Archive for the 'My Chronicles...' Category

Sharon Stone’s folly

Published May 31, 2008 in My Chronicles.... 37 views 0 Comments

How foolish can a person be? Or even so heartless as to trying to gain political mileage out of a catastrophe?

It goes to show how dumb (in the stupid sense) people can be. I wrote about the Chinese earthquake previously on my blog here and expected that such a tragedy would bring people across the world together in helping China. In fact, I didn’t even knew of Sharon Stone until she opened her moth to say that the earthquake in China might be bad karma due to China’s alleged treatment of Tibet. And I quote her:

“I’m not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don’t think anyone should be unkind to anyone else,”…”And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that karma? When you’re not nice that the bad things happen to you?” - source

Does she also think that Katrina was a result of bad karma from the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan where millions of lives have been lost due to American policies? Or maybe Basic Instinct 2 with $70 million production cost resulted in less than $6 million in ticket sales is also due to karma?

I applaud the Chinese nation who unanimously condemned Stone and are trying to hurt her where it hurts the most: monetarily. Many Chinese cinemas (under UME Cineplex) have refused to show movies in which she has performed (and will perform in the future) and Christian Dior advertisements featuring Stone’s image were also dropped from all ads in China amidst the public uproar. Even on previous controversial issues (e.g. cartoons of Prophet Muhammad), I have urged the people from not partaking in violent protesting. Instead, boycotting the products and making the perpetrators suffer economic loss is the best way to go around showing your protest. After all, in a capitalist world, what hurts most is an economic loss.

I also learned today that she has apologized for her comments but I strongly believe that the apologies are not sincere and are just the result of bad publicity she is getting now. So, for what it counts, her apologies are falling on deaf ears across China. After all, slapping deliberately and then saying ’sorry’ is just not enough. I urge the Chinese government and the people to keep implementing the economic boycott where Sharon Stone is concerned.

More: continued here

War on Terror: The Issue of Reimbursement Payments

Published May 28, 2008 in My Chronicles.... 38 views 0 Comments

The issue of WoT payments that the US has made to Pakistan has been a hot issue in government circles, especially in the US. Often enough, the Pakistani government is criticized for not properly spending the money. It is difficult for any sane and logical person to understand why the US has any say in how the reimbursement payments are spent. That’s right! Reimbursement payments.

What the US government sends the Pakistani government is mostly payment for expenses that Pakistan has already incurred in deploying and maintaining troops on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Last I read, a couple weeks back, Pakistan has over 100,000 troops deployed on that border - far higher than the total number of ISAF/NATO forces inside Afghanistan. Does the US government and particularly the US Senators creating all this noise over this issue think that stationing such a large number of troops on that border is cheap?

If so, they should consider the expenses of the NATO/ISAF forces inside Afghanistan which are far lesser in number but still have higher expenses than those reimbursed to Pakistan. They must not forget that Pakistan is a developing nation that doesn’t has such large amounts of funds to invest in maintaining troop presence on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. In fact, there was very little troop presence on that particular border before the war on terror started. Thousands of Pakistani lives have been lost in this war for American interests- one of the reasons amongst a whole pile of reasons for the Pakistani publics disenchantment with America.

It is sad and disheartening to see the frequent mention of ISAF/NATO casualties across the border in Afghanistan but practically no mention of Pakistani lives lost right across that border on the Pakistani side when both sides are fighting the same war. Is the life of a Pakistani soldier so worthless?

On that note, I leave you with a thought provoking article from Dawn. I have marked specific parts of interest in bold.

Cheapest Air Kill

Published May 25, 2008 in My Chronicles.... 46 views 0 Comments

The narrative below describes how PAF was the first air force to destroy a fighter without using even a single bullet. A PAF air controller hacked the VHF of the IAFs jet and then misguided him thus he crashed.

- - - - - -

The morning of 7th December was quite hazy, particularly at lower altitudes where the dust of Punjab plains mingled with the moist, cold air, giving the sky murky appearance. It was just four days since the 1971 Indo-Pak war had broken out. While the PAF was conserving its air effort in the early stages of war, IAF’s intensity of air operations was building up at a fast pace.

Flight Officer Man Mohan Singh was ferrying a Gnat from Halwara, to beef up a detachment of No 2 Squadron at Amritsar where these aircraft were deployed to perform air defense duties. As Mohan was nearing home, the controller at Amritsar Radar asked him to delay his landing while a pair of Su-7s took off. After holding off for few minutes, Mohan resumed a northerly heading for the base. All of a sudden, the controller frantically shouted on the radio to announce the presence of interceptors in the Gnat’s rear quarters!

Squadron Leader Farooq Haider, a veteran of the ‘65 War, was sitting as the duty controller in No 403 Radar Squadron which was located in the outskirts of Lahore. Watching the radar scope intently, he had picked up a blip as it approached Tarn Taran, south of Amritsar. With the adversary nearing its home Base, Farooq had to act fast. He commenced the interception with steady instructions on the radio.

“Your target now over Tarn Taran, heading 360; do not acknowledge.”
“Target 20 (degrees) right, five (miles), turn hard left 360, do not climb; do not acknowledge.”
” Target 12 o’ clock, two (miles), go full bore; do not acknowledge.”
“Okay, target is one mile ahead…”The IAF had been expecting PAF fighters to sneak in below radar cover. Thus, to be doubly sure about any undetected intruders, the IAF used a capability that it was well equipped for eavesdropping into pilot-controller conversation. Listening in to what was going on, the IAF controller was completely dumbfounded at the development, for he had not yet picked up the interceptors on his scope. It was no surprise, therefore, that his warning to Mohan sounded eerie, as if a specter was being reported. With the interceptors’ distance rapidly reducing and shooting down of the Gnat almost a certainty, the controller gave a panic ‘break’ call. Mohan reacted as any fighter pilot would have done in that situation . He yanked back on the control column and threw in a very tight turn to shake off his pursuers.

Farooq noticed that the blip had disappeared from the radar screen shortly after maneuvering had commenced. Normally, he would have inquired about the fate of the target from the interceptor pilots within moments of shooting. The time, however, he had to be discrete. “Maintain radio silence and recover at low altitude,” he called out. Meanwhile, Farooq and his fellow controllers wondered if the vanished blip meant that the aircraft had landed at its base.

India’s Official History of Indo-Pak War, 1971, published thirty years later, covers the air operations with the diary of action which includes important events like air raids, aerial victories and losses on both sides. A keen reader would notice acknowledgment of the loss of a Gnat on 7th December 1971 in which, “the pilot tried to take evasive action when warned of Pakistani aircraft in the vicinity. He lost control and crashed *,” The only inaccuracy with the account is that Pakistani aircraft were nowhere near!

Standing CAPs were a rare commodity due to excessive demands on PAF’s limited assets. Farooq had, therefore, reacted to the emergent situation in a most ingenious way. He impulsively decided to fake an interception in the knowledge that his calls would be monitored. The thrill of playing a prank was better then getting frustrated at the sight of an enemy blip pacing away unscathed. In the event, Farooq’s trick resulted in a bargain of great value, which can be gleaned from the amazing fact that not a gallon of fuel was expended, nor was a single bullet fired. Arguably, it stands as the cheapest kill of air warfare.

- - - - - -

(*)= Chapter X - ‘The IAF in the West,’ page 427.

- - - - - -

Glossary:

PAF: Pakistan Air Force
IAF: Indian Air Force

More: continued here

This side of Pakistan

Published May 25, 2008 in My Chronicles.... 34 views 0 Comments

Disclaimer: The credit for this article lies with Tals Diaz and the Philippine Daily Inquirer. I am posting this here for informational purpose only.

Source

By Tals Diaz
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Microsoft Windows XP Error: 0×0000009C a.k.a 0×9C

Published May 22, 2008 in My Chronicles.... 53 views 0 Comments

I have been facing Microsoft Windows XP error 0×0000009C (Machine_Check_Exception) frequently since the last couple months accompanied by the dreaded BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) associated with pre-Vista Windows based systems based on the NT kernel like Windows 2000, Windows XP, etc. From what I have read, Windows Vista presents a Red Screen Of Death (RSOD).

Any way, the thing I noticed most frequently associated with this error code is that just before it occurred, one of the hard disk drives in my computer system made a clicking sound which usually signifies hard disk failure. This lead me to check the hard disk drives extensively via disk check utility in Windows (chkdsk [drive]: /r) and some times, the utility reported bad sectors. Clearly, something fishy was going on.

I consulted Microsoft’s KB articles and the help site resources for this error without any fruitful results. I searched on various forums and the suggestions to solve this error revolved around removing ZoneAlarm firewall software when clearly, this was a hardware error.

The plethora of random suggestions were very confusing and seemed more an attempt to guess at the solution rather than making an informed choice.Once, accidentally, when one of my SATA hard disk was clicking, I reseated the SATA power and data connectors which resulted in the computer getting stuck for a couple seconds before resuming normal operation as if the issue had never happened.

Since the error usually occurred after clicking sounds from my IDE hard disk (another one different from the SATA one), I replaced its power connector with another one and viola! The problem was solved for a couple weeks.

The next time I saw the 0×0000009C error, it was when I shifted the cables in my casing around to adjust SATA data/power cables for a new hard disk drive. It seems to me that the power connector on the IDE disk again got loose and caused the random clicking sounds and a restart due to 0×0000009C error.

From all this exercise over the period of a couple months, what I have deduced is that the reason for my encountering this dreaded error (0×0000009C) was simply crappy PSU molex/SATA power connectors. When they were fully seated and in contact with the male power connectors on the hard disk drives, the computer system worked fine. However, when they became loose, the caused Windows XP to inundate me with the [now] dreaded error.

Now, my disk drives run perfectly (after a replacement of the female PSU power connectors) and I have been living a 0×0000009C free life happily. I hope it is a ‘happily ever after’ kind of deal where I don’t face this error ever again. :D

More: continued here

Earthquake in China of 7.9 Magnitude

Published May 14, 2008 in My Chronicles.... 37 views 0 Comments

It has been some months since I have tried posting anything new to my blog. I have been lethargic and somewhat busy with my ongoing project(s).

However, the recent earthquake in China has shaken me out of my stupor and taken me back to the haunting memories of the earth quake in Kashmir in 2005. You can read my posts about it here and here.

It is said that a single picture speaks a thousand words. Look at these 50,000 words and see for yourself what shook me out of my stupor.

In this time of need of our Chinese brothers and sisters, I extend my deepest condolences for the loss of life that they have experienced. We, as Pakistanis, will remember our Chinese friends in our prayers and good wishes. May the souls of those who suffered and lost their lives in this earthquake rest in peace. Amen.

Relationships are turn asunder by death and injuries and times like these are the true test of human resilience. I am sure the Chinese nation will pull through the difficulties and make a new better path for themselves. Fortunately, the Chinese government has responded decisively and quickly without need of external prompting. This is extremely fortunate and speaks in itself for how much China has undergone a transformation for the better.

In all, I would ask the Chinese people to remain steadfast and have patience for loved ones lost. Remember the fond memories and symbolize the dead with those memories. Once again, my deepest condolences for your losses and the destruction incurred due to this natural calamity.

More: continued here
By Baithak.Net

Enlightened Moderation: A Critics Approach

Published March 11, 2008 in My Chronicles.... 43 views 0 Comments

I am a Muslim who is wandering in a midst of adversaries bullying me, and I seek for justice and refuge, I am tattered and hopeless until I am taught a new chapter

Are You My Brother?

Published March 7, 2008 in My Chronicles.... 52 views 0 Comments

I recently saw a documentary on YouTube made by an American about his travels all over Pakistan alongside his good friend who is a Pakistani. This is an interesting documentary in the sense that I came to know about some things which were new and shocking to me. Examples of this include Pathan tribes originating from lost Jewish tribes and the concept of ‘panah’ [protection] which caused the Taliban’s refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden to the USA after 9/11.

The American visitor even encountered ISI, the much feared Pakistani intelligence agency. He also got to meet some very popular singers like Junoon’s Ali Azmat and various other actors and actresses. It also includes some nice songs and Pakistani cultural music.

The documentary gives an American perspective to certain issues. It reminds me of the perception of America and Americans in general as it was before 9/11. And that was very positive. But now times and circumstances are way different in a post-9/11 world.

Any way, without further ado, the links to each part of the documentary are given below. The documentary spans about one and a half hours long over fifteen parts. It is advised that if you do watch it, do so in one go.

Are You My Brother? - Part 01
Are You My Brother? - Part 02
Are You My Brother? - Part 03
Are You My Brother? - Part 04
Are You My Brother? - Part 05
Are You My Brother? - Part 06
Are You My Brother? - Part 07
Are You My Brother? - Part 08
Are You My Brother? - Part 09
Are You My Brother? - Part 10
Are You My Brother? - Part 11
Are You My Brother? - Part 12
Are You My Brother? - Part 13
Are You My Brother? - Part 14
Are You My Brother? - Part 15

Some portions are a bit repetitive but it is an interesting documentary, none the less!

More: continued here

Scientists from Dresden University saved hundreds of lives at this year’s Hajj

Published March 1, 2008 in My Chronicles.... 63 views 0 Comments

I got this via email and it is refreshing to see such positive interaction between Muslims and non-Muslims. It is certainly more appreciated than the t-e-r-r-o-r-i-s-m rhetoric which is mostly ignored now - kind of like banner ads which are ignored since people browsing the internet have become impervious to them.

The article, as I got it, is posted below.

——-

One of the phases of the Hajj is a walk across the Jamarat Bridge, from which people throw rocks at pillars said to represent the devil. The bridge is too narrow-in 1997 and 1998 people were killed when the crowd surged. In 2004, 251 pilgrims were trampled to death, and in 2006, another 362 died.

This year: 3.8 million pilgrims showed up, and everyone’s okay. Why?

This was in part because the Saudi government implemented some crowd control recommendations from Dirk Helbing and Anders Johansson at the Dresden University Institute of Technology. Helbing and Anders looked at surveillance imagery from the 2006 trampling incident as if every person was a particle in fluid-dynamical flow. The stampedes, they reasoned, happen when laminar flow (smooth flow) transitions to stop-and-go and turbulent flow.

As the crowd got heavier, it slowed down on the Jamarat Bridge-stop and go. But then as even more people walked on, the crowd clumped into turbulent nodes that spread shock waves forward and back. Nobody had ever seen turbulence develop in human crowds before (obviously it’s tough to test this kind of thing in human beings).

“At occupancies of about 7 persons per square meter the crowd becomes almost a fluid mass. Shock waves can be propagated through the mass, sufficient to…propel them distances of 3 meters or more….People may be literally lifted out of their shoes, and have clothing torn off. Intense crowd pressures, exacerbated by anxiety, make it difficult to breathe, which may finally cause compressive asphyxia. The heat and the thermal insulation of surrounding bodies cause some to be weakened and faint. Access to those who
fall is impossible. Removal of those in distress can only be accomplished by lifting them up and passing them overhead to the exterior of the crowd.”

Helbing’s group found that if the number of people passing a given spot in a given amount of time falls too low, the transition to turbulence was about a half hour away. They suggested to the Saudis-who followed up-that they change the shape of the Jamarat Bridge and its approaches, institute automated counting to head off the turbulence transition, and make a few alterations in the schedule of the Hajj.

“Could I feel comfortable if people had died and I’d declined to help?” Helbing told Nature’s Philip Ball. “It was a matter of responsibility.”

That’s science in the public interest, folks.

Link to Helbing’s web site: here
Link to abstract of Helbing’s paper: here
Link to awesome article about this from Nature: here
Link to description of plans to add seven more floors to the two-story Jamarat Bridge: here

More: continued here

Scientists from Dresden University saved hundreds of people on this year’s Hajj

Published February 29, 2008 in My Chronicles.... 86 views 0 Comments

I got this via email and it is refreshing to see such positive interaction between Muslims and non-Muslims. It is certainly more appreciated than the t-e-r-r-o-r-i-s-m rhetoric which is mostly ignored now - kind of like banner ads which are ignored since people browsing the internet have become impervious to them.

The article, as I got it, is posted below.

——-

One of the phases of the Hajj is a walk across the Jamarat Bridge, from which people throw rocks at pillars said to represent the devil. The bridge is too narrow-in 1997 and 1998 people were killed when the crowd surged. In 2004, 251 pilgrims were trampled to death, and in 2006, another 362 died.

This year: 3.8 million pilgrims showed up, and everyone’s okay. Why?

This was in part because the Saudi government implemented some crowd control recommendations from Dirk Helbing and Anders Johansson at the Dresden University Institute of Technology. Helbing and Anders looked at surveillance imagery from the 2006 trampling incident as if every person was a particle in fluid-dynamical flow. The stampedes, they reasoned, happen when laminar flow (smooth flow) transitions to stop-and-go and turbulent flow.

As the crowd got heavier, it slowed down on the Jamarat Bridge-stop and go. But then as even more people walked on, the crowd clumped into turbulent nodes that spread shock waves forward and back. Nobody had ever seen turbulence develop in human crowds before (obviously it’s tough to test this kind of thing in human beings).

“At occupancies of about 7 persons per square meter the crowd becomes almost a fluid mass. Shock waves can be propagated through the mass, sufficient to…propel them distances of 3 meters or more….People may be literally lifted out of their shoes, and have clothing torn off. Intense crowd pressures, exacerbated by anxiety, make it difficult to breathe, which may finally cause compressive asphyxia. The heat and the thermal insulation of surrounding bodies cause some to be weakened and faint. Access to those who
fall is impossible. Removal of those in distress can only be accomplished by lifting them up and passing them overhead to the exterior of the crowd.”

Helbing’s group found that if the number of people passing a given spot in a given amount of time falls too low, the transition to turbulence was about a half hour away. They suggested to the Saudis-who followed up-that they change the shape of the Jamarat Bridge and its approaches, institute automated counting to head off the turbulence transition, and make a few alterations in the schedule of the Hajj.

“Could I feel comfortable if people had died and I’d declined to help?” Helbing told Nature’s Philip Ball. “It was a matter of responsibility.”

That’s science in the public interest, folks.

Link to Helbing’s web site: here
Link to abstract of Helbing’s paper: here
Link to awesome article about this from Nature: here
Link to description of plans to add seven more floors to the two-story Jamarat Bridge: here

More: continued here

WiredPakistan Forums hacked!

Published February 28, 2008 in My Chronicles.... 69 views 0 Comments

WiredPakistan [link] is a forum which Pakistanis frequent for discussing various technological queries and observations. A major segment of the forum is dedicated to the various internet services in Pakistan and any problems which users are facing with any particular service. There are other areas of discussions related to technology.

In fact, WiredPakistan is the first forum where the lack of proper security practises by Wateen WiMax were exposed alongside their absurd four to five layers of NAT which they employ. Password lists for root access to their CPE were also posted which enabled users to configure settings which were hidden from them. Their one-IP-for-a-nation scheme was also lamented repeatedly. In fact, every major ISP’s service [including PTCL Broadband] was exposed to the fullest.

Some time back, WiredPakistan was blocked by PTA for [still as of yet] unknown reasons. Fortunately, that block was removed and access was restored. Now, the forum has been hacked by malicious elements which are yet unknown.

So who is the hacker? As I mentioned, the hacker is as of yet, unknown. It could be an individual script kiddy unhappy at being banned - there were quite a few of those - or it could be an ISP trying to get rid of the information presented about its services and security practices - or lack thereof - on the forums. In fact, if it is the latter case, this could very well provide an opportunity for testing the new Cyber Crime laws recently implemented in Pakistan. The site access logs could be used as proof so there is a good chance that the perpetrators(s) could be caught and brought to justice. I hope the site owner gives this a serious thought since this is his prerogative.

Khalid, the owner of the site has posted an entry on his blog about this incident. You can read it here.

More: continued here

Railway Pictures

Published February 23, 2008 in My Chronicles.... 76 views 0 Comments

Pakistan Railways has been the state operator for rail based transportation system since independence. Some months back, I had to visit Rawalpindi Railway Station and snapped a couple pictures. For some reason which I fail to understand, these pictures fascinate me. The pictures are below:

The above picture shows a train ready to start its journey.

I got some drinks at the Railway Restaurant and the above switch board caught my eye. It surprised me that they are using such old switches and that they are still operational. It seems as if the British era relics have survived the many years of service (with maintenance and repair, of course).Fortunately, the day I visited was just a day before Bhambore Express was to start its service. It had a brand new shiny engine which had just arrived from the nearby Railway factory. The decorations amused me quite a bit. It looks as if it a newly wed bride. :D

I hope you enjoyed seeing these pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them. Cheers!

More: continued here

YouTube blocked by PTA!

Published February 23, 2008 in My Chronicles.... 67 views 0 Comments

The popular video sharing site ‘YouTube’ has been blocked by all ISPs in Pakistan on PTA directive. It is, reportedly, the second most visited website on the internet trailing Google itself, which owns YouTube.

This leads to a dark recollection of the blanket blocking of the blogspot.com domain which rendered all blogs hosted on Blogspot inaccessible for the majority of Pakistani users who didn’t knew how to utilize proxy servers and about bypassing such restrictions.

An email from Micronet Broadband Limited [MBL], a leading ISP in Islamabad follows:

Dear Valued Customer:

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (www.pta.gov.pk) has directed all ISPs of the country to block access to www.youtube.com web site for containing blasphemous web content/movies.

The site would remain blocked till further orders from PTA. Meanwhile, Internet users can write to youtube.com to remove the objectionable web content/movies because this removal would enable the authorities to order un-blocking of this web site.

We’re sorry for any inconvenience.

Best Regards

Manager
Technical Assistance Center
Micronet Broadband Pvt. Ltd.
Islamabad

I don’t understand why exactly we should write to YouTube for removing the objectionable content. Why doesn’t PTA blocks specific videos, if it want to censor the stuff, which itself is reprehensible. Why don’t they, instead, raise an awareness campaign and let the people decide to not see those videos? Are they so incompetent that they don’t know how to do it?

And most of all, why don’t the complainants just grow a thicker skin?!?

I just now ended a call with MBL while writing up this post confirming the details above. It is indeed a sad state of affairs. I urge everyone to contact PTA and pressurize them by expressing your thoughts and feeling via the PTA website (www.pta.gov.pk) and through the media.

For complaining to PTA, there are multiple options:

1 - Call them on their 24/7 toll free number 0800-55055, or,
2 - Send a web form based complaints from this page, or,
3 - Contact the people listed below (via snail mail, telephone or email) depending on your locality, to voice/register your complain:

a. Officer Incharge PTA Complaint Cell.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority,
Sector F-5/1, Islamabad.
Phone No. 92-51-9225325, 9225318
Fax No. 92-51-2878127.
E-mail. complaint@pta.gov.pk

b. Director (Enforcement), Lahore.
PTA Zonal Office, 165-Abid Majid Road Adjacent Telephone Exchange, Lahore Cantt.
Tel: 92-42-6665022 Fax: 92-42-6654009
Email: ptalahore@pta.gov.pk

c. Deputy Director (Enforcement), Rawalpindi.
PTA Zonal Office, 222/5, Khadim Hussain Road, Rawalpindi Cantt.
Tel: 92-51-5585380, 5121362 (Exch) Fax: 92-51-5585761
Email: rawalpindi@pta.gov.pk

d. Director (Enforcement), Quetta.
PTA Zonal Office, 213-B, Jinnah Town, Quetta
Tel: 92-81-2829476 Fax: 92-81-2829477
Email: quetta@pta.gov.pk

e. Deputy Director (Enforcement), Peshawar.
PTA Zonal Office, Plot No. 11, Sector A-3, Phase-V, Hayatabad, Peshawar
Tel: 92-91-9217279, 5829178 Fax: 92-91-9217254
Email: peshawar@pta.gov.pk

f. Director (Enforcement), Karachi.
PTA Zonal Office, Wireless Compound, Opposite JPMC, Rafiqui Shaheed Road, Karachi. 75530
Tel: 92-21-5680101 Fax: 92-21-5680640
Email: karachi@pta.gov.pk

g. Deputy Director (Enforcement), Muzaffarabad.
PTA Regional Office, D-72, Upper Chattar Housing Scheme, Muzaffarabad.
Tel: 058810-33255 Fax: 058810-33256
Email: muzaffarabad@pta.gov.pk

Apart from this, spread the word where ever you have an online presence via email, blogs, forums, etc so that the maximum number of Pakistanis get to know about this. Wired Pakistan, a Pakistani Tech Forum is currently hosting a discussion on this topic in this thread.

I urge you, the reader, to not let a regulatory body [PTA] which is supposed to protect consumer interest, but has regularly failed to do so, force its will on 160 million population of Pakistan!

More: continued here

Pakistan is China’s Most Favourite Neighbour

Published February 22, 2008 in My Chronicles.... 66 views 0 Comments

I just finished reading an online news report about a survey conducted by International Herald Leader, which is published by China’s Xinhua News Agency. I have read their news web site occasionally in the past for updates about JF17 related news.


Image (c) BBC

The contents of the article are:

Chinese people like South Korea the least of all of their neighbors, […]

More: continued here

Pakistaniat and Common Sense

Published February 22, 2008 in My Chronicles.... 47 views 0 Comments

I have often enough heard that Pakistani citizens tend to violate laws when at home and strictly follow them when abroad. I have found this to be true to quite an extent, specifically where following the law abroad is concerned. Even when inside the country, the educated citizens tend to follow the laws most of the time, most being a key word here. I think the best way to determine the attitudes of the citizens of any country towards the law is to observe the […]

Where There Is A Will, There Is A Way - The Hijab Dilemma

Published February 22, 2008 in My Chronicles.... 51 views 0 Comments

The issue of hijab riles many people and is considered an oppression by some. A news report recently came to my attention which provides yet more credence to the fact that the issue is not so much about it being unfair on the wearer than the society just being hesitant to adopt a change and accept it. This paranoia can be detrimental to a society and the values it adheres to.

The news item is titled “More Muslim girls wear scarf in games“. Miss Dewnya Bakri should be an […]

Red Mosque: Trouble spots exposed

Published February 22, 2008 in My Chronicles.... 46 views 0 Comments

The Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) issue has been an active one for eight days. Today, the government launched an operation against them after efforts at negotiation failed over whether foreign militants should be given safe passage out of the country. I deem this as a necessary action which should have been done six months ago when this whole issue reared its head.

I would refrain from listing the events of these tense 8 days. Instead, I would mention some […]

More: continued here

Days 4, 5, 6 & 7 - Cardiff University

Published February 22, 2008 in My Chronicles.... 103 views 0 Comments

This post is a continuation of my previous posts regarding my trip to UK. Previous posts regarding this trip are:

Tea with the Queen
Day 1: Arrival at the University of Leeds
Days 2, 3 & 4 - University of Leeds

After a five hour journey, which we spent dozing in our seats and listening to music, we reached Cardiff University.

Cardiff Bay
Cardiff Bay

The first impression I got of Cardiff was a very pleasant one. It was sunny with sea gulls flying […]

More: continued here

Eid Mubarak!

Published February 22, 2008 in My Chronicles.... 162 views 0 Comments

Ramadan is about to end (has already ended for some) and I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy Eid. May Allah bless us all with his bounties and make us better Muslims. Amen.

Spread as much love, peace, joy and prosperity as you can on this day of celebration.

For reading more Eid posts, click here.

Images taken randomly from Google image search.

More: continued here
By Baithak.Net

Days 2, 3 & 4 - University of Leeds

Published February 22, 2008 in My Chronicles.... 50 views 0 Comments

This post is a continuation of my previous posts regarding my trip to UK. Previous posts regarding this trip are:

Tea with the Queen
Day 1: Arrival at the University of Leeds

When we woke up the next morning, we had a tight schedule ahead of us comprising of visits to various university departments and labs.

After breakfast, we headed to the Agilent Lecture Theatre in the Engineering School for a […]

Happy Independence Day!

Published February 22, 2008 in My Chronicles.... 76 views 0 Comments

14th August is finally here! Let’s come and celebrate this day together with the vision to do everything to bring to reality the vision of Muhammad Ali Jinnah with regards to Pakistan to make it a nation standing for equality and prosperity. May Allah (SAW) help us with this vision.

Image

A very Happy Independence Day to the whole nation!

More: continued here

Tea with the Queen

Published February 22, 2008 in My Chronicles.... 53 views 0 Comments

Tonight, I depart for UK. I am already giddy in anticipation of my flight since I love air planes and the queasy feeling at take-off. :D

This is my second trip outside Pakistan, first one being to Kuwait a couple years back. I would be accompanied by a contingent of fellow students and a NUST faculty member. The trip is mostly aimed at visiting various universities where various activities are planned for us. The thing I am looking forward most of all is interaction with different people and getting to know and share their point of view regarding topics of common interest. The exposure to a different […]

More: continued here

Day 1: Arrival at the University of Leeds

Published February 22, 2008 in My Chronicles.... 61 views 0 Comments

This post is a continuation of my previous post(s) regarding my trip to UK. Previous post(s) regarding this trip are:

Tea with the Queen

This is some of the stuff I wrote for the blog. Yes, wrote, not typed. Well, it is typed now. Anyway, without further delay…

I am sitting in my room at Lyddon Hall at the University of Leeds after a full day of travel.

Our flight from Islamabad to Manchester had a stopover at Dubai. Emirates is a stickler for stopping at Dubai on long routes which is rather frustrating. All in the name of their duty free shops.

We left Islamabad Sunday morning, delayed by a security issue involving a man boarding the wrong flight. The aircraft was a Boeing 777-200. It’s length was on the small side, sort of like an Airbus. The delay mentioned above in our connecting flight cost us our next flight to Manchester. The next Emirates flight headed to Manchester from […]

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