Chandigarh/Lahore: Indian Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has been invited to Pakistan for the ground-breaking ceremony of the Guru Nanak Dev University being set up by the Pakistan government at Nankana Sahib, the birth place of Guru Nanak Dev – the founder of Sikhism.

The invitation was extended by former education minister of Pakistan’s Punjab, Imran Masood, at a meeting with Badal and others here. Masood has been instrumental in doing the ground work for setting up the university at Nankana Sahib named after Guru Nanak Dev. The ground-breaking ceremony of the university at Nankana Sahib, near Lahore city, will take place next month. Masood said the formal invitation for the university ceremony would be sent to Badal and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by the Pakistan/Punjab  government shortly. Former Punjab minister said he is hopeful of cooperation from the Indian Punjab government in helping set up the university in Pakistan and the university in Amritsar would extend all possible help in providing literature and other related educational material for the research in this upcoming university at Nankana Sahib.

Fu un terrorista pachistano ad effettuare, dalla cella di massima sicurezza del carcere pachistano di Hyderabad nel quale era rinchiuso, la telefonata al presidente pachistano Zardari, spacciandosi per il ministro degli esteri indiano Mukherjee, all’indomani degli attacchi di Mumbai, facendo temere per qualche ora lo scoppio della quarta guerra fra i due paesi (se si esclude quella non dichiarata del 1998). Lo riferisce oggi il quotidiano pachistano Dawn. Omar Saeed Sheikh, ritenuto uno dei piu’ importanti terroristi pachistani, in carcere tra l’altro per il rapimento e l’omicidio del giornalista del Wall Street Journal Daniel Pearl, secondo il giornale pachistano, in carcere, nonostante si trovasse in isolamento, riusciva a ricevere telefonate dalla moglie su un cellulare che aveva nascosto. La scheda Sim era una scheda inglese, cosa che avvalora quanto ha scritto nella sua biografia l’ex presidente Pervez Musharraf, secondo il quale Saeed era un servizio del MI6, il servizio segreto inglese. Sul quel telefono cellulare, il terrorista fu informato dalla moglie dei fatti di Mumbai, ricevendo continui aggiornamenti. Venerdi’ 28 novembre, a due giorni dall’inizio degli attacchi terroristici a Mumbai, nelle stesse ore in cui i gruppi speciali indiani liberavano gli ultimi ostaggi negli alberghi della citta’, nella residenza ufficiale del presidente pachistano Asif Ali Zardari squillo’ il telefono riservato: dall’altra parte Saeed, spacciandosi per il ministro degli esteri indiano, Pranab Mukherjee, accusava il Pakistan di aver aiutato i terroristi, annunciando di star spostando le truppe verso il confine pachistano e ingiungendo a Islamabad di prendere provvedimenti contro i fondamentalisti islamici. Zardari richiamo’ a Islamabad il primo ministro Yusuf Raza Gilani che era a Lahore, un aereo militare parti’ alla volta di New Delhi per riportare a casa il ministro degli esteri Shah Mahmud Qureshi che sarebbe dovuto ritornare il giorno dopo con un volo di linea. Il capo di stato maggiore dell’esercito viene avvisato di mettere in stato di massima allerta le truppe, e di cominciare a spostare battaglioni dal confine afghano a quello indiano. Furono 24 ore di intense telefonate, di contatti diplomatici tra Islamabad, New Delhi e Washington. Lo stesso pseudo ministro degli esteri indiano autore del falso telefonico con Zardari avrebbe provato a chiamare anche il segretario di stato americano Condoleezza Rice, ma i servizi americani non hanno passato la telefonata. La Rice invece parlo’ con Zardari e poi con Mukherjee, che smenti’. Saed e’ stato trasferito nel carcere di Lahore e il responsabile del carcere di Hyderabad, dopo che una perquisizione approfondita ha fatto rinvenire telefoni cellulari e schede nella cella di Saed, e’ stato trasferito.

Courtesy by: thenews.com.pk

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif Sunday announced to bear the medical expenses of a female student suffering from Thalassemia.

The Chief Minister made the announcement while addressing a ceremony of award distribution among students who secured top positions in the intermediate examination.

During the ceremony a female student told the Chief Minister about her health condition and the financial constraints of her parents. She said she was suffering from Thalassemia and that Rs30,000 have to be spent on her medical treatment per month.

While receiving the award from the Chief Minister, the female student asked him for admission at a private university. She said her father is a surveyor and earns a limited salary.

On this, Shahbaz Sharif announced to bear all her medical and educational expenses.

Senior Journalist Shehar Bano Khan from Pakistan was in Kolkata last weekend. She was a guest speaker at Y-Factor organized by NSHM on the theme ‘Is Media Losing Social Relevance’.

After her presentation, Khan was mobbed by the media students. As an observer, I could make out that they were thrilled to meet someone, for the first time in their lives, from Pakistan. The curiosity was endless. There also an innocent sense of identification. “I come from a conservative Muslim family. I want a career in journalism like you but my family is dead against it. How can I convince them?”   This question from the young girl put Shehar in a dilemma.

“My parents were supportive, so I didn’t have to struggle within the family regarding my career choice. But this information wouldn’t have helped the girl at all! I could clearly make out the preconceived notion in her mind that all Pakistani Muslims were more conservative than those in India. And I couldn’t exactly give her my first reaction either, which was – just fight it out!  It would have meant sheer misery for her.  I told her, listen to your elders, agree to what they say on everything except on the matter of writing. Keeping writing and you will find a career emerging” – this was what Shehar told me when we caught up later.

It was the term “preconceived notion” that stuck in my mind. I found it a continuing refrain as Shehar told me of her experiences in Kolkata. She had woven her presentation around a documentary film made in Pakistan on the period when emergency was declared by Musharaf and how journalists fought for the freedom of the press.

However, Shehar said during the discussion that followed, she increasingly realized that from senior journalists present on the panel to the academics in the audience, all were waiting for her to talk  ‘gender’ – meaning the subservience of women, including journalists, in her country. “They had the preconceived notion that all women in Pakistan are subject to  abuse, torture, atrocities and have absolutely no say anywhere or any social relevance  at all. I had a tough time convincing them that women have problems everywhere but that does not make us irrelevant in any country, including Pakistan”, she said.

In fact, in Pakistan too, as in India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and other  countries in the world,  women have struggled constantly for their rights.  From the illiterate common villager or the urbanite, from social workers to journalists,  lawyers, business women, or politicians, women from every strata society have fought against injustice, Shehar pointed out, adding, “I even felt that many in the audience didn’t even believe me when I said there are many educated women in Pakistan, there are women professionals in every field in Pakistan, that we have opinions and we do voice them. We contribute to the nation”.

Why this reaction? Don’t women have problems in India? Like when fundamentalists, caste leaders, criminals target them? Don’t women in conflict zones here suffer? Does that mean all women here are subservient, uneducated, abused and tortured? Is it a religion thing? – Women in Pakistan are probably as religious as women in India. How does that matter as far as rights are concerned?  Is the media responsible for generalizing issues related to Pakistani women in a certain manner here?, were some of the questions Shehar was firing at me.

I had met Shehar in Lahore in October and had immediately hit it off with her. I felt we could be good friends and this feeling was reinforced in Kolkata. Listening to Shehar’s questions, I had to admit that I too had gone to Lahore with preconceived notions. As soon as I crossed into Pakistan across the Wagah border, my eyes started searching for things which was different from India or Indians.

The road into Lahore just across the zero line was a mess. In fact there was no road at all. Large scale construction was taking place in the area. It was very dusty. “What a mess. Horrible roads in Pakistan” was the pleased thought which entered my head. The Pakistani journalist in the bus with me might have guessed what I was thinking. He pointed out that an outer ring road with flyovers was being constructed to ease congestion along the border and into Lahore. As we came out of the construction zone the road improved – as good as it was on our side of the border from Wagah into Amritsar.

Lahore really surprised me. Firstly, it was extremely green. The roads wide. The buildings a mix of the modern and the old, as is common in many Indian cities today.  In fact the area around the Gaddafi Stadium reminded me of the area around Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The traffic islands were well maintained and unlike here, there were pathways for pedestrians to walk across them.  There were also less people on the roads, on pavements, then what I had imagined. Definitely much less than in Kolkata!

With preconceived notions, I kept looking everywhere for men in skull caps and women wearing the veil. I couldn’t find them. However, there were fewer women in the streets. But the Pakistani women journalists I met threw all my preconceptions to the wind. Clad in fashionable salwar-kameez, stylishly cut hair – both long and short, well made up. From painted nails to kohl, kajal, eyeliners, blush, lipstick – everything was in evidence. As was high-heels, jewelry  and confidence – to a degree as seen in professional women in India. Of the seventy odd journalists, only about two or three kept their heads covered with their dupatta all the time.  The men journalists and photo-journalists wore trousers and shirts. Most of them would greet us with ‘Aadaab’. But many also went along with the hi, hello, good morning patterns. The majority were highly-educated and spoke fluent English. Journalists from the regional dailies spoke Urdu but tried to tone it down to a degree of Hindi for our benefit.

This may sound as though I am speaking about the educated, privileged class in Pakistan. Many of you might be wanting to say, cut the support, the emotion, what about the downtrodden, the underprivileged, the lower strata of society?

Well, first of all, I  consider myself to be the educated, privileged class in India. I am talking here about my preconceived notions and comparing myself to my counterparts in Pakistan. I didn’t find much difference, except  that if I said my god! Or ‘hey bhagwan’ when my files went flying from my hand, Shehar standing next to me said ‘ya allah’.

And now for the underprivileged, poor, lower sections of society. Honestly, I didn’t get much opportunity to interact at that level. But I saw the general public of Lahore during a visit to the Lahore Fort. The maidan in front of the Fort is reminiscent of our own Kolkata Maidan. Several families, mostly lower class and middle class were picnicking in the afternoon sun. Children were running helter skelter. There was food, balloons, kites etc. Many men were clad in Salwar-Kurta, women wore salwar kameez, and some of them, and I repeat here, just some of them wore the burqua. There were small children selling jute wares to tourists. Nothing sinisterly or pathetically different about that.

The food stalls next to my hotel in Lahore sold parathas and chaanps for breakfast with hot jalebis, there was rice, rotis, curries or meat for lunch and dinner.  People eating there were of the same status as those eating at roadside stalls in India.  The rich have cars there. The poor use the public transport, which, however, is not too good, as they point out themselves. Infrastructural development is the main requirement. Public concern is related to education, employment, food, shelter, basic amenities like pure drinking water, electricity.

To be frank, I lost quite a few preconceived notions regarding the difference between the two countries and its people, in Pakistan. Notions, which were perhaps not defined in my mind but which were part of any visualizations I had when I thought or talked Pakistan or of Pakistanis, earlier.

Now, returning again to Shehar. She was absolutely thrilled to be in Kolkata and extremely interested in its colonial past. She stared wide eyed at the Victoria Memorial, the Writers’ Building and soaked in the charms of Dalhousie Square. She wanted to see where the Pakistani cricketers stayed when they came here. She sighed at the sight of Eden Gardens as I had sighed at the sight of the Imran Khan enclosure at Gaddafi Stadium. She was wonder struck at the sight of the modern second Hooghly Bridge and immediately identified our Howrah Bridge as that “famous Calcutta landmark”.

And she wanted to buy sarees! I was amazed. “When do you wear sarees?”,  I asked her. On occasions mostly, especially during weddings, was her reply. Many professional women in India would perhaps give the same answer.  She bought a few embroidered, cotton sarees, was extremely pleased with the packets of  dry sweets I bought for her – in fact she was awestruck at the Haldiram outlet I took her too. “Nothing like this is there in Lahore”.

She ate a Chinese lunch at the Bar-B-Que  restaurant on Park Street with great enjoyment – mainly chicken and prawn. She said Park Street reminded her of Karachi. Shehar had high praise for the mutton biryani and chaanp from Zeeshan which comprised our dinner. She absolutely drooled over the desert, which was ‘Shahi Tukra’, again from Zeeshan. “Its 2000 calories! But I don’t care!”

Shehar worked for ‘The Dawn’ for thirteen years. She quit when she went to London for her second masters in Gender Issues at London School of Economics. She returned to Lahore for the South Asian Women in Media’s first Regional Conference in October. From December 1^st, she will join ‘The Daily Times’.  She is unmarried by choice but says “that doesn’t mean I won’t marry in future!”.

Shehar is extremely concerned about terrorism. In Pakistan, India, Afghanistan. She talked about the fears of the ordinary man in her country, facing the brunt of terror attacks. she had questions regarding Maoists in India. She wanted to know about India-China relations and talked at length about India-Pakistan relations. Her primary concern seemed to be the rampant corruption amidst politicians and the bureaucracy – within and across the borders.

She bought books from Starmark in Kolkata  – ‘The Mahabharata’ and ‘The Ramayana’ by C Rajgopalachari. Her core interest is religious philosophy.

I don’t know if Shehar came here with any preconceived notions. Maybe she did.  I hope now she that she has had a first hand experience, she has a clearer understanding of Indians and India. I hope she finally returned with good memories. I am happy to have a friend in Pakistan.

Gaddafi Stadium Lahore Empty

Gaddafi Stadium Lahore celebrates its 50th year of glory with a SAD note, no International Cricket this year and in upcoming future years at least for some of them if not most. It has his own moments of magnificent and glory for cricket and for Pakistan cricket. Most special might be the 1996 World Cup final but unfortunately Pakistan wasn’t there to compete but yet it was a great match and a low profile team Sri Lanka excelled by beating World leaders Australia. 

Gaddafi Stadium Lahore at night

It has some memorable wins for Pakistan in test matches as well as ODIs. Gaddafi Stadium  is also the head quarter of Pakistan cricket with PCB head office in there and other important offices and academies. 

I almost daily or 5 days a week went pass this beautiful stadia and some times in the restaurants around it for eating. I never went it to watch a match not because I don’t like in fact I would love to but I wasn’t living in Lahore when there were regular International matches and even if there was some while I am here I missed due to reasons like Job or lack of partner to go with etc. But went in couple of time and once Pakistan team was practicing there before leaving to UAE for a series against Australia in April 2009. That day I saw Shoaib Akhtar and Shahid Afridi in action live in practice and also went near Javaid Miandad at a shake hand distance but he was with media about some press conference related to women cricket team so I avoid getting an auto graph or shake hand. But that was a memorable day of my life regarding cricket or Pakistan cricket and Gaddafi Stadium.

Gaddafi Stadium Lahore under attack

But now when ever i saw its  flood lights brightening the whole area I wonder when it will get back those crazy moments, madness, celebrations, noise, thrill and action. It all looks reddish and sad with his head down at flood lights tower by the lack of action. We can only hope for it and me being an optimistic is hoping to get cricket in Gaddafi Stadium before 2014 or 2015.

I must pray and may be you too!

Gaddafi Stadium Lahore in Action

PS: I started playing proper cricket once again after almost 7 years at a club called Model Town Greens Cricket Club Lahore. I am pretty excited about it and hoping to adjust time with my 8 hours job. Wish me luck

Finally the ever awaited list of National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO)  is out which has names of 8,041 beneficiaries out of which only 34 are politicians and rest are from bureaucracy , criminals, businessmen and other accused.

There is a huge demand from various corners of the society to take resignations voluntarily or in voluntarily from the people who benefited from this law and are still serving in the government.

The point of view of government as presented by federal minister for information and governor of Gilgit-Bultistan Qamar Zaman Kaira is that demanding resignations from NRO beneficiaries uncalled for.  The reason he gives is one will have to differentiate between charges and crimes and that nothing has so far been proved against the NRO beneficiaries which on principle seems to be OK! But can the information minister inform us about the pending cases and trials of common people in courts who have to justify their innocence before law to get acquitted and if the NRO angels where innocent then why they took refuge in a dictator’s shelter of NRO.

The question here is of morality and social justice that why an elite group of people found it necessary to get a clearance certificate through a draconian law instead of facing the courts whereas a common man has to face years of trial to get justice.

Still no full list of beneficiaries and cases is provided to the people and media.

We also demand the list of people who got benefits from loan forgiveness or unfair settlements through corrupt political and banking practices.

(Images source: http://pkpolitics.com/2009/11/22/nro-list-shows-34-politicians-out-of-8000/)

There is so much being written about the preparation of docile test match wickets that make the contest between bat and ball lopsided. It is annoying to read so many reports about this topic in the last few days. Tendulkar’s 20 years and the future of test cricket seem to be the hot topics of coverage everywhere. We shall intentionally stay away from all that hoopla and write about something that is becoming a global syndrome and not something that is specific to Indian wickets.

In the last five years, Lord’s, the home of cricket, has been no exception to tame draws. Since 2005, only two test matches played at Lord’s have produced results. England defeated West Indies in May 2009 and they defeated Australia in the Ashes earlier this year. Counting out the match against West Indies, that makes it 6 draws and a solitary victory.

Earlier this year, when India toured New Zealand, the test match at Napier petered out to a dull draw where India batted close to five sessions to see the match off. Only two out of 8 test matches played at this venue since 1979 have produced results.

The test matches played at Lahore’s Gadaffi stadium in the last two years have been high scoring draws. We need not remind you of the kind of surfaces England got in West Indies earlier this year when they failed to win a single test match after going down to Jerome Taylor in Jamaica.

In his column in the Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Roebuck doesn’t hide his disappointment about the slowing SCG surface:

With every passing year, the tracks seem to be slowing down. Take the mottled surfaces seen at the SCG this season. A more docile bunch of decks it’d be hard to imagine. Admittedly, the new ball had a bit of carry but it did not last long. Doug Bollinger had plenty of gas but before long was obliged to bowl stump to stump. Already Stuart Clark had adopted the same strategy. These blokes are top-class operators.

As we can see, the problem with batsmen-friendly pitches is becoming a global syndrome and is not specific to  the wickets of any nation as such. What is more worrying is Mr. Daljit Singh’s retort to the criticism about the Ahmedabad pitch. He says that the curator’s act was justified as they did not want India to go down in a session like they did in the game against South Africa two years ago. India  are better off preparing dust bowls and earning international censure as opposed to preparing such lifeless wickets where there is no turn even on the fifth day.

If there is any consolation, it is just that the wickets in South Africa continue to be sporting and produce results almost everytime. Maybe the curators there have a thing or two to teach their Indian counterparts.

]]> http://united4justice.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/murder-embezzlement-balwa-amongst-the-pardoned-crimes/ Sun, 22 Nov 2009 11:39:07 +0000 united4justice http://united4justice.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/murder-embezzlement-balwa-amongst-the-pardoned-crimes/

By Zahid Gishkori

Source: http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Politics/22-Nov-2009/Murder-embezzlement–balwa-amongst-the-pardoned-crimes/1

ISLAMABAD – List of beneficiaries of National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) released by Ministry of Law and Justice on Saturday took the top politicians of the state to task and perceived them as black sheep of the society.
Some 34 politicians have been ranked first in the list of some 8,041 persons in terms of money, murders, attempted murders, balwa, embezzlement, corruption, malpractice, terrorism, kidnappings and other crimes of heinous nature. Keeping in view their massive embezzlements, these politicians seem to be heavy burden on the country that is already facing a severe financial crunch.
The Law Ministry for the first time has brought the big fish to surface by releasing the list of country’s most corrupt people. “The notorious guns of malpractice of these black sheep which left the poor at the mercy of God had been used as common practice against the innocents since decades,” NRO list observed.
The top beneficiary of NRO is Altaf Hussain whose 72 cases including 31 murder cases were dismissed. President Asif Ali Zardari had seven cases against him, while the number of Dr Farooq Sattar’s cases was 13. Most politicians had one to two cases against them. Madam Nusrat Bhutto, the spouse of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, also heads over thousands in the notorious list.
The MQM headed over other political parties whose workers hit the iron when it was hot. However, the PML-Q workers kept them away from that shoddy practice.
Addressing a press conference, Minister of State for Law & Justice Mohammad Afzal Sindhu on Saturday released the much-awaited list of the beneficiaries of NRO. The total number of NRO beneficiaries is 8,041 and 34 top politicians, 248 bureaucrats and three ambassadors are included in it, he told.
“Corruption, embezzlement and criminal cases dumped under NRO will likely to be reopened, as the goose of the said ordinance will be cooked on November 28, 2009,” he said. Many stalwarts of the country’s political arena will fight legal battle in the courts as the top court of the country terms NRO null ab initio, he explained.
Sindhu also announced a few important names in the list, which include President Asif Ali Zardari, MQM Chief Altaf Hussain, Begam Nusrat Bhutto, Federal Ministers Ch. Ahmad Mukhtar, Rehman Malik, Dr. Farooq Sattar, and Babar Ghori, Governor Sindh Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ibad Khan, Jahangir Badr, Anwar Saifullah, Yousaf Talpur, Ch. Shaukat Ali, Haji Nawaz Khokhar (late), Agha Siraj Ahmad Durrani, Mir Baz Kithran, Mushtaq Awan, Sulman Farooqi, Hussain Haqqani, Wajid Sham-ul-Hassan, A.R. Siddiqui, Saleem Shahzad, Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, Mian Mohammad Rasheed, Tariq Rasheed, Tariq Mahmood, Sardar Maqsood Leghari, Ghani-ur-Rehman, Javed Ahmed Qureshi, Brig. (Retd) Imtiaz, Brig. (Retd) Aslam Hayat, Safdar Barqi and Saeed Mehdi.

“Sindh is on the bottom line in the said list as some 7,793 people obtained relief under Article 2 of the NRO’s Review Board. The number of beneficiaries of the Review Board is 3,230,” he said.
He said that neither Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani nor his wife had taken benefit under the NRO. “Prime Minister Gilani had opted to face the courts in the cases filed against him and he has been cleared by the courts,” he argued.
The minister said that President Zardari had protection under the Article 248 of the Constitution and couldn’t be tried in any corruption or criminal case as far as he was the President of the state. “We will not protect anyone against the decision of the Supreme Court,” he maintained. The ruling PPP has taken decision that the judgement of superior judiciary would be accepted at all cost, he added.
Parrying a query when asked how much amount was involved in corruption cases abolished against beneficiaries of NRO, Sindhu said, “The demand was the list and it is produced before the media.”
Advocating NRO beneficiaries, he said most of the cases were political vendetta and had been lingering in the courts for 10 to 15 years. “PML-N Quaid Mian Nawaz Sharif has himself admitted that Ehtesab Bureau of Saifur Rehman had initiated political cases against PPP leaders,” he added. The PPP would have to give credibility to the chief of a major political party, he remarked.
The notorious NRO granted amnesty to politicians, political workers and bureaucrats who were accused of corruption, embezzlement, money laundering, murders and terrorism from 1st January 1986 to October 12, 1999, he emphasised.
The State Minister for Law said the myriad corruption cases had been pending since decades, adding only one case was decided and after that three judges had to resign.
Answering a query, he said NRO was brought in the Parliament at the direction of the Supreme Court and the verdicts of the higher judiciary would be respected in future as well.

Source: http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Lahore/22-Nov-2009/Wajih-asks-SC-to-act-against-NRO-beneficiaries

LAHORE – National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) is against the fundamental rights and letter and spirit of the constitution. The Supreme Court should start proceedings against the corrupt bureaucrats and politician who benefited from the ordinance.
Judiciary till now is partially independent but it is hoped that it will assert its authority without bowing before any pressure.
Justice (r) Wajihuddin Ahmed said this while addressing a news conference at Lahore Press Club on Saturday.
He said it was expected that the judiciary would start proceedings at the earliest against those who looted the national wealth and got a clean chit from a military dictator under the NRO.
He opined that Feb 2008 general elections were not fully representative as lawyers, civil society and a number of political parties had boycotted the process and the nation was now expecting midterm elections.
“It is the responsibility of the Supreme Court to take up the petitions against the NRO beneficiaries on its expiry after Nov 28 deadline,” Wajih remarked, adding that it would be really difficult for the courts to open all the cases in absence of any proper prosecuting agency.
He maintained that the time had come for the emergence of alternate political leadership at the national level from amongst the leaders of lawyers’ movement and civil society.
About the immunity enjoyed by President Asif Ali Zardari, he opined that the constitution was like living organism while Article 248 being a its cancer body which give undue protection to the president and the governors. He demanded the apex court to abolish Article 248 from the Constitution as it was against the all the principles of justice and basic human rights.

Claiming that the lawyers’ movement is still alive, he said its next target was to ensure rule of law and supremacy of the Constitution while helping the judiciary in playing its role for providing of justice to the masses. He hoped that an alternate leadership would come forward from amongst the lawyers to fill the gap of political leadership at national level.
“Corruption is prevalent in lower judiciary as known means of income do not make with their (judicial officials) standard of living,” he said, adding that salary packages at the lower level should be increased.
Wajih was of the view that because of absence of any check clerical staff of sessions and civil courts received bribes openly.
He demanded amending the judicial policy and asked the higher judiciary to keep an eye on the state of affairs at the lower level.
He also suggested making the budget of judiciary independent just like the army in view of sensitive nature of its work and claimed that it improve judges’ stature in the eyes of the public.
Eid holidays
Punjab University will remain closed from Friday Nov 27 to Monday November 30, 2009 on account of Eid-ul-Azha.

Salam

eid mubarak to everyone in punjab and pakistan and the cm of punjab and his brother

I want to raise issue of 10pm weddings not being allowed according to the news article.

My suggestions for weddings regulations are as follows:

1 – food serving to be given to guests by 10pm to help ppl eat and get home with problems of late night driving, street lighting and clearing the shaadi halls of people as safely as possible.

2- marriage halls to be closed by 1am on nights of weddings to ensure weddings do not drag on until 3am and ensure ppl get food during day of the wedding at the shaadi hall and guests can leave wedding early to ease burden on traffic and get people home safely and clean up shaadi halls and area around is also important.

3- No gun firings at weddings as guests or bypassers or couple might get injured in the shooting.

4- maher regulations to be strictly observed (see 5)

5 – All marriages to be registered with approved maulvis and registered with government prior to wedding at shaadi hall to make sure maher and or any dowry are registered in case of any divorce or dispute.

allah hafiz
salman jafri

In 1978, my parents drove back from England to Lahore, Pakistan because they didn’t have enough money to ship all their stuff back and fly. They took great pictures along the way, and now that I’m back in Lahore, I’m trying to share this wonderful trip of theirs with the rest of the world.

I took 450 of the slides they had, got them scanned from Bhatti Photographers at the highest dpi they offer. I sifted through them and picked two just for experimentation- I wanted to test out designs for a postcard. I then designed the front and back- rushed over to Instaprint in Gulberg, had them proofed out on a single sheet, and came home to cut them individually for this first pass.

I think they’ve come out great- I’ve never been so excited about something that was produced before I was born.