Happy Birthday Chowk ...

shandana where are you?

bear

hi

cum on now...at least reply to message. After all i was ure student.hehehee

love

zehra

Hey Shan

finally checked your website looks like have a lot of reading to do. keep it up and hope to see you soon

say hi to abby from my side

tiger

hi

miss shandana....keep writing

good job! im very proud to be ure student!

zzehra

Re: Shankar # 35

Thanks! I am a product of Pakistani, British, Canadian and American schools!

Ciao!

hi

i wonder who those people are??

i think i know! ohhh yes they might have been ure students. keep on writing!ure really good!

zehra

Wow, Feroz, that was great!!:)

If youre the product of the Pakistani education system; its a hell of a lot better than what you guys complain about.

Re: Shankar # 33

That was cute! :)

The line was:`` ...the fault dear Brutus does not lie in our stars, but in ourselves...``

Or, if you prefer Edmund Burke:

``evil succeds not because good men do it, but because they do nothing to stop it``

Maybe a little Oscar Wilde:

``you destroy the thing you love and the thing which you love, will end up destroying you``

W.B. Yeats:

``...a waste of breath seems the years behind and a waste of breath the years to come...``

Paraphrasing Wolfgang Goethe:

``I feel a sense of deep sorrow thinking about the Pakistani people, which is so estimable in the individual and so wretched in the generality``

Winfred Owen:

``What bells pass for these who die as cattle?``

I hope this helps! :)

Ciao!

FerozK

Shucks, I had to study Julius Caesar decades ago in high school. All I can remember is Caesar boasting that he`s as steadfast as the northern star or something like that:)

So, I`m afraid I did`nt understand your analogy.

Re : Pakistani diplomacy

Pakistani diplomat injured

Here is a piece of breaking news, which swelled up my chest with such pride, i have to share it with all of you.

DUSHANBE, Aug 17: A Pakistani diplomat was injured in a knife fight with a colleague in the grounds of the Pakistan embassy in the Tajikistan capital Dushanbe, security forces said on Thursday.

The consul was wounded on Tuesday as he and his attache faced off with blades for as yet undisclosed reasons. The injured man was briefly treated in a hospital.

Embassy officials refused to comment on the incident.-AFP

Re: Shankar # 28

What was that line of Cassius telling Brutus something about stars and faults?

Ciao!

The deterioration of Pakistan is due to Pakistanis themselves, no curse. We divide ourselves by status (hum mill owner tum laborer), by education (hum doctor, tum BA pass), by money (hum karorpati, tum middle class), and by ethnicity (hum punjabi, tum sindhi, hum mahajir, tum pathan). I hate to sound cliche``ish`` but ``united we stand, divided we fall.``

I personally believe the filthy rich of Pakistan are to blame mostly. In order to gain capital, they don`t invest in Pakistan, they polish up their estates and the streets they live on, while a poor neighbor starves in a tin roof hut. Stop the selfishness, start the altruism, and maybe we could get somewhere.

We`ve cursed our country ourselves.

Asim Hayat #22

Rebuttal to Mukarram Qayyum.

I see Dr. Adib and his company, performing hundreds of transplant and thousands of dialysis and millions of treatments free for the poor and needy against all odds in pant and a shirt.

I see Eidhi getting out of his own wedding ceremony to help arrange for some funeral, and now is helping millions with full support of people.

I see Ansar Barni getting out in Thar desert to bring to justice the culprits.

I see thousands of prisoners of conscience, whose only crime is to speak the truth.

I see a banker, whose son will rot in ``Peela school`` while he is giving loan which is being written off and the party taking loan send their children to Lincoln`s Inn, so he takes his share so at least his children can study in ENGLISH School.

I see a peon who cannot take his children to Clifton, while his SAHAB takes his children to European and American tour three times a year, and he takes his share so at least to be able to eat three times a day.

I see a doctor, prisoner of conscience trying to treat a patient genuinely and living with his parents because he cannot live on his own by honesty, while his neighbouring quack treats by his mouth of diseases not present in patient and filling his pocket.

I see an industrialist who has put his workers in furnace to speak against the administration and preaching in public meeting his ``Dard`` (sympathy)for the poor.

I see a politician who is importing Yellow cab to get a kick back and emptying the national coffer, telling the people he is doing great things for them.

I see a police officer who puts a person in Jail from the order of higher up----s and in reward enjoys the priviledge of putting someone of his choice to extort money.

I see a shopkeeper selling at exorbiant price so that his wife and children can live decently.

I see a ``Pir`` who is taking jewellery from people to find a job, or a decent Partner for them.

PEOPLE ARE FORCED TO BEHAVE IN THIS MANNER, RATHER THAN INTRINSICALLY BAD.

This is due to the extreme corruptness of our ruling elite, who don`t want to relinquish power and equitable distribution of money.

FerozK

post#25

Dont keep us in suspense

So whats the answer?!:)

Re: The birds eye view from above...

Dear Friends,

To be perfectly honest, I am not sure which location is my friend posted at. He kept moving from one base to another during his stint as an airforce pilot. He was trained as an aeronautical engineer in the US, alter was sent for airforce training to the US Airforce academy, methinks. Like i said, he thinks i have become too adamant on my stance for effective reforms within Pakistan. But a few friends of mine are looking into establishing a scholarship fund for a few underpriveleged children at some good schools within Pakistan.

I agree with F and t that the land is not cursed. and we all happen to know the solution for its efficient recovery to its pristine health(the one glorious year till Jinnah`s death). Except none of its new generation of technocrats wants to take a leap into a retrogressive country for a variety of reasons; financial, security and personal growth issues are some of the ones which immediately come to mind).

The fact that some of us tried to go back after our ``foreign`` educations,and were treated like pariah, back in the 90`s also speaks columes for the alienation we feel from that society. The fact that Salaries over there are not commnesurate with ones experience, and professionalism but are linked directly to the skin colour of the profesional makes it even more revolting to go back. A ``white`` fellow, with possibly lessser academic credentials, than some equaivalent pakistnais applying for the same job can easily cut the pakistani national by not only getting that job, but also making at least 4 to 5 times that the pakistani fellow could ever hope to make. Ironic is it not, that such blatant discrimination exists in mostly islamic countries. Saudi arabia, UAE revel in institutionalised discrimination against its own so called Muslim brethren. The ads in their newspaper make for interesting reading. ``Required an ..... Engineer, for immediate employment. Prefernce will be given to UAE Nationals, Gulf nationals, African arabs, European and US nationals, and then other countries``. The further irony is we their muslim brethren, can even sue them for unfair, or race equality act, for they are light years behind in their development to understand what equality actually means.

T, you are absolutely right, money is the nest best alternative to invest for e.g in the education of people back home. education at the lowest levels. to start with, and to make sure that the poorest segments are attending this ``better`` quality of education as compred to Govt operated hovels, in the name of education. NGO`s no matter whatanybody says, still make a great difference in the rural populations education efforts. Often it is accused that NGO`s are doing much more under the umbrella of providing education. I dont care... what we have not been able to do effectively these organisations are filling in, and doing their jobs..sure with some inner interests as well, but i am not bothered about it.

Introspection is my favourite word in all of this. be it for the indians to look at the K issue, or us to look at ourselves, in so far as what we are doing there, not to mention what we are doing to our country.

Asim

Asim Hayat #22:

Interesting read from your friend MQ. When I finished reading it I was tempted to post Sea Gull II here. Much the same thing, different words.

Speaking of words, I object to the use of `cursed land` on many grounds.

There is no rock or mountain that can remain unmoved when confronted with human will and endeavour.

There is no such thing as a cursed land. It is us!

Time we wake up and look ourselves in the eye. It is us ---- the singular and the collective ---- we reap what we paid ---- or in some cases what we neglected to pay.

As a friend chastised me sweetly in response to Sea Gull II yesterday, we can cry and incessantly express our anguish but what are we doing, if anything, to alleviate the situation?

We have to reflect --- and hard ---- are we doing enough? Can I shake of all self doubts that overwhelm when friends gently chastise by telling myself that from this distance I am doing all I could do ---- by monetary contribution to some organisations there ---- and there is not much else I can do?

Wish there are easy answers.

regards,

t