Zalim Online Good job, keep up the good work but try to explain it to people your point of view with a pinch of honey and sugar!

Nadira Tariq

Operation Searchlight Ras Siddiqui Thanks for the wonderful sweet thoughts of Dacca. Your writing brought back a flood of memories. Its not easy to forget is it?
Tariq Aqil

Jaipur Dreams This article brought back many memories for me. I belong to the generation called Midnight Children or those born on the eve of Partition of the sub continent. Zia Ahmed should know this Hilal Ahmed Khairi and yours truly were both born in 1946 and migrated to Pakistan with our parents just after Partition. My life long dream was realised when I travelled to India in 1999. It was like going back in time My genaration has no memories of Pre partition India just the stories we heard from our parents and other elders of the family. I travelled to Delhi, Meerut my birth place, and Sardhana. It was an educating experience. I did not find any bitterness or hatred anywhere It was like being in a place I know very well . It was a thrill to go back to the house I was born in that is Aftab Manzil my Grandfathers house in Meerut believe my Zia it was a Mansion! Even some of the old people who worked for my family and their off spring were so very glad to see me somebody they had never seen in their lives I was just a ghost from their past but the display of love and affection was truly amazing and I was invited to their homes and entertained lavishly All of them are Hindus but their attitude and behaviour was totally different from what I had heard I mean the Horror stories we heard about the atrocities committed by the Hindus during Partition. All the time I kept wondering how could such nice decent gentle people do all that? the answer is simple Intolerance is the greates of all vices and religious intolerance can turn men into beasts. Visiting Sardhana was memorable. to stand before the statue of my earliest known ancestor and gaze in wonder at the chiselled features belive me I did find an an uncanny resemblance to my own grandfather. Well that is another story! Keep writing Zia I just stumbled onto your article by accident.Good Luck!
Tariq Aqil

Low Intensity Conflict My writing is NOT pro establishment nor do I intend to glorify the Pakistan Army. The objective of this article is to define and explain the concept of LOW INTENSITY CONFLICT. Examples from Pakistani history or the present day situation have been taken to illustrate the various aspects of Low intensity Conflict and to suggest some ways and means of avoiding or containing this sort of conflict. My Apologies if I have ruffled some feathers or stepped on some toes specially to MANTOLIVES, Kaurasach,Arjun_m and all other CHOWKIES who have been offended. I have vreceived my share of abuse and condemnation but would like to clarify that I have personally lived through the happenings in Dacca during the terrible dark days of the 1971 war and I know that the role played by the Pakistani leadership and the army generals is nothing to brag about.
Tariq Aqil

The Death of Edward Said -- A tribute Very befitting tribute to one of the greatest palestinians of this age. Words just cannot describe the contributions and the role played for the Palestinians by a giant like Edward Saeed isnt it ironic that the voice of the Palestinians had to be a christian Arab? why cant there be a Christian Pakistani to mtake up some Pakistani cause? What do the Thekedars of our so called ideological lobby have to say a bout this? Are vwe Pakistanis First or Muslims First? Our Constitution does not permit a NON MUSLIM to hold the office of the President or the Prime Minister of the country? Isnt this institutionalised discrimination? or Racial and religious prejudice deliberately built into our political system with constitutional safe guards? and then we have the nerve and the cheek to criticise the western democracies for their discriminatory policies against the Muslims and Asians! Who are the prejudiced lot WE or the Western Nations? Care to comment somebody? Anyweay my compliments to Shahnawaz Khar for a very well written and realistic tribute to a giant amongs the pygmies the reaL intellectual in a crowd of self styled geniuses so fond of blowing their own trumpets. Well Done Shahnawaz!
Tariq Aqil

The Enigmatic Smile Lives On Roohi could you please enlighten me: What is the ``da Vinci Code`` ?? Thanks for your response Subroto Sorry that you missed the experience of a lifetime. Same here I have yet to see the mysterious lady in all her glory.

Air Cdre Rizwanullah Khan Shaheed Memorial Trust My Dear Samina Rizwan
Extremely touched and impressed with your article and your efforts to help others in the field of education. It was a pleasant tragic and sad information to know that Rizwanullah khan is an ABDALIAN. I am one of the old Abdalians (6th Entry 1959.) There was a Rizwanullah khan in my entry in OMAR WING lease let me know the entry Number of your shaheed husband. I am a teacher, writer and freelance journalist based in Islamabad. You can read some of my articles on CHOWK also. I would like to become a part of your team and do something for helping these kids who lost their fathers in the tragic accident in Kohat. Currently I have a contract job with a government organization as a content writer but I teach in the evenenigs at the English Language Institute F-7/4 Islamabad. My subject is English language and literature and I can also teach history, IR and journalism from school to university level. Curently i am conducting classes for IELTS, SAT-1, GMAT, TOEFL and GRE. Please let me know if there is anything that I can do to help or assist you in your very noble and practical project. May God bless you and help you in all your endevors.
Tariq Aqil
167, St.22 I-10/4 Islamabad
Phone: 92-51-4446045
email:taqil17@hotmail.com and taqil@e-government.gov.pk

The rise of Private Schools in Southern Punjab Well said Shanawaz! Right now the problem is not quantity but quality. Very recently I had a student preparing for IELTS, she was a PHD (Chemistry) From Quaid-i-Azam university but believe me her level of English was at par with my SEVEN years old nephew! I must say there is something definitely wrong somewhere With apologies to Shakespeare there is something rotten in the state of Pakistan! how could somebody get a Phd from one of our top university and yet be so pathetic in simple spoken and written English?? The same is true for all IT related desciplines. Most of our universities are churning out or rather mass producing graduates with total disregard to the QUALITY of their knowledge. I say this from experience because I am a teacher and I work in an IT related Goverment Department. Keep writing Shahnawaz So happy to see one of my old students doing something CREATIVE! thank God you did not make a BABU! Good LucK!
TARIQ AQIL

Pakistanis in Afghanistan, Nothing New good article shahnawaz where are you and how are you?? what happened to your plans about joining the civil service? at the bottom of this page it says you are a software engineer. Have you also junped on to the ID band wagon?? do get in touch and let me have your email adress.

regards and best wiashes from your old teacher inIslamabad

Tariq Aqil

Of Errant Politicians And The Kashmir Cause So glad to see your article on CHOWK.well written articulate and meaningful keep writing you can do a lot better and remember your old teacher in Islamabad!

Tariq Aqil

Afghanistan Reflections I could not agree more with your analyses.Pakistan today is again in the frontline facing destruction and doom. Pervez Musharaf iis the last hope for this country.If he fails Pakistan will slide into anarchy and then the MULLAHS will have a field day. These illiterate MULLAHS and their henchmen the so callded religious students of the MADRISSAS are a curse for this country. If the present Govt. Falls Pakistan will be at the mercy of the obscurantists and the religious fundamentalists. This country can implode and become another failed state to be discarded on the dust heap of history. God save Pakistan from the MULLAHS and their narrow minded followers who cannot see beyond the tip of their dirty noses.

Refusing The Sitara-I-Imtiaz Well Done Sahbash dr. Hoodhbhouy!Congratulations for having the guts to speak the truth.You deserve the highest accolades and respect for doing the right thing.Thank god there are people in this country who are not hypocrites.It is really gratifying to know that this nation on the brink of financial and social collapse still has a few brave and honest people.I think there is still hope for the country if we have people like Pervez Hoodbhouy.Please accept my congratulations and prayers for your future happiness and success from all of us.

Democracy in Pakistan: The Missing Link? Democracy in Pakistan Means a Govt.``OF THE PUNJABI,BY THE PUNJABI,FOR THE PUNJABI`` there is no other meaning of the word in this country.Punjab by virtue of its brute majority has ruled the country and every instittion for the last half a century.The share of the punjab in cicil services, armed forces, banking, business and commerce is overwhelming.The last two stints of MIAN NAWAZ SHARIF provide proof of Punjabi chauvanism when every office civil and military was held by a ``Gentleman`` from the punjab.The only way to save the country from total disintegration is to find some constitutional method of ending Punjabigardi.The smaller provinces are sick and tired of being ruled like colonies and having punjabi lords and masters to rule their destiny.At the moment it is only the punjab Province which is getting richer and more prosperous at the cost of the other provinces.The situation today is exactly like it was in the days of EAST PAKISTAN which is now BENGLADESH.If some thing is not done to end the cruel and corrupt domination of the Punjab nothing can save the country from becoming a failed state in the very near future.

Defend the Country, not its Government Pakistan is in the firm grip of an unholy triangleand this triangle is ARMY,Beaurocracy,and the Business classes.This dirty triangle cosists of only about two percent of the total population and it is sucking the lifeblood of the nation.Neither the people nor the various puppet regimes have anything to do about the dirty game being played in Pakistan.This dirty triangle has brought the country to the edge of the precipice and very soon Pakistan is going to end up on the dust heap of history like many failed states such as the USSR,yugoslavia and a few more.Pakistan can survive only and only of the grip of the dirty and unholy triangle is broken and the common people of the country are allowed to have a say in the running of the country.

Desi Olympics 2000 Very well written specially the bit about the MARTIAL RACES!!They believe they are Gods gift to humanity!!(The so called MARTIAL RACES)in fact they are nothing but a MYTH created by the colonial british rulers who needed loyal natives and they found them in the shape of Martial Races!

Martial Races are MARTIAL only when they have to bully a weaker side or to please their lord and master as they did uin the 1857 uprising against the BRITISH believe me they are nothing but STUFFED DOLL full of SAW DUST!!Whenever they meet their match they turn and run with their tails between their legs.The so called Martial Races are only Martial when the smell blood or money!!

Where Mountains Move Congratulations Mr.Azam on a very well written and well researched article.your depth of knowledge on this sensitive issue is really admirable.I wonder about your sources of information what ever your sources are they must be very authentic.Talking or commenting about nuclear matters in Pakistan is TABOO!! and if one dares to oppose or disagree with the official policy one is immediately branded as an agent of the Indian lobby or to be more specific an agent of RAW.Many opponents of the govt.policy on nuclear issues have had midnight visitations by the goons of the intelligence agencies.with out going into the pros and cons of the atomic weapons programme one has to wonder about the controversy around giving credit to certain individuals and denying any recognition to certain other scienists.Dr.A.Q. Khan gave up a lucrative job and a secure career to come to Pakistan and take on the task of providing the raw material for the weapons programme.He was the only one who could deliver weapons grade enriched uranium by his method of centrifuge technology.He is definitely the Oppenheimer, Enrico fermi and others put together of the Manhattan Project for Pakistan.He achived what nobody else could do.if the socalled brillliant scientists of the PAEC could manage on their own what was the need of Dr.Khan and his creation KRL?? today all the credit is being given to undeserved and totally unconcerned individuals?? was the Pakistani bomb possible without the enriched uranium?? isnt that like making an omlette without eggs?? why this discrimination? do we smell some form of racial or ethnic prejudice here?? why was this brilliant and patriotic scientist denied the rewards and recognition he deserves??