Male Hostel 'Unhindered Madness'

Lt. Gen. Mushtaq Ahmed Baig became a victim of suicide bombing in Rawalpindi. He was one of our kin, a medical doctor by profession. He was a healer; someone who everyone seeks when injured or dying. It is hard to believe that someone would consider him a villain in the larger scale of the politics. He was a doctor not a killer. True that he was a soldier but he was also a doctor. He was the surgeon general of Pakistan. I do not know him but his picture speaks of a gentleman who was pretty much innocuous and kind. Who would benefit from his death? Local Taliban have reportedly postponed their strikes till the new govt. comes into shape. So they in all possibility are out of the suspect list. Any political party has no interest in destabilizing their new achieved political power. So they are out too. A personal/domestic disagreement leading to killing through suicide is a far fetched idea too. On the other hand Al-Qaeda will want to destabilize the country so that they can g...

Fidel Castro has officially stepped aside from the seat of power that he so diligently clung onto for the past half century. His name has been so maligned by the western media that any mention of Cuba provokes an unwelcome image of Fidel with it in everyone's mind. We forget to see a country but instead are forced to see a man - who we are made to believe is - a dictator. But finally Fidel Castro is a thing of the past. He is behind the curtain and Cuba has something new to celebrate for - a new leader. Raul can not be termed a new face as he has been hanging around his brother, lurking in the power corridors, since the revolution in 1959 . He personally saw to the execution of anti revolution people in the years ensuing the revolution. But for that matter change is welcome as that is the only permanent thing to go around uninterrupted in this world and in this cosmos. My concern is the change in the relationship between Pakistan and Cuba. Cuba was one of the first count...

The elections are done and dusted with. The past is over and the future lies ahead of us. Foe a common Pakistani or for any common citizen of the world all the most important thing is the stability in the budget in his/her life. In the end that matters to most Pakistanis - and what lead to the fall of the previous administration - is infact, the cost of living and inflation in day to day use commodities. I was going through the Economist's Intelligence Unit's forecast for Pakistan. Things are not very encouraging. For the year 2008-09 the economist predicts , The continuing instability may begin to have a strongly negative effect on foreign investment inflows. The economy is also likely to suffer from a lack of effective policymaking caused by political strife. The GDP growth is expected to slow down to 5.4% for the present year and the next year. Inflation will exceed the 6.5 - 7.5% target range and is expected to average 7.9%. When we look at the outlook of the key eco...

YouTube is not available for browsing in Pakistan for the past one day. I say, 'not available for browsing', instead of 'banned' or 'blocked' because i have no concrete information as to the cause of the outage. The rumors are ripe that the outage is because of a ban on the domain enforced by PTA through PIE. This ban has been placed for the reason of blocking user access to amateur video of poll rigging in some parts of the country. Other rumors suggest that the ban has been placed by PTA to block access to soft pornography and other morally objectionable material available on the domain. In my opinion if this outage is a result of a ban on the part of PTA then it is most probably orchestrated by political factions that are most hurt by video footage showing their supporters rigging the elections like there is no tomorrow. But equally possible could be the problem at YouTube end. For the past one week or so most of what seemed credible information presente...

What is Nawaz Sharif thinking right now about this country, his party and himself? It is hard to believe that he can actually think. But let us assume for the sake of an argument that he is thinking. The thought about the country and reforming it is his last thought, to this much i am certain. Right now he is thinking of building himself and his part around himself as is the normal custom of any feudal party. He is thinking of ways to get into the parliament. He is not thinking of becoming the prime minister but he is certainly yearning for the post. He is thinking of staying behind rather than in the fore front so that the party that forms the govt. bears the burden of blame when this egg basket of development of their predecessors breaks suddenly on the resumption of normal governance in the country. He is also thinking about gettign rid of Musharraf as he fears him as someone who can make him wet his pants in the night. The restoration of pre 3rd November judiciary is not in...

The results of the elections are pouring in very slowly but steadily. There have been huge and unexpected upsets in the loss of Sheikh Rashid, Chaudhary Shujaat, Sher Afghan Niazi and Ameer Hussain. PML-Q is suffering a blow after another. PPP is emerging as the majority shareholder and a national party. PML-N is following close. ANP has once again asserted its show of strength in NWFP. All this is slowly happening. I am thinking about Imran Khan and Qazi Hussain Ahmed. What are they thinking right now? I think they must be thinking that they have made the biggest and almost fatal mistake by not participating the elections. the future of the country has been decided for the next five years. Elections have happened and since main stream parties are winning there is little hope of post election protests. In this scenario the hopes of both Imran Khan and Qazi Hussain Ahmed to run a struggle against the dictator have dashed to the ground. Both of them must be cursing their doom...

Parliamentary Elections are just 12 hours away in Pakistan. Unlike all previous elections i have reached the voting age for these elections. Now i can use my right to vote to select a candidate that i think represents future and progress. I can be part of the democratic process. I can be a miniature vector of change or towards change. But i will not use my right to vote. that means i will not participate in the process of electing representatives who will rule my country and my fate for the next five years, even more if they get their way like this present dictator, Musharraf. In doing so i will loose my right to object to any actions of the 'elected', more so selected representatives of this country. but this can be debated and in most probability i will not pass from any opportunity to pointing out wrong doings and mischief in the character of those who lead my unfortunate country in the future. I will not vote because i know the outcomes of the elections have been pr...

The HRW has released a report and an audiotape that contains the voice of Attorney General Malik Abdul Qayyum in which he is advising an unknown caller about massive vote rigging by Musharraf and PML-Q. The AG also advised the caller on what political party should the person approach to become a successful candidate for the upcoming elections. The AG's office has denied that he ever made any suggestions to this effect and speculates that the tape is fabricated. The HRW reports that the recording was made accidentally when Qayyum was giving a phone interview to a journalist but was interrupted on another phone by the unknown caller. If i can speculate Qayyum's brother is contesting this month's election on PML-Q ticket. In my mind the unknown caller was most probably his brother seeking advice on his future action plan. Here is the english translation of his conversation, Leave Nawaz Sharif (PAUSE).... I think Nawaz Sharif will not take part in the election (PAUSE).......