Archive for April, 2010

“For Hire” – A Taxi Driver’s reminiscences

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

2010-04-27 IL PosPercept 08Participants at this month’s talk session of “+ive Perceptions” were mesmerized by the thoughts and intellectual capabilities of a Taxi driver. A very unusual start for a blog post but that’s how it was. Asif Hussain Shah, a Taxi driver by profession and an author by choice was the “+ive Speaker” this month. Asif Hussain has written a book on his recollections with his customers. Being a cab driver, we can be sure he must have come across interesting personalities.

IL maintained its efforts to highlight and support people, who are struggling to bring a positive change despite all hardships, gave Asif Hussain Shah to share the experience of his journey to a packed audience. While speaking to the audience, Asif mentioned that he was facing economical challenges at the time when he decided to write this book. Rather than getting depressed and hopeless, he made this suffering his inspiration. The audience kept Asif engaged with their questions and praised Asif for his inquisitive mind.

His effort needs to be understood beyond a book. This is an inspiration to all the youth who talk about less opportunities and no money to do anything. They must learn from this man. As they say; if you have the will, you will find a way. Asif started this project with 16 PKR. The book has been published and is available. We strongly recommend every reader to buy this book to support Asif for his splendid effort.

Please “Click here” to watch it.

Posted in + perceptions | 4 Comments »

Peshawar: The voices of freedom among violence

Monday, April 26th, 2010

The city of Peshawar in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa has been the prime target of terrorists because of proximity to the Tribal areas. There hasn’t been a single week when the brave Pukhtoon’s haven’t heard a thud in their neighborhood symbolizing the temporary success of terrorists. But this city and its people have not given up and they never will. Recently, Zaid Hamid faced immense rejection at a local university when the students refused to hear this hate monger. This week the students of another local university arranged a cultural/fashion show to pay tribute to their enriched and diversified culture.
The students performed under a constant threat from the terrorists to sabotage their will and effort. But the students with the help of the local people have made a commitment not to let the terrorists hold them back from expressing what is due fully theirs. This is a clear message to all the terrorists’ elements that with all their ill efforts, they haven’t been able to bring down the will and determination to rebuild of this indigenous Puktoon population. They may bring down a few building, take away precious lives but they will never take the freedom away from these people. You can go to this link to see the details.

Posted in Ideas /products that empower, North West Frontier Province | 5 Comments »

Misguiding the masses

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

Recent blast in a rally held by a known religious political party at Kissa Khwani bazaar in Peshawar killed 25 people and injured many others. Once again the major political players blamed TTP for the blast, but surprisingly the reply from TTP’s side was in negative as they blamed the provincial government and an international intelligence/security organization for the incident.
This whole scenario is quite misleading for the masses because no one is claiming responsibility. But whether it’s done by one group or the other, people are always on the losing side, because innocent lives are lost. Perhaps this is another of TTP’s tactics; as the war is still on and the army is rooting out the enemy from Pakistan’s soil. This is a question that needs answering that whether the Taliban are trying to gain public support or are they switching to another mode to fight this lost battle? Because at the end of the day it’s an ideological warfare and the enemy would do anything to gain control over the masses. Perhaps your feedback would help us in finding an answer to this question.

Posted in North West Frontier Province | 3 Comments »

Struggle between Life and Death!

Monday, April 19th, 2010

One of the most miserable things to happen in life with anyone is when s/he is being victimized for a sin s/he never committed. What adds to the miserability is the victimization when the victimized doesn’t even know what s/he is being victimized for. The later seems to be the state of the affected of the Kohat blast this week. The demented suicide bombers who attacked an IDP camp taking 30 precious lives and injuring many, in their opinion were attacking the enemies of Islam. A sane person with the least amount of logic should ask these questions:
How come an IDP who is already homeless, weak and in a state of despair become a threat to Islam?
How can killing innocent people who were standing in lines to have their registration done so that they can get rations for their family earn you a place in heaven?One of the IDP’s involved in the blast said and I quote: “The blood of innocent tribesmen has become the cheapest thing in the tribal areas as we do not know the reason and our fault for which we are killed.”
This should be an eye-opener for us and the government. These people were not IDP’s since birth; we made them IDP’s because we wanted safety for ourselves. It is our duty and responsibility to safe-guard these people from the terrorists. William James once said “Whenever you’re in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude.”
Let us all change and mend our attitudes into a more supporting one for the IDP’s we created for the safety of our families. They need our help today.

Posted in HR in Pakistan | 4 Comments »

Education with liberty and security

Monday, April 12th, 2010

The recent killing of an educationist in Baluchistan opened another chapter of ethnic violence in the province. This was third of its kind murder of an educationist belonging to another province; the responsibility was claimed by a separatist militant group of the province and fresh warnings of similar attacks in the future were issued to the authorities. This attack was condemned by all sections of the society and demands were made for the protection of innocent citizens.
Access to educational facilities is perhaps the most important element in the process of transforming a society into a liberal and dynamic force. These incidents have lowered the morale of educationists belonging to other regions, who want to serve the people of Baluchistan. If these separatists are not dealt with in due course of time, it might result in a slump in the education sector and it will be extremely damaging for the students of this province. These separatist elements have destroyed peace of the region by spreading fear and terror among the population. It is important to curb these terrorist elements in order to provide a safe access to education for the students in this province.

Posted in Balochistan | 1 Comment »

Shut the Doors…!

Friday, April 9th, 2010

The recent success of 18th amendment is applaudable. The only concern is the omission of validation of a non-Muslim candidate for the office of Prime Minister. The current version of 91(2) is:
“(2) The President shall in his discretion appoint from amongst the members of the National Assembly a Prime Minister who, in his opinion, is most likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the National Assembly.”
This is to be changed with:
“(3) After the election of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, the National Assembly shall, to the exclusion of any other business, proceed to elect without debate one of its Muslim members to be Prime Minister.”
This if looked in regards to the status of minorities in Pakistan, does not bode well with the notion of equal rights for minorities. In the history of Pakistan, no non-Muslim candidate has ever been Minister of an important ministry let alone Premiership or President. The only ministry given to a non-Muslim candidate is the “Ministry for Minorities” which had to be given to a non-Muslim candidate for name’s sake. We can take the example of our neighboring country in this regard where Sikh, Muslim and Hindu’s have occupied the most prestigious office in the country.
This law is not only discriminatory but will shut the doors for a public office for minorities. Figuratively speaking, chances of a non-Muslim candidate rising to such heights are invalid considering the religious doctrines which govern us but blocking the way legislatively is condemnable.

Posted in liberal politics | 2 Comments »

Shoaib, Ayesha New Story

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

26509_110915885602719_100000529237163_166661_4917182_nNew perspective on Shoaib, Sania

Posted in insightful humour | No Comments »

Only In Pakistan

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

Posted in insightful humour | No Comments »

Fragility of the security!

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

After a period of temporary peace, Peshawar was again jolted by three blasts today. This unfortunate incident has broken the already fragile sense of security which the residents were starting to develop. This was a cowardly act of the frenzied militants on innocent citizens who were just trying to spend a usual day in their lives. Many precious lives have been lost and several injured. One of the primary targets was the US consulate.
It is highly condemnable to attack the natives of any forging country to create pressure on your own government. The nationals of a foreign country are there to serve the locals who want to travel to their country plus they are involved in many noble charitable works.
The terrorists after the successful operation by Pakistan army have fled to cities and are targeting innocent civilians to make their presence felt. They must know one thing that our faith in our armed forces and ourselves is as shaken as it was. We will not bow down to any form of aggression and oppression. Come what may!

Posted in North West Frontier Province, Pakistan Army | 3 Comments »

The All Men Brother Band

Friday, April 2nd, 2010

The effects of terrorism are widespread, they are felt in almost every walk of life and even the musicians are no exception to it. There is band of brothers in Landi Kotal, who are gifted with an extraordinary ability to play the traditional music of the region. Unfortunately, all of these brothers are inheritably blind, probably due to cousin marriages; but whatever the reason, they depend on music to earn their bread and butter, by playing at local Hujras.
Due to the activities of Taliban these brothers were restrained from playing music at the local gatherings and so they lost the only source of earning for their families. Now after the clearance of this area by the armed forces of Pakistan, slowly life is returning to the dead plains. Our obligation should be support people in the rehabilitation process of this area, crafts and people. This all men brother band needs serious attention from the government and us, so that they can get on with their lives and start playing the sweet music that they used to do.

Posted in North West Frontier Province | 4 Comments »