Pakistan, a Different Country! Re: Masadi

Please check with the IT department of your university and see if they have not blocked it. IT departments are known to block all sorts of sites and your could be one of those.

If the GOP had blocked it, I would not have been able to access it. If the site had been black listed as you suggest, then it should be totally inaccessible in all of Pakistan.

Ciao

Reinterpretation of Islam in Turkey Re: NangaPir# 4

Mustafa Kemel was a colonel in the imperial Ottoman army and fought the allies on the Gallipoli peninsula during the First World War. He did not ambush any allied naval fleet in the Bosporus. The allies never made it upto the Bosporus, as a matter of fact. The allied fleet basically was stopped at the Straits of Dardenelles by the Turkish mines and the coastal fortifications.

A look at the map will show that Bosporus is a straits that seperates European Turkey from Asiatic Turkey and at the mouth of the Bosporus lies the city of Istanbul, then known as Constantinople.

The enterance to Bosporus lies through a narrow neck of waters known as the Straits of Dardenelles, which opens up into the Sea of Marmara, which lies between it and the Straits of Bosporus. The Straits of Dardenelles opens into the Aegean Sea, to the south and likewise, the Straits of Bosporus leds the way into the Black Sea, to the north.

The future of Turkey may be with Muslims, but the Turkish economy is linked to Europe and in fact, apart from Turkish; German is the second language of choice for the Turks.

Ciao

Ciao

Pakistan, a Different Country! Re: Masadi

I have no problems downloading your site, though the download speed varies occassionally.

Ciao

Pakistan, a Different Country! re: tahmed32

It was a pleasure disagreeing with you on certain issues and though I am vague about the disagreements or the issues disagreed, I still remember the civility and the high level of respect accorded despite the convictions of your opinions in disagreeing with mine.

Ciao

Pakistan, a Different Country! Re: Masadi

"In the words of C. Wright Mills (1916-1962):

The more we understand what is happening in the world, the more frustrated we often become, for our knowledge leads to feelings of powerlessness. We feel that we are living in a world in which the citizen has become a mere spectator or a forced actor, and that our personal experience is politically useless and our political will a minor illusion.

Very often, the fear of total permanent war paralyzes the kind of morally oriented politics, which might engage our interests and our passions. We sense the cultural mediocrity around us- and in us- and we know that ours is a time when, within and between all the nations of the world, the levels of public sensibilities have sunk below sight; atrocity on a mass scale has become impersonal and official; moral indignation as a public fact has become extinct or made trivial. We feel that distrust has become nearly universal among men of affairs, and that the spread of public anxiety is poisoning human relations and drying up the roots of private freedom.

We see that people at the top often identify rational dissent with political mutiny, loyalty with blind conformity, and freedom of judgment with treason. We feel that irresponsibility has become organized in high places and that clearly those in charge of the historic decisions of our time are not up to them. But what is more damaging to us is that we feel that those on the bottom- the forced actors who take the consequences- are also without leaders, without ideas of opposition, and that they make no real demands upon those with power."

The above text is reproduced from copying it from your website. Please contact your ISP and inform them regarding the problem. If you have been experiencing this problem since last year, it would seem that the problem is on your end; maybe with your software or unbeknownst, you may have altered the setting on your PC/laptop and that might be a reason why you are not able to access the site.

Ciao

Pakistan, a Different Country! Re: Masadi

Rational Realities download is quick, but your site, www.asadi.org, is sluggish and the "refresh" has to be hit a couple of times before the entire page appears.

Please keep in mind that lately Pakistan was experiencing some internet related problems and the overall internet traffic is still slow. The fibre-optic cable that was damaged is not fully repaired and the traffic is being routed through an alternative route. If you are having problems accessing the site, it might be due to a technical reason and not necessarily as a reason of the site being restricted.

Please check your settings. Also note, that there is a merger of sorts taking place and a few ISPs in Pakistan have acquired new owners and are in the process of upgrades and this has caused browsing problems - slow browsings and occassionally the inability to connect with the host server. Again, it depends where your site is "hosted"; traffic towards Europe and the United States is still sluggish and some times non-responsive.

Incidently, YouTube is back online and can be accessed also. SR should be happy....

Ciao

Pakistan, a Different Country! re: Masadi

Both websites can be accessed from inside Pakistan.

Ciao

The ANP Challenge Interesting article.

The Pakistani federation will evolve into the 1973 vision as the ethnic based parties swept the elections and that will greatly weaken the center and if the process continues, then Islamabad might have to accept the idea that federal power has devolved into increased provincial autonomy for individual provinces.

Listening to the wind chimes of Islamabad, the hurried and frantic ambassdorial visits to PPPP and PML-N suggest that the west is afraid of a reduced federal power structure, which will then negatively impact the war on terror. This is the reason, why they are asking new government not dispense with Musharraf fully and to retain him.

The Great Game continues and the pawns keep jockeying for power, but the reality remains the same - different music, different seating arrangement but the same participants and and public is not invited to the show called Democracy. (lol)

February 18th, 2008-Election Day Re: tahmed32# 245

Agreed that legitimate governments have more weight and don't you think that we should move away from slapping one another?

Let's us not be like Wasi Zafar the former law minister, shall we?

Sirji, you have an ocean between you and the stink, but I am on the street and I can tell you; the stink still lingers...

Ciao

February 18th, 2008-Election Day The jury is still out.

On this issue, I will have to agree with Masadi that the elections have not, yet, basically changed the existing structure of power in Pakistan. This election proves nothing. I do not mean to pour cold water over the celebrations and by all means, we should celebrate the end of a peaceful election and the acceptance of final results.

The real test will start with the formation of the coalition government and the question, how long will such a government last; will Musharraf exist within his constitutional role and will parties, that form the next government, realize that they have to co-opt to stay in power?

Once the celebration dies out, and the hang-over is slightly less, people will realize that coalition governments are are alot tricky to manage and once more the advantage will go to Musharraf to rig some kind of a house of cards in his support. The idea of removing Musharraf, in this sense, makes a valid point because any party that comes to power, will want it's "own man" in the presidential palace to prevent a palace putsch against its interests.

Reconcilation means and will be twisted to mean to forget the past and move on and that means the restoration of the judges will be mooted. The restoration of the 1973 constitution should predate November 3, 2007 and should actually go back to the time, when Z. A Bhutto made the first changes to it in the 1970s if the cause of the federation is really to mean more than mere lip service.

Masadi is right; what is required is a systemic overhaul and not a comestic facelift.

I hope, I am wrong but past, bitter, experience of living in Pakistan and seeing Pakistani politics, from a close and personal perspective, cautions me to be shy from making vaunted predictions about the future. The impatience of the Pakistani political parties is generally pegged at 3 years and once the anti-Musharraf honeymoon is over, and the real limitations of translating promises into deeds materializes, the old complaints will surface once more.

The army is still the linchpin of the process and the conventional wisdom is that due to international pressure and low domestic perceptions of legitimacy, the ISI was ordered not to interfer with the elections, but that does not gurantee anything for the future, because the machinations of the past do not breed any confidence in the future.

The people have voted and that is good, but will they be representated or will it be another round of dipping the pen in the company inkpot?

Too many questions to ponder, but as I said; I hope, my fears are misplaced.

Ciao

February 18th, 2008-Election Day re: Masadi

Have you considered writing on the issues facing Pakistan? There is always room for another point of view on Chowk. Otherwise, you come across as another wanna be critic.

Ciao

Pakistan Elections 2008 - An analysis re: viqarm

The "danger-zone" will be over when the results are accepted by the losers and a process is thus established for a peaceful transfer of political power.

Also; please note that the results are not as important as the process of democracy. After this election is over, Pakistan will need to move towards an independent election commission to re-start the process of the institutional re-building and till that time, we will never be really out of the danger-zone.

Ciao

Pakistan Elections 2008 - An analysis Re: nhk # 12

I was not refering to the polarization between the parties. I was talking about the polarization; better word is alienation that exists within the electorate with the politicans.

Can the parties unite and eek out an existence? How long will this honey-moon end?

Religion and state autonomny issues have to be dealt with.

Sorry for these truncated sentences, but WAPDA is very unreliable.

Ciao

Pakistan Elections 2008 - An analysis re: Mantolives

Manto, Pakistan is a highly polarized nation. The politics of Pakistan have used up all the space for a potential accomodation for a compromise. The potential for violence is papable and cannot be underestimated. The real issue is not a free and fair elections, but the public perceptions about the elections.

If PML-Q wins; PPP will agiate because it will be seen as the confirmation of rigging and election fraud, which PPP has been warning about. If PPP wins, PML-Q will not accept that verdict and so, we risk an anullment of the popular vote. Before we even get to your analysis, Pakistan has to survive the post-election period, when the reactions to the results will start to gel. Musharraf will prefer a minority government in power or even a hung, gird-locked parliament, because that would secure him from a threat of an impeachment vote and importantly, allow him to "horse-trade" and play a divide and conquer game with the next parliament.

The simple math is that 24 hours before the election, all campaign activity will stop. On election day, the polls will be open from 8 am to 5 pm. After which, the polls be counted on the premise of the polling stations in the presence of "polling-agents" - members of political parties to make sure that all is fair. The results should be known by the midnight of Feb. 18 but these will be considered as "unofficial" till the Election Commission certifies these results and the final certified results will take another 15-20 days.

This is the period that Pakistan has to live through - 3 weeeks after the elections - and which is the real danger-zone. If the elections results from the polling stations, already known, do not match the certified results from Islamabad, there is very high chance of wide-spread riots in Pakistan, because this will suggest a case of fraud.

The army will, then, have to decide and act. The army cannot allow the situation to get out of control and it does not want a possible urban warfare on the streets of Pakistan, while it deals with a full blown insurgency in FATA. Pay close attention to the role of the bureaucracy. The army and bureaucracy have governed Pakistan together since 1958 and consider themselves as the "steel ribbon" that holds Pakistan together and in this case, you should anticipate a merger of the institutional interests of the bureaucracy and the military to stem the violence and that implies the probability of the reimposition of martial law to maintain peace or alteast a governor's rule to control the situation - suspension of personal freedoms and constitutional protections.

Your analysis was very informative, but my instincts tell me not to predict anything till after we are out of the danger-zone safely.

American Muslims and Presidential Elections 2008 re: hamidm and Arjun

Arjun, you are right! Let's see what happens. Let's see what the protest vote will be...and there will be one! It is all boiling down into a number's game and with Hillary holding on to a thin edge in the delegate count and Obama slipping ahead in the popular count, it will be interesting come summer...

McCain now has to swing to the right and convince the GOP base...the Bible thumpers...wonder which way the Latte Liberals will lean...in both cases...the establishment's candidates are having a rough time...Hillary with Obama and Mitt dropping out...

Hamid ji

I can understand that....I think that McCain will be understanding enough to kick some hilly billy butt in our own corner of the Redneck Wonderland....and the rocket's red glare...the bombs bursting in the air...will sound so surreal in Pushtu....

Ciao

Drama of Succession - Pakistan People’s Party re: Masadi

I had a conversation, today, with a US elite. He was not really an elite, as he was only 5'5" tall and had black hair, which was thinning. He was wearing faded, torn, jeans and a plaid shirt, open-buttoned not tucked in. He looked like an unemployed college student. I think that he was wearing Timberlands, which also happen to be my favorites.

Then, I realized how crafty the US elite were and so, I acessed my iPhone and opened my notes on Mills, which I alway carry with me like the picture of Vladamir Lenin, which is the screen saver on my iPhone. The US elite lied to me; they said I was a peon of the west! I immediately, took the US elite's picture and emailed it, using my WLAN access, to the all newspapers in the world. I had to warn the people about these dangerous cameleons, who pretend to be the saviors of the world only to leech its' blood as Mills has so wisely predicted.

I now see the error of my ways. I have seen the light of the coming of the Lord and His Truth shall trample the vintage, where the grapes of the US elites' lies are sown, as Mills had predicted.

Lo! Behold! The US elites are really the Romans, who killed Christ! One day when Jesus was strolling along the shores of the Dead Sea with Mary Madeleine, he accidently stumbled and fell. Looking at what tripped him, Jesus saw some scrolls and when he read them, he realized that they were the primary drafts of Mills' new book and realizing their worth, he buried them in a cave.

The Dead Sea Scrolls were Mills warning the world that the Romans were the US elites and to keep their secret, the Romans framed Jesus as the king of Jews and killed him! O' tradedy! Howl! Howl! Howl! Howl! Howl!

Mills was right! I was wrong! You were right! The world is flat! The sky is green and tangerines are purple, Papa Smurf is the Grandmidget of the US elites and Jimi Hendrix still rocks around the clock!

Ciao