As Hasan announced and told the readers in lahore about the arrival of Imam e Kaa’ba in Pakistan.

Sheikh Hafiz Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais will arrive in Islamabad on Thursday and On Friday, he will lead the Jum’aa Prayers in Faisal Mosque.

So be there all Islooittes, who wants to taste the sweet flavor of the voice, that echoes in and around Khana Kaa’ba.

UpdateThe Federal Religious Affairs Ministry has asked people to reach the mosque before 11:30am. Television channels will telecast the Friday congregation live from the mosque.

You can listen to complete recitation of Holy Quran in his voice by clicking here.

Yesterday skies saw May’s second full moon. When I first heard the term Blue Moon, I was stuck by a jolt of anticipation that moon is blue too (I was a lil’ kid then :-p just to assure) and then my brother told me the whole blue moon theory :-)

Wiki has a lot much detail to tell on Blue Moon theories. Keeping it short and simple, in each year 12 full lunar cycles occur, leaving 11 days. These extra 11 days accumulate, hence after 2-3 years instead of 12 full moons, 13 full moons can be sighted.

So the blue moon is the 13th one … Nahi samajh aayi?? Forget it!

Picture Courtesy: Jalals Pages on Flickr.

Bari Imam was an eminent sufi saint belonging to the Qadri silsila of tareeqat. His real name was Shah Abdul Latif Kazmi. When he arrived in a village in suburbs of Islamabad (obviously not existent then), it was town inhabited by dacoits. It’s been said that due to his saintly ways and blessed presence, he preached the denizens of the town turned to pious ways of life. (If any one can confirm or elaborate this information??!??)

His yearly urs, celebrated in these days of the year, is attended by thousands of devotees from all over the country.

The urs, now becoming a festivity for many city dwellers and people coming from across various villages, started this Monday. While coming to office, many people (more like a caravan) were spotted carrying brightly coloured flags, flowers, walking their way towards Bari Imam (miles away from the margalla road) bare foot. Isn’t it a bit odd, since Islam prohibits self-torture …!

Let’s have a picturesque account of preparations of the Urs courtesy many newspapers :>

Diyyay are lit at the shrine of Hazrat Bari Imam at Nurpur Shahan.
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Since early March when the presidential reference was filed, Pakistan is all up and kicking whether it be the political front or the “pseudo-political front”. Islamabad being the hub of all hearings and YES most of the strikes. Islamabad, a calm city or as many outsiders proclaim a dead-city, is not much used to the bustling mornings Isloiites had to face every morning with roads closed and paths diverted …!

This much we can bear, we a re a tough nation … but what happened on 12th may changed the scenes altogether. Raising points in mind of every sane pakistan, whether in Pakistan or not - we all do care !!

With all the rallies and raillay, sometimes it seems that instead of a stand for the sake of judiciary, everyone is working hard to polish their Political stances … sucking the nectar out of this BIG and one of its kind EVENT in the judicial history of Pakistan

For more on this weekend’s political and judicial activities in town, you’ve to read the post :-)
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Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had a dream of banishing VIP culture from the country. It is genuinely apprehended that the dream may not be fulfilled after the dynamic commander of Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) Sultan Azam Temuri (SSP) was sacked by the police chief the other day.
Last year, while inaugurating the newly established Islamabad Traffic Police the Prime Minister expressed his desire to cleanse the country of VIP Culture.
“No one will be above the law and the wrongdoers, even ministers’ bureaucrats, diplomats or other authorities should be issued tickets.”
The Prime Minister urged the ITP personnel to perform their duties as the custodians of law and act with “zero tolerance” to any violation of law.
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Since the day I came to know of the 24-Hour English News channel by Dawn group , I was looking forward to see it.

Yesterday, it was finally inaugrated by aanjahaniMuhtaram Sadar Sahab. But i still am not able to access it, thanks to PEMRA. At least that’s what my cable-wala says. I’m not sure, if it’s the tale of all Islamabad, or is it just ours :-|

Anyways, I want a change in reporting scene now, and I would be quite obliged if PEMRA issues the authority letter of screening DAWN NEWS to cable operators in Islamabad, ASAP.

More on Dawn News as reported by Teeth Maestro at KMB

Ciao!

On my recent drive during the college rush hour here in the Capital, I noticed something strange when it came to a student bus on a traffic signal. To my surprize the bus was crowded like a chicken coop with heads poping out of the window. The reason I was surprized is that in Islamabad, this is a rare sight, and for me it was the first, or atleast I noticed it for the first time. I was of the opinion earlier that the student transport is pretty much sufficent here and usually the buses have adequate space for children, especially the school buses. However, it made me ponder if the situation was getting worse and if there actually was a transport shortage.

So I decided to find out for myself. I talked to a few students on the road, about the transportation availabilty in their schools and the responses were quite shocking. Most came back with complaints that their schools, including the private and the public ones were facing acute transport shortages. Cost of private transport is too high for most students’ parents to afford, so they have to opt for either the public transport or the crowded school buses. If they have to use public transport, they usually have to wait for quite long on the bus stands, and the situation is particularly worse for female students.
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Well exams season is in full swing these days. But before the exams a lot of students would have attended a fairwell party. I had one too and I must say it was fun (although it was quite disorganized). Everyone danced and all that stuff but what I am going to write about is metrosexuality clearly being visible in the party.
The Wikipedia (one of my most reliable source) defines metrosexuality in these terms.

Metrosexual is a word describing men who have a strong concern for their aesthetic appearance, and spend a substantial amount of time and money on their images and lifestyles.

This term may be new to a lot of people but in todays urban landscape you may already have become a metrosexual without you knowing about it.
In our party some of my friends had tailored special tuxedos and suits for the occasion and they had cost around 6 to 12 thousand rupees just for 4 hours!!!
To me these were all just waste of money. More over these and some other guys had spent more than 2 hours before the party in a saloon to make there appearences better. They had haircuts, facewashed and what not. And it had cost them 2 to 4 thousand rupees or may be more.
I guess metrosexual males are going to be more common in the capital in the future and the trend has set in.

Teachers(really?) protest against the privatization of schools in Punjab.

Students under Islamic Jamiat’s flag cover themselves in shrouds and protests against 12th May killings in Karachi.

Police officers, who came from different areas of Punjab for Jameya Hafsa operations, sleeps in open.

And as BBC reports on punjab police enjoying themselves in the capital.

And the preparations in G-6 around Lal Masjid quarters.

The administrator has to say a lot too, he says after every round of discussion and negotiations with govt., we are told that Big Brother is not wiling.

Let’s hope we see a prosperous and progressive Pakistan towards path of Peace and not strikes, protests, and terrorism (ameen).

Image Courtesy: Khabrain & BBC