The 9/20 incident Islamabad witnessed on Saturday eve was a severe blow not only for Marriott hotel and the employees working in it. The adjacent Evacuee Trust Complex aka STP2 (Software Technology Park), housing a large number of software houses and banks, faced the sudden blow head-on too. Though in news its mostly about frontier house and other ministerial buildings … media is largely neglecting the STP2 Complex. Which is going to cause much larger Economical blow than the Frontier or Baluchistan houses. They were not housing businesses. Important large businesses.

Thankfully it was a Saturday eve otherwise the causalities in ETC may have gone exponentially high. Even now … around 6-10 deaths and 20+ injured are reported in ETC. The fate is still undecided. temporarily offices are being shifted but they can’t work from home for months to come. Cold assumptions are … without regarding structural miscarriages the building authorities will give OK to move back in. A social dilemma. We condemn the sad demises later on but value them NOT when they are alive.

Here’s a pictorial overview of what Marriott and ETC has faced.

An aerial view taken from an army helicopter shows the devastated Marriott Hotel two days after a suicide truck bombing in Islamabad on September 22, 2008.  Courtesy: AFP PHOTO/Aamir QURESHI

Please share your views? What steps should be taken NOW? How to fight this evil of terrorism?

Also how this continuous economical attacks can be fought? If you were a victim of this 9/20 attack, in any way, what steps your company has taken to ensure your safety?

Please refrain from personal attacks … Share the positive energy … that’s what we need right now.

More Reads and PicS:

• Another aerial view of Marriott … the double road in front of it is .. GONE !
• Assessment of battered Marriott.
• Marriott’s owner, Sadar ud Din Hashwani, has said that the hotel will be up and running in three month’s time … in the meanwhile, employees WILL get their salaries.
• For victims of terror a Citizens trust is up. Please follow the link to read more about them. You can find more on it through this Facebook group.

This is what awaam is crying about today.

Let the Zardari (ooops, Janaab Zardari Sahab) make you fool … let his camp take the left over economy from Pakistan in their Dubai and London accounts.

haaa.

Image Courtesy: Ammar

METRO Cash & Carry comes to Islamabad today in I-11/4. Opens at 2 PM …!

METRO is an international modern wholesaler offering a mix of food and non-food products to its registered card-holding customers through a national network of cash and carry outlets. This concept offers a wholesale solution to professional business needs. For more …!

Exact Location.

If you remember your Pak Studies textbook from school, you probably don’t remember much besides the colour of its jacket, and that Raja Dahir was a very bad man indeed.

But one of the other things you probably do remember is that you learned that wheat is Pakistan’s staple crop. Pakistan’s super crop. Wheat is to Pakistan what chocolate is to Willy Wonka. Well, kind of. At any rate, Pakistan’s average production of wheat over many years has been 21.5 million metric tons, making it the 9th largest producer of wheat in the world. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reported that in 2005 Pakistan produced over 21.6 million metric tons of wheat, more than all of Africa (20.3 million metric tons) and nearly as much as all of South America (24.5 million metric tons).

And then in January 2007, the government of Pakistan predicted a bumper crop of 23.5 million tons - the highest ever production of wheat in Pakistan’s history.

Of course, this estimate was being made two months earlier than such estimates are usually made, but at the time we didn’t really think about that. 23.5 million tons of wheat were coming!
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Do we need to say more after seeing expression of Joy and Helplessness on this old fellow’s face.

Image courtesy: Dawn

When you thought of Islamabad a couple of years back, you thought of a sleepy little town, with an elitist population, tucked away in a corner of the country with little or no care in the world.

Then things changed, and the sleepy little town started booming. Now you travel here and you find all the trappings of an upcoming modern city! Flyovers, underpasses, construction everywhere, filled shopping centers, and finally long lines at the pumps!

Today, i had to run my car on petrol, because the four pumps i visited, had lines of upto 20 cars deep waiting for CNG!!

Islamabad is truly waking up!

Analyze yourself … the ground realities and the all-promising economic progressive trends we are being shown on different tv channels everyday.

Who stole goods from Melody market during curfew?

Traders, especially those selling soft drinks, said they had left deep freezers in front of their shops, full of soft drinks, ice cream and bottled water, but all these items disappeared during the siege of the area. The shopkeepers also protested on Friday night and alleged that police were involved in the disappearance of goods from their shops. The shopkeepers have displayed banners in front of their shops, asking the ‘culprits’ to deposit the money for the items they had stolen.

and the recent curfew caused loss of 55M Rs in Aabpara, Melody markets.

who should blame who now? Culprits en actuale will remain missing & Unidentified.

Budget announcement is now very near and so are the promises of a strong and tax free budget.

Just few days back our Acting Prime Minister was seen inspecting the utility stores and price of daily commodities. Don’t you think its routine ki karwaayi before Budget and Eid ul Fitr?

This time an interesting hoarding near Airport on Islamabad Highway was seen …stating AAP BUDGET MEIN KYA CHAHTAY HAIN ? Yes, AAP yaani HUM!

Buzzvines says:

An interesting It is probably the latest incidents happening in Pakistani political scene that has induced the government for the first time to have people’s opinion in the budget. The interesting thing is that the government thought of asking this question at a time when it is so obvious that it is not going to fetch anything. I mean how much do we have till the budget to be announced and suddenly Ministry of Finance thought of asking us, The Public of our inputs. Since when have we become so democratic - Anyways, for those of you who are interested in chipping in, the e-mail address is afsb@finance.gov.pk

And I couldn’t agree less :>

Happy new fiscal year, soon!

Its about time Pakistan realized that the Himalayan mountain ranges that serve as a natural source of fresh water for the entire country are under a severe threat from global Carbon emissions and consequent global warming. Well, fear not as the people at the Environment Ministry and it’s international affiliates do know about the importance of these reserves for a nation which has a major chunk of it’s economy depending upon it’s agricultural produce every year. Without fresh water, there is a huge chance and a threat that we might not be able to meet the demands of our agricultural lands solely through rain water.
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