Javier Solana does Islamabad the Honour

The visits from ambassadors, diplomats, and officials from America, NATO, Common Wealth and European Union are a routine for Islamabad. Recently, the ardent supporter of US attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq honoured Islamabad with his visit. Our history is replete with visits of people like this one..but meek voices go unheard and Islamabad is so much inclined to welcoming such people!!

Transfers at large

Change in the government has its consequences. Just when everything is in a topsy-turvy the government decided to add more to it. To that effect are the transfers of the government officials from different departments. It is yet unknown as to who the face behind these mass transfers. Presumably, the transfer of a single government servant would cost something around Rs.40,000/- under TADA and other miscellaneous heads. Now consider the net amount that the Punjab government would have spent at the end of the day. And just when the future of the present government is uncertain, I wonder where we’d be standing provided we get to see a new government by the next year.

Bike Ride to Khabeki Lake and Kanhatti

Here's another of my bike rides I undertook on Sunday 20th. The journey started at about 7:30am, five of us on three bikes, the destination was the Kanhatti garden in the famous Soun valley.

Both ways we did a total of about 150km ride. Following are the pics with the commentary.

Just as you are about to start climbing the hill, you pass through two gate-like pillars with a brief history of this passage:

The Kanhatti garden:



A natural spring in the garden:


Bikes in the parking lot:





Walking through the garden our way was blocked by this camel whose intentions did not seem too good so we changed our course:













We could see very small fish in this water but not big enough to be captured by the camera's eye:




The garden is pretty vast and rich with shady trees:


Here we enjoyed the cold water for some time:








Ready to head on your way to the Khabeki Lake:


Our rides:




The road:






The CD70 guys were too slow!!


Arrival at Khabeki Lake:


Old graves, I wonder if these are of the soldiers from the world war!


An old tree

Altaf Hussain, who you’re trying to fool?

Altaf Hussain of MQM could be a great teacher for you if you wanted to master the intonation pattern of Urdu language. Well, that’s not what I want to talk about here but the news is that Altaf Bhai decided to resign from MQM’s leadership and then took a U turn before the news could hit the nook and corner of the country.

As the situation is, series of unfortunate incidents like massacre of May12, and recent riots in Karachi have revealed the real face of MQM to the general public. Lucky for the public especially that of Punjab that they were able to see the scrofulous face behind the mask that MQM has been wearing. If I am not being too compassionate, I believe that MQM was might have won something around 10-15 seats in Punjab assembly had they been able to continue without their real face revealed to the public. Even though the unfortunate incidents resulted in the death of scores of people, I believe that the deaths of those unfortunate who died in the May12 massacre have saved their countrymen from a Sphinx that would eventually engulf the innocents of the neighboring provinces in future.

Right when the real face of MQM has been revealed to the public, and now that everyone knows who is behind the recent killings in Karachi, Altaf Hussain refused to lead MQM and tried to show his anguish on what the innocents have gone through on account of the atrocities of his party. Quite foolish a stunt. And right away, he has taken the U turn in the better interest of his party. My commiserations for Karachiites!

Lahore Mayhem

Politics is a dirty game. Even worse when it should be done putting at risk the peace and stability of the nation, something that has been happening in our country for quite some time now. Conspiracies are on a rise. There are people from among us who don’t want to see the present government continue peacefully at any cost. Strange that the assembly should be given such a long date for taking the oath when there is no plausible reason for doing so. Looks to me like it was all planned. They started with throwing Justice Rumday’s belongings out of his home; the idea was to flare up the lawyers’ community. Then Arbab Ghulam Raheem was beaten up by PPP activists, what if it was done by the government itself or by the MQM members? What if it’s the government and/or the Chaudharys behind the Sher Afgan incident? The stage and time was so proper to do it_ in the heart of Lahore in the High Court premises just a day before the oath taking ceremony! Another by-plan might have been to create a rift between the lawyers themselves. That worked too, Ali Ahmad Kurd has said that he won’t even come to Lahore Bar and Lahore High Court Bar again. Strange that the Chief Secretary should be unable to handle the situation properly. Ignorant of what the future holds for us, I have doubts if this government can make its way through peacefully.

Cylinder Blast at Grout Atomic Plant

The news is that after the blast of a cylinder, poisonous gas has erupted across the Grout atomic plant, district Khushab. If you didn’t know already, our man on top had inaugurated the KCP4 in the plant in the recent weeks. Who knows, it might have occurred in the same plant. As the situation is, media won’t be allowed access to the area for it is firstly a restricted area and secondly the government has to cover what needs be hidden from the public gaze i.e., the casualties that have occurred there.

Just a coincidence, my father was on his way back from Nurpur Thal when the he was told that the road ahead had been blocked. Residents of the atomic plant and the suburbs were on their way out and informed of serious number of casualties. It cannot be said as to how much area should be declared unsafe. If the casualties are really that high, I doubt that it might just be a cylinder blast. It’s a whole atomic city built in there. God forbid, the situation might get worse.

Of Education and Character

You would be astonished as well if you could see scores of people deputed in a small shop busy in tearing the first page out of every book. This was the scene I witnessed in a shop at Urdu Bazaar Lahore, the other day. It didn’t take much time to realize as to what was actually happening there. Change in the government has its repercussions and in this case the message of the (ex) Farzand-e-Punjab was being torn apart from every book that was meant to educate Punjab.

The books, I must mention, were and are still given free of cost under the Parha Likha Punjab scheme. Well, something remains from the policies of the previous government. If I am not wrong, hardly would there be any department where our previous governments did so many experiments as they did on the Education department. Regardless of commenting upon whether the experiments bore any fruit or not I would comment upon the opportunistic mentality that some of our countrymen have. Just so you know, the books under the Parha Likha Punjab scheme were given free of cost, people started abusing the scheme by obtaining a large number of books, much more than required. If you are wondering where the surplus books go, well, they end up with a scrap collector in return of small amount of money (per kg). The more the scrap, the more the money. The practice is quite common now. The thing is, steps should be taken at school level that also build an individual’s character besides just educating them.

Also contributed at The Pakistani Spectator