<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6490192384566074269</id><updated>2011-12-13T13:17:03.543+05:00</updated><category term='Army'/><category term='Pakistan'/><category term='Gossip'/><category term='PMA'/><category term='WAPDA'/><category term='Imran Khan'/><category term='Terrorism'/><category term='Afghanistan'/><category term='Allah'/><category term='Talibaan'/><category term='TTP'/><category term='Chief Justice'/><category term='Water Shortage'/><category term='Politics'/><category term='FAST-NU'/><category term='Drones'/><category term='Nat Geo'/><category term='Bollywood'/><category term='Air Chief'/><category term='Swat'/><category term='NATO'/><category term='University'/><category term='Questions'/><category term='Punjab'/><category term='Politically Correct'/><category term='Salman Khan'/><category term='Swat Operation'/><category term='Kyrgyzstan'/><category term='Mulla'/><category term='Mehsud'/><category term='Nek Mohammad'/><category term='FATA'/><category term='Ethics'/><category term='India'/><category term='Unemployment'/><category term='Middle Class'/><category term='F-16'/><category term='Islam'/><category term='Rambo'/><category term='PTI'/><category term='Power Shortage'/><category term='FM'/><category term='JI'/><category term='Radio'/><category term='Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)'/><category term='Talibanization'/><category term='Taliban'/><category term='Humour'/><category term='Protest'/><category term='Petrol Prices'/><category term='Price Hike'/><category term='Hakeemullah'/><category term='Romance'/><category term='COAS'/><category term='Values'/><category term='MQM'/><category term='Dodo'/><category term='Lahore'/><category term='2.0'/><category term='Rally'/><category term='Love'/><category term='Freedom of Speech'/><category term='US'/><category term='Hollywood'/><category term='Muslims'/><title type='text'>Amin Reflects</title><subtitle type='html'>This blog is about politics, society, religion and related topics. Focus of the blog is mainly Pakistan and its issues but not restricted to just one country. Similarly other topics of interest and significance can also come under discussion. Blog contains both serious and humorous posts. Feel free to drop your comments!!</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6490192384566074269/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Amin Pakistani</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11391330396028385697</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>11</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6490192384566074269.post-9184874588653441694</id><published>2011-03-31T22:21:00.002+05:00</published><updated>2011-04-01T00:14:17.794+05:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Romance'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='2.0'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Love'/><title type='text'>Romance 2.0</title><content type='html'>&lt;div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"&gt;She came, she chatted and she conquered .. Other variants can be .. she came, she messaged (as in sms) and she conquered or may be she skyped and conquered or perhaps she facebooked and conquered or probably .... (and the list goes on) .. Welcome to the 21st century .. this is Romance 2.0.&lt;br /&gt;Sometimes I wonder how romance looked like in pre-sms age. These technology platforms provide wonderful ways for sweethearts to connect and for connections to become sweethearts. Now &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heer_Ranjha"&gt;Ranjhas&lt;/a&gt; don't have to tend &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heer_Ranjha"&gt;Heer's&lt;/a&gt; Majheeyan (Buffalos) for 12 long years to stay in touch. All they need is Heer's cell number and off they go. If both the lovers are on &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3G"&gt;3G+ platforms&lt;/a&gt; then the extent of sharing thoughts and moments of life are a matter of imagination (and yes ofcourse some credit is also needed). So hearts are coming closer at a faster pace than ever but hey the risk of an intruder or your lover moving away to another "platform" has also increased. But then kicks in the true love, depth of emotions and sincerity of&amp;nbsp;commitment. Yes, if you think that with the advent of technology these gems have become old fashioned then you are mistaken my dear. These things are very much there but as always they are rare. So the technology can bring people closer, may provide excitment and fun or open up a plethora of options BUT building long-lasting and loving relationships still needs a beating heart, a human touch and&amp;nbsp;a committed soul. So don't be dis-illusioned by the choices technology brings, rather utilize it to your best to find your very own soul-mate ... My best wishes to all those sincere lovers out there who have still NOT lost their human feelings despite being the lovers of Romance 2.0 era. Happy chatting/messaging/facebooking/blah blah/.... folks ;) Utilize technology to your fullest to find the special someone but please don't misuse or abuse it!!!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6490192384566074269-9184874588653441694?l=amin-reflects.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0' title='Romance 2.0'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/feeds/9184874588653441694/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/2011/03/romance-20.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6490192384566074269/posts/default/9184874588653441694'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6490192384566074269/posts/default/9184874588653441694'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/2011/03/romance-20.html' title='Romance 2.0'/><author><name>Amin Pakistani</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11391330396028385697</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6490192384566074269.post-6370810230661837176</id><published>2010-12-08T19:57:00.009+05:00</published><updated>2010-12-09T00:27:54.008+05:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Mulla'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Gossip'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Love'/><title type='text'>Mulla in Love :)</title><content type='html'>Hello and welcome this is BUZZ Khan from GNN (Gossip News Network). Today I am covering here what can be called the gossip of the year .. yeah we have found&amp;nbsp;a Mulla who has fallen in love. Wow, cheeky and creepy isn't it... I don't know what more this 21st century is going to bring to us .. A Mullah in Love, is&amp;nbsp;that an &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxymoron"&gt;oxymoron&lt;/a&gt; or what (hehehe) .. anyway we have the Mulla himself, in person, here with us .. lets talk to him .....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Buzz Khan (BK): Hi, Mulla! Yo man how ye doin ...&lt;br /&gt;Mulla:(Seems tight lipped) ... Assalam o Alaiukum ..&lt;br /&gt;BK: :s &amp;nbsp;errr.. ummm (Sheepishly) oh well yes .. Wa Le Kum Salam .. So Mulla you are the one who has fallen in love!?&lt;br /&gt;Mulla: Thats right..&lt;br /&gt;BK: Can you tell us a bit how it happened, where it started .. give us those tiny, miny, lil juicy details&lt;br /&gt;Mulla: (With an annoying stare) I can't tell you all this .. I must protect the privacy and self esteem of my lady love .. I just can't give these sacred&amp;nbsp;details to your lousy network ...&lt;br /&gt;BK: (Flabbergasted) (Talking to himself ... man this is tougher than I thought .. I should have tried to have an English interview with &lt;a href="http://omarulhaq.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/meera-from-lollywood-ouh/"&gt;Meera&lt;/a&gt; instead, that&amp;nbsp;would have been easier) Ummm well .. ok Mulla, lets put it this way .. usually the Mullas are not thought to be associated with love, romance and stuff ..&amp;nbsp;how will you comment?&lt;br /&gt;Mulla: Look mister we Mullas might have long beards but we still have hearts in our bosoms!!&lt;br /&gt;BK: (Shaking head in admiration) .. Moved, I'm deeply moved .. but you know like you are not supposed to cast a second look at a woman .. how do you manage&amp;nbsp;falling in love without really looking at someone whole heartedly??&lt;br /&gt;Mulla: Ummm well (looks puzzled and a bit shaken) .. you are right we are supposed to be that way but you know we do steal a look or two occassionaly ..&amp;nbsp;especially if the girl is a pretty and cute one (Mulla is blushed with a tinge of redness on his cheeks)&lt;br /&gt;BK: OOKKAAYY ... (Now things are spicing up a bit) so yours is a pretty one ..ahan??&lt;br /&gt;Mulla: (Totally confused) ... ummm ..well ... aa baa ..&lt;br /&gt;BK: Okay okay I get it .. But don't you think its wrong or a bit sinful if I must say ..&lt;br /&gt;Mulla: (Agitated) Well why .. all I intend is to get married to the woman I love, I don't mean anything sinful .. Why it seems wrong to you??&lt;br /&gt;BK: (On the back foot) Oh no Mulla I didn't mean that way .. well forget it .. Ok tell our viewers as they might be interested in knowing .. what if your&amp;nbsp;girl likes to party, wants to do that fun stuff and all .. how will you manage that?&lt;br /&gt;Mulla: Look buddy (opening up a bit for the first time) .. I like to party myself but you know I have my limits .. I do the fun stuff once in a while .. so&amp;nbsp;if my girl would like to party I'll party WITH her but there will be certain places, kind of people and activities that I might not approve .. I hope she can&amp;nbsp;manage that much!&lt;br /&gt;BK: Pretty cool Mulla we have here .. well Mulla let me ask this and I hope you won't be offended ..&lt;br /&gt;Mulla: Go on .. I won't be ..&lt;br /&gt;BK: Well why on earth a pretty and cool "Bachee" hook up with you .. come on there are so many cool guys out there .. why a boring piece of log like you ..&lt;br /&gt;Mulla: (Takes a deep breath) I am not boring to begin with .. I have my lighter and fun side but I just don't show it to every woman passing by like your&amp;nbsp;regular cool hunks ... I have my colors reserved for the special one .. now if that holds any significance!!&lt;br /&gt;BK: O come on man you are talking as if you'll be the most committed and faithful person under the sun ..&lt;br /&gt;Mulla: Well why not .. isn't that how it is supposed to be .. you get a wife and then you stay committed .. truly a one-woman-man !!&lt;br /&gt;BK: Throw me a bone Mulla .. the equation in your tribe is four for one NOT one for one .. if you know what I mean&lt;br /&gt;Mulla: Yeah I was expecting that one .. look man your cool guy has one wife, 3 girl friends and a dozen mistresses and I'm not counting the one-night-stands yet and you still insist on calling him a one woman man??&lt;br /&gt;BK: O come on Mulla .. you jump to extremes .. the regular guy we have here doesn't have that plethora of women in his life but you know if he does steal a&amp;nbsp;flirtatious moment or two, here and there .. just for fun .. man it just adds some spice to life .. On the other hand when you will fall for someone else you&amp;nbsp;won't settle for less than a Nikah!!&lt;br /&gt;Mulla: (With an I-Feel-Sick-of-This look on his face) Man its not compulsory to have 4 wives in your Harem, if I must say .. Point is when you marry a woman&amp;nbsp;then the matters of hearts, be they small or big must remain between you and your mate .. You don't cut off with rest of the women in the world .. you&amp;nbsp;do interact with them as colleagues, relatives or in some other acceptable role .. you act nicely and pleasantly with them but you do maintain a "safe&amp;nbsp;distance" .. its not that difficult to&amp;nbsp;achieve&amp;nbsp;if you have your juices in your control ..&lt;br /&gt;BK: Oh man don't take it personally ..&lt;br /&gt;Mulla: I'm not!&lt;br /&gt;(Brief moments of silence)&lt;br /&gt;BK: But my question is still there .. look I appreciate you will be faithful and all but still .. yaar just look, there are so many guys, they are usual nice&amp;nbsp;guys, they will be faithful too, they are trendy as well, you have so many strings attached, like your appearance, your limited life-style .. and yes you'll&amp;nbsp;ask your woman to cover-up and wear &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burqa"&gt;shuttle cocks&lt;/a&gt; etc .. I know you are a genuine nice guy but why you? Why not others?&lt;br /&gt;Mulla: (With a you-break-my-heart look) Sighs ... Man I really don't have an answer for this .. but i'll try .. look buddy can't you just treat me as your&amp;nbsp;usual nice guy, why there is so much stereo-typing .. If I try to live my life around a philosophy then whats wrong with it .. Everyone has their ideas about&amp;nbsp;life, you can't even predict what others really&amp;nbsp;believe&amp;nbsp;in .. mine is at least open and predictable .. as for covering up and all that, well man if I am&amp;nbsp;saving so much of my inner self for my special one, can't she keep her most prized and precious assets just for me .. I won't be oppressive or imposing .. I&amp;nbsp;know how to give space and give time for adjustments .. but if I ask her to dress up decently then probably I'm not asking for too much!!&lt;br /&gt;BK: Hmmm ... ok let me ask .. why have you fallen for a not-so-religious-looking-girl? why not your ninja-burqa-clad Mullani?&lt;br /&gt;Mulla: Ah you don't understand my friend .. in the matters of heart you can't fall for someone who has the "right parameters" .. its just for whom the heart beats&amp;nbsp;and the one who clicks .. its just like that and plus I don't stereo-type like you do .. Nice girls don't come in pre-defined packages .. they can be found in any&amp;nbsp;shape and form, you just need to have an eye to identify the right one!!&lt;br /&gt;BK: Alright man this is getting long here .. any message you want to give??&lt;br /&gt;Mulla: Well .. its for my lady love and all those skeptics who keep their fingers crossed around mullas and lovers .. the spring of love can well up from any&amp;nbsp;heart, the seed of romance can take roots in any ground .. its not the outward look that matters .. after all its a connection of hearts that originates from&amp;nbsp;a heart and must end up nicely in another accepting and willing heart .. Love is one of those rare gifts of life that is hard to find in its purest form&amp;nbsp;and much harder to match up in another equally loving and&amp;nbsp;willing&amp;nbsp;mate .. but no matter what the odds are, no matter how much risk is there and no matter how&amp;nbsp;much emotional wealth is at stake .. going after a proposition of possible true love is worth a million heart-breaks than not attempting, just to save yourself&amp;nbsp;from another emotional scar or to avoid a badly burnt heart.&lt;br /&gt;BK: Wow mulla .. you are quite a poet .. you alomst made me cry man .. anyway thats all from Buzz Khan .. We hope our Mulla succeeds in winning over the&amp;nbsp;heart of his lady love .. thats all for now from GNN .. keep watching for the latest gossip!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(Disclaimer: All above characters and incidents are imaginery but they have been kept intentionally close to reality so that a coincidental resemablance may&amp;nbsp;occur :D)&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6490192384566074269-6370810230661837176?l=amin-reflects.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mullah' title='Mulla in Love :)'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/feeds/6370810230661837176/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/2010/12/mulla-in-love.html#comment-form' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6490192384566074269/posts/default/6370810230661837176'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6490192384566074269/posts/default/6370810230661837176'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/2010/12/mulla-in-love.html' title='Mulla in Love :)'/><author><name>Amin Pakistani</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11391330396028385697</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6490192384566074269.post-1690001009206333005</id><published>2010-10-16T18:54:00.009+05:00</published><updated>2010-10-16T22:46:41.137+05:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Lahore'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='University'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Values'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='FAST-NU'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Pakistan'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Ethics'/><title type='text'>A Message From the Director</title><content type='html'>Just to give you the background there is a university in &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahore"&gt;Lahore, Pakistan&lt;/a&gt; which we remember by the name of &lt;a href="http://www.nu.edu.pk/"&gt;FAST-NU&lt;/a&gt;. As it is known the faculty and&amp;nbsp;management&amp;nbsp;at the university and this particular campus is a bit old fashioned and remains concerned about ethics and values (yeah that endangered species). Although some even doubt their own moralities but lets not get into that right now.&lt;br /&gt;It so happened that the director of the said campus circulated an email to the students, guiding them in terms of their behavior, especially with&amp;nbsp;regards&amp;nbsp;to male-female interaction. Here is the message in original:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/TLmqrt6NeWI/AAAAAAAAAD4/D1s65wC2SFM/s1600/director's+mail.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="90" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/TLmqrt6NeWI/AAAAAAAAAD4/D1s65wC2SFM/s400/director's+mail.png" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now that seems pretty clear and simple to me but as we are a vibrant society of differing opinions a friend of ours raised concerns about this message in an&amp;nbsp;alumni mailing list. His exact concerns are as follows:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="line-height: 17px;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;As I came to know that Arshad Hussaib Sb. is also on this group, simple concerns from my side..&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="line-height: 17px;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;br style="line-height: 17px;" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="line-height: 17px;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;Mohtarram,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="line-height: 17px;"&gt;&lt;ul style="line-height: 17px; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"&gt;&lt;li style="line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;Why there is no designated person/persons to circulate this/any rule to students keh apko apnay hee dast-e-mubarak say email karni parti hai?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style="line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;Secondly, what the hell was that? I mean there are infinite ways of showing concern on these issues, why FAST management always has to scare students?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style="line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;and with due respect.. urmmm.. challein rehnay dein iss say agay koi baat keee to out of respect ho jani hai.. :S :)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;Incidentally I am also teaching at the same university these days and more&amp;nbsp;interestingly&amp;nbsp;I am teaching&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.nu.edu.pk/CourseDetails.aspx?cid=227"&gt;professional issues and ethics&lt;/a&gt; to the students hence I find it appropriate (sort of necessary) to add my two cents. Therefore I have composed a message on behalf of the director. Let this be an example to all directors and academic heads, of how to address a sensitive issue like this. Here it comes:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;My Dearest Students,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;I was just thinking about few things lately and well I am a bit upset about some of them. I don't know how to say this but being the director I must say this&amp;nbsp;(please excuse me if I hurt someone). Ideally some PA or administrator should have sent this but you know, you can't really trust these guys, because they&amp;nbsp;become so rude. Therefore I decided to talk to you instead. So I was saying that there are few matters of concern vis-a-vis campus behaviour is concerned.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;(Ah! this is so difficult).&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;1) You know generally its not a very good idea to get too close to someone from the opposite sex. Oh please don't think that I am blaming you people, not the&amp;nbsp;least. Its just that sometimes, may be due to lack of sitting space (or if no one is around) male and female students unknowingly and out of sheer innocence&amp;nbsp;make some kind of contact (in the physical sense I mean). Again I'm extremely embarrased myself having said these words. (If any of you feels offended just&amp;nbsp;ignore this mail). But my humble request is that please try not to do this in future. (Some fanatic has placed security cameras in the campus and if God&amp;nbsp;forbid anyone is caught I won't be able to do much to save him&amp;amp;her)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;2) Secondly, again this must be due to some sheer negligence of the university, students are sometimes forced to sit in the corridors and/or stairs. You know&amp;nbsp;I really feel that students must be allowed to do whatever they like on the campus but again people start pointing fingers at the management, faculty and&amp;nbsp;above all the student body (my beloved students). So for the sake of sheer love and concern I have for my students please don't sit in the corridors/stairs.&amp;nbsp;You'll make your director really proud by NOT doing this.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;I hope you get my point and please don't take it personally. Still I apologize in advance if someone feels bad about it. But you see we are like a family and&amp;nbsp;being the head, I must bring issues to the table. But please don't think that I don't trust you, its just the hard part of being a director. I hope you&amp;nbsp;understand my position too.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;Lovingly yours,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;The Director of F@$T&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6490192384566074269-1690001009206333005?l=amin-reflects.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEpK5PiAsl8' title='A Message From the Director'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/feeds/1690001009206333005/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/2010/10/message-from-director.html#comment-form' title='6 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6490192384566074269/posts/default/1690001009206333005'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6490192384566074269/posts/default/1690001009206333005'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/2010/10/message-from-director.html' title='A Message From the Director'/><author><name>Amin Pakistani</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11391330396028385697</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/TLmqrt6NeWI/AAAAAAAAAD4/D1s65wC2SFM/s72-c/director&apos;s+mail.png' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>6</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6490192384566074269.post-8392624669966855358</id><published>2010-04-27T04:26:00.010+05:00</published><updated>2010-04-27T18:18:16.316+05:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='MQM'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Politics'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Pakistan'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Punjab'/><title type='text'>The 'New' Party in Punjab</title><content type='html'>&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;So MQM is finally here [in Punjab]. They mean business and they will probably stay. Will they 'smile and conquer', that needs to be seen? The reaction towards MQM's arrival is mixed as one can imagine and its a natural one. MQM has few good things to brag about lately (&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustafa_Kamal_(mayor)"&gt;e.g. Mustafa's Kamals&lt;/a&gt;) but they also carry a certain baggage (rather body bags :p). The biggest hurdles in their way are probably these:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;The Leadership&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;Like most political parties in Pakistan MQM too does not have a clean image vis-a-vis leadership. Looks of &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rajinikanth.com/"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;Rajnikanth&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt; mixed with&amp;nbsp;strengths&amp;nbsp;of &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawood_Ibrahim"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;Dawood Ibrahim&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;,&amp;nbsp;speckled&amp;nbsp;with humor of a street comedian&amp;nbsp;gives us the top man of MQM. He is none other [possible till he is alive] than the most hilarious, the master of remote controls and the biggest user of long distance phones ... iiiiits &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2A882TsTFQ"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;Altaaaaaf Husseeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiin&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt; (Tha tha, dhishon dhishon, dhazz dhazz). It will be naive (and a bit dangerous too) to say that MQM should change their leader if they want to be a serious national political player. However, since in Pakistan a lot gets forgotten, we can easily forget about the past of Altaf bhai, although the party still needs to manage the image of their leader.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;B&amp;amp;B&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;This can mean bed and breakfast, bread and butter (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;Beavis &amp;amp; Butthead may be) in ordinary circumstances but when it comes to MQM, B&amp;amp;B can also mean 'Bhatta'&amp;nbsp;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;بھتہ)&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;and 'Body Bags'. &amp;nbsp;Also include MS and SC. You can guess these acronyms while you are reading this post, the answers are given at the end. Again this image needs to be managed and these words should never be heard in public, "Since the arrival of MQM street crimes in Punjab have risen". Whether it is done by hooligans hired by Q-League to get fingers pointed at MQM or Shahbaz Sharif forms a special cell of Punjab Police to commit crimes in the name of MQM; if for once this image gets reinforced in the minds of Punjabi public, the consequences will be detrimental for MQM.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;Ethnic&amp;nbsp;Bias&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;MQM has been a party which has thrived more on creating and&amp;nbsp;encouraging, ethnic biases and differences among people. It has never been seen as a uniting force. It has safeguarded the interest of the ethnic group it initially represented by establishing a dominance by force rather than being a messenger of peace and understanding among various ethnic groups. Do I sound too sweet here? Okay please forgive me, I also know how things get done around here but whats wrong in saying nice and sweet things (looks nice written in a blog post). The arrival in Punjab itself indicates a shift in the overall party policy however there is a fair chance that in Punjab too MQM adopts a few down trodden&amp;nbsp;ethnicities&amp;nbsp;and then struggles their (bloody) way to get those ethnicities both their fair and unfair share. The &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rqxdy_4xw0"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;convention speech of Altaf bhai&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt; did have some hints to it, when he talked about Siraiky belt and South Punjab. Will MQM be a fore runner and a clean political player in Punjab OR will it play the usual hold-on-gunpoint-and-get-things-done game?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;Now lets come to the good things which the arrival of MQM may signify in Punjab. To begin with it is by and large a good and positive gesture by a political party who was strictly taken as an ethnic party to move towards the national horizon. This step in itself can&amp;nbsp;strengthen&amp;nbsp;the unity and integrity of federation. It also indicates that the political party has come of age and is mature enough to think beyond just their own 'Gali Mohalla'.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;Secondly the timing of this move could not have been any better. The government of PPP has miserably failed to address the problems of common man. Mian Sab the great is as usual&amp;nbsp;intoxicated&amp;nbsp;by heavy doses of 'Siri-Paya', 'Nihari', 'Hareesa' ..... (and the list goes on). He is&amp;nbsp;practicing shooting these days and has chosen his own foot as a target. In short the most naive way in which PML-N is cooperating with PPP for whatever noble reasons of&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;stabilizing the system and strengthening democracy, the impression going out to the already fed up public is that PPP and PML-N are partners in crime. People ARE waiting for a third option. Yes, the same third option for which Captain Khan is fruitlessly trying for almost a decade but has failed so far. My short message to Captain Khan is that has he ever reached the masses in the way MQM did in their convention. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Politics/26-Apr-2010/MQM-to-bring-revolution-in-Punjab/"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;Altaf can pull crowds while sitting thousands of miles away&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt; but why has Khan failed to connect with people he lives among?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;My perception as of now and today is that if MQM plays its cards wisely and cleanly they do have a chance. Folks they can pose a serious threat to Mians, Chaudhris and Ghosts of Bhutto. But will they drop their baggage and come out clean or is it their bread and butter?? (Oh! that B&amp;amp;B thing again!!!)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;(MS: Mobile Snatching&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;SC: Street Crime)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6490192384566074269-8392624669966855358?l=amin-reflects.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.mqm.org/' title='The &apos;New&apos; Party in Punjab'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/feeds/8392624669966855358/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/2010/04/new-party-in-punjab.html#comment-form' title='8 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6490192384566074269/posts/default/8392624669966855358'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6490192384566074269/posts/default/8392624669966855358'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/2010/04/new-party-in-punjab.html' title='The &apos;New&apos; Party in Punjab'/><author><name>Amin Pakistani</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11391330396028385697</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>8</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6490192384566074269.post-4656899207970969409</id><published>2010-04-13T01:22:00.006+05:00</published><updated>2010-04-16T11:58:54.761+05:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Price Hike'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='India'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='FATA'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Army'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Water Shortage'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Power Shortage'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Pakistan'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Kyrgyzstan'/><title type='text'>The Kyrgyzstan Model?</title><content type='html'>Are we [in Pakistan] heading towards an anarchy? Or are we just in the middle of one? Lets have a look:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;ol&gt;&lt;li&gt;Army is already busy in an almost full scale war in the traditionally safe and secure western border areas (talking of the border tribal belt itself). Much worse they are fighting within the borders. The insurgents/miscreants are&amp;nbsp;after all&amp;nbsp;the citizens of Pakistan and &lt;a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100413/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan"&gt;the "collateral&amp;nbsp;damage" kills our own innocent people&lt;/a&gt; and ruins the country's infrastructure. When the army men lay their lives, it weakens our own army and the thought of killing a Muslim brother demoralizes our men (especially in lower ranks), who are motivated by the concept of 'Jihad'. &lt;a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD9F1J0DG0"&gt;Not to mention the issues of IDPs and the hatred that is bred by such operations in the hearts of local population.&lt;/a&gt; Military operation might have been inevitable but we are yet to see its required outcome and pacification of the local population (our brethren) for whatever material and emotional damages they suffered.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Those tribal areas in which our own army is not engaged, &lt;a href="http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/04/drones-dont-bri.htm"&gt;the ever notorious US drones are operating&lt;/a&gt; and killing the ones spared by the ground forces. Just goes on to add&amp;nbsp;insult&amp;nbsp;to injury.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Move a little up north in the same region and we have a new kind of upheaval. There are people who are out to prove Shakespeare wrong, "Whats in a name". &lt;a href="http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/south-asia/at-least-5-dead-more-than-100-injured-in-pakistani-protests_100346699.html"&gt;Ask someone living in Hazara [division] and he/she will tell you, its all about the name.&lt;/a&gt; Rest of their province is celebrating the change of name [of their province] from NWFP to Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Then lets take into account the cities of Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Lahore and few others at the same time. Here the bravadoes, from those areas&amp;nbsp;mentioned&amp;nbsp;in the first paragraph, equipped with twisted religious interpretations and lots of explosives &lt;a href="http://sify.com/news/wave-of-attacks-in-pakistan-news-international-kefrObfcbea.html"&gt;go for bombing sprees&lt;/a&gt; that kill security forces men and the innocent civilians alike.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Then we have a local version of IRA .. which we call &lt;a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\04\11\story_11-4-2010_pg7_17"&gt;BLA (Balochistan&amp;nbsp;Liberation Army)&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;To add further spice we have an acute shortage of electricity. On one hand it is ruining the business, industry, employment opportunities, peace of mind and smooth running of daily lives, on the other hand it is tarnishing the image of government and deeming it as a failed&amp;nbsp;entity.&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Regional/Lahore/10-Apr-2010/Countrywide-protests-as-power-crisis-worsens"&gt;Thirdly&amp;nbsp;it has also brought the angry common people on the streets.&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.blogger.com/"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Things were already quite "smooth" when our "beloved" neighbor also jumped in to "lend a hand". They are blocking the waters of our rivers by building .. &lt;a href="http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Politics/09-Apr-2010/India-constructing-52-dams-on-Pak-water"&gt;DAM[N]s&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;Resultantly&amp;nbsp;we are having a short fall of irrigation water as well. It also&amp;nbsp;aggravates&amp;nbsp;the power crisis.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Soon we are going to have a new wave of inflation when a proposed &lt;a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=28274"&gt;15% VAT on products across the board and 6% rise in electricity prices&lt;/a&gt; comes into effect. The streets will be filled with&amp;nbsp;protesters&amp;nbsp;again. I mean those streets that were spared by an insurgency, bomb blast, celebration/protest&amp;nbsp;for/against the name of a province, bomb blast, protest against shortage of essentials (other than oxygen), bomb blast, protest just for the heck for it, bomb .......&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;In above paragraphs I have listed some of the most major and mostly internal problems that come to the mind of an ordinary Pakistani. Not to mention the more deeper and complex issues at the national and foreign fronts. Now if we consider the uprising in Kyrgyzstan it was mainly due to rise in heating and electricity&amp;nbsp;tariff, coupled with usual ills of corruption and nepotism. Whereas is Pakistan we have multiple issues. Issues that are much more complex, deeper and grave. Hence we can safely conclude that Pakistan is NOT heading towards a&amp;nbsp;Kyrgyzstan-like uprising. Being a nation of creative,&amp;nbsp;sovereign, original and independent people we'll do something in our own right. (&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 29px;"&gt;باقی الله خیر ہی کرے -&amp;nbsp;آمین )&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6490192384566074269-4656899207970969409?l=amin-reflects.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.sbpost.ie/news/world/revolt-leaves-kyrgyzstan-in-crisis-48515.html' title='The Kyrgyzstan Model?'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/feeds/4656899207970969409/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/2010/04/kyrgyzstan-model.html#comment-form' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6490192384566074269/posts/default/4656899207970969409'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6490192384566074269/posts/default/4656899207970969409'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/2010/04/kyrgyzstan-model.html' title='The Kyrgyzstan Model?'/><author><name>Amin Pakistani</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11391330396028385697</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6490192384566074269.post-1503950589277132913</id><published>2010-03-01T17:36:00.001+05:00</published><updated>2010-03-01T17:46:53.619+05:00</updated><title type='text'>Poll Results</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/S4u0oxuSz5I/AAAAAAAAADc/HicJrOCGa9w/s1600-h/Poll.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/S4u0oxuSz5I/AAAAAAAAADc/HicJrOCGa9w/s400/Poll.JPG" width="390" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;Few more comments:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/S4u0oxuSz5I/AAAAAAAAADc/HicJrOCGa9w/s1600-h/Poll.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/S4u2ogSY12I/AAAAAAAAADk/Zs3-DfFphtM/s1600-h/comments.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/S4u2ogSY12I/AAAAAAAAADk/Zs3-DfFphtM/s320/comments.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6490192384566074269-1503950589277132913?l=amin-reflects.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/feeds/1503950589277132913/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/2010/03/poll-results.html#comment-form' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6490192384566074269/posts/default/1503950589277132913'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6490192384566074269/posts/default/1503950589277132913'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/2010/03/poll-results.html' title='Poll Results'/><author><name>Amin Pakistani</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11391330396028385697</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/S4u0oxuSz5I/AAAAAAAAADc/HicJrOCGa9w/s72-c/Poll.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6490192384566074269.post-3368503499526486801</id><published>2009-08-24T07:13:00.034+06:00</published><updated>2009-08-29T01:08:22.968+06:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='TTP'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Nat Geo'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Taliban'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Freedom of Speech'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Hollywood'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Afghanistan'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Salman Khan'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Rambo'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='FATA'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Nek Mohammad'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Drones'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='US'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Humour'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Mehsud'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Hakeemullah'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Pakistan'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Politically Correct'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Bollywood'/><title type='text'>Admiring Taliban (God Help Me)</title><content type='html'>Well as the title suggests, this post is not for weak hearts, people with no sense of humour, adults under the mental age of 7 and proponents of freedom of speech. Wait a minute did I say proponents of freedom of speech, well thats what I said. Normally those who advocate freedom of speech mean, freedom of 'their' version of speech and admiring Taliban may not conform to their concept of free speech. Only anti-religious and blasphemous stuff qualifies for that (pun intended).&lt;br /&gt;Anyway all I wanted to say was that these Taliban guys are really dashing. I mean they have a rugged, rustic, macho and chauvinistic air about them. They look so manly. Now honestly if we take our regular, cleanly-shaven, trying-to-look-bad Hollywood icons and any Talib walking down the FATA hills; who would look more manly and bad. I got you there didn't I; because we all agree that Taliban are more BAD. But I was emphasizing manliness here (Ahem).&lt;br /&gt;Okay now lets make a side by side comparison. Lets compare Mr. Rambo with (Late) Nek Mohammad. Just for the record, Nek Mohammad was probably the first victim of a US drone operating on the wrong side of the border.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/SpHyHjCPFBI/AAAAAAAAAB0/sb6aNoUM8qQ/s1600-h/1028rambo.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373342041907336210" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 193px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/SpHyHjCPFBI/AAAAAAAAAB0/sb6aNoUM8qQ/s200/1028rambo.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373342593063603858" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 158px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/SpHynoQITpI/AAAAAAAAACE/mUiF0E3twds/s200/nekm.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;Oh by the way for the record once again, Mr. Rambo also had the honor of fighting in Afghanistan against the Commies alongside (the then called) Mujahideen. How time changes!&lt;br /&gt;Coming back to the point. Now guys (and especially girls) please leave all your biases aside and tell me whose your man?&lt;br /&gt;No, didn't impress you. Okay then lets try Taliban vs. Bollywood. Here we go:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/SpH7HEhGwAI/AAAAAAAAACM/Eo_64bflLKE/s1600-h/salman-khan.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373351929319964674" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/SpH7HEhGwAI/AAAAAAAAACM/Eo_64bflLKE/s200/salman-khan.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/SpIAqLZSkBI/AAAAAAAAACc/iC1J58mUNNk/s1600-h/hakeemullah.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373358030019792914" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 160px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/SpIAqLZSkBI/AAAAAAAAACc/iC1J58mUNNk/s200/hakeemullah.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here we have Mr. Salman Khan (Sallu G) versus Hakeem Ullah Mehsud (the newly appointed TTP chief, believed to be already dead by some). Now both of them are 'BAD' in their own ways but whose more manly? The earring clad guy with an aura of stupidity OR the really dangerous guy on the right (side of the column). Please also keep in mind that Taliban are a species that are really hard to photograph. Ask any Nat Geo photographer whats easy to catch on film, the tonsils of a living African Lion or the turban of dead Taliban and he's sure to choose the African version. Unless you get abducted by them (Taliban I mean) its really hard to photograph them. In fact when one does get abducted its Talibaan who 'shoot' the photographer, with all those exotic settings and props. On the other hand the filmy guys are meant to be photographed. They use all means possible to improve their looks whereas Taliban may spend the least of their time in front of a mirror. But still I guess they manage to steal (rather kidnap) the show.&lt;br /&gt;Now all those self-righteous, forward-looking and liberal-minded folks might be thinking, whats the point of this whole post. Well folks, there is no point in this post, it was just for laughs. Humour doesn't have to 'politically correct'. If it can make you laugh it has done the job. Got my point now??? :)&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6490192384566074269-3368503499526486801?l=amin-reflects.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/feeds/3368503499526486801/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/2009/08/admiring-taliban-god-help-me.html#comment-form' title='10 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6490192384566074269/posts/default/3368503499526486801'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6490192384566074269/posts/default/3368503499526486801'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/2009/08/admiring-taliban-god-help-me.html' title='Admiring Taliban (God Help Me)'/><author><name>Amin Pakistani</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11391330396028385697</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/SpHyHjCPFBI/AAAAAAAAAB0/sb6aNoUM8qQ/s72-c/1028rambo.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>10</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6490192384566074269.post-6043499674025475850</id><published>2009-07-06T09:14:00.003+06:00</published><updated>2009-08-25T02:19:47.489+06:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Lahore'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Price Hike'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Talibanization'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Taliban'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Chief Justice'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Unemployment'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='PTI'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Middle Class'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Petrol Prices'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Politics'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Power Shortage'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Rally'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='WAPDA'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Talibaan'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Protest'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Imran Khan'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='JI'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Pakistan'/><title type='text'>At Imran Khan's Rally</title><content type='html'>On the eve of 3rd July, 2009, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) organized a protest rally on the monumental Mall Road (Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam) of Lahore. &lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/SmL6l1_2jXI/AAAAAAAAAA8/2myVG7VOdL8/s1600-h/0_img026.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/SmL6l1_2jXI/AAAAAAAAAA8/2myVG7VOdL8/s200/0_img026.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360122034581310834" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;protest was against acute power shortage, a sudden rise of prices in petroleum products (that will trigger an across the board price hike) and unemployment. The issues are indeed the most burning ones faced by Pakistan today. I'm sorry but terrorism, religious extremism, Talibanization etc. does hurt me but NOT as much as these things do. A suicide bomber is a real threat but he would rather kill me in an instant, however the above stated issues will leave me lurching somewhere between life and death, a much more painful ordeal. To get killed by a bomber is NOT a priority here .. its plain sarcasm. But lets leave that debate for a later occasion.&lt;div&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/SmL6mbxkK0I/AAAAAAAAABU/bXoTTrD81Ik/s1600-h/0_img030.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/SmL6mbxkK0I/AAAAAAAAABU/bXoTTrD81Ik/s200/0_img030.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360122044721933122" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;I later learnt that Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) also organized similar rally on that very day at about the same location, few hours before this particular event. PTI and JI are two political groups that opted to boycott last years' general elections. It is good to see that they are playing their role in national politics one way or the other. I wish these political forces join hands for these issues and make a united front to get them resolved, just like they did for the "Chief Justice" issue.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Anyhow coming back to the rally. The rally was properly organized and had lot of party workers and a representation of women too. However, one thing which I was looking for and was utterly lacking was the educated youth and the white collar middle class. &lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/SmL6mDTyFDI/AAAAAAAAABM/2mGhIofauMQ/s1600-h/0_img028.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/SmL6mDTyFDI/AAAAAAAAABM/2mGhIofauMQ/s200/0_img028.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360122038154564658" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;The workers present there were the typical paid party workers. Not saying that they shouldn't be there but my image of PTI was a bit different. A friend of mine who is a party member and comes from an educated background was there at the rally but he too was watching the event from the sidelines like me. But lets not draw any conclusions from these observations at this point in time.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;Imran Khan joined in the rally later on and as is natural the crowds were electrified by his presence. The procession then marched on towards WAPDA House where Imran Khan had to make a speech. The numbers out there in the procession were quite plausible. According to my most conservative estimate there were 2 to 3 thousand people in that rally.  News items from national dailies about the event are also attached.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/SmL6l4WJXYI/AAAAAAAAABE/Bgl_OMOctXw/s1600-h/0_img027.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/SmL6l4WJXYI/AAAAAAAAABE/Bgl_OMOctXw/s200/0_img027.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360122035211689346" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=186347"&gt;The News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.express.com.pk/epaper/Index.aspx?Issue=NP_LHE&amp;amp;Page=FRONT_PAGE&amp;amp;Date=20090704&amp;amp;Pageno=1"&gt;Express News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6490192384566074269-6043499674025475850?l=amin-reflects.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/feeds/6043499674025475850/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/2009/07/at-imran-khans-rally.html#comment-form' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6490192384566074269/posts/default/6043499674025475850'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6490192384566074269/posts/default/6043499674025475850'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/2009/07/at-imran-khans-rally.html' title='At Imran Khan&apos;s Rally'/><author><name>Amin Pakistani</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11391330396028385697</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lMG00hSzDEE/SmL6l1_2jXI/AAAAAAAAAA8/2myVG7VOdL8/s72-c/0_img026.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6490192384566074269.post-8629815697063650710</id><published>2009-06-20T17:50:00.001+06:00</published><updated>2009-08-25T02:21:46.198+06:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Dodo'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='TTP'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='F-16'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='COAS'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='NATO'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Taliban'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Drones'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Army'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Pakistan'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Swat Operation'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Air Chief'/><title type='text'>Strange Behaviour of a Dog</title><content type='html'>When I was a lad of 13-14 I used to have a pet dog. I called him DoDo. Not that he resembled any bird or something, it just sounded nice to me. Dodo was an interesting character. Like most of the pets he picked up some human habbits. However once he showed a really peculiar behaviour. I don't know if he picked it from humans .. or its the humans who pick it from them (the dogs i mean).&lt;br /&gt;Once I took Dodo for a walk in the park. It so happened that another dog was also there in the park and was rather big, at least bigger than my Dodo. The devil barked at him and tried to challenge him. Dodo behaved as if nothing had happend, as if he did'nt hear anyone barking. I urged him to pick a fight but he just ignored. I was a bit disappointed.&lt;br /&gt;Anyhow when I came home our 'brave' Dodo stumbled upon a dust bin with some papers in it and boy he went mad on the dust bin. He tore apart the papers, barked at it and bit the dust bin too. As if he was showing that he is a ferocious creature and once angered can go to any limits to tear apart his rival. This behaviour really amused me and my family. He was probably trying to overcome the embarassement he faced in the park, due to the other dog. Well, interesting story, isn't it, but whats the point? Ah forget the point and why must I always try to make a point. However, read these news items and make a point yourself .. if you can!!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.daily.pk/local/other-local/8963-coas-asks-us-to-stop-drone-attacks.html"&gt;COAS [Gently] Asks US to Stop Drone Attacks&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=215371"&gt;Striking Down Drones Could Trigger War, says Rao Qamar&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And Lastly,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.geo.tv/6-15-2009/44216.htm"&gt;COAS Flies F-16, Takes Part in Operation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6490192384566074269-8629815697063650710?l=amin-reflects.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/feeds/8629815697063650710/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/2009/06/strange-behaviour-of-dog.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6490192384566074269/posts/default/8629815697063650710'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6490192384566074269/posts/default/8629815697063650710'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/2009/06/strange-behaviour-of-dog.html' title='Strange Behaviour of a Dog'/><author><name>Amin Pakistani</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11391330396028385697</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6490192384566074269.post-3478473566102209032</id><published>2009-05-25T10:47:00.001+06:00</published><updated>2009-08-25T02:23:15.485+06:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='TTP'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Talibanization'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Talibaan'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='PMA'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Taliban'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Army'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='FM'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Radio'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Pakistan'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Swat Operation'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Swat'/><title type='text'>The Puppet Show</title><content type='html'>"Dehshat Khan" sitting somewhere in his cave, oiling his guns and listening to 'FM' radio. His mind is crystal clear about his deeds and beliefs. No shadow of doubt or an attempt of self analysis ever crosses his mind. His religious thought deeply entwined with his local customs is devoid of sane religious and worldly thought. He acts fearlessly and even, mercilessly.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Captain "Hero Malik" trained in the elite army school, filled with pride and sense of superiority. His organization is the "most honest" and "patriotic" institution of the country. Obeying his superiors is not just his professional etiquette, its his way of life. He never flinches before he acts upon what is ordered. He too, never thinks before and after any command he carries out. The success of mission, his primary goal and the integrity of his deeds, never shaken or even questioned.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Be it Dehshat Khan or Capt. Hero Malik, both seem to be just puppets. With their strings in the hands of a puppeteer. What do we know about their puppet masters, they are behind the scenes. Do they have a same puppet master? Or they have different masters who sometimes shake hands and sometimes just stay aloof. What do we know? We are just watching the puppet show, where Dehshat Khan and Capt. Hero Malik are trying to fight the hell out of each other. Their masters are orchestrating the show perfectly and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, are just watching the show ... just watching the show!!!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6490192384566074269-3478473566102209032?l=amin-reflects.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/feeds/3478473566102209032/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/2009/05/puppet-show.html#comment-form' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6490192384566074269/posts/default/3478473566102209032'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6490192384566074269/posts/default/3478473566102209032'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/2009/05/puppet-show.html' title='The Puppet Show'/><author><name>Amin Pakistani</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11391330396028385697</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6490192384566074269.post-4995781210452585097</id><published>2009-05-22T03:15:00.001+06:00</published><updated>2009-08-25T02:25:08.962+06:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Islam'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Talibanization'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Allah'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Questions'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Terrorism'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Power Shortage'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Pakistan'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Muslims'/><title type='text'>Where are we heading?</title><content type='html'>Shortage of power, rising prices, rising insurgencies, less water for irrigation, a starkly divided society, "friendly" yet hostile neighbours, religious extremism, liberal fascism, terrorist attacks, dwindling economy, subjugation to foreign masters ..... the list goes on.&lt;br /&gt;Should we all seek immigrations to first world destinations? Should we just leave this "mess"? Should we stop thinking and just keep believing the "official truth"? Should we just "talk" about it and forget the next moment? Should we keep living the way we do or try to change ourselves inside out? Should we just forget about it? Should we lose hope?&lt;br /&gt;To walk away is easy, to let go is simple .. the struggle to survive is daunting.&lt;br /&gt;Nobody knows where the destiny will take us? But the question is where are we heading as individuals, as citizens of Pakistan and as Muslims loyal to Allah and His Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)?&lt;br /&gt;Where are we heading???&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6490192384566074269-4995781210452585097?l=amin-reflects.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/feeds/4995781210452585097/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/2009/05/where-are-we-heading.html#comment-form' title='5 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6490192384566074269/posts/default/4995781210452585097'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6490192384566074269/posts/default/4995781210452585097'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://amin-reflects.blogspot.com/2009/05/where-are-we-heading.html' title='Where are we heading?'/><author><name>Amin Pakistani</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11391330396028385697</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>5</thr:total></entry></feed>
