We talked about it back then and now again :>

Islamabad’s art gallery has seen quite some conflicts in the past few days - first they did a strange thing (not so strange in present circumstances though), paintings like the picture shows “Clash of civilization” is one of the paintings being removed from the gallery due to its sensitivity or ostensibly to please our western friends.

Then the govt issued orders to rename the National Art Gallery as National Center of Creative Arts that looked confusing even to the people from arts circle.
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I do not really know if we should consider our current airport near Rawalpindi of international standards or not, but one thing is for sure, it is not sufficent to cater the current public demands.

However it now seems that things might change for the better. Ground breaking of the new Islamabad airport is going to be held on April 7. The new Islamabad Airport will be the most modern and biggest airport of the country having dual runways and designed capacity to meet future requirement of next 100 years.
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Tensions grew around a madrassa religious school and mosque in Islamabad onl Wednesday as Islamic teachers and students held three police officers and three women hostage over the arrest of several colleagues.

Several thousand mainly female students surrounded the Jamia Hafsa madrassa and Lal Masjid, or red mosque, in the city centre to ward of any attempt by police to force their way through to the captives, who were taken into the building amid a dispute about alleged brothels located in the area.

Veiled and masked students armed with sticks chanted anti- government slogans and demanded Islamic law in the country as negotiators brokered the release of the officers and detained teachers and students.

But by late evening three women, said to be the manager of an alleged brothel and two relatives, were still being held in the school. The students were demanding that charges be brought against them.

Police initiated a case against students for abducting the women while paramilitary units manned cordons around the complex, a known hotbed of militant support for the struggle against international forces in Afghanistan.

The stand-off began the previous evening when madrassa students detained the manager with the intent of “reforming” her. Police had ignored requests from the school to close the establishment, they said.
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That is the question.

This post does not have anything to do with Islamabad.

But Now scientists create a sheep that’s 15% human.

The delays, as usual are there. But now we have victims too. The way that construction is going on in Islamabad is poorly planned and outright constant threat to the citizens. For reference, check out this picture that was taken some 4 months ago of Kalsoom Plaza Underpass. If you walk upto the construction site, there hasn’t been a significant progress yet. As a matter of fact the site condition has deteriorated.

And now we have victims of negligence. The death of an Indian national in a traffic accident caused by the construction of an underpass at Islamabad’s China Chowk is tragic. Regrettably, it has taken a death for the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the local administration to sit up and take notice of the danger posed by the near-criminal way in which the federal capital’s roads are dug up with no warning signs installed for passing motorists or pedestrians.

The construction company must also be held accountable for its carelessness. It is shocking to learn that there are not one or two but at least nine danger points where such night-time warnings should have been placed. Even if the lady was driving at high speed, which people usually do so late in the night (2am in this case), and reportedly couldn’t control the speed of her vehicle, it is possible that the tragic accident would not have taken place if there had been warning lights visible from afar to the ill-fated driver.
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So the national monument of Pakistan we were discussing is now named as Yaadgar e Shuhadaa. Now that the amount mentioned previously id gone with the wind, we are left with appreciating it only, as in case of the white elephant of Islamabad, yes the Convention center.

Honestly, I didn’t knew they intended to do fireworks too on inaugural of this thing, but it looks good in night, isn’t it? I saw it the other night, looked really exuberant :>
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Mobile Number Portibility is being launched throughout Pakistan tomorrow.

Yes, now you can have your same number and switch to any GSM operator in Pakistan of your choice.

Freedom is finally yours :-)

OK this one’s not very dificult - I just love the painting - can you guess where it is???

Let’s see who lives in Islamabad with an added observation too :)

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found in dead crows in Islamabad. Up to 70 dead crows had been found in and around the capital recently and eight samples taken from a public park and the outskirts of the city.

Two of them tested positive for the H5N1 strain on Wednesday. If people find any dead bird on the street they should handle it with care

Pakistan first found the H5N1 strain of the virus in February last year in the NWFP. Several outbreaks have been detected in chickens in small poultry farms this year and birds have been culled.

23rd March: a date that shall live in infamy as holiday to sleep away for the public while the armed forces that should be on the borders of our state flex their proverbial muscle on the roads of the capital.

I hope that while sleeping away half the day and wondering about the incongruity of watching this show of man and machinery in the context of what this day actually stands for, we can recall the intent behind that message when in 1940 on this very date, our leaders of yore passed the Lahore Resolution which later became the basis for the struggle for a separate homeland for the Muslims of the subcontinent.

A prayer today for our nation to come through the storms that surround it and for us to have the courage to be the kind of people we need to be to ensure our nation prospers.

Happy Republic Day everyone!