Islamabad Metblogs » majad

Stop the War

majad — Thu, 14 May 2009 04:08:30 +0000

The families who were forced out of thier homes in minutes took nothing with them, crops were left standing and doors left open. They paid 10 times the normal fare to travel without food or water to a maladministered refugee camp. This Army operation has been started at the behest of the American govt – not the Pakistani people or the people of Swat. Barely ten days had passed since the parliament passed the Nizam-e-Adl agreement and since the very beginning statements of ill-intent starting pouring out of Washington. Peace was not given a chance and now the summer campaign to crush insurgency has been started – at what cost? We have created 1.3million refugees just to hunt down a few criminals? thats comparable to a carload of criminals coming into F10 and the govt reacting by clearing out the whole sector and bombing it with F16’s. This is nonsense. We should all stand up and say to our “brave” troops “Stop fighting America’s War“.

Is it Really Our War?

majad — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:50:00 +0000

Since we are about to inaugurate a giant wall around the Kings palace, and all those kings helpers who feel they are insecure, I thought it would be good to gauge whether we all think that that the current troubles which have spilled over from across the border into our peaceful city are actually Our War – as the govt has defined it – or are we fighting Someone Else’s War…. if so then how do we fare as citizens of Islamabad and Pakistan. Your 1rupee please..

Impeach him.. what a great idea

majad — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:45:50 +0000

loadshedding, inflationary food prices, petrol out of reach and a growing poverty line thats sending people to suicide – these are obviously far less important than what our “great leaders” Nawaz,Zardari have got planned.
Lo and behold they have (after months of meetings and more meetings …) decided to go for a half-baked impeachment plan.
Unfortunately, we have to watch these clowns play political games while the country is diving into dangerous waters.
Firstly, I dont believe impeaching him will get rid of him and it definately won’t mean justice for all those people who have suffered by his evil policies which have brought us to this weak position the country is in.
Today I heard how all Punjabi students have left/are leaving universities in Quetta for sheer fear that they might be killed. It was Mush that said “we will hit them and they wont even know where it will come from… ” or some dribble like that when talking about AkbarBugti and his clan. Well who is paying for brash statements like that – us. Our Pakistan needs major band aid and a unifying call from the current leadership… instead they want to play politics while the vast majority are not interested and dont have the basic needs met.
I want to see real justice done to Musharaf not some weak half-baked impeachment charges which he will manage to squirm out of.

The best park in ISB is…..

majad — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 10:59:14 +0000

I havent been to many parks in Islamabad, but the ones I have been to were not cute – severe lack of maintenance and some of the climbing frames looked dangerous but still it was better than not having a park at all. Then i’ve been pleasantly surprised by the beautiful Childrens Playland opposite F6. Sitting at the bottom of the Margalla hills and the road leading up to Damenh Koh, this park is excellently maintained and has lots of things good about it. Loads of bumby castles for the kids to play in, a bucking bronco ride – for those who want to experience the wild west in the wild east – and a mini-bungee jump for more adventurous kids. A couple to nice cafes to sip tea and enjoy a burger or two and all in all this is an ideal park for the family…

Why the Violence needs to stop…

majad — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 06:11:51 +0000

These are the images we do not want to see in our cities.. Another suicide bomb attack on our military in R.A. Bazaar area this morning. The mindless violence needs to stop – and that means the Army campaign needs to stop as well.
When the govt talks of extending the “writ” to all areas of Pakistan they need to realise that the “writ” is only going to be obeyed by every Pakistani if the Govt carries out its duties to provide Justice, basic needs and prosperity to all its citizens, only then can they have the excuse of using armed force – for too long those who are taking up arms against the govt have been neglected of those basic rights. Right now the only Government service the people of NWFP and tribal belt are seeing is shells, cobra gunships and Predator drones. No government can hope to quell an armed resistance if they dont extend the Justice and basic needs to all its people. If this cycle of violence carries on then we are going to kiss goodbye to NWPF and probably Balochistan as well – we cant afford for that to happen.

Why Corolla Drivers are such Bad drivers…

majad — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 04:56:35 +0000

After living in Islamabad for a good while now, the one thing that really irks me is why everyone insists on driving around at break-neck speed and taking dodgy manouveres when there is,in my humble view, no reason to do it….
Let me single out my number one hated motorist – the Toyota Corolla driver. Firstly, why did Toyota put such a huge set of headlights in this car? i think the sole purpose was for corolla drivers to creep up and flash other unsuspecting motorists in a strobe-light fashion just when there is a queue of cars in front of them and nowhere to move.

Secondly, why have so many people found it aesthetically pleasing to garnish their cars with loads of fake chrome.. it looks unbelievably tacky and adds no beauty to the factory standard… i guess some Corolla drivers have got too much spare Rupees to blow on things like that.

All in all, i have seen too many cars involved in accidents and 8/10 times its a corolla parked on the side looking like the one in the picture. I’m all for everyone having a car, but with the sudden burst of cars on our roads in the twin cities, we need better educated drivers who actually pass a test (not the go-cart test that the Islamabad Traffic Police have setup) but a proper test to weed out bad drivers.

Emergency to go Tomorrow…. come again another day

majad — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 05:03:40 +0000

It seems now that Mr Musharaff has arrested all the people he needed, removed the judges that disagreed, appointed himself as supreme ayatollah president, cajoled all the defaulters into line ensuring they stand for election and changed the army top brass – we are now set to see Emergency powers removed tomorrow….
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071213/ap_on_re_as/pakistan

Emergency didn’t prove to be any obstacle to life in Islamabad, at least driving around I didnt see any visible signs of army or tanks on the street… So maybe now is a good time to ask WHY?
Why do we all have to suffer international inginity and honorary “banana republic” status just for one man to cling onto power… (Incidentally BB and Nawaz were no different).
Cant these people see that every time they take these extreme measures to perpetuate their meagre political existence they actually are doing more harm than good?

Mr Musharaff is changing the constitution so that we cant ask that question either….

How Mobilink Makes a Killing on Blackberry

majad — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:21:52 +0000

The nice glossy ads with Shan and “beautiful wife at home”, the great PR and marketing strategy, shiny white teeth, smiling and laughter – all this is the indigo world of Mobilink – but beneath the shiny, glossy world of Shan & Co is a deep dark sinister underbelly that is the corporate scams of Mobilink.
I recently took my blackberry phone to get it activated from the Mobilink HQ in Roshan Plaza (downstairs is the Merc showroom…. tooooo expensive). I got into their trendy lift up to the 3rd floor to meet a Ms Annie (?) who was going to activate my Vodafone Blackberry so I could receive my emails without loss of further hair… she agreed that I could activate the Blackberry on the Mobilink service, all I had to do was take out a postpaid connection – easy I thought – but then we were rudely interrupted by an underling from the next cubicle who warned her that she could lose her job if she did that !…. how? well this is how Mobilink make an absolute fortune from you and I who just want to use thier Blackberry to get emails..
It transpired that even if she gave me a connection and activated my existing phone, Mobilink carries out a monthly scan of IMEI numbers (that ridiculous long number stored in your handset which only phone geeks can remember by heart) to check if all the activated units using their Blackberry service have been BOUGHT FROM MOBILINK… if they find the handset was not bought from Mobilink they will cancel your connection – what a ripp off I thought… So they make sure they sell you THIER Blackberry handsets and make loads of money in the process…. now I understand why they have their HQ on top of a Merc showroom, they can go downstairs and buy one.

Bhutto under House Arrest – “Nazar Bannd”

majad — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 04:35:52 +0000

I’ve just heard on the “wireless” that BB has been placed under house arrest. She announced the “long march” and hey presto, she too has been made “nazar bannd”… the entire nation is at the mercy of the armed forces once again in our turbulent 60 years having to submit our fate to the Armed forces – again.
At the same time we have seen how easily chacha Bush has so much influence over our dear leadership – one phone call and we are on the road to “democracy” !..

The question I’d like to ask is where is the United Opposition ?? it seems each party has once again resorted to thier petty demands which Musharaff easily exploited to his advantage earlier in this year.
Who will lead Pakistan out of this quagmire ?