore the ruler at that time tried to arrest them because the were gaining a following and not wanting that, Bibi Pak Daman prayed to God and asked him to open the earth and take them in, when the soldiers came to arrest them the earth split into two and they went in only a little of the Dupatta (scarf) of Bibi Ruqayah remained and when the lead soldier tried to get hold of that it too slid into the soil, Thus the name Bibi Pak Daman meaning even the scarf of the lady was pure and thus could not be touched.

The Mazar is the end to a busy and colorfull street full of shops selling religious literature, multimedia and prayer beads among other things.

Pakistan Heritage 1 - Hiran Minar

Pakistan and Pakistanis are not very good at remembering or respecting our heritage, even though we have a rich and vibrant history with monuments and architecture from the Mughal and British era which could very well generate millions for the coffers of this country, the Government has done nothing to maintain or present these amazing chapters from our history to the world at large, and the general public has had no shame in engraving their worthless names over piceless frescos. Hiran Minar complex is one such wonder.

The origional Minar (tower) was built by the Mughal Emperor Jehangir in 1606 in memory of his favourite deer "Mansraj", the grave of the deer is in the tower. The water tank, baadari(pavilion) and causeway connecting the baradari with the mainland and hiran minar were constructed by Emperor Shah Jehan in 1620 and used as a roal residence during hunting trips. The complex is supposed to have been surrounded by a forest and had extensive well maintained gardens, currently the whole complex is in bad shape, the lawns and gardens are badly in need of maintanace so are the buildings which need protection from the people who pride themselves in writing their names over ancient frescos. If something like this was located in a country that honored and respected their heriatage, it would be a place worth seeing, it would be the site for events and functions, and people would flock to it to see the architechture, the paintings and the gardens through which Emperors once walked.

The only painting found intact probably because it was too high to deface.

ps. These pictues and obsevations are from a weekend trip to Hiran Minar a popular heriatge site open to public, I hope to post pictures of another building and its grounds from the british era which still has its glory because it is the residence of a government official, unfortunately that is not open for the public's enjoyment.