Teeth Maestro

Musharraf vs Restoration of Judges: Showdown

2008-04-26T02:37:00.002+05:00

An article written by Abbas Kassar in The Pakistan Weekly caught my eye which was titled Musharraf Threatens To Dissolve Assemblies If Judges Restored, it raises some serious concerns about the looming threat wielded by Musharraf and his right to exercise article 58-2(B) of the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan. Quite simply utilizing this threat to keep PPP at bay

…as meetings of committee continues which has been assigned task to prepare draft resolution to be put before parliament the President called his aide to president house since last two days to block way of restoration of judges. It was disclosed by source that. 3 petitions would be filed in supreme court one each by MQM, Q league and Dr. Sher Afghan to stay any resolution to be brought to parliament. Speaker, Deputy Speaker of National Assembly and Law Minister will be made respondent in the petitions. Presidential camp threatened that if judges were restored president would not hesitate in invoking article 58 (B)-2 of constitution and may dissolve national assembly.

The entire world, including most Pakistanis have continued to celebrate the return of democracy in Pakistan, amidst the chaos of full swing political adjustment which include in no short measure the ‘pardons’ being served up for the ‘men in power’ who are predominantly busy whitewashing their sins in the name of political compromise for the ‘greater good’.

When looking at Asif Zardari a phrase comes to mind ‘A leopard never changes its spots’, I wonder how much of a changed man he might actually be since his sudden transformation after his return from Dubai following the assassination of his wife Benazir in December coming back with a snazzy Gucci suit and trimmed mustaches to try and mesmerize the people of Pakistan with some sweet talk. The burning question that shall remain is to see if this is a genuine transformation or a simply a temporary tattoo for the sake of eating the Pakistan pie for a third round.

In the weeks following the elections in February, I have generally kept an optimistic view on the new found political alliances giving them a fair chance to prove their mettle, but as times passes one has to gawk at smooching circus on display, its hideously embarrassing to say the least. Should aptly be titles Pakistan Masquerade Ball 2008, a seemingly perfectly orchestrated event going on like clock work. A jog back into memory lane does not take long for the grand plan hatched in Abu Dhabi in mid 2007 when Musharraf ‘happened’ to swing by her house for a ‘chance meeting’ with the then exiled Benazir Bhutto. The plan was for her to waltz into Pakistan hopefully capturing the hearts of the nation and hopefully replacing PML-Q and become the new found buddies of Musharraf. A plan which continues to emerge perfectly to plan, sans the great leader who met a tragic assassination in Dec, rest is picture perfect scenario PPP with the populous vote replacing the ailing and fragile PML-Q standing to protect Musharraf and indirectly protecting the American adventures in the northern areas of Pakistan

Chances are that the judicial issues is headed towards a grinding halt, Zardari has made it evidently public that he has no inclination towards the restoration also being nudged along with the threat from Musharraf to exercise article 58-2(b). So without any minced words I dare say PPP might actually be a full party to the circus that was played out by Musharraf onto Pakistan in the last few months. Have had enough of this to stop and say NO.

Blog on the Move

2008-03-27T14:12:00.002+05:00

Blog on the Move

Since the past few days I have been having nightmares with my host (dreamhost) either due to a fault in my system or their lackluster response to attending my frantic cries for help. Yesterday I finally pulled the plug and decided to move to {mt} mediatemple, a pricier host but generally very supportive and is known to run quite a number of top websites world over.

Hence at around 1:00 pm this afternoon I have moved my blog (content and database) over to their servers and roughly around the same time initiated the application at pknic to port my domain over to the new DNS numbers. Now the buck lies squarely on PKNIC on how soon they will attend to my ticket (I was shocked when they emailed me that it may take 2-7 days Yikes !! - fingers crossed) and then finally the time it takes for the DNS to propagate. So ideally when you see this post disappear (image), I would have moved.

Until then all comments have been disabled and no new posts will be made until the move is complete

Proposed Resolution for the Restoration of Judges by the National Assembly

2008-03-27T02:38:00.001+05:00

Proposed Resolution for the Restoration of Judges by the National Assembly

The text of the draft prepared for Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari by Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim for the restoration of the pre-Nov 3rd Judges

(DRAFT RESOLUTION)

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF PAKISTAN

WHEREAS, We the elected representatives of the people of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan acknowledge and honor the long and arduous struggle for the return to democracy and rule of law by the legal fraternity, civil society and the ordinary citizens of our beloved country.

AND WHEREAS, We pay tribute to Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and thousands of brave political activists across the country who made the ultimate sacrifice and laid down their lives or suffered imprisonment for the cause of restoration of parliamentary democracy and the rule of law in Pakistan. We shall not let their sacrifices go in vain.

AND WHEREAS, this Assembly is mindful that the foundation of democracy cannot survive without a return to the rule of law. We are mindful, that the rule of law cannot survive the rule of the gun unless we have an independent judiciary. And, we are cognizant that we shall never have an independent judiciary if the Judges of the Superior Court’s of this country are imprisoned at the whims of a lone individual.

AND WHEREAS, we as Members of the National Assembly have taken oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan” and we shall not waiver from this oath.

AND WHEREAS, Article 209(7) of the Constitution provides in no uncertain terms that “A Judge of the Supreme Court of or of a High Court shall not be removed from office except as provided in this article.” Therefore, as opined unanimously by leading former Chief Justices and Judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the actions of 3rd November 2007, seeking to remove and restrain the Chief Justices and Judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the Provincial High Courts is void ab initio and has no sanctity in law.

WE, THEREFORE, bound by our Constitutional Oath and the mandate given by the people of Pakistan on February 18, 2008 do hereby RESOLVE and call upon the Federal Government to remove all illegal restrictions placed on the Chief Justices and Judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the provincial High Courts on and after 3rd November 2007 with immediate effect.

History shall not forgive those, who even now, may seek to obstruct the irreversible path to constitutional rule in our great country.

THEREFORE, WE FURTHER RESOLVE, and call upon the Federal Government to perform its obligation under Article 190 of the Constitution and act in aid of the Chief Justices and the Judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the Provincial High Courts who were illegally restrained on and after 3rd November 2007 so that they may resume their Judicial functions in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.

Islamabad

Chief Justice of Pakistan's Release as covered LIVE

2008-03-26T22:22:00.001+05:00

Chief Justice of Pakistan's Release as covered LIVE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hQXgOg-Qm4

_{Courtesy: Noman}

PPP proposing “Minus-One-Formula"

2008-03-25T15:14:00.003+05:00

PPP proposing "Minus-One-Formula"

The top PPP leadership has recently approached the legal community proposing a "Minus-One-Formula" which opens the door for a full restoration of the judiciary without the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. It is in some way living up to the Murree Declaration albeit with a few political compromises but basically a face saving package for the PML-N and its full uncompromising commitment to the restoration of Pre-Nov 3rd judges. PPP being in the driving seat will undoubtedly bull doze its own agenda while the Sharif brothers will be left biting the dust and quite literally taken for a ride (willingly or unwillingly? - time will only tell). PML in turn may accept these compromise, claiming to fulfilled part of the promise as it was a minority partner in the PPP-led parliament

It has been a fact that the present PCO-adorned CJP Justice Dogar is a PPP leaning judge and surely Asif Zardari would definitely not sacrifice this top slot to accept Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry a PML-N leaning judge, paramount to shooting himself in the foot.

It seems that for now the leading lawyer activists are claiming that none of the judges will take office without the full and uncompromisable restoration of the entire pre-Nov 3rd Judiciary, but internally there are significant rifts within the legal cadre and the instant a partial restoration (minus-one-formula) is announced most of the ’sidelined judges’ will snap into attention abandoning the rank and file and take oath for office, with or without Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry.

This Minus-one-Formula might truly be the only workable political compromise, a let down for the civil society activists who have fought long and hard for the restoration of judiciary position, but then we may have some form of democracy aka an NRO-influenced democracy. The question for everyone, is this the best for Pakistan and will the newly restored judiciary have the power to change the system, or this restoration will be tied in with immunity clauses protecting the rank and file of existing politicians

Reported in The News: Some top legal aides of PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari have approached certain active members of the lawyers' community to discuss a formula for the restoration of the deposed judges, which surprisingly does not include Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Justice (retd) Tariq Mehmud confirmed to The News that this strange formula called the "Minus-One-Formula" was also discussed with him recently by a top legal mind in the PPP.

Though this suggestion is in complete contrast with what was committed by the PPP and the PML-N top brass in the Bhurban Accord a few weeks back, it is not yet verified if this new formula has the backing of Asif Ali Zardari. The lawyers' community, however, rules out such a move to resolve the judicial crisis. Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, when contacted, said not a single judge would be willing to return to his office if Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is not restored. Aitzaz also reiterated that lawyers would foil any attempt to subvert the Bhurban Declaration. He also alleged that the presidency was trying to subvert the Bhurban Declaration and pressurising the newly-elected democratic government through international pressure to change its stance on the Murree Declaration.

According to Justice Tariq, a PPP leader tried to convince him that the new PPP government would feel more comfortable with the present Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar instead of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

_{Story Credit: Yasir}

PPP names Yousuf Raza Gilani as interim PM

2008-03-23T00:19:00.001+05:00

PPP names Yousuf Raza Gilani as interim PM

The Pakistan Peoples Party Saturday named ex-parliamentary speaker Yousuf Raza Gilani as its candidate to be the country’s new prime minister. “I have great pleasure in calling upon Yousuf Raza Gilani in the name of Shaheed (martyr) Benazir Bhutto to accept the heavy responsibility to lead the coalition government and the nation”, said a statement by Bhutto’s widower Asif Ali Zardari that was read out to reporters by party spokesman Farhatullah Babar.

The statement said that Gilani was the 'consensus' candidate of the coalition. Gilani is a stalwart figure in the PPP and friend of Zardari who spent five years in jail under Musharraf’s regime on corruption charges that were later overturned. He was speaker during Benazir's second term in power from 1993 to 1996 and a minister during her first term from 1988 to 1990. Party spokesman Farhatullah Babar would not comment on reports that Gilani would be a stop-gap premier until Zardari, who is not an MP, becomes eligible to stand for the post by contesting a by-election in May. The party struggled to settle on a candidate amid a power vacuum left by the charismatic Bhutto’s assassination in December, with Gilani emerging only in the last week.

It was surprising to see the announcment made by a press statement unlike the much anticpated annoucbment by Bilawal (Zardari) Bhutto. The other contenders were ex-trade minister Ahmed Mukhtar, party president Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Punjab province party chief Shah Mahmood Qureshi

Seminar: Do Countries sell their own people?

2008-03-22T04:44:00.001+05:00

Seminar: Do Countries sell their own people?

A seminar is being held in Lahore on Human Rights titled,

Do countries sell their own people? Civil liberties in the age of the War on Terror.

Time: 3:00 PM
Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2008
Venue: HRCP Auditorium (107 Tipu Block, Garden Town, Near Barkat Market) - Google Map or Download the JPEG Image

The speakers are Mrs. Amna Masood Janjua, spokesperson of the families of the missing people as well as a senior advocate of the Lahore High Court. Mrs Amna Masood’s husband went missing about 2 years ago, since then she has waged struggle for the release of his husband whose whereabouts are still unknown. She has been joined by the relatives of other missing persons whose loved ones went missing during the last some years (allegedly ’sold’ to US agencies, on the pre-text of war on terror).

The issue made headlines when CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry took notice and ensured the release of several missing persons from the shackles of illegal detention.(Refer to http://missinginpakistan.wordpress.com/ for details)

The seminar will be preceded by a screening of the documentary “Missing in Pakistan”

Details:
We hope to be able to help them with this campaign when they visit Lahore. We would like the maximum number of people to hear the stories of these victims of arbitrary state-aggression so that people understand that not all those “picked up by the agencies” are terrorists or extremists - and more importantly, that even if they are suspects, they deserve due process and the chance to defend themselves the same way that any other suspect (accused of theft or murder or fraud) is entitled to under our Constitution.

Silent Revolution - 2

2008-03-20T22:45:00.003+05:00

Silent Revolution - 2

Guest Blog by Amjad Malik (blog)
Previous Article of the series : Silent Revolution - 1

My brief visit to Pakistan in March was welcomed by suicidal blast in Lahore FIA building and farewell attack in Islamabad restaurant resulting several deaths and injuries which pose a serious question of law an order situation in Pakistan where some ordinary citizens still believe that its more of self created problem and may be some agencies involved in it. Opinion is divided which is fatal for Pakistan as govt of the day has failed to send a message across the gravity of situation where unknown sophisticatedly armed men are willing to die with hundred others to score some political point, is it a revenge or the foreign invasion of different kind. It may be the failure of Musharraf regime to properly advocate in favour of their ill thought policies which are back firing. As a nation Pakistanis are not trained to an extent where they can stop any danger coming towards the state in fact, we all awake when the water is above the danger threshold, and nationalism is no where seen in Pakistan and alas Qauid e Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah is confined to portraits and ceremonial status. His sayings and doings are hardly remembered in particular by our rulers. If they are acted upon from the beginning or even now, we would not be in the mess we are currently in.

12th May massacre showed the tendency of rulers to an extent they may go to suppress lawful drive for constitutionalism in Pakistan, however, the way nation behaved over the tragic death of late Be Nazir burning their own train stations, looting banks and blowing businesses and damaging properties is a worrying sign for the flag carriers of federation. We need to knit ourselves to one nation without caring our geographical heritage or regional location in order to combat the 21st century war of information. Of course, language can play an important and integral part in carrying the message and none other than Urdu could be used to broadcast national message which may be understood by all as if you speak in foreign language how can you convey your message in a borrowed language. I would go one step further and would recommend national disciplinary service to train the whole nation towards rule of law & basic defence drive so that we as a nation start to learn respecting the law of the land.

Common Pakistanis are hit by price hike, lawlessness, and are suffering due to lack of educational, health and social welfare facilities and above all we are perturbed by political Mullah's role in our day to day life. Extremism is multiplying and lack of stable political activity is doubling the radicalisation in our attitude where poverty and unemployment throw a bait to the rich mafia to do dirty and manipulate our young uneducated radical mind to use suicidal attacks as a fire work. Political business reduce tension and put people on table to solve problems. Pakistan needs a national drive of reconciliation to set up a political system and ponder on a serious social charter where nation which lacks infrastructure can come nearer to a dream to get justice, economic strength and basic necessities like free education, state health service and employment. New govt must consider granting the dictatorship ridden Pakistan a ray of hope where social welfare dream comes true. A lay person gets justice at the door step due to devolution of justice system to the town level, poor gets flour to eat bread and gets employment and his sick mother can be treated free at a national hospital and his daughter can go to school trouble free at state expense. At the moment people in General Musharraf's Pakistan are on the street with mobile phone in their hands crying for shortage of flour, sugar, oil and high price petrol. 'Work work and more work' must be the aim of the nation who achieved the statehood after sacrificing 4 million souls in 1947 and democratic parties must show sensitivity befitting to the situation and try to promote culture of democracy within their parties and try to bring the politics of issues back in business and remove high level investment out of electioneering. As it stands politics is a cup of tea of a investor mafia, landlords, successful business men or retired bureaucrats and lay middle class cannot even think participating elections as normal election cost around 20 million Pakistani rupees and one who invest that much would definitely wait to double their investment once elected. The whole business of politics must be brought back at a cup of tea rather than a tea break with a roast chicken and India's example is in front of us.

We must foster new traditions where live and let live must be the motto and the whole nation must be taken into confidence in this national drive of building Pakistan once again. We are once again at a stage where we have to decide and revive the principle and discipline ourselves to beat other nations with progress, modernity of mind and prosperity of our life style where we are well versed of our Islamic teachings ourselves so that mosque leader does not take advantage of our ignorance and interpret Islam the way he likes. Pakistan is in serious trouble at the hands of a few and the nation can beat this faceless enemy who is after its progress, modernity, and conservatism if the difference between our sayings and doings is eradicated and we all work for national cause. Pakistan first seems a popular slogan but do the rulers really mean it. Pakistan day begs this very question if the country comes first then why the whole nation is witnessing unprecedented oppression against the chief justice and his fellows who took a stand to preserve the interest of state first than the interest of a man. Is it not what Article 5 of the constitution 1973 says, " (1) loyalty to the state is the basic duty of every citizen." Lets all be loyal to the state of Quaid e Azam on this 23 March and onwards.

Amjad Malik is a Solicitor-Advocate of the Supreme Court (England) and a political analyst based in UK

Journalists roughed up while covering the NA Speaker election

2008-03-20T04:19:00.002+05:00

Journalists roughed up while covering the NA Speaker election

Yesterday during the National Assembly session where the elections were underway to elect the new speaker of the house, outside it seems that the media was being roughed up for God knows what reason, under specific orders of the SP & DSP. One can only speculate as to why these media outlets were being prevented from covering the national assembly session.

Bilawal (Zardari) Bhutto in Pakistan to announce the name of PM

2008-03-19T20:41:00.003+05:00

Bilawal (Zardari) Bhutto in Pakistan to announce the name of PM

It is surprising that with all the reeling and dealing orchestrated by Asif Ali Zardari alone he now feels its important to recall his son Bilawal Zardari back to Pakistan to simply make the official announcement for the new Prime Minister. Farhatullah Babar is quoted to have said that the "The name of the prime minister will be announced when the parliament session is reconvened for the election of the prime minister," which is expected next week.

One has to wonder at the politics of this move by Asif Zardari and the need to call his son to make this announcement. A number of sources within the party are definitely distraught at this move, as they feel Bilawal did not find it ‘important enough‘ to come to Pakistan and pay homage for his mothers’ chehlum, but found it convenient to abandon his studies for a few days to rubber stamp the nomination made by his father. In all likelihood this decision will most likely be a tough one and literally holding the party on the verge of a breakup

Fehmida Mirza, elected as Speaker with 2/3 marjority

2008-03-19T17:04:00.003+05:00

Fehmida Mirza, elected as Speaker with 2/3 marjority

Dr Fehmida Mirza the first woman speaker for the National Assembly in Pakistan was elected as speaker of the National Assembly by around a 2/3rd majority. Dr Mirza got 249 votes out of 319 votes cast. Her opponent Sardar Mohammad Israr Tarin polled 70 votes.

Hence we can start assuming that ‘IF’ the newly elected law makers deem it necessary then many of the illegal constitutional changes made by Pervaiz Musharraf can be undone. These people have been entrusted with a huge mandate and a heavy burden lies on their shoulders to perform and not repeat mistakes of yesteryears.

… even the Young Pakistanis say it

2007-12-30T08:01:00.000+05:00

Cute and Funny but very true… Go Cards

Bhutto's Assassination Evidence Hosed Down

2007-12-30T07:44:00.000+05:00

This video captured from a cell phone shows a shocking detail of how ruthlessly the Rawalpindi firefighters destroyed the crime scene. Some may argue that they might have scraped the scene completely before authorizing it to be cleansed. But with all the confusion surrounding the assassination and that too of an Ex-Prime Minister of Pakistan I would suspect they would work a lot harder then merely picking up the trash. No wonder they have their story all mixed up.

Credit Current.com

Sherry Rehman saw Bullet Wounds, But why the Twist?

2007-12-30T07:31:00.000+05:00

To continue adding a twist to the entire controversy surrounding the assassination of PPP Chairperson and Ex-Prime Minister of Pakistan. Sherry Rehman vehemently refutes the claims made by the Government that Benazir had knocked her head on a lever on the side of the vehicle. Sherry Rehman insists that she saw a bullet wound on the side of the head while she bathed the fallen leader in the final ritual before her burial. She that her car was used to transport Benazir to hospital. “There was a bullet wound I saw that went in from the back of her head and came out the other side. “We could not even wash her properly because the wound was still seeping. She lost a huge amount of blood.” Rehman accused the government of mounting a cover-up over Benazir’s death. “The hospital was made to change its statement. They never gave a proper report,” she said. “I believe the interior ministry is saying that she died from some concussion that may have taken place against the sunroof. This is ridiculous, dangerous nonsense because it is a cover-up of what actually happened.”
Bullet went from the back & came out the other side.

This blogger early today morning acquired the images that in someway does refute the statement made by the Government of Pakistan, but the question is why did the Musharraf propaganda team follow this line of action. This blogger feels that Musharraf saw this as yet another opportunity to redirect the blame onto Al-Qaieda, he did that successfully on Oct 18th, no video footage refuted his claims so he pulled it off. This time he was not so lucky as in broad day light everyone has a decent mobile camera to seize the action and these images quite literally screw up the entire propaganda. He needed the Al-Qaeda twist to prove to his supporters (read USA’s war on Terror) that this country is brimming with Al-Qaeda, a bomb blast here, a bomb blast in Karachi, a Bomb blast in Swat - heck its filled with the rotten bastards called Al-Qaeda. Lets not forget the Lal Masjid disaster and the May 12th Massacre while we are recalling historic events.

Musharraf in his conniving way found another opportunity to yet again twist the truth, and his propaganda team held a press conference after the burial on Friday and then again on Saturday drumming the same issue they were simply adamant to get their point across. Tomorrow they hope to come with a new plan and say, mark my words ‘with this new evidence we now believe…..’
The world must now listen - its time to get this two-timing idiot thrown to the gallows he now is more of liability then good and with him steering the ship we are destined for destruction.

They don't blame Al-Qa'ida. They blame Musharraf: Robert Fisk

2007-12-30T07:30:00.000+05:00

By Robert Fisk Published in The Independent UK.

This is an article worth reading where Robert Fisk places the right questions, we genuinely believe its not the work of Al-Qa’ida but instead an outcome of Musharraf’s eight year rule, few recent links here and here while this blog is full of statements condemning Musharraf practically since its inception in 2004. So as they say the writing was on the wall, only if someone dared to read the wall is the question, as they say better late then never but please save my country from the brink of disaster

Weird, isn’t it, how swiftly the narrative is laid down for us. Benazir Bhutto, the courageous leader of the Pakistan People’s Party, is assassinated in Rawalpindi – attached to the very capital of Islamabad wherein ex-General Pervez Musharraf lives – and we are told by George Bush that her murderers were “extremists” and “terrorists”. Well, you can’t dispute that.

But the implication of the Bush comment was that Islamists were behind the assassination. It was the Taliban madmen again, the al-Qa’ida spider who struck at this lone and brave woman who had dared to call for democracy in her country.

Of course, given the childish coverage of this appalling tragedy – and however corrupt Ms Bhutto may have been, let us be under no illusions that this brave lady is indeed a true martyr – it’s not surprising that the “good-versus-evil” donkey can be trotted out to explain the carnage in Rawalpindi.

Who would have imagined, watching the BBC or CNN on Thursday, that her two brothers, Murtaza and Shahnawaz, hijacked a Pakistani airliner in 1981 and flew it to Kabul where Murtaza demanded the release of political prisoners in Pakistan. Here, a military officer on the plane was murdered. There were Americans aboard the flight – which is probably why the prisoners were indeed released.

Only a few days ago – in one of the most remarkable (but typically unrecognised) scoops of the year – Tariq Ali published a brilliant dissection of Pakistan (and Bhutto) corruption in the London Review of Books, focusing on Benazir and headlined: “Daughter of the West”. In fact, the article was on my desk to photocopy as its subject was being murdered in Rawalpindi.

Towards the end of this report, Tariq Ali dwelt at length on the subsequent murder of Murtaza Bhutto by police close to his home at a time when Benazir was prime minister – and at a time when Benazir was enraged at Murtaza for demanding a return to PPP values and for condemning Benazir’s appointment of her own husband as minister for industry, a highly lucrative post.

In a passage which may yet be applied to the aftermath of Benazir’s murder, the report continues: “The fatal bullet had been fired at close range. The trap had been carefully laid, but, as is the way in Pakistan, the crudeness of the operation – false entries in police log-books, lost evidence, witnesses arrested and intimidated – a policeman killed who they feared might talk – made it obvious that the decision to execute the prime minister’s brother had been taken at a very high level.”

When Murtaza’s 14-year-old daughter, Fatima, rang her aunt Benazir to ask why witnesses were being arrested – rather than her father’s killers – she says Benazir told her: “Look, you’re very young. You don’t understand things.” Or so Tariq Ali’s exposé would have us believe. Over all this, however, looms the shocking power of Pakistan’s ISI, the Inter Services Intelligence.
This vast institution – corrupt, venal and brutal – works for Musharraf.

But it also worked – and still works – for the Taliban. It also works for the Americans. In fact, it works for everybody. But it is the key which Musharraf can use to open talks with America’s enemies when he feels threatened or wants to put pressure on Afghanistan or wants to appease the ” extremists” and “terrorists” who so oppress George Bush. And let us remember, by the way, that Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter beheaded by his Islamist captors in Karachi, actually made his fatal appointment with his future murderers from an ISI commander’s office. Ahmed Rashid’s book Taliban provides riveting proof of the ISI’s web of corruption and violence. Read it, and all of the above makes more sense.

But back to the official narrative. George Bush announced on Thursday he was “looking forward” to talking to his old friend Musharraf. Of course, they would talk about Benazir. They certainly would not talk about the fact that Musharraf continues to protect his old acquaintance – a certain Mr Khan – who supplied all Pakistan’s nuclear secrets to Libya and Iran. No, let’s not bring that bit of the “axis of evil” into this.

So, of course, we were asked to concentrate once more on all those ” extremists” and “terrorists”, not on the logic of questioning which many Pakistanis were feeling their way through in the aftermath of Benazir’s assassination.
It doesn’t, after all, take much to comprehend that the hated elections looming over Musharraf would probably be postponed indefinitely if his principal political opponent happened to be liquidated before polling day.

So let’s run through this logic in the way that Inspector Ian Blair might have done in his policeman’s notebook before he became the top cop in London.
Question: Who forced Benazir Bhutto to stay in London and tried to prevent her return to Pakistan? Answer: General Musharraf.

Question: Who ordered the arrest of thousands of Benazir’s supporters this month? Answer: General Musharraf.

Question: Who placed Benazir under temporary house arrest this month? Answer: General Musharraf.

Question: Who declared martial law this month? Answer General Musharraf.

Question: who killed Benazir Bhutto?

Er. Yes. Well quite.

You see the problem? Yesterday, our television warriors informed us the PPP members shouting that Musharraf was a “murderer” were complaining he had not provided sufficient security for Benazir. Wrong. They were shouting this because they believe he killed her.

Investigative Pictures released by Government of Pakistan

2007-12-30T07:00:00.000+05:00

This photo released by the Pakistani Government shows the sunroof of the vehicle that former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto stood through when she was killed.

Read the rest

Mobile pictures - Benazir was defintely shot dead before the Blast

2007-12-30T01:24:00.000+05:00

New Images updated below: Considering all the commotion and fuss created by the government of Pakistan saying the called that Benazir Bhutto was not hit by the three bullets but instead she hit her head on some 'lever' of the sunroof. Last night I was contacted by a person via Orkut who had uploaded these images on his profile (now he has taken them off) he was offering to share his video to the extent that he gave his cell number in Islamabad, since his dial up did not permit transferring this heavy file.

On contacting him today he claimed that he was a PPP supporter and his party had instructed him not to share this with anyone. Later when a news reporter tried contacting him, his cell phone was switched off. I have two images to share with you which were initially taken off his Orkut Profile

The first image clearly shows Benazir Bhutto standing upright in the car through the sunroof waving to the crowd

The next image is just after the gun shots which were fired from the left but moments before the bomb blast. Here we see Benazir Bhutto not on the sunroof of the car most likely already shot and injured slumped inside

I sadly do not have the original video, though I tried very hard to get it. A source was in direct contact with the cameraman who actually shot the video and later uploaded the screen captures to show that he means serious business. He claimed to be in the security detail with Benazir Bhutto was riding on her car barely five minutes earlier but had to jump off as she exited the Liaquat Bagh venue. He was finding it difficult to upload the 56MB video file online so was ready to allow someone to help him get it readily available. Today morning he said that his cell phone was ringing off the hook with people clambering in the hunt for the video, hence forth he turned his cell phone off and had even removed the images from his Orkut profile.

NEW IMAGES UPLOADED BELOW

Today evening my source was been able to find the other two images that were initially uploaded to the cameraman's profile,

The third image in this series shows the crowd and the cameraman suspects the white hooded fellow to be the actual bomber

This last image is taken 15 seconds later after the bomb blast showing total carnage

One thing is for sure that she was shot before the bomb blast hit her and the shockwave had nothing to do with it (as speculated by the Government representatives. It must be noted that the Government of Pakistan or some tom-dick-n-harry agency has in effect scared away the cameraman from sight and he is no longer in contact, but I am proud to say that the truth will always prevail

Musharraf Propaganda Team, Top This

_{DISCLAIMER: The images are the actual images taken off his orkut profile and the explanation and the captions and text appearing on the images were all done by him.}

Bilawal Zardari, the new PPP Chairman

2007-12-29T19:45:00.000+05:00

It is just being announced that Bilawal Zardari, the 19 year old eldest son of Benazir Bhutto, will be the new Chairman of PPP. Personally I feel this might in effect be a good decision for the Bhutto dynasty but a major rift within the party would definitely be seen in short order, as Amin Faheem definitely had his eyes set on the top leadership. It may suit the American agenda perfectly as it would be easier to negotiate with Bilawal as compared to rehashing the entire negotiations with a new face in the PPP. More updates to follow as news comes in.

Bhutto blames Musharraf if killed, email two months earlier

2007-12-29T01:35:00.000+05:00

Two months before her death, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto sent an e-mail to her U.S. adviser and longtime friend, saying that if she were killed, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf would bear some of the blame. “Nothing will, God willing happen,” she wrote to Mark Siegel, her U.S. spokesman, lobbyist and friend.
“Just wanted u to know if it does in addition to the names in my letter to Musharaf of Oct 16nth, I wld hold Musharaf responsible. I have been made to feel insecure by his minions and there is no way what is happening in terms of stopping me from taking private cars or using tinted windows or giving jammers or four police mobiles to cover all sides cld happen without him.” - Watch the video of Wolf Blitzer on CNN talking about this letter

Musharraf, hide all you might, but sadly you have been found wanting

Cause of death, Gun Shots or Sunroof? Govt foul play suspected

2007-12-29T01:00:00.000+05:00

The first reports arriving the day Benazir died was three gun shots to the head resulting in her death, after she was buried today the Govt of Pakistan Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema offers a complete new explanation for the cause of death, he said that she was NOT killed because of the three gun shots but in fact while collapsing into the car immediately following the explosion of the bomb ’she collapsed and while collapsing a lever on the left side hit the right side of her head’, the left-right explanation sounds stupid enough since the gun shot came from the left. He was then quick to name Al-Qaeda as the organization behind all this.
In utter shock I feel this is yet another ploy by the government to blame the ‘terrorist organizations’, No one dares to accept that this could easily have been the outcome of Mushrraf’s eight year rule where he plunges his people in utter confusion and chaos - it is the people of Pakistan that saw Musharraf orchestrate blood shed on the streets of Karachi on May 12th killing hundreds, people seem to have forgotten the hundreds ruthlessly murdered inside Lal Masjid and their bodies were quickly buried within a matter of hours as if to hide a crime scene. Lets not also forget the annihilation being done in Swat and the northern areas.

[LINK TO VIDEO]

One does not need the services of a brain surgeon to figure out that with all these incidents compounded with a poor-crushing economy contributing to the frustrations, one does not need to run to Al-Qaeda to do this dirty work. Hell you walk on the street and with a matter of minute you will easily find a person frustrated enough with life to do such dirty work, the general consensus on the street is that anyone linked to Musharraf and the US must go. Literally any one could have done it and it does not take Osama Bin Laden to send a guy with a flimsy revolver to Liaquat Bagh and miss his primary target only to hope the ‘lever’ hits her after the bomb blast. sad to say it but I feel the blame must go squarely on Musharraf and there are no two ways about it - its time for him to go.

I wish I could have yelled for a judicial inquiry following an independent autopsy, but sadly there is no judiciary, as the Supreme Court at the moment houses a few pencil pushers loyal to Musharraf’s commands.
Suspicion must be given that it took them TWENTY FOUR hours after the body left the mortuary to say that there was no bullet wound !!!. In all honesty if they had to deny the rumor they should have done it right on the spot. Lastly this press conference seems to be strategically placed after her burial so it will be difficult to demand an inquiry. Say what you may I strongly suspect foul play. Whats your take on this issue

Was yesterday's carnage in Karachi all PPP's doing or did MQM have a hand in it? - An Eyewitness Report

2007-12-29T00:30:00.000+05:00

I would like to share with you an email sent to me just now narrating the experience of a person who tried to get home yesterday amidst the rioting and the chaos. The government and the media continues to point fingers at emotionally charged PPP supporters but instead we kind of forget that this city (Karachi) is controlled by yet another party called MQM who happened to show its full colors not to long ago on May 12th. Did we just see a repeat telecast of that 5/12 massacre yet again

I know many are attributing the violence, burning of cars, looting of ATM machines etc in the city to the reaction of PPP workers but allow me to share something that I observed last night. Like many I was also stuck in chaotic traffic for 4 hours. The Rikshaw driver refused to go beyond Quaids mazar and abandoned me there and took off. I don’t blame him. Anyway I had no choice but to ride with a total stranger on a bike to take me home. While moving through small streets to find our way to Gulshan-e-Iqbal, I witnessed many vehicles being torched. On one such small gali, I recognized a face, in the armed mob which was about to torch a parked Hi Roof, from my previous Mohala. He is a devout MQM worker. He had a riffle in his hand and was ushering a crowd of young men with lathis in their hands.

The interesting thing is that the guy who gave me lift was also MQM supporter. So he was taking all the safe passages of MQM dominated areas to avoid getting in any trouble. I can even tell you where i saw this activity. So MQM burning vehicles in their own areas are trying to create an excuse to counter-violence? start an ethnic war in sindh? this is very scarry.

So, as far as Karachi is concerned, we cannot rule out the fascist MQM gundaas, who can capitalize on this tragedy to settle scores, indulge in looting and malign the name of other political parties. Besides, looting of money and snatching of mobiles, as is reported in some cases, is more of a MQM style gundagardi than any other party’s.

A tragedy of Military Despotism and Anarcy

2007-12-28T23:00:00.000+05:00

by Tariq Ali
Published in The Guardian Unlimited, its worth reading as it shares some genuine issues about Pakistan

Even those of us sharply critical of Benazir Bhutto’s behaviour and policies - both while she was in office and more recently - are stunned and angered by her death. Indignation and fear stalk the country once again.

An odd coexistence of military despotism and anarchy created the conditions leading to her assassination in Rawalpindi yesterday. In the past, military rule was designed to preserve order - and did so for a few years. No longer. Today it creates disorder and promotes lawlessness. How else can one explain the sacking of the chief justice and eight other judges of the country’s supreme court for attempting to hold the government’s intelligence agencies and the police accountable to courts of law? Their replacements lack the backbone to do anything, let alone conduct a proper inquest into the misdeeds of the agencies to uncover the truth behind the carefully organised killing of a major political leader.

How can Pakistan today be anything but a conflagration of despair? It is assumed that the killers were jihadi fanatics. This may well be true, but were they acting on their own? Benazir, according to those close to her, had been tempted to boycott the fake elections, but she lacked the political courage to defy Washington. She had plenty of physical courage, and refused to be cowed by threats from local opponents. She had been addressing an election rally in Liaquat Bagh. This is a popular space named after the country’s first prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, who was killed by an assassin in 1953. The killer, Said Akbar, was immediately shot dead on the orders of a police officer involved in the plot. Not far from here, there once stood a colonial structure where nationalists were imprisoned. This was Rawalpindi jail. It was here that Benazir’s father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was hanged in April 1979. The military tyrant responsible for his judicial murder made sure the site of the tragedy was destroyed as well.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s death poisoned relations between his Pakistan People’s party and the army. Party activists, particularly in the province of Sind, were brutally tortured, humiliated and, sometimes, disappeared or killed. Pakistan’s turbulent history, a result of continuous military rule and unpopular global alliances, confronts the ruling elite now with serious choices. They appear to have no positive aims. The overwhelming majority of the country disapproves of the government’s foreign policy. They are angered by its lack of a serious domestic policy except for further enriching a callous and greedy elite that includes a swollen, parasitic military. Now they watch helplessly as politicians are shot dead in front of them.

Benazir had survived the bomb blast yesterday but was felled by bullets fired at her car. The assassins, mindful of their failure in Karachi a month ago, had taken out a double insurance this time. They wanted her dead. It is impossible for even a rigged election to take place now. It will have to be postponed, and the military high command is no doubt contemplating another dose of army rule if the situation gets worse, which could easily happen.

What has happened is a multi layered tragedy. It’s a tragedy for a country on a road to more disasters. Torrents and foaming cataracts lie ahead. And it is a personal tragedy. The house of Bhutto has lost another member. Father, two sons and now a daughter have all died unnatural deaths.

I first met Benazir at her father’s house in Karachi when she was a fun-loving teenager, and later at Oxford. She was not a natural politician and had always wanted to be a diplomat, but history and personal tragedy pushed in the other direction. Her father’s death transformed her. She had become a new person, determined to take on the military dictator of that time. She had moved to a tiny flat in London, where we would endlessly discuss the future of the country. She would agree that land reforms, mass education programmes, a health service and an independent foreign policy were positive constructive aims and crucial if the country was to be saved from the vultures in and out of uniform. Her constituency was the poor, and she was proud of the fact.

She changed again after becoming prime minister. In the early days, we would argue and in response to my numerous complaints - all she would say was that the world had changed. She couldn’t be on the “wrong side” of history. And so, like many others, she made her peace with Washington. It was this that finally led to the deal with Musharraf and her return home after more than a decade in exile. On a number of occasions she told me that she did not fear death. It was one of the dangers of playing politics in Pakistan.

It is difficult to imagine any good coming out of this tragedy, but there is one possibility. Pakistan desperately needs a political party that can speak for the social needs of a bulk of the people. The People’s party founded by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was built by the activists of the only popular mass movement the country has known: students, peasants and workers who fought for three months in 1968-69 to topple the country’s first military dictator. They saw it as their party, and that feeling persists in some parts of the country to this day, despite everything.

Benazir’s horrific death should give her colleagues pause for reflection. To be dependent on a person or a family may be necessary at certain times, but it is a structural weakness, not a strength for a political organisation. The People’s party needs to be refounded as a modern and democratic organisation, open to honest debate and discussion, defending social and human rights, uniting the many disparate groups and individuals in Pakistan desperate for any halfway decent alternative, and coming forward with concreteproposals to stabilise occupied and war-torn Afghanistan. This can and should be done. The Bhutto family should not be asked for any more sacrifices.

PPP contemplating on Contesting the Elections

2007-12-28T22:30:00.000+05:00

Its been buzzing around the country that PPP might actually proceed to contest the elections on Jan 8th. A very high level meeting of the PPP is scheduled to be held today where this issue will be hotly debated after they come to a decsion of who will be the new party chairperson, in the wake of the assassination of the Life Chairperson Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. The candidates is the running are Makhdoom Amin Fahim, who in all probability will come out as the new leader, but it is rumored that Asif Ali Zardari might also be in contention (!!). The logic of PPP leadership for fighting the elections is simple, they want to harness the wave of sympathy that has spread throughout the country and feel it might actually land them a land slide victory into the parliament.

One must not forget that these elections are only meant to legitimize the rule of Pervaiz Musharraf who has used the terrorism issue to his own advantage since long, the elections are already a farce by any standard being organized by an illegal President with a self-appointed election commissioner and a lapdog judiciary toeing his every command. Unless these elections can be fully free and fair held under an independent judicial body it can be simply considered as a monkey circus to appease the powerful - I would strongly urge parties to boycott them.

The funny part in this boycott no boycott frenzy is that Nawaz Sharif yesterday was emotionally drawn into sympatising with the PPP workers and quickly decided to announce his parties boycott from the scam elections - which this blogger fully hailed as a great move, little did Nawaz Sharif know that the very next day PPP would pull a fast one on him and swing around to actually fight the elections. Leaving him hanging in a catch-22 situation all over again. The question remains to be seen if Ganja might actually think about reversing his decision and play second fiddle to the decisions coming out of PPP or will he have the balls to fight against this illegitimate election scam. We must remember that with BB’s death it may only charge up the atmosphere leading up to the elections but everything else pertaining to the elections remain the same - and pre-poll rigging remains in full swing.

Benazir Bhutto Finally Laid to Rest

2007-12-28T22:00:00.000+05:00

At around 4:30pm the body of the assassinated leader Benzair Bhutto has finally been lai to rest next to the grave of her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Please take a moment to offer prayers fro the departed soul - May Her Soul Rest in Peace
Please submit your condolences here

What choices do we have?

2007-12-28T09:04:00.000+05:00

Guest Blog by Naeem Sadiq
posted on the People’s Resistance Network

One hopes that we have finally realised on a day as sad as this one, that the violence of the state and of fundamentalists can only take us to darker destinations. Never before have I witnessed such intense pain and sorrow, shared so much across the entire country as I saw on the evening of that fateful Thursday, when Benazir bade her final farewell. Moments of trial for a nation whose helpless citizens in a state of grief and distress feel utterly confused, uncertain and anxious about what might happen next.

Pakistan today stands at crossroads where it must choose between a civilised, peaceful, progressive and democratic path or disintegrate under an illegitimate , one person dictatorial rule. The choices are limited and the time is short. There may be one last opportunity to make amends and change the course of events. Perhaps a set of demands such as the ones listed below may help to unify the shattered people and provide a new roadmap for the future.

1. Musharraf must resign and be made accountable for constitutional violations before a court of law.

2. The 1973 constitution as it stood on 12 October 1999 be restored.

3. The pre November 3 judiciary must be restored and all PCO judges removed.

4. A new neutral and caretaker government and an independent election commission be appointed to hold elections within 3 months.

Clearly this could happen only if these demands are backed by political parties as well as a large segment of civil society. Now is the time to close ranks, regardless of political affiliations and ideologies. A time to choose a peaceful and democratic future, and say goodbye to the politics of violence. The future of Pakistan may well hinge on an unequivocal expression of this choice.

We have moved

2005-04-11T22:20:00.000+05:00

This post is to announce that Teeth Maestro's blog has now officially moved to

teeth.com.pk/blog

Please kindly update your bookmarks

Conversion almost complete

2005-04-09T20:56:00.000+05:00

Friends: I aplogize for my protracted absence from blogging, especially since Blogger as been a pain in the ass for the past week. Last night when I tried to post, frustration almost made me pull my hair wild. I have my fingers crossed if this post goes through on the first attempt.

My move to Wordpress is almost in its final stages, I finally have a hosting service and hope they will have me setup soon, once fired up, all I need to do is transfer my testing site to the new host that should be easy. BUT then I have my fingers crossed with blogger.com if it will allow me an uneventful FTP transfer. Hopefully the next post on this site would be to announce the new URI of my blog.

Pakistani Tech Forum by KO

2005-04-08T02:29:00.000+05:00

I would like to draw your attention to a new forum created by KO which will discuss Technology issues in Pakistan. It is a MUST visit forum to stay abreast of the latest developments in our country

Check it out @ Ko.offroadpakistan.com/forums

Karachi and Chicago - Sister Cities

2005-04-08T01:12:00.000+05:00

According to a report appearing in Dawn, at a meeting held in the office of Naib Nazim Tariq Hasan, Tariq G Malhanens, the representative of Chicago City Government, said that on Hasan’s desire, Karachi and Chicago were being declared as sister cities.....

I am at a loss for words..... What the........

@ Dawn.com

My Birthday too

2005-04-05T00:39:00.000+05:00

Isn't it surprising when you accidently find that some other person happens to have the same Birth date as yours. Well I was surprised to find that Shirazi and myself having the same Date of Birth which is 5th April [mind you I have no idea if our year coincides; PS- dont wanna know as I think one of us; more likely myself; might end up to be older ;) ]

This reaction is strange as there are a few billion people on Earth and only 365 days to be born on so I wish the rest of the couple million or so folks having the DOB on 5th April a very Happy Birthday.

Wish Shirazi a Happy Birthday at this link

A Project worth Supporting

2005-04-04T12:33:00.000+05:00

Poverty breeds the evil in our society; it brings out beggars and also the thieves out onto the streets to survive. Thatta Kedona (Village Dolls) is an organization which I feel is a remarkable achievement of a select few visionary individuals to be able to realize this problem and have come together to create change for the poor living in Pakistan.

This organization simply allows the poor to be creative and use their limited skills combined with the limited resources around them to create a piece of art. These beautiful toys and dolls are dressed in traditional Pakistan clothes and are simply spectacular.

Have a look at Thatta Kedona to better understand this noble cause.

Blog Development

2005-04-02T22:19:00.000+05:00

Friends - For now I have only designed the banner header and have not worked on other items but I would really appreciate if you would be kind enough to look at the new banner and the theme? I feel it is important for me to get feedback from my blogging friends, does it appeal or would some other banner/theme would be better suited.

I would appreciate if you would be honest and comment sincerely, I may or may not heed to the comments ;) but still would love to hear them and maybe it might help me evolve the new blog.

Testing site @ teeth.negimaki.com

2nd update - Blogger to WordPress move

2005-03-30T00:04:00.001+05:00

As you might have noticed I have gone MIA (Missing in Action) for the past few days, the reason being I am in intensive development stage (I am well past puberty so its not growth development) It is development of my WordPress blogging site. Here is the update

I have obtained a testing site at "teeth.negimaki.com" the hosts at negimaki were generous to offer me 1GB space + a gallery with an unlimited bandwidth. This site is my work in progress until I get hold of some good hosting service - will update you of the change on this blog.

Domain: I already am an owner of the domain teeth.com.pk which was basically registered to be used by Alvi Dental Hospital, I plan to use a subdomain either blog.teeth.com.pk or teeth.com.pk/blog, I await your input on the better subdomain to use.

WebHosting: The domain teeth.com.pk is hosted on Nexus.com.pk servers who have been my registrars for the past 4 years they until now provided me with mail + 15MB hosting + 2-yr domain registration for an unbeatable price of Rs. 2,300 (a good deal). When I move to WordPress it requires PHP and MySQL, nexus does not offer these services in its basic package. On a detailed hunt I found many cheap sites but seems like I will stick with Nexus for Rs. 5,000 for 1 yr Unix Lite hosting (do you think its a deal I should take or is there anything cheaper, but still reliable host)

WordPress: Installation is a piece of cake, the 5-minute install script is indeed good if not quicker. After that its onto the world of customizations, you can install from a selection of hundreds of themes and numerous plugins available freely on the web (but to install each plugin you need to upload them physically via FTP and ensuring that the CHMOD settings are ok?)

Design: Honestly I ain't an expert designer/ programmer that I would come up with an amazing unique idea so honestly I am gathering stuff from all over, but when you look at the html code its all in PHP code and PHP to me is like reading French, but something which you can learn, so this dentist here is busy studying PHP code ;) - fret not I'm up for this computer challenge.

Move from Blogger: I would love to move away from blogger as the quality of service is on the downhill, an outstanding tutorial was specially written for me by Yasir Memon (thanks) I found a few others at Catstutorial which uses Andy Skelton's Importing tool (PS if someone has this tool please email it to me as somehow my computer refuses to open Andy Skelton's website) also give a step-by-step pictorial guide to help move to wordpress. The biggest problem is how to tell your followers to update their bookmark - Honestly it is not easy and I also shall remain grateful to all for their understanding.

Will keep you all posted hopefully on a daily basis, I would like to thank Shirazi for pushing me to maintain an open journal putting pen-to-paper all my hurdles during this stage of development, this may also serve as a point where we all can discuss problems during this stage of development.

Led Zeppelin playing Satanic Messages

2005-03-27T21:29:00.000+05:00

Conspiracy theorists have created stories about each and every issue of our normal daily life. I myself grow tired of these claims, which I feel are just pure coincidence. I am sure many of you recall the $20 bill fold a few times showed the world trade center, heck if I folded the $100 bill a million times I might even get a million dollars

Of all people Led Zeppellin being blessed by satanic powers (hmmm think about it maybe?) His famous track Stairway to Heaven if played backwards reveals a satanic message.

What do you have to say in this satanic conspiracy theory?

Check this link out on Jeff Milner

Courtesy Omar Q

It's my Country Too

2005-03-24T20:44:00.000+05:00

Just recently BBC aired a documentary by Salman Ahmed on the conditions faced by the US based Muslims in the post 9/11 era.

A few sections were interesting especially when Salman talks with Dr. Hassan's family, a millionaire muslim family who is now a staunch supporter of Bush Jr, it is documented that he considerably supported the Bush campaign and also funds the website Muslimsforbush.com. A few excerpts form the documentary.

Salman talk with Seeme wife of Dr. Hassan

SALMAN: ... you know, a lot of the Muslims in the world feel you know, scared, that hey, my, my Muslim country might be next.

SEEME: Personally I wanted to invade Iraq, because I think if there is a country that will not allow us into its borders and has the money and the reasoning to attack United States, then we have to go in, because -

SALMAN: With force?

SEEME: Yes. Absolutely, because look what one 9/11 did to us American Muslims. I dont want a repeat.

SALMAN: I mean if you disagree with the United States, it gives the United States the right to go and blow up your country?

SEEME: So sooner or later they were going to go in, I mean it just happened that it got linked with 9/11, but sooner or later it was going to happen, I mean Saddam was asking for it.

Excerpt of discussion with Aliv - cousin of Seeme, the media junkie and the key person behind the website Muslimsforbush.com

ALIV: I was asked off an, off of an aeroplane. Aliya was with me, so we both had to leave the aeroplane.

ALIYA: I mean we were treated very well, and it was awkward to be taken off the plane and everybody looked at us, and we came back and everybody looked whats going on.

ALIV: The bigger incident was I was checking into a plane at LAX, in Los Angeles, and I was surrounded by four LAPD officers. They read me Miranda rights, and then they said if youre the terrorist that we think you might be then were going to take you down to the station, and I had to wait there in that terminal with four LAPD officers around me, while everybody was getting their tickets for one hour, and then the FBI agent showed up.

SALMAN: Cat Stevens, also known as Yusuf Islam, was deported from the airport, so I was trying to figure out, these people, how can there be a questionably on their -

DR HASAN: Under the same programme under which Cat Stevens was deported, Senator Ted Kennedy was denied boarding of a plane because he was on a terrorist list. Now who in this country does not know Senator Edward Kennedy?

SALMAN: Except that hes a Democrat.

DR HASAN: It doesnt matter. Im telling you, we never had a training to be an imperialist or a police state. So anything to do with enforcement of the law is done so poorly, because this is not part of the fabric of this society.

ALIV: Those incidents happened pretty close to each other and I told Mum and Dad, and Mum and Dad, Dad, told the administration, and they listened to it seriously, they took it very seriously, and from that point on I havent been interrogated again.

I was shocked to hear such comments from a spoilt rich family. I am saddened to hear that as muslims they still believe that the invasion of Iraq was necessary read Seeme's comments when Salman asks her about the Invasion.... Ruthless.

Secondly it irks me when the family openly claims to have used contacts with the White House, where is the so-called justice or does the Patriot Act allow such things to happen.

I anxiously await your comments on this development....

Text Manuscript of the documentary (Link)
BBC - This World (Link)
Muslimsforbush.com

Shut the Fox Up

2005-03-24T20:07:00.000+05:00

Frequent visitors to this blog must know my feelings about Fox News, just don't get me started on this biased news channel. I simply hate their gutts, I can bitch about it all day, who the F**K cares, but my opinions remain my fundamental right and I simply like to rant on Fox News and their biased reporting style. Check out FoxBlocker.com a dedicate website for Fox-hate fans.

Personally I think its taking it a bit too far....

FoxBlocker.com

Bluetooth Virus coming to a Cell Phone near you.

2005-03-23T22:58:00.000+05:00

Savvy cell phone users be aware of a virus slowly traversing the world. Bluetooth enabled cell phones are at risk of getting screwed big time.

Read in detail the article on slate.com where a certain paragraph caught my attention

Once smartphones have complex enough operating systems, it won't be hard to write a worm that burrows in, harvests all your info, and squirts it out to a mailbox in Pakistan. That's precisely what virulent computer worms like Sobig and Bugbear do.

Pakistan is no doubt famous thanks to our Brain.net brothers. On a side note cell phone users Beaware !

Read on Slate.com Perfect Worm: Coming to a cell p hone near you

Pen & Paper Essay - DUH !!!!

2005-03-18T11:18:00.000+05:00

Gone are the days of classical essays, where emphasis was on composure, spellings and punctuation. In comes our new generation which is fluent in computer based word processing, replacing the classical pen and paper. It seems 'that old style' is to cumbersome.

How do you still fare on the pen and paper method of writing compared to computer based essay writing?

World Jump Day

2005-03-17T13:55:00.001+05:00

People at World Jump Day organization (WJD) want all humans to jump at the precise co-ordinated time on 20th July 2006 at preisely 11.39.13 GMT on any concrete surface so that a worldwide unified effort would then change orbital path of the earth. This will then have a favourable affect on global warming, extend daytime hours and create a more homgenous environemnt. Read more at WJD website (link)

Asia, Australia, Middle-East incuding Pakistan is not listed in the timezones for a coordinated jump, so I dont know if we, on this side of the world are allowed to take part in the world changing jump or not. On second thought maybe we could start an Anti-Jump Day co-ordianted exactly with them to negate the effects of WJD and we could counter argue to ensure that our deal 'ol earth stays on its original course ..... How dare they leave us out ...

WorldJumpDay.org

Do you believe that WJD can impact the orbit, and if Pakistan is not listed for WJD would you join an effort for an Anti-WJD ?

Contemplating to Move to a Domain

2005-03-14T11:40:00.000+05:00

I give full credit to Blogspot to have completely captured my attention and I am now whole-heartedly stuck to blogging, long gone are the days where I used to idle aimlessly on the web, the world of Blogging has my undivided attention. The passion has gone to such an extent that my family need not talk to me, and can check my blog to know my whereabouts.... Is this a disease????

Taking the passion a bit further, I am in the process of jumping away from blogspot, When? You you might ask, I can't exactly say when, but I have been seriously thinking of having Teeth Maestro starred on www.teeth.com.pk/blog (I already own the teeth.com.pk domain) that way I can then take this new found passion to another level and use WordPress in all its glory. I am aware that the transition is going to be bad, for that reason I have to be very meticulous ensure the new blog is up to speed before I actually hop onto it. If that day does come, I know you all will be understanding. I would also appreciate any recommendations or past experiences in this transition.

What do you have to say, Would you move away from blogspot and be ready to take your chances on a seperate domain?

Update 15th March: Check out the post by Yasir Memon where he describes the best way to migrate slowly from the Blogspot address to your own domain.

Yasir Suleman Memon : Migrating your blog from blogger.com to WordPress, BlogCMS and others

Email Privacy does NOT exist in Pakistan

2005-03-12T22:45:00.000+05:00

Email privacy is probably the last thing on our minds in a country where Human Rights and Freedom of Speech does not exist. Take a look at a post by Yassir Suleman Memon on his Blog where he sheds some light on our agencies monitoring all email messages in and out of Pakistan.

My twsit on this issue, I seriously doubt that the agencies are so well organized to be able to filter through thousands of messages in Pakistan, how long will it last is for all of us to find out with time. I think for now we can rest easy

What are your concerns? Are you worried?

Email Privacy: No more baba....

Jahil Online

2005-03-10T00:00:00.000+05:00

I am sure you all must know of our famous MNA cum TV personality Dr. Aamir Liaqat Hussain. For the past few months rumors have been circulating that he is a fake doctor finally I have evidence. In a detailed investigation conducted by a local newspaper 'Ummat' and recently published in South Asia Tribune, some really interesting fact have indeed come forth surely worth a NAB 'chappa'.

Dr. Aamir appears to be one of the biggest local scams of Pakistan. For the past couple years he has been the host of 'Aalim Online' on Geo TV where he brings together Islamic Scholars to shed light on the religion of Islam. I have always disliked watching the show as it always appeared as a scam, a snazzy looking Dr. Aamir preaching Islam some how irritated me, but that's just me, I have for sometime labeled his show as Jahil Online. It now appears to be entirely true. Dr. Aamir had been preaching Islam with such authority that it had the nation fooled for years including our General who has appointed him as a Minister of Religious Affairs (probably in a deal with MQM)

He has graduated from 'Trinity College and University' with a Bachelors of Arts in Islamic Studies (conferred on March 17, 1995). The next degree that he allegedly pursued was a Masters of Arts in Islamic Studies (conferred on March 15, 2002) and amazingly 20 days later was awarded a doctorate, Doctor of Philosophy in Islamic Studies (conferred on April 5, 2002). All these degrees were awarded by Trinity College based out of Spain. The going rate for these 'degrees by mail' as published on the Trinity College website (link) is

Bachelors = $ 212
Masters = $ 332
Doctorate= $ 500
Or a one time deal all three degrees for a bumper price of $ 850

Trinity College on its webpage claims the following slogans "providing degrees based on your previous life" and the best slogan "No Residency or Attendance is required in Spain Everything by Mail"

Dr. (Fake) Aamir Liaquat Hussain contested the National Assembly elections based on these degrees and successfully won, he stands to be disqualified for providing fake degrees to support his candidacy (which as you all recall was strictly limited to graduates). The Higher Education Commission Pakistan has also declare in a letter that Trinity College is not a authorized degree awarding university. How can it be since its just one of those online stores that awards these degrees. Check these pictures out as they sure are incriminating evidence.

Copy of his Bachelors of Arts in Islamic Studies degree
Copy of his Masters of Arts in Islamic Studies degree
Copy of his Doctor of Philosophy in Islamic Studies
Election Commissioner 'provisionally' accepting his degrees
Higher Education Commission declaring Trinity College as a fake
A sample degree issued by Trinity College (Side-by-Side)

Detailed report on SA Tribune
Get your fake degree --> Trinity College Website

I leave you with considerable evidence, for you to decide

Update 13th March: In a Google search of our fake Aalim I came across this interview from Daily Times

Daily Times: What are your predictions about the Pakistani politics?

Aamir Liaqat: I am really disappointed with the Pakistani politics. The biggest despondency is the involvement of Maulvis in the mainstream politics, who are raising local issues at national levels. I am not hopeful with the national politics. The politicians of my country fight only for their own interests. I request General Musharraf to give me a chartered plane, and I would take all the politicians to Iraq. Then I would ask all those who claim to be great Muslims to come out and fight against the anti-Islam forces. If I could not take the airplane to Iraq, then I will destroy it in the sea. I would sacrifice my own life for this noble cause.

I am foreseeing a bloody revolution. Sorry to say, the democracy would bring nothing better in this country. Pakistan needs a bloody revolution. A person is required here, who will eliminate all the politicians once for all, and then intelligent and young people of Pakistan will come forward to lead the nation. I fear that in revolution the geographical situation might also change.

Reverse Spamming

2005-03-09T01:36:00.001+05:00

How many times have you, the internet surfer, wanted to ask a one-time question on a website and for that simple one-time use you are forced to register by providing a valid email address.

In your heart you know for sure that later on you will be spammed to hell for this small wish of yours. I used to pull one of my junk email addresses, coutesy of Hotmail and enter it into the email field. Then I have to go and fetch that emial from the hotmail account and click-thru to finally activate my account. The future then holds a barrage of Viagra / Phd degree spam emails that I am doomed for life (my junk email account to date recieves 200 junk emails daily). I find it irritating that spammers get to hit me later to their hearts desire, I wish I could bombard them with tons of - "No address found emails" Now I can ...... read on .....

Some creative domain owners have found a solution to defeat the spammers at their own game, they now provide you with a random email address for 24 hours this allows you to receive that critical activation link sent straight to your email account, use it and after the 24 hr time limit the address simply vanishes into thin air and now potential spammers get that Vaigra email showed up their ass. I now call it Reverse Spamming ....

Check it out on spamday.com

What is your creative idea to defeat spammers at their game?

Computer Disaster Story

2005-03-06T22:16:00.000+05:00

It is with a sobbing heart I relate to you my recent computer disaster on one of my office computers which was the "main server" on our peer-to-peer network. The story is for you all to learn from my mistakes.

Our main server has been serving us for 4-5 years started off with Win 98 which I later upgraded to Win XP and as you all must have guessed this upgrade literally killed the speed of the processor and it now used to take ages to complete simple tasks as it had a P3 256MB RAM, so one fine day 'yours truly' decided that it is essential to downgrade to Win 98 SE, which I felt would be more generous to my aging processor.

Scenario: I have two partitions divided equally on the 40GB HD so in preparation for the Extreme Makeover I moved everything over to the secondary partition which was the D: Drive. Booted up with a boot disk CD, which I was lucky to pull out of my CD-wallet and found it also carried a copy of Win 98SE - Perfect I thought, the computer Gods must have an eye out for me, little did I know then that it was the evil eye ;)

Using that old boot-disk I started the computer searched via the DOS prompts and found only the C drive tried in vain to locate the D drive but turned up empty, I presumed it was some reading glitch and presumed that the C Drive would still exist so I continued to format C - BIG MISTAKE #1. Copied Win 98 files from the CD to the Hard Disk via the Dos prompts - MISTAKE #2

I then ran the 98 installer but it kept prompting me that there was an invalid file system, hence I jumped to FDisk found that C Drive which was being labelled as a Non-Dos file system (ofcourse I had thought then, Stupid me Win 98 does not run on NTFS) and D Drive was labelled as an Extended Dos System (See the D Drive was safe and sound - I was happy). I continued the process in Fdisk and deleted the C Non-Dos partition and re-installed it as a DOS primary partition - MISTAKE #3. Once this error was solved the Win 98 continued to do a full clean installation of Win 98 on the computer. Finally when it got done I opened up explorer and to my horror no data existed and my critical D drive which was a literaliy a clean slate apart from the Win 98 installation folder and nothing else. Shocked at the loss of all my data I was then followed up by a series of panic and heart attacks as I had literaaly misplaced 4 years of unreplacable critical data ;) 0- the old story - never thought it would happen to me.....

Analysis:After a few hours of sweating I finally figured out the problem and also my mistakes. C drive was the root folder of Win XP so it was formatted in an NTFS system while the D drive was still as an old FAT system, technically when I used the "old boot disk" which was based of a win 98 system boot disk, the computer only read the FAT system and it never could read the C Drive NTFS system so in my ignorance I clean deleted everything on the D Drive (which was being mis-labelled as C Drive). I then copied win 98 installed on D over-writing a lot of the primary data on D Drive. C Drive continued to exists until ..... I Fdisk'ed it later and now I had technically destroyred all existing data and had myself a virgin system.

Recovery: I downloaded Bart's PE Builder and also installed a *cracked* version of Getdataback NTFS and FAT version (a good data recoverng software) and ran it from the Bart's Protected Enviroment CD this ensured that all the scanning etc was done off the CD and no data got overwritten on the Hard Disk in an attempt preserve it as much as I now possibley could - too late but I needed each and every inch of the data on the Hard Disk, with the GetDataBack FAT I scanned my D drive which was FAT based and luckily found ALL the data and recovered it to my C Drive.

Moral of the story - be careful when you format hard drives pay special attention to the file systems, but if incase you accidentally do destroy any hard drive don't worry carry around a version of the Bart's PE CD (A must have for all techies) and recover data with GetDataBack it will almost surely recover all the data. Many people have told me and I again tell you critical data needs to be backed up onto CD's. I have indeed learnt my lesson ;) the hard way

Bart's PE Link
GetDataBack Link

Is Islamabad Really Dead?

2005-03-06T21:45:00.000+05:00

I was in Islamabad for two days to visit the US Embassy for a visa so that I can go to the US to continue my training at UPENN in Microscopic Endodontics.

The visit was OK as the Gods of the INS Authorities found me "qualified for a visa", but I dearly missed the hustle bustle of my beloved city Karachi. Islamabad to me was a dead city, people appeared to be in bed around 9 or 10pm with no one around on the streets, I did get to go to dinner late night (8-9pm considered late in Islo terms) came back by 10 and the streets were dead.

Islamabadi's continued to say that its only fun if you have "contacts to parties on the weekend", but then you mean to testify that apart from weekend parties the city is technically dead. Karachi on the other hand wakes up at 10 to continue to 1 am thats my life, one does not always need party tickets to enjoy the night in Karachi, a drive around town is entertaining enough - I LOVE YOU KARACHI

Prove me wrong Islamabadi's !!!!!

2005-03-05T00:25:00.000+05:00

Zinio is an online magazine reader where you can read the complete copy of your favourite magazine right on your computer.

To usually get a year's worth of subscription one needs to fork over some hard cash. Fortunately for us cheap folks on the net some companies offer a free 1-year sibscription to a couple of good magazines, sign up from the link below and enjoy the comfort of reading PC Magazine right on your computer for one whole year, an offer you can't refuse..

The links can be found on Fatwallet Forums

X-Posted on [G3]-TechNews

Disclaimer: I cannot tesify to the legality of this offer,
please proceed at your own risk

How to Compile Software in Visual?

2005-03-01T21:38:00.000+05:00

As you all must know by now that I am a plain simple dentist, a little familiar with computers but not to the extent to be able to compile a source code - ;) I hear it ain't too much of a big deal.

The software that I am after is open source and the source code is freely available for anyone to compile and use but if one does not know how to compile it the company can then do it for you and charge a horrendous $200 a month for a year for this simple service - What a rip off. So understandably I'm not too keen on paying for this software (btw who is in Pakistan?)

The software needs to be compiled in Visual C# or Visual Basic (I once ran to the computer store to grab a CD of Visual but only came up with Enterprise version and that simply did not load properly, must have been a busted CD or corrupt version or something). The software is a dental practice managment software and in my opinion a very versatile software as the dveloper has worked to hard to put in all the softwares into one neat package a sort of All-in-One deal and probably better then most dental softwares in the market. In my practice I presently have 3 different softwares and it is indeed a nightmare running them all together I feel that Open-Dent may fix the problem for me once in for all but before I switch I need to mess around with the full version before I migrate into this open source deal.

The instructions are on this page Link
The download page for the source code is Link

Have a look at it and maybe someone might be able to guide me in the right direction, my goal is to learn how to compile it as the company releases updates every month or so and I don't wanna be running around trying to find help. Any help would be appreciated.

and the pictures......

2005-02-28T17:07:00.000+05:00

Here are the pictures of the event we held at Alvi Dental Hospital to launch the 1st Dental Microscope in Pakistan - the event was well covered in the press, News reports appeared in PTV Khabarnama, ARY News, City News and Indus News, articles appeared in The News, Daily Times, Pictures were seen in many other newspapers including Jang. So overall we were quite pleased with our efforts and ofcourse the Lunch was great ;)

Dr. Awab Alvi addressing the event

Dr. Arif Alvi adressing the event

The press gathered for the ribbon cutting

One of my banners on display

The stage with the Hospital as the backdrop

Freehand designs

2005-02-28T16:20:00.000+05:00

It was for the very first time I played with Freehand Mx together with Photoshop to come up with these designs - In the process I got to learn a lot and now can attest to the fact that these two programs are indeed the BEST publishing softwares to date.

These 2'x5' vertical banners which elaborate the various different technologies that have been implemeted in our hospital, the designs were printed on Pan-Flex and mounted on stands to display in our hospital during the Dental Microscope Launching ceremony they looked impressive if I must say so myself.

1st Dental Microscope Launched

2005-02-26T19:47:00.000+05:00

I'm back ......

Today afternoon we had a very impressive ceremony at the Alvi Dental Hospital to launch the first dental Microscope was offically launched, the ceremony was attended by more then 250 influential poeple of Karachi with the Chief Guest as Justice (Retd) Saeeduzaman Siddiqui and also Mr. S H Hashmi the director of Orient McCann-Erikson. A short adress by Dr. Arif Alvi, Justice SaeeduzZaman, SH Hasmi and myself was followed by a one-to-one demonstration of the microscope, this allowed the people to actually appreciate how important tool it is to a dentist in doing treatment.

I will soon update this post to enclose a few pictures, and also a few Freehand designs I made - novice work as it was the first time i used the software but they looked good anyway.

Thank you G3 and Shirazi for all your kind supporting words.

Second driver seat belts

2005-02-26T18:39:00.000+05:00

The National Highway Safety Council has done extensive testing on a newly designed seat belt. Results show that accidents can be reduced by as much as 45% when the belt is properly installed. Correct installation is illustrated below:

Found on Journal Entry Blog : Permanent Link

On Leave

2005-02-24T21:32:00.000+05:00

To all my frequent readers,

I apologize for my absence, I am a bit preoccupied with a project and hopefully will get done this Saturday. It is a major event being organised by us (Alvi Dental Hospital) to launch the 1st Dental Microscope in Pakistan to the public, for that reason on Saturday 26th Feb we are having a huge press conference in an attempt to get some press coverage.

See you in a few days.........

15 Things Not to do in a Public Restroom

2005-02-20T01:32:00.000+05:00

.... In a public Restroom.

Walk out of the stall and say, "Huh, I've never seen that color before..."
Stand on top of the toilet, grunt reeeeally loud, then drop a heavy object in the toilet. Sigh Relaxingly.
While in the stall, say loudly, "Awwww, isn't it sooo cuuuute?!"
Poke amirror underneath your neighbor's stall and say "Peek-a-boo!"
Say when you walk out, "Huh, I don't remember eating that..."
Whenever someon tries ot get in the restroom, dart in front of them to block them, bark at them, whack 'em in the head, or scream "MINE!!"
Get a bottle of Mountain dew with squirty lids, run around the room with it between your pants, squeezing it, and shouting "WOAH NELLY!!"
Walk out and say "Maaaajor clean up in stall #3.."
Get 73 bottles of water with squirty lids and squirt them non stop in the toilet. Sigh Relaxingly
Bang on an occupied stall and scream "AAHH!! THE POTATOS ARE COMMING TO GET MEEEEE!!"
Grunt really loudly for 10 minutes, like you're in labor
Some how, get into and occupied stall, tell them you're not potty trained and ask for help.
Start singing the 'I'm too Sexy' song, start stripping, and throw your clothes into other people's stalls.
Reach underneath other peoples' stalls, complaining of a lost contact.
Go into the opposing gender's restrooom, pointing, saying " WOAH! What the heck are those?!", "Oooh, where can I get one?", or stare like you're very interested, perhaps pretending ot take notes.

Credit to wolffire @ Deviant Art

Branding the Lie

2005-02-19T20:08:00.000+05:00

It is well known fact that major brands openly lie to the public! People more often then not forget to read the 'Astrerix'

Imagine you are the owner of McDonaldʼs.
Question: Whatʼs the truth behind your brand?
If the truth is:

Your food is not healthy but tastes good.
Your restaurants look and feel outdated.
Your brands ethics have been questioned in the past.

How does the brand acknowledge this? Interesting dilemma! I have never seen McDonald's acknowledging the fact that their food sux or their restaurants are a stink bomb?

But somehow those Big Mac's sell like crazy, It all has to do with a carefully choreographed marketing campaign - simply do not acknowledge the truth that it even exist, continue to lie and soon the public perception gets numb to the lies and then believes the LIE

Read more of the manifesto from Changethis.com

X-posted on Shirazi

% Growth in Internet use, Dec 2004

2005-02-16T00:00:00.000+05:00

Internet use continues to grow, even if the rate of growth is slowing. Figures for December show that countries such as Spain, Switzerland and Brazil saw a decrease in active at-home users. The UK added more than a quarter of a million users to register a 1.2% increase.

Brazil -5.1
Spain -1.7
France -0.3
Germany 0.1
US 1.1
UK 1.2
Hong Kong 4.3

Courtesy: Nielson//NetRatings

How NOT to cross the road on a Red Light

2005-02-15T23:19:00.000+05:00

Be careful when you cross the road even on a redlight. A little graphic but a take it with some light humor, take a close look at the reaction of people around.

How Much Did You Spend On Flowers?

2005-02-14T00:41:00.000+05:00

We all know each and every flower shop now knows the importance of "Phool Wala Din" (Flower day) and the prices shoot up - I would like to know how much did you spend on flowers this would be a good barometer on the various prices across town/country

Valentines Day facts

2005-02-14T00:36:00.000+05:00

I wish you all a very happy Valentine's Day with your significant other. Here are some intersting facts so - Did You Know?

- 2.2 million marriages take place in the United States annually. That breaks down to about 6,000 a day.

- 138,600 marriages were performed in Nevada during 2003. So many couples "tie the knot" in the Silver State that it ranked fourth nationally in marriages, even though its total population that year was 35th.

- 25.3 and 27.1 are the estimated U.S. median ages at first marriage for women and men, respectively, in 2003. The age for women is up 4.3 years in the last three decades. The age for men is up 3.9 years.

- The proportion of women 20 to 24 years old who had never married more than doubled between 1970 and 2003 — from 36 percent to 75 percent. Changes were also dramatic for men — the corresponding rate for men in this age group increased from 55 percent to 86 percent.

- 54% and 57% are the percentages of American women and men, respectively, who are 15 and over and currently married.

- There were 4.6 million cohabitating couples who maintained households in 2003. These couples comprised 4.2 percent of all households, up from 2.9 percent in 1996.

- There are 118 single men (i.e., never married, widowed or divorced) who are in their 20s for every 100 single women of the same ages.

- There are 33 single men (i.e., never married, widowed or divorced) age 65 and over for every 100 single women of the same ages.

- 24.6 pounds of candy per capita was consumed by Americans in 2003; it is believed a large portion is consumed around Valentine's Day. Candy consumption has actually declined over the last few years; in 1997, each American gobbled more than 27 pounds of candy a year.

- The combined wholesale value of domestically produced cut roses in 2003 was $52 million for all operations in 36 states, with $100,000 or more in sales. Among all types of cut flowers, roses were second in receipts to lilies ($70 million).

- There were 28,914 jewelry stores in the United States in 2002. In February 2004, these stores sold $2.4 billion worth of merchandise — a much higher total than in the preceding month or succeeding months.

Heated discussion on Jew-Muslim Conflict

2005-02-13T01:00:00.000+05:00

For the past few days I have not made any post on my blog - the reason being I was involved in composing a well drafted response to an argument which took a strange twist, since a cerain commenter named 'Mark' labelled me as 'borderline Anti-Semetic'. I was surely indeed taken-a-back as my comment had no religious intent but was geared more so politically, read the entire post and discussion on the blog Light Within.

Link to the actual post is - Fox News Buys Al-Jazeera

PS- my response is long many apologies

Patriots - SuperBowl XXXIX Champions

2005-02-08T01:04:00.000+05:00

Followers of NFL football must have seen the victorious New England Patriots stomp out the Philadelphia Eagles in a closely contested battle 24-21 to grab the Vince Lombardi Trophy and also a memorable SuperBowl ring.

The highlight of the mega-event is ofcourse the game itself but strangely the commercials are also an aspect which is closely followed by the 15 million viewers, a 30-second ad has been priced at a whopping $2.7M, for which there is intense competition between the companies, some make it and some get rejected due to content. One gets to see some real creativity which is interspersed with hilarious comments throughout the commercial, I must advise all visitors to the blog to surely take a look at some creative ads the world has to offer, it can surely put our local industry to shame. My rankings are as follows

Funniest Ad

Ameriquest: Tazer Scare
Runner up: Bud Light : Parachuting ad

Sexiest Ad

The Tabasco bikini Ad
Runner up: GoDaddy.com Ad

Best Banned Ad

GoDaddy : Senate hearing Ad
Runner up: Wynn LasVegas

Watch these ads on ifilm.com : Link
Read reviews on adjab.com : Link

R I P - Pakistan Cricket Team

2005-02-06T23:11:00.000+05:00

Passionate cricket fans must have seen the funeral march of the Pakistani Cricket team in Sydney on Sunday. Bowling staff perfomed well again restricting the Aussies to a fragile 239 and mind you without the so-called heart throb Shoaib Akhtar whose presence is not dearly missed. Infact we could do India without him.

The batsmen on the other hand flashed and flashed hard to end up again short of the total. It sure has been a disappointing tour, losses upon losses and to top it off the Shoaib Akhtar controversy. When the team left Pakistan on its tour of Australia we did not expect miracles and almost had anticipated this result, but it gives me hope that our batsmen might have gotten used to the bouncy pitches to be prime ready to meet India surely a more critical tour for all supporters out here. Don't loose hope we are known to be fighters, Are we?

Stock Image Search

2005-02-05T18:55:00.000+05:00

I have always been in search of good photgraphs to mainly use on my desktops and sometimes even for designing concepts. A few good free-stock image sites are mentioned below you are more then welcome to add to this list for the benfit to all.

Deviant Art - link
Stock.xchng - link

Shoaib Akhtar in Aussie Bar Party

2005-02-02T19:29:00.000+05:00

A couple of revealing pictures of our Pakistani Cricket Heart-throb Shoaib Akhtar, who reportedly went to an Australian nightclub for 'relaxation purposes' as he wanted to rest his injury. The next day he was 'unfit' and later in the week a 'rape case' was lodged against him, though the rape claim turned out to be a fake stunt by a local Aussie newspaper as the witness could not be produced.

These so-called representatives (Ambassadors) of Pakistan need to shape up their act and not set a bad example at the highest level of exposure. My opinion on this Heart-throb is that he has an over inflated ego with a major Psychosocial issue and he needs to be placed in the right 'trash-can' once healed he should be allowed to resume his bowling, and if by that time we already might have found a new crop of fast bowlers. I have no idea why the BCCP is stuck with this player, he does sometimes get wickets but I feel he is more of a liability than an asset he should be sacked.

What do you have to say?

Update: It has been rumored that Shoaib Akhtar accuses these pictures to be fake, I honestly see no evidence of it being tampered. BCCP has also given a show-cause notice to Shoaib to clarify four violations in his contract (which at his whim was upgraded from a 'B' contract to an 'A' category contract). I honestly wish the BCCP can find a good excuse to axe this physiological maniac.

Needle-free Anesthesia

2005-02-02T01:30:00.000+05:00

Enough about politics now let the Teeth Maestro shed light on some news related to dentistry - a new invention has been recently approved by the FDA which is a non-injectable anesthetic named Oraqix.

Oraqix is applied directly into gum pockets by means of a special blunt applicator. It provides localized anesthesia for scaling and root planing. Scaling and root planing is a treatment performed to thoroughly clean the tooth above and below the gum line The result is the removal of tartar, and plaque leaving the crown and root of the tooth with a smooth clean surface.

Oraqix is a liquid at room temperature which solidifies at body temperature. In doing so, it becomes an elastic gel which enables it to stay in place. The gel releases local anesthetics which are like those used for injections. After application of Oraqix®, anesthesia of the gum tissue occurs in 30 seconds and lasts for about 20 minutes. It can be reapplied if needed, only treatments involving soft tissue.

There is a ray of hope for those people still scared of the long injection needle, surely a step in the forward to finally achieve thje ultimate goal of Needle-free anesthesia.

Oraqix

The Human Clock

2005-01-31T02:28:00.000+05:00

The Human Clock is a website which shows a photograph of the current time with the photo changing every minute of the day (all 1,440 occuring minutes on Earth!) Thus you end up with a rotating picture clock.

Link Humanclock.com

Miserable Failure GoogleBomb

2005-01-31T01:08:00.000+05:00

For those who are not aware of this old trick - simply type "Miserable Failure" in google search bar and the first relevant search will bring up the official George W. Bush biography from the US White House web site.

As descibed in Wikipedia - A Google bomb is an attempt to influence the ranking of a given site in results returned by the Google search engine. Due to the way that Google's algorithm works a website will be ranked higher if the sites that link to that page all use consistent text

While a search for 'waffles' will bring up John Kerry's election site. I reserve my opinion on Mr. Miserable Failure but I surely do like his nickname.

Democracy @ Gunpoint

2005-01-29T13:05:00.000+05:00

Here is the cover of 'The Economist' which aptly describes the Iraqi Elections on the 30th

"The Election is in danger of seeming paraody of democracy. Almost two years after George Bush toppled Saddam Hussain, fear and murder stalk Iraq. How free is an election in which the citizen who dares to vote stands a fair chance of being shot, blown up or beheaded for his pains? America's efforts to stablize Iraq have so far been ineffectual that even the location of the polling stations is having to be kept secret until the last minute...."

Courtesy Economist.com

Microscopic Dentistry now in Pakistan

2005-01-28T02:10:00.000+05:00

This post is to all wanders that happen to pass this blog of mine - I had to get this out of my system.

We at Alvi Dental Hospital are proud to have recently acquired a Dental-Surgical Microscope (Carl-Zeiss), a first ever for Pakistan infact the 'only' dental microscope in Pakistan. Its surprising that only 2% of all practicing dentist in the US, use this as a tool to achieve perfection, while the worldwide percentage is barely in the fractions.

The microscope is used to do dentistry at 24x magnification, which is a substantial leap from the 1x by the naked eye (which most dentists use) or 3x with magnification glasses. You can actually do more acurate dentistry overall. I am now the only dentist in Pakistan to perform Microscopic Endondontics now have the ability to do cutting edge dentistry right here in Pakistan. It is indeed an honour, See me in action here.

Pre-Rigged Iraqi Elections

2005-01-27T14:28:00.000+05:00

Can you honestly believe that the upcoming elections in Iraq are fair and transparent. A few rules of the election day are as follows

Iraqis have to vote for 'parties only' since the names of the contesting candidates are to be kept secret for the sake of their security - that's really nice, so any tom-dick-and-harry (read USA) can write any person's name into the parliament ledger after the elections who happens to toot the right tune. Try doing such an election in Pakistan, I can just imagine our nation going crazy for a National Assembly seat.
With such secrecy how would the people know who stands for what. This is an extreme end of the so-called party based free-elections.
Iraqis are not allowed to congregate anywhere during the election day, vehiclur traffic is prohibited. in actual sense people have to walk to the polling station and similarly - so long for the 'naray baazi' (party chants).

These elections have been trumpeted as the cornerstone to a Liberated Democratic Iraq. What a fiasco - call these elections free and fair, M Y - A $ &

Next Blog >>

2005-01-26T19:47:00.000+05:00

The Next Blog icon is indeed a unique way to surf the net.

At first, the concept did not appeal to me much, as I mostly landed on a "no-name / no-activity" site, or it was usually in an altogether different language which made no sense.

But recently the Next Blog icon has gabbed my attention. I have seen that this small icon just requires one to be patient and in process of clicking, you may have to hop 3-4 sites before you land up with a winner where indeed you actually spend a few precious moments to glance at the headlines, and maybe speed-read the text. I think google came up with a winning idea similar to their "I'm feeling lucky" search item. Creativity at its best

Do you Next Blog>> ?

Teeth Maestro Re-design

2005-01-24T01:22:00.000+05:00

I'm sure frequent visitors to my blog must have noticed a graphic re-design, to tell you the truth I am an amateur at HTML coding so errors might be there which may need attention - so please critique away.

On a side note I would like to thank G3 for designing a banner for my blog. I was almost going to use G3's design until I accidentally while playing around with Photoshop a created something which appealed to me. I still would like to thank G3 for his effort

G3's Banner: link

Eid Mubarak

2005-01-21T09:28:00.000+05:00

I wish an very Happy Eid Mubarak to all visitors

How Do They Measure Wind Chill?

2005-01-20T20:38:00.000+05:00

Despite what you might hear on a weather report, wind chill isn't actually a measure of how cold the air feels.

A wind chill temperature is, rather, a calculation of how cold it would have to be to cause the same rate of heat loss from your skin if there were no wind blowing.

Wind chill approximates how cold it feels because the rate of heat loss corresponds with skin temperature, and skin temperature is what our nerves sense.

Confused -- follow this link to the actual mathematical formula that actually calculates the wind chill.

Bhutan The First Nonsmoking Nation

2005-01-20T20:28:00.001+05:00

Bhutan has taken the lead in the world to entirely ban the use of Tobacco throughout the nation. Since Dec. 17, it has been illegal to smoke in public or sell tobacco. Violators are fined the equivalent of $232—more than two months' salary in Bhutan. Authorities have heralded the ban by igniting a bonfire of cigarette cartons in the capital, Thimphu, and stringing banners across the main thoroughfare, exhorting people to kick the habit -- As if they have a choice.

Read more @ Slate.com

Spammers sue Spamee

2005-01-20T13:45:00.000+05:00

Found on SlashDot

In an interesting take on the law, some (alleged) spammers are suing some poor chap who got them blocked by ISPs due to the fact they kept sending him spam. According to Spamhaus the company doing the suing is on their books as spammer, and also as a spyware company... If this case goes the wrong way, things could get very sticky for anyone wanting to report spam.

SlashDot Link

Picasa 2.0. released

2005-01-18T20:44:00.000+05:00

Those of you following the constant development of the Google empire should check out the latest release of Picasa. I started off with ver 1.618 have liked it over other off the shelf products but who can beat something for free.

Picasa is software that helps you instantly find, edit and share all the pictures on your PC. Every time you open Picasa, it automatically locates all your pictures (even ones you forgot you had) and sorts them into visual albums organized by date with folder names you know. You can drag and drop to arrange your albums and make labels to create new groups. Picasa makes sure your pictures are always organized. Picasa also makes advanced editing simple by putting one-click fixes and powerful effects at your fingertips. And Picasa makes it a snap to share your pictures you can email, print at home, make gift CDs, instantly share via Hello, and even put pictures on your own blog.

Doodie Animations

2005-01-18T18:48:00.000+05:00

For a lighter side of the web tune into the flash animations from Doodie.com some are whacky and some hilarious check them out. Would recommend you to check out WhackYourBoss

PS. Its a bit off the edge humor so don't get grossed out.

Courtesy - BandBaja.org

Blog Shares

2005-01-18T02:52:00.000+05:00

Be it Real Dollars or Blog Dollars - we still love the '$' symbol

Blogshares has created a stock market for people to invest in potentially aggresive shares - aggressive blogs are those that are basically incoming links from other sites hence these links in turn lends credability to the actual blog.

BlogShares is a fantasy stock market for weblogs. Players get to invest a fictional $500, and blogs are valued by incoming links.

Personally I dont see anything positive coming out of this - except for that fact that my blog started off at B$ .15 and landed at B$ .41 in a span of 2 months a significant rise to my original share value - with the so called money, I in turn invested into by blog buddy G3nu1n3 and his price rocked up to B$ .62

Have a look at your own blog and see if its worth shit - mine is ;)

Change This

2005-01-17T13:00:00.000+05:00

Are you an optimist?

Sometimes it seems as though our disagreements - over everything from politics to business to a controversial run-out decision - are more serious and more divisive than ever before. People are making emotional, knee-jerk decisions, then standing by them, sometimes fighting to the death to defend their position.

And yet, we're optimists.

ChangeThis is creating a new kind of media. A form of media that uses existing tools (like PDFs, blogs and the web) to challenge the way ideas are created and spread. They are on a mission to spread important ideas and change minds.

To find out more, head over to ChangeThis

Army Covering up Rape in Balochistan

2005-01-16T01:00:00.000+05:00

Presently there is a massive Hush-Up operation underway by our most honourable Pakistan Army - black-out exists on all local media outlets to prohibit them to report the rape of a cerain Dr. Sadia.

The Army has also prohibited them from naming the primary accused rapist who is a serving Captain in the Pak Army known as Captain Ammad. The estalishment has also forced the lady doctor to deny all reports and she has failed to identify the culprits. Read more on the SA Tribune website which has done three extensive reports on this issue links are as follows

If you cant access the site then use this Anonymizer link

CyberWireless Wi-Fi Hotspot Joint venture with Mobilink

2005-01-14T13:15:00.000+05:00

I had a meeting with a the Cyber Broadband Product Manager and he had come to pitch for creating a Wi-Fi Hotspot for my Dental Hospital. This is a joint venture with Cyber and Mobilink and the goal is to setup numerous hot-spots around Pakistan so you are virtually always connected.

To access the network all you have to do is send an SMS to the Mobilink network in turn you get an Login ID and PWD and presto you are surfing the net at 512K speeds. Mobilink will in turn bill you the cost per hour might hover around 50/hr (not sure of the exact price). Our dental Hospital will in turn gets free access to the DSL line and all installation costs are borne by Cyber+Mobilink.

I probed the guy to find out whats "the-catch" but nothing came out - I am awaiting the contract which might spell out more details - though they might want a plaque of CyberWireless prominently displayed in the area.

Sounds sweet and I don’t mind giving them advertising space in my place here but nothing is free — or is the cost of advertisment enough to cover the expense? Will keep you posted on its progress.

What is a Tsunami?

2005-01-10T02:04:00.000+05:00

For those who would like a better understanding of what is a Tsunami? Can visit this NY times website to get a through explantion via its animated series of explanation, shows how this tragedy occured and its devastation hour by hour on the 26th Dec 2004.

Courtesy New York Times

Blogs worth a mention

2005-01-08T02:16:00.000+05:00

I have been an active reader of various blogs and some very good blogs out there are as follows

Spider Blog
A group of 10 or so odd people actively envloved with keeping us informed

KO - Blog
Khalid Omar - neat layout and a very old blogger, I personally came across this blog long time ago while keeping uptodate on his comprehensive post regarding the World Call broadband fiasco

[G3] - TechNews
I have recently started following this blog the author "G3nu1n3" talks about everyday technology, more importantly I am impressed at the way he updates his posts everyday, not one but usually a couple of good posts each and everyday - where he finds the time I would love to know in this ever so busy world of ours

Blog away people we are watching you

Dictator Musharraf in for the Long Haul

2005-01-04T20:43:00.000+05:00

Well it ain't news no more and the world knows it well by now Musharraf plans to rough it out longer then his promise and our expectations, he conveniently amends the constitution and justifies it that Pakistan "needs" him to stay longer. The Pharaoh also felt the “need" to stay longer but someone (The Almighty) just would not have it and the tables were overturned. The general perception is that he now has a hunger for the power and feels that without him the world/Pakistan will collapse the very next day, what a dilemma I am sure all past dictators and rulers, not only in Pakistan, but throughout the world have usually left behind a devastated country with a crippled infrastructure, these dictatorships have during their term showed a bed of roses but later it was more a bed of nails than being roses, I doubt Pakistan or Musharraf is the odd man out in this historical equation– though I wish otherwise for the sake of my beloved "Land of the Pure"

Our ruler talks about better economy well it might be the case upfront but the economic indicators show a low GDP of 4% while inflation is at a horrendous 9% and only $400 million foreign investment in the last half year. How is the economy buoyant and how are the stocks at an all time high, is a question that remains unanswered, artificial buoyancy usually will result in catastrophic disasters.

Karrachay never sounded bettaah - RJ on FM 103

2005-01-01T14:37:00.000+05:00

I am sure the city of Karachi must have heard this DJ on FM 103 -"DJ Craaasssalaaaaaa" (I really don't know the exact spelling but that's how she says it)

In my opinion and many others out here in Karachi, believe she falls into the worst of the worst category. The airwaves are loaded with so many "Angerz-dan" DJ's that one could go numb trying to pick apart the accent interspersed with the horrifying English they conjure up at the spur of the moment. But our dear 'ol DJ tops the list, she rambles on and on and does not allow you to hear the sound track even for a brief passing moment....

Read this rant on BandBaja written by KO, Mahera Omar and Gul Nawaz - deserves a Pullitzer.

Welcome '05

2005-01-01T04:52:00.000+05:00

I wish all those who happen to drop by this blog a very Happy 2005 - put your past behind you and look into a prosperous future. Simply let yourself loose and embrace the New Year as a reawakening and grasp it with both hands and may it lead you to your ultimate goal in life

All the best from this Blogger out here in Pakistan

A sad day for Asia

2004-12-27T17:45:00.000+05:00

The earth quake with an intensity of 8.9 on the Richter scale has completely destroyed the region with a death toll touching almost 20,000 people and counting. I wish the affected nations all the best and our sincere prayers are with all the departed souls.

Surely a sad day for us all

SA Tribune Still blocked

2004-12-14T13:58:00.000+05:00

If you all recall that a few months ago the South Asia Tribune website was blocked by the Pakistani Government for carrying anti-establishment articles criticizing Musharraf, well the site still remain blocked thought out Pakistan - though it can be accessed via anonymous proxy server

SA Tribune is run out of Washignton DC by the former The News Editor who was forced to quit due to army Pressure in 2002, he now runs this journal which has recorded 44 million hits in its career.

The recent artile I cam across was of the NAB chief harassing Farooq Jangda to exhort 53 Million for Shehzad Ali Khan - who has deep contacts within the army.

The mighty rule - but the mighty also fall very heavily in the end

Orthodontic Seminars in Karachi

2004-12-14T11:23:00.000+05:00

It has been a pleasure to be responsible in starting a forum to advance the knowledge of Orthodontics in Karachi. Every Monday morning close to 25 well trained orthodontists get together to discuss cases at length, where the forum is open for cross questioning. This has been really informative for all especially the upcoming in-training orthodontists around the city. I still marvel at how eager, the new generation of Pakistan, is excited to learn and feel proud to be called a Pakistani.

This week while at KMDC there was a detailed case study on two different cases, one who was treated with Functional Herbst Appliance and the other case was a complex TMD Patient, who has been through Anterior Positioning Appliance and is presently undergoing Orthodontics, the discussion was outstanding.

The previous week we had a good discussion at Alvi Dental Hospital and to keep you all posted the following week is scheduled to be held at AKU. I really appreciate the effort of all involved to give their time and effort in this process

Good Job

Thank You Spider

2004-12-09T13:51:00.000+05:00

My thanks go to the Spider Magazine for recognizing this Blog - was delighted to read this Blog's URL in the "Blogs We LIke" column.

Spider keep up the good work - and hope we can entertain the public with our own rants be it poilitical or not.

GO SPIDER

Musharraf bribes PPP with Zardari's release

2004-11-26T01:30:00.000+05:00

It ain't a mystery no more, Musharraf is trying to hold his presidential seat by the ends of the coat tails for his dear life. Long past are the days where he talked about justice and democracy, he now is preoccupied with the curse - which many leaders of Pakistan have been unfortunate to have encoutered "THE CURSE OF THE CURSI (SEAT)"

General/President Musharraf has now sold out all his beliefs by simply releasing Zardari in an attempt to draw the PPP onto the negotiating table, they surely will come but mind you people we have another deal in the making which will be the final nail in the coffin "The ultimate return of BB" She then will haunt us with her croaky shrill and classy lotta politics. Rumors have it that PPP would refuse to entertain the Army with one simple answer - release Zardari then talk to us. Now to help Musharraf PPP will now demand the return of BB. The Sharif's must be boiling out there in the Saudi desert wishing they had a sweet deal too.

Passage of a Leader - Yasir Arafat

2004-11-13T13:46:00.000+05:00

It was sad to see a great leader pass away who was the sore pin in the Jewish lobby for ages. The Jewish lobby has been pushing for his removal for a long time and attribute this reason as the reason for the roadblock in the so called "Roadmap for Peace". I now wonder if the Palestinian cause under a differnet compromising leadership will suffer after the demise of this great leader who fought to the bone for this noble cause. May his sole rest in peace

Back to Pakistan

2004-11-11T13:45:00.000+05:00

After my stay at UPENN for a period of 6 weeks I am back to my motherland - you might see a change in the blogs as now it is more of a reflection on the world around me from Pakistan instead of when I was in the US. Talk to you later

Bush off to the woods

2004-11-05T23:15:00.000+05:00

What a ruler to set by example, the day after he won the elections, he announced he needs to take a break. So fellow americans your President is off to Camp David for a week of much needed rest and also to repeat exactly what he did four years ago. Shows how concerned he is about change, this guy needs brains having the lowest IQ, his Yale trascripts never found and his last four years were spent lazing around.

The movie Farenheit 9/11 said that he was off work for 60% of his first year in office, are we about to see a repeat. We shall wait and see.

The world has chosen - Four More Wars?

2004-11-03T16:19:00.000+05:00

The entire world was so engrossed in the US elections that it appears that it was too choose the President of the World, in a way yes, the power weilded by the White House affects many countries that destiny lies at the its mercy.

This time around it was not the Florida chads but almost turned into the "Ohio Provisionals" had it not been for the fact that Bush had a lead of 130,000 votes and for Kerry to nab 90% of the 150,000 or so provisional ballots was very unlikely and once Kerry was sure it was well beyond the 8000 lawyers hired by the Democrats to watch over the elections he finally conceeded the next day by a courteous five minute call.

As per my late swing towards Bush, my heart still refused to accept Bush, who am I to argue as the poeple have spoken and so with a sore heart I wish Bush all the best and hope he awakens from his slumber and does indeed make a difference in the world mind you I hope this time for the better. With the House and the Senate safely tucked in his back pocket it is now upto President Bush to either have Four More Years or walk into Four More Wars ?

Why is it important for Bush to win

2004-11-02T01:33:00.000+05:00

I have been a staunch supporter for Kerry throughout the pre-election campaign and still hate Bush to the guts, but right at the last day, I might have a change in my overall decision. Why? You might ask, I feel that in the past 4 years the US has lost its credibility in the entire world and that I feel is important for an actual downfall of the US (Bully of the world). Let’s analyze each scenario and weigh the advantages of each

IF KERRY WINS

If in case Kerry wins then he promises to do an about-turn of the international policy and try his best to join hands with the disgruntled nations and improve the US ties with each of them, this in effect will undo what Bush has done, bear in mind that he does not plan to stop the army in Iraq and he will remain on a war footing for sometime to root out the Anti-US terrorist aspect.

IF BUSH WINS

If in case Bush wins then we see him continuing the same course of action, he will not pull out the forces from Iraq and the US will sadly continue to loose men on a day-to-day basis. Unfortunatley with the present attitude Bush will not be able to mend the relationships with the disgruntled nations and US will remain at daggerhead with all.

The effect on the Islamic world (Both Bush & Kerry)

The Islamic world will remain under constant pressure, too root out terrorist activity, soon I predict attention will revert to issue of nuclear arsenal, and Iran followed by Pakistan will come in the spotlight. This scenario happens in both republican or a democratic leadership. So we Pakistani's in actual affect do not gain to benfit in either way but looking at the overall picture I would rather have Bush at the helm of affairs to continune is his slumber and destroy the failing US economy and also the reputation of the United States of America.

Keep your fingers crossed, its midnight of the election with polls opening in 7 hours

Prediction: Kerry Wins

2004-11-01T20:00:00.000+05:00

Of all analysts trying to predict the ultimate winner in the US elections let me also put "my two cents worth".

My prediction John Kerry as the next President of the United Stares of America. Slate.com has him leading by 10 electoral votes as of 31st October leading by 277-267 so let see how the future holds. It sure would be nice change, Muslims are united for Kerry

O'Reilly Not Innocent

2004-10-31T11:02:00.000+05:00

Bill O'Reilly settles out of court with is producer/accuser for an undisclosed sum, rumors have it estimated to be more the $50 Million, "shoot he got off cheap" - I would have loved to milk that sucker for more.

An out of court settlement is basically an admission of guilt

BILL O'REILLY GUILTY - he now wants to put this case begind it, but ofcourse we shall never forget - its like sweet revenge but would appreciate more juicy gossip

Ashlee Simpson - Caught Lip Sync'ing

2004-10-26T23:14:00.000+05:00

For those who don't know Ashlee Simpson - she is a singer who was performing live at Saturday Night Live - in her second stint to sing on stage a song started and the band played its tunes, BUT the vocals to the first song were heard, while Simpson held her microphone at her side. Flustered, she improvised a few dance steps before bolting from the stage. NBC quickly cut to a commercial.

Caught red handed trying to LIPSYNC - a crime, all do it but she got caught and when you get caught it's a bug SIN

Perfectly fits into the Southwest airlines commercial - Wanna Get Away - Ashlee sure wish she was in the Bahamas instead of on he SNL stage.

"Journalism by Remote Control"

2004-10-21T20:08:00.000+05:00

Journailst based in Iraq are unable to move about physically and they feel enclosed in a prison hence to compensate for their loss of mobility, most reporters have increasingly turned to their trusted Iraqi staffers—translators, drivers, fixers—to collect first-hand information from news scenes and conduct interviews with Iraqis.

Imagine how scared shit the American Army is out there -pissing in their pants - as see it