The Drive That was an amazing piece. My parents had a daugher four years before I was born, who died in a car accident. The way they would, even after years of her death, talk about her and remember her was just a small glimpse into the world of pain they both shared.

Being a Girl... Amazing! The poem brings out the feelings that must have been felt by any woman who has ben treated like a lowly animal.

Silent Screams Thank you people:)

Bina, after re-reading this I had similar feelings. I do link this with a specific incident, but in order for other people to understand, it should stand out as something more than a general statement on the current state of mind.

Silent Screams My profile needs updating-I just sent the revised one to the Editors a day back. I`m not 17, I`m 18 and perspectives change.

I find bliss in cliches at time. When you begin to explore what is beyond that is when you truly evolve. And to be honest, at times perhaps the only comfort to be gained is from a (supposedly) meaningless cornucopia of words.

The Largest City nice bina. everything about karachi can be so heartbreaking at times....the sight of the oil covered sea is awful, our city is so violent that when someone you know goes missing for half an hour, the city is combed looking for him/her.

A Black Spot Nice piece MAQ. Wasnt it a bit too , hmm, perhaps cold is the right word?

I Recall I?m only inhaling
and getting high
on my own
supply.

What? Whaaaaaaaaat? I know fourteen year olds who write more coherently and make more sense.

Saud’s Arabia? I remember reading Princess, Daughters of Arabia and Desert Royal, the accounts of life as a Saudi princess as told to Jean Sasson and being absolutely horrified at the human rights violations described. Some people who read it apparently thought it to be exaggerated and nonsensical. Whatever it may be, the Sauds are sick to have curtailed the freedom of their citizens, especially women, to such an extent

Foreign Qualified exactly my thoughts stuka....loved the theme. though i guess it was intended to be a short, short story.

Call to Action for Oil Spill Najam Sethi`s editorial in The Friday Times:

Hold Them Accoutable

IT IS NOW NEARLY ONE MONTH SINCE the oil tanker Tasman Spirit ran aground in one of the harbour channels of Karachi port and began to spill oil, slowly poisoning the marine environment and making human life uncomfortable for inhabitants in its range. In any civilised country, the government of the day would have moved heaven and earth to contain the environmental damage, salvage the oil, investigate and fix responsibility, obtain damages and compensate those adversely affected by the disaster. But not in Pakistan. In fact, the two institutions at the core of the debate, the KPT and PNSP, have not even bothered to tell us the gist of their investigations, let alone take any responsibility for the incident. And the Pakistan Navy, which is supposed to rule the waves of Karachi?s shorelines, has been strangely silent all this while. It is as though the PN has decided to stay clear of this mess instead of getting its hands soiled and risking censure. This is, to say the least, behaviour unbecoming of a national security institution ? after all, when the Pakistan army gets involved in flood relief or disaster work, it jumps in and does what it can for its citizens instead of pointing the finger at errant or negligent civilian institutions and staying clear of them.

By now several questions have been raised. The vessel contracted by the PNSC is said to be at least 25 years old. Is that within acceptable seaworthy age limits? Was the vessel being navigated from the channel to the berth at high tide as required for a tanker of its size or was it brought in at the middle of the ebb tide when the chances of running aground were higher, especially if that channel hadn?t been dredged as required from time to time? Is the technical and professional staff at the KPT trained to cope with such cases or is the KPT a sinecure for Pakistan Navy personnel who have missed promotion and been shunted to cushy jobs in the civilian bureaucracy? If there weren?t a sufficient number of adequate tugs from the Pak Navy at hand to tug the tanker to safety, why wasn?t an SOS sent for help from Dubai?

There are also many issues related to the oil spill. How many metric tonnes have already spilt into the sea? How many metric tonnes have been salvaged into other tankers? How many are still in the hold of Tasman Spirit? Will these be salvaged or not? What concrete steps are being taken to make sure that the oil is neutralised? Why weren?t ?floating walls? (with rope, canvas sheets, floats, bamboo sticks and weights, etc) built as soon as possible after the oil spill in order to contain it? Why did the KPT wait until August 7 ? a full ten days after the ship ran aground on July 27 ? to order the transfer of the oil to Pak Navy ships? If local experts were either not sufficiently trustworthy or not available, why did it take the KPT weeks to fly in the foreign experts?

A couple of high-ranking officials and one minister have been making clucking noises about the relief effort underway. But frankly speaking, it has all been rather pathetic. We imagined that General Pervez Musharraf or Mr Zafarullah Jamali might have taken the trouble to go to Karachi and lend their personal and federal shoulder to the job. But that didn?t happen, suggesting they have more important things to do with their precious time than to waste it on an unprecedented ecological disaster such as this one. How sad. Worse, piddling sums are being mentioned in connection with the damages to be sought from the owners and/or insurers of Tasman Spirit when the cost of the salvage operation to the government is going to be many times these amounts, forget about the untold loss to marine life in the area. Most surprising of all, some press accounts of what went wrong and who is responsible skirted the real issues and didn?t enlighten us about the nature and scope of the disaster. Similarly, the dismal response of PTV and Pakistan Radio is worth noting. Why weren?t their reporters on the job telling Karachiites the latest news on the operations at sea? Why weren?t they issuing news bulletins telling citizens how to cope with the situation in their areas?

There are lessons in this disaster for many people and institutions. But whether these will be learnt or not remains to be seen. Fortunately, however, some prominent people of Karachi have spoken out, and others have even got together and approached the courts to redress their grievances against the government and the state. This is a good sign, even if nothing concrete comes of it. If more citizens were at least prepared to stick their necks out and cry ?murder? when their rights are trampled upon or they are victims of government negligence or incompetence, the unaccountable institutions of the state would wake up to their responsibilities and put their houses in order. That is why we cannot afford to let them off the hook this time round.

Discipline - And That’s An Order! But seriously, look around you, dear reader. Does anything really appear to be in order other than the ridiculously timed traffic signals?

The ones in Karachi aren`t even timed properly. Just another ``fact`` .

Call to Action for Oil Spill Cleaning up the affected beach canot be done by untrained citizens-professionals are needed for the jo-or so is my understanding.

Call to Action for Oil Spill ARGH!! The mail to the city nazim bounced back because the inbox appears to have reached its limit and I receive an error page after submitting the form at the Ministry of Enviroment website. This all is making me even more stubborn. Are there no peaceful protests taking place against it in the city?

Call to Action for Oil Spill shandana do u or anyone else have the email adds? if so can you post it here? I cant seem to access the site from the uni computers, and will have to wait for eons until i get home.

Black Days in Karachi Once again, the procastination of KPT and the powers to be in the city govt have led to the extensive pollution of one of the only things Khiites thrive on-the beach. I have stopped reading the Metropolitan pages because my heart breaks with every piece of news. Quite a naivete approach, because you cannot escape reality as it looms over your head.

Chowk Rant I write because I am compelled.
Because there are people living in my head who want out.

Best thing I`ve heard all day.

I write to let my suicidal, angst filled alter ego vent her feelings. I dont care if it makes sense to anyone else though. it makes sense to me-and thats enough.